Christmas 1914
The day started with a wonderful performance of ‘Christmas 1914’ by The Players and The Year 3 choir. The hall was full of proud parents and families and the songs of yesteryear rang out through the hall, with an emotional rendition of Silent Night in German by 4 boys. Afterwards, one Grandparent told me this was the best performance she had seen from any of her 8 grandchildren over the years and one Grandfather was astounded by the children’s clear speech and enthusiastic singing within the emotional context of World War I. How proud we all were of the children and staff!
After the performance I visited the classrooms around school and took part in two English lessons, one in Year 2 and the other in Year 6, dropping into a writing intervention group on the way in Year 4. During these three lessons I was impressed with the improvement of vocabulary being used in the spoken form and also in the written form by the children. Along with this was the focus and drive the children had to do the best they could, to improve their writing and to take on board feedback so positively- real evidence of the positive behaviour for learning that exists across school. Later in the day I took the time to see the art outcomes from the class Christmas cards and calendars and it was great to see a variety of fine art using powder paint and watercolours across school.
The afternoon was a dress rehearsal of the KS1 Christmas performance which brought a tear to my eye as the youngest of children retold their stories and aspects of their learning, singing their songs with pride and in such a clear way. This will definitely be a success on Monday and Tuesday when the children perform to families and friends.
With 5 school days remaining before the end of term it is such a privilege to see the children working so hard across the curriculum and staff teaching to their normal high standard. I look forward to the remaining days in school before the Christmas break to continue to see the great teaching and learning taking place across all year groups.