Friday 4th December 2009 - Governor Visit
I spent a very enjoyable morning in school observing lessons and talking to the children and staff. I was fortunate to be able to visit 4 classes, as well as being present in the sharing assembly. Whenever I visit, I am always impressed at how friendly and welcoming the environment is. JB is a colourful and vibrant school, which seems to function with the minimum amount of fuss. This is an absolute credit to all the staff, who continue to work so hard, in outdated and inadequate buildings, so that the children of JB have the best school possible. The lessons and activities I witnessed were relevant, interesting and fun. I learned things about geometric shapes in class 5G that I had long forgotten! I saw how a recent visit to meet with elderly members of the local community had inspired Y6L to produce some fantastic journalistic style writing about WW2. I especially enjoyed the poetry writing lesson in Y2E which used the following poem as an example:
I eat my peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It does taste rather funny
But it keeps them on my knife
A true Pam Ayres style ditty to savour!
Thanks to all the staff and children who made my visit both enjoyable and memorable. Have a very happy Christmas break. I look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.
Brian Walker
(Governor - John Bramston Primary School)
Monday, 7 December 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
Mr Cheek Link Governor Visit
As part of my role as a school parent governor and also link governor for Assessment for Learning, I spent the 8th October 2009 at the school. This enabled me to take the opportunity to spend some time in the classes and witness for myself the current excellent standard of teaching and see how much the children have been progressing during the Autumn term.
I initially went into Class Y3E and witnessed the use of the interactive whiteboards and children learning about different parts of a book, such as the glossary and the index. I was pleasantly surprised just how much they knew and it was clear that the use of the IT made this an enjoyable and interesting lesson for the children and having this lesson on a large screen in front of them provided a far better learning aid then just sitting at desks looking at a book.
From here I attended a school assembly, the theme of the assembly was Black History Month. This consisted of a Powerpoint and verbal presentation from Mrs Ehsan. I was impressed with the Children’s knowledge of Mary Seacole and Charles Drew, the latter I must confess that I was not aware of!!!! I was impressed with how well behaved and attentive the children were.
I then had the opportunity to witness Mrs Cheek at work in Class Y2C. I was again impressed with the endeavour of the class, the pupil management and the standard of teaching. I have consistently been impressed with the level of teaching and pupil behaviour across the school.
From here I visited the Reception and Nursery. I have a vested interest in the Nursery in particular with my 2 year old daughter hopefully starting here next September. I witnessed the children in Miss Fresco’s Reception class learning their sounds and then engaging in play based learning. I then moved to the nursery and got to listen to a story being read to the children by Mrs Creasey, I was impressed with how well the majority of children just sat and listened and also with the way the other staff managed the children who did not want to just sit down. My short time in the nursery has left me with a very positive view of the nursery and from a purely selfish point of view the way that it will benefit my little girl.
I then got to sample a school dinner, which I believed is now being provided by a new contractor. I can remember school dinners when I was at school and the stodgy, bland food that they used to serve up. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of the meals available and enjoyed the pasta and meatballs.
After this I had the opportunity to sit down with the School’s Assessment for Learning lead, Mrs Abela and have explained the current and future plans. For those of you unaware, examples of this involve the traffic light marking system that you may have seen in your children’s books, amongst other tactics to raise learning standards. This is an area constantly under review and development and I can see real benefits for both the children and the school as the school develops its own policies for Assessment for Learning.
All in all, I had an enjoyable day at the school and would like to thank the staff and children for making me feel welcome and included and I look forward to my next visit.
I initially went into Class Y3E and witnessed the use of the interactive whiteboards and children learning about different parts of a book, such as the glossary and the index. I was pleasantly surprised just how much they knew and it was clear that the use of the IT made this an enjoyable and interesting lesson for the children and having this lesson on a large screen in front of them provided a far better learning aid then just sitting at desks looking at a book.
From here I attended a school assembly, the theme of the assembly was Black History Month. This consisted of a Powerpoint and verbal presentation from Mrs Ehsan. I was impressed with the Children’s knowledge of Mary Seacole and Charles Drew, the latter I must confess that I was not aware of!!!! I was impressed with how well behaved and attentive the children were.
I then had the opportunity to witness Mrs Cheek at work in Class Y2C. I was again impressed with the endeavour of the class, the pupil management and the standard of teaching. I have consistently been impressed with the level of teaching and pupil behaviour across the school.
From here I visited the Reception and Nursery. I have a vested interest in the Nursery in particular with my 2 year old daughter hopefully starting here next September. I witnessed the children in Miss Fresco’s Reception class learning their sounds and then engaging in play based learning. I then moved to the nursery and got to listen to a story being read to the children by Mrs Creasey, I was impressed with how well the majority of children just sat and listened and also with the way the other staff managed the children who did not want to just sit down. My short time in the nursery has left me with a very positive view of the nursery and from a purely selfish point of view the way that it will benefit my little girl.
I then got to sample a school dinner, which I believed is now being provided by a new contractor. I can remember school dinners when I was at school and the stodgy, bland food that they used to serve up. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of the meals available and enjoyed the pasta and meatballs.
After this I had the opportunity to sit down with the School’s Assessment for Learning lead, Mrs Abela and have explained the current and future plans. For those of you unaware, examples of this involve the traffic light marking system that you may have seen in your children’s books, amongst other tactics to raise learning standards. This is an area constantly under review and development and I can see real benefits for both the children and the school as the school develops its own policies for Assessment for Learning.
All in all, I had an enjoyable day at the school and would like to thank the staff and children for making me feel welcome and included and I look forward to my next visit.
Friday, 10 July 2009
Thank you!
To the governors -
On behalf of all the parents, staff and children of John Bramston Primary school - thank you for all the hard work, commitment and involvement shown over this year. Thank you for helping us make our school a great place to learn!
Open Afternoon
Dear all,
Thank you to everyone for making me and all the parents feel so welcome at yesterday's Open Day. As always, I really enjoyed the visit and I went home wearing a big smile. I visited a number of classes and I was impressed by the enthusiasm shown by pupils when they described what they were working on and what they done recently. I would also like to thank the pupil in Year 5 who taught me how to use the interactive white board. It was a pleasure to walk around and look at all the displays.
I would like to congratulate Year 6 on an awesome set of SATs results. Well done! Briliiant! With those science results I hope to see some of you fixing global warming, building space stations and solving Fermat's Last Theorem. But for now though, you must enjoy a well deserved summer break and I wish you all good luck at secondary school. Please keep in touch with JBS by visiting school events or creating a "Class of 2009" blog; some of you will go to different secondary schools but meeting up at JBS events would be a great way of catching up with each other, and I am sure the teachers would be interested to hear what you get up to!
The turn-out from parents was phenomenal! The school hall was packed for Miss Jennings' presentation. I hope all the parents were pleased by firstly, the SATs results and secondly, the way JBS is moving the curriculum forward. I loved the idea when she first told me about it and I hope the children do too. I particularly like the way JBS is a trail-blazer - delivering innovative work before the rest of the country!
Finally, a BIG thank you to all the teachers and support staff. It has been a pleasure watching and hearing about the fantastic job you do. I would like to express particular appreciation and gratitude to the staff moving on to pastures new and that they have fond memories of JBS.
Next year I hope I can visit JBS even more.
Alex Macneill
Thank you to everyone for making me and all the parents feel so welcome at yesterday's Open Day. As always, I really enjoyed the visit and I went home wearing a big smile. I visited a number of classes and I was impressed by the enthusiasm shown by pupils when they described what they were working on and what they done recently. I would also like to thank the pupil in Year 5 who taught me how to use the interactive white board. It was a pleasure to walk around and look at all the displays.
I would like to congratulate Year 6 on an awesome set of SATs results. Well done! Briliiant! With those science results I hope to see some of you fixing global warming, building space stations and solving Fermat's Last Theorem. But for now though, you must enjoy a well deserved summer break and I wish you all good luck at secondary school. Please keep in touch with JBS by visiting school events or creating a "Class of 2009" blog; some of you will go to different secondary schools but meeting up at JBS events would be a great way of catching up with each other, and I am sure the teachers would be interested to hear what you get up to!
The turn-out from parents was phenomenal! The school hall was packed for Miss Jennings' presentation. I hope all the parents were pleased by firstly, the SATs results and secondly, the way JBS is moving the curriculum forward. I loved the idea when she first told me about it and I hope the children do too. I particularly like the way JBS is a trail-blazer - delivering innovative work before the rest of the country!
Finally, a BIG thank you to all the teachers and support staff. It has been a pleasure watching and hearing about the fantastic job you do. I would like to express particular appreciation and gratitude to the staff moving on to pastures new and that they have fond memories of JBS.
Next year I hope I can visit JBS even more.
Alex Macneill
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Mr Cheek school visit
This is my first entry onto the Governor’s blog and I am gradually easing my way into the new role at the School and learning what it entails. Firstly, I would just like to say thanks to those who supported my nomination and hope I can do justice to the role and be part of the school’s ongoing progress.
As part of my new role I was invited to an Initial Induction Day at the School. So on Wednesday 4th February 2009 I visited the school for my first visit in my new official capacity.
I was given an introduction to my role by Miss Jennings and we discussed some of the school’s current issues, such as the current curriculum and proposed improvements, the current school buildings and plans for the futures and also the general improvement of the school over the past 4 years. I was very impressed with what the future could hold.
I visited all the classes briefly and observed a small snapshot of each class. The immediate thing I noticed was that the children were well behaved and engaged in a plethora of varied activities, all of which were well planned and enjoyable for the children. I was shown the school’s ICT suite and I could not help but be impressed by the set-up and there was no resemblance to my school days when we made do with a couple of BBC Basics and the odd RM Nimbus. The opportunity to develop computer literacy, an important life skill in my opinion, was clearly evident by the facilities available to the children.
After this initial tour I spent some time in three different classes.
I initially spent time in Class Y5E, where a class full of children and two adults taking part in Aerobic exercise greeted me! I was impressed by the participation level of the children and also with the effort put in by the teacher! We then went to the ICT suite and I watched as the children demonstrated their skills and knowledge and was shown an excellent PowerPoint presentation. I was impressed with the children’s knowledge of PowerPoint applications and the use of Hyperlinks. I was also impressed with the way the teacher dealt with a challenging class and still managed to deliver the lesson in a way that was both informative and interesting.
I then moved to class Y3G where the children were learning about Music Appreciation. I was able to observe the Interactive whiteboards in action, which are massive improvement on chalk and a blackboard! The children again were attentive, interested and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to listen to Classical music and describe how the music made them feel.
Finally, I went into Class Y1A where I was treated to a rendition of the class song for their next sharing assembly. I was very impressed with the effort put in by the class.
Overall this was a visit well worth making, I was impressed by what I saw:
1. The children all appeared happy, content and genuinely interested in what they were being taught.
2. The style of teaching was constructive and innovative, but still managed to deliver the objective of the lesson.
3. I was impressed with the way the behaviour of the children and the way they interacted with their peers and the teacher.
This visit has given me an insight that I would not normally have got and it has only reinforced my view that this John Bramston Primary School is a good school yet continues to seek new ways to improve further and move forward.
Thank you all for having me today.
As part of my new role I was invited to an Initial Induction Day at the School. So on Wednesday 4th February 2009 I visited the school for my first visit in my new official capacity.
I was given an introduction to my role by Miss Jennings and we discussed some of the school’s current issues, such as the current curriculum and proposed improvements, the current school buildings and plans for the futures and also the general improvement of the school over the past 4 years. I was very impressed with what the future could hold.
I visited all the classes briefly and observed a small snapshot of each class. The immediate thing I noticed was that the children were well behaved and engaged in a plethora of varied activities, all of which were well planned and enjoyable for the children. I was shown the school’s ICT suite and I could not help but be impressed by the set-up and there was no resemblance to my school days when we made do with a couple of BBC Basics and the odd RM Nimbus. The opportunity to develop computer literacy, an important life skill in my opinion, was clearly evident by the facilities available to the children.
After this initial tour I spent some time in three different classes.
I initially spent time in Class Y5E, where a class full of children and two adults taking part in Aerobic exercise greeted me! I was impressed by the participation level of the children and also with the effort put in by the teacher! We then went to the ICT suite and I watched as the children demonstrated their skills and knowledge and was shown an excellent PowerPoint presentation. I was impressed with the children’s knowledge of PowerPoint applications and the use of Hyperlinks. I was also impressed with the way the teacher dealt with a challenging class and still managed to deliver the lesson in a way that was both informative and interesting.
I then moved to class Y3G where the children were learning about Music Appreciation. I was able to observe the Interactive whiteboards in action, which are massive improvement on chalk and a blackboard! The children again were attentive, interested and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to listen to Classical music and describe how the music made them feel.
Finally, I went into Class Y1A where I was treated to a rendition of the class song for their next sharing assembly. I was very impressed with the effort put in by the class.
Overall this was a visit well worth making, I was impressed by what I saw:
1. The children all appeared happy, content and genuinely interested in what they were being taught.
2. The style of teaching was constructive and innovative, but still managed to deliver the objective of the lesson.
3. I was impressed with the way the behaviour of the children and the way they interacted with their peers and the teacher.
This visit has given me an insight that I would not normally have got and it has only reinforced my view that this John Bramston Primary School is a good school yet continues to seek new ways to improve further and move forward.
Thank you all for having me today.
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