At last summer has arrived! I was almost beginning to forget what sun feels like! I know there is a concern about a water shortage but I intend to enjoy the hot weather while I can because it is so infrequent in England that we need to make the most of it. How unusual as well to have hot weather over a bank holiday. Rainy bank holiday Mondays are almost a tradition in England although we have not been guaranteed that we will have no rain and Sunday does not look promising.

As I explained in my last blog it has been a very busy week in school staring with our ‘Sharing Assembly’ on Monday and finishing with the mini-marathon today. Although it was hot, which is not always a blessing for a long-distance race; the children really did themselves proud in the mini marathon today. All the children finished the marathon and conducted themselves well whist taking part which is all we ask of them. Our highest placed pupil was Caitlin in Year 5 who finished second in the Year 5/6 girls’ race.

As some of you will have noticed the new foundation building is now complete. This week we have been setting it up so that the children will be able to use it after the half term. This also means that we can start using the main entrance to come into the school after the half term holiday. As I mentioned in my blog last week all parents will be able to have a look in the new building on July 1^st which is our summer fayre when we are having the official opening.

We have the half term break to look forward to which is always good. The second half of the summer term is always filled with great events so we have lots to look forward to when we return. I hope you all have an enjoyable holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday, 5^th June.

We have had another exciting week in school. It has been Science Week and all the children have had fun carrying out lots of experiments and investigations.   They also enjoyed their visits from Geobus and Professor Bubbles. Perhaps in the future if one of them makes a great scientific discovery they will look back to this week as their source of inspiration.

This morning we had a real treat by having the Reception class perform their assembly for us. Unfortunately the whole school, because of our building work, could not attend the assembly but those that watched it thought that it was really enjoyable – ‘The Hungry Caterpillar ‘, around which the assembly was based, is one of my favourite children’s stories. As well as the children I would like to thank Miss Jaeger, Mrs Aldridge, Mrs McFarlane and Mrs Ramanathan for all their hard work in putting the assembly together – it was much appreciated by all those who watched it.

As some of you will have noticed our new foundation building is just about finished. Some of the staff and myself have been over to see the progress of the work a couple of times and we are really pleased with what we have seen. When the whole unit is set up we will let all the children go over and see it. All parents will be able to see inside it on July 2^nd at our summer fayre which is when the building is being officially opened.

As I type this I am also waiting for Year 5 to come back from Lincolnsfield. I know that they have experienced some rainy weather but after speaking to Mr da Rocha and looking at the pictures on their blog it does not seem to have stopped them from having a good time. We think it is very important for children to experience these types of trips because it helps develop their independence and social interaction skills which are vital for their learning and development. These trips are only possible thanks to the goodwill of the staff giving up their free-time to accompany them and I would like to thank Mr da Rocha, Mrs Onley and Miss Davis for doing this.

This week in school it has also been ‘Walk to School Week’ and I would like to thank all the parents who have encouraged their children to take part. The low level of children’s fitness is a national concern and yet a lot of the issues could be resolved if children just walked more. Parents often worry that their children will not be safe walking to and from school and yet, statistically, you have less chance of having an accident on the road than you do in your own home. I do hope that those children who walked more frequently to and from school this week feel motivated to do it all of the time.

Next week is another very full week in school. On Monday we have our Sharing Assembly and on Tuesday Year 5 and Year 6 are taking part in a K-nex challenge which will take place in the school. On Wednesday it is our Open Afternoon for parents with children in Year 1 – Year 6. This is where parents are invited into the school to share with their children all their learning from the past half –term. This runs from 3.00pm – 4.30pm. On Thursday we are having a visit from the Great Northern Railway who are giving a presentation to the school about how they can keep themselves safe on our railway lines. After the presentation they are taking Year 4 down to Potters Bar Station to have a tour of the station and have a ride on one of their trains. To end the week on Friday all of Key Stage 2 children are taking part in the Oakmere mini marathon. After all that I think we will be all ready for a break so it is just as well that it is half term the week after.

Have a great weekend . I hope the weather is good and it starts to feel more like summer. We keep getting snippets of good weather but I would like it for a sustained period of time. I look forward to seeing you all again next week.

 

All the Year 6 pupils are feeling very happy because the SATs are over. I hope they still realise that their learning for Year 6 is not over yet and they cannot sit back until July. Still, I do not begrudge them feeling elated because having exams hanging over you is not a good feeling.

Next week, in total contrast to this week we have a Science Week organised in school. As well as extra science activities that are planned  we have a company called ‘ Geobus’ visiting the school who will be carrying out some exciting activities with KS1 and KS2 and a Professor Bubble will be working with the foundation stage. We believe that developing a love of science in children is very important because it helps promote an enquiring mind and develop their problem solving abilities which are important skills to have for all areas of learning. I am sure the children will have a very enjoyable week.

It is also ‘Walk to School Week’ next week. We already encourage the children to walk to school at least once a week with our ‘WOW’ scheme but during this week we ask that they try to walk to school every day. Even if the children have to come to school by car we ask that you park a little further away and walk the rest of the way. The benefits to your child’s learning and wellbeing through walking to school are well documented so we ask that you support them with this.

Year 5 are also excited for next week because they are going on their residential to Lincolnsfield. I know that parents can get a little anxious at the thought of their children being away from home but we have been going to Lincolnsfield for many years and the children always have a great time. It also helps to develop their team building and independence skills which are a great asset as they get older.

The parents of children in Years 3, 4 and 5 will know that after ‘Pirates of the Currybean’ we had a retiring collection for Cancer Research. This was because Daisy and Zara in Year 4 were planning to do a sponsored run for this cause and we thought that it would be a good idea to support them. I can now inform you that they will be doing their 3km run on 21^st May and when they have got all their sponsor money we will add it to what we collected and forward it to the charity. As I told you in a previous blog we managed to collect £283.16 with our retiring collection.

I hope you all have a good weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Thanks to the Bank Holiday we have had a short week in school but there has still been plenty going on. Year 1 visited The Mill Green Museum, Year 4 went for a walk in the woods and some of the class also took part in a technology challenge against other schools at Oakmere School. They had to create jitterbugs using a small electric motor and although they did not win they had great fun making their creatures.

It was also the Le Gros Netball Tournament at Mount Grace this week and we entered two teams. All the girls who took part thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the ‘A’team managed to get through to the semi – finals but were beaten by Brookmans Park A team who eventually went on to win the tournament. I would like to congratulate all the girls for the effort they put into all their games and I would like to thank Mrs O’Brien for helping to coach them.

Next week in school is one that the Year 6 children never look forward to because it is SATs week. However, every Year 6 class I have ever spoken to has always said that it is never as bad as they imagined it would be and that the week passes very quickly. All we ever ask of the children is that they do the best they can. In school, when the tests are not taking place, we try to keep the timetable as normal as possible so that the routine of the children is disrupted as little as possible. We also recommend that parents do this with them at home and ensure that the children get to bed at a reasonable time (without any computing hardware) so they are not tired for school the next day. This last piece of advice is actually one that we would recommend for all the children in the school all of the time.

I hope you all have a good weekend. It will seem rather short after the three day weekend of last week but with the weather getting a little warmer I am sure that we will all enjoy it. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.