Weekly Message – The Head

We’ve enjoyed some ‘mindful moments’ this week with staff and children. An invitation, laid out in my Assembly last week, was our appreciation of good manners and politeness.  A simple focus, to get us thinking, was how we respond to each other in communal areas. I shared my own ‘one-meter rule of thumb’; where appropriate, exchanging greetings or warm acknowledgement with all passers-by in corridors or classrooms. I’ve noticed such a good response to that already. Something for us to build upon.

I’ve been able to spend some time with Year 6 this week, teaching a unit of lessons on ‘mindful exam prep’ to help children with the world of exams and futures. Year 6 were able to respectfully share what was going on in their lives; thinking about exams, that really trying sibling, or the varied challenges in life that can weigh us down when we are only 10 years old! We then looked for some perspective and control, by finding focus through some collaborative conversation, games and breathing techniques.

Reflecting on my time with Year 6 and on the general feeling from all the children has prompted me to open up our invitation to a calendar event on the 2nd October. The ‘11+ and Upper Prep Information Evening’, was initially advertised for Year 6 parents, but moving forward I would like to warmly invite Year 5 parents to this annual event. I hope this will help parents feel better prepared and to get ahead on future school matters with confidence.

Back to Assembly; this morning, children treated us to a valuable presentation on the importance of sign language. As well as learning a lot, this inspires a next step in great behaviour. Today’s challenge for us all, is when we say ‘thank you’ to try and use the British Sign Language we learnt in Chapel.

More widely, we also gave thanks and congratulated our hard working triathlon and cross country runners. We welcomed new young leaders awarding our new Eco Prefects, Sports Captains and School Council.

Warm regards,

Mr John Towers