Theres a Fish in the Bath!

Well what a hectic last few weeks we have had.
Piles of snow and freezing fog. Who would have thought it so early in the year? On one evening it took some of my teachers 4 hours to get home and I know parents had similar problems, with Eastwood becoming gridlocked and people having to abandon their cars.
The news criticises, as the news does, insisting the government didn’t do enough, the councils weren’t prepared. Were we prepared in our homes? Did we all have snow shovels at the ready? Snow chains for the cars? Thermal undies? For many the answer is no.
I prefer a solution model, rather than a moaning shop. There are many things in life we can all moan about but it doesn’t really help. Much better to channel that energy into solving problems.
That’s what we did, lots of us! Some staff, a few governors, and lots of parents, grandparents and children.
We arrived at school on Sunday afternoon armed with spades and brooms and spent two and a half hours digging out paths and clearing snow, to make school safe to open the following morning.
It turned out to be a very enjoyable event. BBC Television turned up to film our wonderful community spirit and that evening we were on the East Midlands news! Our school also featured on the National BBC news, how exciting. How proud!
So, we were able to open on Monday morning, THANK GOODNESS! I had spent 3 days working from home with my portable office (every teacher has a portable office. It’s usually a box full of paperwork or books!) I had also been communicating with teachers who were equally bored working from home and wanted to get back to the children.
So all back to normal…well as normal as can be expected when we are cramming dress rehearsals and singing practice into half the time we planned. All good fun 
In the last eight days of term we have got: performances of The Bossy King and also The Little Fir Tree Nativities; Carol concerts, including one in St Mary’s Church; The Mayors Annual Service (tomorrow) at which the school choir is performing; family craft day; school disco ; visit to the pantomime; nursery winter wonderland day; Christmas dinner and loads more ! And the children still carry out their maths and English work every day until the very last day of term.
The hardest job in school when it is so busy is making sure that communications are working and that people are getting enough notice for things. I think some of the events have ended up being short notice due to the snow closure What we will do for next term is get all dates out in January for the term , with the understanding that they may change sometimes as situations are ever changing.

We had our new nursery children visiting yesterday. They were so cute! Our older nursery children spent their first full day in school and they were amazing, coped really well and even stayed for dinner.

Some of the parents were talking to me about the difficult juggling act for working parents and how communication and organisation is very important. I agree as I am a working parent.
I am very organised in my job, I have to be. When I get home and its holiday time I take a more laid back approach.
Going to work with 5 children in tow there have been some chaotic days. I wonder if any of you can relate to this recent scenario. Late on a Sunday evening my son remembers he has cooking at school the next day and wants to know which cupboard he will find the gelatine in and do we have 2 fresh mangos? Whilst complaining to him that he has done it again, only last time it was mustard seeds and green chillies, my youngest daughter comes into the room with her college bag that has a snapped handle and standing behind her is her big sister holding the iron…in two pieces after being dropped on the floor. It is starting to remind me of the New Years Day the bath started leaking and created a water feature in the kitchen below!
So I was as cool as anything when I got home from work this week to find we had a new bathroom accessory. Yes, indeed, a lovely big fish had taken up residence in the family bath!
We have a pond and during the cold weather have been keeping a close eye on the koi, hoping they would be OK. This particular day our white and orange koi, the one with the bubbly personality (yes they are all different) was in fact empty of bubbles and lying at the bottom of the pond lifeless. Mrs S fished him out and as he was saying goodbye, bubbly fish spluttered. So Mrs S put him in the bath to see if he was alive. Well, after several hours, including a couple of hours where bubbly swam upside down, he made some kind of miraculous recovery, in which time the pond had frozen over! 6 days! 6 days before it thawed! He wasn’t much trouble but the teenagers weren’t impressed.
It’s those things that make the fond memories we will have when our families have flown the nest, as well as the times they achieve well and take part in special events such as a school nativity play.
I hope your time is settling back into an easier routine now the snow has almost gone.
But who knows? Some people are saying it may be back next week…

PS Keep your eye out for the Nottingham Evening Post article on Brookhill Leys schools great OFSTED report. The article is due out sometime this week.

Take care Christmas shopping this week.

HMI Jeremy

It’s been a really hard year I can tell you.
Some of you know that, because you talk to me.
The fact that the people in our school community, from the Local Authority to my leadership team, the parents, staff and children trusted and believed in me has made all the difference.

Arriving as a new Headteacher, at a school that then goes straight into a Notice to Improve, was not part of the plan. It wasn’t a surprise either.

Right from the word go, in 2009, OFSTED and I agreed on what the school needed.
When I received the OFSTED call this time, one year later, on the 1st of November, I was ready to be judged on what I had done in the year since I started.

We wanted OFSTED to see how the school had changed over the past year. We knew that the time before this year the school was not providing a good enough education, or experience. We now have some new teachers and a new leadership team and there is a real buzz around school.

For our children and the progress of our school it is all about looking forwards not back. These are new times, school has changed and there is no going back EVER! The changes and improvements will only continue and things will get better and better! Things will not slow down now OFSTED have gone. Oh no! We are loving watching children learning go through the roof!

We wanted OFSTED to see that the children were now very well behaved and had rules and boundaries, with higher expectations of them.

The last year has been spent growing a vision in school. Teachers know I don’t like worksheets, wasted class time, or the words "He can’t do it". I expect classrooms to be calm and organised and for all children to be on task and doing something.

Children know they have to take their jumpers off their waist during the day (but can tie them there at lunchtime so they don’t lose them!)
They know they are expected to hold doors and say thank you, that every piece of writing they do has to be their best effort, that they can go out at playtime and make as much noise as they like but in assembly they are silent and respectful of the adult delivering the assembly.

Parents know I expect them to support their child by reading at home and by communicating with school. They know that every day a child misses school or is late impacts the learning of the child. Parents also know that the school and home working together works best for their child.

I have enthusiastic, clever, kind teachers who have bags of energy and LIKE children!


Children feel comfortable in school to have an opinion and they work hard and want to learn. Most children have excellent behaviour and the children who find it difficult are helped by their friends.

A small minority of parents felt that children sometimes get away with bad behaviour. OFSTED looked into this and did not see examples of this. HOWEVER, I can understand why a parent might occasionally feel this.

If a child has not behaved well they are dealt with but I what I never do is have children punished or humiliated in front of others. If a child has behaved in the wrong way they are sanctioned. You wouldn’t know this as we don’t publish a `punishment` list. We also do not tell all our parents if a child is ever excluded. We DO on very rare occasions exclude children, when their behaviour has been such a concern to reach this serious point.

OFSTED saw lots of lessons and EVERY lesson they observed was OK. Many were good lessons. We are working towards all lessons being good.

They were happy with what they saw in our school and it wasn’t just an OFSTED inspection.
In our inspection we had a lead inspector who was a HMI. Her Majesty’s Inspector, the top inspector you can get and they know their stuff.

The parents’ surveys were very, very positive. Some lovely comments on the school. THANKYOU.

The childrens surveys were also positive.

The staff surveys were very positive too, and again, full of really praising comments and feelings of this whole TEAM spirit.

HMI Jeremy was rigorous in his checking of everything in the school. He talked to children; he ate his dinner with the children in the dining hall and interviewed lots of staff too. He was very impressed with our school and could see that the last year had seen a change that was going to carry on and on. He had been a Headteacher himself in various schools and his judgements were spot on.

I am over the moon with the whole school community and want to THANK everyone who knows this is the best school!

I’m not a fan of private education. If I could have afforded it for my children I wouldn’t have chosen it. My children came to the school I worked in, that’s how I measure standards in my school. Is it good enough for my children? Would I be happy with my children in that classroom? What would my children want? How would my child feel about that decision? If the answer is yes then that’s good. If its no, then I do something about it.

Please read the OFSTED report. Highlight all the positive comments and see how well we have done in just one year, reaching for the stars see… 

There were more goods than satisfactories but OFSTEDs final judgement on a school is based on the las 3 years and not just the 1. So our overall judgement was satisfactory. Jeremy told me he judged my leadership as good and expected that, as the new senior leadership team grow and the school moves forward, the next OFSTED report will be even better!

Thank the teachers and support staff when you see them. This isn’t a 9 to 5 job. The newspapers say teachers get 13 weeks holiday a year. Rubbish. They work part of every weekend, most evenings and lots of the holidays. There are some teachers who have 13 weeks holiday a year and have weekends and evenings off. I would be interested in Jeremy’s judgements on their lessons!!!

Don’t forget to email me if you want to blog back to me .
head@brookhillleysprimary.notts.sch.uk

Our New School Vision Statement

Laugh often, dream big and reach for the stars...

I really hope you like it.
A selection of staff, governors, parents and children were asked to look at a collection of vision statements chosen by children and staff, and choose which one they liked the best.It was almost a unanimous decision.

I think it is wonderful!

It says everything that our school is about.

Learning for everyone within a happy and aspirational community where everyone matters.

BROOKHILL LEYS PRIMARY AND NURSERY SCHOOL !

(This is a picture of my Nan - Gretta Robinson. She is 91 and an inspiration. She would like this vision statement. She came to visit our school in May, all the way from Hampshire. She thought it was the best school she had ever been to.)

Laugh often, dream big and reach for the stars!

I`m not going anywhere

It's hard to believe we ever had a summer(did we actually have one?)with the autumn leaves falling and the nights getting darker.
As autumn prepares for winter, we prepare to plant bulbs around the school grounds in preparation for next years springtime.
We are also starting a volunteer working party in school who are going to plan introducing some animals to the school. Currently , after asking the children , we are thinking of getting some school rabbits chickens and guinea pigs. It will all take time and careful planning to make sure we house the animals correctly , that they are safe and that the children can experience them in a positive safe way.
If you would like to join our working party we would be really pleased as we need lots of help. We would need rotas for helpers to clean the animals houses and we would also need people to look after the animals in the holidays.
The children will get great value from watching the animals grow, seeing the chickens laying eggs and helping to take care of them.
I have had some parents come to see me asking if I am leaving? Apparently someone has started a rumour somewhere that I am. Rumours always happen but I want to put your mind at rest.I am pleased to say I am staying put and have no intention to move schools ( even though there are several schools in the area looking for Headteachers). We have too much good stuff happening and our children are wonderful, you wouldn't get such a great bunch anywhere else I'm sure.
I love our school and everything it stands for , children at the centre.
Yes there have been lots of changes since I started a year ago and some have not always been popular for a small number of people. However all the changes have had 3 reasons behind them.
1 - making sure our children are safe
2- making sure our children are getting a better education
3- making sure our children have choices and are involved in the decisions made about them.
If you ever want to know more about school you can come and ask me or my staff. You can email me head@brookhillleysprimary.notts.sch.uk I will always answer you.
One of the things I said when I first arrived , which OFSTED agreed with, was that the children could do far more than they were being expected to do.
So the teachers got behind this, listened, researched and raised their expectations of the children. At the end of the year, we were proved right!Every year group had improved with some very big improvements across the school , which means this year the children are starting from a higher base than last year.
Another thing I said was that no child should ever have to come to school and feel unsafe or be subject to being hit or kicked. So our exclusion rate went up but our expectations of behaviour went up too and the children have come to school this year brilliantly behaved and wanted to make the right choices.
In fact the children in school take responsibility for their own behaviour and our Year 6 children monitor the behaviour in my assembly every week and set a good example to the little ones.
Attendance is looking better as well.
Moles, our boys only class in Year 6, must like their new class as they have won the attendance prize for two weeks running. Last week they had 100% attendance which means every one of them being in school every day for the whole week. Well done Moles.
The children have asked us for after school clubs, so we have sorted it out and next week we have at least 8 clubs running after school.
Parents have asked for more advice about their childrens learning so next week will start a Tuesday night surgery for mathematics. Anyone who wishes to know more about maths in school, is stuck on how to help their child, or wants to bring their child with some homework they are stuck on, Mrs east is waiting !
Talking about change have you noticed as the weather changes there are more spiders around?
Last night I heard squealing from upstairs and found my teenage son standing on his bed holding a pillow. "There's a spider! It's huge!" he was terrified!
Now when my youngest child was born I was very scared of spiders and couldn't go near them. I set a new Years Resolution that year to be able to hold a spider by the end of the year. I did it and my fear of spiders went. I became the spider police at home and work and I found an affection for spiders I never knew could exist.
So when my son said it was the biggest spider he had seen I laughed saying I would get the little thing.
IT WAS BIG far bigger than any spider I have saved people from to date. Anyway I chased it under the bed, caught him ,( he looked like a boy spider) called him Fred and then gently cupped him in my hands to walk him down the stairs and outside.
As I started walking my son started screaming, other household members joined in and I was telling them to stop being daft. As I got to the bottom step the spider started moving quite a lot and for a split second his feet felt VERY BIG and I felt scared too! I screamed and Fred reacted by moving his feet more, the boys screamed more and it was a hilarious scene trying to free this spider out of the front door with everyone screaming and laughing at the same time, moving my feet to make sure he didn't land on them!
We laughed for ages afterwards! I now have to build my reputation back up as the spider saver.
Sometimes things we do all the time and find easy , for no reason become difficult and we have to build the ability to do things back again. I'll be back catching spiders the next time Mrs Callaghan needs me.
Look after the spiders, they eat the flies.
Mrs S x

Back to work and what a fantastic start.

Well the summer break went quickly for some and slow for others. I kind of sit somewhere in the middle.I was very tired by the end of term, however I love my job so much that the end of a summer break does not feel like a chore.
I also spent a lot of time in school through the summer break, like many of my staff did.
Our Site manager, Miss Willis even came in at weekends to make sure the builders could get the work finished in time for the new term.
I was lucky enough to get away on holiday, in the middle of the six weeks. It was very strange because all three of my daughters opted out this year. They are all young adults and were doing their own thing. So it was just me, Mr S, Oscar and Henry. This worried me as it meant only one of us who likes shoe and handbag shopping!
Mr S loves mountains so I had arranged a travelling holiday taking in Switzerland, France and Italy. As I won’t fly this meant a lot of driving. I’ve attached a couple of photos for you to see. I have to say Switzerland is beautiful.
Leaving the sunshine behind in Lauterbrunnen and heading in a train, two hours later walking in snow on top of a mountain - Jungfrau is amazing. It’s also very cold in sandals! (Well I didn’t know how much snow was going to be up there).
On that train journey I met a family from South Korea. They were telling us about the education system there and the competition for jobs for the young people. They described how teenagers finish school around 4pm and then move rooms to attend language classes so they can speak English and gain better chances of a job in the world market. They leave these classes after midnight and start back at school by seven the next morning, six days a week!

As well as mountains I also had time to spend with my boys and as well as some time to rest, in preparation for another busy year in school. It is the first holiday we have not had young children with us. Henry is 14 and Oscar is 16 now,so this year it felt very different and I did kind of miss some of the things we used to do when they were younger, things they are now too cool for! I managed to lose a game of volleyball by not actually getting the ball over the net once! Anyway all in all it was a good family break. I particularly liked Rome; there was so much to see. We just had one day there but I hope one year to go back. We managed to see Paris for a couple of hours before having to come home early due to an allergic reaction I had. So that’s another one to put on the list to revisit one day.

When I came back from holiday I went straight into school, excited to see the new rooms. I was very pleased with the work that had been taking place.

Over the summer we have had a new staffroom built. This means we now have a wonderful community room that we can start using for things such as family learning , Internet access for everybody and toddler groups.
Our Vice Chair of Governors Linda is next week holding a meeting to gather some parents to help her get this off the ground. I am very excited at the prospect of being able to come into toddler group and cuddle a baby! We love babies at Brookhill!
As well as this building work we have also extended the school office to allow more space for our office manager to work. Our Deputy Mrs Burns Hopkins also now has her own office, where she can comfortably meet parents and other people.Mrs Burns Hopkins has been charged with supporting some other schools in the local area this year to raise standards in reading and writing. So she will be taking some of our magic dust and sprinkling it in other places. I am very proud of her being asked to carry out this work.

We have also been selected as one of only 7 primary schools in Nottinghamshire to lead behaviour improvements in other schools! This is because the way we promote behaviour and accept only the best behaviour is making our children happy and helping them to make better progress. The Local Authority have been very impressed with the behaviour of our children.

So the new term started and I can tell you it has been absolutely brilliant. Your children are an absolute credit to you they really are.
We are preparing for OFSTED to come and reinspect us and we want to show them that we have really improved and we offer a good education with good value for money, in a caring safe school. I feel we have this and so do my team of staff.
It’s only the first full week just finished and already the children have targets, they have carried out two weeks of Big Writing, they have TALK topics and SEAL targets. A SEAL target is a goal that the whole school aim to achieve. This week it has been to hold the door open for the person behind you, or to say thank you to the person holding the door open for you in front. Even our tots have been doing this, what wonderful children.

Our new family service where the children dish their food up to each other and they all sit down at the same time is wonderful and the children really like it.
Lunch times are calm and very enjoyable.

I took a Local Authority advisor around the school yesterday and she was very impressed with the quality of what was going on,the teaching,behaviour,everything.

So I say to you THANKYOU for supporting us, it really makes a difference.

If anyone would like to come in and have a tour of the school with a member of the senior management team then please call us as we will always make you welcome.

Have a great weekend

Mrs Sainsbury 

PS we really need parent helpers in school to carry out some voluntary work , reading with children , photocopying , gardening, sewing with children or any skill that you have got you could share. Please come in and see Mrs Burns Hopkins or Mrs Goetzee if you could help.

Summer Break is Well Earned Family Time

It's just over 2 weeks left now until the long Summer break.

Summer productions, trips out, arts day, sports events and lessons still running. Its busy! But we are all enjoying it.

There is sometimes talk of shortening this break and extending the October break instead.

I have never been a fan of this for a few reasons.

Firstly, there is so much work carried out by the teachers throughout the year to ensure children make progress and enjoy coming to school, that it's quite a normal thing to see a teacher sitting in their garden on a Sunday and planning or marking work.

They then usually squint their eyes for a few minutes, try it with sunglasses or without and eventually give up and have to go and work indoors as they just cannot see their computer screen or book page out there. Teachers who have tried this for many years are dab hands and just work indoors to start with!

Then there are the reports. 1 report will take a teacher a good 2 hours. So if there are 26 children in a class then that makes 52 hours. 39 hours is a full time working week. Hmmm...? Where do the reports fit in? This year the teachers have not used a report programme. They have written every child's report individually, to make sure it is personal and informative.

So what about the marking? Every Friday a child completes a piece of Big Writing. In Y1 this will take 10 minutes to mark per child, increasing to 20 minutes by Y6 ( they write more and have more targets to meet) Teachers are expected to mark every book, including handwriting, put up bright and helpful classroom displays, keep their classrooms and the rest of the school tidy, keep a record of reading and assessments for every child and the list goes on.

So when I think about my teachers getting 6 weeks off teaching, I think it's a good thing.

They will be able to recharge their batteries, rest, catch up on doctors appointments and dental checks, get their hair done, maybe have a holiday somewhere.

Oh yes and of course, they can get their new books ready for their new classes. Sort out tray and coat peg labels, plan the first terms topics and write their first weeks lesson plans. Set up their new classroom, sort out the new equipment, put away all the resources used this year and start to gather next years, whilst tidying the store rooms of course.

They can set up their computers and their class webpage for the school website and for FRONTER. Classroom display boards need backing and ready for new displays to go up in the first two weeks of term.

They also must make sure they know every child they are having in their classroom and will already be writing action plans for the children who have not made as much progress as they should have done in previous classes.

They will be setting up groups of targets for every child to have in their English, maths and science books before the end of September, preparing word prompts and maths supports to go in the middle of the tables. Posters need to be made and printed so their new children know the classroom routines and expectations.

So, yes its a long break but its not an empty one.

Most teachers I know, and remember I am one, enjoys this preparation and appreciates the fact that they have a few weeks to do it, whilst having a very well earned holiday and rest alongside.

I really appreciate our teachers. I hope you do. :-)

My other main reason for keeping the break where it is, is the sunshine. How much would it cost to keep a child entertained in a long cold October break when compared to free summer walks and jam sandwiches in August?

However... there is reasoning behind the idea of a shorter break.

The concern that we have as educators, and it is a real problem, is that children forget certain skills over the long break BECAUSE they stop using them. In fact some children go backwards. They stop reading and writing and counting, and for some of our children, they don't do very much at all.

So do us, and your children a favour this holiday. Keep reading to your child, take them to the library, its free. Count with your child and ask them their numbers and their tables. Look at the time together, work out how long it is until a certain event or how many minutes they have just slept. Find excuses to write with your child. A postcard to granny, a competition in a magazine. A shopping list. Look at the school website or FRONTER with your child. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS. We can always tell the children who HAVE been keeping up with things in the holidays, they dont take as long to settle back in and catch up.

Limit the time your child spends in front of a screen and double the time you talk to them. Talk helps to raise standards.Children love to talk and be listened to.

Enjoy the Summer, we've all earnt some sunshine!

I can't wait to have time with my family! (My other family!) x

Changes in School

I hope you like the new security bubble we have had built in reception. The final electrics were finished today and we are just awaiting our own school emblem being etched on the glass screen. It looks great!
I feel much happier knowing that, not only will it reduce the risk of people getting into school unchecked, but it is far more secure keeping the children inside the building:-)
I don't know who designed the school entrance, or chose the Sure Start buildings position, when it was added to the site, but if it had been me there is no way I would have planned for our children to have to walk across a large car park every day.
Why would anyone, who knows about children, plan an entrance through a car park to get to the playground, or school entrance?
The other unfortunate aspect of Sure Starts position is that our BROOKHILL IN BLOOM school entrance is hidden, therefore the beautiful pots of sunshine the children have created can only be seen when people actually come into school.
Oh well you will just have to pay us a visit then!
Why not come and do some voluntary reading or arts and crafts, or just come and say hello to the teachers. You are welcome anytime, just call the office to arrange.

National News!

I didn't realise when the TES (Times Education Supplement) called me to discuss ' research' they were carrying out around OFSTED inspections , that it was actually an interview. Obviously when the photographer turned up during half term I thought "Ooh we are going national!"
I am very proud of our school and what we stand for. our children are at the centre of every decision we make. So when a national newspaper realises this and wants to cover our story, it's a positive thing.
With a 6 page spread in the TES Magazine and sunshine seeping through the school windows, the future looks good!

Its class swap day on Thursday. Our Year 6 Children will visit their new school , the new nursery children will visit for the first time, and all the rest of the children at Brookhill will spend the day with their new class friends and their new teacher.

The day is the same in every single school throughout the country. Some children find it a wobbly day, they aren't with everyone they wanted to be with, they like the teacher in another class better, even though they don't really know them. They always settle down and look back forgetting they were ever unhappy.

Many classes in today's schools have at least 2 different year groups in them. This is completely fine as every child is taught by the stage they are at and not what age they are.

This year the children will spend at least 2 days with their new teachers and classes to make sure they leave school for the summer holidays without feeling nervous about where they will be or who they will be with.

When arranging classes we have to take into consideration many things. Age groups , abilities , teachers, ethnicity and gender, special needs, personalities and we really do know what is best for the children and their education. And that's the bottom line. Moving classes is all about giving your child the best education they can possibly get and that has been our priority.

Look out for a letter from your child's new teacher next week and come and say hello to them! They want to meet you.

Football Mania - Come on England!

Well what can I say?

Poor Rob Green. How often do any of us have our mistakes highlighted under such a major spot light? I am sure we can all think of things we have done that we wish we hadn't, or things that went wrong.

Yet Rob has the dreams and wishes of millions of Englanders sitting on his shoulders, so is it fair to say he shouldnt play for us anymore? Or is it fair to say give the man a chance, any one could have let the ball slip past them like that? ( err... yes we havent had the training that he has mind you.)

I was dissapointed last night when watching the ball slip into the net. However, after reflection , I did think; give the man a break; he will torment himself enough without the rest of us helping.

Now is probably not the time to say its only football - but it is!
I enjoyed wearing a football strip to school on Friday because we became the BHLPS Football Team. A sea of red and white excited children and teachers.
I couldn't wait to take the thing off though at the end of the day. A football kit just does not go with high heels!

I will continue to cheer for the English team and dont mind James,Green or Hart in goal. It would just be great for us to win, so that we could have street parties and talk about the time we won the World Cup in 2010.

Now am I the only person in the world who is being driven mad by those hooting vuvuzelas'?

During the current tournament, foreign players, coaches and journalists have called for a ban of the vuvuzela. There is debate about whether it's a unique part of South African culture, and therefore untouchable, or just a cheap plastic import that makes a lot of noise, like an electric air horn or a whistle.

I am thinking of buying one for Mrs Burns Hopkins to try out in the playground instead of a whistle!

Enjoy the rest of the tournament and roll on Wimbledon!

SATs are over and THANK GOODNESS.

It's not nice as a Headteacher, to see children coming to school having not slept because they are stressed, running to the toilets to be sick, worrying that their results might not be as good as everyone elses. It's soul destroying, seeing teachers' faces drop when a child does not show up for school. They know this means their class SATs results, published for all to see, are already going to be down by over 3% before the papers have even been opened.
There won’t be any surprises in levels of attainment achieved because our teachers already know the childrens levels. They didn’t need a SATs test, badly marked by someone, somewhere in the country, to tell them. (Although to be fair our SATs papers are being marked by someone in Lancashire this year and Lancastrians are amongst the best people!)
If the league tables are still used by the government this year, they won’t give anyone a true picture of our school, or any other for that matter.
For a start there will be 1000`s of children missing from the statistics, who did not sit the SATs.
I’ve worked at schools where children in classes come from 23 different countries and SATs do not show their ability but their understanding of our language.
I’ve worked in schools where half of Year Six had a private tutor. Their SATs results are not just a reflection of the schools but of the money the parents put into 1 to 1 tuition outside school.
How will the league table reflect our SATs week? How will it report on 2 children being absent? They will still be counted in our final scores, as not achieving their results. What about the children born with severe special needs? They also go into the results, as not achieving their results.
Yet let me tell you. ALL the children in our school are achieving well and all are being judged as individuals and not lumped together to compare with the school down the road.
Childrens progress is a partnership between school and home. The sooner these unhelpful tests are gone then the sooner we can celebrate this partnership properly and stop wasting weeks of childrens education, teaching them to pass a test that doesn’t mean anything to them.
Besides which, our children still have 9 weeks of school left before the end of the academic year and a lot of progress is still to be made.

Making a Difference

Everything we do in school is for the single goal , educating our children in a safe and happy environment.
Since September we have been really busy raising standards, increasing progress and ensuring that all children are having access to the correct curriculum.
We have introduced a new behaviour policy; renewed child protection procedures; begun tracking children through school half termly so we know they are making progress; developed School Council and started an Environmental Club.
We are working towards increasing opportunities for parents to join us in school.
The children requested Street Dancing so we found a teacher to teach street dancing, now we are looking for a science club and setting up more activites for the children at lunch time.
We have bought a new handwriting scheme and introduced pens for all children from Year 3. Our new marking policy and work books are improving childrens presentation and a daily session of mental maths is making sure that number work is rapidly improving.
As far as improvements to our school building are concerned we are very excited.
Not only do we have the biggest and most beautiful school grounds and views of any school in Eastwood but we have so much space indoors too.
We have plans afoot for making the school more secure with a security bubble in front of reception. This will add a second layer of security to the school entrance.
We have other building plans in preparation including moving the school staff room and creating a community and family learning room.
There will be a new office area by reception, for the Senior Leadership team to hold meetings with parents.
We are also very pleased with plans for a kitchen space with child friendly workspace to facilitate baking and cookery sessions for every class.
As far as the curriculum plans go , we are developing a more creative approach to learning and eventually will be following themes and topics chosen by the children, that the teacher will ensure has all the learning skills included.
We have many good things happening in school.
These things take time to have impact and I am looking forward to this time next year, when we can look at where we were in September 2009 and see the huge improvements that have taken place.

SATs and Volcanoes.

With only 3 weeks to go until the KS2 SATs, Y6 have been continuing to work hard in all subjects and put every effort into their lessons.

Teachers have been assessing where the children currently are in their learning and continuing to plan lessons for every child's personal needs.

With SATs being headlines at the moment I thought it might be helpful to you if I explain how SATs will impact on your child.

SATs are a government introduced assessment test, to judge the percentage of children across the country and in each school who are at an average level for their age group. These tests have been taking place for over 10 years now and while some people think they are a good idea, many people think they have resulted in year six becoming a pressurised last year in school with much of the enjoyment taken away because children need to be trained to pass a test.

Many headteachers and teachers feel that SATs are not the best way to assess a child and that they put children and schools under unreasonable pressure. The results from SATs tests get put into a league table. This table ranks schools in order of how well they have done. These results tables do not show the circumstances of each school and therefore do not give a full story of how well a group of children are doing. For instance; a child may have autism and find SATs so stressful that on the day of the test they refuse to complete it. They will receive a lower result than they are capable of and this result will be the result that the school is measured against.

Another scenario that happens is that a child who is due to get a high level in their SATs leaves the school just before the tests or, the other way round, a child who is finding learning difficult and isn't yet reaching their age related level might join the school just before the SATs tests. Many Headteachers and teachers say this is not a fair representation of school.

Should a child be removed from school by their family, in the weeks leading up to SATs, for a family holiday, they will be losing lots of learning time and this is likely to affect their results. Also should a child be absent, for instance, with a sick bug, or they are stranded in another country by volcanoes throwing ash across the sky ways, grounding all flights, then these children will be marked absent but they will still be marked as part of the schools results.

If a parent wishes to know how their child is getting on in school and what their levels are then they will be informed far better by asking the teachers at regular intervals, rather than waiting for the SATs tests, as the teacher assessments are done every half term for each child. Teacher assessments really do tell you where your child is in their education. Schools are working to further improve these assessments all the time. To say that the score a child gets on 1 day in 1 test is what they are always capable of is wrong, which is why, when your child moves to secondary school they go with a teacher assessed level and this is the level that will inform parents and their new teachers.

I think it really is about time someone asked the children what they think. Don't you?

Back to School Tomorrow.

http://www.brookhill-leys.com/
Back to school tomorrow. Make sure you get an early night children!

I have listed our website address above for anyone who has found their way to the blog without finding the school website. Check it out, we are very proud of it.

Easter Almost Over - April 8th 2010

Well it's been a great two weeks. The weather hasn't been too bad either, although a bit nippy. It has just been good to catch up with family.

I was in Essex last weekend at my mum's birthday party. One of my sons, Oscar, also had his 16th birthday, and both of these events left me wondering just where does the time go? It whizzes past! I remember when Oscar was born like it was yesterday. He was a very beautiful baby and toddler.When he started school he was one of the children who would cry every morning when he was left at school, leaving me feeling traumatised all day, even though his teacher told me "He is fine after he has been in for less than a minute."

I've said that to parents myself this term and can just hear Mrs Diamond, Oscar's teacher, saying the same to me all those years ago. He doesn't cry now when I leave him anywhere, in fact it's not really that cool to be seen with your mum when you're 16! He's a great lad and all the tears when he began his school life are just part of his life story now. Knowing he had a great and caring teacher made a positive difference. I knew he would be looked after, and part of that meant sometimes playing down his tears and distracting him.

I feel this same comfort with our teachers at Brookhill. They care very much about every child in their care and go over and above to ensure every child feels safe and happy.

New Head Teacher's Blog

This is the new blog for Brookhill Leys Primary School. It will allow Mrs Sainsbury to let you know what is happening in the school and to add images when she chooses.