Pupil Survey - what do the pupils really think????

The school governors are always interested in finding out what the pupils think. We want to try and make our school even better and more enjoyable. Last week Mrs Comer, Mrs Wall and Ms Edwards met with 3 pupils from each year to find out what they like or dislike about their school. They were very helpful and informative. They not only told us whether they enjoyed school and learning but also told us why! We discovered that School trips are helpful to learning as well as enjoyable. Some pupils like a practical task to help fix things in their minds. Making a model of the digestive system can help you remember the word Oesophagus! Older students like to work to targets and goals. Small group learning is popular but sometimes, the year sixes said, you just have to work alone and focus. We got a lot of information from the thoughtful responses of our pupils which gave us ideas for future lessons and activities. Thank you to you all. My best response was the pupil who said he enjoyed school and learning because we are the best school in the world with the best teachers in the world!

Full Governing Body Meeting - 10th November 2014

On Monday 10th November we held our second Full Governing Body Meeting of the term.

I am delighted to welcome two new Foundation Governors to our team:

Mike Tonge is a local Water End resident whose teenage daughter used to attend the school
Carli Wall is a current parent with two young children at the school

I am really looking forward to working with Mike and Carli.

The Agenda for the meeting was very full and varied.

We received the termly update report from the Headteacher focusing on the School's progress in the Ofsted areas of Pupil Achievement, Teaching & Learning, Behaviour & Safeguarding and Leadership & Management. This is a very detailed report (called a School Self Evaluation) which looks at where the school is currently, and what are the next steps for making further improvements. The Governing Body asks many questions about the report, and Mrs Comer always answers with great honesty and clarity.

Other agenda items included:
-reports from the Sub Committees (Curriculum & Standards and Finance, Personnel & Premises);
-approval of policies (including Admissions and Behaviour)
-discussion about potential future projects to improve the school buildings and playground

The Governing Body meetings are an important part of our work, but Governors also support the school on a more regular basis. The purple Governors' Book records all of our visits to the school, and it is very satisfying that in the Autumn Term so far there have been many contributions from all Governors including accompanying children on school trips, running after-school clubs, attending Local Authority training sessions, carrying out small maintenance projects on the building and doing 'learning walks' in the school.

Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors

Remembrance Day Service

The Parish News article for November featured a wonderful poem about Remembrance written by Oscar in Year 6.

The Service of Remembrance at our Parish Church of St John the Baptist was led by Gill Moore, who chose to finish her address to the congregation by reading Oscar's poem. It was very moving to listen to the poem, and I was delighted that one of our pupils was able to contribute directly to the life of the Church in this way.

We hold Collective Worship in the Church every Friday morning. It is wonderful to see that the children enjoy being in the Church and clearly feel that it is an important part of their week. Family members are also very welcome to attend this Collective Worship.

 

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

Parish News November 2014

The School Council plays an important role in our school : six children of different ages who meet weekly to discuss issues of importance to the pupils. The School Council recently visited the Houses of Parliament to see how democracy works on a national level. We were then delighted to welcome local MP Mike Penning to the school to tell us about his life as an MP and to answer questions.  The children’s questions were equally as challenging as those from the floor of the House. For example:

-          How do you raise money to keep the Houses of Parliament running?

-          As an MP, how do you feel about troops being sent to War?

We hope that these types of experience will encourage our children to be ‘confident, respectful and successful citizens of the future’.

 

Recently five of our children attended an ‘Able Maths Day’ at George Street School, using Art to inspire the budding mathematicians. Tasks included working out how many assistants Damien Hirst would need to make Spot paintings of various sizes and making Anthony Gormley figurines from plasticine and estimating how many would be needed to fill the school hall (252,000!!!). Certainly a different approach to mathematics with plenty of practical activities. Children will also be attending an ‘Able Writers Day’. These events are an excellent way of enriching the curriculum and giving children the opportunity to work with pupils from other local schools.

 

On National Poetry Day children throughout the school wrote their own poems. There are some beautiful examples of their poems on our website. Year 5&6 wrote poems inspired by the First World War and I would like to share a poem written by Oscar in Year 6:

 

The trenches are dirty

The trenches are wet

The trenches are our homes

Covering our silhouette.

 

Violets are blue

Poppies are red –

Representing the blood

that we shed;

 

We wear our poppies

with love and respect

We will never forget

We must never forget.

 

Leaving our families

Holding hands with our future;

Bravely marching, we the British warriors

We will never forget

We must never forget.

 

The oceans of poppies,

Blood and sweat

We must never forget

 

Please don't forget.

 

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

Parish News October 2014

Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School

The new school year has arrived! We welcome twenty new children to the school, primarily in Nursery and Reception, and hope that they will all be very happy in our village school. We also welcome Mrs Jessop as our Senior Teacher in the Year 3&4 classroom. There is a real buzz of excitement in the classroom and on the playground.

War Horse

The year started with a bang for children in Years 5&6 as they headed into London by train to see the acclaimed play ‘War Horse’. The trip supports the literacy work in the classroom, but is also consistent with our ambition to provide the children with inspiring experiences beyond the curriculum.

‘War Horse is an amazing show directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris; it stars Jack Loxton as Albert. It is based on the book written by Michael Morpurgo.

It is about Joey, the horse, and his magnificent journey through World War 1. You meet many different characters along the way: funny ones, weak ones, evil ones, serious ones, strong ones and all sorts of ones!’ By Henry (Year 6)

‘The storyline was about a horse; he was born and trained to be a racehorse, but after a farmer bought him, he became a farm horse, and learnt to plough the field. He was sold to the war for £100 and everyone on the farm was upset. Joey, the horse, got to experience both sides of the war.’ By Callum (Year 6)

‘Albert and Joey are the main characters. The horses moved slowly and carefully and all of the actors had good facial expressions and acted really well.‘ By Dylan (Year 5)

‘Joey and Albert build a friendship that can’t be broken by anything. They are special because they have a bigger bond than anyone else in the story.’ By Oscar (Year 6)

 ‘War Horse at the New London Theatre was brilliant! It’s full of humour, sadness and show stopping moments.’ By Kayleigh  (Year 6)

As a school, we were also delighted to receive the following message from a member of the public:

 

'I am sitting on a train with a dozen or so of your pupils and three of your staff en route to London.

This is just to say what an absolute pleasure it is to see such bright, cheerful and interested boys and girls, in full flow, yet with manners and due deference to their surroundings and others.

They are all a great credit to your school, and I hope they all go on to great things.’

New Curriculum

The staff have been working hard to make sure that the School is ready for the new, more challenging national curriculum. Our small staff numbers and mixed-age classes mean that each teacher is responsible for leading several curriculum areas and for planning the curriculum on a two-year-rolling basis. The plans look very exciting and inspiring: we hope that the children are inspired to love learning.

Clubs

Finally, I would like to mention the range of extra-curricular clubs that are on offer this term: Art, Cooking, Coding, Dance, Science, Gardening, Maths, Football and Knitting. This is quite a remarkable offering for such a small school. Our daily Breakfast Club is also very popular. We are extremely lucky to have such a dedicated staff who want to offer opportunities above and beyond the set curriculum.

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

Maths Day

Five of our able mathematicians attended a special maths inspiration day at George Street School today. It was a great experience to work with children from other schools, exploring maths through art.

 

We looked at Damien Hirst’s Spot paintings to investigate square numbers and factors, and to estimate how long it would take to do a real spot painting. Did you know that Damien Hirst uses assistants to do the actual paintings? Or that every spot is a slightly different colour? Our group created their own Spot design

 

 

 

Then the work of artist Carl Andre was used to inspire us to work with Dominoes to create 3 dimensional shapes.

 

 

 

Finally, the sculptures of Anthony Gormley were used to investigate weight, density and volume. Everyone made a small plasticene figure and then we had to think carefully about how to estimate how many of our tiny figures would be needed to fill the hall at George Street School. Our estimate was that 252,000 figures (or a quarter of a million!) would be needed.

 

 

 

We also learnt about the Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco who made a ball of plasticine the same weight as his own body weight and then rolled it through the streets of New York to symbolize the impact that everyday life has on us. Can you guess how big a ball of plasticine is needed the weigh the same as a grown man? Tennis ball sized? Football sized? Spacehopper sized?

 

If you want to know the answer then please ask Callum, Dylan, Max, Ollie or Willow!

 

Andrzej Gaudyn and I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying the children on their Maths day.

 

Alison Wilkinson

 

Elected School Council takes on the Houses of Parliament

Fellow Governor Mrs Wilkinson and myself had the pleasure of joining a school trip with Mrs Lilley and representative children from all classes on a trip to the Houses of Parliament. Around this Mrs Lilley organised a visit to a number of London's Historic Landmarks.

It was truly a great and memorable day! All the children - Hope, Jack, Hattie, Beau, Fenella, Kaia, Harrison, Callum, Nancy, Willow & Dylan were superbly behaved throughout the long day and asked lots of brilliant questions in Parliament!

A big thanks to Mrs Lilley in organising this event.

Andrzej Gaudyn
30th September 2014

As we approach the 160th Anniversary of the School at Great Gaddesden….

Being a Governor with responsibility for Premises , Health & Safety, apart from the occasional major project, I am often bogged down in the not so joyful world of leaking pipework/ taps, dodgy roofing, dry rot, rising damp, rotting windows as well as mind numbing Health & safety and planning legislation. On the plus side it has always been rewarding to see the positive impact that little improvements to the school make to the environment that our children enjoy during their school day.

Managing a school where some buildings date to over 150 years and others were added and constructed in the 1960’s & 1980’s gives us a number of challenges in providing the best environment for the young minds entrusted to us to expand their knowledge to their maximum individual potential.

Our head, the teachers and all the staff have been doing a fantastic job  in focusing on raising the standard of education in the school and the results speak for themselves. (Herts CC, The Diocese of ST Albans and HM Inspector of schools all seem to agree too ! )

The school is becoming ever popular with school numbers increasing, however,  the schools Governing body, recognises that there are some unique features of this school which make it what it is such as smaller class sizes and a high staff to pupil ratio providing good quality targeted education.

One of the tasks ahead will be to look at how to make the most of the whole of the schools layout to make best use of the buildings fit for another 150 years !

Some of you may have noticed a new addition to the school house garden.  Inspired by approaching 160^th Anniversary (in 2 ½ years time) a former pupil of Great Gaddesden School has designed, hand forged and installed a Victorian arch over the entrance into the school house garden. The former pupil chose this as a project as part of her A level in Design & Technology.  I hope you will agree that this is a nice addition to the school’s environment.

 

 

Full Governing Body Meeting - September 15th 2014

On Monday evening, we held the first Full Governing Body Meeting of the academic year.

We meet as a full governing body once every half term, providing support to the school as a ‘Critical Friend’. Our activities are wide-ranging and might include approving school policies, reviewing pupil attainment data and planning capital investment.

The first meeting is focused on making sure that the Governing Body is ready for the year ahead. Agenda items included:

-          electing a Chair (Alison Wilkinson) and Vice-Chair (Catherine Wilkinson)

-          confirming the sub-committees for the coming year (Finance, Personnel & Premises; Curriculum & Standards)

-          approving the Governors’ programme of work for the academic year, including how the Governors can support the School Development Plan

-          approving the Minutes from the meeting held in July 2014, and reviewing matters arising from that meeting

-          approving our Instrument of Government and agreeing training priorities for the Governing Body

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday November 10^th.

If you would like to know more about the work of the Governing Body, please do not hesitate to contact me awilkinson@greatgaddesden.herts.sch.uk

Wishing everyone at Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School a happy and successful academic year.

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

Parish News September 2014

Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School

The children and staff of the school are currently enjoying a well-earned summer holiday. The last academic year was incredibly busy with innovations in many areas of school life ranging from installing a new central heating boiler (following a leak in the boiler room) to celebrating Small Schools Week in style with an “off-curriculum week” of amazing activities. All of these issues (and many more!) come into the in-tray of a small school’s Headteacher. The breadth of issues that has to be dealt with is quite amazing. We are incredibly fortunate to have Miss Worsley as our headteacher and she has led the school with skill and compassion throughout the year.

The traditional Leavers’ Service at the end of term was a chance to pay tribute to our Year 6 Leavers – Amanda, Charlie, Shyla, Josh – “The four of you have been superb leaders and have set a terrific example to the rest of the school. Great Gaddesden will always be your school and we look forward to hearing about your future successes - stay in touch!”  They have all been wonderful pupils of our school and I am sure their experiences at Great Gaddesden will mean that they move on to be happy and successful secondary school pupils.

 It was also an opportunity to thank the staff for their hard work throughout the year. Academically, the relentless focus on raising standards has really borne fruit and our SATs results (for pupils in Years 2 and 6) demonstrate genuinely excellent progress in reading, writing and maths. This is testament to the hard work of both staff and pupils. We are very proud of their achievements.

 However, our school is about so much more than academic standards. This year has also seen the school provide the children and the staff with so many opportunities to grow in all areas of their lives. The class blogs and school website are a record of just how varied and rich the school experience at Great Gaddesden has become.

In September we welcome Mrs Jessop to the school as Senior Teacher and Inclusion Leader. We are really excited about the opportunities this appointment offers to drive further improvements in teaching and learning throughout the school.

We also welcome new families to our school in September and trust that the children and their families will be very happy as they start their ‘friendship’ with Great Gaddesden School.

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

Great Gaddesden Parish Newsletter

Below is the School's article in the Parish Newsletter for the July/August edition.

Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School

For Children Aged 3-11

 Year 5&6 Trip to Paris

The long-awaited and planned for trip to Paris took place on Friday 20th June. The 4.30am start did not deter pupils or staff and they had a wonderful time. The children conducted a treasure hunt beginning outside Le Louvre - following clues to answer questions about some of the nearby attractions. There were 19 questions to answer as well as additional challenges such as recreating the pose from a statue or spelling out a word using their bodies as letters. The treasure hunt finished within site of L'Arc de Triomphe. Children then visited the Eiffel Tower - here they went as far as the second floor and took in the fabulous view of the city. They also used their French speaking skills to buy a number of souvenirs during the day. Behaviour was, a always, impeccable.

 

Small Schools Week

There is huge excitement in the school for the last week of June as normal lessons make way for a week of enrichment and extra curricular activities to celebrate Small Schools Week.

Each class teacher has developed an exciting week of activities:

Nursery & Reception will be having a Circus Skills Workshop, going on a woodland adventure, learning about Art through nature, preparing food for a picnic and hosting a teddy bears picnic for other small schools in the area.

Children in Years 1 &2 will be going to Tring Museum, having a fun food day, doing an Art Academy workshop and building woodland dens.

Our older pupils in Key Stage 2 will be going Kayaking on the Grand Union Canal, rock climbing at the XC, orienteering in our beautiful countryside, den building on the Gaddesden Estate, playing inter-house rounders, and doing a science workshop. On Friday all of the children in Key Stage 2 will be going to the Orchard Barn on the Gaddesden Estate for a ‘Dragons Den’ style workshop entitled “How to save the World”. We are very grateful to Nick and Viola Halsey for allowing us to use the wonderful facilities of the Gaddesden Estate.

On Wednesday the whole school will be going to Whipsnade Zoo for the day. One of the unique things about small schools is the wonderful sense of community that exists between pupils across the school. We felt that one way of celebrating this was for the whole school to share an outing together.

 Academic Review of the Year

One of the reasons that the school is able to enjoy Small Schools Week to the full is that the children and staff have worked incredibly hard this academic year on the core skills of reading, writing and maths. Our whole school focus has been to improve Writing and a recent LEA review of the school’s progress against its Ofsted targets said that the progress in writing this year has been “SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE”.

We are very proud of the huge improvements that are being made in academic teaching and learning across the school.

 Year 6 Leavers

This time of year is very poignant as we say goodbye to pupils who have been a very important part of our school community. This year we say farewell to Amanda, Charlie, Josh and Shyla. We are incredibly proud of them all and wish them happiness and success in their secondary schools. They have all been wonderful ambassadors for the School.

In a small school, being a Year 6 pupil brings many responsibilities, and the oldest children almost become part of the school leadership team! We are therefore particularly sad to see our oldest pupils leave. However, our current Year 5s will return in September ready to grow into the role of the most senior pupils in the school.

Wishing all members of our wonderful school community a relaxing summer holiday. We look forward to welcoming you back in September.

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors 

Wild visitors to inter-house rounders

Preparations for inter-house rounders were hampered by an unusual event this weekend. A badger had dug up a bees nest in the corner of the rounders field! A quick call was made to local St Margarets beekeeper, Carolyn Wise. Her advice was that it would definitely be a bumblebee nest rather than a honey bee nest. Therefore there would only be around 40 bees in the nest rather than the 50,000 that can live in a honeybee hive! Bumblebees are protected and are generally peaceful insects. In fact the few bumblebees around the nest site were very calm and beautiful. Did you know that there are several hundred types of bees in the UK?

The nest was cordoned off and inter-house rounders went ahead as planned. I hope the bumblebees enjoyed the live sport entertainment!

 

 

Post by Alison Wilkinson

On Monday evening we held a meeting of the Full Governing Body. Monitoring the financial health of the school is one of our key responsibilities and on Monday we approved the Budget for the financial year April 2014 – April 2015 (the financial year is different to the academic year). We looked in detail at the first year, but also looked at draft plans for the next five years. I am pleased to report that the school is in a healthy financial position and we are very excited about the opportunities this provides for the school and the children over the coming year.

The Governors also reviewed some school policies and received reports from the Finance and Curriculum committees.

Our final meeting of the academic year will take place on 7th July.

 

Post by Alison Wilkinson

 

New Conservatory

You may have noticed that in the half term holiday our conservatory got a make over! It looks fantastic and is a much more inspiring space for the children. The project was managed by Andrzej Gaudyn, who has been a governor at the school for over seven years. During that time he has supervised two major building projects, organised numerous repairs to our school building and often wields the paintbrush or power washer himself to ensure that small jobs get done at no cost to the school. Often persuading his daughter, an ex-pupil of the school, to come along and help.

In recognition of his contribution to the school, I have nominated Andrzej for the Outstanding Governor Award organized by the Hertfordshire Association of School Governors. This is a new award and the three winners will be announced in November 2014. The three winning Governors will receive a cash prize of £50 and their schools will receive a cash prize of £500. That would be wonderful!

 

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Small Schools in the Parish News

Extract from the June edition of the Parish Newsletter......

Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School

For Children Aged 3-11

 A celebration of small schools

I planned to write about the forthcoming ‘Small Schools Week’ in this edition. However, in preparation for this event, our eldest children have been considering what makes a small school unique. Their words are more powerful than anything I could hope to write! Therefore I hope you enjoy these extracts from their work:

Good things come in small packages, like Great Gaddesden C of E Primary School.

When you come to a small state school like ours, it is not just the school that gets bigger, it's also your heart and mind.  When you go to a small school with under one hundred students there are a lot of advantages on both the social and academic side of things.  Socially, children play with children across the school - not just their own year group.  Academically, you can be supported better since there are fewer pupils in the class.

Remember, big is not always better.

Ollie

At Great Gaddesden School we have no fuss.  At a small school you get more attention and help.  When I was at a bigger school, I didn't get a lot of help and now I get loads!  I am learning and so are my siblings.  I think all of my family has improved a lot in the time we have been at the school.

Neive

Small schools are the best ever because, although we are small, we learn more than we might in a bigger school.  Pupils from bigger schools may think that they have more advantages, but when they come to this school their brains will get bigger and more than this, they will be cared for in a way that is not possible in a larger school

I have been a pupil at Great Gaddesden for 8 years now.  I have been loved and cared for and have been happy for each and every year. 

Amanda

Small schools make learning easier than bigger schools.  I joined Great Gaddesden School only a few short weeks ago and I'm already finding it easier.  Learning is easier because you get more of the adults time.  For example, in my old school I had a class of 31, it took 5 minutes just to do the register!

Henry

Big isn't always better. 

Many people believe that a small school doesn't have as much to offer as a larger school - that is not the case; on the contrary, a small school can be terrific!  Here's how:  a small school can offer a lot more attention to children academically, plus children interact and socialise with more children (other than their own age group).

I have been a dedicated pupil at our fantastic Great Gaddesden C of E School since the first day of Nursery and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time - everyone here is loving and caring and I am devastated to be departing this wonderful school to go to secondary school.

Josh

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Fun and games at Curriculum and Standards Committee

Our meeting on Friday was packed full of interesting and exciting stuff. Miss Worsley presented her review of attainment data which showed just how much progress our children have made. The future looks bright with the promise of even greater progress and achievement. No time to stop and congratulate ourselves: the New Curriculum will be implemented in September 2014 and the staff are busy preparing for this.  Miss Williams gave us a very interesting report on the new curriculum subject Computing. Her schedule is detailed and challenging, covering the school year and all year groups. In the Autumn Nursery and Reception will be detectives, in Spring they will be journalists, in the Summer, TV chefs and astronauts! In all these activities they will be learning skills which will enable them to build a thorough understanding of what can be done with technology. And it looks like fun too!
Right through the school Miss Williams has devised interesting and challenging ways for the children to use and interact with computers and technology.
PE is another of Miss Willliams' responsibilities. We were presented with an exciting program of the games and activities offered through the school year. Football, Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Rounders, and much more. Dance, Gymnastics, Orienteering, Swimming and Athletics. We were also told of other exciting possibilities. Miss Williams did not tap dance on the table (as she hinted she might) but her report was inspirational and was quite exciting enough for one afternoon.....

Post by Gill Edwards

Chairs' Network

Yesterday Gill Edwards and I attended the Chairs’ Network organized by the Hertfordshire Association of School Governors.

The Chairs’ Network is a termly event aimed at Governing Bodies from across Hertfordshire with guest speakers making presentations about current issues of concern and interest to Governing Bodies. 

This term’s meeting was focused on the New Curriculum. It was very interesting to gain a broader perspective on the changes that are taking place right through from Early Years to Year 13. There is going to be a renewed focus on raising attainment levels for pupils at every stage of their education; and the curriculum will be divided into Core (English, Maths, Science) and Non-Core. Schools will have strict guidance on how they teach Core subjects but will have more freedom in the Non-Core areas. 
 

GCSE grading is being changed to a numerical system, the future of AS levels in doubt, and there are plans to make Maths compulsory for all sixth form students. It certainly will be interesting times for teachers and students alike!

Miss Worsley and the teachers at Great Gaddesden School have already done a lot of work on how the new curriculum will be introduced in our school and are planning exciting schemes of work for the next academic year. Some of the requirements, such as foreign language teaching for all students in Key Stage 2, are already embedded in our curriculum. It’s going to be a very exciting year.

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Walking for Inspiration

Did you know that May is National Walking Month in the UK? I certainly didn’t!

It was interesting to read a BBC article about famous authors who have drawn inspiration from ‘aimless’ walking: the poet Wordsworth rambled through the majestic Lake District countryside; Charles Dickens walked up to 20 miles through the streets of London at night when he couldn’t sleep; and the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermour walked from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul in 1933 when he was 18 years old. A journey of over 1500 miles!  Can you find Patrick Leigh Fermor’s journey on a map of Europe?

And what do you think about the environmentalist and writer John Francis who travelled everywhere by foot for 22 years and pledged not to speak for 17 years!

You can read about more famous walkers in the BBC article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27186709

The article made me think about how lucky we are to live and study in such beautiful countryside. This academic year the school is focusing on improving writing, and I have seen some great examples of creative writing from the pupils. Our beautiful surroundings can certainly provide inspiration for children and adults alike. The water meadows next to school are home to swans, heron and coots; and the nearby woods are blooming with bluebells and wild garlic at the moment.

Why don’t you take an ‘aimless’ walk in May? Let me know if you find inspiration in our beautiful Great Gaddesden countryside.

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Family and Friends

I always think that it is a great strength of our school that children work and play with children from other classes. It creates a real family atmosphere that is a special feature of small village schools, and particularly our school.

In many playgrounds it seems as if girls only play with girls, or Year 3s only play with Year 3s.

The Nursery Reception blog about the Easter Egg Hunt really highlighted this:

“After that we had our Easter egg hunt in the playground and bark area - the children all had a great time looking for the eggs and as always the bigger children were terrific at taking care of the younger ones. “

So it was with interest that I read the attached article from the BBC website about when younger siblings join their older brothers and sisters at school:

“Younger children may think starting school will enable them to spend more time with their big brother or sister.

But new research from Australia suggests that hope is not shared by the older sibling.

The study, quoted in the Times Educational Supplement (TES), found younger children looked on older siblings as heroes.

But it seems the older children often prefer to hang around with anyone but their younger family member.”

You can read the full article at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26785406

I think this confirms that our family atmosphere is something really special, not only in our country but across the world. What are your thoughts on having your brothers, sisters and cousins at school?!

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Upgrading IT Systems

This week, some of the Governors met to continue our improvements being made in IT across the school. The project of upgrading all of the school's IT systems which has been underway for some time is now moving towards the final implementation stages.

The Governor's have been working with staff and pupils, and with outside professional agencies to decide how to best upgrade the systems in a forward thinking and future proofing way. We have also visited other school's (some similar and some vastly different) to learn from them and to see how they are making the use of IT in the classroom exciting for the pupils.

The addition of the school blogs and the IPad's have transformed learning considerably this year, and there are further plans in place to improve the provision of IT across the school for staff and pupils.

With the national implementation of the new primary curriculum starting in Sept 2014, including a new computing curriculum, the governors hope that the introduction of a new School IT system will help to meet the needs which the new modules of work require. The new primary computing curriculum is far more exciting than the limited use of computers I personally remember from primary school (wheeling the one old clunky BBC computer around the school from classroom to classroom and waiting half an hour for it boot up in order to play a 5 minute game!). The learning planned still includes the traditional proficiency in creating documents and spreadsheets, but also explores more interesting aspects of online IT which will hopefully be more exciting to the pupils. There will be units across the curriculum which include coding, programming adventure games, creating digital music, movies, and photography, creating ebooks, and cyber safety.

With these units in mind, it is essential to have the right equipment to be able to make learning innovative and productive, and so along with a new school server, we hope to provide some new IT equipment for the children to use in their learning going forward into the new school year to provide them with an interesting and valuable experience with using IT.

Watch this space for developments coming in the summer term!

Written by Clare Rudd

Getting to Good Seminar

We were delighted that our recent HMI inspection recognized the rapid improvements that are being made in our school: 'The action plan provides you, staff and Governors with an effective structure to accelerate the rate of improvement.'

As a further step in our School's improvement journey, Miss Worsley and I attended an HMI Getting to Good Seminar this week.

Each seminar provides an opportunity for schools to:

• explore and discuss key issues around improvement, looking at Ofsted's evidence about schools that improve and those that don't
• identify, using case study examples, the key drivers for school improvement
• apply learning to plan for improvement in your own school alongside experienced HMI

There were primary, junior and secondary schools from across the East of England at the Seminar. Miss Worsley and I gained some very useful insights from the event.

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Joint Meeting of Staff and Governors

This week we held a joint meeting of Staff and Governors.

We started the evening with a celebration of everything that has been achieved over the last three years; to reflect on what has changed and what remarkable improvements have been made in so many areas of school life.  I made a brief speech to celebrate the contributions of staff and governors, and then we watched a slide show which highlighted some of the school’s recent achievements. These are too numerous to detail here but include:

·         introducing Whole School Values;

·         rigorous assessment of pupil progress;

·         playing competitive sport;

·         new website, class blogs, iPads, interactive whiteboards and visualisers;  

·         refurbishing the Early Years’ Classroom;

·         Collective Worship in Church every Friday;

·         teaching French across the school;

·         doing residential trips for all Key Stage 2 pupils;

·         whole school focus on maths (2012/13) and writing (2013/14) showing real impact on pupils’ progress;

·         setting up of Breakfast Club;

·         many enrichment opportunities like singing at the Royal Albert Hall, visiting museums, learning musical instruments;

·         a huge range of extra-curricular clubs (Art, Knitting, Tennis, Creative Writing etc)

 

However, the main focus of our meeting was to look forward:  to think about how we can make the school even better over the next three years and achieve our shared Vision.

A lot of change is about improving on what you are already doing, but some change is about doing things in a different way, or doing something new. Our meeting was not about ten more things on our 'to do' list but some thinking time about changes we could make that would really help us to TRANSFORM to an outstanding school.

So our question to ourselves was:

 

How do we ensure that Great Gaddesden School is special and outstanding in a unique way?

 

Having looked at research from other schools, we concentrated on two areas:

·         School Climate:  what does the school feel like? Striking the balance between nurturing and challenging. Broadening the pupils’ experiences.

·         Parental involvement and Community Outreach

We worked in small groups to try and think creatively about what we would like to do differently. There was a lot of positive, creative discussion and many good ideas. Miss Worsley and the staff will be looking at these ideas and seeing how they can be a part of the future of Great Gaddesden School.

I feel that we are very fortunate to have an enthusiastic, professional and supportive team of Staff and Governors. The meeting was very positive and productive, and follows a similar meeting in March 2013 when the same group developed the School’s Vision. I would like to particularly thank Kerry Jones, one of our Foundation Governors, who has been instrumental in helping the leadership team to think about the longer term challenges and opportunities for our school.

 Post by Alison Wilkinson

Pi Day!

Did you know that today is Pi Day? This is celebrated on March 14th around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. It will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize - I know that we have some brilliant mathematicians at Great Gaddesden School so how many digits can you memorize?! Remember there are over one trillion to aim for!

I think that some mathematician had fun deciding that Pi day should be on March 14th (3/14)!

Post by Alison Wilkinson

Inspired by Science

I really hope that our school focus on Investigative Science will inspire the pupils of Great Gaddesden School to be excited about Science. It was interesting to read the article in the Independent Newspaper about what children aged 9-13 think about Science in school and in their future careers.

What careers inspire you? Would you rather be a scientist or a sports star?

Post by Alison Wilkinson

 

Children would rather be scientists than actors and professional sports stars, a survey of parents has found.

It reveals that the majority of parents (72 per cent) do not think their children find science lessons boring, while more than two-thirds (67 per cent) claimed their youngsters find the subject exciting.

But it also suggests that nearly one in four (24 per cent) mothers and fathers believe their children find science difficult and the same proportion admit their sons or daughters think it is too much like hard work.

The poll of almost 1,200 parents, carried out by YouGov and commissioned by BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force, also asked about children’s job ambitions. The most popular career path that parents said their children were keen to pursue, out of a given list of jobs, was that of computer games designer, chosen by 15 per cent. This was followed by scientist (12 per cent), vet (12 per cent), emergency services (10 per cent), actor (9 per cent), doctor (9 per cent) and professional sports (9 per cent).

What job? Top ten careers children want to go into

1) Computer Game Designer (15 per cent)
2) Scientist (12 per cent)
3) Vet (12 per cent)
4) Emergency Services e.g. police force, fire brigade, ambulance service (ten per cent)
5) Actor/Actress (nine per cent)
6) Doctor (nine per cent)
7) Professional sports person (nine per cent)
8) Inventor (seven per cent)
9) Musician (seven per cent)
10) Nurse/Midwife (seven per cent)