Head Teacher's Blog
26.04.24
This week our Year 5 children held their Celebration assembly for parents. They did a great job and showcased all of their learning from last half term about the Vikings. There was singing, art, music and some re-enactments of battle scenes as well as a very catchy song. Well done to all the children and staff and thank you to parents for attending.
The Reception children enjoyed their minibeast day on Friday. They are also really enjoying their Outdoor Learning lessons at Cator Lane. The football team played a match at home against Fairfield. The team played really well but unfortunately lost 3-0. We are looking forward to more matches in the future and our girls football team is ready for their first match in a couple of weeks.
The Year 3 children enjoyed a morning at the local golf club and our Year 5 teachers went to the Croquet club to plan the lessons for the children this half term. This is a partnership that we are working to develop into the future.
Our assemblies this half term are based on British Values. This week we have been talking about the value of Tolerance with the children. I also met with School Council and Ambassadors under the value of Democracy and we discussed various issues. The children are keen to put together a pack for the new Head teacher and the Ambassadors are busy planning their next fundraising activity.
Mr Wilkes, the new Head teacher, came into school this week for his first visit in the handover process. He will be visiting regularly in the next few weeks and is looking forward to getting started in September.
Staff meetings and CPD – The Oracy coaching sessions started this week. Staff have been working in pairs and triads to look at teaching and learning in Oracy across school. This will continue for the rest of this term and will enable staff to share good practice. The staff meeting was also on Oracy, reviewing the progress so far and introducing some new techniques into classrooms. Mrs Brown and Mrs Wignell attended a Challenge Partners visit to schools in Southampton and Yorkshire. We will share updates from these at our next Leadership meeting – there are always some good nuggets to take away and improve our practice. The PE team also met this week to plan next weeks staff meeting and to review the action plan.
It is now only 2 weeks until Year 6 SATs and the children are working really hard. We are really proud of their attitude to learning and know that they will do their best when the time comes.
19.04.24
It is a funny feeling as I enter my final summer term of my teaching career. I am determined to enjoy every minute and spend as much time with the staff and children as I can. I have been in contact with Mr Wilkes, the new Head teacher and we are starting to arrange the handover process during this term – he is very excited to get going!
Year 2 started the term with a Wow day about Florence Nightingale. They took part in a drama session with Helen Goodbarton and thoroughly enjoyed it. Each class went on a time-travel adventure to Crimea during the war to meet Florence Nightingale. They acted both as wounded soldiers and caring nurses, helping the children imagine what the hospitals were like before Florence arrived and made her changes. Florence then arrived and they engaged in a flurry of activity to clean up that hospital so it was fit for use! Mary Seacole arrived and the children told her all about what they were doing. The children then all experienced the lady of the lamp as she said goodnight to them all as soldiers. They then arrived back in 2024 and made a 'good hospital soup' putting in all the ingredients they thought they might need for a good hospital.
Year 5 also started the new term with a trip to the Space Centre trip on Thursday. This will support their new topic going forward.
Staff meetings and CPD – The oracy champions attended the Voice 21 online conference where they presented some of the work we have been doing and listened to other schools. Myself and Miss Hodkin visited a school in Barking as part of the Challenge Partners programme which was really interesting; we particularly picked up some good tips around coaching for staff and reading development. Staff meeting this week was around SEND and teachers had time to update their passports and support plans for the summer term.
We are always looking to work with our local community. Mrs Brown attended the Broxtowe Child and Young Persons network where she had the opportunity to liaise with other agencies around the wider picture of support for our young people and families. The local community police also paid us a visit on Thursday and had lunch with the children and went on the playground at lunchtime. We are keen to keep developing this relationship moving forwards.
28.03.24
The last week of term has been busy in school and we have enjoyed celebrating Easter with the children. We also welcomed lots of families into school for our Breakfast morning on Thursday – this is always a lovely community event. The money raised from this will go to Forget Me Notts which is our chosen charity for the year.
The Year 6 children completed the DAart programme this week and presented their work to the parents. They shared their learning about drugs, alcohol, smoking and vaping and knife crime and how they have learned to keep themselves safe as they move onto the next stage of their education.
Friends of The Lanes Bake Off –The Bake off this week was really successful. We had so many cakes brought in and they were absolutely amazing. We all enjoyed tasting the cakes and the judging was definitely very serious. It was lovely to see so many people at the end of the day buying cakes and coming to the café.
All the winners were presented with a commemorative wooden spoon and an Easter Egg and there was a small prize for everyone that entered. The Friends group will send more details on their newsletter along with how much money was raised – this can be found on the school website.
Head teacher interviews – This process took place this week and after 2 days of interviews the panel appointed Peter Wilkes. He will take up the post from September. Peter is an experienced head from the Flying High Trust, who also has a number of years experience working with a range of schools in an overview/advisory role. He is really looking forward to taking on the role as Head Teacher at the school, and looks forward to getting to know the school, the children and parents.
Safeguarding training – All staff and Governors completed their Safeguarding training with the Local Authority this week. This is in addition to other safeguarding training that we undertake throughout the year. Our policies for safeguarding can be found on the school website here https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/safeguarding/
Happy Easter everyone – thank you for your continued support and I hope that you all have a good break and do something nice with your friends and family.
22.03.24
As we head towards the end of term school is as busy as ever. The children have been visiting Christchurch this week and have taken part in some workshops about Easter. They have all enjoyed the experience and we thank Christchurch for the opportunity. The Year 1 classes held their class assemblies which were enjoyed by parents. The assemblies were based around their castles topic with a focus on the book ‘The Castle the King Built’. The children dressed up, recited the story, sang songs and showed their best work. Well done to them!
Year 6 visited the National Holocaust Centre and Museum on Monday. They took part in ‘The Journey’ which is an interactive exhibition about the experience of Leo, a young German Jewish boy growing up in 1930s Berlin. It also covered the Kindertransport. They also heard witness statements from survivors. This links to their topic this term. The children listened well, showing great respect and asked some really thoughtful questions.
We held two music concerts this week. Children who learn a musical instrument across school performed in front of an audience and the choir also sang. It is always so lovely to see the children perform – we heard everything from Silent Night, the Titanic theme to White Stripes on the drums! Children played piano, violin, saxophone, clarinet and drums with confidence. The music workshops from Rock Steady music are still continuing and children are really enjoying them.
Out SCITT students came back to us to complete their Early Years’ experience with us. I think they have enjoyed their week and they are looking forward to completing their second placement later this term. We are proud of our work supporting students in school and helping to train the teachers of the future. Staff from Chilwell school came into school to talk to the Year 6 children as part of our transition work.
Our football team had a home match this week against Bramcote Hills. It was a fiercely fought match which ended in a 2-2 draw. The goalkeeper from Bramcote saved a last minute penalty which was disappointing for our team. However, they played well and should be very proud of themselves. The team are already looking forward to the next match after Easter!
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting this week was assessment and planning time. Staff have appreciated having some time to plan for their next topics and to moderate assessments in their year groups. Courses for staff have included assessment briefings, Early Years and play, science and critical thinking and DSL training. We also attended transition meetings with our Family of Schools and more widely with other Broxtowe schools as we are keen to develop a clear and consistent transition plan for all children in our local area.
Next week – The Governors are conducting the HT interviews; the Friends group are organising a Bake Sale on Monday and we are holding a Breakfast morning across both sites and raising money for Forget Me Notts which is the Ambassadors chosen charity. Then, of course, we break up for Easter on Thursday.
15.03.24
The Year 4 children have enjoyed their Residential trip this week. We had a very wet and muddy walk aorund Castleton on Wednesday and enjoyed a trip to Treak Cliff Caverns. They then took part in lots of activities including team building, archery, candle making and the Roman siege engine. They all had a fabulous time.
The Year 2 classes welcomed the ‘Owl man’ into school to support their work on nocturnal animals. They enjoyed watching the owls fly across the hall and will use the experience to support their writing next week.
Netball - Our netball team played in a tournament at Nottingham High School this week. They came second out of 11 teams. Well done to them – we are very proud of the team and thank you to Mrs Carré for running the training sessions.
Next week – Year 6 are going to the Holocaust centre; we have a music concert in school; we are attending a netball tournament and we have another football match at home against Bramcote Hills.
08.03.24
The Reception Children had a lovely time this week at Bluebell Farm. They saw lots of animals which supported their topic and also enjoyed some delicious ice cream – and the sun was shining!! Year 5 had a great time on their Residential trip to York. I accompanied them and they were amazing. We did lots of activities about the Vikings to support their learning in school and had a lovely busy day in York visiting the Jorvik centre, Dig, walking the City walls and cruising down the river. The weather was lovely and we all had a great time
World Book Day The children and staff came to school dressed up as their favourite character or in a book related T-shirt or even PJs. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 watched a live stream of Helen Stephens, an award winning author, read her stories and invent a character. Years 3 - 6 watched Michael Rosen's Big 50 Show and took part in an interactive Q and A session. Each class also completed a ‘book safari’ and spent time talking about and reading their favourite stories.
Forget Me Notts The Ambassadors went to Operation Orphan to volunteer this week. They delivered over 150 Easter Eggs that we had collected – thank you to our families for their support. On the visit they learned about how the charity works and helped pack the eggs and sort some of the other donations. We are really pleased to be supporting a local charity and we are featured in the latest ‘Noows’ magazine which can be found here https://www.operation-orphan.org/the-noows
Football match The Year 6 football team played their first match against John Clifford on Thursday. The team played really well and we won 4 – 2. The children are loving playing together and we have 2 more matches booked before Easter.
It has been a very busy Spring term and we have enjoyed lots of fantastic activities. Year 4 are looking forward to their Residential to Castleton next week and we are also looking forward to the music concerts, a netball tournament, the Bake Sale and Breakfast mornings. Thank you for all of your continued support with all of these things – they make the school a really vibrant and exciting place to be.
01.03.24
Another week and another Wow day! This time it was the turn of Year 3 who had a day as Ancient Greeks. They dressed up and did activities about the Olympics, made Olympic torches, learned about the Greek alphabet and tasted Greek food. They had a fabulous day. The Year 1 children also enjoyed their trip to Tamworth Castle on Tuesday. They could tell me all about the battlements, the armour that they tried on and the dungeons!
It has been a busy week with Parents Evenings on Wednesday and Thursday. It is always lovely to welcome parents into school. At this Parents evening teachers talked about the progress that children are making, targets and things parents can do to support at home as well as wellbeing, friendships etc
I have met with the Friends group to organise the upcoming Bake Sale and have also met with Ian Draper from Nottingham Croquet club to try to build more links with the club going forward. Our Year 5 children will be going to play croquet in the summer and Ian is hoping to develop more links in the future – even becoming a Centre of Excellence in the future.
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting this week was Parents evening time. Miss Williams attended a course on Foundation subject assessment and Mrs Darke attended the Early Years network. We will follow these up at SLT. I attended a course on DEIB (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging) which was really useful and will give us lots of ideas to take forward. The Pastoral team met with the ELSA team to review support and plan how this moves forward too. The PE team also met this week and discussed the long term plan, provision across school, clubs and outside providers and assessment. They will be running a staff meeting in the summer term.
Marie Curie Daffodil day– The School Council organised the Daffodil day on Friday. We held a competition over half term and had some absolutely amazing entries – we were quite overwhelmed. The children judged the competition and prizes will be given out on Monday. We all wore something yellow on Friday and raised £489.54 for this great charity. Thank you so much for your support.
23.02.24
It has been a very busy week back in school and it is great to be back. There has certainly been a lot going on! The Year 3 – 6 children enjoyed their Disco on Wednesday night run by the Friends group. We held a Pastoral coffee morning which we ran with MHST to support parents. At the meeting we shared resources, books and agencies that can support families and children. We will be holding these events regularly to support our families.
Wow events - Year 2 enjoyed dressing up as nocturnal animals on Monday to introduce their new topic. The Year 4 children had a fabulous Roman Day on Tuesday run by a company called Historic Workshops. They dressed up and learned all about the Romans and met a Roman centurion. The Battle Formations and Tactics session was the highlight of the day, where the children got their very own sword and shield to use during the session. They learned about the famous formations and battle tactics that the Romans used to conquer lands far and wide. After this, the children participated in an Archaeological Dig session where the children sifted through sand trays to unearth real artefacts and investigate them. The children also played Roman Board Games which have been hand made to replicate what the Romans would have had around 200 years ago. It certainly brought their new topic to life.
On Friday the Reception children enjoyed their Farm day to introduce their new topic too. They wore and made animal masks, made animal biscuits and even had a wellie wanging competition! They are looking forward to their trip to Bluebell Farm soon.
Young Voices – On Monday the Year 3 – 6 choir had a fabulous time in Sheffield at the Young Voices concert. The children sang in a huge choir of 5000 children and experienced some amazing performances from some professional musicians. We also had a great time dancing along with the music. We arrived back at school at 11pm so it was a very long first day back!
Swimming Gala – A team of children represented The Lanes at the inter school swimming gala on Tuesday. They were a real credit to the school; they tried their best and cheered on their team mates with great enthusiasm. Many of the children placed first in their events and we came 6th overall. Well done to the children and thank you to Mr Nunez for organising the event.
Music Workshops – On Friday the KS2 children enjoyed a music performance and some music workshops with Rock Steady Music. They did some fabulous workshops in the morning with all of the children and will be continuing to work with us during the year. Their aim is to give more opportunities to children to play an instrument. The children really enjoyed the experience.
Fundraising – The children are busily sending in their daffodil homework ready for Daffodil day next week when we will be raising money for Marie Curie. We have had some amazing entries. The Ambassadors are also continuing their fundraising efforts for Forget Me Notts. We will be collecting medium sizes Easter Eggs and also raising money at our upcoming Breakfast mornings. The children will also be volunteering at the offices in the next few weeks which will be a great experience.
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting was used to complete the history knowledge planners. These will now be checked by the history team and will be used as a model for the other subjects. The art team have also met to discuss how to develop the curriculum in both art and DT. They will be leading a staff meeting after Easter.
Next week – It is Parents evening on Wednesday and Thursday; Y1 are off to Tamworth Castle on Tuesday and it is Daffodil day on Friday when we will be raising money for Marie Curie and wearing something yellow.
09.02.24
Visits into school - We had two visits into school this week. The first one was our Challenge Partners visit. This was really successful and we shared our work on our Values, Pupil Voice, music and Oracy. The visitors had a chance to look round school, pop into some lessons, meet some children and we presented our work to them. School was great and the learning the children were doing was lovely to see along with the staff who have wholeheartedly taken on the Oracy work and are using it in their teaching. We shared knowledge and expertise and we will be completing our final visit of the Triad in April.
We also had a visit from Voice 21 and an Oracy consultation day. The consultant completed a learning walk around school and observed some sessions. This was useful as it has given us a clear idea of our next steps for the action plan.
We completed lots of work this week around Safer Internet day and Children’s Mental Health week. The children took part in activities in class, assemblies and RSHE lessons were on these themes and parents were signposted to lots of support.
Friends of The Lanes - The Reception and Year 1 children enjoyed the disco this week at Meadow Lane. The Friends group did a great job and ran this themselves – including organising a great conga and demonstration of the Cha Cha Slide! They have organised a disco for the older children after half term. The Gin night was also a great success and it is so lovely to see all of these community events in school.
The Year 6 children have completed their latest SATs practice. We are really proud of the work they are doing both at home and at school and all the children have made progress from last time.
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting this week was on History. The History team led some training on the teaching of history and then year group teams are working hard to improve and develop our knowledge planners to ensure that key knowledge is clear and that there is progression across school. We are currently working hard to review our curriculum across school and each curriculum team is looking carefully at their area.
We have now broken up for half term and will return to school on Monday 19th February. We have asked the children to do some homework over half term around the theme of daffodils to support our latest fundraising for Marie Curie. It would be great if lots of them could get involved in this.
Have a lovely half term everyone and we will see you all again soon.
02.02.24
The children have enjoyed Science Week in school. They have been making gliders and testing them and generally having a great time investigating and doing some practical science. Thank you to the Science team for organsing this through school. We also took a team of children to Wollaton Park for the cross-country competition on Friday. The children did really well and we won second place for the under 11 boys and third place for the under 9 boys. Holly narrowly missed out on a medal coming 4th out of over 200 children.
This week we held a SATs parents meeting for our Year 6 parents. It was really well attended. The team shared some example SATs papers and talked about the process and how they can be supported at home. They also talked through what is happening in school and were on hand to answer any questions.
The Friends of The Lanes held their first Gin night on Friday – I will let you know how they got on!
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting was on Oracy. We talked about the vocabulary training and gave staff some more tips on how to embed Oracy into their teaching in class. I attended the Family HT meeting on Monday at which we discussed Family Events and developments.
Next week – We have our Challenge Partners Visit on Monday; it is the next SATs practice week; Safer Internet Day and Children’s Mental Health week; we have an Oracy Consultancy Day and then we break up for half term. Phew!
26.01.24
This week we held a productive Governors meeting where the Governing Body accepted my resignation and began the discussion around the recruitment process. This was supported by WHPT trust. We will ensure that we hear staff, parent and pupil voice in the process and that we keep everyone informed along the way. It has been a strange week for me as the news of my retirement is sinking in but I am sure the school will continue to flourish with the new Head teacher and the amazing staff team who will still be at The Lanes.
The swimming trials continued this week and we will now be choosing the squad to represent us at the gala. We also ran trials for the cross country competition which will be held on Friday 2nd March. The children have enjoyed taking part in the trials and are excited to compete against other schools.
The Year 3 children enjoyed their Residential trip to Mount Cook. They stayed for one night and took part in lots of activities to do with their topic of the Stone Age. A big thank you to the staff who took them – the children were amazing as usual.
School Council and ambassadors – I have met with each year group from School Council. I have done a review of Teaching and Learning with them which has been really interesting. We will be reviewing this as staff as part of our work on Pupil Voice. I met with the Tesco community champion on Wednesday. She is interested in working with us and I will be following this up.
I also met with the Ambassadors. They are still doing their role in school and are working hard. They are keen to be involved with the HT appointment and have lots of ideas. We are continuing our work with Forget Ne Notts and will be doing further fundraising and volunteering at their offices. All minutes of meetings are on the school website.
Staff meetings and CPD – The staff meeting was on behaviour and TA support. We reviewed our policy and procedures and we looked at how to use TAs effectively using the deployment review as evidence. Miss Hodkin attended a Challenge Partners visit to a school in Leicester. She found this interesting as usual and we will discuss her observations with SLT to see if there are any changes we need to be thinking about in school. I also attended the PE meeting with Broxtowe Sports Partnership and discussed how to improve our offer around competitive sport but also around engagement at all levels.
Next week – It is Governor Visits week and Science week in school; there is a SATs meeting for parents after school; we will be attending the Cross country competition at Wollaton Park and it is the Friends Gin evening on Friday which I hope lots of people will attend.
19.01.24
It has been another busy week at school. The Reception children enjoyed their Arctic Wow day this week. This links to their topic on hot and cold places. The other classes are working hard and there is a real buzz around school which is lovely. A group of children attended the Sportshall Athletics Final at George Spencer where we came 3rd – well done to the children who attended. We are now preparing for the swimming gala in the next few weeks.
Curriculum and SIP – The English, History and Science teams met this week. The English team delivered the staff meeting and discussed the progression of skills in handwriting and editing. The History team met to discuss improvements that we are making to our Knowledge Planners. They reviewed the History curriculum and will be leading a couple of staff meetings on this. This will then serve as a model for the other subjects to review their knowledge planners. We are continually reviewing our curriculum to make sure that it is compliant with the National Curriculum but also is bespoke to our school and children. The Pastoral Team met this week and went through the nurture and ELSA interventions in school to ensure that the correct children are being supported. They discussed key cases, supporting families and how to develop things into the future. The Oracy team also met this week to review the Oracy that is going on in school and to plan for future staff meetings.
School Council and ambassadors -I have met with all the School Councillors and the Ambassadors this week. We have been talking about Teaching and Learning and it has been interesting to gather the Pupil Voice around this. I am currently collating this and will be sharing it with staff. We have also decided to support the Daffodil appeal for Marie Curie again this year. With the Ambassadors we discussed their role in school and how to develop this. We will also be continuing our work with Forget me Notts. They will be leading an assembly on Monday and we will be asking the children for feedback on their role.
For myself as Head teacher it has been an emotional week as I have decided to step down at the end of the summer term. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents, carers, staff, governors and children for the support over the last 16 years since I become Head teacher of Meadow Lane in September 2008. Without the support of our community the school simply would not be what it is today and I have so many amazing memories to look back on. I will be working with the Governors to ensure that there is a smooth handover to the new Head teacher once they have been appointed and remain fully committed to my role.
12.01.24
Welcome back to school everyone. I hope that you had a good Christmas and New Year. Thank you for all of your good wishes – we are still enjoying many of the treats and biscuits in the staff rooms. The children have returned to school well and are already working hard on their new topics in class. This is a really short half term so we are getting up and running straight away – there is definitely no time to lose!
Many year groups have started their topics with Wow days and trips already. Year 5 had a Scotland day, Year 6 had a Maya day, Year 2 had a Ghana day, Reception investigated our local area on a walk and Year 4 have been on a trip to Derby museum – phew! Year 6 have also started their DAart work and this will continue for 10 weeks this term.
Attendance – The New Year is a good time to remind everyone of the importance of good school attendance. This is a key issue for the DFE and Local Authority. As a school we work hard with families to ensure that children attend school regularly and on time. Even a short period of absence can have a real impact on future attainment as well as confidence, self-esteem and wellbeing.
Pupil Progress – Years 1 to 6 held their Pupil Progress meetings with a member of SLT this week. We discussed Autumn assessment data and end of Year targets and highlighted children who need extra support/could achieve more. We then discussed interventions and support in detail and made plans for this term. We are also planning a SATs parents meeting and planning Booster groups for Year 6 which will start after half term. Our Reception teachers will be reviewing the children’s assessments next week.
Supporting your child at home – A reminder at the start of the New Year also that it is so important that children are supported at home. It makes such a difference to attainment, confidence and self-esteem if children get that extra bit of support and encouragement. The weekly plans are still uploaded to the website every week. There is an expectation that ALL children read at least 4 times weekly at home and we will be following this up during this half term. Children should also be supported to complete any other homework that is sent home, including spellings, maths and any work towards the upcoming SATs tests in Year 6.
We are looking forward to many lovely events this term. You can find details of all of these on the school website. Have a lovely weekend.
22.12.23
We made it! It is Christmas after what feels like a VERY long week!! We said goodbye to Mrs Day who has gone on maternity leave with the baby due in January. Mrs Roy also left on Thursday after 22 years, having started at Meadow Lane in 2001! I am sure that you will join with me in wishing her good luck and happiness as she moves onto new adventures in the future.
The Year 3 and 4 children performed their pantomime Dick Whittington this week. They did a fabulous job and we were all really proud of them. We collected £435.62 for our charity ‘Forget Me Notts’ which takes our total so far to £2176.63. The whole school visited Christchurch for a lovely Christmas service and carols on Tuesday. Year 1 choir visited the Willows care home in Beeston and sang to the residents.
On Monday the local PCSOs visited school on Monday and talked to Year 6 about safety in the community including e scooters, anti social behaviour etc. They then had lunch with the children. We are hoping to keep developing this relationship next year to try and help the children as they move onto secondary school. The Year 6 children will also be doing the DAart programme in the new year with the police. This is a programme of Drug Awareness and Resilience Training and teaches the children about drugs, knife crime and peer pressure amongst other things.
On Friday the whole school got together for a lovely Christmas assembly and playtime. The children also enjoyed their party day with a visit from Santa and a present of a book paid for by the Friends group.
Y4 ECO ELVES – Miss Howe (Outdoor Learning Teacher) along with Y4 pupils and staff have been very busy making sustainable Christmas gifts and decorations which they sold to parents this week. They have raised over £500 which is an amazing total! Half of the profit will be donated to The Marine Conservation Society; the remaining money will go to support Outdoor Learning resources. Further details of the items made can be found here https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/the-lanes-primary-school/UploadedDocument/e7993c8a-8e4b-43b1-893d-ffb6660fb5cf/year-4-eco-elves-christmas-shop.pdf
FRIENDS OF THE LANES - The Friends of the Lanes have had a wonderfully successful term and we would like to thank everyone who got involved with our events.
- Our Fireworks event raised a fantastic £4000 and around 1600 people attended
- Around 370 children have attended our discos, which have raised over £1100
- Around 170 families attended our Christmas Crafts & Cafe where we raised a further £600
The group have been working with school to decide the best ways to use this fundraising and so far, they have contributed to workshops and trips across a variety of year groups - we'll give more of an update on this at the end of the school year. There are already lots of events planned for 2024 and it would be great if more parents/carers would like to be involved.
It just leaves it to me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Thank you for your continuing support.
15.12.23
As a write this news I am listening to Year 4 practising their pantomime in the hall – its is beginning to come together and is sounding great. The staff and children are working so hard.
The Reception children performed their nativity to parents and carers this week. They did such a great job and it was really lovely to see how much they have all come on since September. It really makes it feel like Christmas. We collected for our chosen charity ‘Forget me Notts’ at the end of the performance and will do the same at the pantomime next week. I hope that you enjoyed the performance if you came to watch.
On Thursday we wore Christmas jumpers and had our Christmas dinner. We also enjoyed Carols in the playground at Meadow Lane with the Salvation Army and hot turkey cobs and mulled wine. As usual it was a lovely event enjoyed by all who attended (over 150 people!!) Thank you to the staff for organising and to the band. I hope that you enjoyed it and that it made you feel Christmassy!
The Year 3 children enjoyed a trip to Christchurch on Friday. We will all be going there next week to sing some carols which will be lovely.
I met with someone from the Croquet club on University Boulevard on Tuesday. Our Year 5 children will be going for some training in the summer term. He is interested in working with us and Croquet England to develop a Centre of Excellence – I’ll let you know if anything comes from this.
I met with the parent’s group (The Friends of the Lanes) on Friday and we discussed fundraising and events coming up. We will be holding a meeting in the New Year to try to recruit more parents particularly for the committee. The events this term have been really successful and we are already planning a Gin night, 2 discos and an Easter raffle for next half term. Please join the committee or volunteer if you can. All the money raised goes into things to enhance the children’s experience at school. The Friends will be writing to everyone soon to give you some more details about how they are planning to move forward and to let you know how much money has been raised so far. The group do a great job and as a school we are so grateful.
Have a lovely weekend everyone – it’s nearly Christmas!!
08.12.23
It has been another busy week and we are really beginning to feel Christmassy in school. Decorations are up and carols are being sung. The children are very excited to share their many stories about the Elf on the Shelf!
The Year 6 children completed their latest round of practice SATs tests. Lots of the children have already made great progress in all areas. We will use these latest results to refine our support and intervention going forward. The children, once again, tried so hard and really gave it their best and we are very proud of them.
On Monday night we took the Year 2 choir to the church for the Christingle service. The children sang beautifully and we were joined by choirs from the other schools in our Family. We then took the same choir to the Methodist church to sing at the Thursday club. The members really enjoyed listening to the children and the children enjoyed a drink and a biscuit and were given a selection box. The Year 1 and 2 choirs then sang beautifully at the Christmas Fayre.
The Reception children did the dress rehearsal for the nativity on Friday morning. As usual it was lovely and the children did a great job. We are looking forward to the performances for parents and carers next week. On Friday it was the annual Christmas Fayre. We did this slightly differently this year and ran a Christmas Crafts and Café from 3.30 – 5.30pm. It was very busy and people seemed to enjoy it. Thank you to our amazing Parents group for organising it all.
The Oracy team led the staff meeting and went through the next steps in our training. We talked about Talk tactics and how to teach children to have productive discussions and debates in class. Staff will be completing some training on vocabulary before half term and then we will do some paired work in school to develop this across all classes. Key staff have also been updated their safeguarding training.
Next week the staff will be completing moderation in Year groups supported by the SLT; Year 4 have their wellbeing workshop; the Reception children will be performing the Nativity; it is Carols in the Playground; Christmas dinner and the Year 3 children are visiting Christchurch. Another busy week to look forward to!
01.12.23
Christmas is coming; it is that magical time of the year again when school becomes busier as we get ready for Christmas. The decorations are going up, the children are practising their shows and we are looking forward to all of our Christmas events in the next three weeks
We have recently been involved in a joint meeting of local schools, police and councillors to discuss concerns raised by schools regarding anti-social behaviour in our community. Schools are finding themselves dealing with the repercussions of some of this activity that takes place in the evenings and weekends. We discussed strategies and how we can work closely together to ensure that our neighbourhoods and pupils are safe both in and out of school.
This week I met with our local PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) to discuss how we could work together. The PCSO team will be coming into school on Monday 18th December to talk to our Year 5 and 6 children about their role in the community and how children can keep themselves safe. We will be developing this partnership during the year and the PCSOs are hoping to come into school regularly to have lunch and a chat with the children at Cator Lane.
Broxtowe Borough Council and the Police have written statements about their work in this area and these can be found on our school website.
On Tuesday Paul Heery and Jacqui Sainsbury from WHPT came into school for the morning and completed a Deep Dive in reading. We worked with them to look at our plans for reading and phonics and our progress and attainment. They also heard some children read and observed phonics and reading lessons across school. The visit was really positive and a big thank you goes out to all the staff and children who did a great job.
Our Oracy champions and myself visited a school in London on Thursday as part of our Challenge Partners work. We went to Julian’s School in Streatham and this was a really interesting experience. The other school in our triad was there too. We listened to presentations about their work on oracy which was useful and had a tour of the school with some children. The two schools will be visiting us in February to continue to share good practice.
Next week we are looking forward to the Christingle Service, the nativity dress rehearsal, a choir visit and our Christmas Fayre.
24.11.23
Another busy week goes by and Christmas is fast approaching. Years 2 – 6 enjoyed their disco on Wednesday which was organised by our Parent Group. Year 5 had a Worry workshop which was delivered by the MHST (Mental Health Support Team). This was again in response to the questionnaire that we did with the children. They enjoyed the session and learned some strategies for dealing with worry and anxiety moving forward. Year 1 enjoyed a Grandparents afternoon where they talked about toys from the past to support their topic – they had a great time playing games like Snakes and Ladders, Subbuteo, Tiddlywinks and talking about what they like to play with now. Our ‘Always Club’ continues on a Friday and the children really enjoy coming for a hot chocolate and a chat.
Visits and Open Morning- We have now completed our visits for prospective parents. The Open Morning on Saturday was a great success and we got lots of lovely feedback. Thanks to the staff and Governors who attended and gave up some of their weekend. The Ambassadors should be complimented for their tours – they are a real asset to our school and really embody our school values.
Ambassadors/School Council – We are really proud of how much we raised for Forget Me Notts and Children in Need. I delivered 100 selection boxes to Operation Orphan on Monday and they were hugely grateful. We are continuing to work with them to raise more money during the year.
The Reception teachers have now chosen their School Councillors and I will be meeting with them next week.
Monitoring- The PE team met for the day and discussed the action plan, contacted providers, sorted clubs and looked at the new PE hub lessons and assessment. They also looked at some key CPD in PE for staff and competitions coming up this year. The MFL team completed a learning walk on Monday and completed a pupil voice exercise. They will feed back to staff in due course.
We have been completing the preparations for the reading Deep Dive with WHPT which will take place next week. Staff will be working hard to showcase our teaching of reading and phonics across school.
I can’t believe that next week will herald the start of December. The school is full of singing as the children prepare for the nativity and the pantomime – it is always such a lovely time of the year in school.
17.11.23
This week was Anti Bullying Week across the country. All classes did work about this and all assemblies were on this theme. We have also sent resources out to parents.
On Monday we all came in Odd Socks to bring a focus to Anti Bullying too. We will be putting a display up in the hall.
Year 5 continued with their Bikeability course and are learning those key road safety skills.
Year 3 took part in some Wellbeing workshops with the Mental Health team. These were arranged in response to the pupil questionnaire and the children seemed to enjoy them.
Year 3 enjoyed their trip to Magna Science Centre on Wednesday. They enjoyed workshops on light and fire and had a great time investigating some hands on science.
Early Years celebrated Diwali on Wednesday where they talked about the festival and took part in lots of activities.
On Friday we did some fundraising for Children in Need. This was run by the School Council. We wore spots and yellow and brought in £1.00 donation. The School Council ran a cake sale after school. We raised £891.00 which is amazing. We also had a surprise visit from Pudsey on Thursday morning which was very exciting.
Ambassadors – I met with the Ambassadors on Wednesday. We are currently finalising our Readathon but it looks like we will have raised £1741.50 which is great. We are also collecting selection boxes and I will deliver them next week. The Ambassadors will be helping with the Open Morning on Saturday and the parent visits next week – we have 80 parents booked in so far on Saturday and another 50 in the week which is really positive news.
A huge thank you to everyone for their generosity for these charities – it is really appreciated by us all.
Monitoring- The Science and maths team have had some time together this week to look at planning, the curriculum and to visit some lessons. They gave some feedback at staff meeting on Wednesday. We have also been conducting lesson visits across school. In all classrooms it has been great to see children engaged in their learning and really taking a pride in their work. It has also been great to see staff already using some of the Oracy techniques in lessons.
Next week the English team will be looking at spelling and preparing for the Reading Deep Dive with the Trust. The PE team will also have some time together to look at planning, outside providers, after school clubs and also to do some monitoring of lessons. The MFL team will also be doing a learning walk.
All of this monitoring is discussed at SLT and informs our staff meetings and future planning. This week’s staff meeting was a chance for Curriculum Teams to work together to ensure that their subject area is being taught well and that staff are focused on key learning.
Next week the children from Year 2 to Year 6 are really looking forward to the ‘Neon Disco’ at Cator Lane! Year 1 children will also be welcoming in Grandparents on Thursday to talk about toys.
10.11.23
It has been good to get back to school after the half term break – it has certainly been a busy week. The Year 2 children enjoyed their Great Fire of London Day on Monday. They dressed up and did some drama, some cooking and even set fire to the houses on Pudding Lane. The Year 6 children also enjoyed a Texas Wow day as the introduction to the their new topic ‘Holes’ – they made (and ate) ranch salad, played American football and took part in line dancing. It was a very exciting first day!
The Year 6 Residential took place this week. The children had a great time at Mount Cook doing activities such as abseiling, climbing, zip wire, orienteering to name but a few. They all had a great time and challenged themselves. I joined them for 2 nights and really enjoyed spending time with the children and staff. A huge thank you to all the staff who accompanied the children and looked after them so brilliantly.
Year 5 started their Bikeability course this week which teaches them to be safe on the roads on their bikes. We also held a meeting about phonics for our parents in Early Years and this was well attended.
Remembrance- During the week the children through school have been doing work around Remembrance. They have produced some lovely work which will be displayed in school. We all took part in the 2 minute silence at 11am. The children were very respectful and school was still and silent.
Ambassadors and School Council – Both of these groups are keen to get fundraising! The Ambassadors are working hard to raise money for ‘Forget Me Notts’ and will also be collecting selection boxes to wrap for children in care. The School Council will be running our fundraising for Children in Need and we will hopefully be holding a cake sale.
WHPT – We are continuing to work with White Hills Park as we work towards joining them next year. We are currently completing our due diligence activities which include site visits, conditions surveys, health and safety audits as well as discussions around staffing and teaching and learning. We will keep parents and carers informed as the process continues.
Anti-Bullying Week – Next week (13 – 17 Nov) is Anti Bullying Week. This is a national event that we take part in every year. The children will be working in class on this theme and we will be talking about it in assembly. It is also World Kindness Day on Monday. This links really well with our half term values of Friendship and Kindness. On Monday 13th November we will al be taking part in Odd Socks Day. This is a day when schools, workplaces, and individuals join together to show that it's okay to be different and to stand up against bullying and discrimination. We have also updated our Anti Bullying policy which is based on the Nottinghamshire LA policy and a copy of this can be found on our website. More information for parents about Anti Bullying Week can be found here https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week-2023-make-noise-about-bullying/parents-and-carers
Children in Need – On Friday 17th November it is Children in Need. We are asking that all children and staff to come in something spotty or yellow on that day and bring in one pound for the charity. There will also be a cake sale at the end of the day at both sites.
Fireworks- Thank you so much for supporting us with our Fireworks event on Friday. It was great to see so many people there. This is a great fundraising event for school but more than that it is an event that brings the community together which is so important. Thank you to the Parents group for organising and for the office staff for helping them. Thanks also to staff who stayed late to help out.
20.10.23
The final week of this half term has continued to be busy. Year 4 had a great day out at Think Tank Science Museum on Monday. The Year 5 also held their art gallery on Tuesday where they sold their art and made £355 for the Rainforest Trust.
On Monday we held an Anxiety and Wellbeing workshop for parents. This was run by the Mental Health support team and was well attended. We have also completed the wellbeing questionnaires with the children through school. The main themes from these have been worry and sleep. We have booked workshops with MHST to support the children with these after half term.
On Thursday we held our Harvest festival in the hall at Cator Lane. We had lots of food donated which we will send to the local food bank and Women’s Refuge.
We completed our Parents Evenings for Years 1 – 6 this week and these went well. We have also held two visits for prospective parents in which the Ambassadors did a tour of both sites and we answered lots of questions. We will be continuing these after half term, including an Open Morning on 18th November.
The Ambassadors have decided to support Forget Me Notts as their charity this year. This is the UK part of Operation Orphan and they work to support vulnerable children to have a safe place to sleep. The children will be completing a Readathon over half term and we will be counting how many books have been read. Cyrillin Moore from the charity came and gave a presentation to the children on Monday. The Ambassadors have a target of £5000!! More information about the charity can be found here https://www.operation-orphan.org/forget-me-notts
Our Oracy champions went to the Voice 21 launch on Monday.We are looking forward to seeing what impact the Oracy work will have for our children both in terms of confidence and academic achievement. More information can be found here https://voice21.org/ Our Family Inset day on Friday was led by staff at The Lanes to introduce the Oracy project to staff and we have already started planning what this will look like in classrooms. It was so great to see The Lanes providing CPD and training for over 120 staff in our Family of Schools.
I would like to wish you all a lovely half term holiday and hope that you manage to have a break and do something fun. Don’t forget to have a go at the Readathon – I can’t wait to see how many books we manage to read! See you all back in school on Monday 6th November ready for a Year 6 Residential and Fireworks!!
13.10.23
It has been another busy week in school. I attended the Family HT meeting on Monday where we heard from the new Family SENCo and her plans for the schools moving forward. She has been working hard getting to know all the SEND children in the schools and has put some new systems and structures in place already which is great. We also talked about Family events, results and transition. Next week the Head teachers are meeting with the council and local police to discuss the current issues with some of the older children and Anti Social behaviour as this is having an impact in all of our schools.
Ambassadors – I have met with the Ambassadors again and we have chosen our charity for the year. We have chosen to support ‘Forget Me Notts’ which is a local charity working to help children in need. We are hoping to meet with the charity director next week to launch the project and then do our first fundraiser over half term. They are looking forward to showing new parents round school from next week – we had a training session for this on Monday!
Staff meeting/CPD – We have been to London for the launch of our new Challenge Partners project. We will be working with two other schools to develop our work on Oracy. Our staff meeting and we looked at the new assessment system and discussed teaching and learning strategies with staff.
Always Club – The children are still enjoying coming to ‘Always Club’ on a Friday. It is so lovely to spend time with the children, having hot chocolate and a chat to say well done for ‘always’ being awesome.
New Children for September 2024 – We are starting the visits for new parents to school next week. If you want to attend or know anyone who would like to have a look round school all the information is on the school website here https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/first-admission-to-school-september-2024/
06.10.23
This week we had our first choir of the year with 72 children from Year 2 to Year 6. We will be taking the KS2 children to Sheffield to Young Voices in February. This is a huge concert of around 8000 children which will be held in the Utilita Arena. It is an amazing opportunity for the children to perform – we just need to learn all the songs!!
The Early Years Parents evenings took place this week. Staff talked to parents about how their children have settled in and things that we have been doing in school.
I have also met with School Council and Ambassadors this week. As usual they are full of ideas!
The Reception children had a lovely trip to Greens Mill. This supplemented their topic of The Little Red Hen. We went up the Windmill, made some bread and visited the science museum. We had a lovely time and the children were amazing.
We are still working behind the scenes to complete everything to join White Hills Park. We have had a QA visit in which we looked at the results and the draft School Improvement Plan. We also discussed staffing, including wellbeing and upcoming CPD networks and support. We will now be completing all of the due diligence tasks to ensure that the conversion can go ahead smoothly.
Our staff meeting was about the new behaviour policy in school. We will be sharing this with parents in due course. The children are getting used to the new school rules and behaviour in school is good.
Next week I am off to London to a Challenge Partners conference. I will be meeting with Academy Leads and Family Head teachers. And then there is a disco at Meadow Lane, a Book Fayre and we will be having our termly budget meeting – it’s certainly never boring!!
29.09.23
The Year 6 children have completed their first SATs practice. This will give the staff a clear idea of what we need to work on moving forward. The children coped well and gave it all a really good go. They also enjoyed their trip to the National Justice museum on Friday.
Year 4 enjoyed their Harry Potter Wow day on Monday. School was full of wizards, Harry Potters, Hermiones and Hedwigs! The children and staff enjoyed lots of activities including Drama, Quidditch and potion making.
We held a coffee afternoon for Macmillan on Friday. It was lovely to see lots of parents in attendance and we have raised money for a good cause.
On a safety note – if your child rides a bike to school, could you please remind them about the importance of wearing a helmet. Thank you.
22.09.23
This week the Year 5 children enjoyed a visit from Animal Magic and the Year 1 children enjoyed their Long Long Ago Workshops. These visits support the children’s learning in their topics in school.
I met with the new School Council and Ambassadors this week. We introduced each other and had photos and badges. The children are very excited to begin their new roles!!
New children September 2024 – We are already preparing for our new cohort in 2024! We have booked in visit days and also an Open Morning again. This will be on Saturday 18th November and will take place over both sites.
Voice 21 – We had our first staff meeting to introduce our Oracy project for the year. It sounds really interesting and something that will hopefully raise attainment, help our disadvantaged children and raise confidence and self esteem. The Family Inset Day in October (Friday 20th) will be the launch for our school and lead our action plan.
Next week – The Year 6 children will be doing their first practice SATs. This is our first opportunity to see how they get on and to give them a flavour of the tests. We are already working hard to ensure that we are reaching for their targets and the children are working hard. At the end of the week they will go on a trip to the National Justice Museum as a treat!!
15.09.23
It has been another great week in school and we are all enjoying the learning in our new topics. The Reception children are now in full time. They have enjoyed their first week and are settling in well.
As part of our new Behaviour policy we have started our Friday ‘Always Club’. This is an opportunity for those children who always do the right thing to be rewarded with hot chocolate and an extra play/treat. The first club happened this week and the children were very excited. The children are also responding well to our 3 B’s – Be Proud, Be Safe, Be Respectful and school has a lovely feel to it.
We are now working hard to finalise our School Improvement Plan for this year and will share it with parents in due course.
08.09.23
Welcome back to the Autumn term everyone. We have had a great first week back and the children have settled in really well. Our new Reception children came in for some half days and for lunch on Friday. They will be starting full time on Monday. They have all done really well. It has been a busy week; particularly for Year 2 who had their ‘Superhero Day’ on Thursday – I’m not sure who enjoyed it most; the staff or the children!
Inset Day – The Inset Day on Monday was really lovely. There was a great atmosphere amongst the staff and everyone spent ages catching up with each other. We completed the safeguarding updates and did some work around community, teamwork and belonging. We had a look at the school logo and talked about what it means to us (this activity will be done with the children too). We also looked at having those high expectations for all children and discussed what this looks like in class.
Miss Williams then led the staff in training on the new behaviour policy. She did an amazing job and will share the work with Parents later this term. We are working on the 3 B’s – Be Proud; Be Safe; Be Respectful. This is being rolled out through school and will be reviewed during the term.
Family Picnic – We held our Family Picnic on Friday in the lovely weather (postponed from July) It was a lovely event to welcome all of our families back to school. It was great to see so many of you there and I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did.