Headteacher blog 15th July 2022

It has been a positive penultimate week of the school year.

For me, the week has been dominated by proof-reading and querying reports, followed by adding a headteacher comment. There is a lot to check: how did the child attain last year, or at the end of the previous key stage; how has their progress been this year, have any interventions been positive? What did I say last year? For most children, the report is a positive record of further success and achievement. For a minority, it is more difficult to choose the right words: which children (and families) need more encouragement; which need a few ‘home-truths’ and straight-talking? I don’t always get that balance right.

This week, we have had a couple of long trips up to Horton in Ribblesdale for our two Y4 classes. We have been promoting map reading a lot this year, and it was heartening to get feedback from colleagues that the children followed the OS maps proficiently. Our children get a total of four trips into the Dales from Y4-6, two of which are residential. We aren’t ‘lucky’ to have our own minibuses for trips like these as it is a conscious decision in terms of prioritisation for a rich curriculum. We regularly allow other schools to borrow our buses if we aren’t using them – it is them that are lucky!

One group that didn’t use the minibus were our KS2 librarians who had an end of year ‘thank you’ treat: a surprise walk down to Truman Books on Town Street. The librarians have done a fantastic job and deserve their literary goodie bags!

 

Finally, on Wednesday I had the pleasure of watching a fabulous show by our Y6 leavers: Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat. It was wonderful to have singing again and a big crowd in the hall. The children did very well and were very confident. Such was the array of talent, that there were no less than five different ‘Josephs’ over the course of the show – the audience had to watch carefully! Congratulations to everyone involved.