Thursday 16th June

As usual we had a very busy day.  It started off with a Year 6 meeting for those parents that wanted to view the SRE materials before their children.  Attendance at the meeting has been about average for all of these meetings as many of the parents have viewed the material before having had other children in other years.
We were also fortunate to welcome Class 8 from the Infants to come and look around the Juniors.  We know it is often daunting moving from one environment to another, especially as we go up into the sky rather than spread out like the Infants.  I would say that the children were brilliant.  They were very confident in their approach and they all enjoyed having a good look around the school.  Well done to the Year 3's for conducting such marvellous tours of the school.

Write more soon

Wednesday 15th June

Today started of a little depressingly, I attended a meeting held by the local schools about how we can all support each other over the next few years, this however is a new and exciting direction, as collaborative learning rather than competitive learning across the schools will help and support the children in Sheldon and Acocks Green.  It will also be a great opportunity to harness the teaching talents that we have in local area.  What do they say, 'Two heads are better than one.'  Well in this case it was around 15 Heads.  I suppose the depressing part is the current state of our authority.  Being the second largest city in the country really is something to boast about, however with the restructuring of the authority and the loss of jobs due to cutbacks in funding and the need to save money it does feel like this city is in limbo.

However, that does not prevent us from doing all the exciting things in school.  I arrived back into school to be greeted with the sound of music, no literally it was the sound of music.  I could hear the sound of Doe a deer permeating from the building and that was enough to cheer me up straight away.  It just goes to show that working in a school really is rewarding as well as frustrating some days.

Today marked the start of our School Development Plan.  This gives us a chance to look at the school and what we have achieved as well as where we need to go next.  Tonight gave the teachers the opportunity to express their opinions on the four key areas within the school.  We structure our work around Teaching and learning (curriculum), Ethos, Buildings and Leadership and Management.  This gives the staff the opportunity to air their opinions and therefore contribute to the development of the school.

Over the next half term, the children and parents will be given the opportunity to express their opinions of the school.  Whilst opinions are usually positive, I am and have always been open to opinions that are negative.  We always can improve!  Whilst we sometimes can't provide the children with everything that they want for example, skateboard parks and swimming pools.  I believe that the children of Lyndon Green Juniors have a very large say in the development of this school and are given some exciting opportunities to enhance their learning as well as their social skills.  We hope that they build up a bank of memories that they can take away with them in the future.

Wow I have gone on a bit...

Tuesday 14th June

Well, where does the time go.  We are now well on out way to then end of the school year and school is working at its maximum, the children of Years 3, 4 and 5 have been working hard on their tests over the last two weeks, whilst the Year 6 children have started their work on this years production. 

The production this year will be BUGSY MALONE.  It really is a blast from the past, and I am sure that many of you will recognise lots of the songs.

This week we are conducting our SRE viewings across the school, allowing parents the chance to view the materials before their own children do.

I will be completing the essential dates list today and hope to have uploaded them onto the website as well as on this blog.

Well this is a brief post as a welcome back but I aim to put more on later on in the day 

Look how far we have come edition

Well today is April Fools day, so many children tried to catch me out, but as my Gran once said, 'you cannot kid a kidder.'  Nice try everyone.

As usual, school has been incredibly busy and I will upload some images from the week that show what we have been up to in school.

As usual a buildings update

 From flat pack to furniture, magic! I'm sure CPM didn't think it was magic

You can see the library beginning to take shape.  Blinds are to fitted next week and then the books are going to be sorted when we come back after Easter.  You can see the pile of boxes in the corner, they contain all the new library books.  We really cannot wait to open them and show them to the children, it is like Christmas all rolled into one.


This week has seen the Year 4 Egypt day in full swing and I'm sure their were a lot of mummies who were busy creating costumes(see what I did) so that their children could take full part in the day.  Lots of cooking and fun ensued.  Today Class 4C completed their Egypt assembly, it was fabulous and as I said at the time my new favourite words will be kerfuffle and Jackal headed mother in law.  I wonder if I could get away with that one.  Images below are from the Egypt Day and show the three classes in full costume.

Can you spot the teacher?

Some super posing, I'm sure I can see Howard Carter there somewhere.

Walk like an Egyptian.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and a Happy Mothers Day.  I hope the daffodils get home in one piece.
Mr. Rothwell

Wednesday 30th March

An interesting start to the week,and a few peculiar looking adults and children in the school. The main reason for this was the annual Year 4 Egyptian day. I will hope to upload some images for you tomorrow once I have checked them all for clearance. The Allen keys came in handy as CPM builders (name check, surely it is worth some money off the bill) have been very busy and if you take a peek through the windows you will see the assembled furniture. The books are due to be sorted out for the library on the first day back after the Easter holiday. The technology for the library has also been arriving in dribs and drabs. It will look fantastic when it has been finished. If you remember the old Fun Factory, then you will not recognise the room anymore. It is my haven when I need some peace and quiet.

Staff completed their annual epi-pen and asthma training tonight. Even though it is an annual training session, it does not lose it's importance due to the amount of children that we encounter these days with severe allergies and asthma. We hope the skills that they were reminded of this evening will never have to be used.

I will hope to upload lots of pictures tomorrow for you to see. Don't forget to check out the front page of the website where there are details of events for families around Birmingham over Easter as well as free swimming for Years 5 and 6

Friday 25th March - The allen key edition

Work continues in school, with the arrival of the furniture for the new library.  The pictures below demonstrate why this edition of the blog is dedicated to the allen key.

As you can see just a few parcels.  We are coming to the end of the week in school and as usual it is a busy Friday.  Class 4F have completed their class assembly, newsletter has already gone to print and is about to be uploaded for the week.  The children are enjoying the Spring sunshine, it makes coming to school very easy when the weather is like this.

We have two weeks left before the Easter holidays but we still have lots to finish before the end of term.
I hope everyone has a super weekend, don't forget to put your clocks forward.  The last words and picture goes to Maisy and her family.  Good luck in New Zealand.

Thursday 24th March

Lots happening this week in school, with building work nearing completion and lots of activities taking place in and out of school.

Firstly as I type this blog, we are awaiting the arrival of all the furniture for the school library, it really is an exciting time because like children we want things done as quickly as we can to see the immediate results.  The new Year 3 corridor is coming to a completion and we hope to start moving the furniture back into the 3 new workspaces that we have created.  Here is a quick picture of how they look at the moment.

In terms of school events, the children of Year 6 have been visiting the library this week, they have been returning with arm loads of goodies ranging from CD's to magazines.  I just hope they remember to return everything when the loan is up.

In sporting events, we sent two teams to represent the school at the Gateway Cluster Football event, look what they came back with:

Both of our teams managed to get to the semi-final, where unfortunately they played each other.  The final was a dramatic affair that eventually went to penalties.  After a tense shootout, I can declare that Lyndon Green were the eventual winners.  Well done to everyone that played,as usual they represented the school superbly.  More details can be found in this weeks newsletter, which will be uploaded tomorrow.