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Message from the Executive Headteacher
As we approach the end of another incredible school year, we reflect on the many achievements and memorable moments we have shared across the Pathway Primary Federation. This year has been a testament to the strength, resilience, and dedication of our entire school community. Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to our amazing staff. Your unwavering commitment to nurturing and educating our children is evident in everything you do. From teaching inspiring lessons to providing a safe and supportive environment, your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Our teachers, teaching assistants, administrative staff, site staff, kitchen staff, cleaners and sports coaches have all played a crucial role in ensuring our schools are places where children can thrive academically and personally. We are deeply grateful for your hard work and passion. To our wonderful children, you are the heart of our federation. Your enthusiasm for learning, kindness towards one another, and determination to overcome challenges have been inspiring. Whether it was through participating in school performances, excelling in sports, or engaging in various classroom activities, you have all shown remarkable growth and resilience. We are incredibly proud of each one of you and all that you have accomplished this year. Our deepest gratitude also goes out to our governors. Your guidance, support, and strategic oversight have been invaluable in navigating the complexities of this school year. Your dedication to ensuring that Morda and Whittington primary schools continue to offer high-quality education and enriching experiences for our children is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time, effort, and commitment to our schools. To our parents, your support and involvement have been essential to our success. Whether attending meetings with staff, volunteering at school events, or helping with home learning, your active participation has greatly enhanced our school community. Your partnership with our staff has helped create a collaborative and supportive environment for our children. We are thankful for your continued trust and engagement. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the wider community. The support from local businesses, organisations, and residents has been tremendous. Your contributions, whether through donations, sponsorships, or volunteer work, have enriched the educational experiences of our students and strengthened the bond between our schools and the community. As we look forward to the summer break, we encourage everyone to embrace the spirit of adventure. This is a time for rest, exploration, and new experiences. Whether you are travelling to new places, spending time with family, or enjoying local activities, we hope you have a wonderful and adventurous summer. Remember to stay safe, look out for one another, and come back rejuvenated for the new school year. I would like to thank everyone once again for your incredible contributions to our federation in this first year of working together. We have created a vibrant, caring, and dynamic educational community. We are excited to see what the next school year holds and to continue our journey of learning and growth together. Wishing you all a fantastic summer filled with joy, adventure, and relaxation. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda What a wonderful end to an amazing first year as part of Pathway Primary Federation! We have enjoyed working with our partner school Whittington and the great leadership we have had from our Executive Headteacher, Carl Rogers. This week brought huge celebration. Year 6 had an awesome day at Crocky Trails. Roses class enjoyed a special trip reading celebration to Oswestry library and a picnic and play at Cae Glas Park. The whole school danced and partied at their discos whether in class on Friday or at the Leavers’ Disco on Thursday evening. Year 6 were treated as VIP guests in the VIP chill room (complete with pizza, chocolate fountain, mocktails, Photo Booth and balloon arch!) The highlight for me, though was our wonderful Morda Leavers' Service. The Olympic themed service was a triumph and all the children spoke and sang beautifully, there were fantastic performances from Morda choir, beautiful solo singing from Dylan (year 4) and rocking drumming from Lucas (year 2) in our ‘Mortallica band! We said a fond farewell to Mrs Kavanagh, who has been a terrific teacher, super SENCo and fantastic Forest School leader. We wish her well in her new adventures. The real stars this week though were our Shamrocks Leavers who celebrated their achievements and remembered their great times at Morda. We are so proud of every one of them and wish them well in the next phase of their education and beyond. Finally, today is the last day of the 2023-2024 school year. I have to say a huge thank you to all the staff for their tireless dedication and hard work to ensure the children at Morda School get the best possible primary education. Team Morda are a fantastic team and very much deserving of their holiday. It is always a poignant moment when our lovely year 6 children finally leave school for the last time, and I know many of you will be there to wish them well as they go through the Morda Arch as we sing our school song for the last time. Bring your tissues! ‘Sing it loud sing it clear …We are Morda we are HERE!’ Goodbye and good luck Year 6. You really are THE CHAMPIONS! Wishing everyone a happy, fun, restful and safe summer holiday. See you in September. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School
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Message from the Executive Headteacher
What a week! There has been so much going on in our schools and so much to enjoy. In an important week for our country, we have been thinking about the values of democracy. For our younger children, we have been thinking about having choices and expressing our opinions. For our older children, we taken this a step further by considering themes such as universal human rights and freedom of speech. We have been supported in our efforts by a visit from Green Party candidate for North Shropshire, Craig Emery. We very much appreciated the opportunity to talk politics with someone at the pointy end of the process. Thank you, Craig! On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of taking a group of children from Morda to Booka as a reward for 'Above and Beyond' efforts in reading this year. Whittington will be enjoying the experience next week. We love reading in our schools and want to reward those who read at home, show a passion for books and make excellent progress. On Wednesday, Whittington held their Sports Day. The event was a great success and we all look forward to Morda's event next week. After school on Wednesday, we held a Federation 'Big Review' for staff and governors. This event is so valuable in celebrating our successes and setting priorities for the next year. This was our first review as a Federation of schools and it was instructive. So much great feedback! On Friday, children from both schools supported our local Foodbank at a food-drive at Morrison's. We have close links with the Foodbank and are very proud to support them. Please carefully consider the information that has been sent out in school this week. There’s lots going on! Two more weeks to go! Have a great weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda This week has been bustling with excitement and activities. Monday was our Move Up Day, a special occasion when all pupils got to meet their new teachers for the upcoming September classes. We were also thrilled to welcome our new reception pupils, who join us on this exciting day. The new reception children spent three mornings in the Bluebells class this week and enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch with parents on Wednesday. Meanwhile, our Year 6 students had the opportunity to experience life at Marches School during their secondary taster days, helping them transition smoothly to their next stage of education. On Tuesday, twelve of our avid readers were rewarded with a delightful trip to the Booka Book Shop, where they enjoyed hot chocolate as our ‘Hot Chocolate Heroes’. The reward trip celebrated their dedication and enthusiasm for reading. On Wednesday, our Federation staff from Whittington and Morda gathered for the end-of-year review, reflecting on the excellent work accomplished throughout the year. Staff from both schools also had first look inside the newly renovated schoolhouse, which will soon serve as our new SEND Hub. It is looking very smart! On Thursday, pupils from year 5 took part in a Shrek Extravaganza event at the Marches school with 200 other primary school children. In a packed day, the children learned songs and dances from the show and performed to parents at the end of the day. Friday brought a wonderful community service opportunity as our pupils helped collect food for the Foodbank at Morrison’s. This effort is a testament to their generosity and commitment to supporting those in need. Rehearsals are in full swing for the leavers church service, set to take place on Wednesday 17th July at St. Oswald’s Church. Please mark this important date in your diaries. Looking ahead, we are excited for our Olympic Be Active Week, which promises a variety of engaging activities. This will culminate in our Olympic-themed sports afternoon on Tuesday 9th July. With just two weeks left before the summer holiday, we have a fantastic and fun-packed schedule to look forward to. Have a great weekend. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
Can you believe how fast the half term is flying by? With the warm summer weather gracing us this week, it's been wonderful to see the children so focused and enthusiastic about their learning. They’ve been diving into their studies with their typical dedication—it's what we do! On Monday of this week I had the pleasure of taking Year 6 children from Morda and Whittington to a Flag Football event at Thomas Adams School. This new sport, which is the basis of American Football, is growing in popularity and it’s easy to see why! Our children performed brilliantly and their behaviour was exemplary. I was very proud of them and look forward to more shared events such as this. On Tuesday we held a Full Governing Body Meeting to review the budgets of each school for next year. In the current economic and political climate, school budgets are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. It’s important that governors support and challenge to ensure that we are doing all that we can to protect our schools for the future and to use our funding to the best advantage of the children. I’m delighted to say that we have healthy budgets in each school, with the budget at Morda seeing a significant improvement this year. This is exciting for the future. Special thanks to Ms Warner, our School Business Manager, who leads on finance across our schools. As we reach the final weeks of the school year, plans for the next are fully in place. Parents at Morda have been informed about classes for next year and class information at Whittington will be shared next week. Whilst it’s exciting to think about the new challenges of next year, we want to be sure that we continue learning right up to the end of term. Three more action-packed weeks to come! This week, the values of democracy have been a point for discussion in school. This will continue next week in the build up to the general election. Please try to find time this weekend to discuss the election and the decisions that you will be making, to support children in understanding what will undoubtedly be an important election for our nation. Have a great weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda The heat hasn’t stopped the hard work at Morda this week. It has been assessment week and many of the pupils have completed their summer assessments. This is an opportunity for them to show how much they have learned over the year. On Monday a team of Year 6 children went to a a Flag Football event at Thomas Adams School. They had a wonderful time learning American Football skills and were a credit to the school with their great enthusiasm and behaviour. Mrs Lunt and Mrs Butler have been out visiting our new 2024 reception children in their pre-school settings this week. They have really enjoyed meeting our new children and seeing how excited they are about starting their primary school journey. This week our assembly theme has been democracy. With the general election next week, children have been finding out about what democracy is and the values that our leaders aim to uphold. Next week, we will continue this theme with a visit from a local election candidate. This week, some of our year 5 girls (Ruby, Amelia and Isla) decided they wanted to raise money for Farplace Animal Rescue Centre. They took it on themselves to make bracelets and sell them in school. The bracelets went down a storm – so much so that the girls sold out! They have orders for next week. We’ll let you know how much money they raise next week. Great work girls! On the theme of fund raising – last week’s year 6 summer fete was a fantastic success and very well attended. The children worked so hard on their stalls and everyone has great fun (especially on the Soak a Six stall). The Year 6s raised over £300! This will help pay for the year 6 Crocky Trails trip. Fantastic work Team Shamrocks! We are all looking forward to Move up Morning next week- as children have a chance to meet their new teachers in their September classes and the new reception pupils have their first taster sessions in ‘Big School’! Have a lovely weekend. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
As you will be aware by now, our values are central in school life. Our children know our values and what they mean to us and use them in their everyday choices. These are the principles that drive our behaviour. This half term we are exploring the values of different groups, organisations and communities in a way that allows us to reflect upon our own personal values. This week, we have thought about the values of the NSPCC, which are: Putting children first
These values are clear from our work during ‘Speak Out. Stay Safe’ Week. In each school, special assemblies have taken place with all children to highlight the importance of knowing what to do to safeguard ourselves and others. I am so pleased with the responses of our children. Children at Morda and Whittington feel safe and happy and I know this, because they tell me so. This week has shown that children know what to do to look after themselves and others. Well done all and special thanks to Mrs Vaughan for organising the week. As we begin to think of next year, it has been lovely to meet some of our new starters for September. Preschool children have been making themselves known and we look forward to more transition sessions in the near future. This also means that we are close to finalising plans for classes and staffing for next year. Children and parents will be informed of what classes will look like for next year in the not-too-distant future. Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda This week has been our ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’ Week. Children have been learning about the NSPCC charity and the work that they do. All children have watched special NSPCC videos (featuring Ant and Dec!) which helps them to know what to do and who to speak to if something/someone is upsetting or hurting them. We have been talking about trusted adults at home and in school and about ‘Buddy’ the NSPCC mascot (a speech bubble) and Childline, a service that any child can ring or message confidentially if they need someone to talk to. Ask your child about the NSPCC lessons they have done – I bet they can tell you the number to ring! All around the school, classes are busy with this term’s topic learning. The Bluebells know lots about the Highlands of Scotland; the Daffodils are experts on our own village of Morda and the Roses have learned all about the landmarks of Birmingham. The Shamrocks have been focused on an entrepreneurial challenge this week. They will run the famous ‘Year 6 Fayre’ on Friday afternoon this week. Pupils from the Shamrocks have planned and put together a fantastic fun event to raise funds towards their leavers trip to Crocky Trails. Stalls include: Welly Wanging; Make a Bracelet; Toys and Books; Splat the Rat; Guess the Name of the Teddy; Teddy Tombola; Beat the Goalie; Cake, Biscuits and Ice Pop Stall; Popcorn Stall and of course the ever popular ‘Soak a Year 6’! A big thank you to Morrisons for the kind donation of cakes and sweets for the event. This promises to be a great afternoon – so please come along. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
Another wonderful week at Pathway Primary! Time flies when you're having fun and this is certainly in evidence in our schools. We've had wonderful opportunities for curriculum enrichment this week with ‘Mantle of the Expert’ lessons taking place in each school and a very well-received Spanish day at Whittington on Wednesday. Events such as these are evidence of how we go ‘above and beyond’ in our curriculum offer to ensure that children not only receive the statutory National Curriculum but, in addition to this, design wonderful learning opportunities to go further, as a result of the commitment of our brilliant staff team. This week, Ms Warner, School Business Manager, and I joined our Finance Officer for budgetary meetings for each school. Another less glamorous aspect of school life, but so important in ensuring that our schools are well-run and that a secure financial base is in place to support the learning of our children. The meetings were very positive and we look forward to sharing the details with governors at the end of the month. It was great to see parents in at Morda this week to join teachers for consultations. I know that teachers are now in full flow with report writing and we will look forward to receiving these in the not too distant future. Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda This week we were delighted to welcome back Tim Taylor, our Mantle of the Expert and Dramatic Inquiry trainer to work in all classes. There was a wonderful buzz around school and children were totally engaged in some fantastic dramatic learning. This week’s assembly theme has been Olympic Values and we have been exploring what values might be important in sport. Children came up with lots of great ideas: resilience; fairness; courage; hard work; respect and cooperation, were just some of the children’s ideas. We will be studying the Paris Olympic games and Paralympics in the coming weeks and learning about the values that are upheld through these games. On Thursday, we had a special assembly celebrating our own individuality led by Revend Yin. We talked about how everyone is special and different, and how we shouldn’t be held back by stereotypes and everyone should be free to be themselves. We discussed the Oswestry Pride celebration, which will take place this weekend. It has been another active week. All classes have been taking part in the ‘Morda Mile’; some year 6 pupils attending additional swimming sessions at Oswestry Pool (in order to achieve their 25 metres swimming award) and Year 6 pupils have been completing a Bikeability course this week! During the Bikeability sessions children learned how to ride confidently and safely, first in the school grounds, and then on roads in the village. The ‘Learn to Cycle Team’ were excellent, patient instructors and the children all learned a great deal about being safe on their bikes. This was the second week of parent/ teacher consultations, and it was great to see so many parents coming into school to discuss their children’s learning. Wishing you a good weekend. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
It’s been a very successful first week of the half term in our schools. The second half of the summer is always such fun as we look forward to all of the memorable learning that comes at this time of year. Whilst we have the next academic year in sight, with things like reports and ‘Move Up’ days just around the corner, we will be ensuring that we keep working hard right up to the end of term. It was a pleasure to meet with Ian Barlett on Monday to undertake a ‘Safer Schools’ assessment at Morda Primary School. This award, developed with the police, rewards schools for keeping its children and staff safe and secure. I’m pleased to say that we achieved the award and will look forward to our presentation in the autumn term. This means that each of our schools is now Safer Schools accredited. Bluebells, from Morda, had a wonderful day at Whittington Castle on Tuesday. We are very lucky to have good links with the castle, which is perhaps easy to take for granted given its proximity. It is a rich site of historical heritage and I know that Bluebells made the most of their visit. As you will no doubt be aware, Thursday marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Each of our schools commemorated this occasion admirably, with special assemblies and associated learning. D-Day was one of the single-most important days of the Second World War. At the time, the D-Day invasion was the largest naval, air and land operation in history, and within a few days around 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of equipment had landed on the beaches of Normandy. By August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and in spring of 1945 the Allies had defeated the Germans. The day was an important opportunity to learn our history and to give thanks to those who served. As I write this, we have two teams competing at the Queensway Athletics festival. This is one of the best sports events of the year and children have been excited to practice for weeks! Good luck to the Morda and Whittington squads. We know that you’ll make us proud. Have a great weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda It was lovely to welcome everyone back after the half term break, for what is my favourite half term of the school year. The next few weeks are packed with special events and activities for the children, and we will be welcoming parents to join us for our Leavers’ Fayre, Sports Day and Leavers Church Service. Please put the dates (which have been sent by email and are also on the school website) into your diaries. Many parents have come in for parent teacher consultations this week. We hope that parents who have not yet spoken to their child’s class teacher will book in for a consultation next week. These discussions provide important feedback about your child’s progress and are an opportunity to celebrate successes, talk through any issues and share your child’s new learning targets. We would like all parents to attend. If the allocated sessions are not convenient, please talk to child’s teacher and they will arrange another mutually convenient time to meet. On Tuesday this week, the Bluebells Class enjoyed a fantastic historic trip to Whittington Castle. Children dressed up in medieval clothing, learned about life in a castle and even had the chance to go in the stocks! (We didn’t throw rotting fruit and vegetables at them though!) All the class behaved well and were deeply engaged in the learning. Thank you to the parent helpers who accompanied their children. We have started our final topics of the year. This half term we have a focus on geography. The Bluebells class are learning about life in the Highlands of Scotland, inspired by books about the fictional character Katie Morag. In the Daffodils, children are focused on the geography of our local environment – Morda. The Roses are comparing the village of Morda and the city of Birmingham. In their MoE drama, pupils will be helping a family newly arrived to the country to choose where they will live. The Shamrocks are environmentalists this half term. They will be studying where our energy comes from, how we can reduce our carbon footprint and conserve natural resources. The whole school took part in a special D-Day Remembrance assembly, on Thursday 6 June, delivered by Reverand Yin. Children were very interested in the event and asked some thoughtful questions. It would be wonderful if children could talk to any family members or friends who remember D-Day and the Second World War. This Friday, a keen group of children are competing at Queensway Athletics Festival. They have trained hard for the events and Mrs Edwards is confident that they will do their best and achieve well. We wish them good luck! Have a lovely weekend, Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
It’s been another productive and successful week in our schools, with the Year 6 SATs being the high-profile event. These national assessments require children to take a series of tests throughout the week. In each school, children arrived early for a complimentary SATs breakfast. These breakfasts have become a rite of passage and something that children dearly look forward to. Spending time with friends, chatting with trusted adults and enjoying an energy-dense breakfast is the perfect way to both relax and prepare for a challenging test. We are all so proud of our children for how they have engaged this week. They have given it their all and can be assured that no more is expected of them. Whatever the outcome, they know that they have worked hard in the build-up, prepared at length and have achieved something great in undertaking the tests. My sincere thanks also go to our remarkable staff. They have all worked so hard this week to ensure that children have been able to enjoy and achieve and to provide some additional treats too! These tests can be highly pressurised and I know that we do a really great job in keeping this pressure to a minimum. Well done everyone! Elsewhere this week, we have hosted two local governing body meetings, in which PE and sport were the focus for discussion. Active and healthy living are central in the lives of our schools and we are always looking to improve our offer to children and families. We are so lucky to have Mrs Edwards and Mr Wright, at Morda and Whittington respectively, to take a day-to-day lead on PE provision and in generally getting children moving as much as we can. On Wednesday, teachers from both schools attended training on computing. As you will already know, this is a priority across both of our schools for this year and teachers are strengthening their knowledge in order to be better able to support children in class. The musical visitors at Whittington provided a majestic performance of Vivaldi on Thursday and I strongly recommend purchasing tickets for the Whittington Music Festival if you’re able to! This half term really is flying by. We have one more week before the summer half term break and we intend to fill every minute with purposeful and enjoyable learning. Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda As you will probably know, this week year 6 children all over England have been taking the Key stage 2 SATS tests this week. Here at Morda, we try to make the week as enjoyable as possible. Year 6 have worked incredibly hard and been very focused and conscientious in their attitude to the tests. However, they have also had a lovely time arriving early for a delicious SATS breakfast of cereal, fruit, pain au chocolate, pancakes - with a fair bit of syrup - chocolate sauce and squirty cream, as a special treat! After the tests were over, on Thursday the class enjoyed Sports leadership activities on the field, ready for our Be Active Week and Sport Day and on Friday they had a special celebratory Forest School session. Well done Year 6! We are so proud of you! This week staff from Morda and Whittington had another after school Computing CPD session. Art Cub have been focusing on portrait painting this half term. They have now completed some wonderful self-portraits, which are displayed in the STEAM room. Mrs Vaughan, our artist in residence, who runs art club, will be entering the portraits into a Shropshire painting competition. On Thursday, members of the Year 6 Worship group led a very lively multi-lingual assembly on Pentecost. I believe that at least twelve languages were spoken in the assembly! Some excellent Historical Fiction writing, by pupils from year 5 and 6, has been entered into the History Association Historical Fiction competition. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the judges are as impressed as we were by the fantastic writing. Winners will be announced in September. On Friday morning, Bluebells class (Reception children) and children from Morda Preschool had a lovely, shared Forest School session getting to know new children and enjoying playing together in the Forest School Area The summer term if flying by, with only a week until our half term holiday. Have a lovely weekend, Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
It’s been a shortened week in our schools in light of the Bank Holiday weekend. The extra day seemed to give everyone a refreshing break and a subsequent boost in effort this week! The beautiful weather has made us all feel ready for summer and the fun that the season brings. Our many sports clubs have made the most of the weather to enjoy some outdoor activity, and the children have been getting out on to the school fields. Our KS1 Athletics Team at Whittington put their sporting practice to the test at this week’s Indoor Athletics competition. There was lots of individual and team success. Well done everyone! We were delighted to welcome our friends, Justin and Sherrie, from Borderlands Rotary, to our schools this week. We are excited to be part of the Rotakids project and to support community action and other initiatives. Next week is SATs week. During this week our Year 6 children will undertake tests in English, Grammar and Punctuation (EGPS); reading and mathematics. The children will be enjoy a special SATs breakfast through the week as we look to support them to do their best and take the pressure away as best we can. In speaking to the children this week, it is clear that we are getting the balance right. Schools are sometimes criticised for placing too much pressure on children through standardised testing, and this is a challenge considering that these are national tests that schools have to deliver. At the other extreme are those who say that SATs don't matter. For us, SATs should never cause undue stress to children, though some of this is beyond our control, and it's also not fair to say that they don't matter. Children work so hard in seven years of primary learning and the SATs are an opportunity to show off their progress. If children embrace the tests as a way to do their best and celebrate what they have been learning, then the week can be, and usually is, an enjoyable experience. We wish all of our Year 6 children the best of luck for next week. Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda It has been a lovely sunny week at Morda. Children have been really enjoying being outside for PE, Forest School and of course their well-deserved breaktimes. We are hoping that the good weather will continue, so please make sure your child comes to school with a sunhat, sun cream and a water bottle. This week, we had a great assembly from members of the International Rotary Club. We are proud to have joined the international Rota Kids community of schools. Rota kids encourages children to take part in projects which put ‘service before self ’ and help improve the local community and the environment. Children came up with lots of ideas for things we could do. Our Year 6 School Council will be planning and organising projects to improve our school environment and help our community during the rest of the summer term, and we hope to compete in the Rota Kids competition for the best project next academic year. Many children are enjoying being active outdoors our free after-school summer sports clubs this term. If you would like your child to take part in the next half term’s clubs please let admin know asap as places book up quickly! Mrs Humphreys and I were interviewed by the authors of ‘Try This’ in New Zealand early on Thursday morning. The team were interested to find out about all the fantastic drama learning that Morda children have done. The interview was filmed and will be shared with an international community of teachers as Morda is a leading school in Mantle of the Expert and Dramatic Inquiry. All the classes are working hard as usual, but please spare a thought for our fantastic year 6 pupils, who are in the final phase of revision for next week’s SATS tests. They have all worked incredibly hard and I’m sure they will achieve their best next week. This week they have enjoyed some relaxing Forest School time after all that hard work! Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
Welcome to another vibrant edition of our weekly newsletter. With the spring sun gracing our schools this week, our children continue to shine even brighter with their dedication and hard work! It's been a week filled with joyful learning and positive energy, as our children develop their curriculum themes with enthusiasm and curiosity. Time spent in class has shown that children have made brilliant progress this year and this shows no sign of slowing in the summer term. From imaginative storytelling and brilliant writing, to mathematical speed and fluency, achievement and effort radiates from our school community. On Tuesday we held a Full Governing Body meeting at Whittington. Governors met to consider health and safety processes across the Federation, on which Ms Suzanne Warner takes the lead. It’s not one of the more glamourous aspects of school life but it’s a good example of an area in which governors challenge and support to ensure that school leaders are doing what is needed to keep children and staff safe in school. We also updated on our Federation Strategy plan to see that we are on track to achieve the goals that we set ourselves for the first year. We’re all delighted with how this first year of collaboration is going, with best practice in each school being shared to the advantage of all. I’ve been delighted to see some Forest School in action this week. With Whittington’s site now being ready for class use, Badgers and Otters will be getting stuck in next week. In the meantime, Ivy class have had the pleasure of using Morda’s brilliant Forest School to enrich their outdoor learning opportunities. Purposeful silence is being used really nicely in class, with children reporting positively on having time to reflect enjoy a little bit of quiet. Please continue to explore at home! Have a great weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda It has been another busy week at Morda. Work on the School House is well underway now, so we can’t access the area for the moment. This means we have less space at lunch and break times, but as the weather is improving we hope to be able to get on the school field for lunchtime play very soon. Please make sure your child brings in their PE trainers every day so they can change into them if they are playing on the school field. The Shamrocks class are working hard on their reading, spelling, grammar and maths as we approach the KS2 assessment week. We try to keep this week as stress free as possible for children, and as part of this we will be offering our Year 6s a delicious, nutritious (and free) SATS breakfast during the test week, so that children start the day calm, fuelled and ready to do their best. Some of the classes have been thinking about what is ‘value for money’ in their PSHE and discussing whether the things we buy are what we really need or just what we want. Children had to make some hard decisions about what they would spend their money on if they were in control of a budget. We say goodbye and good luck to Ms Walker, a trainee teacher in the Roses Class, who has been working with us all term. We wish her well at the start of her teaching career. We are confident she will be a great teacher! In our assemblies this week, we have focused on Compassion and being kind to our ‘neighbours’, whether they were our family, friends in school, people in the local community or our neighbours across the world. We also talked about the importance of forgiveness, how Jesus forgives us and how we need to be forgiving of others. We thought about the importance of saying sorry and showing you mean it by not doing the same thing again, Have a lovely weekend Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School Message from the Executive Headteacher
We’ve had a really productive week in our schools with our curriculum focuses picking up pace. We’re very fortunate to have such exciting opportunities for learning, though this is of course no accident. Each school was worked really hard to make sure that our curriculum themes are exciting, purposeful and engaging. This term’s history focuses are a great example of this. In each of our schools, a consistent approach to the management of behaviour, with an emphasis on good relationships and positive recognition are highly valued. Our three school rules are known by all of our children and help us to keep everyone safe and happy in their learning. This half term, our focus for behaviour is ‘purposeful silence.’ Each of our schools has a wonderful working buzz that we are very proud of. Throughout the school day children are chatty and noisy in a wholly positive way. We would never want to be the sort of schools that have silent corridors or unsmiling children who are frightened to speak to friends and adults that they meet. Whilst we value the atmosphere that we have worked hard to develop, we also know that times of quiet are really important and, children tell us, needed to support effective learning. In order to have a vibrant learning environment, we need to know that our children can be silent when we need them to be. To this end, we will be using purposeful silence to our advantage this half term. This means that all children will be using short periods of quiet to benefit us in our learning. For our youngest children this may just be a few moments, and for our oldest children this means that we will aim to use really quiet and focused times in class to support effective learning. This will of course be undertaken in our own ‘Pathway’ way, which means that it will be celebratory and in no way punitive. Please do try using short periods of quiet and home and see how you get on! Oh Thursday of this week I had the pleasure of joining both of our schools for the third cross-country event of the year. Everyone gave it their all and were rewarded with some excellent performances. Well done to all involved. Have a wonderful weekend. Mr Carl Rogers Executive Headteacher Morda In this week of sunshine and showers, pupils have been working hard on their new topics and enjoying getting out in the sun whenever we have had a break in the weather. Our new lunchtime choir club started on Monday, led by Beatrice Floyer-Acland, a professional singer and music teacher from Shropshire Music Services. It was wonderful to hear the lovely singing coming from the STEAM room. We hope that the choir will be able to learn some songs to perform later in the term. Throughout school, children have been producing some wonderful writing inspired by our MoE drama and topics. The Bluebells class discovered a strange large egg in their classroom. Having realised this was a lost dragon egg, the children were desperate to make sure the egg was safe, so they wrote posters and letter to the dragon mother about the lost egg, so she could retrieve it . When the children came into class on Wed morning, it was clear that the dragon had visited! There was chaos– dragon slobber on the floor, chairs overturned etc. The dragon mother had visited and taken back her egg! We had wonderful engagement from children and parents in this dramatic adventure! In the Daffodils, children are working hard on fantastic presentation, and have begun to write about the Victorian Morda Workhouse. Children already know a huge amount about the conditions inside the workhouse, they have been working in role as children in the workhouse. The Roses Class are a team of historical programme writers, commissioned to make a video about the Anglo-Saxon in Britain. We have been transported to the Battle of Hastings on Senlac Ridge in October 1066. We used paintings of the battle, images from the Bayeux Tapestry and extracts from Tony Bradman’s book Anglo-Saxon Boy to help us recreate the battle. Children then wrote some wonderful in role descriptions of the event. Meanwhile, the Shamrocks class have been inspired by an animation to write character and setting descriptions as they work towards their end of key stage writing portfolio. In science, across the school, pupils are working on plant growth and living things and their habitats. Some children have been planting seeds, others have been observing the effect of different conditions on plant growth. On Thursday, our hardy Morda Cross Country Running Team competed in the mud and rain at the Marches School. Children ran really well and were a credit to the school. A great team effort for Team Morda! Our behaviour focus this term is ‘Purposeful Silence’. In our busy, happy, bustling school, it is important to have the opportunity to reflect or work in silence sometimes. We are working hard on having some silent reflective times in our worship and in class. Have a lovely weekend. Mrs Helen Chapman Head of School |
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July 2024
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