Friday 30 March 2012

Normally when I write my blog I like to share positive experiences that have occurred during the week but this week two things have happened that have made me very unhappy.


The first is that some people who were picking up a child from school parked on the yellow zig-zag lines. When Mr Berridge asked them to move the driver of the car was very abusive towards Mr Berridge and this was witnessed by a number of parents .This is unacceptable behaviour and I will not tolerate my staff been spoken to like this. The police are now dealing with this matter and they have told us that if it happens again we are to contact them immediately which is exactly what we will do if it ever happens again.

The second item that has made me unhappy is that apparently some parents have set up a facebook account to help keep parents informed of what is happening in the school. I do not see the need for this as we have our own website with class blogs to keep parents informed and we can always be contacted by telephone if people are unsure of something. Even though I can see that the account was set up with good intentions I have been informed that some parents have been discussing incidents that have occurred between children at school and then other parents have been responding to those comments. This is simply not an acceptable forum for this kind of issue – especially since only one side of the incident is being put forward. If a parent has an issue about something that has occurred in school they should discuss it with the class teacher or myself. If parents are still not happy with the response after that we have a proper complaints procedure for parents to follow.

On a happier note we have had a very exciting time in school this week. We have all been treated to a wonderful performance of ‘ Wind in the Willows’ from the pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5. I am sure that all the parents who saw it agree that it was a great show. I would like to thank all the staff involved for their efforts in making it such a success. We also had some great entries in our Easter Egg Competition and although we did select a winner from each class I think all the children deserve credit for the work they put into their designs.

I hope you all have a great Easter holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday, 17th April.

Friday 23 March 2012

Huey, our little duckling, who arrived last week, continues to thrive. He has grown a lot and is a great favourite with all the children. Unfortunately, none of the other eggs managed to hatch out so poor Huey has no siblings to keep him company but at the end of next week Mr Berridge will be taking him to his pond where he will have other ducks for companions.


Science week has been a huge success in school. All the children appeared to love Professor Brainstorm’s sessions and I have seen some great science experiments that the children have completed for home learning. Each class chose one winner and when we judged who should be the overall winner, although it was hard, we decided on George from Year 3 for his experiment on ‘Does an Orange Smartie really taste of Orange’. Congratulations to him.

As you know today is Sports Relief. Thank you to everyone who contributed towards the cause and I hope that those who attended the mile walk did not find it too strenuous. There was a great atmosphere and everyone appeared to be having a good time so I just hope that appearances are not deceptive.

Next week is the last week of term and we are having our annual Easter egg decorating competition. Letters have gone out to explain the rules so I hope the children will have fun creating them at home. There will be an Easter egg prize for the winner of each class. We also have ‘Wind in the Willows’ to look forward to. All the staff and pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 have been working very hard on their production and I am sure that you will all agree that their efforts have been worthwhile when you see it next week. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Friday 16 March 2012

There was great excitement as I came into school this morning because one of our ducklings had hatched. I am sure your children have been telling you about the batch of duck eggs that Mr Berridge has been ‘nurturing’ and yesterday, by the crack in one of the shells, we knew something was happening. This morning, when Mr Berridge came in, he was greeted by a little tweeting from the incubator. All the children have been to visit the duckling and although lots of names have been suggested the name Huey seems to be the name that is sticking.


The duckling has chosen a good time to arrive because next week in Little Heath is a very exciting one. Firstly it is science week and there will be lots of different activities going on including a visit from ‘Professor Brainstorm Science Shows, on Wednesday. If your child is also taking part in the science experiment competition they will need to get their entry into school by Thursday, 22nd March.

On Friday it is ‘Sports Relief’ and there will be various sports activities going on with the classes throughout the day. At 2.30pm the whole school will be walking a mile for Sports Relief and we hope that as many of you as possible will be able to join us for this. I am also allowing the children to wear sports clothes in school on Friday and they will only have to pay a voluntary contribution of £1.50 if they have not already purchased a Sports Relief wrist band which they must wear on the day.

I will be out of school on Monday and Tuesday of next week so Mrs Zegallo will be in charge in my absence. If you do need to see me for any reason please make an appointment at the office for when I return.

Friday 9 March 2012

I had a very good start to my week because when I came into school on Monday I was greeted with a mass of certificates, medals and trophies that our badminton team had won on Sunday. They had taken part in a tournament and the boys team had finished second, the girls team won and we won the overall competition. Congratulations to all of them and thank you to Mr Mills for coaching them.


I have sent home a letter today regarding our home learning policy. It was very interesting reading all your responses to the questionnaire and in light of your comments we have made some modifications to our home learning policy which are outlined in the letter. Some people will feel that we have not made enough changes but whenever we do anything we have to think what is best for the children’s learning. It was interesting that as we have been looking at our homework policy the government have been looking at theirs and they have now scrapped their guidelines for extra study outside of the classroom. The decision now of how much is set is down to the head teacher of the school. This has come about because of the large amounts of complaints the government have received about homework limiting family time and opportunities for play and sport. At Little Heath we believe recreation time is as important for children’s development as school work. This concept was paramount in our minds when setting our policy because we believe our approach to home learning encourages quality family time as well as helping with the learning.

The PTA held their Zumba Night on Wednesday. I was unable to attend myself but 48 people took part. Everyone who attended said how good it was and over £200 was raised. I would like to thank everyone who helped to make the evening such a success.

As you probably know Friday, March 23rd is Sports Relief. We will be doing a lot of activities in school including getting everyone to walk a mile which we will invite parents to join in with. A more detailed letter of what will be happening will be sent home next week but from Monday we will be selling the official Sports Relief wristbands in school for £1.50 and the children will be allowed to wear them in school on the actual day. This is a very good cause so I hope as many people as possible will support it.

Thursday 1 March 2012

I am publishing my blog a day earlier this week as I am out of school on Friday. There has been a lot of ‘coming and going’ in school this week due to the parent consultations and the ‘Book Fair’. I have received a lot of positive comments from the teachers regarding the parent consultations and all the parents I spoke to seem very happy with the progress their children are making. I would like to also thank everyone who purchased an item from our ‘Book Fair’. I do not at this point know exactly how much we have raised for the school but I do know that we will be purchasing a lot of new books for our library thanks to the generosity of our parents.


There have been an increasing number of children using scooters to come to school which is a good thing but I have received a couple of complaints about people being hit by scooters while they drop off and pick up their children. Therefore I would like to ask parents that they make sure their children treat their scooters like bikes and dismount from them before they enter the school.

On Wednesday 7th March the PTA are holding a ‘Zumba Night’ in the school hall at 7.00pm. If you fancy having some fun as well as getting fit there are still places available. Booking forms are available from the school office.