I am certainly glad it is Friday because I have had a very busy week filled with lots of meetings. I still find it hard to believe though that it is the end of the month and January 2014 is gone forever. I know you should not wish your life away but I do hope that the rest of the winter months go as quickly so we can at last have some blue skies and sunshine – I feel like we have had rain forever.

A good event that has taken place this week was our ‘Independent Learning’ evening, which we held last night. We had quite a good turnout although it would have been nice if more parents could have attended. Those that attended said they found it very useful and one of the requests was to put the PowerPoint presentation onto the website so that other parents can see what was discussed. Obviously some slides may be a little unclear without a verbal explanation but at least you will be able to understand the basics of what was covered. We were certainly glad to share the information with everyone as we are very serious about achieving this target as the next time Ofsted visit us we want to achieve an outstanding grade. We also know that children who become independent learners are the ones who go on to become the most successful learners.

A sad event that has been brought to my attention is the misuse of technology. We have had an increasing amount of complaints from parents about comments made about their children on sites such as ‘Instagram’ and Facebook (even though nobody is supposed to be on Facebook until the age of thirteen). We have even been told that one of the older children is videoing children walking home and then putting the pictures on ‘You Tube’. This is totally unacceptable but as it is not happening within school there is very little that we can do so I am asking you, as parent, to be extra vigilant about the sites your children are accessing and what they are actually posting on them. We do cover e-safety in school and we are going to take part in the ‘Safer Internet Day’ on February 11^th but children do need monitoring and guidance at home as well as at school and I am afraid that is down to the parents.

On a more positive note we have our first ‘Family Maths’ event next week on Thursday, 6^th February from 3.30pm – 5.00pm. The activities are aimed at Foundation and KS1 children but older children are welcome to attend with their families as well. Free refreshments will be available and I look forward to seeing many of you there.