The Courier

Dear Parents

 

It has been a week with a strong health and safety focus for me, always a really important component of a school leader's role.  I have been out of school on Thursday and Friday attending safe recruitment training with Mr Webb, looking at the many checks and procedures we need to have in place to make sure all the adults who come into contact with your children are appropriately qualified and vetted.

 

Earlier in the week we had our first emergency drill where we asked the children to remain in their rooms.  This proved to be a rather eerie experience as I went around the corridors to assess the effectiveness of the drill.  Although I knew there were 150 normally excited and happy children in the building, it was completely silent and brilliantly observed by all.  I was really pleased with the sensible way the children handled it with a minimum of fuss.  Of course it also served to reinforce for me and all of the staff here how important a role we play in regards to keeping your children safe and sound.

We followed this later in the week with an assembly on Leonardo da Vinci, the inspiration behind our wonderful new rewards system for practice, creativity and mastery in classroom pursuits.  This scheme, introduced last term by Mrs Lowe, has proved very motivational for all the children and it is also a great way for me to see their work on a regular basis and marvel at the variety and standard of what they produce.  Doing some background research for the assembly proved really rather fascinating and finding out about the sheer depth and breadth of Leonardo's passions and interests.

 

To look at his sketches and designs, drawn 500 years ago, one could easily imagine they were drawn by a gifted design student of the 21st century.  One facet of this incredible man's polymath make up was the fact that he invariably wrote in perfectly formed and well phrased mirror writing.  Many modern experts would say he had some type of 'learning need', perhaps dyslexia.  If your child happens to have dyslexia, as my brother did, this should be an inspirational thought and also a reminder to us all to give everyone their chance and to believe in what the individual can achieve.

We are all now looking forward to our 'Mastery Day' later in the term with added enthusiasm.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend