Parish News Feburary 2015

Great Gaddesden CoE (VA) School

We welcomed Leo, Jack, Holly, Mylo and Hannah to our Nursery in January. It is a very special milestone when a child goes off to school for the first time, and we really hope that our newest pupils have embarked on a happy and successful adventure in education.

Lucy in Year 1 wrote about her recollection of starting at Great Gaddesden School:

‘I felt scared on Saturday because it was my very first day at school and I didn’t know where the toys were and I felt nervous and worried. I made friends straight away because they were very nice at my very first day.’

I am sure that if our new nursery children couldn’t find the toys, the wonderfully friendly and kind children at our school would help them.

Writing has been a major focus area for the whole school and the progress of children of all ages has been very impressive.

One element of our drive to improve writing standards is ‘Big Writing’: children are given the time and space to write at length, often in a relaxed classroom with music playing. We also encourage children to write at length in all areas of the curriculum, not just literacy. For instance, the skills needed to write up a science experiment, to write instructions for a design project or to recount a historical event are as important as the skills of creative writing.

The following comparison of a Victorian and modern kitchen was written by Fenella in Year 2 :

‘Today there are lots of differences between an old Victorian kitchen and a new kitchen. A larder keeps things cold so it doesn’t have any windows. In a new kitchen we have an electric fridge, they didn’t have electric in the olden times. The range is a fire, however the people needed to get down on their knees and get paper, sticks and make a coal fire. When the range is a bit damaged they used special black polish and put it on the range and they put porridge in before they went to bed.

But in the new kitchen we have an electric microwave also and an oven. In the Victorian days and our days one thing is the same it is the table and chairs!

Victorians made rag rugs because it used up old rags. They wouldn’t want to walk on a cold floor so they made rag rugs. In the new kitchen they would have a rug so they could keep their feet warm.’

I recently did a ‘learning walk’, spending a short time in each classroom, and I was struck by the purposeful and positive atmosphere in every classroom. As a school we are trying to instill a love of learning, and a resilience that helps the children develop the ‘self-belief to conquer new challenges and achieve excellence’.

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors