#positivity…This term has seen the start of our first whole school topic ‘Gaming’ which was launched by a visit from The Code Show. This was an exhibition which demonstrated the development of technology and gaming over the years. The classes are now immersed in game design and coding and we plan to share our learning with parents over our Learner Led Conferences in November.
#rightchoices…To link with our whole school topic we held our first in a series of family learning events ‘Parenting in a Digital Generation’. The evening focused upon the impact of digital technology and social media upon our children’s well-being. It was very thought provoking and the evaluations from parents were extremely positive. Please have a look on our blog for more information about apps, online safety and of course our fantastic ‘Guarding Grange’ vlogs!
#engageyourself…Over the last few weeks we have hosted our first Grange Gabbers and Nursery Natters meeting, a Staff Gabbers meeting and our first Mini Gabbers for the children. These all proved really useful ways of getting informal feedback to help us improve. We got ideas and views from parents and staff around ‘challenge’ which is one of our main areas of improvement. The children shared their views about the playground, timetabling and the dinner hall which we will take forward over the coming weeks.
#acceptance…We are continuing with our focus on ‘happiness’ with weekly ‘Bounce Back’ sessions to help everyone reflect upon relationships and resilience. At a recent staff meeting Mrs McIntosh and Mrs Balfour shared their approaches to daily ‘check ins’ which help to ensure that everyone is ready to learn after break and lunch. Mr Muir and Miss Henderson shared the SPLAT programme which offers our children a range of activities to develop social skills in an inclusive way. Our next family learning evening will support our work in school by considering the topics of anxiety and resilience.
#progress…At Learn to Learn last week our P7s shared their thoughts about ‘challenge’ and our task is now to take their ideas along with the feedback from staff and parents to come up with a definition of what challenge means at Grange! Our shared definition will then help us to recognise challenge in our classrooms as we all know at Grange that challenge helps us to become better learners. The next Head Teacher Challenge will involve every class in creating a ‘Stuck Stop’ to give the children strategies and resources to use when they are stuck! This will help everyone to cope with challenges and to become more independent – P6 will report back in October.
#believe…As if all of the above isn’t enough we hosted one of the most exciting community events Monifieth has seen, our Outdoor Cinema. The sun was shining and our families came in droves to see The Greatest Showman and of course Despicable Me. Huge thanks go out to the parents who made this ambitious idea into a wonderful reality (you know who you are!). In true Grange style we made a memory which will surely last a lifetime and reminded everyone that we should dream big and always REACH FOR THE STARS!
