Mrs N’s Notes ~ 16.3.18
There are never two weeks the same in Kirkshaws. This week we seemed to welcome numerous visitors to support and enhance the learning at all levels!
As a team, we started the week thinking more about a Growth Mindset, as opposed to a Fixed Mindset. We welcomed Tony from Tree of Knowledge to our staff meeting on Monday, before he led a most productive Parents’ Workshop in the evening. Although the evening was relaxed, with plenty of laughs thrown in, everyone present really enjoyed the opportunity to share ideas as we tried to see how we can enhance learning beyond the classroom. We are all aiming for the same thing – to give our young people the best life-chances possible. What has come back, through evaluations, is the general desire to do more of this kind of shared activity. Working in partnership is the way ahead. After Easter we will be drawing up our school improvements for next session, so I am hopeful I will have a focus group of parents willing to meet together for an hour or so, to feed directly into our whole-school planning. If you are interested, please let me know. We can arrange a meeting at a time to best suit the group.
But don’t worry, it wasn’t only the adults who benefited from our visitors this week. Tony went on to work with three senior classes, carrying out a range of workshops to motivate learning and prepare for change. Reading the evaluations of our pupils has convinced me that Tony’s time has been well-spent! Positive attitudes and enthusiasm abound!
Of course, Growth Mindset is something 4 other classes have been exploring for several weeks now. Box Soccer training continued this week and for the first time I had the opportunity to join in! I’m delighted to say I applied my Growth Mindset and did not give up as we worked our way through ever-changing challenges in the gym.
The Speech and Language Team completed their sessions in Room 5 this week. Miss Wyatt is now fully trained in teaching using Colourful Semantics, so we are now relying on her to train the rest of us so we can role this initiative out to more classes. I am confident it will be easy, as we will apply our Growth Mindset and work as a team!
Some of our nursery pupils visited the Primary 1 classes this week. These transition visits will continue until June. The boys and girls come down with Miss Finlay and take part in some learning tasks alongside our current Primary 1s. Everyone is enjoying the experience, as the children and teachers get to know each other better.
Other visitors were a little more unusual! Room 9 were whisked back in time thanks to a Medieval workshop on Wednesday. By the end of the morning I found it hard to recognise anyone. However, I was delighted at the learning Room 9 pupils were able to share with other classes. Active, cooperative learning at its best!
Then on Thursday, we had HUNDREDS, of visitors. Thanks to our Fundraisers, we had a huge crowd gathering for a Coffee Morning. Due to a meeting, I wasn’t able to see the performances this time, but thanks to Mr Sharp’s video skills, I have caught up on Twitter. Yet again, I am so proud of our learners from all classes! I cannot thank our Fundraisers enough for all they continue to do for our young people. This week they raised over £200 which will be used in school to directly benefit our children. They are all stars!
Sporting visitors dominated Friday morning. We had representatives from the School of Rugby at Coatbridge High School explaining to our senior pupils how this operates. From the feedback I heard I think we have a few people interested in signing up! We were also delighted to welcome the athlete Jade Nimmo to our assembly. Our pupils had obviously done their research and had many interesting questions to ask. Very inspiring to see the dedication it takes to get to the top of your sport.
We finished the week off with some regular visitors. Mrs McGregor leads our school choir and Kodaly classes fortnightly. This week was no different. We truly are a super singing school at any time, but Mrs McGregor manages to bring out the best in us. Fabulous music to end the week. We also enjoyed having Matt Stewart from Entrepreneur Me in again. I can’t wait to see what Rooms 9 & 10 are going to achieve through their DO GOOD projects…watch this space!
After all that learning (and looking after all those visitors) I think we all deserve a well-earned rest. Have a wonderful weekend…only two more weeks to go before our Easter holiday!
