January to November  2012 - Consolidation & Growth

(Rachel Welch, Head, 12th January 2012)

Bubble and Squeak, our two Guinea Pigs... one of our boys here, who has got about eleven at home and loves them, asked if we could have pets here at school, and so every day he chooses someone to come in with him and he feeds them.... Last year we had a competition to design a ‘garden’ and two of the children produced this winning entry. At the bottom is our outdoor classroom and they want a pond and bird-feeders and even a banana tree! ....We do have a small garden area out there where we have grown sunflowers and some vegetables.  

(training to become an Ofsted Inspector) .... Everything we have to do today has to have an impact on the children, every minute of every lesson is important and they should be learning something all the time. I think we have more pressure today because we have government targets to reach and especially when you have smaller groups, it only needs one or two children away to make it to bring the percentages down

(School Improvement Plan - four key points)  Yes we have four new ones: improve standards and achievements in writing, the same in mathematics, improve teaching and learning from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’, and to promote Waterman in the community, which includes working with parents – what we can offer them and what they can offer us.  

We achieved the Basic Skills Award and Bruce was working on the Healthy Schools Award, which we have just been awarded, which looks at well-being as well as physical activities and promoting healthy school dinners and so on.... We also have a partner school in Kenya now, which Bruce is working with and of course we recently Skyped with pen friends in New Zealand.  

(the breakfast club)  We have about fifteen children who come regularly to that, and it not only helps ease them into the school day, it helps parents who may have to go out to work.  We provide cereals and toast and drinks and we’re encouraging them to serve themselves more now, with some of the older children helping the younger children. They have activities as well. We have a Wii, a football table and a Pool table and various table-top creative things for them to do and the older ones like it especially, because it is a nice social time. One of our mid-day ladies oversees it.

Bruce McMillan, assistant head, at 26th January 2012  

We have applied to the British Council for what is reciprocal funding, we’ve been given initial funding, to build ties with a school in Kenya and we’ve got some teachers coming over in April, and they’ll spend some time here....  The school we’re partnering up with is in Kavengero  which is right on the Equator, and that school has some 500 pupils, and we’ll be building ties with them. We recently did a big display here in school with photos from there to start catching the children’s interest..... we’ve also been Skyping a school in New Zealand. ..... They’re a little bigger with about a hundred pupils. They wrote letters to us and we’ve done some back creating pen friends, and then just before Christmas my class stayed back for pizza and chips and then at 8.30pm when they were arriving at school in New Zealand we had an hour with them on Skype which we were able to display up on a big white board and see the eight pupils at the other end.   

Rachel Welch, Head, 10th May 2012

(on completing in the marathon)  I don’t think we could have done much more to prepare. .... There are three zones. We were in the red zone which I think was for novices, and there was a blue zone for I think celebrities,   and then there is the green zone for people who have run it before, I think. One of the zones had the fun runners in, those in costumes etc. ... all the charity stalls are there, so we saw the Guide Dog stand and they had a sensory tunnel to go through (to simulate blindness), completely blacked out so you are feeling your way with all different sensations and sounds and that was really good, getting you in the mood.... Yes, Brian and I did raise just over £4000 this year, but it’s just another pressure isn’t it, remembering to send e-mails out to people reminding them to sponsor you..... The weather prediction said it was supposed to be really wet and everybody was dressed in clothes for that weather, and I had a long sleeved top on, but it was really sunny and warm and so it was quite hot,....  I found it quite frustrating because on our training runs we had been on our own and then suddenly you had people all around you and particularly towards the end they start stopping and walking because they are tired as well, and they stop right in front of you so you are constantly watching what other people are doing..... when you get to the end they cut the chip off you and you have your photo taken with your medal. In my case you look for the Guide Dog stand and they take you off and they actually must have hired a building nearby and there they provided us with sandwiches and a massage.

Rachel Welch, Head 10th May 2012

We’re very pleased to have a new Chair of Governors. I had talked with Debbie a couple of times because she’s now supporting another school in Basildon and so time was really restricted for her and she felt she wasn’t giving the role any longer what it needed.... we had had a couple of people enquire about being a Governor and Alan came and looked round and said he would like to be a Governor.

We’ve been having help from Dave Patmore of the Allotment Association.... a part of our partnership with Kenya is to develop something that is between the two schools, that both are doing.... We had an e-mail from Wendy who is part of the Allotment Association so she came with Dave and we said how good this was tying in with our Kenya Project. They said they could donate compost and plants for our raised beds..... we said there were two other things we’ve wanted to do for a long time. One was to develop the garden area around the outside of the outdoor classroom  and the children had drawn a plan and had wanted a pond.... we have a field out the back that we call the Meadow and it’s just a bit of land that’s got nothing in it really, and I’d contacted people like Watt Tyler Park to see if we could have a pond put in there instead because it’s more out of the way and would be more of a wild-life pond. .... Dave came and had a look and got excited about both of those projects and it’s grown from there really.   They came down with the plants and compost while Francis, the head teacher from Kenya was here, and then Dave has drawn up a plan for the new garden around the outdoor classroom.  My idea had been to have a sensory garden because it fitted in with the Guide Dog for the Blind charity that we had been raising money for.

Alan Sparks, recently appointed Chair of Governors (28th  May 2012)

I was shown round the school and I liked what I saw and felt it was the type of school that I wanted and so asked if I could become a governor here. I attended my first meeting just as an observer and was elected on at the end of the meeting.  I could actually see that we needed more experience in the governing body. I told Rachel at the end of the meeting that I would be anything but the Chair but in the end said I would do it. ..... Rachel is doing some absolutely stunning work here and so is all the staff. They are all a team. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the head teacher or a midday assistant or washing up in the kitchen, it’s all part of the Waterman team, and there’s going to be lots of exciting things happening here next year. I think we’ll have a really good governing body and often the difference between having a ‘Good’ Ofsted and an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted is the strength of the governing body.  I’ve only been at the school five minutes but I’m already very proud of it

Rachel Welch, Head.  Nov 28th 2012

There’s lots of talk around about schools becoming Academies. Our SATS results were really very good in the summer, so we’re doing well. .....  I continue to do some work for the local authority so I continue to do some LA Reviews etc. in schools, and I go in there with a bit more confidence now. .... I’m obviously more aware of the process and what will happen and what they are looking for, but the flip side of that is that I am more nervous about it because I know what it should be like!  It means that the staff are more aware of it as well. ..... I think the staff probably feel more confident that I’m here and I’m part of that. I think it’s a selling point for the school as well. When we had our Open Day and parents came in for children to start in September, it came out then and adds a bit more credibility to the school.  The problem is that we’re already full for our intake and we’re showing round people but we haven't got the spaces which is really sad.  We have the potential to grow but not the space. When I get the final bit done of my training it will start bringing income into the school and also it’s good for Kelly, our deputy, because when I’m not here it gives her more experience.  There are lots of things changing and so it’s all about what happens next.  

We’ve set up a School Council which is something we’ve never done before. We have three children from each class. In the older class we had to have a vote because so many of them wanted to be part of it.  Part of it is that they tell us things they want and we’ve done quite a number of things already that they asked for.  

Time Travellers’ Nativity or “Who”: A Christmas Production - Dec 2012  

At the end I chatted with one Mum who said, “I thought it was really good. All the kids were really good and it took a lot of guts to get up there all on their own.” I enquired if her son had been practising much at home.  “No, he wanted to keep it a secret from us. We’ve only moved here fairly recently, but he loves it here and he’s getting on really well and is doing a lot better than in his previous school.  And this has been really good.”  

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Quotes from 2010 to 2013 at Waterman Primary School (Continued)

To return to the first page, from the Oct 2010 to July 2011 (Out of Special Measures) CLICK HERE

This SECOND page takes us from Jan to Nov 2012, (Consolidation & Growth)

To continue to the THIRD page,  from Mar 2013 to Nov 2013  (Ofsted, Changes & Being Stretched)  CLICK HERE