Headteacher Weekly blog Week beginning 10th October

Date: 14th Oct 2016 @ 2:42pm

It was another enjoyable week here at Farndon. 

Thank you to those parents and members of the community who came into school to meet with representatives from the Local Authority for the consultation on our intake number potentially changing from 30 to 45. The general feeling was positive with questions ranging from mixed year group classes and the future of the mobiles! Obviously, when we are clearer on actual pupil numbers, the Governors and Leadership team will begin to make decisions on class structure and the criteria we will use to potentially mix certain classes where pupil numbers are high. This will be a gradual process over the coming years as the school grows. 

In respect of the mobiles, the money the school has been allocated is for 4 additional classrooms. We are currently liaising with the Local Authority to try to ensure that the mobile replacement is included in the development and future proof the school with 6 additional classrooms. As soon as we have some firm decisions, I will of course share them with parents. 

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day with the Year 5 and 6 pupils on Thursday. We went to Knowsley Safari Park and had a great day - we practically had the park to ourselves! The children were so well behaved and the staff there were impressed by both their knowledge and how interested and inquisitive they were. The trip formed part of their work on their Endangered topic and soon they plan to write to Prince William himself about the plight of the elephants.You can catch up on what they did through twitter and the website.

The infant children have been busy this week. In Year 1, a UFO crash landed in the classroom and there were strange alien footprints all around school. I was shocked to find an alien in my office which I had to take back to Year 1. All week they have produced some lovely writing centred around  the text they have been studying. In Year 2, their text is "Toys in Space." In the story, the toys are left outside and picked up by an alien. This week, the children left the toys in the pond area and have been writing setting descriptions. 

Mrs Cornforth and Mr Bond are now on their way back to school. They have spent the week in France teaching in a French school and learning the language. Having messaged them, it is clear it has been a really enjoyable week but there was also lots of hard work! You can find out what they have been doing through reading their French blog. We are looking forward to them coming back and sharing all the resources and what they have learnt with all the staff. I am sure this invaluable professional development will have a positive impact on the teaching of modern foreign language within our school. And from this trip, we have also forged some good links with other primary schools within France where we hope to do some joint work and write, blog and even skype with each other.