Headteacher News 8-12-23

Well done to the school choir

It has been an immense pleasure to join the choir over the past two weekends. A wonderful performance of our Christmas songs at St. Catherine’s hospice last week and then another amazing performance today at Queen Street Methodist Church alongside the choir from Overdale Primary School. Thanks to all the children and parents for giving up their time to showcase the amazing choir we have in school (the best in Scarborough in my opinion).

School Review

If you are an avid reader of my blog for school, you would have noted that we had a whole school review recently. I’m pleased to say that the review highlighted the many, many positives of our school.

• Safeguarding – Our safeguarding procedures continue to be effective
• SEND and Inclusion – There is a strong team of SEND and inclusion staff who work together to support children with SEND and procedures are in place to ensure teachers are supported and children with SEND are identified and supported quickly
• Design Technology – The strongest teacher implementation evidenced secure teacher knowledge, high engagement, strong pedagogical approach in line with school expectations including a focus on retrieval and vocabulary. Pupils could explain the different strands of DT and many examples of technical vocabulary they have learnt within lessons
• Phonics and early reading – Our learning to read programme is well led and managed. Routines and expectations are embedded quickly in EYFS. Staff model sounds and pupils repeat these with clarity. Books match the sounds that pupils know. Fast track tutoring is in place to check pupils are making progress and to provide additional support. Children read with confidence and adults remind them of key phrases. They apply their phonics knowledge to their reading and break down words into sounds that they need to be successful
• Reading – The recent introduction of ‘The Literacy Tree’ has improved the quality of texts on offer to the pupils. This helps develop a love of reading beyond phonics. Children enjoy the reading tree scheme
• Writing – The ‘Literacy Tree’ approach is used consistently from Y1 to Y6. Children enjoy learning writing through a range of high-quality texts and can speak passionately about pieces they are proud of. Teachers demonstrated good subject knowledge during learning visits, and an emphasis on vocabulary was identified. Children were able to talk about writing across the curriculum, such as a balanced argument in geography and writing a prediction in science. Staff discussions showed that literacy tree was having a consistent and positive impact on writing
• Maths – White Rose Maths is consistently followed in all year groups observed, consistency continues into the number sense work in Y3 and 4, which the children really enjoy. Adaptive teaching supports the learning for all children. Discussion is a rich part of the lessons observed. Consistency is also evident in EYFS.
• Behaviour and Attitudes – Daily procedures are in place to monitor attendance. There is regular communication and strategies in place to promote the importance of attendance with parents and pupils and this includes rewards, support and sanctions. The Headteacher regularly analyses the data for the whole school and groups of pupils. Pupils behave well. They listen to adults and follow instructions and reminders given by staff. Moving around the building, they move with care and in a calm manner.
• Personal Development –Star of the week, Headteacher awards and dojos are available. Pupils know about these and how to achieve awards. Pupils value the reminders given by adults in terms of their behaviour. Children are democratically elected to be school councillors and apply through an application form to be a school buddy to support the younger children. Pupils could talk about the different religions and different facts about them, such as Diwali. They could talk about respect, bullying and children in need. Lots of clubs (choir, music, sports) enhance the curriculum along with a comprehensive list of trips and visitors which help enrich the curriculum.
• Summary –  Thank you. It is clear to see the improvements that have been made over time. This is an exciting start to the journey and there is still lots to do, but the support is working well. The leadership team should be proud of their drive and determination to make these key changes to improve outcomes over time. 

As you can see from some of the detailed feedback above, this was an intensive but supportive review day. While there are so many amazing positives, we also have some aspects of improvement that we will work on with haste as a team. As a community we are moving in a very positive direction. Your continued support is so important and so I cannot thank you enough for reading with your children, for helping them develop their handwriting and for helping them to develop as the wonderful children they are. The amazing improvements are only possible with the amazing team we have working in school.

Attendance Matters…

After a difficult first few days of the week due to this a bug going round, attendance picked up and we ended the week well. Attendance for year groups to date is as below. Your support in ensuring your child attends school as often as is possible is appreciated. Our belief that every lesson counts is so important for every child.

I know that alongside your own high expectations that the levels of attendance will improve. We aim for 100% but know that children can sometimes be poorly.

Well done this week to class 5, 7, 8, 16 and 17 who achieved their class target. – An extra playtime or other treat from your teacher this week.

Year Two (Class 7/8/9) = 95.41%

EYFS (Class 1/2/3) = 93.72%

Year One (Class 4/5/6) = 93.29%

Year Three (Class 10/11/12) = 93.15%

Year Four (Class 13/14/15) = 93.12 %

Year Six (Class 19/20/21) = 92.36%

Year Five (Class 16/17/18) 90.5%

The next two weeks…

Dates for the next two weeks were shared on class dojo on Friday. We look forward to EYFS and KS1 performances, Age UK event, Grandparents event, Christmas Dinner, Year group parties, stay and learn events, learning celebration events. It will be a busy and enjoyable two weeks! Please check class dojo for all the details.

Parent Governor

I am pleased to say that Mrs Lorna Lynskey will join the governing body from January 2024. We thank Mrs Lynskey for volunteering her time to help challenge and improve school as a governor.