Dear parents/carers,
As we enter the end of our Easter break, we are now moving into our last term of the academic year after what has been a very short but jam-packed spring. Over the last three months, in addition to the continuous day-to-day teaching and learning, the staff worked tirelessly to provide a wide range of opportunities that would support all our children to challenge and express themselves in various ways.
Rather than try and detail each one, as this would lead to an extremely long letter, I thought it would be nice to give an overview of what was scheduled over the last 11 weeks:
- 9 sports related clubs and 8 non-sports related clubs organised for children across KS1 and KS2 on a weekly basis
- Participation in 15 sporting events/competitions (winning 9 of these)
- The choir and a dance group performing at the International Glass House for two Gateshead festivals
- Two evenings of Harlow Green’s Got Talent, with children from across KS1 and KS2 performing to large audiences
- A number of educational visits including Year 1 to Beamish and Year 4 Wharton Park, Durham.
- A number of visitors within school supporting the curriculum, such as the police, a professional chef, and a Stone Age focused historian
- A three-day visit from a professional author following on from celebrating World Book Day
- Supporting charity through a day of Comic Relief
- An Easter Egg competition
As I am sure families can imagine, staff have been exhausted by the time we have reached the Easter break, due to the hours given to supporting children during early mornings, late nights and at weekends. However, what I hope is clear, is the shared vision demonstrated by our full staff team, who understand what it means to work at Harlow Green in support of our children and their community. To achieve what we do, there is a determination that we will provide a wide range of positive experiences that will engage children and support them to be enthusiastic about learning. Subsequently, whenever anything is organised, staff from across school have their role and responsibility in managing the processes required to organise and implement successfully.
From the regular comments and messages we receive, we know that our offer is appreciated greatly by families because they see that school is more than a journey towards exams at the end of Year 6. We have a strength in our community, between school and home, with a shared understanding that academic progress in maths and English is important, but only alongside development across all subjects and with an emphasis on personal development.
The fantastic support we receive from parents/carers is essential in all that we attempt to do. Ensuring that children attend school every day and are ready for all the opportunities and challenges we provide, is key in preparing them for the inevitable transition to secondary school, after the relatively short time they will be with us. High levels of attendance is an initial measure of a child’s current and future success, supporting them to be focused and resilient individuals who are able to thrive in the world around them. At Harlow Green, we have the pleasure of seeing hundreds of children skipping into school with smiles on their faces, having been provided with the love and support from their adults, who understand the need for positive relationships and clear boundaries that allows them to access school with confidence and enthusiasm. For this, we are always immensely grateful.
As we move into the summer term, there will be no respite from our exciting curriculum offer. We are determined that this will happen in amongst the national assessments of phonics (Year 1 and Year 2), multiplication tables check (Year 4) and the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6). We are, of course, hoping that our events may actually be supported by some better weather, so that our community can come together through outdoor events, with the sun shining down upon us.
Whatever our summer weather brings, we look forward to working with all our families to continue to make Harlow Green a school to be proud of, and where all of us, along with our children, are able to grow happy, healthy and successful, together.
Kind Regards,
Mr M. Malik
HEAD TEACHER
