Congratulations to all the fantastic speller who showed off their talents at the Spelling Bee yesterday evening, hosted by St Gabriel’s College. Teams from St John’s Angell Town, Loughborough, St John Divine and Jessop primaries competed in spelling rounds – mastering some tough words which showed just how complicated the English language is!
St Gabriel’s year 7 competitors started the evening and we also heard some original poetry from a year 8 student.
All the children showed great skills, but the over all team winners were Loughborough Primary School.
Thanks to everyone who took part and especially to St Gabriel’s staff for organising the event.
Looking forward to next year!
Latest News
BLC Maths Olympiad at Jessop Primary School
Follow the link to hear about our recent Primary Maths Olympiad
http://www.jessopprimary.org.uk/News/Maths-Olympiad-Competition/
BLC Headteachers planning day
The Headteachers from our cluster took a day to plan for 2017-18 yesterday. Schools had put forward priorities from their School Development Plans that they would like to work on with other schools. The Heads analysed these priorities and drew up action plans to drive in 2 areas: on Marking and on Identifying and Supporting our Able Children. Thanks to Sonia Gill from Heads Up for facilitating a very productive day.
Looking forward to our Maths challenge this week hosted by Jessop Primary
Our schools are gearing up for the Maths challenge this week, hosted by Jessop Primary. Teams from year 1 – year 6 will be taking part. Buzzers, banners, badges and trophies are on the way and we are looking forward to it!
BLC year 6 and year 7 teacher exchange on English teaching
Teachers from our year 6 primaries met with secondary teachers from St Gabriel’s College last week to discuss transition in English, to moderate books and learn more about each other’s work.
One observation made was how there is strong emphasis on writing skills in KS2 whilst there is strong emphasis on reading in KS3 and 4 with a 75% weighting on GCSE reading skills. Transition needs to be smoother from year 6 to year 7 to gradually introduce difficult reading skills and not lose the quality of the writing established in KS2.
For example, why did you choose to use that simile in your own creative writing? What view is the writer of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ expressing about WW2?
In BLC we are committed to working across phases to support pupils transition through school.
EYFS forum meeting – STEM and Outdoor Learning
Thus week Hill Mead Primary kindly hosted our termly EYFS forum meeting where the topic under discussion was STEM and Outdoor Learning. Our schools shared ideas on what their children have got excited about and made some notes on powerpoint to share with colleagues.
Photography for literacy learning at Christ Church SW9
This morning 11 parents from the Reception class at Christ Church joined the children for their final workshop session with Fotosynthesis who have been developing the children’s literacy skills through photography. The parents worked with groups of children, taking photos and developing stories. The Fotosynthesis team encouraged the parents to think about using photographs to make up stories in a similar way at home – on a walk in the park, to the shops or indoors. Parents remarked on how creative the children were at making up their own stories – something to really build on at home.
BLC steering group meeting
Last week our steering group of senior leaders in our schools, met to review our activities during the year. Highlights have includes the chance to do writing moderations from year 1 through to year 6 in our schools, increasing our teachers’ confidence in their assessment and building a bank of examples which are available on this site. Another highlight was the Science Fair hosted by St Gabriel’s College. Teachers remarked how the workshops and event had made lasting positive impact on primary children’s attitudes to science. Some members of our group will be leaving at the end of term – we wish them well in their new schools.
BLC writing moderations for year 3 part 2
Further examples of work judged at age related expection, with some that is judged above.
BLC year 3 writing moderations part 1
year 3 teachers from across our cluster met to moderate examples of writing from their classes. Here are some of the examples they chose for pieces of work they agreed were ‘at’ age related expectations, and a couple that they agreed were exceeding. We hope this is useful for other schools and colleagues.
The Brixton Learning Collaborative 