Headteacher blog 10th November 2017
Staff absences can be difficult to cover, especially when we have such an ambitious and creative curriculum, but if it falls to me to cover a class or group, at least I have the pleasure of working directly with children again and I get to experience life ‘at the chalk face’. I really enjoyed teaching maths to a Year 4 class on Monday and on Wednesday I had to take a Y6 group to The Depot as part of their PE curriculum. The fifteen Y6 children working at The Depot this half term are certainly very lucky: what a wonderful chance to develop their climbing skills with three engaging instructors and a great climbing centre. I met a former Farfield parent climbing there, and he was delighted that we could bring children to the centre; we discussed how important it is to offer a rich and varied PE curriculum that appeals to a very wide range of children and offers them lots of different ways to find success and enjoyment. He recounted his own experience of PE: a bleak Kes-like curriculum that was great if you were the captain of the football or rugby; grim if you weren’t.
Last weekend twenty one children made their way to Middleton Park for a city-wide cross country competition. I was very proud of every one of them – well done!
On Tuesday and Wednesday we welcomed almost every family to school for our first parents’ evening of the year. It was great to see everyone and for the large majority of parents it will have been a very positive consultation. Where there is more work to do, then I hope that we had constructive discussions and a clear plan for how school and home can work together to maximise progress. I met a few families where there were happiness or friendship issues and it is important that we hear this quickly and work together to improve any negative situations.
