Joint Annual Review Visit (JARV)

We are passionate about making the school better every day; achieving our vision of ‘inspiring one another to be the best that we can be.’

An important person in this process is our Hertfordshire Improvement Partner, or HIP.  HIPs are employed by the Local Authority and are typically former Headteachers or education professionals:

‘HIPs act as a critical professional friend to the school, helping to evaluate performance, identify priorities for improvement, and plan effective change.’

Last Thursday our HIP, Mrs Bremner, was in school to carry out a regular review (or JARV). She observed lessons, looked at the academic performance data for reading, writing and maths, reviewed the children’s books and analysed the school’s action plan with Mrs Comer.

It was an interesting and productive day. Mrs Bremner was very pleased with what she saw in school and she offered really excellent professional advice to make the school even better in the future. We look forward to her next visit.

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Govenors

 

Parish News - December 2014

Great Gaddesden CoE VA School

Super Science

One of our school priorities this year is to raise the profile of Science across the school and to give all the children more opportunities to engage in hands-on practical science activities.

 Miss Groves is subject leader for Science and she is working towards the School achieving the Primary Quality Science Mark: this is a national scheme set up to drive improvements in the provision of Science in primary schools.

Last week, the whole school was turned into a huge laboratory of mad scientists! Staff and pupils arrived in fancy dress and had a day of hands-on experiments: the teachers had planned lots of activities and we were also helped by an outside company, Sam’s Simple Science. Activities included making lava lamps, silly putty, ice cream and jelly worms! At the end of the day there was a whole school ‘catwalk’ to admire the fancy dress costumes. Congratulations to Hadyn in Year 3 who won the prize for the best outfit!

 

Science teaching isn’t just happening on special days, it is embedded in the curriculum. The class blogs have many examples of practical science activities being used to enrich the curriculum. For instance, Nursery&Reception were learning about the North Pole, and found some bears trapped inside ice balloons (carefully pre-prepared by class teacher Miss Ayres!). The children had to try to rescue the bears by melting the ice as quickly as possible. An imaginative way to introduce the concepts of freezing and melting to 3 and 4 year olds. There is also a weekly after-school Science Club to provide more opportunities for practical activities, with a different class being invited to the club each term.

Christmas

The lead up to Christmas is a very exciting and busy time in the school. I would like to invite you to the following events:

Friday 12^th December – 3.15-4.45pm – FOGGS Christmas Fayre

Tuesday 16^th December – 2pm and 7pm – School Carol Service

Friday 19^th December – Christingle and End of Term

Please keep in touch with events via our website: www.greatgaddesden.herts.sch.uk

Or our blogs:  greatgaddesdenschoolhead.blogspot.co.uk

 

Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors

Learning Walk Focusing on Inclusion

Last week I did a learning walk with Mrs Comer and Mrs Jessop. We visited each classroom for a short time, giving us a snapshot of the learning throughout the school. Our focus was ‘Inclusion’ in its broadest sense; making sure that all pupils are participating fully in the learning.

For example, we looked at whether the work was suitably challenging for all pupils, whether there were props to promote learning through doing, and even whether the physical layout of the classroom meant that all children could take part in the lesson.

I was very impressed with what I saw: there was a really positive attitude to learning throughout the school. The children were all working hard, but having fun and working really well together. The children were also incredibly polite and articulate, confidently telling me about their lessons.

Thank you to the teachers and pupils for making me so welcome, and sharing their lessons with me.

 

Alison Wilkinson

 

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