The preparations for the new school year have been going on throughout the summer holidays and days have been spent painting areas in and around school. One such day is quite memorable because it involved a hen ( which then turned into two more hens) and quite an unexpectedly longer day than planned.

The sun was shining and Mr Gilmour and I had enjoyed a hobby, of which I call titivating outdoor areas. Covered in brown and blue paint and resembling a scarecrow, it was about 6.00pm and all was well with the world. The EYFS outdoor area had a good trim and a lick of paint but it had reached the point where I couldn’t do any more that day.

Earlier on, I spotted a large hen on our school field and, obviously,  it was coming back to my house because it looked in need of a bit of TLC. Firstly, I had popped over the road to our neighbours to see if the hen belonged to them and our new friends ‘babysat’ the hen with seed and mealworm until we worked out a plan of reuniting the hen with it’s owners…nobody knew anything about the hen but it had been spotted wandering around our school area for a few days.

Mr Gilmour has a very small car, not fit to carry animals. Nevertheless, it was absolutely necessary for the hen and I to go in the passenger seat in his car to be ferried round to neighbouring farms and we actually found where the hen lived and it had been missing for a few days…job done.

At the end of the same day, the day I resembled a scarecrow, I got into my own car ready to go home when heard a familiar sound. It was definitely a chicken! Not only did we then try our best to capture one chicken but there was another one in another bush and they did not want to be caught! It is amazing how fast chickens can be and we ended up in another neighbour’s garden! Mr Gilmour had tried to set off home but I had waved to him to stop and it took another half hour coaxing the birds into the same area. In the end, Mr Gilmour drove back to the farm to inform them. We haven’t seen the chickens since and I presume all are reunited in the coup!

One of the things you miss when you enter the leadership team is teaching full time but it is great because you are still involved in shaping teaching and learning.

Last Wednesday, we were talking with Mr Warrilow and his plans for The Iron Man by Ted Huges topic. Obviously,  you need an iron man and metal parts and I mean HUGE parts to create a sense of awe and wonder. I know the photographs have been shared on Seesaw; we want to thank John Robsons for their support in helping us acquire our Iron Man to help launch our topic!

Children have enjoyed swimming and our first choir sessions. Spanish and music lessons are going incredibly well, with the children really engaged in learning – I know you have seen videos on Seesaw from some of our music and Spanish lessons. We are also in the process of organising the children to take on the role mini club leaders over lunch times and it is humbling to see how our older children care for and interact with the younger children in our school. What a wonderful school family we have and we are thrilled to have such an exciting start to our year.

Other clubs started last week also – Mrs. Byrne is running a Growing and Gardening Club with Class 1, the children are loving the planting activities in our Outdoor EYFS area. Mr. Warrilow is enjoying helping the children get to grips with the iPads, as they create iMovies that are destined for the website – watch this space! Mrs. Jennings is running a art and design club, where the children have been collaging portraits and creating Florence Nightingale lamps! And, we are very happy to welcome back Fleetwood Town Community Trust. They are back in school supporting teachers with PE lessons and they are also running a multi-skills club for KS2 children after school – IT IS GREAT TO BE BACK!