Mornings
We have a few instances this week of children coming to school on their own in the morning and entering the farmer’s field next door. They appear to be entering the field to retrieve balls that have been kicked over the wall. As you can imagine the field is very wet and muddy at the moment and is also home to a bull. If your child is trusted to walk to school alone, please talk to them and warn them of the dangers as well as the hygiene issues caused by them trailing cow muck into school. We are very fortunate to have Mr Brettle who periodically goes into the field and not only does he retrieve the balls but he also washes them too, meaning that there is no risk to the children.
Governor Recruitment
The governors and I are very sad to be losing Mr Mayou from our governing body. Mr Mayou has served on the board as the Chair of the Business and Finance Committee. Mr Mayou has held this role for over 5 years and has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to our meetings. He has helped to oversee significant developments such as the investment and improvements made to ICT, the addition of our 4th classroom as well as many other building developments. Mr Mayou’s expertise and the fantastic support he has offered to myself and the school will certainly be missed. His spare time is limited, and with it he would like to explore new ventures, so we wish him the very best for the future and thank him for the significant part he has played in school development over recent years.
We are now left with a skills gap on our governing body and will need to recruit another member who has experience of leadership and management as well as a knowledge of business finance. If you feel you can offer the skills we need, or know someone else who could, please get in touch with myself or Mrs Brettle.
Resilience
In assembly this week, and at various other points with groups of children, I have been talking about resilience and how we interact with one another. We have had rather a lot of falling out on the playground recently and, whilst this is a typical part of children’s development, where they learn strategies that help them to get along with others and how to handle disagreements, we have had a few children who have become upset. The key messages that I am giving include, not putting themselves in situations that they know are going to cause them to be upset. Also, if another child says something to them that makes them feel upset, I have asked that they consider the following: whether they think this was done to intentionally upset them, was it a one off or does this happen frequently, have they told the child that their comments are hurtful and, have they spoken to an adult in school about it? I have sent out a Building Resilience poster for your information which sums up the way we approach developing resilience in school.
Climbing Competition
I am very happy to tell you that, for the first time ever, LAMPS has competed in a climbing competition. The initial round was against all Furness schools, large and small, and took place at Furness Academy. Each school was able to bring 4 competitors who would then aim to scale the climbing wall in the fastest time. Our children (Theo, Frazier, Imogen and Zara) were amazing LAMPS came 1st out of 22 other schools. A grand final was then held this week at Kepplewray where the top 6 schools competed. This time the children had to tackle a 60ft tree in challenging weather conditions. Again, our pupils were outstanding and we came out on top with Imogen achieving the fastest score of all girls and the second fastest score overall! As you can imagine, this is not a competition that we could train them for, or even assess their skills, so our team was chosen for their sporting passion, commitment and perseverance. Qualities that are present in so many of our pupils, it is a shame we could not take more than four.
Sponsorship
We are very lucky to have received some sponsor money from SOA Safety. They have provided us with 16 new Key Stage 2 tracksuits to be worn by any children attending sports events. We will be showcasing them at the Gymnastics competition taking place on Friday next week. Thank you to SOA Safety for offering this fantastic support to our school.
Achievements
Diary Dates
These are useful dates for your diary that will be added to each week. More information about each event will be provided nearer the time. New dates are highlighted, changes to any date/time are in red.
| Date | Event |
| 06-02-2020 | Dance Teacher in to work with Class 3 and Class 4 |
| 07-02-2020 | Cumbria Cricket working with Year 1 and Year 2 |
| 05-02-2020 | Jester for Jesus Assembly |
| 05-02-2020 | Siemens Workshop – Class 1 and 2 |
| 06-02-2020 | KS1 Ulverston Voices |
| 07-02-2020 | Year 5/6 visit to Dowdales to watch Aladdin |
| 07-02-2020 | Key Steps Gym Comp @ Dowdales, selected pupils |
| 11-02-2020 | Dance Workshop @ UVHS – Class 3 and Class 4 |
| 12-02-2020 | Siemens Workshop – Class 3 and 4 |
| 14-02-2020 | Finish for half term break |
| 14-02-2020 | Valentine’s Disco, Buccleuch Hall |
| 24-02-2020 | Return to school |
| 25-02-2020 | Year 5 Language session @ Dowdales |