Today we hosted our very first whole-school workshare. Thank you to parents and carers for coming along and helping to celebrate all of our pupils’ amazing learning so far! We will be hosting a work-share towards the end of each half-term. We will keep everyone updated with future dates in our monthly school newsletter.
In year 1, we have been looking at seasons. We have been exploring the creatures and changes that we find in Autumn. During our activity times, children have been making crafts using different resources and skills.
In Year Two this half term we have been learning about China in geography. The children compared the weather in Beijing to the weather in Norwich and worked together in groups to create weather reports. They made sure their weather reports included information about temperature and items of clothing that people might need.
The year 1 children went to the on site outdoor classroom to see what seasonal changes they could find. Children noticed that some trees had no leaves and we found some brown, crunchy leaves on the ground. They then drew and wrote about their observations.
We had an amazing harvest assembly this morning, where the children shared harvest-inspired songs, poems and artworks with the rest of the school. A big thank you to Miss Peek & Mr James for their music skills!
We’ve been
school dogs for six years now and in that time we’ve seen and heard some
things!
We’ve heard
most things whilst sat in The Boss’ office – the parents who see school as a
“them and us” and who take no responsibility or ownership for their child’s
learning to those who microparent their children and every type of parenting in
between. Being a parent these days is difficult
– in some ways technology has helped (there’s an app for just about
everything) but it also means the little people have a very scary world at
their fingertips and don’t actually know if the 10 year old they are supposedly
chatting to is real or someone attempting to groom them.
For us,
that’s why our camping trips with the children are so important. The little
people get a break from technology and they learn to make dens, climb trees,
roll around in mud and experience good old fashioned childhood fun. When The
Boss became head teacher of Queen’s Hills “way back when” (she was appointed in
2007 and started in April 2008) she knew she wanted the little people to have a
good, rounded education with opportunities for The Arts, Sports and Outdoor
Learning. Little did she know back then how hard that journey would be. Balancing
the aims against the budget is always tricky and many of the activities that
have taken place over the years wouldn’t have been able to happen without the
huge generosity of staff and supporters in both time and resources.
So, what
have we learnt in that time? Schools are so much more than places of education.
Obviously teaching the little people how to read, write and do maths is
absolutely crucial but they are also learning how to interact with others, how
to share and show empathy, to become resilient and to understand that there is
a big world out there for them to explore.
She’s had
to battle over the years: against Ofsted (who can only take account of
published data – the irony of being graded
“requires improvement” in June and being in the press for the “most
improved school in Norfolk” months later in October was not lost on her and
yes, she did email the lead inspector to tell them that the predictions she had
given them that they were not able to take into account were absolutely the
results the children achieved), she insisted the school hall was expanded when
additional classrooms were added, she badgered politicians and council members
when she didn’t feel the Queen’s Hills community was getting the support it
needed.
She’s cried
when parents have come to her with diagnoses of terminal illnesses, when her
female staff have told her they’ve miscarried or when a member of the team is going
through a personal crisis, when she can’t get children the support they need to
thrive (whether that’s additional support for the family or a placement in specialist
provision) and she’s cried when she’s just been so frustrated with the
“system”. We’ve seen first-hand when she has been shouted at and threatened and
almost hit on more than one occasion by various parents over the years.
But we’ve
also seen tears of joy with marriages, babies and graduations. We’ve seen a
community come together in a pandemic, we’ve seen families grateful for the
additional support (emotional and financial) that has been secured and we’ve
seen our big little people cry with the relief of getting the results we knew,
but they doubted, they were capable of.
We have
seen non-verbal children gain confidence and whisper our names, we’ve been
prodded and poked and laid on when little people have needed us to help them
regulate, we’ve had them return to see us and tell us how well they have got on
in their new setting. We’ve wagged our tails when they’ve shown us their best
work and we’ve curled up with them when they’ve needed a bit of love.
According
to the dictionary, a school is a place where children are
educated. We disagree. A school is a building which houses a community of
teachers, support staff and children who together aim to develop a passion for
learning. A community where adults care about developing the whole child.
We are going to
miss working with the little people so much and we are excited that we have
more four legged friends in training. We think every school should have a dog. The
Boss says you two legged folk should learn from us: we are always pleased to
see you, every day is a fresh start and full of adventure, we want to make you
happy and proud of us and so we give any task our absolute best effort. We also know when you are having a bad day
(that’s when we go out of our way to be extra attentive to you); we are full of
energy when we need to be but at other times we’re just happy to chill.
Children will
always be children – they will have good and bad days, fallouts and
celebrations. We know how hard the staff are working to do the best they can to
support the little people, giving up their own time to go that extra mile. They
won’t always get it right, because they are human and also because sometimes
the parents’ expectations of what “the school” can do is not entirely
realistic. But they will always put the little people first – because that’s
what they do. Whatever is going on in their personal life. And we know that
because we’ve seen that first-hand too.
Be kind to each
other and keep helping the little people to develop their passion for learning
and life.
With the waggiest
of tails and the fondest of memories,
This week all of the Year 1 classes went on their first school trip to Whitwell. Everyone involved had a great time going on the bus and enjoyed our activities (river dipping and den building). Thank you to all of the parents who gave up their time to help out!!
Last week the children created clay models of themselves holding welcoming messages as part of our work looking at refugees. This was inspired by the Norwich 2040 Figurine Partnership Project. Each class was also visited by a very special guest… A canary!! We learned about the history of canaries, where they came from and why they are a symbol of Norwich.
This week we have been reading Plant Facts by Izzi Howell in our reading lessons. Today we sketched different images of plants, thinking about all the knowledge we had learned in our reading.