As I said to all of the children on the gate this morning, happy Friday!
With only one week left before the half-term break, I am left asking the same question as I usually ponder at this time: how has that gone so quickly? I am sure you have noticed too that the word Christmas sneaks into our calendar for the first time next week, with the ‘FoP Christmas Raffle Donation Week’ taking place throughout the week!
It has been another busy week which kicked off with our Harvest Festival Service on Monday. Thank you to so many families who joined us for the event. It was a great morning and an amazing turnout from parents, grandparents and other family members. I genuinely love getting the community together in this way and it really does demonstrate something I often say to prospective parents: ‘families join Pennthorpe, not just pupils’. Thank you for supporting the morning, for all the generous donations and for a wonderful performance of Conkers.
With the first half-term holiday approaching, we will be creating a new display when we return to school called ‘Where Have You Been?’. The purpose of this is to share places that the children have visited throughout the academic year, encouraging them to discuss their experiences with each other and talk about all the wonderful different places we can visit, both in England and abroad. Therefore, if you are planning a family trip over half term, please feel free to take a photo with an exciting backdrop that your child can then bring into school for the display. We will pin each destination on a world map along with their photo, so the children can see how far Pennthorpe travels throughout an academic year!
This week, I was honoured to be asked to speak at The Learning Skills Trust’s Annual Leaders’ Conference. It was a real privilege to speak to a room of leaders about what we do here at Pennthorpe, and I focused on how we can prepare children for a world with so many unknowns. How do we prepare children for jobs that don’t exist yet? Jobs which will use technology that is developing at a rate never seen before? I spoke about what I refer to as ‘The Three Cs of Innovation’ – curiosity, creativity and collaboration – and how we embrace these crucial skills in all year groups and ensure children develop not just what they need to know, but how to learn.
My final slide referenced the proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, and how we should consider this more often in our schools. Over the coming years, I want to really embrace expert parents and visiting speakers at Pennthorpe. External voices are so powerful in showing children that, whatever profession they may choose in the future, being curious, creative and working together will always help them to achieve success, enjoy what they do and hopefully find happiness! At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.
Thank you to the parents who have already reached out (and some who have been in and spoken to the children already) regarding their areas of expertise. If anyone else would be interested in coming into school to run a session or talk about their profession or experiences, please do get in touch. I would be happy to discuss how your message fits with a Pennthorpe education and guide you on what the talk may involve.
There are other ways that you can also support learning here at Pennthorpe, though. As we reach the sixth week of our ‘One Pennthorpe’ SDP, one of our key priorities remains ‘protecting the learning’ and maximising the valuable learning time available to every child. A simple yet highly effective way of supporting children’s progress in reading, comprehension and confidence is through reading aloud regularly to an adult.
With this in mind, we are looking to expand our team of Parent Readers and Library Volunteers. Even just 30 minutes after morning drop-off can make a real difference. Volunteers may choose to hear children read, helping them develop fluency and understanding, or support our library by assisting with the cataloguing and organisation of books for the Accelerated Reader Programme. Training will be provided for both roles. If you are already on site after drop-off and would be willing to give a little of your time each week, we would be hugely grateful. Please contact the Front Office if you would like to get involved.
Finally, a reminder that next Friday (16th October) sees the return of our ‘Fireside Fridays’ to celebrate the start of the half-term break. I hope many of you can join us from 3.30pm onwards for s’mores around the firepit, hot chocolate and some fireside singalongs!
Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy some family time, and see you all on Monday.
Mr Jon Marler
Head of School
