21.07.23

So, it is the last week of term but things certainly do not slow down at all. It has been a very busy week as we celebrate the end of term and tie things up for the end of term. Parents received the end of year reports last Friday and we have had some lovely feedback. We have also been completing SEND reviews with parents and staff have been contacting their new pupils.

The Year 6 pupils have certainly left The Lanes in style. They performed their show this week ‘Shakespeare Rocks’ – they were amazing. We also held our Graduation on Thursday and celebrated their time at The Lanes. On the last day they signed shirts and we had another assembly to say goodbye as a school.

The School Council and Ambassadors had their end of term trips this week to thank them for their hard work. We went to Highfields and played on the park (the Ambassadors played Crazy golf) and we had an ice cream. A good time was had by all.

The Reception children enjoyed their Pirate Party on Wednesday afternoon. They all dressed up and had a great time walking the plank, playing games and eating ice cream.

We had a tea party to thank our Volunteers who come into school every week. The Year 2 and 3 choir also sang to them. We are so grateful for all the support given to us by our volunteers – they make a real difference to our children.

The Year 2 – 6 choir did a short performance to their parents and grandparents on Monday after school. Mrs Ireland and myself love running choir (it is definitely a bit of stress relief for me!) They did a great performance, full of joy and enthusiasm – well done them!!

We welcomed 3 work Experience students into school this week who worked at Meadow Lane with our youngest children, supporting the teachers in the final week. The last outdoor learning sessions finished this week – the children have loved it.

We had a whole school assembly on Friday which is always lovely. We said goodbye to Jenny Stevens, Hannah Baker, Rachel Beighton and Carol O’Connor. We also said goodbye to our Year 6 children.

Have a super summer everyone. Thank you so much for the continued support.

14.07.23

This week saw the release of the Year 6 SATs results. We are really pleased with the key results across school where we sit at or above National.  Thank you to all the staff through school who have worked together to get the children to where they are. Thanks to the children too – they have worked so hard and we are proud of all of them.
 

We held the second Consultation event regarding the joining of White Hills Park Trust on Monday which was attended by 5 parents. We will share any feedback at Governors but no major concerns have been raised so far. The consultation ends next week.
 

The Year 2 children performed their show ‘Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies’ this week. They were awesome! They showed so much confidence and really threw themselves into the singing, dancing and drama. Well done to them all!
 

The Year 6 children enjoyed their end of year trip to Planet Bounce and the pizzas back at school. They are enjoying wearing their new hoodies and generally being top of the school!! They are busy practising their end of year show and they are looking forward to their Graduation next week.

The staff meeting on Wednesday was the Triad presentations. This has been a really successful CPD project and the staff have worked together in cross phase teams using research to try out new techniques linked to Engagement. We will review this learning and use it to inform parts of our SIP next year.

Unfortunately, the cricket competition and Family Picnic had to be cancelled due to the rain. We are hoping to try again for the picnic on September 8^th.

We will head into the final week of term next week and we are looking forward to our end of term events and then, of course, our summer holidays – let’s hope the weather improves.

07.07.23

It remains busy in school and it has been a topsy turvy week with Transition. This has gone really well. The Year 2 and Year 6 children are busy practising their performances – Robin Hood and The Sherwood Hoodies and Shakespeare Rocks. They are looking really good.

This week the Senior Leadership Team had a day together to do some strategic planning for next year. We reviewed the School Improvement plan and completed a SWOT analysis. The new SIP will be based on the review and also on any new developments that we want to move forward on. We also discussed staffing, children (including SEND) interventions and predicted results. It was a really useful day.

The first WHPT consultation meeting for parents was held on Thursday evening. About 30 parents attended and were able to ask questions. There is another meeting on Monday at 4pm and it would be good to see lots of people there.

On Wednesday this week we held our annual Open Evening. Lots of parents came with their children to look at work and talk to both the current and new teachers. It was really positive.

Transition- This week our Year 6 children visited their new secondary schools and everyone in school moved to their new classes for 3 days. Our new Reception children came in for 3 visits and I held my new parents meetings on Thursday. The children all had a great time and were positive about their experiences.

There is only 2 weeks to go until the end of term but we still have lots to look forward to. Don’t forget our Family Picnic on Friday night – all welcome!

30.06.23

It has been another busy week as you would expect so close to the end of term. The staff are continuing to work hard to ensure that everything is in place for the end of the year. Reports are being finalised, new classes have gone out to parents, SEND records are being finalised and parent meetings arranged, as well as practising for Year 2 and Year 6 shows and end of year trips. Wow!

Year 6 have enjoyed 2 days of Outdoor Learning this week. They have worked in teams and have completed activities such as fire building, den making, wood whittling, making cameras, knots and much more. They have also had a talk from soemone at Chilwell regarding the D of E award and how to get involved. A big thank you to Miss Howe, our Outdoor Learning teacher and all the volunteers. The children and adults had a great time.

The Reception team held the annual Grandparents morning on Wednesday. We welcomed over 70 Grandparents into school. The children sang and we served tea and biscuits. The adults then worked with the children in class and played with them on the playground. It was really lovely and we all really enjoyed it.

Next week the children will be having 3 days of transition to their new classes. This is a great opportunity for the children to meet their new teachers and get to know their new classes and routines.

On Wednesday next week it is our Open Evening – it would be lovely to see lots of you there to celebrate the children’s achievements over this academic year.

23.06.23

As the summer term progresses it is just getting busier and we are enjoying lots of great events in school.

I met with School Council and Ambassadors this week. The new playground equipment is being installed soon and we planned our final fundraiser and end of year trip! The Ambassadors have been working with the Reception children and have also worked with some visitors from Challenge Partners. They are also looking forward to their trip in the last week of term.

The NEU have called strikes on the 5^th and 7^th of July. This hits our transition week unfortunately. We are liasing with our secondary schools to assess the impact and we will plan from there. The other teaching unions have recently balloted members too for action in the Autumn term. We will keep parents informed as we know more.

Year 2 were moderated by the Local Authority on Monday. The team worked so hard to get the evidence ready and the moderators were impressed with their knowledge of the children and the accuracy of their assessments. Year 1 completed the phonics check this week, the times tables test in Year 4 has been completed and Reception have also moderated their judgements.  

We attended the Family of Schools moderation event on Wednesday after school. Staff worked in Year group teams to moderate writing and to share what they do for spelling and phonics. This was really successful and staff had some great professional discussions about their work. This will be shared as a resource. We have also started in school moderation this week and next. Each year group team works with a member of SLT to moderate assessments to ensure consistency and accuracy of judgements. All results will be shared on the website once everything is completed.

Congratulations – Several of our children entered the local ABC Art trail competition. Bethany in Year 4 was the overall winner and 2 more children won a prize. Entries will be displayed at the Canalside heritage centre and on the ABC Art trail website here https://www.abcarttrail.uk/

Choir – The choir have had a busy week! On Tuesday the whole school choir (about 80 children) went to John Clifford to the Singing Festival. We performed 4 songs and then we sang some joint songs with the other schools. It was great. On Friday the KS2 choir went on a trip to the Royal Concert Hall. We listened to the Halle orchestra and sang along with them and lots of other schools. What a great experience for the children to have.

Sports Day – Thursday was Sports Day and this was a great success. Thank you to Mr Wilkins and Mrs Verey for organising this event. The children had a great time and lots of our families came to watch.

White Hills Park – A reminder that parents and carers the consultation letter regarding us joining the White Hills Park MAT has gone to staff and parents and we have set up a page on the website here https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/consultation-on-joining-a-mat/

09.06.23

I can’t believe we are back for the final half term. It has certainly been a busy first week back. Two Year 2 classes went on their Residential trip to Sherwood Forest this week (2DW class went on their first day back!) I went with 2RR class and we had a lovely time in the forest amongst nature and we saw lots of bats on our night time bat walk. 2AO class are due to go on Monday and Tuesday next week and then that is all the Residentials done for another year!!

Next week 2AO will go on their Residential, Year 4 are off to Cadbury World, Reception are off to the Aeropark, choir are out at the Methodist church and our Year 6 Football Team are playing a match at Eskdale. Mrs Darke is also visiting our new children at their pre schools and it is Phonics week for year 1 and retest for some Year 2 children as well as the Year 4 Times tables test. Wow!

26.05.23

It has been a good week in the lead up to half term and it was nice to welcome some of our Governors into school to meet the children and staff and join in with their learning. Year 5 continued their first aid training this week and the children are enjoying it (even practising the recovery position on the field at lunchtime!) The Year 1 children took part in their class assemblies which were based around their Castles topic. They did a great job reciting a story, sharing their work and singing. It was nice to see lots of parents and carers there to watch too.

Transition – The year 6 children who are going to Chilwell had an assembly from their staff this week. We have also completed and sent off all transition information to the secondary schools. Our transition programme in school is up and running and we will be sorting new classes out soon.

Raising Aspirations – We completed our Raising Aspirations programme this week and is has been a huge success. It is so important that we have high aspirations for our children and show them what they can be. A huge thank you to Miss Williams who organised it all.

Working in Partnership – I attended a Challenge Partners review this week in Leicester. The school was really interesting and I have come away with some ideas as always. It is such a privilege to be invited into another school to work with their leadership team and staff. I also met with the other Head teachers in our Family of Schools. We have a strong partnership and we discussed transition and joint events. We are looking forward to the Sports Days and singing festival that will bring our schools together.

Today we said goodbye to Mrs Roberts and Mrs Kaur as they went on maternity leave and we wish them all the best. We are all looking forward to the half term holiday and for once the weather looks like it is going to be lovely. I hope you all have a lovely week and get time to spent quality time with friends and family. See you all back on 5^th June for the final half term of the year.

19.05.23

Wow – that was certainly a busier week than last week. Year 6 have settled back into their normal routine. They will now be concentrating on their writing for the end of the year assessments (as well as the end of year play, trips, graduation, visits to secondary school and much more) We have had lots of lovely messages from parents about how we managed the SATs process and how well their children coped.

Year 2 have continued to complete their SATs tests – they completed reading paper 2 and the first maths test this week confidently. They will finish the SATs next week and the results of these will help staff with their final assessments in June.

Two groups of children took part in the Family of Schools dance festival on Tuesday evening. They performed a couple of disco numbers and had a great time. They performed really well and with great confidence. A big thank you to staff who supported with this.

The Reception children had a lovely time on their trip to Bardills on Monday as part of their growing topic. Year 3 also had a great trip to Christchurch to support their work in RE. As always, the children were a real credit to the school.

On Thursday staff all work something green in support of Mental Health Awareness week. The children have been doing some work around anxiety during the week. And finally, on Friday we held a coffee afternoon at Meadow Lane and it was nice to see lots of parents there.

Raising Aspirations – This week saw our first sessions to support our learning in RSHE around careers and future aspirations. Years 2, 3 and 4 met with lots of volunteers and learned about careers such as engineering, medicine, childcare, police, armed services and many more. The children have really enjoyed talking to our visitors.

Nottinghamshire SEND review – The results of the Nottinghamshire SEND review were published last week. The report highlights the challenges faced by parents, carers and schools in finding support for children with SEND. As a school we are committed to supporting our children and families and will continue to work hard to access support and funding. A copy of the report can be found here https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/44/891?utm_source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=report

12.05.23

Year 6 SATs have been completed this week. The children have worked so hard and tried their best. They all approached the tests well and we had no upset children (or staff!) We could not be prouder of the children and their attitude, determination and resilience.

Staff meeting this week was at the Education Library Service. We have bought into this service this year and are hoping to use it to supplement our library with up to date resources and books. Next week we will be attending CPD with the Better Together Partnership.

We have been continuing to work hard to organise transition for our Year 6 children. We have used the Ready for Secondary resources to complete a survey with all the children. The information from this has enabled us to put together a transition programme in school which will start after half term.

Our circus event went really well on Friday and I will let you know how much we raised soon. The children were excited to tell me all about it. Thank you to everyone who attended.

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme is anxiety. There are lots of resources here which staff will be using and which you may want to use at home https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week These resources will go on the website next week. Thursday is Wear it Green Day and staff will be wearing something green.    
 

05.05.23

The staff and children all enjoyed their extra day off at the weekend and it has been another good week in school. The NEU held another strike day on Tuesday and 6 classes were out at the Cator Lane site.

Year 2 enjoyed their trip to Derby museum this week where they took part in lots of activities to support their Florence Nightingale topic. They also completed the first reading paper and did a great job.

On Friday we celebrated the Coronation in true Lanes style. The staff and Ambassadors opened school early to sell memorabilia and then we had a whole school assembly and playtime. It is always so lovely to get the whole school together. The children then had a street party type lunch with their friends and were presented with a Coronation badge to keep. This sort of learning forms part of our work on British Values and the children have been learning about the Royal family and coronation traditions all week. They have all also decorated a pebble with an environmental theme and we will be displaying these in school.

The Year 2 – 6 choir has restarted along with lots of other after school clubs. The choir are looking forward to a trip to the Albert Hall in June and we are hoping to arrange some football matches for our team.

CPD – The staff meeting this week was on Engagement. We discussed ways to ensure that learning is focused in class and strategies to ensure that we look at prior knowledge with the children. The art curriculum team met and looked at the curriculum and how it is taught through school. Triads and ELSA supervision continued.

The Lanes Fundraising Group – Our PTA group organised our first ever circus on Friday night for our families and to raise funds for school. It was a great event and 400 people attended 2 shows. Mrs Brown and myself will be meeting with the group to go over the year and make a plan going forward. This group were reformed at the beginning of the year and they have done an amazing job.

Next week is finally Year 6 SATs week. We could not be prouder of the children for their hard work and great attitude and as always, a massive thank you to the staff who have been fantastic.

28.04.23

It has been a quieter week this week and we have really settled back into school. Things feel lovely around school. We had a strike day by the NEU on Thursday and had to close 2 classes. 6 classes will be closed on Tuesday 2^nd May.

Year 1 enjoyed their trip to Tamworth Castle. They took part in lots of workshops and learned lots to support their Castles topic.

The Reception children enjoyed their minibeast day on Friday and dressed up and made headbands. They are enjoying learning all about the natural world and are waiting excitedly for their caterpillars to turn into butterflies!

Staff meeting this week was split over the key stages. Reception and Key Stage 1 continued to look at phonics and the use of the new scheme. Key stage 2 completed some training on the new French scheme of work.

We are now beginning to look towards the end of the year and transition. We are working closely with our secondary feeder schools to ensure that this process is robust.

We are looking forward to the Bank Holiday this weekend and I hope you have a lovely time. Next week there will be 4 more teaching days to SATs, another strike day by the NEU, Year 2 will be completing their reading SATs paper and we will be celebrating the coronation on Friday.

The Friends group are also holding a circus on Friday night to raise funds for school – we hope to see lots of you there.

21.04.23

We have had a lovely week on our return to school. Year 6 are working hard in preparation for SATs which take place from 9^th – 12^th May so not long now. The children have come back ready to learn and school has been lovely and calm. Staff have also come back refreshed after their Easter break which is great.

I have met with the School Council and Ambassadors and they are busy thinking about their next project. We are still working on the playground developments. The Playground Pals are working hard and attending training every 2 weeks and are using their skills in the playground.

Our ELSA trained TAs completed their latest reviews and discussed the caseload of children as well as ongoing support for transition, particularly for key children. I attended a conference called ‘Doing What Matters Leadership Counts’. This conference was for designated teachers for Looked After Children and it was great. There were two great keynote speakers – one Head teacher from a secondary school talked about her school’s approach to a trauma informed behaviour policy. This made me even surer that we are on the right track with this. The other speaker was Jaz Ampaw- Farr who was simply inspirational and talked about her life in the care system and how it was relationships with key teachers and adults in her life that helped her. You can see her Ted talk here if you are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3xoZXSW5yc

Two members of staff also went on a Guided Reading course and the staff meeting was on PE. The PE team introduced the new PE scheme called PE hub which also contains assessment materials. Staff will trail this in the summer term and it will be rolled out in September.

Next week, Year 1 are looking forward to their trip to Tamworth Castle and staff meeting will be on French and Phonics. The NEU have called another strike day next week – I am not sure how many staff will be out at this moment in time. We will let parents know on Monday.

31.03.23

This week has been a tough week in school. We have had a lot of staff absence due to the various bugs that are going around at the moment. This has also impacted supply teachers who have been cancelling when supply has already been nearly impossible to source. As usual, we keep going and the staff have stepped up once more and helped out. Let’s hope for a calm start after Easter as people have time to relax and recharge.

Year 4 Residential -The Year 4 children and staff had a great time at Castleton on their Residential despite the rain and mud! I was lucky to go with them and had a great (if a little exhausting) time. We visited the caves at Peak Cavern and did lots of activities linked to the Romans including siege engines, Roman battle, bread making, etc. The children were amazing and a big thank you to staff (and to two of our governors) as ever for their hard work and commitment.

DAart Graduation – Our Year 6 children took part in the DAart (Drug, Alcohol and Resilience Training) graduation on Wednesday. They shared with parents the learning that they have been doing and how this will support them as they move onto secondary school.

Music Ofsted – On Thursday this week an inspector from Ofsted visited school to look at our music provision as part of a research project. Fran Jowett and Mary Caldwell did a fabulous job and we got some great feedback. We have come away with a broader view of how music is being taught across the school and we could see how much the children are enjoying their lessons.

The inspector was very positive about: consistency of teaching across the year groups; confidence and subject knowledge of staff; Use of instruments and opportunities to sing; Children’s knowledge of different genres and styles; Progression of skills being taught throughout school and he commented on the clear musical culture that runs through the school.

It was lovely to end the Spring term with our Easter competition. The children entered a piece of artwork from home and we gave out prizes in a whole school assembly.

I am sure that you will join with me in wishing the staff a very happy and restful Easter. We also wish all of our families a very happy holiday and we will see you all back on Monday 17^th April.

24.03.23

Another busy week as we head towards the Easter break. The staff are all working so hard and did the school proud in our Challenge Partners visit.

We enjoyed or first school disco on Wednesday since Covid. It went really well and we had some very excited children!! The disco was extremely busy (over 450 children attended!!) – a big thank you to staff who stayed late and helped out and of course to our lovely PTA.

Netball – Our netball team entered a netball tournament at Nottingham Girls High School on Wednesday. They had some tutoring from the sports leaders at the school and thoroughly enjoyed the competition coming second overall. Well done to the team and a big thank you to Mrs Carré and Mr Guyler (a governor) who took them and supported them.

Challenge Partners – We completed our Challenge Partners visit this week. Four reviewers were in school from Wednesday to Friday looking at provision and leadership in school. We focussed on our work in Engagement, CPD and phonics in line with the School Improvement Plan.

The reviewers were really complimentary about the school and gave us lots of really useful feedback. We will be using all of this to continue to drive to improve and develop our school into the future. There will be a full report in due course and I will share this with parents once we have received it.

A BIG thank you to the staff who have worked so hard to show our school off at its best and who are so committed to the education of our children, to a continuing drive for improvement and to supporting our families and community.

Next week is the final week before Easter but we are certainly not slowing down. The Year 4 children are looking forward to their Residential trip to Castleton and I am looking forward to seeing all of the Easter art work for the competition.

17.03.23

This week saw the latest round of strikes by the NEU. We closed 5 classes on Wednesday and 2 on Thursday. Vulnerable children were offered a place in school.

Year 2 welcome the ‘Owl man’ into school on Monday to support the topic on nocturnal animals. The children enjoyed watching the owls fly, holding them on the gloves and learning all about their habitats, feeding etc. The Reception children enjoyed a trip to Bluebells Farm. They enjoyed meeting lots of animals, playing on the outdoor play park and eating some delicious ice cream!

We also enjoyed wearing red and telling jokes for Red Nose Day on Friday. A couple of jokes to keep you going:

Why did the man run around his bed? To catch up on his sleep
Where do frogs buy eggs? From the spawn shop.

Neurodiversity Week – This week we have been working with the children in our RSHE sessions around Neurodiversity week. We have been discussing how all of our brains work differently and we have been discussing Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia etc and talking about how these can affect people whilst celebrating our unique talents and abilities. Here are some resources we have used. There are also some useful resources online for parents.

Amazing Things Happen - by Alexander Amelines

 https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/school-resources

https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/resources/neurodiversity-celebration-week-toolkit/

Parents Maths meeting – The maths team led a maths parents meeting on Thursday evening at Meadow Lane. This was attended by about 40 parents and Mrs Stevens and the team did an excellent presentation around maths in school and discussed how parents can help at home. The resources that were shared at the meeting can be found on the school website   https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/maths-2/ and https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/maths-resources/

10.03.23

This week we have had two governing body meetings. We have agreed the budget reforecast and discussed future plans for the school. Thank you to Jamie Twycross (parent governor) for his 4 years of service to the Governing body as he attended his last meeting on Wednesday.

The NEU are on strike again next week for 2 days. At this point in time it looks like there will be fewer classes out. We will be letting parents know on Monday.

Year 1 enjoyed their trip to Twycross Zoo on Tuesday. They had a great time learning about the animals to complement their topic.

The Year 2 staff held a parents Residential meeting in readiness for their trips in June. They will be going to the Youth Hostel in Sherwood Forest and will be learning about Robin Hood as well as doing lots of environmental work.

The Year 6 children have completed their final SATs practice week. It has been so lovely to see how much progress the children have made in all areas and to witness their attitude to the process. They worked hard, with a mature attitude and were proud of their achievements. These results will enable us to plan booster groups and support moving forwards.

Next week is Neurodiversity week. We will be doing some work with the children around how our brains work and how everyone is different. Year 2 are having a Falconry visit on Monday, Reception are off to the farm and we will be collecting money for Red nose day + more triads, CPD and HT meeting and a Parents maths meeting. Lots to look forward to!

03.03.23

This week has seen another strike by the NEU. We had to close 6 classes once again unfortunately. Another two days of strikes have been called for 15/16 March and we will be watching closely to see what the NEU decide and let parents know what is happening nearer the time.

The teachers have been continuing to take part in the triads this week. The staff are really enjoying the opportunity to visit classrooms and to develop research alongside our work on Engagement. I am looking forward to the presentations of their work at the end of the year.

Year 5 Residential – I was lucky to attend the Year 5 Residential trip to York this week. We took 76 children to the YHA in York from Wednesday to Friday. We enjoyed a trip to Jorvik and Dig, we walked the city walls and went on a River Cruise, we made shields, Longships and bread and played Team games. This complemented their Viking topic. The children were great and all enjoyed being with their friends and particularly loved the amazing breakfast! A big thank you to the staff who worked so hard and to our governors who also came and helped out.

Maths team – The maths team met this week to discuss future developments for staff and to review their action plan. They looked at the monitoring that has taken place and the books and have planned a staff meeting next week around feedback and marking, reviewing Power maths and progress in maths across school. They will lead more staff meetings in the summer term and observe some lessons.

World Book Day – We took part in World Book Day on Thursday. The children and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters and we did lots of work around favourite stories and books in class and assemblies.

SATs – Next week Year 6 will be doing their final SATs practice. We will be running this as close as possible to the real thing so that the children will know what to expect on the day. Year 2 are also running their practice SATs over the next few weeks. These will give us an indication of how the results may look and will also enable us to arrange Booster groups before and after school for Year 6.

Next week Year 1 are looking forward to their trip to Twycross Zoo.

24.02.23

We returned to school this week and got going straight away as you may imagine. Year 6 took part in some sleep workshops on Monday. Sleep is a real issue with children throughout school and we have been working with the Mental Health Support Team to help the children with strategies to help them sleep. The staff also held their fortnightly phase meetings to discuss progress of the children and general issues.

Wow days – Year 3 did a Greek Wow day on Thursday to kick off their new topic. The children and staff dressed up in Greek costumes, they ate Greek food, did some dancing, made Olympic torches and took part in a mini Olympics.

The Reception children had a Farm Wow day on Friday too. This involved lots of art work and active learning as well as welly wanging, mud painting and sheep herding! The children (and staff) had a great time.

Fundraising – On Friday we had a non-uniform day to raise money for the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The children bought some money in with them or parents donated online. We support the charity Operation Orphan which is local to us. They have sent a team out to the Earthquake zone to help families who have lost everything and particularly to support children who have been orphaned or are homeless. They will continue to support into the future and all the money donated goes straight to the charity. We are hoping that the team will be able to come into school and share their experiences with the children. If you would like to donate you can do this online here https://operationorphan.enthuse.com/CRT-Turkey-2023#!/

Swimming gala – A team of children from KS2 took part in the inter schools swimming gala at Bramcote baths on Tuesday. The children did the school proud and finished 5^th out of the 11 schools that competed. Thank you to the staff who took them and cheered them on.

Parents Evenings- We held our first face to face parents evenings this week on Wednesday and Thursday. The vast majority of parents attended and also had the opportunity to look at their children’s work. The teachers discussed where the children are in their learning and how parents can help at home.

School Council – I met with School Council this week. We agreed the playground project and the development of the Year 2 outdoor courtyard (including the addition of guinea pigs!!) We also discussed the new choice menu at lunchtime and the new arrangements which we have agreed to evaluate when we meet again. We also discussed any issues that have come up in school. They are very keen to do some fundraising so that will be our next challenge!

Next week we are looking forward to the Year 5 Residential trip to York and World Book Day.  We also have the prospect of a further teachers strike on Wednesday – as yet I am unsure of how many classes this will affect.

10.02.23

This week, the Year 6 staff held a SATs parents meeting on Thursday evening. They went through the timetable for the week and looked at past SATs papers. They also talked about how parents can help their children at home and support that will be given in school for the children. The main emphasis as always is on the children doing their best and not feeling overwhelmed or anxious. The powerpoint from the meeting can be found on the website here https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/the-lanes-primary-school/UploadedDocument/d6cbb219-8f82-43f1-afdb-4da507569179/year-6-sats-meeting.pdf

The Year 5 children put on a celebration assembly for parents and carers on Thursday. It was lovely and really showcased what the children have been learning. They shared work about Macbeth and performed a short play. They shared art work and ended with a rousing rendition of Living on a Prayer!

Cross country - Mrs Taylor and two of our governors, took a team of KS2 children to Wollaton Park for the inter schools cross country competition. The children all took part and did their best and 3 children placed in 5^th, 6^th and 7^th. We are excited to say that we won the under 11 bronze award too.

Safer Internet Day – The children have completed lots of work around internet safety across school. All assemblies were also based on internet safety. We also incorporated resources from Children’s Mental Health week into our teaching.

Mrs Brown and Mrs Ireland went to the Nott Alone conference with 2 Year 5 School councillors on Friday morning. NottAlone Live is a free exclusive invite-only event as part of Children’s Mental Health Week (6-12th February 2023) They enjoyed guest speakers and workshops around being a leader, improving wellbeing through dance, art and music and developing strategies to deal with worry, friendships, bullying, transition and developing resilience More information can be found here. https://nottalone.org.uk/nottalonelive?a=yp The children (and adults) had a great time and we will be sharing the learning in school and using this to develop our provision around mental health.  

The staff have been busy monitoring the curriculum in school and we have continued our work in the Triads on engagement. Mrs Wignell has been out of school on a Challenge Partners review and we will share any learning with staff after half term.

Have a lovely half term holiday and we will see you all again on Monday 20^th February.

03.02.23

On Monday Year 6 visited the National Holocaust Centre and I was lucky to be able to accompany them. We had a great day. The children learned about what life was like before and during the war for a Jewish child and heard a testimony from a Holocaust survivor. The children showed great respect during the visit and asked some great questions. This visit complemented the topic that the children are studying alongside the book ‘Once’.  Here is the link to the journey exhibition and Leo’s story. https://journey.holocaust.org.uk/

The children were a real credit to school; they listened well, asked some great questions and showed respect and understanding.

The Senior Leadership team had a look at the children’s books this week as part of our monitoring in school. We were impressed with the progress that the children are making and how hard they are working. We will be giving feedback to the staff about the things that are going well and any areas for improvement.

Of course, this week saw the teachers strike by members of the NEU. Unfortunately, we had to shut 9 classes across school. This is not a decision that is taken lightly and we are all too aware of the impact that any school closure has on the children and families. There are plans for three more strike days in March – I hope that the dispute can be settled before then.

Next week we will be working on Safer Internet day and talking to the children about Children’s Mental Health week. Links to resources can be found on our website.

27.01.23

Year 3 had a great time at Mount Cook this week on their Residential trip. The children and staff enjoyed lots of activities including den building, archery, fire lighting, an archaeological dig, a camp fire and Stone Age crafts. This trip added to their learning about the Stone Age and was also a chance to have a great time staying over with their friends. Thank you to the staff who accompanied them and to the children for representing our school so well.

Our staff meeting this week was run by the Computing team and introduced our new computing curriculum which will be rolled out in school during the rest of the year. The team will be monitoring how this is going and talking to the children about their experience in the summer term.

Next week our Year 6 children are visiting the National Holocaust Centre to add to their learning about WW2. We are also managing the strike by the NEU union and have unfortunately had to shut some classes on Wednesday 1^st February. This is not a decision that any staff take easily as we all know that this will cause disruption to our families. However, the strike is in the context of funding and recruitment issues that have been building in the education sector for a number of years.  We are all hopeful that the dispute can be resolved quickly for all concerned.

20.01.23

This week we have been working hard in school as usual. Our assembly theme has been around the theme of what makes us unique and respecting difference. We have been talking to the children about being proud to be themselves and to respect others in our community.

One member of the Leadership Team visited a school in Leicester as part of the Challenge Partners programme. This is an amazing opportunity for key staff to go into another school and learn from other professionals as well as developing our own skills in observation, mentoring and leadership. We will be discussing any learning that we can take from this visit with staff.

The staff also worked with other schools this week as part of the Better Together Partnership. We attended workshops around engagement and collaboration in maths and English (run by our own staff) and workshops around science and oracy. Again, this is a great opportunity to learn from other schools but also to showcase what we do. The teachers are also continuing to work together on their research projects and are observing each other teach, developing new strategies to improve the experience for the children in class.

Year 5 took part in the Sleep workshop this week with MHST. Sleep is a real issue for many of our children and we are continuing to reinforce with them how important it is to get a good night’s sleep for their wellbeing and to aid their learning and concentration in school. The Year 6 classes have begun their DAart (Drug Awareness and Resilience) training with Life Education. This complements our RSHE curriculum and adds to our transition programme in school. It deals with drugs, alcohol, knife crime and how to deal with peer pressure among other things. It is facilitated by trained DAart officers and teachers are in the classroom to support the children.

Next week Year 3 are looking forward to their Residential trip to Mount Cook where they will be enjoying lots of activities to complement their Stone Age topic (as well as having a lovely time with their friends!) Year 6 will be doing their second practice SATs week too – they have all been working so hard and we are really proud of them.

13.01.23

We are well and truly back into the swing of things in school and we would like to wish all of our families a very Happy New Year. Our values this half term are Positivity and Happiness – these will be the foundation of our RSHE teaching and assemblies. Our values story book can be found on the website here  https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/school-values-characters/ and these are the Values characters.

The children are working hard on their new topics and there have been Wow days and trips out already. Year 4 are loving their new Egyptian topic and enjoyed their Wow day making flatbread and taking part in an archaeological dig. The Reception children have enjoyed exploring the local area for their environment topic. Year 5 are enjoying their Outdoor Learning (even in the torrential rain on Tuesday!) They are also looking forward to a theatre production of Macbeth next week. Year 1 children are enjoying using Bug Club phonics at home and are working hard on their new hot and cold topic.  Years 2, 3 and 6 are also enjoying their new topics of Ghana, Stone Age to Iron Age and WW2. Don’t forget to check the weekly newsletters for more details about the learning that is going on in school including tips of how you can help and support at home https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/year-group-pages-home-learning/

The School Council and Ambassadors have had their first meetings this week and are looking forward to more projects in school. We are still working to put plans in place for new playground equipment. The staff are also working on their Action Research projects around Engagement and we will be working with other schools next week on our Better Together CPD programme.

Thank you for the support in this new year. Remember to keep supporting the children with their homework and reading – it really does make such a difference.

21.12.22

This week we finished the term with lots of celebrations. The whole school choir sang in Beeston square on Monday and cheered up lots of people who were out shopping or having coffee. The children sang beautifully and it started the week off well, getting us all in the Christmas spirit.

We donated lots of food and toys to local charities this week – thank you so much once again for the donations. The charities were really grateful and we talked to the children about how this act of kindness would make so many people’s Christmas better. We also raised money for The Wildlife Trust with our collections at the performances – the money will go to support Attenborough Nature reserve.

The Year 4 children held a sale of their Christmas decorations that they had made in their Outdoor Learning sessions. They made some amazing reindeer, trees and decorations out of wood as well as reindeer food and fat balls for the birds. They raised over £120 and this money will go into the pot to fund some more exciting Outdoor Learning projects next year with Miss Howe.

We finished the week with our annual whole school singalong in the hall at Cator Lane. It is always so lovely to see all the children together and to celebrate as a whole community. The children then enjoyed their Christmas parties and the younger children had a visit from Santa.

I would like to end this final blog of 2022 by wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year from everyone at The Lanes Primary School.

16.12.22

Christmas has definitely come to The Lanes this week! The Year 3 and 4 children performed their pantomime Peter Pan and did a great job. They sang, danced and acted so brilliantly – what a great show! The Reception children enjoyed their trip to see The Singing Mermaid at Lakeside on Tuesday and had lots to tell me when they returned to school.

On Thursday we all enjoyed our Christmas dinner on both sites. Staff and children ate together and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere. Thank you for all the donations that we received. We will be sending them to local charities next week. We then enjoyed our Carols in the Playground event on Friday. It was very cold but we warmed up drinking hot chocolate, singing carols and listening to the Salvation Army Band.

The school choir has also been out and about in the local area and have sung at The Willows and Silverwood. They sang beautifully and the audiences were very appreciative. The Year 1 choir was even treated to a surprise visit to Santa – very exciting. The children in the choir are now looking forward to their performance on Monday in Beeston Square. We will be singing at 10am so come and sing along if you have time!

The final Wellbeing workshops took place this week. The MHST team have worked with the children about their wellbeing and have taught them some strategies for dealing with anxiety. The children have enjoyed these workshops and the providers were very impressed with the behaviour and attitude of the children.

Unfortunately, at the end of the week, the heating at the Cator Lane site broke down. This meant that we had to close the site. The staff all came to work and based themselves at Meadow Lane, planning, holding meetings and working with the younger children. We are doing everything we can to be open on Monday. Next week we are looking forward to our Christmas parties and a whole school singalong before we break up for the holidays.

09.12.22

A big well done to our Reception children who performed their nativity this week. The children sang beautifully and did a great job. Years 3 and 4 are looking forward to their pantomime ‘Peter Pan’ next week and completed their final rehearsal today. The choirs are also looking forward to various performances next week in and around Beeston.

A reminder that it is our Christmas dinner day next Thursday. Staff and children will be wearing Christmas jumpers or sparkle to enjoy the festivities. We are also asking for donations of Christmas food so that we can send this to local charities to ensure that everyone can have a Christmas dinner or some Christmas treats. We will finish the day with Carols in the Playground which is a lovely festive event for our families.

We are working in liaison with the Local Authority around concerns regarding Strep A. We have put information on our website here https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/stream/news/full/1/-//

We are reminding children to wash their hands regularly, increasing ventilation in classrooms and increasing cleaning routines every day to try to stop the spread of infection.

02.12.22

Another week nearer to Christmas – it hardly seems possible. The Reception children have been practising hard for the nativity and they did a fabulous dress rehearsal on Friday morning. The performance was enjoyed by Year 1 and Year 6 who sang along with the children. We are all so proud of them. Year 3 and 4 are busily practising their pantomime Peter Pan. They had a visit from the Playhouse on Thursday during which they took part in a drama workshop about Peter Pan. They all enjoyed the experience and learned some new acting skills along the way.

The School Council and Ambassadors met this week to discuss their Playground project and to review this term and their roles. They have so much to be proud of already – organising tours for new parents, raising money for school and for charity and for representing their classes so well. They are all keen to develop their roles further next term.

Thank you to everyone who helped out at the Christmas Fayre on Friday. The children enjoyed playing games, doing Christmas crafts and meeting Santa. The choir sang a range of Christmas songs beautifully. Our PTA is growing in numbers and the event was a great success – thank you so much to everyone who was involved. All the money raised at this event will again be used to support provision in school for our children.

25.11.22

It is lovely in school at the moment as we start to think about Christmas. I am currently listening to our Early Years children singing the nativity songs – they sound amazing. We have been doing lots of singing in school lately – this is something we really missed during Covid. It gives the school such a lovely feel and is so good for all of our wellbeing. The school choirs are looking forward to performing at the upcoming Christmas Fayre.

Thank you to the parents and carers who attended the phonics and reading meeting this week. We are looking forward to talking to more parents at our Parents forum meeting next week where we will be discussing our School Improvement Plan. We will also be welcoming our Governors into school for ‘Governors Week’. They will be coming into lessons, having lunch and talking to staff and children about school life and their learning.

Our Year One classes really enjoyed the Grandparents afternoon where they shared lots of toys and had a lovely time together. Thank you to everyone who attended and took part – it was lovely.

This week the staff enjoyed working with the Family of Schools to look at writing and discuss teaching and learning. Writing is one of our key School Improvement targets and we are working hard with the children to develop and improve their skills and ensuring that staff receive quality training and support.

Next week we will be working with the Mental Health Support Team to look at Sleep. We will be holding assemblies, working with the children and the MHST team will be running a parent’s workshop on Wednesday. We will be talking to the children about the importance of sleep for wellbeing and for learning and sharing strategies and tips for those times when sleep is difficult. The team will then be running workshops with our KS2 children around anxiety and wellbeing. We will continue to update our website with any relevant materials to support families at home.

20.11.22

It was great to welcome so many parents and carers in for our Open Morning this week. School felt really busy and vibrant and the children enjoyed showing off their work. We also welcomed lots of families and children who will be starting school in September 2023 into school on Saturday morning. They had a great time playing in the classrooms and Early Years Garden and chatting to the staff.

The School Council organised the fundraising for Children in Need with a non-uniform day and cake sale. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations once again.

The staff attended training with other local schools this week as part of our Better Together CPD partnership. Training was offered on EAL, SEND and Early Years and gave staff the opportunity to share good practice and learn from each other. Next week we will be working with our Family of Schools to moderate writing judgements and to share teaching ideas. These partnerships are vital to enable us to grow as a school, sharing ideas and learning from others. Teachers in school are also working together in Triads to take part in action research projects linked to our School Improvement Plan and to observe teaching and learning across school.

Moving forward we will be welcoming parents and carers into school for a meeting about phonics and reading, to attend the SEND parents’ group and to attend the Parents Forum. The Friends of The Lanes parent group are also busy organising the Christmas Fair which will be the start of what is looking like a very busy Christmas period in school.

11.11.22

The children have had a good week and have been enjoying lots of different activities. Year 5 have been taking part in the Bikeability course and have learned how to stay safe on the road on their bikes. This will continue next week. The whole school have completed work about Remembrance and there is a display on each site. The children and staff took part in the 2 minute silence at 11am today. The children showed great respect during this time. 

We have been busy conducting new parents visits in school for September 2023. The School Ambassadors have been a real credit to school as they have led the tours, shared their experiences and answered any questions. We will be holding an Open Morning on Saturday 19^th November for new parents. Details of this can be found on our website or Facebook page. 

School Council

The School Council are proud to announce that they have raised over £3000 with their Readathon over half term. They are looking forward to starting the project to improve our playgrounds and outside areas during the year. The School Council are also organising this years fundraising efforts for Children in Need with a non-uniform day and cake sales on Friday.

Anti Bullying Week

Next week we will be doing work around Anti Bullying week with the children. We will be discussing this in assembly and also in class, including taking part in Odd Socks Day on Monday. The staff have reviewed the Anti Bullying policy which can be found on our website and the School Council will be working on a child friendly version this year. We will be using resources from the Anti Bullying Alliance website which has information for parents here https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week/parents-and-carers

04.11.22

A very busy first week back after half term has meant that we have settled back into the business of school very quickly. As a staff we have been working hard on our new School Improvement Plan, a summary of which can be found on the school website. We have also enjoyed a staff meeting to discuss our music provision in school and sharing the November Action of Happiness calendar with the children which is all about trying new things. https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar

Year 6 Residential  

Well done to the Year 6 children who went on the first Residential trip of the year to Mount Cook in Derbyshire and a big thank you to all of the staff and governors who accompanied them. As always, our children were a credit to the school – their behaviour was exemplary. They had a great time and challenged themselves in so many ways whether it was conquering the High Ropes, Leap of Faith or the Zip wire or the challenge of being away from home and working as a team.

The children who stayed at school also worked hard on a project and were also a credit to us all.

Fireworks

A massive thank you to our new PTA (and office staff) for arranging their first big event. The Fireworks event was great and it was lovely to see so many people there. Thanks also to Yiannis, Dosa Love and the local Scouts for providing us with some lovely food and for their donations to school. We had to unfortunately take the decision not to sell any more tickets on Thursday as we had health and safety concerns due to the high numbers of tickets that we had already sold. We appreciate how disappointing this was and we will review the event in detail in the next few weeks. I will let you know how much we have raised soon – all of the money raised goes directly to support the children.

Readathon

We had a great response to our half term Readathon challenge set by the School Council over half term. Lots of children have been discussing the books that they read and I am sure that we will have raised a lot of money to put towards our Playground Project. Thank you for all of your support with this.

Next week we will be showing new parents round school for entry in September 2023 and the Ambassadors are looking forward to helping with this. We will also be holding a minute silence on Friday for Remembrance and the children will be doing some work on this in class.

14.10.22

We certainly had a busy last week of this half term. The Year 4 children really enjoyed their trip to Magna. They had a great time doing lots of activities to reinforce their learning about Sound.   

The Year 6 children worked hard this week and completed their first practice SATs papers. They were so sensible and approached the papers in a mature way, doing their best – we were all so impressed.

Book Fayre was also popular this week and it was so lovely to hear the children excitedly choosing books with their adults. Al of our FSM children also received a free book. We are looking forward to being able to choose some new books for school with the commission.

The whole school enjoyed going to Christchurch to celebrate out Harvest festival. Thank you so much to the team at Christchurch who led the service on the theme of ‘Thankfulness.’ The children have spent this week reflecting upon all the things we have to be thankful for in our lives.  Thank you to all our parents and carers for your kind donations. These have been handed out to projects in the local community to support families in need.

We also held our first Parents Evenings of the year this week. The staff enjoyed sharing the children’s achievements with parents and are looking forward to following this up with an Open Morning next half term.

Staff have also been learning this week. Teachers and teaching assistants attended a full days training on Friday on the theme of ‘Engagement’. We discussed teaching and learning strategies and how to ensure that all of our children can reach their full potential. The staff will be continuing to research educational theory during the year and will be working together to develop teaching and learning across school. This will form part of our School Improvement Plan, a summary of which can be found on the school website.

The School Council have also been busy and have started their fundraising campaign to improve the playgrounds and outside areas of school. We held a non-uniform day on Thursday and the children have organised a Sponsored Readathon over half term. They are very excited to see how much we raise and have lots of great ideas for the playgrounds already.

We wish all of our families a restful break. We return to school on Monday 31^st October. We already have lots to look forward to – Year 6 Residential and Fireworks night in the first week (don’t forget to get your tickets!) and then an open morning for our parents and children who may want to choose The Lanes in September 2023 along with much more.

07.10.22

This week saw Year 5 off to the Space Centre and Year 3 off to Magna. The children really enjoyed both trips and learned a lot to support their topic work. The Year 1 children enjoyed learning about the Ichthyosaur that was discovered in Rutland Water and they loved telling me all about it. These trips and events are vital for the children as they make their learning come alive. Year 4 are looking forward to their trip next week too.

I met with the School Council again this week and they have decided to run a sponsored Readathon over half term and a non uniform day to start raising money for some new playground equipment. Look out for the letter and sponsor form next week. I also met with the Ambassadors and we talked about their role helping in Year 2 and showing new parents round – this will start after the half term holiday

Next week I hope that you will all join the teachers at Parents Evening – hopefully the last on via Zoom. Our new fundraising group will also be in touch next week with information about Fireworks tickets which is very exciting. It would also be lovely to see lots of you at Wollaton Park on Sunday for our Children in Need Ramble.

30.09.22

This half term is flying by and we continue to be busy across school. I have met a few times with School Council and Ambassadors and I am looking forward to working with them during the year. They are excited to be representing the school and have lots of great ideas. The Year 1 children enjoyed a dinosaur workshop and are looking forward to a visit from a real life expert this week to talk about his work with the team who discovered the fossilised remains of the Ichthyosaur in Rutland Water last year.

We have held lots of events for parents and carers during the last fortnight. Thank you to everyone who came to the Macmillan coffee morning and the various meetings to develop our Parent Fundraising group. I am pleased to say that we have a group of parents who are keen to get this group up and running again. This means that we will be able to run our Fireworks event and we are also planning some discos and maybe a Christmas Fayre. More information will follow soon.

Thank you also to those parents and carers who attended the MHST meeting on Wednesday. We are all working hard to ensure that we support our children (and ourselves) to look after their mental health.  If you need any more information you can access this via this link https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/camhs-mental-health-support-teams/

We continue to use the Action for Happiness calendars with staff and children. This month is ‘Optimistic October’ – enjoy!

https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar

16.09.22

We spent some time this week reflecting on the death of Queen Elizabeth 2 with the staff and children in assemblies and the classrooms. The children were so thoughtful and respectful in their discussions.

School life continued alongside our reflections and the children continue to settle in well. It was so lovely to see so many families at Breakfast morning and I am looking forward to talking to more parents and carers as the weeks go on.  I met with the Year 1 school councillors and the Ambassadors and will be meeting with the rest of school council next week. I wonder what ideas they will bring this year!

09.09.22

What a great start to the term it has been. Our new Reception children have settled in so well and we are very proud of them.

The topics have started and learning is well underway. Year 2 had a great Superhero day – Mr White is still getting the green paint out of his ears!! Routines are back up and running and we are enjoying being back together. 

We are working on our values of Teamwork and Resilience this term and the children enjoyed our STEM lessons working together on projects in class. We talk to the children a lot about the Learning Line. This is displayed in all the classrooms and used in books. It helps children to understand that sometimes you get stuck in the pit but that is OK and with a bit of determination, resilience and hard work you can achieve your goal. Here is an example of one for you to see.

We are also still using our Action for Happiness calendars with staff and children. This month is all about self care. The calendar gives a daily reminder of how we should all find time to loo k after ourselves in an increasingly busy world. More information can be found on their website here https://actionforhappiness.org/

Next week we are looking forward to our Breakfast morning at Meadow Lane for Reception and Year 1 parents. Come and join us for a pancake!!

22.07.22

We have finally made it to the end of term – wow what a year! Thank you so much for attending the picnic – we have 750 people on our field and it was a real community atmosphere – it is so great to be doing these things again.

The final two weeks of term were just lovely (and busy!) We started with a great Year 2 performance of Jack and the Beanstalk which everyone really enjoyed. The children did such a great job and performed with such confidence.

We then held our three transition days and these were really successful. The children enjoyed spending time with their new classes and teachers. We welcomed our new teachers to school and they enjoyed getting to know us and working in their new teams. This quality time will ensure that we get off to a good start when we come back in September. It was lovely to meet our new Reception children who were fab! It was nice to talk to lots of you on Open Evening and I hope that you enjoyed seeing all the great work that the children have been doing.

The final week of term was great. Year 6 did their performance of ‘Pirates of the Currybean’ which was so amazing. The children were so confident and performed with such joy; it was so lovely to see. The Year 6 children also enjoyed a trip to Planet Bounce and their Graduation ceremony where we celebrated all of their achievements and took a trip down memory lane. What a great group of children they are and I am so proud of them as they move onto secondary school.

And finally, I enjoyed trips with the School Council and Ambassadors to Lakeside where we played on the park, enjoyed a game of Crazy golf and visited the café. The children have been great representatives for school during the year.

The final assembly of the year was a great opportunity to celebrate the year together and to say goodbye to the staff who are leaving us to access new opportunities elsewhere. We wish them every success and happiness.

Have a lovely summer holiday everyone and we will see you all again very soon.

01.07.22

The week started well with an 8 – 0 victory for our Year 6 football team. We played Eskdale and we are all very proud of the team. Well done to Jayden who scored a hat trick! We will be playing Bramcote Hills Primary on Monday 4^th at 4pm if anyone fancies coming to watch.

Thank you to George who has coached the team and who really motivated them to do well and to Mr Cudworth for his support. They all played brilliantly and were a real team.

The Year 1 football club also had a match on the field at Cator Lane on Thursday and played really well and with a lot of enthusiasm! Our Cheerleading club also entered a competition on Tuesday and did really well. Thank you to the staff who ran these clubs after school in order to give these opportunities to our children.

On Friday the Reception children welcomed their Grandparents and Great Grandparents into school. This is always such a lovely event and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Our School Ambassadors also spent an afternoon helping in Reception and Year 1 (I think they enjoyed being back on the Early Years Garden too!)

As we head into the final three weeks of term, there is still such a lot to look forward to. We receive our Year 6 SATs results on Tuesday and reports will come out on Friday. Classes will be finalised this week and transition events are beginning. We will also be celebrating our musicians in school in our music concerts – I am really looking forward to these.

24.06.22

This week started with a trip to Cadbury World for Year 4 and ended with a day of Sport! Year 4 had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed their day out. 2LW also enjoyed their time at Sherwood.

Thank you for attending Sports Day on Thursday. We had a great day – KS2 in the sunshine in the morning and Reception and KS1 in the afternoon in the rain! We all had a great time and enjoyed working together. A big thank you goes out to Mr Wilkins and Miss Layton for the organisation and to Mr Lodge and the Sports Leaders from Chilwell who helped out and ran the activities, supporting and encouraging the children.

Next week we will be welcoming Grandparents into Meadow Lane on Friday and Year 2 and 6 will continue to practise their performances. They are looking and sounding really good!

17.06.22

Welcome back to the final half term of the school year 2022. It does not seem possible that another year has nearly ended; time just goes so fast.

We have certainly started the half term with a bang! Class 2CH and class 2AZ have had a lovely time on their Residential to Sherwood. I was so lucky to be able to go with 2AZ – I had an amazing time. The children were a real credit to us all and we really enjoyed being out in the open air in the middle of a forest for two days. Class 2LW will be going next week and that completes the Residential trips for the year. Phew!

Phonics week was successful and the children tried really hard. In Year 6 our writing was moderated by the Local Authority. This was successful and the moderators were hugely complimentary about the standard of the children’s work and the way that the staff know the children so well.

The staff have been working hard writing reports, doing assessments and preparing for transition. They have also attended Phonics training with Bug Club and we will be working to embed this scheme across school in the Autumn term. I also attended a meeting on the new White Paper with the Chair of Governors – definitely a lot to think about for the future. Here is a link which goes over the main points https://schoolsweek.co.uk/opportunity-for-all-schools-white-paper-all-the-policies/  

Here is a link to the full white paper https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063602/Opportunity_for_all_strong_schools_with_great_teachers_for_your_child__print_version_.pdf

To end the week Year 3 have been to Yorkshire Wildlife Park on the hottest day of the year so far. They had a lovely time and I am sure they will tell me all about it on Monday.

Next week Year 4 are off to Cadbury World and 2LW have their Residential. Don’t forget to join us for Sports Day on Thursday if you can. Keep your eye on the website and letters for further dates as this term really is very busy!

27.05.22

What a lovely way to end a half term! We have had a very busy week ending in a great Jubilee celebration on Friday for the whole school. From the playground sales in the morning to coffee and cake in the afternoon, we had a wonderful time! It was so good to have everyone together and the children and staff really enjoyed dancing, singing and picnicking together. Thank you to everyone who turned up for cake and Pimms in the afternoon – it was such a lovely atmosphere. We collected donations and will give any profit that we make to the charity ‘Place2Be’ which is a mental health support charity for children that we have used in school. The patron is the Duchess of Cambridge – we will let you know how much we have raised after the holiday. More information can be found here https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/our-team/our-royal-patron/

This week we completed our Raising Aspirations fortnight in style – I can’t quite believe that we had the European cup in our hall!! We certainly had some very excited children and staff. It has been so impressive to see the range of volunteers who have given up their time to come into school to show our children what they can achieve. It has been truly inspirational. Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered.

We also welcomed some visitors from Challenge Partners this week. Challenge Partners is an organisation that helps schools to evaluate their provision and learn from other professionals. We were lucky to show our reviewers how great our school is and I am excited to share the report and their comments with you in due course. I am definitely ending this half term feeling very proud of our children, staff, school and community.

Have a lovely half term everyone. I hope that you all enjoy some time away from school and we will see you very soon.

20.05.22

School has certainly been a hive of activity over the last two weeks and it has been great to welcome so many visitors through the doors.

Year 6 and Year 2 have now completed their SATs assessments and we have been so proud of them. They have all tried their absolute best and they have been a real credit to the school.

On Monday this week we heard from Cyrilyn Moore from Operation Orphan. She did an assembly at Cator Lane for the children and told us all about the work that the charity are doing in Moldova to help the Ukranian refugees. You can view the PDF by clicking here  

The children and staff then wore blue and yellow on Thursday to raise money for Operation Orphan. We were blown away by your generosity and we raised £716.55 in school and more via online donations. Thank you so much.

The Raising Aspirations events have been very successful and the children have thoroughly enjoyed talking to everyone – there were certainly some interesting questions!! We talked to plumbers, builders, scientists, architects, lawyers, Police, Firefighters, Nurses, doctors, paramedics…………the list was endless. Thank you so much to the parents/carers and people from the local community who gave up their time and to Miss Williams for organising the event. Hopefully, it will give our children some ideas about their future careers and encourage them to aim high. We will put lots of photographs on the website once the final year groups have had their turn.

The Year 1 children were also very excited this week to welcome a Knight into school! The children learned all about the life of a Knight to add to their Castles topic. They dressed in the armour and practised some battle scenes.  

Next week is just as busy as we prepare to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee next Friday. We will also be holding interviews for new teachers and holding a meeting for our new Reception parents. We will also be hosting a Challenge Partners visit next week. This is an opportunity for us to work with other professionals to celebrate what is good about school and to help us to identify areas for improvement.

06.05.22

It is, of course, exam season in schools. The Year 1 children are busy practising their phonics for the test in June and Year 2 have been doing their SATs reading test this week. They will be completing their maths SATs in a couple of weeks. The children have really tried hard and have done their best.

The Year 6 children have spent the week preparing for the KS2 SATs next week. They have continued to work hard and have shown a great attitude and I am sure that they will do themselves proud. All we ask is that they do their best and I am sure that they will.

I have continued to meet with the School Council and Ambassadors. The Year 6 School Council have run their first snack bar this week and have already made a bit of a profit – they are very excited about this. We are awaiting the delivery of the Defibrillator cabinets and then the Ambassadors will share this great achievement with the local community. The children will be helping at the picnic and Jubilee celebrations and will also be sending information out about a fundraiser for Ukraine.

We have been contacting our new Reception parents in the last few weeks and we are getting ready to welcome the new children to school. We are also liaising closely with the secondary schools around transition and planning our in school transition carefully. More information will follow soon.

Congratulations to all our star writers who entered a competition at Trent College. They attended a Celebration Story evening this week and were a credit to The Lanes. Congratulations particularly to Lila Ellis who was placed in the top 10 and to Lynden Anderson who came 3^rd. Well done to everyone involved.

29.04.22

It has been a busy fortnight at school as we settle into the summer term. The children have settled back into the school routine and are working hard. The Year 6 children are making their final preparations for SATs and we remain incredibly proud of their attitude.

Year 1 enjoyed their trip to Tamworth Castle. They had great fun looking at the armour and dressing up and have learned some great castle facts for their topic.

The Year 5 children also enjoyed a trip out on Thursday. They spent all day at Attenborough cricket club learning cricket skills and playing some games. Although it was very cold, everyone had a great time.

And then, to finish a very busy week, a group of Year 6 children represented The Lanes at a Rounders competition at George Spencer. We played against four other schools. All the children played in the matches and did the school proud. We are delighted to report that we won the competition and have some very proud and excited children and staff!

It has been great to see so many children attending lunch time and after school clubs and activities. It has also been lovely to have parents and carers into school for Star Assemblies once more and to see the start of reading mornings once again. Thank you for making the effort to come and keep looking out for more opportunities to come into school this term.

Have a great Bank Holiday Weekend everyone

04.04.22

Happy Easter holiday everyone – I hope that you all have a lovely time seeing friends and family, enjoying being out in the open air (hopefully in some sunshine!) and, of course, enjoying all the Easter chocolate. After a very busy half term, I think we are all ready for a break.

The final week of this term was certainly a busy one. I had the privilege of watching our children dance at the Chilwell Dance Festival on Tuesday. I was so proud to see them on stage and it was lovely to be able to take part in events like this once again. A big thank you goes to Shona, our dance teacher, who choreographed two great routines. The children are looking forward to performing them for the school when we return after Easter.

I was also excited to be part of the Year 4 Residential to Castleton. We are all so proud of the children as they went away for two nights having never been on a Residential trip before. They were a real credit to the school and we all enjoyed ourselves despite the very ‘interesting’ weather – one minute we were in bright sunshine and the next in a blizzard! It was just so great to be out in the countryside and to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.

We are now looking forward to the summer term and we are full of plans. Keep an eye out for letters for clubs and activities and opportunities to come into school once more – we have really missed seeing you all.

See you all on Tuesday 19^th April.

25.03.22

This week has been a tricky week once again with staff absence mostly due to the rising Covid rates around the local area. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we have to move staff around and use supply staff to cover classes. Hopefully, after the Easter break things will have calmed down once again. Please be vigilant and do not send your children into school if they are unwell.

It has been so nice to enjoy the lovely weather this week and the children at Cator Lane have loved being back on the field at playtime, lunchtime and for PE. We are really encouraging the children to be as active as possible and we are looking to further extend our lunchtime and after school clubs in the summer term.

Next week is ,of course, the last week of term and Year 4 are looking forward to their Residential trip to Castleton. The Dance clubs are also excited about performing at the Chilwell Dance Festival on Tuesday – I am really looking forward to seeing their performances.

Thank you for your donations to Red Nose Day, we raised a total of £638.17

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine

18.03.22

Well done to Year 5 this week and a big thank you to the staff and Governors who accompanied them on their Residential trip to York. They all had such a great time and were a credit to school. I am sure that they have enjoyed a restful weekend.

Thank you for all the donations for Red Nose Day. The children enjoyed wearing non uniform and telling jokes. We will let you know next week our total amount raised. Thank you once again for your generosity.

Next week is another busy week as we head towards the Easter holidays. Year 4 are getting prepared for their Residential trip, we are looking forward to the Dance Festival at Trent Vale and we are preparing for the Easter Egg raffle – please drop any contributions for this into the office on either site.

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely Spring sunshine. It just makes everything seem so much more positive. We are certainly looking forward to being outside more and using our lovely field.

11.03.22

Thank you so much for all the donations of sanitary products, nappies and money that you sent to help the Operation Orphan Ukraine appeal. We will continue to keep in touch with the charity and offer more support as needed. You can follow the teams work with the refugees on their Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/OperationOrphan/

The Year 6 children completed another practice SATs week this week – they performed well and all tried their best. They are working so hard at school and home and should be very proud of themselves. Children across the rest of school have also been completing assessments – all of them have impressed us with their determination and hard work. Well done!

I received the draft Inspection Report this week for checking and I am hoping to be able to share the final version with you very soon.

04.03.22

It has been such a lovely week at school this week and it really feels like everything is coming back to life after Covid. School is full of activity and the children and adults are enjoying our learning and activities.

Year 4 had a great time on their Roman day with the outside provider. They really engaged with the learning and activities, learning all about life in Roman times.

The Reception children also had a lovely time at Bluebell Farm. They were so excited to tell me all about the animals that they has seen and of course all about the yummy ice cream too!

On Thursday Year 1 also had a lovely time at Twycross Zoo. I was so excited to go with them and we had a great time. The children enjoyed seeing all the animals and learning about the Zoo’s work in conservation.  

And then, of course, we celebrated World Book Day on Thursday. I was so impressed with all the costumes (both staff and children). The children had a great day talking about and reading their favourite stories. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Finally, we are so grateful for all the items that have been donated to Operation Orphan to help the people of Ukraine. Thank you so much for your generosity. I will keep in touch with the charity and their ongoing efforts and let you know if we can help in the future.

11.02.22

It has been quite a week at school - we are all certainly ready for half term! Thank you so much for your support during our Ofsted Inspection. It was very busy and a real challenge but it felt like a real team effort.

The children were amazing and showed all of our school values. They enjoyed talking to the Inspectors and showing them their work. I am very proud of them all.

We are now looking forward to next half term and the Year 4 and 5 Residentials as well as enjoying the improving weather by getting outside more. We will also be launching our Values character in school and we are looking forward to sharing these with you.

Have a lovely half term. Don't forget to have a go at raising some money for the defibrillators. The Ambassadors made a good start yesterday and raised over £300 with their table top sale in the playgrounds. Let’s see how much we can raise.

04.02.22

It has been another busy week in school and I have enjoyed working with Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6. I have seen some great work and have enjoyed talking to the children once again about their learning. Next week I will be completing my visits with a morning in Year 4 and a morning in Year 5.

It is Parents evening next week so please make sure that you make an appointment with your child’s teacher. If you are struggling at all please let us know. We are hoping to be able to welcome you all into school in the summer term to see more of the children’s work.

The Fundraising group met on Tuesday evening. More information will soon be coming out to let you know about events that are being planned and how you can get involved. It would be great to get this group working really well to continue to develop our community around school.

Next week we will be working with the children to remind them about keeping safe online. Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. Safer Internet Day 2022 is on 8th February and will be celebrated with the theme ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’. Here is a link to the website which has lots of resources and advice for parents and activities for children.

https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022

28.01.22

It continues to be challenging at school due to Covid but we remain determined to carry on and make sure that the children enjoy being at school and experience as many activities as possible. I was privileged to be able to attend the Year 3 Residential at Mount Cook in Derbyshire this week. I had such a lovely time and it was so great to see the children engaged in some great activities and just enjoying being away with each other.

In our assemblies this week we will be talking about being healthy and particularly about sleep. When we completed some wellbeing assessments with the children it became clear to us how much this is an issue for many of our children. The teachers will be completing work with the children and showing them some videos about sleep as well as having discussions in RSHE lessons. We will be talking to them about the importance of relaxing before bedtime, coming off IPads, phones etc and having some time away from screens before bedtime. We will also be practising some mindfulness activities with the children to discuss and practise the art of relaxation. Sleep is so important for us all and a good night’s sleep just makes everything feel better. Here are the links to the videos and work we will be doing with the children.

Why do you need a good night’s sleep? – Get well soon. Reception and Year 1 suitable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oEXGiWV3p8

Rod’s bad day – Why sleep is important.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zqjqhyc

CBBC – Help me out sleep – some good facts and videos suitable for all

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-sleep

What happens to you when you sleep?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47388673

This week I will be spending time in Years Reception, 1, 2 and 6 and am really looking forward to working with all the children and talking to them about their learning. I will also be continuing to complete the environment audit with the school council.

21.01.22

The children are still working hard in school and I have been enjoying going into classes and talking to them about their learning. The Year 6 children worked really hard this week in their practice SATs tests. They were so calm and collected and we are proud of them all.

It has been a particularly challenging couple of weeks in school with the number of positive Covid cases in both staff and children. We are working hard to cover classes to ensure that the learning can continue and to support those children who are at home. Thank you once again to the staff who have been so flexible and supportive of the school and each other.

Next week we are looking forward to the Year 3 Residential at Mount Cook. The staff are working hard to make sure that this can go ahead.

I hope that you are all OK. Please get in contact if you need anything.

14.01.22

Thank you to everyone who came to the coffee afternoon on Friday to find out about the Friends group. We are really keen to get this up and running again and to start doing some more whole school and community events. The money that this group raises is invaluable for school; we have purchased equipment for the playgrounds, updated our libraries, purchased ICT resources and subsidised trips, visitors and the DARE programme for Year 6. Look out for the date of the next meeting and please come along if you can.

This week in school some of our Year 6 writers represented The Lanes brilliantly at a writing workshop at The Elms school. Mr Cupit accompanied them and was very impressed with both the standard of their writing and their behaviour.

I met with the School Council and Ambassadors and was again impressed by their commitment to the school. The Ambassadors are continuing to support the children in Year 2 and will also be organising a fund raising scheme for February half term with Mrs Allcoat. The School Council will be working with me to do an audit of the school environment and will also be working with Mrs Gosling in the office to develop a weekly snack bar in school.

This week we have begun working with Ace Sports to support the children in KS2 at lunchtime. They are working to support the children with games at lunchtime – this has been very successful and the children are enjoying having the structure and support.

The staff have been working hard to plan intervention groups and catch up sessions for children to support their learning and progress. This week we will again be attending some training with local schools on a variety of subjects including reading, SEND, behaviour, feedback and GDPR. I will also be meeting with the Family Head teachers to plan the next steps for the Chilwell schools.

As mentioned in a previous email, please make sure that children are in the correct uniform including the correct kit for PE. Please also continue to be vigilant around the signs of Covid to ensure that we can manage cases across school.

07.01.22

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that you spent time with friends and family. I have enjoyed hearing all the stories from the children about their Christmas adventures this week.

We have settled back into school really quickly and the children are already immersing themselves in their new topics. The Year 3 team are excitedly planning their Residential trip at the end of the month – I’m not sure who is more excited; the children or the staff!

We have been talking to the children about our Values this half term of Positivity and Happiness. We have been sharing the Action for Happiness calendar for January which I have attached with this blog. This encourages us all to do a little something every day to help our wellbeing. I have also attached the 10 keys to Happiness which again talk about those little things that we can do to make us feel better. The website link is here – there are lots of good tips on it. https://www.actionforhappiness.org/

I am looking forward to meeting up with the School Council and Ambassadors next week. I am sure that they are full of good ideas to enable us to continue to develop our school. Some of our Year 5 and 6 children will also be going to The Elms Junior School for a day working with the author Colin Parsons on some exciting writing. This is a great opportunity.

Please come and join us next Friday afternoon at Meadow Lane for a coffee and a chat and to find out about how you can potentially get involved with the Friends group in school. The more the merrier!

10.12.21

It’s beginning to feel a bit like Christmas at The Lanes!! Well done to the Reception children who did an amazing job with the nativity – all three performances! It was so nice to able to invite a few of you into school – thank you for keeping to the Covid rules when you came to watch. The children all did so well and we are very proud of them all.

It was lovely to see so many of you at the Carols in the Playground on Friday night. Thank you to the staff for all their hard work. I’m so pleased that we managed to do this as it gives such a lovely community feel to school. Thank you also to the Salvation Army Band.

This week we are hoping to welcome more of you into school to watch the Year 3/4 performance. The children have worked so hard and they are looking forward to it. We have videoed all performances so everyone should be able to watch them. We will be keeping a close eye on the Covid cases and will cancel the live performances if necessary. If you are intending to come and watch please do a lateral flow test, wear a mask and a coat!

Thank you for all your donations to Save the Children on Christmas Jumper day. Also, a big thank you for all the donations to the Broxtowe Community Project. Please keep sending them in – the School Council are hoping to deliver some of it on Thursday.

It has been challenging once again as we battle through the latest Covid cases. We are working really hard to keep school going but the pressure has been hard as staff are off and we cannot get supply staff in classes. We will continue to work hard to keep people well for Christmas. Thank you for your continued support.

03.12.21

It has been a challenging week with lots of staff and pupil absence due to increasing rates of Covid in school. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation and will continue to review our risk assessment regularly. Thank you to the staff for their hard work and flexibility as we all worked together to support each other and the children.

On a positive note, I really enjoyed watching the Nativity dress rehearsal on Friday morning. The children did so well and it always makes me feel like Christmas has begun. We are still hoping to perform to an audience next week – albeit slightly smaller than usual. I hope you enjoy watching the video when you get the chance.

26.11.21

This week we really enjoyed learning more about each other as we celebrated our unique talents. It was so great to see the children (and adults) talking about what they enjoy doing. We saw magic tricks, dancing, kickboxing, jujitsu, singing, sign language…….the list is endless. We hope that you enjoy looking at all the photographs on the website.

Mrs Baker and Mrs Carré also took the ECO team to plant trees with the mayor of Broxtowe. This was a lovely event and complements our work in Outdoor Learning. The ECO team will be working with Mrs Baker to develop our work in recycling over the next few weeks.

This week is our Governor visits week in school. Many of our Governors will be coming into school during the week to see us in action. They will be meeting with the teachers and joining in lessons. They will be around school so please have a chat with them if you see them.

We will be keeping a close eye on the news about Covid and will be in touch if we need to make any changes to our risk assessments in school. We are hoping to be able to go ahead with our Christmas events in school but we will be guided by the Local Authority in the next couple of weeks.

19.11.21                                                         

This week we all took part in the Anti Bullying week. This is a great opportunity to remind the children how to play together and look after each other. They also talk about what to do if they feel they are being bullied or if they witness anything that they feel may be bullying behaviour. The slogan ‘One Kind Word’ fitted in beautifully with our half termly values of Friendship and Kindness. We have now begun training Playground Pals at both sites and they will be able to help children on the playgrounds if they need it.

Children in Need day saw us raise £795.52. The children enjoyed coming to school in their own clothes and taking part in various activities in class.

The Reception children went on their first trip this week to Greens Mill. They had a lovely time and were so excited when they came back, telling me all about climbing the windmill, making bread and the exciting bus journey! We were so proud of them – they all did a great job.

Year 1 also enjoyed their Dinosaur Day on Wednesday. They became palaeontologists and enjoyed looking at fossils and dinosaur bones. In the afternoon they loved the visit from the dinosaur!

Next week we are looking forward to Wednesday when we will be celebrating all of our talents. I will also be giving out the prizes for the half term writing competition.

12.11.21

This week we all took part in the 2 minute silence to mark Remembrance Day. The children were thoughtful and respectful. Each class has produced some work about Remembrance and we have a display at each site.

We have continued to show new parents around school. The Ambassadors have taken responsibility for the tours and have been doing a great job. They are also starting to work in Year 2 to support our younger children and hope to head down to Meadow Lane in the future to help with reading. We will be developing their page on the website too.

The School Council from Year 2 – 6 also met with me this week. We discussed all sorts of issues around school. We decided to have a non-uniform day for Children in Need and are thinking about ideas for a Christmas charity appeal. The Reception and Year 1 school council will meet next week.

We had a Governors meeting this week at which we discussed the School Improvement priorities and the long term vision for the school. I will be sending out details of a Parents Forum very soon so that we can share this with you and gather your views. The Governors are looking forward to coming into school more now that restrictions have eased. A visits week is planned for 29^th November in which they will be visiting lots of classrooms and talking to staff and children. Please visit the Governor page on the website for more information about who our Governors are and what they do.

It is World Kindness Day this weekend – I hope that someone has been kind to you and that you have been kind to yourselves.

08.11.21

Well, that was a busy first week back!! We started the week with a bang with many Year groups having a ‘Wow day’. We had a Great Fire of London day in year 2 (followed by the fire on Tuesday!); Year 3 had an Explorers Day; Year 4 had an Iron Man scavenger hunt and Year 5 were all in Space. What an exciting start to a term!

And then……. Year 6 Residential. The children and staff (including myself) had an amazing time at Mount Cook in Derbyshire. We enjoyed lots of activities such as climbing on Black Rocks, Zip wire, indoor climbing, team building games, orienteering and problem solving. We also enjoyed a camp fire, bushcraft and made some brilliant land carts which went very fast. We stayed for three nights and the children were a real credit to the school. They showed all of our school values and the staff at Mount Cook were hugely complimentary about both their behaviour and their positive attitudes to giving everything a go. Well done to them all and a massive thank you to the staff who gave up a lot of their own time to attend. Thank you also to Mr Barker and Mr Guyler, our school governors for coming with us too.

At school we have been so pleased to welcome back lots of volunteers. This will make a real difference to so many children. If you have not put your name down and would like to give some time please email the school office.

This week is busy once again with school photos, Remembrance and I will be showing parents around school for admission next September. The Ambassadors will be helping me with the tours.

08.10.21

Another busy week in school – time seems to be rushing by and I can’t believe that it is nearly half term already. Let’s hope the lovely weather continues.

I have met with the School Council again this week. They have some great ideas and I will be working with them after half term to develop some of them. The minutes will be on the website https://www.thelanes.notts.sch.uk/school-council/. They are keen to run a charity event so watch this space! The Ambassadors are also full of ideas – we definitely have a plan for after half term.

Year 2 enjoyed the Explorer Dome this week as part of their topic and will soon be able to use their new trim trail which has been delayed – fingers crossed it is up and running before half term.

Staff have been busy this week and have met in their curriculum teams to develop their action plans. They have also been getting ready for Parents Evening – make sure you book your appointment. It was lovely to see lots of parents at the Year 3 Residential meeting and the Reception phonics meeting. We are hoping to do more to invite parents into school next half term – Covid permitting.

Next week we are looking forward to our first sports competition since lockdown – cross country. I wish our team every success – they (and Mr Wilkins) are very excited!

Don’t forget that it is an Inset day next Friday. The staff will be in school and will be receiving training from Focus Education on ‘Creating the right pedagogy to support pupil’s long term memory’. We are hoping to use what we learn to inform our teaching and learning moving forwards.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

04.10.21

We began this week with the Year 5 trip to Stratford. We had a great day and enjoyed a guided tour of Stratford, a visit to Shakespeare’s school room and a trip to the Butterfly Farm. It was a very busy day and I certainly learned a lot about Shakespeare and his life. The children enjoyed being out of school – they learned a lot and were a real credit to the school.

The children in Year 1 and 2 are enjoying the outdoor learning led by Mrs Baker. It has been so great to see the children out and about and using our great facilities at Cator Lane. They have been enjoying team building activities and some nature studies – even in the rain!!

I met with the Ambassadors this week and I was so impressed by them. They have some great ideas for how they want to develop their role in school. They will be showing round the candidates for Mrs Day’s maternity cover this week and talking to the children in assembly. I will also be meeting with School Council again this week.

This week you will get your invitation to Parents Evening for Year 1 to Year 6. This will take place by Zoom – the teachers are looking forward to talking to you all.

27.09.21

Another busy week has gone by and school is feeling great. We are all enjoying being back together and the children are keen and motivated to learn. The Family of Schools Head teachers met on Friday and spent time discussing the future of the Chilwell Family of Schools and dates for events during the year. The staff in school had a staff meeting on writing which is one of our School Improvement Priorities this year.

Thank you to everyone who attended the coffee morning, donated money for cakes, bought and made cakes and supported this great cause. So far we have raised £430 for Macmillan which is amazing – if you wish to donate this week we will leave the collections open. Thank you to Mrs Allcoat for organising this and to Mrs Birchall (one of our Governors) for her support.

Well done to everyone who took part in the Robin Hood Marathon on Sunday. Don’t forget to send a report into school along with a photo and we will put them on the website.

This week Year 5 are looking forward to their trip to Stratford to complement their Macbeth topic. I am also looking forward to meeting with the Ambassadors and working out their role this year. The Reception teachers are also preparing for their Parents evenings where they will be able to tell you how your child has settled into school.

We have unfortunately had some Covid cases in school among staff and children and we are keeping a close eye on the Risk assessment as this half term continues. Thank you for your support with this.

Blog 20.09.21

What beautiful weather we are having at the moment – just so lovely to see the sun. The children are enjoying playing outside and taking part in lots of outdoor PE lessons.

Mrs Baker has started the Outdoor Learning with the children this week. I hope that the children really enjoy this – I am sure they will.

Year 2 are getting very excited as they watch the development of the new trim trail. This should be finished this week and the children can’t wait to have a go on it!

We have now chosen our School Councillors and Ambassadors. I will be meeting with them all this week to go through their role and plan some activities.

We are continuing to work to refresh our work with parents and the community. It would be lovely if you could join us on Friday for the Macmillan Coffee morning at Meadow Lane. Come and have a piece of cake and a chat.

Blog 13.09.21

Wow, what a great night we had on Friday at the Lanes Fest. Thank you so much for supporting us and coming along – I think it was just what we all needed. Thank you also to the staff who stayed behind and served at the bar, sold headbands, etc. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did – and it didn’t rain!!

Events like Friday night are so important as we try to build back the sense of community in school. For me it is what a primary school should be about; community, family and people. Hopefully, it is just the start to a great year with more events – watch this space.

This week the Reception children will complete their first full week at school. They have settled in so well and are enjoying playing together and getting to know each other.

The rest of the children are also continuing to work hard and enjoying getting to know their new classes and teachers. We have all been so impressed with how they have come back to school – it is going to be a good year!

Blog 03.09.21

Hello everyone and welcome to the first Head teacher’s blog on our new look website. I will update the blog on a weekly basis and I hope that it will give you a flavour of what is going on at school.

It has been SO lovely to welcome everyone back to school this week. School feels so vibrant and alive and the children have been brilliant. They have settled in so well and are adapting to our new routines and procedures. We also welcomed our new Reception children today for their first ‘Stay and Play’ session.

We have been using the book ‘Ish’ by Peter H Reynolds with the children this week and will be continuing next week. This book Ish by Peter H Reynolds. Ish is the story of a BAME boy called Ramon who loves to draw, until one day his older brother mocks one of his pictures and destroys both his confidence and the joy he finds in his art.” 

“Ramon loves to draw – anything, anywhere – but when his brother laughs at his drawings, Ramon loses his confidence and the joy of creating. After months of frustration, Ramon decides to give up drawing all together, until his younger sister reminds him that drawings don't have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

The children have been working to retell the story, produce lovely art work and to support discussions around Growth Mindset. The book is really simple but the message is powerful – negativity and criticism can destroy confidence and creativity and perfectionism is unhealthy too.  Praise and encouragement helps us learn!

We have also been doing lots of other work and settling into new routines in our classes. The children have also been talking about our motto and values for this half term which are Teamwork and Resilience.

The teachers will be in touch again soon. The topic webs and weekly newsletters will be on the website in the Year group pages next week.

Don’t forget The Lanes Festival next Friday – 6 -8pm on the Cator Lane field. We are really hoping that this can go ahead and we are keeping an eye on the weather forecast. It would be lovely to see lots of you there to celebrate the start of a new school year. More details will come to you next week.

Take care and have a lovely weekend.