...and we're off!

 Hello and welcome back to the Blog!

I hope that you have all had a fabulous week and an equally fabulous weekend. What glorious weather!

 I am currently sat outside in my garden, watching the bunnies (Roy and Beryl) and reflecting on what has been a very positive, exhausting and thoroughly enjoyable week. I am so proud of how well our new recruits have settled in, it's like they've always been with us. I am also very excited that we are cracking on with our learning too. Things in our school environment and our routines might be different but learning is the heart of what we do isn't it?

Right, enough of the Ray ramblings and on with the Blog...

Teacher's Pets

This is a new weekly feature for the Blog and I hope you like the play on words - it took me AGES to come up with it!

Every week, I will be sharing pictures of the teachers and their pets - it's a really good way to get to know them a bit more isn't it?

I'm going to kick it off this week!

For those of you who don't know, these are 'the boys' - Roy and Beryl. We love them very much even though they give NOTHING back! They actually belong to my daughter Elsie but they are very much part of our family. 

We all play important roles in the care of our cute bunnies: I am Catering (aka as 'food lady'), Elsie is Housekeeping (cleans the hutch) and my husband Duncan is the Night Porter (he escorts them to their hutch every night).

My daughter took the pictures of the boys. She's good isn't she?

Can't wait to see next week's pet/s!

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to those children who found their names on this week's Worth a Mention Children boards. 

Let's start with Year Five:

 Now for the turn of Year Six:

I am so impressed with the variety of reasons that the children were selected.

Well done everyone - good job!

Five Ways to Wellbeing

Every week, I try really hard to embrace the Five Ways to Wellbeing so that I am mentally and physically fit. 

To get active I went on two very long walks this weekend. This Sunday it was just me and Karen as Hannah was away. We walked 12km and rewarded ourselves with the customary coffee and cake. 

We decided to give running a miss this week. From that walk, we also got connected, took notice of our amazing surroundings (it was worth scaling that mega hill) and I learned a new route. We also gave each other our time and it was incredibly well spent, I can tell you.

What have YOU done this week to help boost your mental wellbeing? If you feel brave, let me know and I can feature you in future Blog posts. 

The Good Citizens of 6RB

As I was walking down the Year Six corridor after school on Friday, I spotted this rather fabulous Noticeboard in 6RB. I really liked the fell of community that it generated. 

Well done Dr Ball, what a great idea.

Social Distancing

Social distancing is so hard isn't it? However it is incredibly important that we always try our absolute best to stick to the rules, this includes how we walk around the school and no physical contact at play times. 

When I was out on lunch time duty this week, Year Six were doing a super job at social distancing playtime. I hardly had to speak to anyone to remind them of the rules. Year Five still have a bit of work to do but are definitely getting better. 

As adults, we appreciate how challenging it is to social distance so let's all work together to make sure that it happens consistently. 

Year Five Welcome letter

At the beginning of the academic year, I write a welcome letter to all of our Year Five parents that will, hopefully, clarify a few things including some of the expectations we have as far as Home School Diaries, reading, homework etc. is concerned.

If you do not receive a letter from school (either via email or a paper copy if you do not have an email account) by the end of the week then please let the office know.

Testing, testing 1,2,3

As part of our Recovery Curriculum, we need to work out what the gaps are in all of children's learning so that we can get them back on track. This week it was the turn of Key Stage Three and next week it will be the turn of our Year Fives. 

They will be completing a CATS (Cognitive Ability Test) on the school iPads. The following week the children will completing their English and Maths GL tests which will be instrumental for our future lesson planning so that we can prioritize the areas that the children need to catch up on. 

It's nothing to be nervous about or anything the children can prepare for. We just need to know what we can do to support their learning in the future.

Golden Time

This week, Year Five had their first ever Golden Time and it will start for Year Six next week. 

Golden Time rewards the children in Key Stage Two for doing the right thing. There will be a few adjustments to the previous requirements for Golden Time in light of the current Covid-19 situation so please bear with us. However the usual expectations of good behaviour, homework completed in time, Home School diaries being signed and regular reading will firmly remain.

Unfortunately, Home Base Tutors will not be able to sign Home School Diaries at this present time but will still check that they have been signed and for any communication from home.

So, that's it for this week. I hope you have a good week and that this glorious sunshine sticks around for a bit longer. 

Mrs Ray

(whose sister is now officially famous - she's holding the camera, just in case you weren't sure!)