Two weeks gone...

More rain! When is it going to stop - the school is full of wet children! The poor kids must think that we have banned them from playing outside. Having a good run round at playtime is so important to the learning process and the absence of this exercise limits the powers of concentration of some of the children.

This week I have spent a lot of time showing round prospective parents and children. Some of these are children due to start school in September and some wish to transfer from other schools. I enjoy this contact and relish the opportunity to talk about the school with people who seem to not know that the school existed until they visited. Almost all of the visitors are very impressed by what they find - complimenting us on the behaviour of the children and the commenting on the atmosphere that they find in the school. It is impossible to describe "atmosphere" - people seem to feel something when they go around school and they are always positive about what they "feel".

Next week I will be holding "progress" meetings with the teachers. At the meetings we will be looking at how well the children in their classes are progressing in the two core subjects of English and Mathematics. We will share details about the successful pupils, those who are doing as well as expected and those who are not doing as well as they should. After discussing this aspect we will then look at ways in which we can improve progress for all pupils but especially those that are not progressing as well as they should. We will set targets and then agree to review them again at the beginning of the summer term. I will enjoy these meetings - I'm not sure that the teachers will enjoy them in the same way!