Message from the Executive Headteacher
 
In this first week of the half-term, as we enter the second half of the school year, we introduced our value of focus.
 
For the next five weeks, in both schools, we will be exploring ‘Courage’ and what it means to us.
 
At Pathway Primary Federation, ‘Courage’ means that ‘we embrace new and challenging experiences.’ Our challenge for this week has been linked to a timely reminder that being courageous does not mean that we are never afraid.
 
F. D Roosevelt once said ‘courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something is more important than fear.’ I challenged the children to consider a time when they have overcome feelings of fear or nervousness to do something great.
 
This week, we welcomed our School Improvement Adviser (SIA) from the Local Authority, Mr John Rowe, to both of our schools. I spent Tuesday morning (Morda) and Wednesday morning (Whittington) discussing our school development plans and sharing the wonderful work that is taking place in our schools. Mr Rowe was very impressed with what he saw and was especially complimentary about the conduct of our children when visiting lessons. The challenge and support that he provides is of great benefit to our schools.
 
Elsewhere this week, a huge well done to our Year 6 Dodgeball team at Whittington who, after success in the local tournament, this week came 1st in the regional competition!
 
I was very pleased to be able to meet with Liz Jermy (Foodbank Manager) on Friday to discuss our working relationship. I’m honoured to be a trustee at the Foodbank and appreciate the incredible work that they do in our community. They are very proactive and have even provided both of our schools with toothpaste and toothbrushes to give out to children!
 
We’ll end the week with a flourish today, with #HotChocFriday and our end of week Celebration Worship. Deserved positive recognition for brilliant children.
 
Enjoy the weekend.
 
Mr Carl Rogers
Executive Headteacher
  
MORDA
We have launched full steam ahead into the half term’s learning. This half term our humanities focus is geography.
 
The Bluebells class are looking at the world from above. Their topic ‘Out of this World’ teaches the children to use aerial views and simple maps to look the school, Morda village, the UK and the world continents and Oceans. In their Mantle of the Expert drama, children travelled to the moon at looked at the earth from space.
 
In the Daffodils Class, the children are studying the city of Liverpool UK City study Liverpool looking at the settlement and land use. They are particularly focusing on the environmental issues around Liverpool’s waterways and tourism. The class have also been helping to protect local natural habitats in their Mantle of the Expert Drama.
 
The Roses class have become a team of Eco Tourism planners. Their challenge is to plan an eco-friendly tour of Europe, visiting many of the beautiful natural environments, bustling cities and important landmarks on the way- but trying to make sure that tourists do this in a way that doesn’t damage the environment.
 
Meanwhile, the Shamrocks class have begun to study how mountains are formed and look at mountains ranges around the world, exploring mountain biomes and the impact of humans on these areas.
 
Several of the classes have enjoyed special Mantle of the Expert (MoE) sessions with Luke Abbott (international MoE trainer) this week. He has been very impressed by the children’s thoughtful dramatic learning.
 
Our assembly core value this term is ‘Courage’ and we have all begun to think about what courage means to us at Morda. We decided that courage was not the absence of fear, but doing or trying something that is a bit scary because it is an important thing to do or learn.  We decided that at Morda ‘We embrace new challenging experiences’.
 
With this in mind, some of year 5 and 6 went for their first swimming lesson on Thursday. Everyone enjoyed their first swimming lesson everyone tried very hard regardless of their previous experience and any worries they may have had about the session. I’m sure they will make fantastic progress under the careful guidance of Mrs Jermaine-Jones, our expert swimming coach!
 
Wishing you a very happy weekend
 
Mrs Helen Chapman
Head of School                         

Message from the Executive Headteacher
 
We’ve reached the end of a very focused half-term of learning in our schools.
 
In each school, we have used our values to centre our learning and to explore complex themes together. I’m excited that next half-term we will be considering our mutual value of ‘Courage’. Look out for lots of courageous learning and the embracing of challenging opportunities!
 
Children’s Mental Health Week has been prominent in both schools with our brilliant teams taking the lead. Mrs Vaughan and others have been promoting the value of good sleep and giving the children strategies for building resilience and managing their emotions. And the children have been able to wear pyjamas to school! It’s been wonderful to be a part of it and I’m very proud that our schools place the well-being of our children at the heart of what we do.
 
On Thursday this week I attended the final Indoor Athletics competition at the Marches and again cheered on our teams. Morda and Whittington put in brilliant performances and their conduct and sporting attitudes were exemplary. Well done to Mrs Edwards, Mr Wright and the children.
 
We have ended the half-term with a day of Positive Noticing. Our focus has been ‘Be Smart’ and we’ve been giving out special stickers to children modelling exemplary conduct, presentation and uniform.
 
We are coming back to another short half-term but you can be assured it will be action-packed in the run up to Easter!
 
Wishing you all a great weekend and an enjoyable half-term break.
 
Mr Carl Rogers
Executive Headteacher
 
This  Week at Morda                                                                     
This week has been full of drama and performances! On Monday the Roses class were treated to a seeing the Marches production of ‘Shrek the Musical’ The children loved the performance – and they certainly didn’t want to sleep through any part of this fab production. It was great to spot ex–Morda pupils performing so well in the musical.
 
Back at school children were encouraged to keep a daily log of their sleep patterns in their sleep diary. All classes watched age-appropriate educational videos about the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. We learned that electronic screens in bedrooms, drinking caffeinated drinks and going to bed worried can all make for disturbed nights. We practised some mindfulness techniques to help us feel relaxed and ready for bed. We talked about good bedtime routines and how to best prepare for a restful sleep. A number of children helped Mrs Vaughan to create our very own Worry Monster – a friendly monster who will ‘eat’ the worries we post in his mouth. A worry shared is a worry halved!
 
On Tuesday, the Shamrocks took part in a fantastic Tudor drama led by dramatic inquiry expert Tim Taylor. Classes also took part in the BBC Safer Internet Lesson and learned how to keep safe online by playing games on the www.thinkuknow.co.uk website.
 
Mrs Vaughan, our Well Being lead and Learning Mentor, taught all the classes how to do some relaxing back massage and storytelling with her ‘Back stories’ session.  Our worry monster collected children’s worry notes at lunch time and in the afternoon pupils enjoyed experiencing some relaxing herbal scents. The Shamrocks even made some herbal teas!
 
After school Mrs Butler led a lovely afterschool bedtime story event. We had super feedback from parents and children. Twenty children from Years 2, 3 ,4 and 5 volunteered to take part in a live Dramatic Learning demonstration lesson with Tim Taylor. Around thirty teachers from other local schools watched the children take part in a fantastic drama lesson about an adventure on a mysterious craggy island. The children were fantastic, and the visiting teachers were very complementary about their amazing imaginations and the super work on display.
 
On Thursday, the Roses, Bluebells and Daffodils classes had exciting drama sessions with Tim Taylor. The Roses tackled some online bullying, the Bluebells class voyaged the moon and the Daffodils class discovered a previously unheard recording of the Beatles! Our year 6 pupil ‘Worship Group’ led a super thoughtful Sleep Week assembly, dramatizing the story of Jesus calming the storm. In PE sessions children learned some relaxing yoga moves.
 
By Friday, we were also so relaxed and sleepy we came in our PJs! Parents enjoyed a coffee, cake and helpful chat about improving children’s mental wellbeing and encouraging good sleep routines.  Despite the casual dress, the children kept up the great learning and being ‘smart’ in the way they moved around school and got on with their work. Staff children moving smartly around school – and awarded children with stickers as part of a second ‘Positive Noticing Day’ In the afternoon, every child planted a spring bulb which they will take home and hopefully watch grow!
 
After such a busy, but enjoyable end to the half term we are more than ready for a well-deserved rest!
 
Have a lovely restful half term.
 
Mrs Helen Chapman
Head of School                         

Message from the Executive Headteacher
 
As we move into February, and the end of this first half term of the year, I’m delighted with the amount of progress in learning that is being made in our schools.
 
Curriculum topics are developing a depth of learning and it’s wonderful to hear children recalling previous knowledge and building upon it. An example of this was Roses class (Morda) and their wonderful recall of knowledge about local Roman landmarks.
 
This week has seen the second ‘Be Smart’ week of the half term, this time at Whittington. This has been a really useful opportunity to reset expectation about school uniform after some drift over time. I would hope that parents, in both schools, would agree that we get the balance right with uniform. We want children to take pride in their appearance and being part of a team and we also want parents to feel supported with a practical and positive approach. That said, feedback about how we can improve is always welcome.
 
It was a pleasure to attend the second round of the Indoor Athletics competition at Marches this week. Morda and Whittington children competing side by side is a thing of beauty! The children performed brilliantly and we look forward to next week’s final.
 
Next week is national Children’s Mental Health Week. There are lots of exciting activities taking place in our schools with a focus upon sleep hygiene. We will look forward to promoting the importance of good routines and habits and getting in some early nights!
 
Have a great weekend.
 
Mr Carl Rogers
Executive Headteacher


​Morda                                                                     
The weeks are rushing by. It is hard to believe that we only have one week to left to half term!
 
There has been a ‘Space’ theme in the Bluebells and Roses this week. The Bluebells have been travelling to the moon and finding out about the first moon landing and exploring moon rock (check out their class blog pages). Roses class are becoming ‘star gazers’ and finding out all about the Hubble Telescope. They have been learning about the rotation of the earth and how we have night and day. The children have had fun exploring this phenomenon using torches and a globe. Roses artists have been busy creating Roman style mosaics of sea creatures.
 
The Daffodils had a lovely Forest School bird watching session and are learning to identify the birds that frequent our school. They are taking part in the RSPB's Big School's Garden Birdwatch (check out some great photos on the Daffodils blog).
 
The Shamrocks class have been researching Tudor Shrewsbury in preparation for their forthcoming trip to this historic town.
 
On Thursday, the presidents of the school council presented their fundraising ideas to the whole school. They intend to raise money for more playtime equipment by holding a cake stall and having a sporty non-uniform day next half term (details to follow). There were lots of great suggestions for playtime equipment from the whole school. The school council have set up a suggestion box in the school hall for children to put their ideas about how to improve the school.
 
We are very much looking forward to ‘Sleep/Mental Health Week’ next week and we have lots of restful, mindful activities planned. Please see the ‘Sleep Week’ information for more details.
 
Wishing you a lovely weekend
 
Mrs Helen Chapman
Head of School