01.29.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged BLOXX, collaborative activities, favourite moment, Headteacher, Heathfield, The TES, Year 6, YouTube at 9:06 pm by headteacher
Once again it has been a really busy week at Heathfield Primary School. Two weeks ago when David Mitchell set up some interactive collaborative online activities during snow closure we very proud to be featured in an article in the Bolton News and following that, The TES.
Last week Heathfield went national again when the The Times and The Telegraph both featured articles about Heathfield’s approach to blogging, the internet and use of internet tools such as YouTube. As a school we are working hard with Bolton Local Authority to investigate programmes such as Bloxx which have been developed to enable us to access the video and content of YouTube whilst blocking any potentially unsafe material. This is a great step forward, particularly for Literacy and Topic projects which will be greatly enhanced by these additional resources. Whilst aiming to provide exciting and challenging opportunities for the children, Heathfield School staff provide an extremely safe learning environment and any internet work that we do is carefully monitored.
On Thursday our Year 5 class had a fantastic day out to visit a bug centre as part of their Rainforest topic. Miss Howarth was so impressed with Year 5 and their fantastic behaviour that we presented them with a special whole class certificate in assembly.
I was also particularly pleased on Friday morning when I was inundated by children from Reception Class, Year 1 and Year 4 all coming to see me to show me their wonderful work. On Friday afternoon I met with school governors to discuss Finance and Premises. The Chair of Governors thoroughly enjoyed walking around the classes to meet the children. When I asked the children if they knew what the school governors actually do we were both pleased and surprised by the thoughtful answers that the children gave.
MY FAVOURITE MOMENT OF THE WEEK………
Reading this post by Sophie, Year 6 http://y62010.heathfieldcps.net/
M – (Metaphor) , sometimes known as a figure of speech , which is not literally true … e.g There was a gaping hole in her heart …
A – (Alliteration) , Alliteration occurs when 2 or 3 words (in a row) begin with the same letter/sound… e.g Smelly Sausage.
P – (Personification) , Personification is when somebody gives a random noun a human characteristic. e.g The wind let out a mighty roar.
S – (Similes) Comparing 2 random yet similar things , using like or as .. e.g the sun was as bright as a shining star …
Similes can easily be confused with metaphors but similes can be easily remembered by the fact that they compare two things that are similar, and similes is much like the word similar …
By
Sophie (Year 6)
Permalink
01.21.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blogs, DeputyMitchell, earthquake, Haiti, Headteacher, Heathfield, Tudors, twitter, VLE, Year 4, Year 6 at 8:16 pm by headteacher
I cannot believe that we are nearing the end of the third week of term. We began on January 1st with a staff training day. David Mitchell updated us all on how we could update and more effectively use our VLE. We are, at present running two systems side by side. The VLE is proving to be a really effective tool for holding data and useful information for children, families and visitors to the site. The school blog is much more reactive and changes almost daily and I don’t really see any tension between the two systems.
Reception Class have settled in really well this term and I am intending to find out this week how to post pictures of work on to this page. Year 6 have been completing lots of research work based on their topic, Zoos. Year 6 have also had some additional tasks based around the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. We are currently consulting with the children about how they would like to help the people of Haiti. If you have a look on our Year 6 blog you will find lots of work around the earthquake disaster.
Year 4 are racing into their Tudors topic, always a great theme, the pupils love the blood and gore of Tudor times. The Year 4 blog will be underway very soon and I am looking forward to some really exciting work from “Team Wiggans”.
Next week we are looking forward to a school visit from some of our Twitter friends, with whom we are hoping to collaborate in order to provide even more real and exciting opportunities for the children. Update on progress on Wednesday!
Permalink
01.10.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blogging, DHT, eureka, Heathfield, Reception Class at 5:32 pm by headteacher
December has been such a busy month. Only in December my DHT, David Mitchell went to visit a school in Manchester renowned for its expertise in ICT developments. The school in question? Chorlton Park, (easily found – just google it). David was completely blown away by his day out at Chorlton Park and came back into the school so excited he was almost speechless. And that is saying a lot I can tell you – those of you who know David will agree! As a HT I cannot explain just how satisfying and exciting it is when one of your staff come back from a day of CPD feel excited and inspired. It’s exactly the same feeling that you get when one of the pupils or students has a “eureka” moment, that feeling of intense satisfaction never goes away. You become aware that something important has just “clicked” into place. David and I knew that blogging and reaching out to the outside learning environment was absolutely the way forward for learning and school improvement. Within days David had contacted John Sutton for some professional support and guidance on how to set up a school blog. Three weeks later we have a whole school blog, DHT’s page, Reception class page, Year 6 page and some very disgruntled staff who wanted (but didn’t get because there just wasn’t time) their pages set up over the Christmas holiday so that they could get started!
So, a big thank you to the pupils and staff at Chorlton Park for sharing and inspiring!
We have seven classes in our school and four separate blog pages are underway. Such a great start to the new year. 2010 is going to be THE YEAR for HEATHFIELD! Just watch this space…..
Permalink
01.02.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged actions, attributes, characteristics, great leadership, Headteacher, wallwisher at 9:49 pm by Mr Mitchell
I’ve been thinking over the holiday about the school leaders that have inspired me over the years. Please share your comments about Headteachers, DHTs, school leaders who have inspired you by their characteristics, attributes or actions. Thanks
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/90wl2L9yCe
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized tagged family, fearlessness, ICT, innovative, new year resolutions, technology at 10:32 am by headteacher
“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius
I love my job, but sometimes it’s hard to manage the daily challenges and sometimes I forget to enjoy the journey! We only live once so with this in mind I have created my very own special list of resolutions.
To learn a new language
I’m not thinking MFL here; I’m actually referring to the language being spoken by ICT literate teachers and educators. I’m completely intrigued by so many of the amazing and innovative ICT based teaching ideas and I am quite overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of techno enthusiasts who are giving our children such amazing opportunities. Don’t want to miss this boat.
To embrace technology and be inspired
This pretty much links to the above resolution; in September 2009 I thought it was good enough to have a DHT embracing technology. It’s not enough. I might never have the natural abilities of a techno geek but I can still be open minded and develop a real desire to seek school improvement by embracing new technologies. Will be attending more Year 6 ICT lessons in the Spring term…
To practice fearlessness
Every day is a new day and after nearly two years of Headship the only thing that I can really predict is that I never know just what’s round the corner. “We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures.” (Susan Jeffers) How many times every day do we expect our pupils to try something new and possibly scary? How many times have we all said, “Just have a go…”
Enjoy the moment
“Enjoy where you are, on the way to where you’re going.” Joyce Meyer I’m going to spend more quality time with my family this year, so that after the weekend I come back to work refreshed and invigorated. Sometimes we dwell too much on what we haven’t completed and we forget about how far we have come and all of our amazing successes.
“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.” John Foster Dulles
Permalink
