Headteacher blog 8th July 2022

A week is a long time in politics – 48 hours even – and it has been quite a 7 days at Farfield.

Last weekend we had a fantastic PTA Camp-Over on site: over 70 families camping and many hundreds more on site. It was another fabulously successful day, with so much fun to be had and a wonderful community atmosphere. Well done and thanks to all the volunteers without whom it would not have happened. I believe about £2500 was made in profit for PTA funds, bringing the year’s fund-raising to date to a record £8500. Amazing.

On Monday and Tuesday, Year 5 travelled by minibus up to Malham for a day’s walking, map-reading, geography content and splashing-about fun at Gordale Scar. Next week Y4 are off to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Geography is more engaging when you can do fieldwork. Many thanks to staff that are willing to extend the day to make these trips happen. We also had the annual bee workshop up at the farm hives for Year 2, with our fantastic resident bee-keepers Nicole and Susan.

On Tuesday, we got our Y6 SATs results – the first since 2019. Despite standards dropping across the country after COVID, results at Farfield soared: both in terms of headline attainment and progress. The results are probably the best we have had for over a decade – well above national average – with almost half of the cohort seeming to have made accelerated progress since their Y2 SATs. The Year 6 staff have clearly done a fantastic job this year, but it also suggests that our lockdown provision in Years 4 and 5 was probably better than many other schools.

(These results are subject to slight revision as we await one child’s results and we have an appeal over another’s.)

On Wednesday we had three successful Sports Days and the weather wasn’t too bad after a damp start for our youngest children. I hope everyone had fun and that parents enjoyed the spectacle. We try hard to make Sports Day a challenge for our most physically able whilst keeping it accessible and inclusive for those that need some support. I think we generally succeed.

This morning (Friday) we had the final of our Science Superstars competition in front of almost the whole school in a packed Junior hall. Class winners showed and explained their science display and a winner was chosen by our panel of scientists: Jane, Shelley and Paul.  The children were confident and eloquent: especially impressive when you are still in Reception and have never really been to an assembly before – let alone a whole school event in another building! Many thanks to Mrs Galbraith and Miss Levett, our science team, for their impressive organisation of the event.

Enjoy the sunshine.