29 Feb 2008 - Newsletter No 22
Newsletter No.22 -
Mr Sutton, Mss Graham, Mrs Kydd and Mr Harvey have just returned from another very successful meeting with our friends and colleagues at
During the visit our teachers taught lessons; visited the local area and children’s homes; watched a brilliant student debate about punishment; exchanged a culture box; watched some fantastic singing and dancing; did work on religion, names and school mottos; and perhaps the highlight, introduced tag rugby to a very eager group of students who had never encountered anything quite like it before!
The staff and children of
Geography Inspection
On Thursday this week the school had an Ofsted Inspection of Geography by Mr Paul Gowgill - a specialist Geography inspector. This is part of the Ofsted process for ascertaining the quality of teaching and learning in English schools and we will be one of a sample of 30 schools nationally which will contribute to the next Ofsted report about Geography. Mr Dowgill was very thorough and his programme for the day included: a study of school documentation; an observation of a Geography lesson; an interview with Miss Milsom - our Geography coordinator; scrutiny of pupils’ work; meetings with groups of children; and a final discussion with members of the Leadership Team. Strictly, the judgements Mr Dowgill made yesterday remain confidential until the report is published on the Ofsted website…however we can say that Mr Dowgill was clearly impressed at our overall provision and particularly liked the way in which we use our international links to enhance the teaching and learning in the subject.
Congratulations to Miss Milsom for preparing for the inspection so carefully and we look forward to publishing the report to the school community as soon as it is released. It is especially pleasing for us as a recent Ofsted report has shown that Geography is currently judged to be the least effective subject in primary schools across the country.
Year 4 Trip to Waterworks
On Monday Sue Goddard came from Wessex Water to talk about how water is cleaned at the Sewage treatment works .Today the children in Year 4 have visited the works in Weston Super mare, and there will be a report about this in next week’s newsletter.
Orchestra Concert Experience
On Wednesday afternoon the orchestra attended a performance of Pirates Ahoy performed by the Emerald Chamber Ensemble at the Colston Hall. The children really enjoyed the experience and several said that they would be keen to carry on with their music and become members of adult orchestras.
Choir Performance at Colston Hall
Also on Wednesday, the choir took part in a concert to celebrate Fairtrade fortnight. Over 500 children from Bristol Primary Schools were performing in the Colston Hall and the combined choirs sounded fantastic. The concert promoted
Choir and Survival Skills are cancelled next week because of Parents Evenings.
PE Activemark award for 2007
The school has been awarded a PE Activemark for outstanding coverage of PE during 2007/2008. Congratulations and thanks to Mr Macdonald for his hard work in helping the school to achieve this prestigious award.
Cancellation of Football Club.
Ironically, our Football club must be cancelled next week as Mr Macdonald has broken his leg in a holiday skiing accident and has obviously been signed off work for a couple of weeks. We are investigating whether we can find another member of staff to run this club during Mr Macdonald’s absence.
Promotion of Science Week
You will have received a letter this week about Science week and particularly about the items we need for science collections. Boxes will be in the hall as from Monday ready for any contributions.
Parents’ Evenings
If you have not received your reply slip, please contact the class teacher in order to arrange a mutually convenient time. Hopefully, after our Spring Clean, plus the displays of children’s work, you will find plenty to look at and enjoy whilst you are in school. Please also take the opportunity to view the Ugandan display in the library and the
Lost Property
The Spring Clean tidy up has revealed rather a lot of unlabelled Lost Property and we will be displaying this on tables in the playground (or in the hall if wet weather) at home time today and next week in the hope that the items can be reunited with owners.
Manor Farm Action Group
· The Skatepark is now ready for construction outside the sports centre and builders start on site over the next 7 weeks. You can view the plans by emailing mag.group@blueyonder.co.uk or call at ‘Lizzie’s Kitchen’ Horfield Common.
· Coach trips:
Students of the Week
Adam Batten, Carys Patterson and Prakrit Kumar in class 13; and Lily May Rice, James Kempe and Jessica Webber in class 14 for both their oral and written work in geography – and especially for doing so well in their discussion with the Ofsted inspector!
Assembly Theme:
Our theme for assemblies next week is Prayer.