Living the Dream and first impressions count..
Ok, the picture to the left looks a little strange, well actually it is. It isn't me saying I've had enough, it is what you have to do when a child kicks their shoe on to the roof minutes before they go off on residential. Anyway, captions are very welcome.
A quick recap of what has happened since the last blog. Last Thursday I was out of school being a big grown up and mixing with lots of other Senior Leaders from across the City. Now Mrs. Pitt would say that I have the attention span of a gnat, but I would disagree, whilst it appears that I may not be listening, I can recall most things that I hear. So, armed with my iPad, I set out fora day of inspirational talks with the hope of catching up with work without distraction. What occurred was not what I expected. The speakers were fabulous, I hardly touched my ipad or made any contact with school apart from when it was necessary. The first speaker was someone I had seen on television quite a few times and I couldn't quite make my mind up about her before I heard her speak live, but the message that was loud and clear, was to make sure that you have the full picture before making choices of how best to support children. The ladies name is Camilla Batmanghelidh, she is the founder and director of Kids Company in London and now Bristol. Now I know lots of people that have a huge impact on the lives of children, but this lady is very special. Her background and her own life is a story in itself, being born prematurely and weighing very little had a huge neurological impact which creates huge obstacle for her in her life. Her company supports those children that are most vulnerable, they provide shelter, mentoring and help. She has carried out a huge scientific study about the brain and how it reacts to situations of violence and neglect. A true inspiration when understanding the needs of the most vulnerable children and on the life long desire to have an impact on children's lives.
The rest of the conference followed the same pattern, I left the building feeling very small in comparison to those that presented.
Friday came and went and a superb day was had by everyone. It was great to be able to hand out the first certificates of the year. To be the first, means that they have stood out from all their classmates and made a great first impression. This leads me onto my second point of the evening. Like many parents, I am in the process of choosing a school for my eldest. (previously known as little geek) Now I have been having look at other schools even though she is only in Year 5. So we have taken in a couple of the local schools as well as the Grammar schools, yes she will have a go, but we will not be putting pressure on her. So, I found this really tough because I find it difficult to switch from HT to Parent, so I look at the school in both ways. Now, don't get me wrong, our school is far from perfect, it really is great but.... well anyway, I look to see what the welcome is like, the standard of the facilities, whether the HT's talk is scripted or not, does it come from the heart?? I know, what chance have they got. My youngest has sadly had to endure all these visits and at one school he commented how the stage that the HT stood on, covered in flowers, looked like something you see at a funeral......
There are some brilliant schools out there and with some brilliant results but please this is your chance to show off, the welcome has to be brilliant. I won't name the school, but one welcome in particular shocked me so much that I wanted to walk out within a matter of minutes. The school, was shockingly bad at this and we have left feedback telling them. What was so wrong? The first contact, the lack of enthusiasm from teachers, the lack of interaction with the children, the resting on their laurels and most of all my daughter telling me I do not like it, can we leave!! Shocking, to get it right did not take a lot. To interact with children, our core purpose, is basic.. Never again!
That is my little moan over and I know how difficult the whole process is. To finish for this evening, I hope you get the chance to follow the pictures that are coming back fromthe Brecon Beacons. The Year 6 residential is in full swing and it will be quickly followed by the Year 4. I hope the children have a brilliant time and face every challenge with courage and strength, but most of all have fun.
That is it,I'm done, got more work to do.
Ok, the picture to the left looks a little strange, well actually it is. It isn't me saying I've had enough, it is what you have to do when a child kicks their shoe on to the roof minutes before they go off on residential. Anyway, captions are very welcome.
A quick recap of what has happened since the last blog. Last Thursday I was out of school being a big grown up and mixing with lots of other Senior Leaders from across the City. Now Mrs. Pitt would say that I have the attention span of a gnat, but I would disagree, whilst it appears that I may not be listening, I can recall most things that I hear. So, armed with my iPad, I set out fora day of inspirational talks with the hope of catching up with work without distraction. What occurred was not what I expected. The speakers were fabulous, I hardly touched my ipad or made any contact with school apart from when it was necessary. The first speaker was someone I had seen on television quite a few times and I couldn't quite make my mind up about her before I heard her speak live, but the message that was loud and clear, was to make sure that you have the full picture before making choices of how best to support children. The ladies name is Camilla Batmanghelidh, she is the founder and director of Kids Company in London and now Bristol. Now I know lots of people that have a huge impact on the lives of children, but this lady is very special. Her background and her own life is a story in itself, being born prematurely and weighing very little had a huge neurological impact which creates huge obstacle for her in her life. Her company supports those children that are most vulnerable, they provide shelter, mentoring and help. She has carried out a huge scientific study about the brain and how it reacts to situations of violence and neglect. A true inspiration when understanding the needs of the most vulnerable children and on the life long desire to have an impact on children's lives.
The rest of the conference followed the same pattern, I left the building feeling very small in comparison to those that presented.
Friday came and went and a superb day was had by everyone. It was great to be able to hand out the first certificates of the year. To be the first, means that they have stood out from all their classmates and made a great first impression. This leads me onto my second point of the evening. Like many parents, I am in the process of choosing a school for my eldest. (previously known as little geek) Now I have been having look at other schools even though she is only in Year 5. So we have taken in a couple of the local schools as well as the Grammar schools, yes she will have a go, but we will not be putting pressure on her. So, I found this really tough because I find it difficult to switch from HT to Parent, so I look at the school in both ways. Now, don't get me wrong, our school is far from perfect, it really is great but.... well anyway, I look to see what the welcome is like, the standard of the facilities, whether the HT's talk is scripted or not, does it come from the heart?? I know, what chance have they got. My youngest has sadly had to endure all these visits and at one school he commented how the stage that the HT stood on, covered in flowers, looked like something you see at a funeral......
There are some brilliant schools out there and with some brilliant results but please this is your chance to show off, the welcome has to be brilliant. I won't name the school, but one welcome in particular shocked me so much that I wanted to walk out within a matter of minutes. The school, was shockingly bad at this and we have left feedback telling them. What was so wrong? The first contact, the lack of enthusiasm from teachers, the lack of interaction with the children, the resting on their laurels and most of all my daughter telling me I do not like it, can we leave!! Shocking, to get it right did not take a lot. To interact with children, our core purpose, is basic.. Never again!
That is my little moan over and I know how difficult the whole process is. To finish for this evening, I hope you get the chance to follow the pictures that are coming back fromthe Brecon Beacons. The Year 6 residential is in full swing and it will be quickly followed by the Year 4. I hope the children have a brilliant time and face every challenge with courage and strength, but most of all have fun.
That is it,I'm done, got more work to do.
The Return!
Hello, have you missed me? Probably not! Anyway, after much hassle, questioning, prompting, urging and down right pestering I have returned to once again blog about the amazing things that we do at Lyndon Green Junior School from the angle of the Head Teacher.
If you are new to the blog, then I am sorry for what you are about to read and if you were a regular, then why are you still here, you know that it becomes the ramblings of a Head Teacher, that sometimes it takes peculiar sideswipes at decisions from certain politicians and sometimes it is down right weird, but it seems to be liked. I started blogging from school in January 2013 and since then this blog has had over 18,000 unique hits. Who'd have believed it!!! Not me.
Ok, onwards....school has been fabulous, the children have settled in and we are nearly running at full throttle, the last of the clubs are about to start and that means we are up and running. The children are already well underway with their learning and their learning experiences, hence some of the pictures below where the children are dressed in peculiar attire for this day and age. It really does feel like a long time since the school was quiet and the only people in the building were the window fitters. I hope to make this year, along with the staff, the most memorable in the five years that I have been here. I say it every year and we make sure that we surpass the previous year, be it the learning or the building, we make sure that we give our children the best learning experience that we can. If we are not exhausted at the end of the process then we haven't done our job!
What have we got in store this year? Well, the Astro Turf football pitch begins on the 4th November. Yes, I did say Astro turf football pitch! We begin our Playpod Scrapstore training in October. I cannot wait for both of these initiatives to start. I will be like a child in a sweet shop!
Reviewing our experiences for the children means that we are also making some alterations to our curriculum topics and places to visit. London has been muted and currently being investigated! We are also getting further involved in helping spread the Cornerstones message, a trip to Manchester is coming soon, it will be like a homecoming for me, I am sure the accent will return!
So many, many things to look forward to. I have included the current newsletter below as well as pictures from Twitter from Monday of this week, believe me lots more from the previous weeks can be seen on Twitter at @Lyndongreen1. I will aim to blog as often as I can. I am sure you are looking forward to hearing about this years Magnificent 7. I have heard it might be 8 so I will have to come up with a new name for my little Maths group.
That's it, motivation has gone. I am off to a management conference tomorrow, so I have to act all grown up. I will be climbing the walls and eager to get back amongst our brilliant children.
I have added the comments box, but might remove it soon, I am tired of being told about cheap Oakley sunglasses, cheap Ugg boots etc. Definitely spam!
Have fun all, it's good to be back.
Radio Rothwell playing The Scientist by Coldplay!
If you are new to the blog, then I am sorry for what you are about to read and if you were a regular, then why are you still here, you know that it becomes the ramblings of a Head Teacher, that sometimes it takes peculiar sideswipes at decisions from certain politicians and sometimes it is down right weird, but it seems to be liked. I started blogging from school in January 2013 and since then this blog has had over 18,000 unique hits. Who'd have believed it!!! Not me.
Ok, onwards....school has been fabulous, the children have settled in and we are nearly running at full throttle, the last of the clubs are about to start and that means we are up and running. The children are already well underway with their learning and their learning experiences, hence some of the pictures below where the children are dressed in peculiar attire for this day and age. It really does feel like a long time since the school was quiet and the only people in the building were the window fitters. I hope to make this year, along with the staff, the most memorable in the five years that I have been here. I say it every year and we make sure that we surpass the previous year, be it the learning or the building, we make sure that we give our children the best learning experience that we can. If we are not exhausted at the end of the process then we haven't done our job!
What have we got in store this year? Well, the Astro Turf football pitch begins on the 4th November. Yes, I did say Astro turf football pitch! We begin our Playpod Scrapstore training in October. I cannot wait for both of these initiatives to start. I will be like a child in a sweet shop!
Reviewing our experiences for the children means that we are also making some alterations to our curriculum topics and places to visit. London has been muted and currently being investigated! We are also getting further involved in helping spread the Cornerstones message, a trip to Manchester is coming soon, it will be like a homecoming for me, I am sure the accent will return!
So many, many things to look forward to. I have included the current newsletter below as well as pictures from Twitter from Monday of this week, believe me lots more from the previous weeks can be seen on Twitter at @Lyndongreen1. I will aim to blog as often as I can. I am sure you are looking forward to hearing about this years Magnificent 7. I have heard it might be 8 so I will have to come up with a new name for my little Maths group.
That's it, motivation has gone. I am off to a management conference tomorrow, so I have to act all grown up. I will be climbing the walls and eager to get back amongst our brilliant children.
I have added the comments box, but might remove it soon, I am tired of being told about cheap Oakley sunglasses, cheap Ugg boots etc. Definitely spam!
Have fun all, it's good to be back.
Radio Rothwell playing The Scientist by Coldplay!
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