February 2012
In January Bush class (year 2 children) entertained us in their class assembly by sharing some of Aesop’s fables - the boy who cried wolf, the sun and the wind, the town mouse and the country mouse, and the stork and the fox. The children had spent a great deal of time in classes writing stories, making puppets and finding out about the true meanings behind these famous tales.
The children were entertained by M&M Productions, who performed Sleeping Beauty. They had a wonderful time, I think even the staff had to participate a little, and all enjoyed a lovely end to a hardworking week.
Sundridge class (year 1 and 2) told us all about London in their class assembly. They showed us models they had made of the Tower of London, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Nelson’s Column. We think the Queen would be most pleased and we now have various ideas as to how we are going to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
Of course the snow, whilst pretty, has caused slight worries, but fortunately we have managed to stay open, with all classes functioning as normal, the only problem being playtimes. After an initial run around and snowman fest (!) we are now inside as it is too icy. My thanks though to Lance our lovely caretaker who has worked so hard at clearing ample paths for adults and children.
This week we have parent/teacher consultations to discuss children’s progress and general attitude to school. Following the half term break we welcome parents into school to see how numeracy and literacy are taught throughout the school, and progression and expectations in those subjects. We also have more class assemblies and Mother’s day celebration.
January 2012
Happy New Year to you all. I hope it is a healthy, happy and peaceful one for all our families.
Since the last time I 'blogged' we have been extremely busy in school:
I know most parents appreciate how much hard work there is that goes on behind the scenes, particularly at Christmas. Each child goes home with a Christmas card, calendar and various decorations. Teaching of the curriculum has to continue alongside play practices where all children have a part to play, and are valued for their efforts. Tickets, programmes, seating arrangements, 'event' arrangements are planned/produced, whilst daily activities continue, including showing new parents around and managing the budget and buildings, and monitoring the curriculum. My thanks to all the staff for continually working as a team.
This term has started with a whole teaching and teaching assistant development day, where we looked at how to take the school forward further. We are already a good school with many outstanding qualities (as clarified by Ofsted). However, we are not complacent.
A busy term ahead, wtih some class assemblies, a visiting theatre company, parents meetings and workshops. We look forward to seeing you all in school at some point.
November 2011
In the last couple of months:
Now we have a busy term ahead, and it won't be long before we will be practising the Christmas play! However, there is much to do before then in the way of curriculum coverage, and staff continue to work hard to ensure learning is stimulating, challenging and fun for the children. This was evidenced when I had the pleasure of spending time in Bush, Ranscombe and Sundridge classes to observe their literacy lessons.
September 2011
We began the term by welcoming back our Year 1 and 2 children into their new classes. The children eagerly entered school, looked refreshed following their break, and had grown! They quickly found their friends and spoke confidently to staff about their holiday activities.
A huge warm welcome to our 50 new foundation stage children, and their parents. We look forward to establishing good working relationships with these families to ensure their children have three happy and successful years with us.
Since we have been back, the weather has certainly been changeable - the beech trees to the front of the school already shedding their leaves!
Staff have been busy meeting parents, discussing the organisation of their classes, and planning the curriculum and timetable for the terms ahead.
We had a busy and detailed meeting to discuss dates for the year, and possible changes we would need to make to some events, owing to the growingnumber of children at our school.
School rules, class rules andreward systems have been discussed and reviewed, and many children gained a certificate at the end of last week, with Bush class winning Jock Bear, Ranscombe class Angus Bear and Sundridge class Sophie Bear, and the class trophy for the most smiley faces awarded.
It has also been pleasing that a few children have brought in their certificates of achievement for activities outside of school to share with us. Well done to them!
A very positive start to this academic year.
May 2011
Time is passing very quickly, and already we are discussing new entrants visits, sports day, and end of year academic reports.
We ended a busy Spring term with the FCS running the Easter egg rolling. Our huge thanks to them for organising this event, and congratulations to the children who rolled their egg the furthest.
The bug man also came to visit, which rounded off very nicely the topic on animals. The children and staff were incredibly brave. I must say, I could not look at any of the tarantulas, and as for the cockroaches - we all shuddered! Thankfully they all went home safely, but the children enjoyed holding various species!
Over the three days following the Easter weekend we focused on the Royal Wedding. The children learned about theRoyal family and family trees, they wrote to the Palace, made bunting, flags and party food for our royal tea! They also designed postage stamps to celebrate the wedding and said who they would invite who was famous. Guests included Justin Bieber, Cheryl Cole, Simon Cowell, David Beckham, Lady Gaga, Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry! My thanks to my staff for all their hard work over these three days.
This term we learn of our final numbers for September, begin to plan classes for next year, agree the budget we have set for this academic year/financial year and take our Year 2 children to the Juniors for buddying sessions. Staff also begin to type children's end of year academic reports.
Topics this term include 'Healthy Me', and 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside', and the year ends with a trip to the beach, and our special leaver's assembly and leaver's lunch for Year 2 children.
Other News
March 2011
The children have been out and about looking for signs of Spring, and at the progress the bulbs and plants are making, they so carefully planted these on our Environmental day. The grounds look lovely. Mr Thomas, our caretaker, has been busy painting at the rear of the school, and Mr Andrews has refurbished the seating and planters in our quiet area.
Mays and Marina class have performed to their parents and grandparents. Marina class told us all about their favourite animals and showed us their animal paintings. Then they performed to the Indian folk story, What a Monkey Sees a Monkey Does, and showed us the hats they had made to accompany the story. Mays class entertained us with their topic Animals, and sang songs, rhymes, and told us the story of Through the Jungle. They spoke so clearly and loudly.
Our book week was a great success and we even featured in the local press. The children enjoyed the cat walk show, and the sponsored spell was fantastic in raising £1,163 for new books in all classes.
We are waiting to hear how many children will be joining us in September, in order that we can plan our budget and class organisation, new entrant visits etc. A very busy time, and an anxious one for those parents that are waiting for a letter to drop on their doormat!
This week I met with Miss Terry, headteacher at the Junior school, and we planned diary dates for the Summer term, including buddying visits for our Year 2 children. We have in total 8 visits planned to classes, the playground and an experience of lunchtime!
We look forward to welcoming our parents into a numeracy workshop with a focus on how we teach the subject in foundation and key stage 1, and then parentswill have an opportunity to observe and take part in each class.
Our Year 2 children made us very proudat the Central Hall in Chatham, singing the Breakfast Song, unaccompanied and for some of it in three parts!
The FCS work continually behind the scenes, and are currently planning for the Mother's Day shop and the egg rolling competition on the last day of term. We all thank them for all their very hard work.
Other news
February 2011
An interesting and busy couple of months. Bush class performed their class assembly on Toys, Sundridge class told us all about Forces, and Ranscombe performed some Traditional Tales. Children spoke clearly, were confident in standing in front of an audience, and most importantly enjoyed taking part!
The whole school enjoyed the performance of Aladdin, performed by M & M Production Company, and this week they are enjoying Book Week, where the focus is on non-fiction books. The week will draw to a conclusion with the children dressing up as a famous person from the past. At the moment I have been told we are having several Cleopatra's and one Shirley Temple!
About 40 parents participated in our literacy workshop session, and enjoyed walking around the school observing in classes, and seeing the progression of literacy activities throughout the school.
Our biggest news is our Ofsted inspection. A team of two inspectors visited us on 31st January and 1st February, and monitored everything in school, from health and safety and safeguarding, to teaching, learning, monitoring, children's progress and links with the community. Do see Key Information for our Ofsted report, of which we are particularly proud. Our judgements were confirmed. We are a good school with outstanding elements, and feel very proud.
Other News:
January 2011
The term started with a development day for staff where we looked at the school's development and plans/diary, and individual discussions were held between staff regarding pupil's progress and curriculum development. A busy term ahead with some class assemblies, a book week and a visiting theatre company. Also a parent information morning on Literacy and parent evenings.
The children started the new term following the festivities happily and appeared very settled after the break in their classes. Sadly with the rain, we had wet play and so they were unable to meet up with other friends in classes and catch up. However as I write this from home (Sunday) we have had blue sky today and so I am hoping for a better week weather-wise next week.
This week Mrs Street and I are attending a Child Protection Co-ordinators update meeting. Our Educational Welfare Officer is coming into school to monitor the children’s attendance and take assembly. Mrs Southward is attending an Advanced Skills Teacher meeting , Mrs Street a Consortium meeting and I have a two day training course at the end of the week in Nottingham. After school this week we are discussing the Foundation Stage Children and their progress and also assessment of Key stage one children. On Friday the children look forward to welcoming Rev Knight into assembly.
End of Term 2010
We ended last term amidst the snow, with two rather busy weeks of events.
The Friends of the schools held a very successful Christmas Bazaar in the junior school and raised £1,100, which will be divided between both schools. These folk work so hard planning events, and we are so appreciative of all their hard work. Without the FCS support and of course parents, grandparents and friends who attend events, we would not have had our stage for the Christmas performances. I am sure you will all agree what a difference it made.
The Valley of Visions team who came in and worked with both the Infants and Juniors to put on the performance about the history of Cuxton wasenjoyed by the children and the local residents. The children created some fantastic art work, danced, sang and played music. The evening ended in a procession around the junior school playground, by torch light in the snow!
The performances of The Sleepy Shepherd, and The Special Day, went down a treat with our audiences and we all breathed a sigh of relief and amazement that the children had learned their words, actions and parts in about a week and a half (because of the snow). Huge thanks to all staff, particularly Mrs Southward who worked hard on the music for the plays and the script for years 1 and 2, and Mrs Martin who arranged all the tickets, seating and programmes. Our school is fortunate in having such a hard working staff team who ‘pull together’ at all times.
Cook provided a lovely Christmas meal, and that afternoon we danced at the parties and were visited by the special visitor clad in red!
December 2010
A busy week in school with observations taking place in classes by myself and Angela my deputy. These observations are to monitor the standards of teaching and learning in school. Teachers were updating their assessments on the children this week and tracking their progress, and this information is thengiven to Mrs Street who looks at progress made by each child.
I taught Ranscombe class on Wednesday afternoon, as Mrs Saunders was attending a training course. The children in year 1 have been learning about nocturnal animals, days of the week and months of the year, so much of the afternoon was focused on this. I have to say some of the children were extremely knowledgeable about bats, badgers, hedgehogs, foxes and owls.
Kelly from the Greenacre school partnership visited to discuss the changes to funding of PE and links with Greenacre. This is down to the new government changes. However since our discussion the Government may be ‘doing a u turn’ and there may still be some funding. We will see. Whatever the outcome, parents and governors can be assured we will continue to deliver high quality PE in our school, with thanks largely to Mrs Andrews.
A busy week ended with a morning's meeting regarding my performance management with two Governors, one of whom is the Chair of Governors, and an advisor from the LEA. As in all companies, targets are set for personnel.
The following Monday, I drove to Brands Hatch (not for racing) very early to meet with four colleagues from other schools in Medway. We have been selected to join a strategic leadership course on succession planning and systems capacity. We were joined by a few heads from Kent, Bromley and Bexley, our statistical neighbours. A very interesting first of 5 days. The second two are in Nottingham in January. We left the meeting with trepidation, would we have snow on the way home, the roads were certainly very icy!
The following day, Tuesday 30th November, much of the county was covered in the white stuff! It had snowed all night I think. The local village schools and secondary school where I live were all closed, but having been in touch with Miss Terry at the Juniors and my staff, we all defeated the weather and made it in to work! However some classes were not full by any means in fact in one class only 7 children arrived. Hats off to two families who walked from Strood over the hills! I am glad I made the decision to finish at 2:30pm on that day.Many thanks to the supply cook who came into school and cooked for our school dinner children in the Junior school. Our cooks had not made it into school! Many staff live some distance away, some like me in small villages. It had taken me an hour and a half to get to school. Many schools were in fact closed in Medway on Tuesday, so all in all I think we did very well.
However, we were then also defeated and joined the other many schools in closing. This decision was made each day at 5.30am, as staff have to be contacted, and three radio stations notified and news on each school website. I realise it has caused a large amount of inconvenience to some, but the majority of parents are very understanding and realise that safety of all is paramount, particularly with the horror stories of trains not running, coach companies not running and journeys from Dartford to Cuxton taking seven and a half hours! Anyhow you are aware or our policy for emergency closures.
The snow closure will mean that we have had to postpone the Christmas Fete until the 13th December, and that our plays will not be as polished as we would like, due to lack of rehearsal time, but so as not to disappoint the children and their families we will be going ahead!
It does not seem possible we finish in two weeks. I hope they will be snow free. It is very pretty and the children love it, but what a lot of chaos it causes our country!
November 2010
We had a successful open morning last week with parents of 16 children represented. Many new faces amongst them and we look forward to receiving their application forms and eventually welcoming them into our school. Bush class performed magnificently, singing and saying poems and what they liked about school. We look forward to this weeks open afternoon.
Mickey is starting a football club after school for three evenings a week. The children are thrilled and according to Mickey, Cuxton produces great footballers!
The children watched the Environment Day Movie with much hilarity! They particularly loved the movie set to the Snow White theme ‘we dig, dig, dig, and HI HO! However we loved it all - so good to get everyone involved outside.
Maths Week was a great success with a real focus on the subject all week and practical activities taking place everywhere. Quantum Theatre put on a great production.
I met with Fil from Medway council regarding school meals. Medway want schools to have salad and vegetable trolleys for the children to help themselves from at lunchtime. The idea apparently is that they take what they will eat and try new foods! There is a cost to us but Medway match fund. A decision will have to be made at the Governing body meeting.
I also met with the extended school group which we are involved in. The news from Medway council is that there is at the moment to be no more money to help fund extended schools, which is a great shame but I am not surprised in this current financial climate.
October 2010
A busy few weeks as we end the first academic term of the year. Harvest was a great success. Children worked very hard in assemblies and classes, learning the words to songs and poems. I am interested in knowing your views on Harvest collections and the way forward.
We then had a few building issues with boilers and drains causing some disruption, thankfully not to the children, but more a staffing and collection of children issue. Thankfully these have been addressed.
Enterprise weeks were a great success, with classes raising from £90 - £160, and the children are currently deciding what to spend the money on.
Environmental day was fantastic! We were all outside all day, until the rain came at 2.30pm. Bush Class planted at the front of the school, Ranscombe Class to the side and they also planted up many pots; Sundridge Class worked in the quiet area and up the bank at the rear of the school, and Mays and Marina Classes were busy in their little fenced garden area. Huge thanks to the few folk who sent in plants, particularly the lady who lives in Station Road, and to the parents and governors who helped.
We now look forward to a half term rest after a week of parent's evenings and staff meetings. After half term we start to plan Christmas activities and the play. Today we have actually ordered the stage with great thanks to the FCS and all of you for your donations! We are very excited and hopefully it will fit into our hall nicely.
From a managerial point of view Mrs Martin has completed the school census and is working on updating the school's website, Mrs Rogers has been involved in service level agreement discussions re buildings, and Mrs Street and I are busy updating the school self evaluation forms, compiling a survey letter with results to parents, looking at each child's achievements over the last few weeks, and discussing children with SEN with outside agencies.
That's all for now! I will write again following the half term break. Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday.