Heads Blog

Another very busy term is well under way with the children fully involved in a wide range of activities.

We have had assemblies by Poppy, Sycamore and Bluebell classes which were really well attended by parents. In each case the children did magnificently and were able to demonstrate their learning share many successes across the curriculum. Very well done to all involved!

Staying with the curriculum - earlier this month we welcomed a very large number of parents into school to see how we teach writing across the school. Everyone who came enjoyed the morning and the children certainly enjoyed showing off their skills. The feedback from parents was positive and we are looking forward to our next Curriculum In Action morning in March which will look at how we teach mathematics.

We have invited an Ofsted inspector to work with us and he is supporting us to make sure we are meeting the requirements of the new inspection framework. This essential work is really benefiting our subject and senior leaders. I have been really pleased with the impact this work is having and it is reassuring to know that we are getting things right!

We continue to work closely with other schools including Cogenhoe Primary in our work on ‘Talk 4 Writing’ programme. The sharing of staff expertise has benefitted teachers and there has been a really positive impact in the classroom.

We welcomed back ex – Earls Barton Primary school children who now attend Wrenn School earlier this month. They students spoke to our Key Stage 2 children about the benefits of hard work and were able to answer questions and address queries that our children had about life in a secondary school. The Wrenn students modelled many of our core values and inspired our children with their stories of achievement and personal development.

In connection with school values, I am looking at introducing an additional value, that of ‘excellence’. Governors, parents, staff and of course the children have been consulted for their views on this. The children are very keen, one of the reasons for this is that the first letter of the core values is easy to remember as it spells ‘SHREK’ (Self – belief, honesty, respect, excellence and kindness).

Safeguarding is always prominent in our minds and we have all had recent training so we can look after our children’s safety and well-being. We have practiced how we can make the children safe indoors and we are looking at how we can improve site security as well.

Work with a cluster of schools continues and this has helped us to share good ideas and practice. A number of head teachers from other schools will be visiting us later in the term to see how our new behaviour system is working and to see how our pastoral support team work together.

Thirty Year 4, 5 and 6 children went to ‘Young Voices’ in Birmingham at the end of the month. The sang their hearts out and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Although it was a long day for them the staff who looked after them said that their behaviour was exemplary! A huge thank you to the staff who went and well done to the children!

Some of our children have also been to a Northampton Town football match, to see a game at their home ground, where we awarded the TaMHS (Targetted Mental Health in Schools Programme) accredited award. This is a great achievement for the school and I would like to thank everyone involved.

We have close links with Earls Barton library. Many staff have taken their classes to visit and the children have really enjoyed this opportunity. We are very keen to see this relationship develop. I’m sure that many of our families will be at the official reopening of the library on the 8^th February.

Very best wishes

DR sign