Mr Scrymgeour and I have had the pleasure of going into our Early Years and Primary classes during the week, with a particular focus on maths lessons. We have seen a variety of different areas of maths including number bonds in Reception; measuring length in Year 1; capacity in Year 2; plotting coordinates in Year 4 and ratio and proportion in Year 5. We still have a few more year groups to see tomorrow and next week, but all in all it has been fantastic to see the level of engagement our students show in their maths lessons, the confidence they show when learning new concepts and their ability to explain mathematical reasoning.
One of my favourite moments this week was when one of our Reception students was able to explain that the digit 1 in the number 14 represented a 10. It is this understanding (place value) that will enable our younger students to master more difficult concepts as they move through the school, such as ratio and proportion in Year 5 where the students were having to use division and multiplication to scale amounts.
Next week, it’s the turn of the students to tell us what they think about teaching and learning at school as Mr Scrymgeour and I speak to groups of students from across the primary school. We’ll be covering lots of different topics such as lessons, homework, break times and lunchtimes, as well as finding out what they most enjoy about school, but also what we can do to make it an even better experience.
In Primary, we’re already getting excited about the events coming up at the end of term. First we will have Book Week, which this year will have a science fiction theme. As well as lots of activities to celebrate a love of reading, we will be beginning the week with a Book Week dress-up day. This will take place on Monday 14th March and Primary parents will be invited to come and have a look at our amazing costumes. We will also be moving our coffee mornings to Monday 14th and these will have a Book Week theme – more information to follow soon.
In the last week of this term we celebrate International Week and yet another opportunity to dress up; this time in our National dress or the colours from our country. Our dress-up day will take place on Wednesday 23rd March and will involve all of our students from Early Years to IB in a Parade of Nations. All parents are invited to come and watch this colourful event. Our Primary class teachers will be in touch with you soon to tell you more about International Week and how you can get involved.
I’m sure you’ll agree it is going to be a very busy, but extremely fun few weeks!
Lisa Passante
Head of Primary