Yippee de do dah, yippee de day 28.3.13
Here we go for the final blog before the holidays and I have so much to catch up on, especially having missed blogging last night, sadly time didn't allow it but it was good to see the start of a new blog from Year 6 as well as the children's own individual blogs. This blogging lark is catching on. Welcome to an addiction that is difficult to shake. You can find the links to the new Year 6 blog and the latest blog from class 4D. at the bottom of this entry. We set out on this new ICT journey to help and support our writing, to give it a purpose and it seems to be taking on a form of its own. I think we have created a monster. The next step for the class blogs is to join up with schools around the world in something called a quadblog. A quad blog partners each blog with 3 other schools across the world and it means that the children will always get regular readers of their blogs, thus giving a real audience as well as connecting students.
Today we finish for our annual Easter holidays, giving everyone the opportunity to recuperate and refresh ready for the run into Summer. To sum it all up, I have thoroughly enjoyed this term and if as we say we are creating memories, then that is definitely what is happening at LGJS. It doesn't matter that this half term has been short, we have crammed so much into it, the children have once again been totally engrossed in what they have been doing and the feedback has been brilliant. At the recent school council meeting the children have asked for it to keep going as they are loving the topics and that they are excited about the future ones. The staff have already been preparing for the next topics. Some
We held our Easter Service today and a huge thanks go to Mr. Crees for organising the whole thing and to the choir and Mrs. P for their excellent singing
Trust in me and together we will go far. 26.3.13
So many pictures on the blog this evening, all taken from Twitter and just an example of what has been happening in school today. The beauty of Twitter is the immediacy of the contact with the outside world. Just trawling through the many entries both written and pictorial gives a real flavour of the school. I love the Year 4 death masks, slight Dr. Who'ish!!!
Another day of wintry weather this morning, at least no fresh snowfall, just ice to contend with. It really is good that we have our own 'Action Hero' in Mrs. Harris. It was her and her alone that created a pathway into school, out there in the cold, with salt to ensure that a safe passage can be made into school. It is impossible to clear all our playgrounds due to the size of them but today she did a great job. Thanks Mum!
Today was a busy day and a mentally draining day. As I reported yesterday, Mrs. P and I were conducting pupil progress reviews and today was the turn of the final 7 classes. One after another after another, all excited to share the progress of their children's, but before that...........
I wish I could include sound on these entries because I would include the sound of banging my head against a wall. You ask any of the M7 (today M6) and they would tell you that today was frustrating. Continuing with temperature and ordering temperatures as well as finding the difference in temperature over the day was maybe a bridge too far. It was one minute, I thought they had got it and then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Whilst I cannot fault the effort, their understanding just isn't there. So it was time for practical maths. Finding out that inside school was a positive temperature, it was time to don our jumpers and step outside to feel what negative temperatures are like. Well did it solve all my issues???? Not on your nelly!!!! Ah well Whatever Trevor, tomorrow is another day and we will try again. Note to self stay calm!!!!
Once I had the chance to calm down in a dark room the pace was relentless. Today we looked at data from classes 6F, 4W,S and D as well as classes 3E,M and C. It was great to see all the data and to be able to talk about the individual children and the learning journey that they were on. In many schools this data would have been collected by a test and the children would be tested 3 times a year. It is my philosophy and the ethos that we have created at LGJS that we don't over test our children, I place trust in my staff to regularly assess the children using their skills as professionals. These assessments backed with evidence in books etc go together to produce data reports on every child. All the children are tracked right throughout our school. As well as looking at the individual pupils we also look at groups to ensure that no groups are falling behind and to also check their progress against local and national results. Sadly, not only am I a tech geek, I love data. I like to be able to see patterns that are evolving in data and then identifying the root causes. I will admit that over the last two days, we as a school have come a long way, an example of this, is that in previous years when faced with pupil progress reviews , staff would be nervous etc. but I saw a huge shift in their confidence and they really did know their children inside out. What I witnessed over the last two days was a group being proactive rather than reactive, in other words, they didn’t wait for the results to put interventions into place, they knew already and they were already underway. It showed their passion and commitment to the children of LGJS.
The sign of an outstanding teacher is one that knows their children inside out, knows how to engage and knows how to get the best out them and to do this you have to have trust in each other and trust in your own ability to make judgement calls about the abilities of the children. An outstanding educator has that oozing through them, yes it can be taught but the natural educator just knows!
One thing we have noticed already is how the new curriculum topics have had a massive impact on writing across the board. Writing has been a national issue for some time, and all schools have invested alot of time and energy into making improvements in writing. I personally don’t think you can be the best writer in the world without having experience. How can we ask children to write about what they have never experienced? When their own senses have never experienced a situation. This is where I think our new curriculum has had a huge impact because we are immersing them so that they are experiencing and then introducing the skills is allowing the children to write for a purpose.
So time marches on and tonight is no exception, I have just returned from Brownies and I have to say that tonight there were no strange conversations but my journey there was made extra special by some brilliant music,sadly no New Order tonight but a couple of my favourites. ‘Payphone’ and one of the best songs ever written by Paul Weller, ‘You do something to me.’ Classics both of them. Apologies to anyone that witnessed my singing.
OAP news is quiet at the moment, I think they are either hibernating or gone on one of their annual pilgrimages to Benidorm. They love that place so much, not sure why but I suppose it the ease at which their scooters get up and down the sea front.
That’s all folks, thankyou for taking time to read,(even if not all the way through!) Tomorrow brings yet another hectic day for me with a couple of observations in classes, so I must eat and prepare for those.
Have fun, I must try and bring the humour back, but having sat down all day looking at numbers kind of numbs you a little bit, but someone has to do it.
Another day of wintry weather this morning, at least no fresh snowfall, just ice to contend with. It really is good that we have our own 'Action Hero' in Mrs. Harris. It was her and her alone that created a pathway into school, out there in the cold, with salt to ensure that a safe passage can be made into school. It is impossible to clear all our playgrounds due to the size of them but today she did a great job. Thanks Mum!
Today was a busy day and a mentally draining day. As I reported yesterday, Mrs. P and I were conducting pupil progress reviews and today was the turn of the final 7 classes. One after another after another, all excited to share the progress of their children's, but before that...........
I wish I could include sound on these entries because I would include the sound of banging my head against a wall. You ask any of the M7 (today M6) and they would tell you that today was frustrating. Continuing with temperature and ordering temperatures as well as finding the difference in temperature over the day was maybe a bridge too far. It was one minute, I thought they had got it and then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Whilst I cannot fault the effort, their understanding just isn't there. So it was time for practical maths. Finding out that inside school was a positive temperature, it was time to don our jumpers and step outside to feel what negative temperatures are like. Well did it solve all my issues???? Not on your nelly!!!! Ah well Whatever Trevor, tomorrow is another day and we will try again. Note to self stay calm!!!!
Once I had the chance to calm down in a dark room the pace was relentless. Today we looked at data from classes 6F, 4W,S and D as well as classes 3E,M and C. It was great to see all the data and to be able to talk about the individual children and the learning journey that they were on. In many schools this data would have been collected by a test and the children would be tested 3 times a year. It is my philosophy and the ethos that we have created at LGJS that we don't over test our children, I place trust in my staff to regularly assess the children using their skills as professionals. These assessments backed with evidence in books etc go together to produce data reports on every child. All the children are tracked right throughout our school. As well as looking at the individual pupils we also look at groups to ensure that no groups are falling behind and to also check their progress against local and national results. Sadly, not only am I a tech geek, I love data. I like to be able to see patterns that are evolving in data and then identifying the root causes. I will admit that over the last two days, we as a school have come a long way, an example of this, is that in previous years when faced with pupil progress reviews , staff would be nervous etc. but I saw a huge shift in their confidence and they really did know their children inside out. What I witnessed over the last two days was a group being proactive rather than reactive, in other words, they didn’t wait for the results to put interventions into place, they knew already and they were already underway. It showed their passion and commitment to the children of LGJS.
The sign of an outstanding teacher is one that knows their children inside out, knows how to engage and knows how to get the best out them and to do this you have to have trust in each other and trust in your own ability to make judgement calls about the abilities of the children. An outstanding educator has that oozing through them, yes it can be taught but the natural educator just knows!
One thing we have noticed already is how the new curriculum topics have had a massive impact on writing across the board. Writing has been a national issue for some time, and all schools have invested alot of time and energy into making improvements in writing. I personally don’t think you can be the best writer in the world without having experience. How can we ask children to write about what they have never experienced? When their own senses have never experienced a situation. This is where I think our new curriculum has had a huge impact because we are immersing them so that they are experiencing and then introducing the skills is allowing the children to write for a purpose.
So time marches on and tonight is no exception, I have just returned from Brownies and I have to say that tonight there were no strange conversations but my journey there was made extra special by some brilliant music,sadly no New Order tonight but a couple of my favourites. ‘Payphone’ and one of the best songs ever written by Paul Weller, ‘You do something to me.’ Classics both of them. Apologies to anyone that witnessed my singing.
OAP news is quiet at the moment, I think they are either hibernating or gone on one of their annual pilgrimages to Benidorm. They love that place so much, not sure why but I suppose it the ease at which their scooters get up and down the sea front.
That’s all folks, thankyou for taking time to read,(even if not all the way through!) Tomorrow brings yet another hectic day for me with a couple of observations in classes, so I must eat and prepare for those.
Have fun, I must try and bring the humour back, but having sat down all day looking at numbers kind of numbs you a little bit, but someone has to do it.
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, and that is why it's called the present 25.3.13
I love quotes, I heard this one the other day and I am still trying to make sense of it. We all read into things differently and I suppose that it really is trying to get us to value the day for what it is. Each and every day should be seen as a gift and therefore we should make the most because as it says, tomorrow is a mystery. If we link this to school and education, we must ensure that every day, every second, every minute is an experience that the children never forget. This is our aim and we hope that we can achieve this by giving them opportunities, experiences and lessons that are interactive, enjoyable and challenging.
I read an article the other day about the role boredom plays in childhood. It basically suggests that we should create periods of boredom for children as it inspires them to be creative and imaginative. It suggests that modern culture and todays society does not have this element, we over stimulate the children. The X Box and similar gadgets have started to dominate our children's attention. How do we get our children off these consoles. Easy, cut the plug off. I am an advocate of playing outside and reading, plus playing imaginatively and I am a techno freak. I remember playing for hours outside trying to score the winning FA cup goal or playing Star Wars, today we just press a button and we are escorted to a world where we can play Star Wars or score that goal, all without moving from the spot. So yes, I agree with the original article, we should build in some boredom time and reintroduce imaginative play.
So what happened today in the life of LGJS? Well, I am sure lots happened but I have to rely on Twitter and talking to the teachers to prove if it is correct. Let’s start from the very beginning. Having woken up to yet another beautiful, wintry morning and nearly making a right silly sausage out of myself, yes I nearly fell over, it was on to work to have an incredibly productive day knowing that we only had four days left to try and fit so much in. I was praying that we had no more snow (Im sure the staff and children were doing the opposite) I couldn’t afford the time away from school as I have too much to do before we break up. The morning started by letting the children in as early as we could, firstly because it was so cold and secondly to avoid being pelted with snowballs. (I don’t know who would do such a thing????) A quick catch up with Mrs. P where we had the most logical, in my world and illogical in hers, conversation about how she as 1 week left and I only had 4 days left. Slightly random, but I was right as usual, the old Jedi mind trick was being enforced again.
The arrival of the M7 bought much merriment as it appears they had been watching Mr. Bean’s holiday over the weekend, so it was up to us to recreate a quick scene before it was down to the serious work of negative numbers and finding the differences in temperatures. Not such an easy task, but perfect on such a snowy day.
Sadly, we kept the children in doors today, however Forest School was well underway with a frozen Easter Egg hunt. I wished I could take part because the rest of the day was spent on my bottom in an enclosed room.
The rest of the day was spent looking at the progress the children have made from 6 classes, 7 more tomorrow. Mrs. P and I had the pleasure of discussing how well the children had progressed in classes 5M,B and E, class 10M and finally classes 6G and C. It really is a valuable piece of work as we look to identify any barriers to learning, anything that prevents pupil progress and a real opportunity to celebrate the work that the staff and children are doing. Whilst it may sound mundane, the arrival of a new teacher every half hour brings a new vigor and a level of enthusiasm to share in the work that they have been doing. I am delighted with the results so far and already looking forward to the next 7 classes tomorrow. If the children continue this way, then the internal progress will be exceptional.
So I really cannot say what the rest of the school got up to today but I know that we continue to work hard and to celebrate all our achievements. the project work coming into Year 4 is amazing, I especially enjoyed the edible pyramid, such clever parents and children. But I bet you here and now that it will be a memorable experience for a very long time to come. Great pictures below from our Twitter feed. I hope we can repeat it again tomorrow????? Please!!
So did you know where the quote came from? No, not some a famous wise person. It actually came from the film Kung Fu Panda, who’d have thought it!!!! Grasp what tomorrow brings, enjoy the moment, let the feelings flutter and let the past be the past because the future is a like a sausage (a bag of mystery)
Have fun. Mr. R.
I read an article the other day about the role boredom plays in childhood. It basically suggests that we should create periods of boredom for children as it inspires them to be creative and imaginative. It suggests that modern culture and todays society does not have this element, we over stimulate the children. The X Box and similar gadgets have started to dominate our children's attention. How do we get our children off these consoles. Easy, cut the plug off. I am an advocate of playing outside and reading, plus playing imaginatively and I am a techno freak. I remember playing for hours outside trying to score the winning FA cup goal or playing Star Wars, today we just press a button and we are escorted to a world where we can play Star Wars or score that goal, all without moving from the spot. So yes, I agree with the original article, we should build in some boredom time and reintroduce imaginative play.
So what happened today in the life of LGJS? Well, I am sure lots happened but I have to rely on Twitter and talking to the teachers to prove if it is correct. Let’s start from the very beginning. Having woken up to yet another beautiful, wintry morning and nearly making a right silly sausage out of myself, yes I nearly fell over, it was on to work to have an incredibly productive day knowing that we only had four days left to try and fit so much in. I was praying that we had no more snow (Im sure the staff and children were doing the opposite) I couldn’t afford the time away from school as I have too much to do before we break up. The morning started by letting the children in as early as we could, firstly because it was so cold and secondly to avoid being pelted with snowballs. (I don’t know who would do such a thing????) A quick catch up with Mrs. P where we had the most logical, in my world and illogical in hers, conversation about how she as 1 week left and I only had 4 days left. Slightly random, but I was right as usual, the old Jedi mind trick was being enforced again.
The arrival of the M7 bought much merriment as it appears they had been watching Mr. Bean’s holiday over the weekend, so it was up to us to recreate a quick scene before it was down to the serious work of negative numbers and finding the differences in temperatures. Not such an easy task, but perfect on such a snowy day.
Sadly, we kept the children in doors today, however Forest School was well underway with a frozen Easter Egg hunt. I wished I could take part because the rest of the day was spent on my bottom in an enclosed room.
The rest of the day was spent looking at the progress the children have made from 6 classes, 7 more tomorrow. Mrs. P and I had the pleasure of discussing how well the children had progressed in classes 5M,B and E, class 10M and finally classes 6G and C. It really is a valuable piece of work as we look to identify any barriers to learning, anything that prevents pupil progress and a real opportunity to celebrate the work that the staff and children are doing. Whilst it may sound mundane, the arrival of a new teacher every half hour brings a new vigor and a level of enthusiasm to share in the work that they have been doing. I am delighted with the results so far and already looking forward to the next 7 classes tomorrow. If the children continue this way, then the internal progress will be exceptional.
So I really cannot say what the rest of the school got up to today but I know that we continue to work hard and to celebrate all our achievements. the project work coming into Year 4 is amazing, I especially enjoyed the edible pyramid, such clever parents and children. But I bet you here and now that it will be a memorable experience for a very long time to come. Great pictures below from our Twitter feed. I hope we can repeat it again tomorrow????? Please!!
So did you know where the quote came from? No, not some a famous wise person. It actually came from the film Kung Fu Panda, who’d have thought it!!!! Grasp what tomorrow brings, enjoy the moment, let the feelings flutter and let the past be the past because the future is a like a sausage (a bag of mystery)
Have fun. Mr. R.