I could get used to these shorter weeks in school. What’s that? They will be even shorter in a few weeks? Oh yes! 33 days to go.
Seriously, there is so much going on in the remaining few weeks of the year, the time is going to fly by. There is lots to look forward to and I can’t wait to spend as much time as possible on pupil-related activities having had such a blast in Devon with our Year 6s.
Over the half term break, Mr Mills Junior and I spent time getting the stage ready for the Year 6 production; sorting the lights given the stage’s new position and setting up the new sound desk. That meant Mr Denney, whose assembly it was upon our return on Wednesday, had the delightful task of trying to seat 243 pupils in the hall with a stage positioned right in the centre. Sorry, Mr Denney!
I would have helped, but I was in London with our Junior Leadership Team. To thank them for their hard work this year, we arranged to take them to Parliament again, as we did with last year’s JLT.
This year was extra special thanks to Mr McRitchie – the dad of one of our JLT – who happens to work there and was able to facilitate a tour which went beyond the traditional tourist areas. Our tour included the basement beneath the chambers and central lobby, the scene of quite a significant plot in 1605. We went into the Lords and then, after a spot of lunch in Port Cullis House, spent some time in the gallery of the Commons watching a debate. Their observation from this was that Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, looked incredibly bored. Well, he had just refereed PMQs and so was probably exhausted.
They say an army marches on its stomach, but so does a Junior Leadership Team. They decided they needed cookies as a snack when we arrived at St Pancras and so I was sent into Pret. They loved the restaurant lunch and then convinced me that the ‘super-soft’ ice cream advertised on the South Bank needed to be sampled. ‘Look Mr Mills, it is super soft… not just soft!’ How could I refuse?
Thursday was a slightly quieter day, and I was actually in my office for some of the time. The highlight was a wonderful class assembly delivered by Apollo Class. It was lovely to see so many parents and carers in attendance too.
‘It’s All Greek to Me’, written by Mrs Bailey, was a journey through the Year 5 history topic and covered so many aspects of this ancient civilisation. The pupils were amazing, learning so many lines and remembering their moves. Who needs Horrible Histories when you have Awesome Apollos sharing what they have learned.
We still ran an Achievers’ Assembly on Friday despite the shorter week. Class of the Week went to Apollo Class and Earth won the House Cup.
We celebrated some fantastic football awards, as well as equally successful dance trophies. We also celebrated kick boxing and scouting. Well done to everyone who shared their success with us.
Music was provided by Lillian and Ariana (Year 6) who played their clarinets and then Emily B and Nancy (Year 3) who sang and looked right at home on the stage.
Next week looks very busy indeed.
Kusama Class have invited parents and carers in to spend some time in their classroom, seeing what they have been learning and how they have been learning it.
In addition, I have a visitor from Temple Grove Trust (linked with the Farmington Institute with whom I have been working) who is keen to look at what we do and how we do it and interestingly, is keen to explore the relationships we have with parents, carers and our community. Kusama’s assembly is perfectly timed. We are going to spend the morning at Whitehill and the afternoon at another local school.
On Tuesday afternoon, I am back in London for session five out of six working with the Farmington Institute – again, great timing!
The SLT have a strategic planning day on Wednesday but not before we have had a whole school photo, hopefully in some decent weather.
On Thursday, the Year 6s are out on a local river study as part of their geography work and are out again on Friday for a day of sport as we take part in the Sports Partnership, Olympic Legacy Day.
The Year 3s are also out on Friday as they visit Shepreth Wildlife Park. School is going to be very quiet.
There are two other sports events in the calendar with cricket matches against Samuel Lucas and St Ippolyts on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Plenty to look forward to as always, and so we better get some rest over the weekend.
Best wishes,
Steve Mills
Headteacher
