The Lanes Primary School

Head Teacher's Blog
24.02.23
We returned to school this week and got going straight away as you may imagine. Year 6 took part in some sleep workshops on Monday. Sleep is a real issue with children throughout school and we have been working with the Mental Health Support Team to help the children with strategies to help them sleep. The staff also held their fortnightly phase meetings to discuss progress of the children and general issues.
Wow days – Year 3 did a Greek Wow day on Thursday to kick off their new topic. The children and staff dressed up in Greek costumes, they ate Greek food, did some dancing, made Olympic torches and took part in a mini Olympics.
The Reception children had a Farm Wow day on Friday too. This involved lots of art work and active learning as well as welly wanging, mud painting and sheep herding! The children (and staff) had a great time.
Fundraising – On Friday we had a non-uniform day to raise money for the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The children bought some money in with them or parents donated online. We support the charity Operation Orphan which is local to us. They have sent a team out to the Earthquake zone to help families who have lost everything and particularly to support children who have been orphaned or are homeless. They will continue to support into the future and all the money donated goes straight to the charity. We are hoping that the team will be able to come into school and share their experiences with the children. If you would like to donate you can do this online here https://operationorphan.enthuse.com/CRT-Turkey-2023 #!/
Swimming gala – A team of children from KS2 took part in the inter schools swimming gala at Bramcote baths on Tuesday. The children did the school proud and finished 5th out of the 11 schools that competed. Thank you to the staff who took them and cheered them on.
Parents Evenings- We held our first face to face parents evenings this week on Wednesday and Thursday. The vast majority of parents attended and also had the opportunity to look at their children’s work. The teachers discussed where the children are in their learning and how parents can help at home.
School Council – I met with School Council this week. We agreed the playground project and the development of the Year 2 outdoor courtyard (including the addition of guinea pigs!!) We also discussed the new choice menu at lunchtime and the new arrangements which we have agreed to evaluate when we meet again. We also discussed any issues that have come up in school. They are very keen to do some fundraising so that will be our next challenge!
Next week we are looking forward to the Year 5 Residential trip to York and World Book Day. We also have the prospect of a further teachers strike on Wednesday – as yet I am unsure of how many classes this will affect.

Make a donation to support Operation Orphan's response to the earthquakes in Turkey. Make a donation to support Operation Orphan's response to the earthquakes in Turkey.

Head Teacher's Blog
10.02.23

This week, the Year 6 staff held a SATs parents meeting on Thursday evening. They went through the timetable for the week and looked at past SATs papers. They also talked about how parents can help their children at home and support that will be given in school for the children. The main emphasis as always is on the children doing their best and not feeling overwhelmed or anxious. The powerpoint from the meeting can be found on the website herehttps://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/the-lanes-primary-school/UploadedDocument/d6cbb219-8f82-43f1-afdb-4da507569179/year-6-sats-meeting.pdf
The Year 5 children put on a celebration assembly for parents and carers on Thursday. It was lovely and really showcased what the children have been learning. They shared work about Macbeth and performed a short play. They shared art work and ended with a rousing rendition of Living on a Prayer!
Cross country - Mrs Taylor and two of our governors, took a team of KS2 children to Wollaton Park for the inter schools cross country competition. The children all took part and did their best and 3 children placed in 5th, 6th and 7th. We are excited to say that we won the under 11 bronze award too.
Safer Internet Day – The children have completed lots of work around internet safety across school. All assemblies were also based on internet safety. We also incorporated resources from Children’s Mental Health week into our teaching.
Mrs Brown and Mrs Ireland went to the Nott Alone conference with two Year 5 School councillors on Friday morning. NottAlone Live is a free exclusive invite-only event as part of Children’s Mental Health Week (6-12th February 2023) They enjoyed guest speakers and workshops around being a leader, improving wellbeing through dance, art and music and developing strategies to deal with worry, friendships, bullying, transition and developing resilience More information can be found here. https://nottalone.org.uk/nottalonelive?a=yp The children (and adults) had a great time and we will be sharing the learning in school and using this to develop our provision around mental health.
The staff have been busy monitoring the curriculum in school and we have continued our work in the Triads on engagement. Mrs Wignell has been out of school on a Challenge Partners review and we will share any learning with staff after half term.
Have a lovely half term holiday and we will see you all again on Monday 20th February.

NottAlone Live | NottAlone If you are injured or have taken an overdose, Call 999 or go to A&E immediately. If you are having a mental health crisis, phone 0808 196 3779 to speak to a mental health professional 24/7

Head Teacher's Blog
03.02.23

On Monday Year 6 visited the National Holocaust Centre and I was lucky to be able to accompany them. We had a great day. The children learned about what life was like before and during the war for a Jewish child and heard a testimony from a Holocaust survivor. The children showed great respect during the visit and asked some great questions. This visit complemented the topic that the children are studying alongside the book ‘Once’. Here is the link to the journey exhibition and Leo’s story. https://journey.holocaust.org.uk/
The children were a real credit to school; they listened well, asked some great questions and showed respect and understanding.
The Senior Leadership team had a look at the children’s books this week as part of our monitoring in school. We were impressed with the progress that the children are making and how hard they are working. We will be giving feedback to the staff about the things that are going well and any areas for improvement.
Of course, this week saw the teachers strike by members of the NEU. Unfortunately, we had to shut 9 classes across school. This is not a decision that is taken lightly and we are all too aware of the impact that any school closure has on the children and families. There are plans for three more strike days in March – I hope that the dispute can be settled before then.
Next week we will be working on Safer Internet day and talking to the children about Children’s Mental Health week. Links to resources can be found on our website.

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27.01.23

Year 3 had a great time at Mount Cook this week on their Residential trip. The children and staff enjoyed lots of activities including den building, archery, fire lighting, an archaeological dig, a camp fire and Stone Age crafts. This trip added to their learning about the Stone Age and was also a chance to have a great time staying over with their friends. Thank you to the staff who accompanied them and to the children for representing our school so well.

Our staff meeting this week was run by the Computing team and introduced our new computing curriculum which will be rolled out in school during the rest of the year. The team will be monitoring how this is going and talking to the children about their experience in the summer term.

Next week our Year 6 children are visiting the National Holocaust Centre to add to their learning about WW2. We are also managing the strike by the NEU union and have unfortunately had to shut some classes on Wednesday 1st February. This is not a decision that any staff take easily as we all know that this will cause disruption to our families. However, the strike is in the context of funding and recruitment issues that have been building in the education sector for a number of years. We are all hopeful that the dispute can be resolved quickly for all concerned.

Head Teacher's Blog
20.01.23

This week we have been working hard in school as usual. Our assembly theme has been around the theme of what makes us unique and respecting difference. We have been talking to the children about being proud to be themselves and to respect others in our community.

One member of the Leadership Team visited a school in Leicester as part of the Challenge Partners programme. This is an amazing opportunity for key staff to go into another school and learn from other professionals as well as developing our own skills in observation, mentoring and leadership. We will be discussing any learning that we can take from this visit with staff.

The staff also worked with other schools this week as part of the Better Together Partnership. We attended workshops around engagement and collaboration in maths and English (run by our own staff) and workshops around science and oracy. Again, this is a great opportunity to learn from other schools but also to showcase what we do. The teachers are also continuing to work together on their research projects and are observing each other teach, developing new strategies to improve the experience for the children in class.

Year 5 took part in the Sleep workshop this week with MHST. Sleep is a real issue for many of our children and we are continuing to reinforce with them how important it is to get a good night’s sleep for their wellbeing and to aid their learning and concentration in school. The Year 6 classes have begun their DAart (Drug Awareness and Resilience) training with Life Education. This complements our RSHE curriculum and adds to our transition programme in school. It deals with drugs, alcohol, knife crime and how to deal with peer pressure among other things. It is facilitated by trained DAart officers and teachers are in the classroom to support the children.

Next week Year 3 are looking forward to their Residential trip to Mount Cook where they will be enjoying lots of activities to complement their Stone Age topic (as well as having a lovely time with their friends!) Year 6 will be doing their second practice SATs week too – they have all been working so hard and we are really proud of them.