Dear Parents and Carers,
We have all felt an early morning chill this week as the weather has suddenly changed from the glorious sunshine we were experiencing to the rain and overcast skies. Thankfully our playground warmed up quite quickly as soon as the sun came out.
I am pleased to say that our new students have settled very well. They are very cheerful coming through the school door in the mornings and full of enthusiasm. These first weeks at school can be very tiring so please make sure children get enough sleep.
We have just held our Primary Student Voice elections and their badges were presented at a whole school assembly on Monday. Ms Saachi will be running the student voice group and I know that it will be a very active group this year. Please see her newsletter to find out who the Primary Student Voice representatives are. Class 5 are in the special position of attending both the student council meetings and the primary student voice and will act as the liaison between the two groups. (Or perhaps you can sneak a peek at the photos to see who they are!)
In addition to the two day trips per year that the school provides there will be some additional opportunities for outings this year. Class 1 and 2 will have the chance to take a PE trip to the Aspen ski centre to follow up their snowboarding classes in school. We will be asking parents to contribute to the cost of this. There are some photos from when we did this activity two years ago.
Ms Nichols has also found some wonderful music activities that she would like to take the students to later in the year. Please keep an eye out for the full details as we get closer to the time.
As usual our classes 1 to 5 have been working on their Brainwave/ Metacognition units for these first few weeks. These units help students to understand how they learn, what they can do to help themselves learn and start to delve into the idea of ‘Growth Mindset’. Growth Mindset is where you understand that learning and developing is a process and that there may be setbacks along the way but with support, a good attitude and determination everyone can learn new things. There is a really interesting article for parents with some great tips here https://www.mindsetworks.com/parents/growth-mindset-parenting
Conversely there is a fixed mindset which is where students believe they cannot change or improve their abilities. Even very clever children can be hampered by a fixed mindset, especially when they unexpectedly face a challenge that does not come easily to them. They can be inclined to give up. Therefore it is important that all students do understand growth mindset and how it applies to them.
Class 4 did an excellent assembly presentation on the whole subject today. They even had a song about the brain and growth mindset. Well done class 4.
We are looking forward to carrying on our learning journey. I wish you all a very relaxing and happy weekend.
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Lead Safeguarding Officer.