January 2020

Welcome Back Blog...

Happy New Year to all and welcome back to school for 2020 and the start of the Spring Term. The new playground equipment has embedded into school life now, and from visiting school before, during and at the end of the school day, is a clear hit with the children. The staff assess the equipment daily for potential risks and to ensure that the equipment is fit for use. Additionally, parents will not be discouraged from allowing their children on the equipment before and after school, under parental supervision.

SRB Consultation

There is still time (deadline = 4th Feb 2020) to have your say on the proposal to have a Specialist Resource Base for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at Drake Primary School. An SRB at Drake will ensure children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) are supported locally and increase inclusion at school. Please see Parent Hub for more details including dates of consultation events and links to Norfolk County Council's website.

Parent Governor Vacancies

Thanks to all those that have expressed interest and/or have looked into the possibility of joining the governing body at Drake as a parent governor. As a team we meet half-termly to receive updates and to discuss and plan strategic issues relating to the school and Little Pirates. The role is more than just meetings, however, and any new recruits will be expected to attend governor training and undertake monitoring of certain aspects of statutory/curriculum related school life. We look forward to welcoming all new additions to our, presently, petite team, very soon!

More Music!

Following a massively successful first term of children receiving lessons to play musical instruments, and more than a term of Mrs Rosen enthusiastically prophesizing a school orchestra, it is finally in the making! It really is a pleasure to see, during my visits around school, the passion for music which resonates down from Mrs Rosen, Mrs Booth and team to the children.

Working in Partnership

I meet with Mrs Rosen fortnightly to discuss all things relating to Drake & Little Pirates, which can coincide with interviewing new staff, monitoring behaviour or something in/from the curriculum, and discussing any concerns raised by parents, the community or myself!

It is important that relationships between school and stakeholders remains transparent and open, and that concerns can be raised freely either way as often resolutions/compromises can be sought, which actually serves to benefit the wider school community. An example of which can be seen from the extensive Forest schools page, where concerns from parents were raised to staff and this has prompted wider collaboration with the Local Authority to research the local area, which will prove educational for all children that enjoy the forest school spaces and curriculum - Take a look!

Thats all for January. Thanks again for reading

Carly

CoG