Dear Parents,
I cannot quite believe how quickly this term is going. As we enter the last week of November, there are so many wonderful things to reflect on.
It was a privilege to show so many new families around our school during our two open mornings this week. Choosing your child's first school is such an important decision and we could see how much the parents wanted to make the right decision. As we showed our groups around, we could see the joy that it is to be in our school working its magic on so many of our visitors. We have been delighted by the positive feedback we have received.
Our senior leadership team (Miss Morris, Miss Bilton, Miss Everett, Mrs Aitken and Mrs Spence) had a really valuable day together yesterday reviewing areas of our school development plan. We focused on writing, which we found to be front and centre in all the developments we have seen in school over the last term. Progression of writing is shown in our books and the teacher's planning. This term we will be looking deeper into how we teach the technicalities of writing, e.g. pencil grip, letter formation etc. We also spent time reviewing assessments in foundation subjects (RE, PE, Art and Design, DT, History, Geography and Music). By the end of the day, we were confident that our assessment objectives for these subjects reflect the carefully planned sequences we have in our curriculum and offer appropriate challenge for all pupils.
Thank you to everyone for being so understanding about the impact of our hall being out of action this week and next. As always, the children and staff have taken it in their stride, and we love how positive everyone is being. Our lovely Noah C summed this up for me yesterday when yellow class were having their picnic lunch together. He turned to Miss Mason and said, "It's lovely we are all having lunch together like a family."
It has been an honour to welcome four student teachers to Benhall over the last 3 weeks. This is their first step into a wonderful profession, and we understand the importance of inspiring the joy of teaching for a new group of dedicated teachers entering the profession. Congratulations, Miss Wade, Miss Trigg, Miss Young and Miss Kiddier - we look forward to welcoming you back in the New Year.
Finally, thank you to Orange and Yellow class for inviting me to your lessons this week. On Monday morning, I saw just how hard they work in phonics. Every child was totally engaged, and it brought such joy to see the pride Mrs Norman and Mrs Gowing had for their early readers. On Monday afternoon, I witnessed something truly magical as Mrs Aitken inspired our early writers to write a packing list for Father Christmas.
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Love from Miss Morris and the team
