Thursday 26 March 2015

I am publishing my blog a little earlier this week because I am out on Thursday and Friday attending educational courses. Hopefully everything will be fine in my absence but if there is a problem Mrs Zegallo is in charge of the school.

School has felt quite full this week because there were so many children out on trips last week. Years 3, 4 and 5 have been very busy rehearsing for their school production which is ‘Aladdin’. I have yet to see it as the dress rehearsal for the school is on Monday but I have heard a lot of the singing as I have been moving around the school and it sounds really good. I know that all the parents who are going to be watching it next week are in for a treat and I look forward to seeing many of you there. 

May I remind you again that Little Heath or pre-school children are not allowed to watch the production on Wednesday evening. Last year some parents had to miss the performance because they had not followed the guidance on their ticket letter.

As well as the production of ‘Aladdin’ we have ‘Open Afternoon’ in school next week. As most of you know this is on Wednesday and runs from 3.00pm – 4.30pm. This is an opportunity for parents to come into the school and observe all the learning that the children have covered during the half-term. We start the event during school hours because many children like to share their work with their parents. The ‘Open Afternoon’ is only for the parents of pupils from Year 1 - Year 6 as foundation parents can see their children’s work at any time.

When I write my blog next week we will breaking up for the Easter holiday. Remember that on the last day of term (Thursday, April 2nd) school finishes at 2.00pm and children are due to return to school on Tuesday, 21st April.    

Friday 20 March 2015


After all the excitement of the ‘Talent Show’ and ‘Red Nose Day’ (for which we raised an amazing £676)in school  last week it has been a relatively quiet this week although a lot of the classes have been on  school visits this week. Trips, as the children call them, certainly help to make school life a lot more interesting. The spring term is flying by and I cannot believe that in two weeks it will be Good Friday.

I have to say that this week did not get off to a good start because we had an accident occur as the children were coming into school on Monday morning. There was such a surge as all the children rushed to get through the gates that some smaller children were knocked to the ground and one child had to go to hospital to have stitches to a cut in his head. Although it is great that the children are eager to get into school we do not want them getting injured in the process and we are now ensuring the children walk as they enter the school. It would be good if you could reinforce this for us at home as well. One accident is still one too many.

I have had to go to a lot of meetings this week and as I have been leaving or returning to the school I have noticed that there are still some people who are parking on the zig-zag lines to drop off or collect their children. As I have said many times it is against the law to park on these lines between 8.00am – 5.00pm and if you are caught by the police you will incur a fine. More importantly though it makes the area in front of the school dangerous for the pedestrians who are following the rules and this is not acceptable. Please leave enough time to park your car away from the school and then walk your child into school.

All that is left for me to do is hope that you all have a lovely weekend – the warm weather is not quite with us but let us hope we see some sunshine.

Friday 13 March 2015


I am typing my blog early this week because I am preparing to present the ‘Talent Night ‘ again to all the children in the school. The ‘Talent Night’ went down very week last night and I would like to give a huge thank you to all those people who made last night such a success – my staff for their support, the PTA for providing the refreshments and last but certainly not least  - the children who had the courage to go onto the stage and perform before an audience. Without them last night would not have been possible. We raised £280 from ticket sales last night. £140 will go to the PTA fund and £140 will be put towards the Red Nose appeal.

It is very easy to see that it is Red Nose Day in school today because practically everyone is wearing red - even if it is just a nose. Some children have gone all the way and have followed the theme for this year which is to ‘make your face funny for money’ and have decorated their faces. They look amazing and it is all for a good cause. When we have totalled all the money we raised from selling the noses, the ‘Talent Night’, and the dressing up I will let you know how much we raised for the ‘Red Nose’ appeal. We have also been given a contribution from a group of girls in Year 6 who organised a ’Bake Sale’ at ‘The Hub’ and managed to raise £36 for their efforts. Mary Berry would be proud. I think it is a wonderful gesture, especially as they organised it all by themselves.

Next week in school we have a lot of children going on trips so it will be another busy week with lots of activities taking place – just as it should be in a school. The weather has certainly improved this week so let us hope we see some sunshine over the weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Friday 6 March 2015


It has certainly been a fun packed week in school this week. What with dressing up for ‘World Book Day’, preparing for the ‘Talent Night’ and all the trips to the ‘Snow Centre’ the week just seems to have flown by – it will be Easter before we know it. 

 

All the fun has not meant that we have not been working and indeed I had a very busy day on Wednesday as we had our ‘Hertfordshire Improvement Partner’ visiting the school. This is somebody who comes every term to check the quality of the provision the school provides for the pupils. He does this through meetings with the governors and me, analysis of our data and a learning walk around the school. He was very impressed with what he saw and thinks that we have progressed well with our Ofsted targets of giving pupils more opportunities to develop their independence and take greater responsibility to manage their own learning and improving the way teachers use pupils’ responses to questioning when they check the effectiveness of pupils’ learning. This is obviously very good news and makes me very proud of the staff we have in the school for the excellent job they are doing in educating your children.

 

As I mentioned above we have been preparing for ‘Little Heath Has Talent’ which is on Thursday, 12th March at 7.00pm. At the moment I have only offered tickets to the families of those who are taking part but from Tuesday tickets will be available for anyone who wants to come and watch. It is always a great night so I hope to see as many of you there as possible.