What a week!
Finally got the burst pipes located and fixed. School is open on Monday.
There’s nothing worse than a school without children in it.
Thank you to the mums who brought cakes and biscuits in for the cold staff! So kind.
The good side of the school closure was staff being able to tackle those jobs always on the C list.
A list – urgent
B list – important
C list – things that need doing
A simple yet huge job, relocating the PE store into a corridor cupboard making it easier to prepare before classes begin so the walk in PE cupboard could be used to centralise the schools paper and exercise books. This is more convenient for teachers when planning their lessons.
Everyone worked their socks off and this job, amongst many others, was successfully achieved.
It is a very exciting time in school. We have the opportunity to recruit some special teachers for September to join our already excellent team of staff. Very soon the job adverts will be out and interviews will take place.
What we look for when we decide which teachers to interview and then give the job to, is very clear.
We choose the teacher we feel shows us ; they like children; they can teach very well across the school and understand what a child needs; listens to children; are professional; values parents and school community; gives 100% to their job including events other than teaching in the classroom. (School discos, weekend gardening etc.)
Schools occasionally do not get the choice right, you can’t tell everything about someone in such a short time and some people are better at interview than others. However we learn from this and it makes systems better.
We usually get 30 applications just for a temporary post, so I am looking forward to a good selection.
Our school has a good reputation in the Local Authority and teachers, who do apply here, know they are coming to a good school, making great improvements, in such a short time, with great career opportunities for people who give their all.
We are also a school who do not ignore poor teaching, or negative attitudes in school. This does mean that the leadership team sometimes get a hard time, but support is always given to staff that need it. The school team is now a strong effective one. Transformed.
We also celebrate peoples strengths and people are encouraged to share their expertise, growing leaders and creating opportunities. Attitudes are good, enthusiasm is sky high! It’s brilliant!
99% of our talented team are loyal to school, part of our team, and putting the children first. Children and their learning first - very simple. It is important that, just like children and parents , staff feel valued. We work hard on this and recently carried out a workforce wellbeing survey to identify any areas we could improve further. The good thing was the survey came back positive. It showed a less stressed workforce then when last carried out in 2008. Now we take each area and think what we could next to get it even better?
Miss Willis is one of our 99%. She worked so hard over the Christmas period.
She took a holiday over the October half term but when I came into school I found her there, painting doors(see photos). She wanted them to look nice before the children came back to school. She is so committed to our school and makes such a difference.
When you see her why not give her a smile and a thank you? For the things she does over and above.
So ... who is coming to have a cup of tea with me this term on our Friday Cuppa? Call the office and book in. (I can make different times for parents who cant come in the day, just call) I want some ideas for starting an evening book club for adults, teachers, parents and neighbours.
Watch out for a letter this half term. We are holding a pub quiz evening for parents, grandparents, staff and governors. A fun opportunity to raise money for the school library, have a drink with friends and some fun answering questions from football to footwear!
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