Thursday 26 May 2016


 For those of you who regularly drop off your children in the morning you must think that I have not been in school this week because, apart from Monday, I have not been at the school gate. May I assure you that I have not taken an early holiday but I have had 3 morning meetings off the premises this week which has meant that I have not been highly visible in school.  After the half-term break this is not the case though and I will be back on the gate in the morning as usual which I love because it means I get to see all of the children every day.

While I was typing this blog I had a parent come to see me with the disappointing news that some of our parents are parking in the disabled places in the church car park without disabled passes. This is against the law and the people doing this risk been reported to the police. It is very good of the church to allow us to use their car park at the start and the end of the school day but if we keep abusing the privilege they may renege on this agreement.

I cannot believe that it is the half term break already as this half term has flown by. They do say that time flies when you are enjoying yourself so that must be a good sign. If the next half term goes as quickly it will be the summer holidays before we know it. The last half of the summer term is always busy but it is filled with exciting events such as Sports Day on June 23rd and the PTA Summer Fayre on July 2nd.  These are always highlights in the school calendar and are enjoyed by everyone who attends them. Let us hope that the sun shines on these days because it always helps to make them more enjoyable occasions.

I know all the year 6 children are hoping for sunshine the first week after half term because this is when they go on their residential trip to a Kingswood Activity Centre. This year they are going to the Isle of Wight so they have the added bonus of going on a ferry this year (and another reason to hope for sunshine). They are being accompanied by Mrs Zegallo, Mr Spring and Mrs Ilott and I think they would be happy with mediocre weather as long as they get some sleep! Joking aside, I know everyone will have a great time and for the Year 6 it will be another memorable event in their time at Little Heath which unfortunately will also be coming to the end this term but we will not dwell on this at the moment. 

All that is left for me to do now is wish you a great half term and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday. 6th June.

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Thursday 19 May 2016


I am publishing my blog a day earlier this week as I am on a course tomorrow (I am not giving myself a four day weekend). As I mentioned in my last blog hopefully there will be no issues but if there is something you would like to discuss with me you can make an appointment to see me next week or you could ask to speak to Mrs Zegallo.

In the summer term we always allow the children to play on the field (if the weather permits) which the children love because it gives them so much more space to run around in but one of the problems is that many more of them leave their jumpers lying around. When I was on playground duty I picked up a big bundle of them but sadly I was only able to return less than half of them because they had no name in. Can I please remind you that all of the children’s uniform should be clearly labelled so that any lost item can be returned to them.  Next week we will also be putting the lost property outside so you can see it when you either drop off or pick up your child. If your child has lost some uniform this term it would be a good idea to see if it is there. If it is not collected by Thursday we will be donating it to charity.

Next week is also quite special because we only have a four day week as we have an INSET day on Friday. Before that we have a lot to pack in as it is Sharing Assembly on Monday morning and we have Open Afternoon on Wednesday for Years 1 – 6. If your child is taking part in Sharing Assembly you will have already received a letter to let you know. The Open Afternoon is an opportunity for you to share the learning that your child has covered this half-term. We start it at 3.00pm because we think it is a good idea for your child to be able to share their learning with you. I hope to see many of you there.

Have a great weekend !

Friday 13 May 2016


We had a lovely end to the week with the Reception assembly this morning. I am always amazed at how well they perform when they are so young. All the parents really enjoyed it and what was great to see was that the children enjoyed it as well. These assemblies do not just happen and a lot of hard work and preparation has gone into this morning’s assembly so I would like to thank Miss Jaeger, Mrs Aldridge, Miss Russon and Miss Southwell for all their efforts in putting it together.

Those of you who have had to come into the school in the last couple of weeks you will have noticed our growing mountain of bags in the entrance hall which were our collection of old clothes and shoes for our ‘Bags to School ‘ appeal. They were finally collected this week and I am glad to say that the school received a donation of £136.00 which is a very nice amount for a lot of old clothes. I would like to thank everyone who sent in a donation and to Mrs Holden for organising the collection.

I know I usually discuss school affairs in this blog but I thought I must just mention a lovely sight that I saw on the school field this week. I have known for a long time that we have a school fox as we sometimes see it during the day when it wanders the field when no-one is around. I thought I saw it again this week lying in the long grass when it suddenly moved but instead of being one fox it was a bundle of fox cubs. There were six in total and it was lovely to stand and watch them roll around and play with each other. Some of the after-school children saw them as well and were as delighted as I was to see them. It made me feel very lucky to work in a place where I am able to see such amazing wild life.

The weather is apparently going to change this weekend and it is going to get a little colder – let us hope that is not the end of our summer. Next week I have a lot of meetings and courses to attend so you may not see a lot of me in school. Remember if I am not around and you need to see me you can make an appointment to see me at a later date or you can ask to speak to my deputy Mrs Zegallo.

Friday 6 May 2016


At last summer appears to have arrived! The sun is shining and it is not necessary to be wrapped up in layers to go outside. I was actually hot in my office this week, which hardly ever happens. I will wait to see if this weather lasts though before I pack away all my winter clothes – I can still remember the frost of last week.

There are many benefits to the warm weather and one of them is watching sporting events and not freezing to death. This week I went to watch the ‘Le Gros’ netball tournament which is held every year at Mount Grace School. We entered two teams this year and although we did not actually win the tournament we performed very well and did win some of their matches. I would like to congratulate the girls on their very good performance and I would like to thank Mr Mills and Mrs O’Brien for training the girls so well.

It has been brought to my attention that a lot of the children are not bringing in their PE kits for lessons. In the past we went through a phase like this and I thought it had passed but apparently not. May I remind everyone that children should bring their PE in on a Monday and kept in school until Friday and then they can take it home to get washed over the weekend. It is not essential that they have a clean PE kit for everyone lesson but it is important that they have their kit for every lesson. It is important that they have their kit in school at all times because sometimes we have to change the PE sessions during a week so children will not always know which day they have PE on. I do tell the children that it is their responsibility to remember their PE things (I do not let them blame their parents) but if you could remind them about bringing it in every Monday I would appreciate it.

Every month Mrs Hopkins set a maths challenge for the children and, sadly, the number of children having a go at this has been tailing off in recent times. Remember that at the beginning of every month a new challenge is posted on the Maths Blog (http://mathslittleheath.blogspot.co.uk/).  Have a look at the one for May and encourage your child to 'have a go.'  The children who have been taking part regularly have enjoyed the challenges.  There are also paper copies of the challenge available near the desk at the school office.

The lovely weather is predicted to last over the weekend so that is good news but let us hope it lasts into next week. Even if the good weather does not last though we have a lot to look forward to because our netball teams have a match against Cranborne and it is the Reception class assembly which is always enjoyable. Enjoy the good weather and I will see you all again on Monday morning.