I keep mentioning our website (sorry to be a bore) but it is now flourishing under Mrs Saeed’s expert eye and as a result of her tireless efforts. I have recently drawn your attention to both the ‘Curriculum’ and ‘Important Information’ tabs as useful sources of information for parents about how we teach and how you might support your children at home. I need to put a word in now for our blogs which are now all up and running. There are blogs for each class and for myself, writing and values. Ultimately we want our pupils blogging their writing –this to give them a wider audience and plentiful feedback. I have seen this working brilliantly in a few schools- with children becoming highly motivated writers as a result. Essentially we have to accept that another blogger’s opinion in say Australia is far more exciting and engaging than just teacher and peer feedback day in day out – however well given. We are not yet ready to make this leap and our commitment to blogging class news is partly by way of preparation for the leap when it comes. However, thus far, where it has worked well our class blogs have proved very positive – not least because they give parents a window into what goes on in school and pupils the chance to show off what they have done. And yet, in most cases, we are still missing a vital ingredient: your comments. We can write away, all the time assuming and hoping that people are reading the blogs, but blogging really relies on feedback, and this means your comments. The staff crave them to help justify time spent preparing the blogs but of course they also means a great deal to the pupils themselves. So I am here making a plea to all of you out there in the ether- parents, governors and pupils alike- to make sure you look at the blogs and that you comment when you look. And of course, the more you comment the more the blog will be updated- and hey presto we will have a well-rounded, reciprocal relationship developing beautifully across cyber space.
N Moss