Dear parents and carers,
Being part of TEAM multi-academy trust brings many benefits to our school. Two of them were very evident this week.
Firstly, on Monday, the Year 2 children attended the TEAM cross-country event at High Bickington School. There were 277 children from across the trust taking part, which was wonderful to see. There were boys and girls races for every year group from Year 2 to Year 6 and it was impressive to see the support, sportsmanship and competitive spirit evident in all the pupils. Isla M (1st), Clotilde (2nd) and Alfie (3rd) were the highest placed Pilton Infants’ finishers. We also had several other top 10 finishers and all the children can be very proud of getting round the course. It was a proper cross-country course with woodland, hills and long grass to navigate. Well done to all the children and a big thank you to the Year 2 team and parent and carer volunteers who helped.
Aswell as creating a range of events for pupils to participate in, being part of TEAM means that we all help each other to improve. On Tuesday, we welcomed Mr Swait and Mr Norton for a school review. Mr Swait is a school improvement advisor who we work with at least once a year during our school review cycle. Mr Norton is the Head of School at High Bickington and also a School Improvement Lead for the trust. The focus of our review was phonics and early reading. We also looked at some of our SEN (Special Educational Needs) provision. The visitors spoke to myself, Mrs Powley (English, reading and phonics lead) and Mrs Jones (SENDCo). We also observed reading sessions in Year 1, phonics sessions in Reception and had a general learning walk around the school. It was very pleasing to see the great start to the year that has been made by all the children and staff. The Year 1 children were very focussed on their reading and the Reception children demonstrated fantastic learning behaviours. There were lots of positives from the visit as well as some areas to continue to develop which are in-line with our School Improvement Plan for this year.
I also attended a school review for Pilton Bluecoat on Thursday. Again, the focus was on reading and phonics. As a teacher and/or school leader, it’s always a really helpful opportunity to see how another school works and because it was Pilton Bluecoat, it was amazing to see all of our former pupils progressing their learning from where they began with us.
Finally, this week, we would like to wish Mrs Thomas all the best for the upcoming birth of her second child, which is due in a few weeks' time. She is beginning her maternity leave a little earlier than planned. Miss Oreshko (Miss O) will be teaching Monday-Wednesday next week, Miss Lethaby covering Thursday and then Mrs Skade will begin Mrs Thomas’ maternity cover next Friday with Miss Oreshko teaching her usual Mondays. Good luck Mrs Thomas!
Have a great weekend everyone.
Best wishes,
John Mortimer
Head of School
