Friday 25 May 2012

It has been quite a sporty week in school this week. It started on Monday with the Le Gros Netball Tournament. All the girls played really well and our ‘A’ team won the tournament! This is becoming quite a habit for our girls. Our ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams also won their leagues so it was a clean sweep for Little Heath. I would like to congratulate all the girls who took part and who contributed to the success of the teams. I would also like to thank Georgina Parkinson and Jo Munn for coaching the girls so well.


On Wednesday we had teams taking part in football and tennis tournaments. All the pupils who took part represented the school well. The football ‘A’ team finished 2nd in their group and the ‘B’ team finished 3rd in their section. The tennis team finished second so well done to all who took part.

Today was the Oakmere Mini marathon in which all of Key Stage 2 took part. The event got off to a shaky start for Little Heath as the coach driver forgot that he had to make 3 trips to collect the pupils and it looked likely that the Year 6 were going to miss the event. Luckily the PTA were here as they were preparing for the Jubilee Party so with their support we managed to get all of Year 6 there on time. I certainly would not want to do that every year. In the actual event we had some success with James in Year 3 finishing 1st in the Year 3/4 marathon and Ben from Year 4 finished 4th. In the Year 5/6 marathon Ben from Year 6 finished 2nd and Thomas from Year 5 finished 5th.

We could not have asked for better weather for our Jubilee Party. It was a great event and all the parents who attended enjoyed the occasion. It would not have been such a good event if it had not been for all the hard work of the PTA preparing the food and the teachers for organising the presentations with their classes. I would like to thank them all for their efforts.





Friday 18 May 2012

As I mentioned last week we have been doing our ‘SATs’ this week so it has been a very quiet week in school and there has not been much else going on. However I must mention that the Year 4 winning streak continues because four children from the class took part in a tennis tournament and won! Congratulations go to Thomas, Emily, Max and Anna who go through to the next round of the competition which will take place on Wednesday. I would also like to pass my thanks onto Ashlin who went along as a coach for the team as he was not allowed to participate since he is a tennis club member.


Although this week was quiet, next week is going to be action packed. On Monday the ‘Le Gros’ netball tournament is taking place at Mount Grace School. On Tuesday afternoon the Potters Bar Schools Football tournament is taking place at Oakmere and on Wednesday it is the next stage of the tennis competition which I mentioned earlier. The’ Oakmere Mini Marathon’ takes place on Friday morning with the whole of Key Stage 2 taking part and on Friday afternoon we are having our Jubilee Party. We are having ours a little earlier than most people because we want the year 6 to take part as they go to Kingswood the following week. All parents are invited to attend that if they want to come but if it rains we will hold the event indoors and no parents will be able to come as we are not able to accommodate everyone in the hall. Anyhow let us pray for sunshine so the event can be held outside and we can all enjoy a really good party. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Friday 11 May 2012

I am starting my blog with a little bit of a moan but over the last couple of weeks we are having more people parking on our yellow zig-zag lines when this is meant to be a traffic free zone form 8.00am to 5.00pm.This area was put here to ensure the safety of our children and people who ignore the guidelines are putting our children at risk. We have informed the police and as some of you will have noticed a traffic warden has been up to our school this week so people who park illegally run the risk of getting a parking fine.


On a happier note the reception class put on a lovely assembly this morning. It was about ’The Hungry Caterpillar’ and was enjoyed by all who watched it. I would like to thank all the reception staff for all their hard work in preparing the children for their assembly performance.

We are having a lot of success in competitions at the moment. As you know some Year 4 pupils won the ‘Build a Tree’ competition last week and this week yet more success for our Year 4 pupils who won the Potters Bar ‘Primary Schools Technology Challenge’. For this they had to build rockets from prepared plans and then modify them to improve their flying power. One of the rockets from Little Heath flew the furthest by a long distance and it is still on the roof of Oakmere School. The pupils were Ella, Johnny, Sophie and Alex and I would like to offer them my congratulations on their brilliant efforts.

Thank goodness the weather seems to be getting a little better. Unfortunately the bad weather has meant that the May Day event at Brookmans Park and the ‘Le Gros’ netball tournament had to be cancelled but hopefully these events will be able to be rescheduled in the future.

Over the next couple of weeks the children in Year 2 and in KS2 will be doing some formal tests which means there will be lots of quiet periods in school. We try to keep the children as relaxed as possible about these exams but no matter what we do some children still become anxious at the thought of taking an examination. You can help your children prepare for their tests by making sure they get to bed at a reasonable time, giving them a good breakfast before they come to school and ensuring that they have time to relax when they come home. Remember that they are just young and it is important that they are not put off taking exams in future years when their results will have more of an impact on their future career.

Friday 4 May 2012

The horrible weather that started last week has continued into this week . It has not dampened our spirits in school but unfortunately it has meant that the May Day event at Brookmans Park that was due to be held this Saturday has had to be cancelled. Pupils from our school were due to take part in the ‘Tug of War’ competition and also perform some Maypole dancing, but this is not happening now as the Rotary Club thought that the green was already very wet and with further rain forecast they thought it was too unsafe for the activities that they had planned. They may organise a similar event later in the year.


On a brighter note we have received some very pleasing news. During our ‘Science week’ many of the pupils took part in a ‘Create a Tree’ competition where they had to create a tree using 4 sheets of A4 paper. This was actually a competition organised by ‘SETPOINT which is an organisation that organises science and technology events for Hertfordshire. 1700 children from 19 schools entered and we are very pleased that pupils from our school actually won the competition. Ella, Jasmin and Rachel from Year 4 won it for their ‘most tree like willow’. The judges said: 'We chose this because it is realistic, imaginative and well-engineered' We are delighted in school, especially as the prize is £80 worth of garden vouchers which will come in very useful for our school gardening club.

Another highlight of the week was the birth of our school chicks. Your children have probably already told you this news as everyone in school is very excited about it. We have four little chicks which at the moment are living in a box in the school foyer. When they are old enough they will be transferred to a chicken coup in the nursery garden so the children will be able to watch them grow into adult bantams. We also have a baby quail which was a little unexpected. Mr. Berridge’s grandson was given a quail’s egg to cook and as he did not want to do this he put it in the incubator with the chicken eggs. We never expected anything to happen but to our surprise it was the first egg to hatch! Mr. Berridge will be taking all the birds home at the weekend but he will bring them back on Tuesday when we return after the Bank Holiday weekend.