BLOG #7 Your children (our pupils) are amazing! As part of our approach to Sports Relief, Mr V began the week by setting all pupils a challenge. Therefore, during the week, pupils have had to complete daily activities such as Burpees, Star Jumps, Knee ups and Mountain Climbers! Plus, all pupils were set the task of running a mile! I am amazed at how much enthusiasm pupils and staff have displayed during the challenges, throughout the week. To top this off, a number of pupils have also raised some incredible amounts of money for Sports Relief. Sums have varied and all pupils who have raised money in this way, will be receiving a special letter form myself. The sums involved vary from £20-£100! Superb efforts from all involved and we are really proud of our pupils.

BLOG #5 Welcome back! We have had a great start to 2018 by using our first assembly to reflect upon pupils work in 2017, and take time to think about the future. During the assembly we saw photos and videos, along with staff and pupils telling us about the Skills Curriculum that operates during Thursday afternoons. It’s unique to us and something that pupils really do gain from taking part in. Therefore, we heard about Skiing, Life skills, cooking, arts and crafts, our community team and their work cleaning up local areas, sport (with Trae and Skye demonstrating), and Science. A great way to start the term celebrating some great work. 

BLOG #3 Stay safe! Being safe, at this time of the year, is a theme that we really work hard on at Larwood. At the start of this week, I spoke to pupils in assembly, about being safe outside of school. This included reference to big events such as fireworks, travelling, and working with others such as the Police or Fire Service. It also included information about being safe at home, so that parents can trust their children and they don’t get hurt. I mentioned younger or older siblings, processes such as locking doors at night and the use of the internet and social media. Finally, we talked about being safe at school so that everybody can make progress and have fun together.

Jess the Owl visits Larwood School. All pupils had the opportunity to hold an Owl, with strict supervision from its owner, on Thursday 9^th November. It was used as a prompt for writing and our Big idea initiative and it seemed to work! Pictures and video to follow.

Attendance. A reminder, please do not book holidays during term. It is detrimental to your child’s progress and socialisation. We will not authorise any such request and it may be that your family is issued with a fine for taking a holiday during term time. We were one of the first schools in the County to adopt a two-week October half term break. This gives all families the opportunity to pick up cheaper deals when compared to the usual school holiday times. Please ensure that you use the usual holiday times for such events.

BLOG #1 Welcome back! Having been back for over a week now we are well and truly back in the swing of things. A great start to the term so far, with returning pupils and our new starters. We have lots of exciting things planned for the year ahead. The Big Idea (writing project) will now be led by our pupils, we are about to roll out our new Chrome Books to help with ICT skills, we are changing the way we give marking and feedback to pupils (greater participation from pupils in the process) and making use of some new and exciting PSHE materials from a company called One Decision.

We will be holding our ‘meet the teacher’ event during the next few weeks so please do come along. If the day/time doesn’t work for you, then please do let us know and we will happily arrange another one that does.

BLOG #9

New term and new playground!

Welcome back to the summer term. Although a bit of a chilly start to the summer, our pupils are generating plenty of heat via exercise. Having had the new playground equipment installed over the Easter holidays, it’s great to see our pupils making good use of it. The last one had become rotten and we had to remove it for health and safety reasons. To ensure we choose the right equipment, Mr Scales presented two models to all staff, governors and pupils. Then we let democracy take over, with everyone using a coloured token to vote for their choice. This was a really good example of our school community working together, to get things right and to ensure that our pupils had their say in what happened. It certainly has been a huge hut at the start of the term and hopefully will continue that way.

BLOG #7

Pancake madness!

I am sure you will enjoy the great pictures of our pancake day on Tuesday. Not only did staff and pupils cook together, and then had the finished items judged by our discerning cooks, we also had relay races. On the very same day, we had our governing body in school to visit classes and help to plan our vision for the next 3-5 years. Just to keep us really busy, we were informed on Tuesday morning that Ofsted were coming to inspect our residential provision! The full inspection was led by Trish Palmer and she thanked all staff, pupils and parents for their help and support during the three day process. Capping off the week, it was great to see so many pupils and staff ‘dressed to impress’ on World Book Day.