Friday 24 February 2012

The half term seems a dim and distant memory as I have had a very busy week. I have had to attend an awful lot of meetings and that is why I have not been at the school gate any morning this week but hopefully I will be able to get out next week so that I can see everybody.


It was good to talk to some of you at our ‘Governors Breakfast’ this week. This was organised so that parents had an opportunity to see who our governors are and discuss with them their role in the school. All who attended found it an informative event and the governors found their discussions with the parents very enjoyable and motivating and they have provided them with much food for thought. The next meeting where it will be possible to meet the governors will hopefully be before the end of term where we will be inviting parents to discuss the progress of the ‘Ofsted Action Plan’.

I would also like to thank all the parents who completed our homework questionnaire. I collated the responses over half term and the link governor and I have analysed the results. When we have presented our findings to the Governing Body on March 14th I will be sending a letter out to parents giving details of the findings.

We are having a ‘Book Fair’ in school next week and I hope to see lots of you there. This is a brilliant opportunity for the school because we are allowed to spend 60% of the takings on new books so remember the more you spend the more books we will be able to buy. ‘World Book Day’ is also next Thursday and as you will know we are allowing the children to come into school dressed as their favourite book character so that should be a really fun day for the children. It will also help us highlight the importance to the children of reading books because people become great writers only by reading great literature.

Hopefully I will see a lot of you in school next week for parent consultations. I will be in school for these sessions so if you would like to see me as well you can make an appointment in advance or you can see if I am available while you are in the school. If I am not in my office I will be in another part of the school so do come and find me if you would like to see me.

Friday 10 February 2012

I am quite relieved that the weather has allowed us to get through this week. Even though it snowed again last night we all managed to get home safely from the disco and get back again this morning for the last day before half term. All the staff were determined to get in as it is Mrs Cotton’s last day and we were all wanted to share it with her. She has been a real asset to the school but as well as that she has been a lovely person to work with and we will all miss her terribly. I am sure though that she will visit us in the future so we will be able to see how she is doing.


As I mentioned earlier it was the PTA Valentine’s discos last night and all who attended seemed to have a good time. I would like to thank all the PTA members and staff who worked so hard to help make the night such a success and I would like to apologise again to the poor parent who nearly had her eye taken out by me during musical bumps. Even though I nearly accidently maimed her for life it still was not enough to win a prize as the Year 6 were judging the event and they were sticklers for judging the event fairly and took no injuries into account!

Hopefully the weather will not be too bad during half term so we can all have a nice break because when we come back we have quite a lot happening in school. On February 23rd we will be having the ‘Governor’s Breakfast ‘and if you would like to attend and have not returned your slip to inform us please do so straight after half – term. The week after that are the parent consultations and during that week we will also have a Book Fair in school. You will be able to purchase books from this at the end of the school day. During that week is also ‘World Book Day’ and we will be sending letters home after half term of what we will be doing in school on that day.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday and I look forward to seeing you all back on Monday, February 20th.

Friday 3 February 2012

It is hard to believe that January has gone and we already into February. It is a pity that the weather has also turned colder and apparently there is a possibility of snow. Although this is very exciting for children it is every head teacher’s nightmare as there is the possibility we may have to close the school due to adverse conditions. Hopefully we will not have to do this but if it does become necessary we will text all parents as soon as possible to give everyone a chance to make alternative arrangements for their children. Up to date information will also be able to be found on Three Counties Radio and Hertsdirect.org.


I have had another week which has been full of meetings and visits. On Tuesday afternoon I went with the Year 5 to St. Martha’s School in Hadley Wood. Year 5 were taking part in a cookery master class where they had to make a pizza and while they were busy I was given a tour of the school. It is a beautiful building with many of its original features still in existence but the best thing for me was meeting some former pupils of Little Heath. Although they left the school a couple of years ago they still look back on their time at Little Heath with great affection. It is great to know that we had such a positive impact on their education.

This Wednesday was also supposed to be the closing date for our homework questionnaire but we have extended it by a week as we only had a few responses returned to us. If you have not done so please send your questionnaire back to school so that if we do alter the homework policy we know that it is representative of all our parents’ opinions. If you cannot open your e-mail with the attachment on please come to the school office where we have hard copies available.

We are all going to be rather sad in Little Heath next week even though we will have the half term holiday to look forward to as Mrs Cotton will be leaving us after 12 years of working in our nursery. We will miss her as she has been a great asset to the school but we all hope she does have a happy and enjoyable retirement. She will be replaced by a Miss Natalie Sofjan. Natalie has already been working in our nursery for 2 afternoons so many of the children are already familiar with her. She also attended the school as a pupil.

Next week is ‘Feeling Good’ week in school. The focus of the week will be the importance of feeling good in ourselves and how to achieve it because people who can feel good about themselves are the most successful in life and generally have more fulfilled personal lives. Activities will include relaxation and meditation, a laughter workshop, a special music day organised by Mr Hill and some art therapy sessions.