Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
It's been a relatively quiet week in school with everybody "getting down to business". The new reading books have gone down well, especially with Class 3. The children who are attending "top-up" swim sessions continue to make excellent progress and our gifted musicians were told of a forthcoming opportunity to share their skills with other musically able children in local schools.
Teaching staff analysed and refreshed the ways that children's Maths Targets are set and this should begin to filter through to children and parents in the coming weeks. I enjoyed leading the first training session with our fantastic Midday Supervisors this week and look forward to the weekly sessions we have booked in for the rest of this half term.
On Wednesday Mrs Clarke had her "quality assurance" visit from the Nottinghamshire lead advisor for newly qualified teachers. She passed with flying colours and we are all very proud of her!
There continue to be quite a few bugs and viruses doing the rounds. Please ensure that water bottles are being washed and that you check the timescales for returning children to school after illnesses - details can be found here.
It's the end of week 2 already!
The school is starting to look really attractive as the children's New Year "artists and authors" projects start to go up on display. Foundation 2's self-portrait paintings in the style of Andy Warhol make me smile every time I leave my office whilst a giant flea has taken up residence in the corner of the Hall to mark Class 5's work based on a local author. Class 4's "Klimt Board" is really eye catching and this term, Class 2 have "pride of place" on the Hall cupboards.
It's been a settled but busy start to 2015 with the new staff all in place and learning happening in all classes with renewed vigour. This week, the Nottinghamshire Local Authority carried out a positive two day review of achievement in English and Mathematics which saw all staff being observed delivering lessons to their classes as well as scrutiny of children's work and interviews of senior staff. The Local Authority also reviewed how support for the school is working and were very positive about the progress being made by the children. Part of the renewed support for the school includes confirming that Ms Digges and myself will now continue to work with and for Muskham's school community until the end of August 2015.
I was pleased to join the "Muskham Events Group" for their meeting on Tuesday evening to celebrate their successful fundraising from the Autumn Term and to begin the planning for Spring and Summer Term events. School staff are grateful for their support which is bringing much needed investment in classroom resources.
On Saturday, the governors attended a 7 hour training session in school which they had organised to meet both their needs and those of the school. I was able to join the governors for part of the day, evaluating the environment of the school, identifying the areas for future investment and improvement as well as the positive points which make Muskham Primary a great place to be.
Having started the year with an assembly about "excellence", I am exited to see what 2015 will hold for the children and the school.