I hope you all managed to get some rest last week as we got ready for the second half of the school year. The coming weeks promise to be very interesting as the governors home in on my successor. More about that next week… perhaps. It appears we didn’t all manage to shake off the winter colds but as we have enjoyed some very pleasant weather this week, hopefully the school will be back to full strength very soon.
Monday felt very busy – no rest for the wicked!
The temptation was too great in the afternoon when challenged by Mr Ciepiela and Aztec Class to join in the gymnastics lesson. It’s been a good few years since I taught forward rolls but I accepted and don’t think it was too bad, given my age! It got a few cheers from the pupils as well as Miss Smith reaching for her phone to have an ambulance on standby.
In slightly damp conditions, we had two netball teams play matches against William Ransom after school on Monday. Two games and two victories. Well done to the players and thank you to the parents who braved the rain to support.
Tuesday saw the choir head towards the O2 for this year’s Young Voices concert. Having seen the previous years’ concerts from the audience seats, I was invited by Mrs Burniston and Mrs Jarman to join them in their suites this year. As we knew we had the special seats again, they thought I would enjoy it to see the show from a different angle and I certainly did!
I had an absolutely fabulous time seeing the pupils get fully immersed in the rehearsal and then the actual concert with a choir of around 9000 children. We did a little bit of research during tea and found that the cost of the suite would be around £195000 for the year and so we felt very spoilt again.
The only downside? Trying to get out of the car park after the concert. We saw the worst in cooperation from other coach drivers (ours was brilliant, by the way) who simply refused to let any of their colleagues out. Selfishness personified!
Thank you, staff and pupils, for inviting me and looking after me. I loved my final ever Young Voices concert!
In my absence, my trusty chief sports correspondent, Mrs Richards kept me updated on the very tight football match against William Ransom. A second half goal from Thomas N saw Whitehill claim the points with a 1 – 0 win. We were also joined by Miss Gooderham who came along to see the team in action. Thank you for coming, Miss G.
Being back in school only six hours after getting back from Young Voices was a little challenging on Wednesday morning. I took my time to get going but was joined by Brooke (Year 6) and her friends for hot chocolate at break which was lovely.
I often have staff members come and chat with me about the work being done in their classes. Mrs Vernon shared with me this week the amazing work Kusama Class have been doing in maths this week. I think they are planting seeds for when I need to pick the Class of the Week each Friday.
If I was feeling fragile in the morning, an afternoon spent with Year 5, and their clarinet and flute lessons certainly woke me up. In Mrs Bailey’s absence, I happily volunteered to cover but perhaps should have looked at my diary a little closer first. Seriously, I did enjoy myself and it is nice to pop into these sessions from time to time to see the progress that the pupils make over the course of the year.
After school we had our two indoor athletics teams taking part in the district finals. Well done to our athletes who took part and who finished third overall in the boys’ competition and sixth in the girls’ competition.
It was another late night for me on Wednesday as we had the first governors meeting of the term. As I have just said, I really do need to organise my diary better!
We were visited by our local authority adviser on Thursday morning who spent his time working with Mrs Cornell, Mr Lord and Miss Payne, looking at the teaching of history and geography. He visited classes to see some lessons and chatted to pupils as well as the staff. It was another highly productive morning which delivered some lovely feedback. We need to wait for the final report, but we are all very pleased with the way the morning panned out.
Given how busy the week has been, I haven’t managed to see many pupils and give out Headteacher’s Awards. That being said, Mrs Bryan sent me some very happy mathematicians from Wilde Class who had done particularly well with a recent piece of work.
The final sports outing of the week was a mini netball festival at St Francis College after school on Thursday. The feedback from the players and staff was very positive with the highlight being the fresh doughnuts at the end, apparently!
Mrs Burniston led Achievers’ Assembly for me on Friday morning but shared with me all we were able to celebrate.
Our music was provided by Jessa and Sophie P (Year 4) who played their violins for us.
This week’s Class of the Week is Kusama and Water won the House Cup. There was a new feature this week as the House Cup was announced with Lillian and Lottie sharing a few of the house point statistics with the school.
Other pupils with awards to share included Lily and Ella (Year 3) who recently received swimming certificates. Charlotte W (Year 3 Mayan) was rightly proud of her skiing medal and Charlotte W (Year 3 Aztec) shared news of her rugby adventures. Jenson (Year 4) showed his football medal and has recently visited Tottenham where he met the players. Ava (Year 3) has completed an ‘inflatable 5k’ event and of course, Mr Wells is just about to complete his 100km running challenge for GOSH. Thank you to everyone who has supported this amazing achievement.
Looking at the calendar for next week, I see that I am in the actual school building for only two days. Monday and Tuesday. I also seem to have packed quite a few meetings into those two days.
On Wednesday, I am in London for the day – not seeing a show, I promise – but working there. I am joining the Year 6s on a trip to RAF Hendon on Thursday as I strive to get involved with as many outings as I can this year.
I am not allowed in school on Friday as it is the day set aside for the Headteacher interviews. By this time next week, we may be very close to finding out who my replacement is going to be. I am not sure whether I need to be excited, sad or scared. To take my mind off the day, I am going to London, and I am seeing a show this time. I have tickets for one of my current favourites, Operation Mincemeat.
On the sports front, we have a lower school football match against William Ransom on Tuesday after school and the semi final of the Wix Cup against Weston on Friday. As I am banned from the school that day, I hereby give notice that my trusty sky sports correspondent will need to be in action again. Mrs Richards, please note! There is also a Boccia festival on Wednesday afternoon, which happens to be Mr Wells’s favourite sport.
And finally, I was chatting with Lacey (Year 6) this week who informed me that she looks through these blogs from time to time. I didn’t realise pupils also got involved. To test this, if Lacey reads this paragraph in this week’s blog and comes and finds me on Monday, I will give her a Headteacher’s Award! I’ll let you know.
That is about it for another week, other than to say I hope to see some of you in school later this evening as the Friends’ Association hold one of their fun-filled and high entertaining quiz nights.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes,
Steve Mills
Headteacher
Hey mr mills it’s Lacey thank you for adding me to the blog see you Monday 😃