This Week at Pathway

Message from the Executive Headteacher

We have reached the end of a short but action-packed spring term. As we head into a well deserved two-week break, we can reflect upon all that has been achieved in our schools. There has been so much high quality learning this term, with a geographical focus in our curriculum, and I have been so impressed with the progress that children have made.

Linked to our geography, look out for the letter sent today detailing our plans for our first ‘International Day’ on Thursday April 8!

This week is the last week of our focus on the core value of ‘Courage’. To us courage means that we embrace new and challenging experiences. We have reminded ourselves of all that we have learned and, as is typical in the final week of a focus, we have encouraged the children to think about what the value means to them personally. Our school values are really important to us in daily life.

These are the principles that drive our behaviour. We want our children to develop their own set of personal values as they decide what is most important to them in life. It has a been a week of performances, as we take time to remind ourselves of the importance of the Easter message. On Wednesday, I was privileged to see the Morda Primary performance in St. Oswald’s Church. In a play written and performed by the children, there was a mixture of poignance and joy, as it right at this time of year. As I write this, I am excited to see the children of Whittington perform at St. John’s Church this afternoon.

On Thursday, we welcomed Cllr Martin Bennett to Whittington Primary School. Mr Bennett is a governor in our Federation of schools and as well as enjoying a tour of the school, Mr Bennett gave a short history lesson on the pre-decimal system to our Year 6 children. He even brought some coins for us to view! We’ll look forward to welcoming him to Morda soon. As ever, our thanks goes to our whole school community for their support and challenge this term. I hope that you are all able to enjoy a relaxing and fun-filled break as we get excited for the Summer term!

Happy Easter

Mr Carl Rogers 
( Executive Headteacher)

Morda
We have had an extremely busy end to the term with everyone working at full tilt right up to the holiday.

Last week children completed Spring Assessment Week at Morda to help inform teachers overall judgement of your child’s progress. We try to keep the testing as stress free as possible and use the tests as a guide to help teachers verify their ongoing everyday assessment of your child. Children have taken maths and reading tests was no test for writing, instead teachers look at four pieces of work your child had completed over the term and checked these against specific criteria to form their judgement. For Science and Geography this term, your child has completed a ‘post learning mind map’ showing the knowledge they have acquired over the term. Younger children tell their teachers what they remember and the teacher notes this down. Most children love doing their post learning mindmaps and they are very proud to show off what they have learned !

You may have heard in the news recently, that school meal provision in some schools has been found to be lacking. I strongly believe that children deserve a nourishing, healthy and tasty school lunch – and I think we provide that at Morda. Meals are made with care in the Whittington School kitchen using fresh, high-quality ingredients and the menu has good variety of meals and generous portions including fresh salads, fruit and vegetables every day. However, don’t take my word for it! I asked the children who have school dinner what they thought of their meals using and was very encouraged by the results. A large majority of children told me that they enjoy their school meals, think they get good portions and have sufficient choice. We will continue to try to make our school meals more enjoyable and healthier for all our children. Next term we will be focusing on encouraging everyone to have a ‘Healthy Summer Snack’ - please read the letter with details of this from Mr Rogers.

This week Mrs Knight our lovely music/RE and computing PPA teacher left for her maternity leave. We wish her well for her forthcoming new arrival. Mrs Helen Jones our fantastic Reading Champion and Roses teaching assistant also finished her time in those roles at Morda, however we will still be seeing her at school in her role as Positive Leap Tutor and as a reading volunteer. We are determined to continue to develop the great curriculum work that these staff have started.

The highlight of this week had to be the incredible Easter Service at St Oswald’s Church on Wednesday. The Year 6 children had written an innovative version of the Easter story themselves in the form of new reports. Well done to Mrs Holmes and the Shamrocks teaching team for helping children to create such a fantastic script! The church was packed, the children performed the Easter story so well and captivated the audience. The whole school sang and behaved beautifully. It was a wonderful ending to a vibrant Spring term.

Wishing you all a wonderful, restful Easter holiday.

Mrs Helen Chapman
Head of School