Headteacher weekly blog week beginning 25th September

Date: 30th Sep 2017 @ 4:06pm

This week was one of those weeks where there was so much going on!

On Monday, I really enjoyed the Harvest service. Visiting and performing within the church certainly makes it that little bit more special. The singing from each year group was fantastic and the children did a wonderful job with their readings and poetry recitals. Thanks must be given to Mrs McCarthy for pulling it altogether. 

Tuesday was a real highlight as it was French Day. Last year we secured funding through the Erasmus project to help improve the teaching of modern foreign language at our school. 4 members of staff have already been to France and Mrs Pimparel and Mrs Higley will soon be setting off for their weeks stay. There were so many fantastic activities going on. The pupils got to make and sample traditional french food such as croissants, french bread, cheeses and even a duck cassoulet. There was plenty of singing various french songs, research on the actual country and its culture and practical tasks such as creating the Eiffel Tower -  the Nursery pupils even made their own tower with their building blocks. And of course the children were immersed in the french language. 

On Thursday, the school felt rather empty. Year 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Jodrell Bank as part of their space topic. And the Infants looked fantastic in their oufits for their traditional ball at Tatton Park. Enhancements such as these trips are important to our topics and bring them to life. The trips always inspire wonderful writing on their return to school. 

Mr Firkins continues to do a fantastic job as our sports coach. He has worked hard preparing the children for their rugby tournaments. Thursday was the turn of the Year 5 and 6 rugby team to compete in the Broxton tournament. This year there was a new 3 tag rule which made for some very exciting and tight games. It was a fantastic tournament and the team went through the competition undefeated, beating Clutton in the final 2 - 1 with a try scored in the last seconds! That is 2 trophies so far and we are still in September!

A big thank you to all the people who came into school to support our Macmillan Coffee morning. I was lucky enough to sample some of the wonderful cakes that were donated. I haven't a final figure as yet but I am sure we raised a good amount of money for a very worthy cause.

Mrs Wakefield and myself looked at the literacy books this week. We were thrilled to see the impact the new books with the lineguides are having on our pupils' handwriting. Mrs Wakefield has worked hard on the development of writing  over these last few years and it has certainly paid off. 

I finally had the contracts to look through and sign on Friday for the buildig work. I was expecting to see a contract on A4 paper and was surprised to see documents the size of my thigh squeezed into a box! Finally, the major parts of the build will begin on the 9th October, once the path has been tarmaced. The first 8 weeks will see the construction of the studio hall and offices at the front as well as the meeting room and new staffroom. It seems a long time ago when I was interviewing architects and now at last the big build is about to begin. I will post regular updates of the build on twitter and the page on the webiste which will include photographs. 

Next week, I would like to think that it will be a little more quieter, but there are 2 football matches planned and Early Years and Year 1 parents' evening. Just another week in Farndon.