Parish News May

The Easter holidays bestowed a much needed two week break upon pupils and staff at the school this month. However, it was an eggsciting end to the Spring term with lots of celebrations including an egg decorating competition, an Easter Egg hunt and our annual much anticipated Egg Rolling competition which is typically a little more competitive amongst the staff than it is amongst the pupils!

The spring term culminated in an Easter service in the church with a chance to retell the Easter story and celebrate the term passed.

Before the end of term, Nursery and Reception had some squirmy little squatters move in, taking the form of frogspawn which eventually turned into tadpoles and I’m now reliably informed that they have moved onto pastures new to start their froggy lives. However, the children very much enjoyed watching the frogspawn growing and changing which supported their learning immensely.

Years One and Two also got closer to nature with a very fun and muddy visit to College Lake in Tring where they were able to experience hands on science learning.

Year Three and Four worked very hard on their Easter Haiku poems, one of which is featured at the end of this article.

Years Five and Six triumphed by reaching the finals of the penalty shoot-out competition at Watford Football Ground amongst other schools. They must have had nerves of steel to be taking penalties in front of such a big crowd! There is much anticipation for the final now.

Moving forward to this term, thanks to funding received as a legacy to the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, pupils are getting the chance to take part in “WOW” PE lessons, enjoying an activity they have perhaps not taken part in before. Nursery and Reception will be experiencing Martial Arts whilst Years One and Two will try out Cheerleading. Years Three and Four are travelling to Sportspace in Hemel for their PE lessons to enjoy the facilities at Sapphire Gymnastics. Years 5 and 6 took part in “WOW” PE last term.

This term Years One and Two are starting a new science topic focusing on Animals and Diet. They have been learning about which food and drink is good and not so good for humans and animals. Years Three and Four are focusing on light and shadow in Science, and have been having great fun seeing whether they could run away from their shadows on the playground. The pupils told me that there is no escaping from your shadow!!

Years Five and Six continue to work hard as SAT’s season is now gearing up. This cohort of year Two and year Six pupils will be the last to take formal SATs papers as the system changes from next year.

Some improvements have also been made to the school over the Easter holidays in the form of a new school hall floor. The governing body are driving forward the use of IT by introducing Office 365 accounts and email addresses for all staff and key stage two pupils, with the added bonus of a free Microsoft Office licence for each pupil for their home computer whilst they remain at the school.

At the end of last term, the school had an inspection from HMI (one level above Ofsted) who rated the school as “Good”, agreeing with the schools own self-evaluation. The school now awaits its next formal Ofsted Inspection in the Summer term. However, the HMI result is extremely good news for the school and a credit to the hard work put in by the staff and pupils over recent years, and we are hopeful of a positive result when Ofsted visit.

Finally, with places for Reception being announced this month, the school is always happy to offer tours to prospective parents for children seeking a place in Reception and the higher years. The children would love to show you their learning and our year Five and Six pupils are always keen to chaperone prospective parents around the school. Please contact the school office on 01442 255734 to book a tour.

I would like to end this month’s update by sharing one of the Easter Haiku Poems written by Kaia in Year 4.

Jesus helped the world

He raised people from the dead

The leaders were so angry

To the cross he went

People visited all day

He was crucified

Can you believe it?

He was nailed to the cross

He dies on the cross

King of Israel

Really was the son of God

Jesus is alive

You can keep up to date with the news and learning of all children at the school through our class blogs which are accessible through the school website.

Clare Rudd

Parent Governor

Parish News April

This month I am taking over the reins of writing for the Parish Newsletter from our Chair of Governors, Alison. For those of you who don’t know me, I have the privilege of being a Parent Governor at Great Gaddesden and have two children at the School.

As a Parent Governor, I am able to regularly see first-hand how much the pupils love coming to school each day and how excited they get about different events in the school calendar.

This month has been a busy one for the pupils at Great Gaddesden School as ever, with lots of learning happening inside the classroom and also outside in the village and surrounding areas.
Nursery and Reception enjoyed a day at Ledgemore Farm in Great Gaddesden to support their learning on growing and Spring. I’m told it was an exciting day as they got to see some baby lambs being born! They have also been thinking about how people grow – reflecting on how much they have grown since they were babies, and even enjoying a visit from a real life baby!

Years One and Two are focusing on measurements during their maths lessons and have been busy exploring the school to find things to measure. They are also learning about the concept of time, which is quite tricky when you are five, six and seven! This month the children also enjoyed an opportunity to visit the local church as part of their RE lessons and embarked upon a mud-filled Mini Beast Hunt around the local area which was lots of fun.

Years Three and Four have been working hard concentrating on “Bus Stop Division” during their Maths lessons, and writing Haiku poems and retelling fairy tales in Literacy. However, I’m sure they would all tell you that the absolute highlight of their month was an extremely exciting trip to Harry Potter World at Leavesden Studios to build on the work they are doing in class about non-chronological reports.  The children haven’t stopped talking about what an amazing time they had on the Studio Tour flying on broom sticks and casting spells!

Years Five and Six have been working on fractions this month. I was fortunate to sit in on one of their maths lessons and was very impressed at the pupils’ ability to convert fractions into percentages and decimal places using rapid recall in their heads - and without using a calculator!  In Literacy the pupils have been learning how to write sets of Instructions, which has coincidently involved some cake making in order to learn how to follow recipe instructions. To balance the cake eating, pupils also took part in an Athletics Tournament this month against other schools in Dacorum and won three of their events.

To celebrate World Book Day, the whole school participated in a week-long “Sponsored Read” in conjunction with Usborne Books. Each child had to record how long they had spent either reading, or listening to a story. The Sponsored Read, combined with a book sale during the same week raised £900 in new reading books for the school.

The children love to dress up for charity and so Comic Relief this month was a great opportunity to wear red and make their faces “funny for money”. There were some extremely funny faces on display and the day culminated in a cake sale organised by the School Council, with all funds going to Comic Relief.

Additionally, this month all classes have held their class sharing assembly, which is an opportunity for the children to share their learning with their families and friends.

I can’t let this month pass without mentioning a lovely evening which the full staff and governing body spent together at Alison Wilkinson’s home reflecting on the journey of the school during the past year and planning for the coming year as a whole team. The focus of the evening was “Getting to Outstanding” (in the eyes of Ofsted).

If you asked our pupils, they would tell you that they already think that Great Gaddesden is an outstanding school!!

You can keep up to date with the news and learning of all children at the school through our class blogs which are accessible through the school website.

Clare Rudd
Parent Governor

Parish News - March 2015

Great Gaddesden CoE VA School

For Pupils Aged 3-11

This month’s article has been written by pupils in Year 3 who were asked to write descriptively about our local area. I am sure you will agree that the writing is very atmospheric and also shows how much the children appreciate the beautiful location of our village school.

My walk to school through Great Gaddesden

The fields – My brother and I walk across every day to school… we have a green grassy, sometimes muddy fields to walk across and therefore have to wear our wellies. But when Jack Frost comes out the fields are very white and icy and makes crunchy noises under our feet, when we walk over it.

We have to cross a small, wooden bridge that can be very slippery in the winter time, which also has a small stream that runs under us when we walk on it. Many people use the fields to walk from the village to the other side to walk up through to the ‘Hoo woods’, which has many different flowers in spring time eg bluebells, daffodils etc.

I love walking across the fields especially in the summer time because I enjoy watching the different wildlife that comes down to the water with ducks, swans, duckling, we also see rabbits, foxes and heaps of mole hills that we jump on from time to time.

Also in the summer, the farmer puts cows in the fields. So therefore if cows are near the fence or in the part of the field we can’t walk through, because in the past we have been chased. So then we have to walk the long way around to school.

By Hayden

Great Gaddesden Moorland

It’s just a stone’s throw from the school. A staggering sight from a cold, crisp winter’s morning. The bright sun high in the sky against the low dense mist. We can just make out the shadows of grazing cows and the breath of local dog walkers.

White sheep in the distance like balls of cotton wool and the dark, winding trickling sound of the Gade (a river).

It’s a bit muddy under foot but a great way to start your day at Great Gaddesden.

By Nancy

The Park

It’s a small park with swings, a slide, a wobbly spring seat and a climbing frame. There’s a big frame and a small one. The big frame is for good climbers and the smaller one is for not so good climbers. The park is on the edge of the village. By the park there’s a secret base that I’m going to write about next.

Secret Base: The secret base is in a fun wood. You get in by going through a hole in the fence. Once you get through the fence you’re in the case and can roam around and climb trees. There’s a tree house, a zombie chamber, a tree club, climbing lesson and spooky tractor. If you sit on the tractor a fox will come and bite you and you will turn into a … spirit.

By Immy

For the next few months, Clare Rudd (one of our parent governors) will write the school’s Parish Newsletter. Many thanks to Clare for taking on this responsibility.

School life continues to be rich and varied.  Recent activities include:  tasting food from around the world, taking part in a half-time penalty shoot-out at a Watford FC home game, visiting the Sikh gurdwara in Hitchin and welcoming a local veterinary nurse to the school (with a dog, a cat, 2 guinea pigs and a 52-year old tortoise called Emily!). We believe that we can achieve outstanding academic results by exciting and enthusing the children about learning; creating a positive attitude to learning that will help our children as they move through education and indeed through life.

I am very proud of our School, and encourage you to visit us (either in person or via our website!).

Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors

 

 

Joint Meeting of Staff and Governors

On Monday evening it was our annual joint meeting of Staff and Governors. This is an important meeting where everyone has the chance to step back from the ‘busy-ness’ of everyday school life, and think about our hopes and aspirations for the school.

Firstly, we reflected on everything that happened in the last year:

-         numerous school trips, many of which were taking place for the first time:

Day trip to Paris; War Horse in the West End; Celtic Harmony; Roald Dahl Museum; Whipsnade Zoo; Chiltern Open Air Museum; Science Museum; Sikh Gurdwara; Gaddesden Estate; Houses of Parliament; Tring Museum; XC Centre

-         accelerated learning throughout the school:

New curriculum for all subjects; new assessment methods for all subjects; Writing Week; Science Day; Able Maths & Writers workshops; rapid progress across the school in our focus area of Writing; Primary Science Quality Mark

-         investment in the school:

a new IT server and email system;  new laptops; a touch screen PC in Early Years; new playground equipment; refurbished conservatory

-         new members of our team:

Mrs Jessop as Senior Teacher and Inclusion leader; Mike Tonge and Carli Wall as Foundation Governors

 

We then worked in small groups to look at Ofsted’s expectations in the areas of Teaching; Pupil Attainment; Behaviour & Safety and Leadership. Gaining insights into what we do well as a school and what we could do better.

 Finally, we worked in small groups to discuss what inspires us both in our personal life, and in our relationship with the school.

Our vision states that we want to ‘achieve excellence’ which is clearly very important, however we also want to ‘inspire one another to be the best that we can be’. We want to make Great Gaddesden School an exciting and inspirational place for pupils, families, staff, governors and the local community. Passions included drama, free-style art, analyzing data, passing on traditional skills & games, helping children grow, awe &wonder school trips, working with the community and science. We all look forward to sharing some of these passions with the children over the coming months.

 

Alison Wilkinson

Chair of Governors

 

 

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

 

Meeting of Finance, Personnel & Premises Sub Committee

The work of the sub committee is a real mixture of day-to-day concerns (such as reviewing the school accident log) and longer-term strategic issues (such as looking at how we can invest in the school buildings and premises to create the best possible environment for learning.)

Our meeting this week had a particularly wide ranging agenda: from fire drills to financial forecasts;  building projects to budget assumptions;  staff training to safeguarding; and smartboards to schedules of financial delegation!

We all enjoyed the discussions and made good progress on many issues.

Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors