Our value for this half term is a willingness to try, well we certainly showed a willingness to cram as much as humanly possible into a week!!

Our intrepid Year 6 team ventured over to PGL Liddington for a week of adventurous activities in the trees and on the lake, they returned on Friday night tired but very happy.  They will be sharing some of their experiences and pictures in a separate web page in the coming weeks.  The remaining Year 6s were equally as busy with the in-school programme, which included a very interesting trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge – to see some amazing artwork and Roman/Greek artefacts – and making cupcakes.

Not to be outdone the Year 8s had their Business Enterprise week where they were learning how to set up and run a business.  On Monday the children had sessions from Young Enterprise on jobs and future employability – some of the children were very surprised that there weren’t many jobs you could do to fund a £285,000 a year lifestyle!!!  On Tuesday they started the day with a motivational speech from Scott Saunders – the only contestant to quit The Apprentice – and then split into their groups to come up with their business ideas.  Wednesday was developing their business plans and learning about marketing from our resident expert Governor – Mr Johnson.  Thursday was a team building day at Herts Mariners Base – how very corporate middle management!! Friday morning was spent developing their pitches for the all important Dragon’s Den in the afternoon.

The Year 5s and 7s had European Day of Languages activities on Thursday, where they had French, Spanish, Italian and German taster sessions – Mrs Brown was also showing off her Danish where possible as well!!

Assemblies this week focused on making a difference – the Year 8 House Officials were announced and Mrs Hesketh introduced School Council and how the children can make a difference and the importance in using your voice for good.

In the background everyone has been working tirelessly to get the school ready for Open Evening, Mr Verderame Snr has been building furniture – with some help from his apprentice and the children will help to make the school come alive on Thursday night.

Willingness to try….tick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy a well earned rest Ralphies, we go again Monday.

Well that’s that – SATs week done!! As a Middle School we aren’t all that fussed about them in the first place, our focus has always been the children’s progress from entry in Year 5 to exit in Year 8.  Unlike some schools we don’t dedicate our curriculum to practise papers, we don’t get rid of any creative subjects to just focus on English and Maths, we don’t make them come in on Saturday’s for extra lessons.  We do prepare them as best we can, we give those who need it or want it extra support but that’s it.  I’d much rather hear about the ‘Helping Others’, making a difference or projects they did, than whether they can begin a sentence with a fronted adverbial!  The entire Year 6 team deserved their afternoon party today and a huge thank you to the parents who donated enough sugar based products to feed an army.  Special mention to Mrs Plested for this amazing cake.

Elsewhere in school normal lessons and learning continued – thank goodness!!  Being the summer term it is so nice to see the children out on our field enjoying the space.  It wasn’t only our children utilising our space but lots and lots of first school children (and a baby muntjac deer) turned up to take part in the Cross Country.

We said thank you and goodbye to the three student teachers that have been working in Year 5 over the past term and a half.  On the other hand we will be saying hello to Mrs McLean who will be joining our staff team to teach Science from September.

So please take the advice I gave the Year sixes – life is short, enjoy it and try your best everyday.  Have a great weekend.

Well there was a big announcement this week, somewhat overshadowed by a lesser one from across the pond, Ofsted have decided that we continue to be a GOOD school!!!!!!

The full letter from the Ofsted Inspector and my covering one (including my Freudian slip) can be found elsewhere on our website, please take time to read it thoroughly as it gives a fair assessment of where we are as a school – I’d be really interested to hear your reactions via the feedback tab or feedback@ralphsadleir.herts.sch.uk

It’s been a while since my last Blog and I can tell that the children have been working very hard because this week Mrs Kerner gave me a pile of Merit Certificates that was about 2 inches (or 5 and a bit centimetres) high to sign over the weekend, recipients will be announced in my assembly on Friday this coming week.

On the subject of assemblies we have had some good ones in recent weeks: a sing along with Mr Fuller to raise the dopamine levels in the brain; IAP looking at people’s favourite places to travel to; Mrs Hesketh focusing on the importance of making marginal gains – linking to our Growth Mindset culture; lastly this week we had Mrs O-D and her tutor group delivering our Remembrance Assembly culminating in our two minutes silence to show our respects for those who gave so much.  Our Year 8s have been busily selling Poppies all week to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

This week Mr Palmen with support from our Safe Guarding Governor Mrs Forbes, gave a very informative workshop on e-safety – something that is of a growing concern for me both as a parent and more worryingly the Headteacher. Without our help and support our children are at risk more than ever before and from threats that we cannot always see – education for all in this area is vital if this generation is to  grow up safely.

Be aware that it seems that all of Station Road and parts of South Road are being dug up throughout the comings weeks and enforced road closures.  We haven’t heard anything official about potential disruption but please be prepared and plan your journeys accordingly.

We have a new Twitter feed for you to follow from our Humanities Faculty – @R_SadHumanities take a look and see what it’s all about.

The RSA and I were completely overwhelmed with your generosity today with chocolate and smellies, both of those stalls will be fully stocked up on The Christmas Bazaar – which is in 2 weekends time – please come along and win all your donations back.  The usual highlight of the whole day is the world renowned ‘Bickerstaff Bottle Tombola’ we are currently in desperate need of bottles of all shapes,sizes and fillings.

‘For your sacrifice, for our freedom. We say thank you and shall never forget.’  I wear a poppy as red as can be to show that I remember, those who fought for me.

There are some weeks when a Blog is tricky to write because I am scratching around trying to find things that have happened in the week…this week is not one of them!!!!

The Year 8s had their Business Enterprise Week – starting with a day’s activities ran by Young Enterprise on Monday; Tuesday to Thursday morning was spent forming their companies and deciding on their products/services and then writing business plans and marketing; Thursday afternoon saw them all pitch their business ideas to the Dragons in our den.  Tuesday also saw a motivational talk by Scott Saunders – from the Apprentice.  There are some really good ideas and the children    have worked really hard and have learned a lot of real life skills. A huge thank you to Miss Hurren and Miss Devine for all their efforts in organising the week’s activities.

To ensure complete realism for Business Enterprise Week we took the Year 8s to the Young Mariners base for a Middle Management strategy away day, team building exercise today – lots of fun, luckily by the sounds of things, none of the enterprise groups are selling homemade rafts!!

The Year 6s had a fantastic time in PGL and there are loads of pictures and Mr Creasey’s daily updates are elsewhere on the website please be sure to check them out.  The remaining Year 6s had an action packed week in school doing lots of different activities to their normal curriculum.

Today is European Day of Languages, this was kicked off by an assembly from Miss Hampshire on the importance of learning languages – especially since the Brexit vote.  Ask your children what percentage of the world speak English.  The rest of the day saw them doing a range of activities that included playing boules; making Venetian masks; learning about maps of Europe; cooking crêpes; and learning numbers and simple vocabulary in French, Spanish and German.

I think that’s basically it…oh unless you count a visit from Ofsted on Tuesday!! There is not much that can be said about it at the moment as we have to wait to share their findings but all I can do is praise the children who were their usual brilliant selves; and say thank you to the parents that filled out the ParentView questionnaire. 90% of you would recommend the school, which is a fantastic endorsement but we will not rest on our laurels  and we will continue to build a school that provides the best learning opportunities and support to its pupils.

Next week is no less busy with our Growth Mindset cross-curricular day and parents’ talk and our Open Evening event.

And breathe…have a great weekend.