Dear Parents and Carers,

We have already reached the end the first half-term of this academic year and I know the staff and children are ready for a rest. Each year we hit the ground running and the half-term break gives us a chance to stop, reflect on the past seven weeks and get ready for the run up to Christmas, another busy time of year in a primary school. It is also my favourite time of year and love working here through December!

Parent's Evening

Thank you to everyone who made an appointment and attended parent's evening this week. Speaking to the teachers, I know they felt positive and constructive conversations took place and we continue to work in partnership to help the children of Orton Wistow see success and make progress. 

Year 3 Family Learning

Thank you to all the adults/parents who came to Year 3s Family Learning last Thursday. As learning timetables is so important, our Family Learning was focused on a new scheme we are following: Number Sense. We introduced the first lesson of the two times tables and the importance of building the rapid fluency in answering the multiplication questions and their inverse operations. Within this two times table unit, the children will build on their doubles knowledge and begin to learn their 36 essential facts, as well as being challenged in reasoning questions. As always, it was great to see so many adults there to support their children in the learning and we hope you found it beneficial to know some of the methods we use in school and how you can support at home.

Staff Professional Day - 30^th October     

We have five professional days each year in school (they were called Baker days or Teacher Training days when I was a student) and the OWN Trust use two of these to get staff altogether from the three schools. After half-term, all teaching staff from Orton Wistow, Nene Valley and Woodston will spend the day at our school focussing on developing leadership skills. All teachers, other than ECTs (Early Career Teachers), lead a subject in school and several will be part of the senior leadership team. The support staff from the three schools will spend the day at Woodston Primary School focussing on OAP (Ordinarily Available Provision). This will help them to support all children effectively in the classroom. 

Whatever you are planning to do over the next ten days, I hope you make the most of the time together and find time to rest and relax before returning to school on Tuesday 31^st October. 

Thank you all for your continued support this half-term.

Mr. Marks

Headteacher

^{Photo by Marion Botella on Unsplash}