Staff Bulletin

THIS WEEK'S NEWS

• MATHS TEACHER RESEARCH GROUP A reminder that on Thursday 28th February, we'll be having approximately 18 teachers join us from schools around the local authority. They're going to be dropping into maths lessons to look at our approach. After last months incredibly successful visit and with tweaks made after the staff meeting I'm sure they're going to be impressed with what they see. The plan will be as follows:
  • 9.00am Visiting teachers in hall with introduction from MK & LC (Maths passport time for classes). We'll be sharing the presentation from staff meeting.
  • 9.30am - 10.30am Maths lessons taught across Y1-Y6
    • Teachers will visit 3 classes spending 20 minutes in each class. This should mean that there are only 3 visitors in the class at any one time.
    • E.g. Group A will visit Y1, 3 and 5. Group B will visit Y2, 4 and 6
  • Please can teachers print a copy of their lesson slides out and pass them to the office. These can then be copied and passed to others to provide a picture of the whole lesson.
  • 10.30am Break
  • 10.45 - 11.30am Visiting teacher discussion in Hall.
  • Staff Meeting on Wednesday is planning/preparation time
• HALF-TERM OPENING Dave is in all week (except Thursday). However, give him a ring beforehand if you're desperate to get into school!
• ASSEMBLY CHANGES There have been a few changes next week....because it's so busy! Please look carefully at the calendar. (Monday - Hymn, Tues - WS, Weds, 9.10am about Fairtrade, Thu - non, Friday - normal)
• CURRICULUM OVERVIEWS should be on the staff drive by 5pm on Thursday 28th February. Remember to complete each others sections if teaching another class. Thanks
• BEHAVIOR INCIDENTS / YELLOW / RED CARDS Updated cards are now in the staffroom. These can be filled in by any member of staff. Once filled in they need to be passed to the school office who will record the incident onto SIMS. It is the class teachers responsibility to ensure it's given to the office and recorded. The new 'behaviour incident' slips are for those occasions that don't warrant a yellow card but the incident needs logging.
• LEARNING LOGS are due to be sent out the first Friday back. Please make sure you're setting tasks that they're not completing in class. The idea of the Learning Log is to promote independent learning and apply their knowledge in a range of contexts.
• JANE STEELE is due to return after half term. She will initially be on a part time timetable.
• Y3/4 TRIP TO MURTON PARK takes place on the first Monday back. What a lovely start to the half term. Parents will be sent reminder emails about the trip because children will be arriving a back a little later than usual.
• HEADTEACHER INTERVIEWS Prospective candidates (including myself) will be coming in for a walk around the school on Tuesday at 9.30am. They'll only be in school for an hour or so. Interviews then take place on Wednesday.
• FAIR TRADE FUN DAY As discussed in the staff meeting. Infants are completing a range of activities in the morning. KS2 are completing activities over the whole day with children being mixed up. Teachers, please record what you're doing on the sheet in the staffroom. A reminder that resources can be found here: https://schools.fairtrade.org.uk/resources/type/lesson-plans/#page-1
• UNISON TO SEE SUPPORT STAFF For those in Unison, they're coming into school on Thursday 28th at 3.15pm to chat to anyone interested. It's a new rep and they're introducing themselves and sharing some courses that members can attend.
• STAFF DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW A new version will soon be up in the staffroom for Spring 2.
• VISITOR WALKAROUND It was a pleasure showing around staff from other Middleton schools on Tuesday afternoon. They commented on the fabulous learning environment, how calm it was and the positive atmosphere.
• SCHOOL KITCHEN Just for information, governors agreed this week to end the contract with P&A from 31st August. As a result, the kitchen will be ran 'in house' with the kitchen staff becoming Parkfield members of staff. The key reason behind this decision was funding. The budget is incredibly tight but this change will help save us a little extra!
• PGCE STUDENT Chloe Jones joins us on Monday. She'll be working in Y6 for two weeks before joining the Y1 classroom for a longer term placement.
• SUE GREEN has retired due to ill health. We will be having a collection for Sue and inviting her to a special assembly after half term.
• RUTH finishes today. Thanks for all your help at dinners and covering when asked in the reception class. As a result there will be some changes to the dinner time rota.
• DAVE will be leaving us at the end of March. He is moving to St. Edwards, Castleton. Good Luck Dave and well done on the new position. As a result, we're after a new caretaker and the advert is live now with the closing date on the 1st March.
• TEACHER HALF YEARLY APPRAISAL REVIEWS will be taking place over the first two weeks back. It will involve a discussion around progress towards meeting targets. More info will follow.
• HAPPY HALF TERM Wishing you all a wonderful half term. Enjoy and see you back in school on Monday 25th.

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