Headteacher blog 12/2/16

We have come to the end of an intense half term and I think all the children and staff are ready for a break. There has been so much flu and general ‘poorliness’ around; let’s hope the break can help everyone get well!

It has been a busy week with Year 5 visiting the Leeds City Museum for a workshop on Anglo-Saxons and Year 1 having their great art gallery exhibition this afternoon. We also held a full governors’ meeting last night which included a session  looking though children’s books to see the quality of presentation, teachers’ instructional feedback and the standards that are being achieved. Suffice to say, the governors were pleased with the standard of work that they saw and they were particularly impressed by improvements in handwriting and presentation this year. They were also impressed, and somewhat daunted, by the expectations as regards grammar that is now in the curriculum from Year 1. High expectations are a good thing, but we also need to make sure that expectations are reasonable and relevant to all the children. If the curriculum becomes too formal too soon, children can get ‘turned off’ their learning. We have to strike the right balance.