This week has been busy and productive. Firstly I would like to say Eid Mubarak to families who have been celebrating this week. Our Reception class held an Eid party and wished both Mrs Choudhury and Essah a very happy Eid, and made lovely cards to take home to families. Reception class have also been working on the story of the Gingerbread Man and I was lucky enough to pop in and see them just as they were tasting their delicious biscuits! I have taken some pictures in the Reception class today to show some of the work and the strategies used in class. The smiling self-portraits welcome you as you enter the room….

….the display shows some of the sensory art work around the Gingerbread Man topic….….and the symbols on the board illustrate how visual cues help structure the day, giving very clear boundaries and targets….                                            

I am pleased to say that we now have use of the soft play area and some of the primary classes have begun working and playing in there. The area is not only used as a play session or a reward session but is also built into lessons involving role play, story-telling, working with shape and space etc. in a very creative and exciting way. The photo I wanted to share with you this week is one of Olivia enjoying a Friday afternoon reward after achieving her targets within the classroom….

Lunchtime clubs are also well underway. So far pupils have enjoyed chess club, computer club, drama club, sports and cooking. Today at lunchtime Key Stage 2 enjoyed baking buns with Mrs Dunsdon – I wonder if any of them managed to get them home without eating them all up?

All classes are enjoying going across to New Bridge for swimming lessons and are making great progress. I’ve been joining them in the pool whenever I am able as it’s one of my favourite lessons, and it is so rewarding to see children gaining in confidence and developing such an important new skill.

Finally I’d like to leave you with a wonderful image of a class group working alongside each other, looking extremely focused on the task in hand. Mr Corrigan’s class are following the topic ‘Stone Age’ and can be seen here working on creating their own cave paintings…. I love the work they produced but even more than that I am impressed by the group looking so intent, so calm and so creative.

You may think that I’m neglecting our secondary department – I have asked for photos, but am yet to receive any (the older ones are obviously more camera shy!) As I visit the classes I have seen some tremendous work going on and I think that next week I will have to ask for some examples of work if I still don’t get any pictures….

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Sarah