The end of the first full week back and it is as if we have never been away. I blame my age! The weather early in the week was a blessing and it did mean we could make use of the field and give the pupils the space we know they love.
I spent time on Monday creating my annual ‘start of the year to do list,’ which, this year, has spread across six pages of my notebook. Admittedly, I did add a few things onto the list which I could immediately cross out as having been done, but who doesn’t do that on a list? I also have to admit to adding a couple of items from previous lists which still haven’t been done – perhaps it is just time to forget them?
I have continued to get to know our new pupils and spent a lovely few minutes chatting with Barney (Year 3) about his Great Hitchin Bake Off award as part of the Hitchin Food Festival. He is a passionate baker, and I have no doubt in a few years’ time, he will be featuring in the Channel 4 TV series. My task now is to convince him that we need to try his signature bakes.
We made the most of the sunshine at the beginning of the week and visited our pond. Some of our pupils love spending time looking at the fish and seeing what other wildlife they can spot. Over the summer our baby fish have certainly been getting bigger. There are so many.
Chatting with pupils and parents in the morning is a lovely thing to do whilst on playground duty. It is lovely to welcome back some families to Whitehill who have had a gap with older siblings moving onto secondary before younger ones join us, as well as talking with familiar faces who have now have all their children in Whitehill. Thank you for the great feedback you share with me about Whitehill and my team; it means more than you might think.
Wednesday saw me venture out of school with the Year 3s on their visit to Wymondley Woods. It is a trip I have never done and also a place where I have never previously visited and so it was lovely to have been asked by the Year 3 team to accompany them. Having seen the weather forecast I found the Mills-family waterproofs although it ended up that I didn’t really need them (until walking through London later that night).
I had such an enjoyable time with a cohort who have settled well and are clearly very enthusiastic. My group were lovely company, and I think agreed with me with the idea of den-building being the favourite task. I let Mrs Bradshaw oversee the majority of the group (aren’t I kind) whilst I joined forces with Marley and Jordan to build what I believe to have been an amazing structure. We had such fun and really thought about the design and comfort.
I look forward to seeing how the pupils mature and develop for the remainder of their time in Whitehill.
House points have been handed out quite liberally this week, with many pupils receiving their first Headteacher’s Award of the year. A group of Year 3s from Aztec Class visited me to talk about their artwork and introduction to Bridget Riley. Ivy, Charlotte W, Esme, Emily, and Reuben all deserved their award. At the other end of the school, Daniel, George, and Lottie (Year 6) received awards for maths and English as they impressed Mr Wells at the start of the year.
Thursday morning will, and I am stating that already, go down as one of the highlights of this academic year. It was the day we heard from our Junior Leadership Team candidates – all 16 of them – and got to cast our votes as to who would make the final four. I was in a very privileged position as I also got to chat to them individually, together with my Chair of Governors, Dr Ray, to explore further their thoughts and feelings about Whitehill.
Every member of staff I spoke with after the morning said the same thing. How could we possibly decide which pupils would get the badge? The standard was exceptional. Simply outstanding!
I recorded so many notes and quotes from the Year 6s which I will use in various school evaluation documents. If only I could have filmed the whole morning, that would be all I would ever need to show to anyone who wanted to know what life at Whitehill was about. As Dr Ray concluded, ‘If only we could have bottled the thoughts and sentiments from today and concentrated it down…’
Well done to Thomas, Arthur, Lillian, and Indi who did pip the others to role and were presented their badges in Achievers’ Assembly on Friday morning. We now have a week to decide who our House representatives will be, with these being announced in next Friday’s assembly.
As well as celebrating our new JLT, we also presented the House Cup for the first time, and this went to Fire. This week’s Class of the Week was Kusama.
We also celebrated many of the pupils who had taken part in this year’s summer reading challenge through Hitchin library, which is always nice to see. We had some cricket awards and netball medals to hand out together with a swimming certificate.
The other treat was an impromptu LAMDA award performance by Daisy (Year 5) who I put on the spot when she came up to receive her certificate which she passed with distinction. I can see why!
I showed a prospective apparent around on Friday morning and as always visited a few classrooms. I was so pleased when two Class Reps jumped up from Year 3 to greet my visitor. I wouldn’t usually expect to have Reps ready so soon in the year, especially Year 3, but Cooper and Nancy sprung into action and did very well indeed. Very impressive.
Looking ahead to next week, we begin on Monday with our individual (and family group) photographs. Across the week, I have several in-school meetings as well as a trip to Duxford for a regional professional association meeting which sounds like a lovely venue and makes a change from a Holiday Inn.
Before I finish for this week, can I please remind you of our charity kit collection we are supporting. Thank you to those who have brought items in already. The deadline is next Friday.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
Steve Mills
Headteacher
