Mr Trimble's Blog
Dear Parents/ Carers
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our staff, pupils and their families back from your summer holidays, we hope it was restful and enjoyed by all.
The end of term draws close as I write this update. At Larwood it’s still go go go go!
Go for bubble based Sports Day events.
Great to see small groups of parents supporting children. For some this may be the first Sports Day they have been allowed to participate in and the first one you have watched? Enjoy!
Go for end of term reports!
These will be sent to you electronically by the end of the week. Having had the pleasure of reading and signing all of them, there are some cracking reports to go home. Plus, amazing progress has been achieved in the most unusual and again challenging of years.
Go for school based trip day on Thursday 22nd July.
A number of activities that will help to round off the year and if course, lots of fun for all involved.
Go for our end of year goodbye to our Year 6 pupils and parents.
For many this year, we continue the relationship, and we will ‘see you down the road’ at Brandles. For others going to Special or mainstream, I will be just as keen to check up and see how you are getting on. Due to the pandemic, this will again be in a different format, but it will always be a very special day for us all.
Exciting times at Larwood!
As I write this, we are in the midst of Science Week.
The weeks are flying by and it is so much better having our pupils on site.
A strange consequence of the pandemic is that we do not have any pupils taking SAT’s, as they would have done up until the summer of 2019. This is the same for all primary aged children across the country. They didn’t happen last year, and they are not taking part this year either. We have reflected upon this, the process, the results and how useful they are for all involved. We have ended up drawing a fairly certain conclusion that they are not missed! They also do not give our pupils the chance to show how well they have done in other areas, such as key skills included in personal and social development. Therefore, next year, we will design our own tests that will continue to review key skills such as reading and maths, alongside others. We will plan for how best to deliver these and our teaching staff will be heavily involved in the process, with our pupils.
Welcome to the Summer Term! A rather chilly start, with snow yesterday but it will get warmer and the sun will shine. This warmer weather will hopefully support us to continue to ‘get back to normal’ as the term progresses with more outdoor learning opportunities.
Possibly, the shortest blog message ever!
"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."
- Henry Ford
Welcome back and happy New Year to you all. Not the start to the year that any of us would have hoped for, but we remain optimistic for the future. Due to the current serious nature of the pandemic and the impact of the new strain of Covid - 19, we are educating some pupils in school and some will be at home. Our online learning has been set up and is ready for such a situation. Therefore:
We will get through this difficult time and all of our pupils will be back, where they belong at some point soon when it is safe for all parties.
Christmas is coming!
I think we are all looking forward to the holiday period this year, for some of the usual reasons (long term, being tired, the fact that we love Xmas etc) but also due to the extraordinary months we have had since March. However tough and challenging it has been, some things never change. Your children have coped brilliantly with all of the change, the worry and need to be careful on a day to day basis. They still bring huge smiles to our faces and so many of them have made great progress in different ways.
Another aspect of life that stays the same os the amazing human spirit within our community. Our Toy Drive organised by Mrs Osobu and closely supported by Mrs Ford has generated some outstanding returns. I have written directly to those local companies that have supported us but would also like to thank them here:
During a period of time that could easily be seen as very dark, you have all shone a bright light that personifies the human spirit of kindness and community. My thanks to you all.
Have a wonderful and restful Christmas break. Please ensure you read the letter published Friday 11th Dec re Covid tracing during the holiday period up until Dec 22nd.
Much of this month has been dominated by Covid, the substantial rise in infection rates and the associated uncertainty that it also brings to many areas of life. We continue to provide the following:
We will monitor and revise our practice as we need to but we have ensured that we meet guidance and in fact where possible, go above and beyond any guidance offered. Staff and pupils continue to react superbly to the changes and I thank them all for their help and cooperation.
BLOG #1
Welcome back! It has been such a joy to see so many smiling faces coming back through our doors over the last few days. It’s great to be back and to be returning to some form of ‘normality.’ No matter what, the start of the academic year is exciting and we are planning lots of great activities/learning opportunities for our pupils.
Please note that all of the staff and I, are very grateful for your kind words and gifts at the end of last term. Many of your comments help to remind us about our mission at school and that is to support our pupils ‘achieve, believe, expect and enjoy’ their time with us.
Clearly we cannot forget that we are still in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. I have shared the measures that we have taken with you, and will continue to do so, over time. It’s still hard to work in this way. We all want to return back to how we were, but we cannot do that without creating further risk to health and well-being. Therefore, we have to continue to have different protocols for entry/exit for pupils, lunchtimes, curriculum provision, movement around the school and the way that we interact with parents (Teams meetings/calls etc. rather than physically based meetings). All of these measures are designed to keep children, staff and families as safe and healthy as we can. It will be interesting to see what happens with infection rates during the next few weeks/months.
Although I have no doubt this will be another unusual year, please be assured that we will do all that we can to make it as enjoyable and progressive for your children, as we can. We remain guarded but optimistic and I look forward to seeing your children make the amazing leaps of improvement that they usually do, as the year takes place.
BLOG #5 Covid 19
Please see the weekly letters sent to all parents and carers in relation to this. We continue to adopt a ‘first do no harm’ approach to this crisis and are open for Key Worker pupils and those classed as very vulnerable only. Frequent weekly communication is taking place with you all, to check in and see if there is any other support that we may be able to help with, where appropriate.
Please also see our Larwood School YouTube Channel for lots of activities. This is updated daily.
Stay safe out there, keep your distance and wash hands regularly.
