Headteacher blog April 27th 2018

Obviously the highlight of the week was finally receiving our Ofsted report. As expected, it was very positive and the few areas picked out for further work were things that we were already aware of and trying to work on. Some of the most pleasing elements for me were the references to such a ‘rich, vibrant and engaging’ curriculum, ‘exemplary’ behaviour in the classes visited and ‘consistently good and some outstanding’ teaching.  I was also pleased to see that the strength of the school’s middle leaders was recognised as I thought that they were particularly impressive during the inspection.

This week Reception had a very successful visit to the ‘Rainbow Factory’ – where, apparently, they don’t manufacture rainbows – and some of our older children have had assemblies and workshops with the NSPCC about staying safe.  Next week, Year 6 will be taking part in a interactive theatre production called Mister Shapeshifter that explores, at an age-appropriate level, the dangers that can be online and in adult/child relationships, and how children can protect themselves. It is interesting to reflect on how safeguarding in schools has changed over the years: when I started as a teacher, and before that as a child, I only recall some Green Cross Code and maybe a bit of sometimes-misplaced ‘stranger danger’. Nowadays, safeguarding, child protection and the PSHE curriculum is multi-faceted and it feels like it is all much more high profile and demanding in terms of school resources and curriculum time. I do think this is right – and as principal Headteacher representative on the Leeds Safeguarding Children’s Partnership I must –  but it does need to be recognised as a significant additional element of the school’s core purposes.

Finally, I must congratulate colleague and parent Katrina Wallace who successfully completed the London Marathon last weekend, raising money for MIND. She chose the hottest London Marathon ever but still managed to complete the course. Well done Katrina: I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it…