Building Relationships
Firstly, thank you to all the parents that have made myself, Mrs Ward and the other new members of staff welcome to Blundeston CEVC Primary School. It is a lovely school and has been a pleasure to get to know a lot more about it after a month in position.
This month has told me a lot about many areas of school which are working well and which could do with making flourish even more. My first newsletter emphasised the need to foster good relations between school and parents/carers. I stand by this and see it as integral if we are to see the children making the levels of progress we want.
Most children achieve well but we all want the children to fulfill their potential, not simply hits arbitrary targets. To reach high standards, we need parents fully on board and committed to working together with school to help the children thrive.
This starts with the basics, making sure every child comes to school feeling safe. It is a basic requirement and for us to help any child make progress with their learning, they need to know they and their families are safe. With this in place, children are then able to focus on trying to learn new information. Some children find this easier than others but EVERY child can succeed. The rates of progress may differ but no excuses will be made along the lines that a child cannot do it – it may prove harder, require more practise, take longer but we want every child to make progress.
School will provide an environment where learning is celebrated and we want to encourage children to take responsibility to want to learn. We need the children to understand that they ultimately hold the power. In order to make the most amount of progress, the children must be intrinsically motivated to do well. This means them working hard because they want to, not because they might get a reward at the end. Rewards can certainly play a part but children who are intrinsically motivated to do well do not see rewards as the reason for working hard and trying to achieve.
Building a culture of enjoying learning takes time and this is where we need parental support the most. If the children go home and choose a games console over five minutes reading or end up watching YouTube rather than practise their times tables, then they are not showing the qualities we are looking from them.
What we want to see is children taking responsibility for their learning and building those few minutes of practise before or after school into their daily routine. We would never expect a child to sit down for hours on end at home because this is completely counter-productive and switches children off from learning. However, practising little and often has been shown to make an enormously beneficial impact on children's progress.
This is why your role as a parent is vital. We need your support. This isn't something we can do all by ourselves. We are relying on you to encourage those good learning choices at home. We know that with school and home working together, the children will benefit. This is where those lines of communication are incredibly important. If you are finding your children's attitudes to learning difficult at home, speak to us. We can reinforce the importance and work with you in order to get the best out of the children.
I am not for one moment saying this is easy – I know, I’m a parent myself! Just remember, learning is not a nice steady trajectory either. Learning can be very spiky. Sometimes it feels like you are wading through treacle and other times it feels like you're flying through things and there is no stopping your child. When your child is being defiant though, stick with it. Children know how to push your buttons and are often looking for an easy way out. This is when parenting can be hard but it is also when you are being at your most effective, calmly and considerately reaffirming the benefits of lifelong learning.
We want this to be the best ever school experience for the children. With your help it can be. With everybody pulling in the same direction, the sky is the limits. Let's make this happen!
Home School Agreement
Thank you to all those families who have read, signed and returned the Home-School Agreement. What a wonderful way to say we are all in this together, wanting the very best for our children.
If you haven't returned the agreement yet, please do so. If you need another copy, ask in the school office and they will be only too glad to give you another copy.
Helping the Children to Focus - Water Bottles
I spoke to the children earlier in the week about the importance of concentrating in lessons. Some children struggle to focus when they become dehydrated so we always encourage them to drink lots of water. However, we are finding that the water bottles in school are being used for all kinds of different flavoured drinks and this has become an issue.
Often, the children are encouraged to have their water bottles on the tables where they work. Sometimes accidents can happen and spillages occur but water does not cause any major problems with the book or work it has come into contact with. Juice drinks and fizzy drinks, as well as being terrible for the children's teeth, have caused pieces of work in some classes to be ruined. It is worse still, when the work being spoilt belongs to another child. As a result, we have asked that all children are to have plain water in their water bottles from now on.
Helping the Children to Focus - Healthy Snacks
Another way we can help the children to focus is by ensuring their energy levels are topped up. This can be achieved by eating a healthy snack, kind to the children's teeth and their bodies. I have spoken to the children about this in assembly and reminded them to take out their healthy snack for break time rather than their favourite food from their lunchbox. Eating chocolate or sweets will give an instant rush but then lead to a worsening low of energy afterwards.
Helping the Children to Focus - SleeP
We should never underestimate the power of a good night's sleep. This is one solely down to you, the parents, to ensure that the children have had a good night's sleep, which allows them to fully concentrate in class. A lack of sleep can also lead to children making poor behaviour choices as they are not thinking about the consequences to their actions.
If you are struggling with bedtime routines, please check out some useful websites like Sleep East which can give practical ideas which will not only benefit the children but yourselves as well. Don't forget, we need our sleep too, if we are to function well in our day to day lives.
Parent Consultations
Dates will be going out for parent consultations (if they haven't already done so). This is your opportunity to meet with your child's class teacher to find out how they have been getting on in class and think about further ways we can work together to ensure your child makes the most amount of progress possible.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Tuesday 17th and Thursday 19th October.
Best wishes,
Mr Edwards