Curriculum and Standards Committee Tuesday, 10th February

We have been enjoying the inspiring and informative talks given by our subject leaders. For this first meeting of 2015 Mrs Lilley was in the hot seat! She is responsible for literacy, a topic which is taken very seriously by us all. Spelling, reading and writing are at the heart of everything we do at school. If a pupil has a good knowledge of these three things then they are well on the way to a good education, a good job, a happy life, and possibly they will be able to fly as well... I am very enthusiastic about literacy and books and reading as you may be able to guess. Mrs Lilley gave us a very thorough explanation of why Literacy is important and how we teach it at Great Gaddesden. All pupils, whatever their interests and abilities should be able to learn and enjoy English. Improving writing has been our most recent focus. There is a Star Writers display in the hall, and each class is to contribute to the Parish Newsletter. I am looking forward to hearing that many more students have gained their Pen license for consistent and neat handwriting across all their work books. There are many exciting activities planned and we hope the School Library will be at the heart of these. Many thanks to Mrs Lilley and also to Mrs Wall who is our Literacy Governor. She has worked closely with Mrs Lilley to update our Literacy policies.
Mrs Comer showed us the achievement data for Special needs pupils and it is clear that good progress is being made. We also discussed Pupil Premium funding: how much has been spent and what it has been used for. We are a small school and intend that all pupils should be able to take a full part in the life of the school: in both education and recreation.
Sports provision is exciting at the moment. We receive £8300 a year to spend on sports provision. Half of this is used for good quality sports coaching. In addition all year groups will be able to have WOW sports experiences. Year 5 and 6 have done football which culminated in a penalty shoot our during a Championship football match at Watford FC!!! WOW indeed.
We have quite a few books in the School Library on football and I am reading The Little Village school by Gervaise Phinn. English and Literacy at the heart of everything!

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

 

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