LITCHAM			NORFOLK		LAUNDITCH HUNDRED B   R  E  C   K  L  A  N   D
	VILLAGE PAGES	PARISH COUNCIL	CHURCH	SHOPS ETC...	YELLOW PAGES	THE COMMON	GENERAL INFORMATION
	NEWS	MEETINGS	THE COUNCIL	PLANNING	ACCOUNTS	INFORMATION	ARCHIVES

 3 BACK TO REPORT LIST

I am pleased to provide the following report of school events from January 2005 which is when I took over as Headteacher. The school sends news every month to the Parish Magazine and this would be a good source to use to fill in the gap from May to December 2004.
· Pupil numbers have increased since I arrived by 4 boys and we are presently a school of 96 with 2 more boys to start before the end of May.
· The school remains very popular with local families, and we have maintained the strong support of parents and other local community members, and they continue to be very effective ambassadors for the school!
· However several families from Castle Acre who elected to come to us will now not be coming to us, as the First School there will be a Primary from September.
· Unfortunately the proposed move by Litcham Playgroup to move onto our site did not take place.
· Our recent Ofsted Inspection in February took the school out of the category of an Underachieving School and we are now seen as an Improving School. The school was featured in The Lynn News, The Dereham Times and the EDP with very favourable write ups.
· Our pupil attendance remains above the national average, and pupils have maintained their self-discipline and positive motivation towards all areas of leaming.

Farewells; Our governor Mrs. Howes has resigned due to family and work commitments, Mrs. Kirsten Stibbon has resigned from her full time teaching post with us to care for her new baby son Huey. However she does work in the school Thursday mornings on a voluntary basis. Ms Sarah Hotness decided she did not want to continue working in Class I this term so Mrs Fay Swann was appointed to work alongside Mrs. Mitchell-Finnigan in Class 1. The later two teachers both have temporary contracts covering Mrs Stibbons' maternity leave. We shall be very sorry to lose both them. Graham Hampton who was appointed to teach 40% in Class 4 also decided to leave for personal reasons.
Welcomes; Mr Michael Nodes was appointed as the Class 3 teacher in January. He is an ICT Specialist. Miss. Alana Davies has been appointed to be the Class I teacher from September. The school has also made two further temporary appointments this term, Mrs. Zeta Wright as a Classroom Assistant and Ms. Nita White as Special Needs Teaching Assistant. In September we will also welcome Mr. Karl Dickerson as our P.E. Instructor one day a week, he will enable the school to give Class Teachers the 10% time awarded for planning, preparation and assessment by the government; known as PPA time. Hopefully we shall also gain a cleaner this term to work alongside Gary Fulcher our caretaker. Our school kitchen has also employed Mrs. Firmin for an hour every day.

· The school is currently advertising for a Music teacher and or a Modem Foreign Language Specialist to work in the school for a day to give further PPA time to Teaching Staff.
· Events Once again we entered the "Yellow Pages" recycling competition and are also presently collecting mobile phones and empty ink cartridges for recycling. For one day only we shall be collecting clothes too for recycling. Years 4 & 5 have taken part in an Energy Busters programme in a bid to lower the school's electricity bill as well as learn about all forms of energy. They visited the Forum in Norwich to demonstrate how wind turbines work and joined in celebrating Norfolk excellence in education. Class I pupils are soon to take part in a six week pilot at Houghton Hall entitled 'Forest schools'. They have recently enjoyed a Road safety programme. Class 3 & 4 have visited Litcham High School on two occasions to see 'Inspire', from Norwich give talks on Energy and Forces. Once again Year 6 enjoyed a residential trip to Horstead Conference Centre.
· This year we entered two teams of Year 5 & 6 pupils in the local heat of the K'nex Young Engineers challenge, and for the first time a team went through to the Norfolk final in Norwich.
· Pupils of all ages have been able to take part in after school music and art workshops.
· The Clubs offered last term and this have been Film and Dance. Premier Soccer coaching sessions were cancelled due to only a few children wanting to attend.
· The School Travel Plan was completed and submitted last term and we have been awarded a grant of about £ 5,000. Cycling proficiency will again be offered to children in years 5 & 6.
· Visitors to school include Rev. Boston (half termly assemblies) and Mark Barrett (School Sports partnership) and Karl Dickerson (Premier Soccer). The pupils have also enjoyed a production of Joseph by 'Alligator' and had an informative session on Tudor Music.
· The pupils have raised money for the following charities Lepra £296.99 following a sponsored workout, UNICEF, the Tsunami Appeal £78.15 Red Nose Day £129.02 where the children paid to be out of their uniform for the day. I am amazed at the generosity in the school community.
· Our Friends have planned a number of events for this term, a Beetle Drive, a School Fete and a Disco at the end of term. They have also conducted a Uniform Survey for the School and in future further items of clothing will be available in September. The colour is to remain the same but the new range will carry a logo designed by the children,
· Our Playground Angels have continued to watch over the playground for us at break and lunchtime. In January a School Council was formed, the present Council is made up of two Playground Angels and two members from each class. It was decided that Council representatives will serve for two terms. Recently they have been involved in the appointment of Full Time staff and successfully campaigned for School Discos and drinking water being available in classrooms. They have also asked for reading partners in a different class, which will be trialled this term and written to the school governors pointing out improvements that could be made to the building. 'Golden Time' is also high on their list of wants.
· Finally the school is hoping to provide a breakfast club; an after school club every night as well a holiday play scheme to further serve its community from September.

Yours sincerely, Christine Watts
Headteacher, May 3rd 2005