Headteacher's Blog
Welcome to the Headteacher's Blog!
This year, we are going to move the newsletter into a series of blogs. This means that they can be personalised further to the target audiences than the whole school newsletter: more frequently and with more freedom on what they can include. Each class will update at least once per week, and the other blogs - safeguarding, forest school, music, sports, SEND and Inclusion - will update at least fortnightly. I will update the headteacher blog as we go with any whole school news and updates.
Thursday 6th February 2025
A little later than I had intended, but I'm happy to say I am now back at school for the long run! Thank you to Mr Aziz and the team for pulling together while I was off, and to all of the parents and children who have been so kind and caring.
This week, I wanted to share a new exciting change that will be starting after half term. We will be launching the Above and Beyond awards, which is a new special level of award reserved for times that children have done something that is over and above our expectations. Why? Because we want to recognise those children who do special things for each other and our school. It might be that a child clears up all of the paintbrushes after an art lesson without being asked, saving their teacher a big job later; or it could be organising a game at lunch time for younger children, helping their peers to have a more enjoyable breaktime. It could be that a child tries their best in a maths lesson to get all the way to the extension task.
We know this is a high bar and that is deliberate: we want to recognise when children are ambassadors for our school, champions of our values and striving to do their best for themselves and their community. Staff will send the Above and Beyond nominations to SLT each week and, from these, a number will be selected to receive the award. This is open to every child, and they can be nominated by any member of staff.
At the same time, we will be launching a Staff Above and Beyond award for the same reason. Unlike the children's award, which will be available to win on a weekly basis, the Staff award will be given out once per half term. Much like for our children, we want to recognise when our staff go over and above for our school. It might be a one-off moment, like the teaching assistant who comforted your child when they were feeling unwell, or over a longer period of time, such as a teacher who is always extra welcoming to help start the day off right. Nominations for these awards can be made by pupils, parents, staff and volunteers, more information will follow when the systems are in place.
With these new awards, we hope to celebrate our wonderful school and all of the great things that happen here.
Monday 27th January 2025
Our school community is incredibly proud of the well-being committee who have worked hard to decorate the well-being bench. It was put out on the playground a few months ago after the children wrote some very thoughtful and motivational messages on it. The aim for this bench was to provide children a space to go if they are feeling down; need someone to play with; or would just like some calm and quiet time. Since putting the bench on the playground many of our children have benefitted from it. After asking some Year 2 children how they felt about the bench being on the playground they explained, "It makes you feel safe", "I didn't have anyone to play with so I went to the bench and some children asked if I wanted to do some skipping with them" and "On the bench it says 'Be happy, be kind, be respectful. I like that".
We would like to thank Aisling Kenny, who is one of our governors and a parent of the school for facilitating the purchase of the bench through her company as a donation to the school! Your kind gesture has impacted so many children in a great way!
Here is a news article about the bench at Long Crendon School:
etag donates wellbeing bench to Buckinghamshire school
Friday 6th December 2024
It has been another great week. It was particularly lovely to see the Church trips go so well on Monday. Both Key Stage leaders fed back that the children were fantastic ambassadors for our school.
And next week, Christmas is in full flow! The Key Stage 2 children will have the pleasure of watching the EYFS and Key Stage 1 nativities on Monday. Then on Tuesday, parents will get to see the big show. I'm personally keeping out of the performances until Tuesday to get the full experience! Then, as if that wasn't Christmas-filled enough, we have the pantomime for Key Stage 2 on Wednesday (oh no we don't - oh yes we do!). A real school favourite and a fantastic opportunity for our children to participate in a British tradition.
As always, I loved attending the SEND coffee morning on Tuesday. Mrs Poote works so hard to ensure that we have this fantastic resource available for our community. A great chance to come together, network with other parents and share experiences. This week our SEND governor, Mrs Pinel, also joined and the turnout was fantastic (as were the cookies!).
To update on our progress with Ofsted, I have been sent the draft report to review, which means that it should be live relatively soon. As before, this is still completely confidential until launched, so I am not able to share anything about what it says. I will start making arrangements at the start of next week for an event where we can share and discuss this. This is likely to be in the last week, and I will aim to schedule a day time and after school opportunity for parents to attend.
Finally, teachers have been finishing with assessments and data entry this week. I have introduced a new parent communication format which will mean that you get more information about how your child is doing throughout the year. In part, this was in response to parent feedback in last year's survey, and in part in response to new attendance legislation. As such, the parent communication format for the year will be as follows:
- Autumn 1: Parents' evening towards the end of term (mid to late October)
- Autumn 2: Termly report in the last week of term (December) to include a summary of attendance and attainment
- Spring 1: Parents' evening towards the end of term (February-March)
- Spring 2: Termly report in the last week of term (prior to the Easter holidays) to include a summary of attendance and attainment
- Summer 1: Attendance report only.
- Summer 2: Annual report including attainment and attendance summary, teacher comments and headteacher's comments for Year 6 children.
The plan is that with this communication we will be more on the same page when it comes to what your child is learning and school experience.
Friday 29th November 2024
Well, this week was our first in the post-Ofsted world. I think the most unusual thing about this would be that the inspection has been our end point for the last two years, and that's not there anymore. It's also strange to consider that, regardless of the outcome, we are no longer a Requires Improvement school - the change in Ofsted grading criteria means that schools no longer have a single overarching grade. Instead, the report will give judgements on the four key areas, with an additional judgement for Early Years provision.
it has been a while since I have described what these mean and, since we are hoping to have a report to share soon, I thought it might be a good time to share this now. The four key areas are:
- Quality of Education - this includes our curriculum in each subject, teaching in lessons, assessment and our inclusivity for those with SEND, pupil premium or other barriers to learning.
- Behaviour and attitudes - this includes pupil behaviour in school as well as bullying and discrimination. In addition to this, our systems for monitoring, analysing and addressing these is part of this judgement. Our approach to suspension and exclusion is covered here, as is our approach to promoting and addressing attendance and punctuality.
- Personal Development - this is what we offer to support the wider development of children. It is a wide ranging area covering everything from RE and PSHE lessons to assemblies to trips to clubs. As part of this, the engagement of children with SEND and those eligible for Pupil Premium is also considered. Our approach to cultural capital and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) education and citizenship also form part of this.
- Leadership and Management - often thought to be the headteacher's judgement, this is much broader than this. The judgement covers all levels of leadership in the school, starting with the strategic level of leadership at governance, through to the operational leadership of the senior leadership team and subject leaders. This also includes the leadership of SEND, Pupil Premium and vulnerable children across the school, as well as the Designated Safeguarding Lead team's work in the management of safeguarding and the whole school safeguarding culture and approach.
- Early Years Provision - Ofsted have worked really hard to make sure that individuals classes cannot get a judgement to protect staff, but in a one-form entry school, this is the judgement of the Foundation class. It covers the leadership of Early Years, the curriculum planning and the provision experienced by the children. It also looks at the work of the EYFS team - teacher and TAs - in this.
As soon as we can, we intend to share our report. When I have any sort of idea of a timeline, I will set a date for everyone to come together to share our report as a community. You can access this through the Ofsted website (when it is published) but we thought it would be appropriate to come together as we did after the last Ofsted inspection.
Friday 22nd November 2024
I don't know if you noticed, but this has been quite an eventful week for our school! Our long-awaited Ofsted phone call came in at 09:35 on Monday morning, leading to a two-day inspection on Tuesday and Wednesday. As I shared in my recent ParentMail, I'm not allowed to share anything about the inspection, which includes provisional grading conversations, specific feedback or really anything substantial. The reason for this is that the proposed report is provisional and subject to quality assurance and monitoring, so the provisional grades shared with Mr Aziz and I are subject to change.
That said, this has been a really positive school improvement week for our school. The inspection was conducted by a HMI (His Majesty's Inspector) and an Ofsted Inspector and both were human in their approach. Not to be mistaken for a lack of scrutiny, because there was plenty of that! Both inspectors were open and honest with subject leaders about what they were seeing and thinking. Similarly, they communicated with both Mr Aziz and me throughout, letting us know what they were thinking about different subjects and areas of our school and the Long Crendon Offer.
I am so proud of every single child for the way they presented themselves throughout and of our staff, who worked tirelessly to ensure that we showed ourselves off at our very best. I also am immensely grateful for the support, kindness (and snacks!) that parents gave throughout and since.
As per the ParentMail, I will arrange a parent session for the release of our report so that we can share it together and discuss what this means for our school's next steps. By then, I will also be able to share a little more about how things went.
Now off for a relaxing weekend - one that the entire team have definitely earned!
Friday 8th November 2024
Welcome back to school for the wonderful Autumn 2 half term!
This is always one of my favourite - if also one of the busiest - times of the year in primary schools. As with the rest of the year, we have our fantastic learning and personal development opportunities around the school, but we also have so many fantastic special events!
This weekend, Mrs Owens and I are really looking forward to coming into school for the fireworks night. Mrs Owens has even invited her parents to join us too! We are big fans of fireworks in our house (except for our dog, Willow, she is less keen...) so we can't wait to come in to see them tomorrow. Thank you so much to everyone at the PTA for all of the work that goes into making sure this event can happen.
As we move further into the term, the big show season begins! For EYFS and Key Stage 1, nativity practices will be starting soon. I love seeing how hard our youngest children work to put on a fantastic performance, showing our school values of enthusiasm, unity and resilience as they go.
To round the term off, Key Stage 2 will be going to see the pantomime in Aylesbury (oh no they won't! I'll try not to do too many of these this term...). This is not only a fantastically fun morning, but is also a chance for children to take part in a British Christmas tradition and go to the theatre.
As for what is happening in lessons this week, I went on a learning walk with Mrs Poote and a local authority advisor on Tuesday and we were really impressed with children's attitude to learning, behaviour and work. I always love seeing this in action, with our staff caring so much and working so hard to create the optimal learning environment and conditions, and our children trying their best with everything too.
I hope to see lots of you at the fireworks over the weekend!
Friday 25th October 2024
That brings us to the end of another incredible half term. It has been the longest Autumn 1 that we have had in a while (8 school weeks!) but the children have worked hard throughout and continued putting their all into everything they have done. I have thoroughly enjoyed walking around school this term and seeing how well the children have settled into their new classes - especially in Foundation where children are taking their first steps into our school.
But, of course, this learning doesn't just appear fully formed: all of the staff have put their all into providing the very best for all of our children. Mr Aziz and I have been really impressed with all of the learning we have seen across the school. It is always great to see happy and engaged children so it has been lovely and a testament to the hard work of the staff team.
This term also saw our Year 4 residential, which exemplified the team spirit of our school. Like the Year 4 children and parents, we are immensely grateful to Mrs Gilbert Scott for stepping in to cover this to make sure that the residential could still go ahead.
Autumn 2 is always one of my favourite half terms. It is also one of the busiest! We have Remembrance, nativity performances and the pantomime, all wrapped up in the excitement of the run-up to Christmas. To make things even more exciting, we have student teachers joining us in Years 1 and 5 next term, which I always find to be a really positive experience for everyone.
On behalf on the whole school team, I hope everyone in our school community - pupils, families, staff and our wider community - has a safe, fun and restful half term break.