As we approach the last half-term for the summer of 2023, we are looking forward to some very exciting things coming up such as the residential outings for all year groups which was a great success last year, the end of term trips, sports day and Y6 transitions.  

Thanks to Mrs Osobu, we are also taking the whole school to the Science Museum in June, which should be an amazing experience for all our pupils and has never been done before. Please note that in order for your child/ren to access such an offsite activity we would need to ensure that they are safe, and that they can be trusted.  

From a premises' perspective, the works to the new classrooms should be completed by mid-June. Exciting news is that the Astroturf will be replaced after the summer term. Our people numbers will increase to 101 pupils for next year and as things stand, all available spaces have been filled.  

Thank you to all those parents/ carers and pupils who have completed our online surveys. Overall, we had some really positive feedback, which is always great to see. Please be assured that we will address some of the questions or recommendations raised by yourselves. As a reminder we have ongoing parent meetings at the end of each month, and we would love to see more of our parents/ carers involved, even if it is only for a friendly chat.  

I would like to inform you that we have appointed a new Assistant Headteacher (AHT) Mr J Scales, who will be joining Larwood at the start of the new academic year. Mr Scales has worked at Larwood as a class teacher before becoming the Outreach/ In reach lead. Most recently he worked at Brandles as AHT. A great warm welcome to you Mr. Scales.  

I wish you all a great half-term filled with sunshine and fun!! 

Mr. Van  

As we approach the last few weeks leading up to Easter, I would like to inform you of some changes and developments at Larwood school. 

But firstly, I would like to thank all our wonderful children for their continued hard work and parents and carers for their continued support. You may be aware that we have several external professionals visiting us at regular intervals, including staff and visitors from other schools. The comments are always positive, and they are amazed by how welcome the staff and pupils make them feel.   

From a staffing perspective we sadly have to say our farewells to our chef that has managed to upgrade and maintain high food standards to keep those tummies full. Jemima will be greatly missed, and we wish her well. Other changes to roles and responsibilities have been communicated directly to you.  Please be reassured that we endeavour to continue to build on our strong staffing structure to maintain a high-quality provision for our pupils. 

We are growing our numbers! 

In agreement with County, we are increasing our pupil on roll number to 101. This is a very important and positive change, which means that we could now offer more opportunities to pupils that are in desperate need of placement. HCC is also funding and constructing two new classrooms to facilitate this increase in numbers. 

Important, safety! 

Groundworks and construction will start on the 3rd of April, and they aim to complete the project by the 9th of June. Although construction will continue throughout the term, every safety measure has been put in place to ensure that safety of staff and pupils. The area will be cordoned off and is off-limits to all staff and pupils. I will host several assemblies with individual classes, explaining what they can expect to see when they return to school, what the expectations are and how to stay safe. Staff will also give constant reminders of risk and I ask you to do the same at home. Please feel free to get in contact with me directly if you have any questions or concerns.  

I wish you a well-deserved Easter holiday filled with love and laughter  

Mr Van  

As we approach the last day of Christmas, it is with enormous pride and a big thank you to parents/carers, pupils and staff for making this Autumn term very special.

We have achieved much since our return in September, including Ofsted, changes to lunchtimes, new interventions, return to off site visits and our enhanced ‘hoody’ reward system.

A personal highlight for me at the end of term was the Christmas production. A lot of effort, time and dedication went into preparing our youngsters for a production that superseded expectations, and I would like to thank staff and pupils alike for their hard work. Like with all great performances, they need a great audience, therefore I would like to extend my gratitude to the great number of parents/ carers that took the time out of their busy schedules to support our youngsters.

Sadly, we are saying our farewells to two long term members of our Larwood team. Mrs Trott, after more than 10 years of service, will leave us at the end this term and will be taking up a new senior position at a different school in Stevenage. Mr Dennis, who after more than 20 years, will be retiring at the end of term. I wish them both well and want to thank them for their dedicated service and commitment to Larwood school. They will be greatly missed.

I had some feedback from Ofsted, and we are expecting our results to be published early in the new year. I will keep you posted on progress and inform you once we know when it will be published.

I hope you all have a fantastic and enjoyable festive break and a very happy new year. We shall see you back on the 4th of January 2023

Mr. Van 

It has been a while since we returned from the half-term, and I am very excited to report that pupils have settled back in well and enjoying the last few weeks before Christmas arrives. 

Last time I mentioned the launch of our additional reward system, which is now in place. Your child/ren can now opt into a fast-track coloured shirt option whereby they have to earn a certain amount of points per week for 5 consecutive weeks to earn their shirts. This runs parallel to our existing reward scheme, so in theory they have two options rather than one to reach their goal.  

We have also made some exciting changes to our lunchtime routines and feedback from pupils and staff confirm that these are positive changes. It’s early days, but we will keep you updated. We are also planning festive celebrations that will involve a great number of pupils. I have witnessed that they are working hard to get their performances ‘spot on’.  

We have opened up all activities, skills and offsite trips to all, as we believe that our pupils deserve and benefit from these opportunities, and it is what makes us unique.  As we enter the colder season, I still want to ask that you look after yourselves and your families and assess at all times if your child/ren are healthy and well enough to attend. 

Finally, I also want to make you aware that we were inspected by OFSTED last week (9th and 10th)  

I can’t disclose any outcomes at the moment, but I will ensure to share the results with you as soon as the final report is available.  

Get those decorations ready! 

Mr. Van  

One more week to go until half-term!  

I must say that it has been a stunning start to the new academic year and pupils and staff are relishing the joyful moments end experiences at school. I can report that there has been a drastic reduction in incidents across the school and new pupils are conforming to the Larwood ways, which enables them to get going with their learning.  

There has been a rise in covid cases that have affected both staff and pupils. I am happy to report that we managed to keep the school open through difficult times and endeavour do so moving forward. I also want to extend a great big thank you for staff that have covered staff absence to allow us to keep going. Could I please ask that you test your child if they are sent home with covid like symptoms. If you do not have access to a test, we could send some home with you. If it is not covid related, we ask that you keep your child at home until they are symptom free.  

We have reverted to keeping most activities, skill sessions and Friday rewards class based. Lunch times are split into three groups, but pupils are still accessing the dining room. I hope that this will be a temporary measure, but we need to ensure the safety of your child and staff.   

We are making some exciting changes to the reward system with regard to blue, yellow and black shirts. Mrs Longcroft will be leading on this project moving forward and will share the changes with you after half-term in a newsletter.  

As we move into the festive season, there will be a lot on offer at Larwood i.e., Halloween, Guy Fawkes, Christmas and more. We will keep you updated at regular intervals.  

I wish you all a pleasant October break and look forward to a host of exciting opportunities when we return.

Mr Van  

A great big welcome back to all our old pupils, and a warm welcome to our new starters joining our Larwood family. It is wonderful to witness the smiley faces returning from their summer holiday, ready to start a new year with us.

Parents and carers, please note that it is essential that we foster open communication between school and home, so please get in touch should you have any questions or want to get more information from class teams, family support, admin, or management.  

We start this year with exciting new initiatives to enhance our offer. Our middle leaders for this year are: 

Mrs Osborne (Literacy) 

Miss Kimpton (Maths)  

Mr Jacobs (Community and skills curriculum and 

Mr Rooke (Creative curriculum and communication)  

They all have fantastic, fun, and fresh ideas to make the learning experience great for our pupils!

Throughout the term/year; you will get regular updates on new initiatives, and the impact it's had. Our main curriculum focus points for the year are to improve writing across the school, and to continue to develop our Essentials curriculum. Mrs Osobu and Mrs Williams have launched 'Talk for Writing' that is exciting and engaging and will benefit your child/ren.  

Over the summer holiday we had a new fire alarm system installed, upgraded the toilets, and fitted new fire doors; all areas are also being decorated. I hosted assemblies when we returned, making pupils aware of the changes that occurred over the holiday period, and the reasons why we had it done. I reminded all pupils of the fact that these doors are very expensive to replace, as are the decorating costs, therefore please remind your child/ren that damage to property is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.  

I also want to thank all the companies involved, who worked long hours to ensure the safety of our school and completing the works on time.  

I wish all our pupils, families, and staff a fantastic 2022/23 year filled with opportunities and great memories  

Mr Van
Headteacher  

As we approach the end of term, I would like to look back on all the fantastic events we had on offer for our young learners this summer term. Larwood’s got talent was outstanding with a host of acts from a variety of pupils across all ages. Sport days were very well represented, and I would like to express a massive thank you to all parents/ carers that took the time off to observe or, in some cases, join in the events.   

Our popular end of term trips were very much enjoyed by all, and I have to add that all pupils were able to access either the discovery, adventure or onsite activity. Our new offer of residential/ extended days to all pupils across all year groups was a great success and I want to thank all staff that were involved for their efforts to make these events special for our pupils. We will offer the same again next year. 

As we look forward to next year, I want to remind you that we have a staff inset day on Wednesday the 31^st of August 22 and pupils are back on the following day. I very much look forward to having our youngsters back rested, refreshed, and ready to continue their Larwood journey. I would also like to wish our year 6 school leavers well as they start the next phase of their education. You will be missed! But remember to come and visit to share your success.

It is with great regret that we have to say farewell to our longest standing member and chair of Trustees, Mrs. Sandra Barr. She has been part of Larwood school for 40 years and have been a pillar of strength for staff at all levels and more importantly our pupils. I can confidently say that Mrs. Barr has always argued that if we decided to change anything we do, it had to be in the best interests of our youngsters. Her compassion, understanding and vision for the school has always been apparent, and she ensured we have the best staff appointed to deliver the best quality education. Mrs. Barr has been accredited with a long list of awards including an ‘Outstanding Governor Award’ and has also served as Mayor of Stevenage to name a few. I personally thank you for your guidance and on behalf of the staff at Larwood thank you for your commitment, dedication, and support, we wish you well with your future endeavours, and you will be greatly missed!

I wish you all a fantastic summer break and hope you create good moments to enjoy.

Mr. Van
Headteacher

I hope you are all enjoying some of the lovely weather we have been having. As mentioned in my previous blog to you, we are looking forward to some fun and exciting events in the second half of the summer term. Assemblies will include Father's Day, world music day and celebrating the NHS to name a few.

On the last day of this half-term we are celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, what an amazing achievement! We also have PGL to look forward to in June and some residential opportunities for other year groups. Mrs Osobu will share some further information with you in due time.

Furthermore, we have parents evening next week, where you could discuss your child’s progress and achievements, transitions and end the of year productions for year 6. In the second half-term, you will also receive some further information with regard to sport day. Our last sports day was very successful and was enjoyed thoroughly by pupils and parents/carers alike.

As we look forward to half-term, I want to wish you all a peaceful, safe and enjoyable break

LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME FUN TIMES!

Mr. Van

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our staff, pupils and their families back from your Easter holidays and hope it was restful, and you enjoyed the lovely weather.

We had a very successful end of the term and pupils thoroughly enjoyed the end of term reward day. A big thank you to Mrs Osobo, for arranging the fun activities and all staff that made the day very special for our youngsters. Unfortunately, we could not go off site due to restrictions we were forced to impose but as promised it will be taking place early in this term. 

As always, the Summer term is packed full of exciting events such as residential trips, not only for our year six pupils but for several year groups, transition events for our year six pupils, sports day/s, outdoor activities, Larwood’s Got Talent, year 6 performance, end of term rewards, and plenty more.  

Our assembly schedule, to name a few, include:

• International dance day
• The Queens Platinum Jubilee 
• Good work assembly and more.....

I need to make you aware that we will be hosting parents' meetings this half-term, where class teams will share with you, your children’s progress, success and good work. You will have the option of meeting the teachers in person, by phone or virtually, more information will follow via email and class dojo.  

It is with great sadness that we say our farewells to our CEO, Mr Sean Trimble who will be retiring at the end of April. Mr Trimble has been a pillar of strength for Larwood school and our Trust and will be greatly missed. His commitment to doing his best for our pupils, parents, community, trustees and staff and the impact he has had on people’s lives are immeasurable. His drive, enthusiasm, and commitment to create opportunities influenced a great number of people. We wish you and your family well in your future endeavours, and you will be greatly missed  

BRING ON THE SUNSHINE! 

Mr Van  

We have several exciting events to look forward to as we approach Easter. In the coming few weeks, we have Sports Relief, World Math Day, British Science Week, Dress in Green Day and Mother's Day coming up. A lot of fun events for all to enjoy. Please keep an eye out on class Dojo and our weekly letter to parents, so you can best prepare your child. 

Our skills sessions and Friday activities are proving to be very popular. Pupils now have the opportunity to engage in a wider range of activities on offer and mix with other pupils across different age groups not only in their own bubbles. Please be aware that we will revert to bubbles should we identify a rise in Covid19 cases. As from the Monday the 14^th we will also start having lunches in the dining room again. I believe it is very important to add a ‘family feel’ to lunchtimes and our pupils benefit from the experience and the social interaction with their friends.

A big warm welcome to Ms Kelly Keeler, who has joined our Larwood team as part of the administration team.   

The last day of the Spring term is on Friday the 1^st of April. I wish you all a relaxed, safe, and enjoyable Easter break  

Kind Regards

Mr Van

We had a good start to 2022 and as we head towards warmer weather, we start looking forward to planning more activities outdoors and hopefully looking at revising some of the restrictions that have been in place. Just to make you aware that no changes will be considered for the rest of this half-term and at the start of the next half-term.  

We celebrated Martin LK and Chinese New Year in January and in February we are looking forward to Valentines/ friendship and kindness and World thinking day assemblies. We are also very much looking forward to the February half-term that starts on Monday the 14th of February, pupils will be expected to return to school on Monday, 21st of February. 

It is with sadness that we are saying our farewells to two longstanding members of staff. Mrs Cox in our kitchen and Mrs Otero in Space Hub. I wish them well with their future endeavours. You will be missed. We are also welcoming to the Larwood team Ms. Courtney who has just joined our administration team.  

I wish you all a relaxed, safe and enjoyable half-term break   

Kind Regards  

Mr Van 
Headteacher 

The festive season is upon us and there is a very positive and joyful atmosphere in school. Pupils have done well and worked hard to earn their end of term rewards, which we are celebrating on the last Wednesday, before we all break up for a well-deserved holiday the next day.  

Looking back at the Autumn term it is evident that our pupils have settled in well and making appropriate, positive choices and progress. Even though there have been some limitations enforced by restrictions, our focus remained strongly on academic, social, and emotional development of your child.  

We look forward to an exciting Spring term filled with exciting events, and hopefully we will be able to revisit some of the precautionary Covid measures in place when the time is right. For the time being we want to keep everyone as safe as possible and will continue with our existing protocols.  

I wish you all a safe, lovely, peaceful and relaxed Christmas and a prosperous new year   

Kind Regards  

Mr Van  

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.

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.

As I write this, we are in the midst of Science Week.

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.

1. Many of our lessons will be live. There is much debate about if this is the best way to deliver such leaning. However, we believe that some social interaction each day is vital for our pupils.
2. If you haven’t got a device, we will provide you with one-just ask. If broadband/data is an issue, please let us know (see letter sent out on Friday 8th Jan)
3. It is different but it will still be fun and engaging. Many of our pupils have really enjoyed this new style of learning.
4. Having written No. 3, we also know that it’s not for everyone! If your son/daughter has issues with this type of learning, let us know and we will provide other formats. We are using other formats of learning alongside live lessons during this time.

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.

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:

Kenny Arnold - People for People

Sara Lawrence - Ad Bly Construction

Rachel - Tesco Community Champion

Michelle - Food/Toy Shed

Laura Burrage - The Butterfly Room

Numerous staff at Larwood School who have also very kindly donated

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.

• Different methods of entry/exit to school to reduce potential transmission
• Revised lesson plans that include outdoor learning where possible and all activities are based on site
• Pupils remaining in class bubbles whilst on site
• Revised lunchtime arrangements to avoid classes mixing
• Enhanced cleaning and the we have purchased our own ‘fogging machine’ as an additional cleaning measure
• Regular hand washing by all staff and pupils
• Limited entry to visitors to try and maintain our continuity of provision
• Revised risk assessment and operating protocols. This deals with risk and procedures for when staff/pupils catch Covid 19
• Dedicated planning and training for staff/pupils to use Microsoft Teams in a variety of situations

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.

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.

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.

Did you know that at Larwood School:

• Our pupils follow the Chris Quiqley Essentials curriculum and you can find out more about this by clicking on The Curriculum section on the website
• We have Buddy (I think everyone knows Buddy!) our day-to-day therapy dog as well as Frank. Frank spends one afternoon per week with us and works specifically with one pupil at a time. He features on our front page of the website
• Our pupils are out in the community every week! Usually litter picking or at Jubilee Court with the elderly residents. They also go on a variety of trips and visits throughout the term
• During the last few years, we have had one pupil achieve the maximum score in in a SATs test possible for reading and mathematics?
• That Mr V is running a holiday club?
• That Brandles School officially joined Larwood Academy Trust on Feb 1st?

We always have lots of exciting projects and activities taking place and if you ever want more information about any of these, please do see our website or just call us.

Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope that you had a great time during the festive break. 

On behalf of all staff, I would like to pass on thanks to all parents that sent in gifts of appreciation to staff at the end of term. It was very much appreciated by all concerned.

We have started the year considering the word ‘impossible.’ The first assembly back reflected on the many things we now have, or do, that are taken for granted but were once thought impossible. Staff shared with pupils their own historic ‘impossibles.’ We also discussed some challenges that we all have in our future that may seem very daunting or impossible. The main message of the start of this new term is that anything is possible! Hard work, reflection and support where needed, means that whatever goal or challenge we each may set for ourselves, we can do it!

The Ofsted report is live on the Ofsted website:

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/25/143604 This link will take you to the Larwood Academy Ofsted page, which includes the Academy conversion letter published on November, 10th 2016. The Larwood School Ofsted page, now reads as CLOSED.

You should have received your own personal copy of this via email. If you haven’t, and you would like a paper copy; then please do let us know.

I am very pleased and proud to report that the inspection led by Fyfe Johnston identified the tremendous work that staff undertake with our pupils and the amazing progress that they make with us. As always, your support is essential with this process, alongside the challenge and support of the governing body.

However, we have no time to ‘sit on our laurels’ and therefore we are continuing with our development plans to make our school truly outstanding in every way.
 

Welcome back. It’s the start of a new academic year and a chance to be successful in lots of different ways. This has formed the basis of my first assembly back, where we discussed what success is and what it may look like. I was shocked that nobody recognised Jayden Ashman as part of this assembly, bearing in mind how popular Fortnite is, and that he had recently won £1.8 million in the Fortnite World Cup Finals. Please note I am not a player or fan of the game but came across this in the news! Our definition of success was not rooted in fame or fortune. It was firmly grounded in making a small change in the right direction, which can then lead to another and another etc. With this type of attitude, you can quickly become a great reader, artist, mathematician or be great in a sport of your choice.

As it is the start of the year please I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that just as in previous years, we do not expect you to take pupils on holidays (unless truly exceptional circumstances and agreed with us). This is detrimental for your son/daughters learning you do have the extended October break where better value holidays can be sourced. In similar fashion to last year, Mr Van and I will be personally seeing any parent that takes this course of action.

Thanks you for your support with this matter. 

What an amazing group of very special young people we have at Larwood. I am so proud of our pupils and staff for the way they work together to overcome barriers and achieve so much together. As we approach end of the term, there are so many examples of this including; the way pupils are working towards a performance of Aladdin; taking part in a three day PGL trip; some amazing pieces of work (showed off in celebration assembly on Monday 8th July); Sports Day, and making art work that is being used by Stevenage Council and praised by the Mayor!

Our place of work is challenging in many ways but it is also a place where we get to see your sons and daughters make significant change, when compared to where they were before we met them. This is a privilege!

Thank you all for your continued support and the blog will return next academic year.

Imagine the scene when all of the staff at Larwood School had to suddenly take a quick English and Maths test as part of an application process during a training session. This did actually happen and it was to enable staff to access and complete the Level 2 Certificate of Awareness of Mental Health Problems. So that pupils could see that we feel very similar to them when doing tests, all staff were asked to tick either a happy, O.K or sad face about how they felt when they had to do the tests. Unsurprisingly most ticks went into the sad face area, some in the OK and just one in the happy face area! The point that has been emphasised to pupils in assembly this week is that there are tests that we all have to complete in life. Most of us do not enjoy them however, we are all bound together by trying our best when we do have to complete a test. Pupils have been reminded this week to do their best and if they do, we will be very proud of them for doing just that.

Please note that a range of supportive measures have also been in place for this week and next week to help our pupils prepare for SAT’s.

We had a wonderful day when pupils and staff dressed up to celebrate World Book day, and during the same week we had our traditional Pancake assembly and inter-house pancake races. This is always a fun event and many thanks to Mrs Osborne for organising this.

We also held a non-uniform event for Red Nose Day and again, staff and pupils supported this event in a really positive way.

Supporting the curriculum, Miss Trott organised an amazing afternoon/evening trip into London for Year 6 pupils who went to see Aladdin. This is their theme for Music, Art and Performance Skills (MAPS) this year, so the level of inspiration was certainly high!

There are also some fantastic finishes for curriculum about to happen in the next few weeks. This includes a trip back into London, to see visit The London Eye as well as a trip for younger pupils to Gullivers Land. Finally, we have the end of term reward trips to look forward to as well!

A cold and snowy day arrived on Friday! It is always a very difficult decision to close the school on such a day, but I do hope that all concerned appreciate that for many pupils, long taxi journeys on a variety of roads may lead to all sorts of issues. It is safety for all concerned that is the moist important aspect of such a decision.

As always there continues to be lots of activity here! The new Chris Quigley curriculum, is being used by staff and pupils and is being developed fantastically! You can find out more about by using this link:

Chris Quigley

There is also lots of information on our website here:

Larwood School: Curriculum 

If you would like to ask any questions about this, please do contact us and we will be happy to obliged.

During the last few weeks, we have seen some of our KS2 pupils take part in mini Olympics, Year 6 pupils visit London and see how the Police and their horses work and are cared for, a visit for younger pupils to Tring museum and a ‘rapid fire’ sporting event. We like to keep busy!

Pupils were welcomed back to school on the 7th January, with an assembly all about resolutions. It was impressed upon pupils that it’s ok to create such resolutions, but you can set yourself challenges and targets at any time of year. Most resolutions fail due to them being so big and difficult and if a setback is experienced, people may give up. Examples were provided whereby setbacks were experienced and yet the people concerned kept going. This included Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan. Therefore, the start of 2019 is all about setting ourselves big challenges, but not giving up and being prepared to fail, until we do get it right. Support and guidance from adults at school and at home are key to help pupils get it right.

All the very best for 2019.

Please see our release on the website with information about Sandra Barr winning the Governor of The Year Award, from Herts4Learning. This was fantastic news and was announced at the Hertfordshire Governors conference on Saturday. Sandra has and continue to be a key part of our schools development and always ensures that the very best quality of teaching, learning and development is being provided for our pupils.

Following confirmation that our residential unit is now closed, we have moved swiftly to change the space that was the residential area, to enable more pupils to join our school. Staffed by Mrs Williams, Mrs McKeever and Mrs Otero, The Space Hub, officially took off on Thursday 22nd November. To start with, it has been populated with five of our current pupils. Other new pupils will join the Hub in due course. This is a new area for our school and it will be an area, whereby pupils with autism will be taught in a different way to the rest of the school. This does not mean that every pupil with autism has to be part of the Hub. I am sure it will develop very quickly and no doubt, we will see some excellent progress form our pupils whilst they are there.

So far this year, we have had a group of Year 6 pupils attend a fantastic charity fishing trip (they all caught or shared their fish with each other), an amazing McMillan Coffee morning with over 30 parents in attendance, some Pobble Time Travel workshops for pupils supporting writing, and had a visit from Captain Morgan! The latter making Maths a little bit more fun for some of our pupils. 

Our residential consultation closed on September 28th and all information relating to this will now be processed, and collated so that the Governing Body can make a final decision on Tuesday 16th October. I will pass this decision, as soon as I can.

POLITE REMINDER

Please do not book holidays during term time. It is not acceptable, it will not be authorised and you may be fined. If you do, please note that you will be required to attend a school based meeting to discuss this matter.

Please note that I am sending out a letter at the end of the week beginning Friday 7^th September. It will provide you with information about a range of events and activities that will take place over the coming weeks and months. Please read!

A headline you will not see very often! The truth is that I don’t really think they are ‘super’ but they are part of our education system and testing is part of life. What is truly super is the fact that our Year 6 pupils, supported our staff and you, all did as well as they could with each of the tests. It is a tough week for our pupils and I told them all today, during our Friday assembly how proud I was of every single one of them. I even waved a British flag around in honour of them all. My flag waving may have also been linked to a wedding taking place this weekend, but more so for our youngsters.

Connected to the Royal Wedding, our pupils have joined in a number of themed activities this week. Flag making and cooking being two examples. Let’s hope the day is one to remember for all concerned.

We continue to be very busy with a number of events taking place. It is that time of the year again! Dragon and Bell boat racing will soon be upon us. We take part and compete against all of the other Stevenage primary Schools. We are the smallest school to take part and we always do really well. I am sure all of the pupils and staff will have a great time.

As always, please do keep in touch with your child’s class teaching team about anything that may have an effect on them whilst at school.

An exciting week at Larwood, with a big focus on Science and a visit from a company that promotes pupil engagement with Science. A range of experiments took place in assembly, followed by all pupils attending a special work shop.

Our pupils continue to help with the local community via Jubilee Court old peoples home, litter picks in our local area and in other areas of Stevenage, alongside our own Life Skills course.

We look forward to our non-uniform day on Friday 16^th, Secondary School Transition evening for Year 5 parents on the 22^nd March, Sports Relief activities and those wonderful end of term trips are not far away!

Please note that the results from our Autism Accreditation review should be available in the next 6 weeks. A huge thank you to all parents who engaged in the process and the comments that were made.

Please note that our Facebook page is back, and Mrs Ford will now be overseeing it. If you do use Facebook, please join the group. 

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.

Larwood Primary School has made an excellent start to the new school year! They began the year in style by using exciting story starters from Pobble 365, before publishing their brilliant writing for the world to see on Pobble. With 2000 views and nearly 500 comments, writing is most definitely exciting at Larwood!
Huge congratulations to Larwood Primary for being Pobble’s School of the Week!

Great work Team Larwood!

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.

Next week we get back to our usual approach to life at school and have several events on the horizon to look forward to. This includes Dragon Boat and Bell Boat next couple week, the Year 6 residential trip on 21st June and Sports Day on July 4th.  All of which will be much more fun than and just as important as SATS!

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.