I have been a regular feature in our lunch hall this week, chatting to the children and checking out our new school meal provider. I am actually blown away with how good the food looks. The carrots are actually orange, the green beans are juicy and succulent and the sponge pudding is well moist! The food looks like proper food and proper functional meals. No fancy names, what you get is what you get. The orange segments in jelly yesterday took me back to Sunday tea at my old Grandma’s house! All that was missing was the tinned evaporated milk. We are very pleased with the quality of the food, and we are hoping that as the weather turns colder, more children will be tempted away from packed lunches towards the freshly cooked hot meals.  Especially as all children in Reception and KS1 get a free meal! Two other schools have been to have a look this week from the local area as they are planning on switching to the same provider. Hmmm, wonder if we will get a discount for marketing???

Y3 went off caving this week in Nidderdale, as part of their topic on rocks and soils. Children of that age just love gems, rocks and fossils. I remember combing the beach at Whitby for hours with my two looking for devil’s toenails, and then going to one of the many gem shops to buy something shiny and expensive! The children, of course, were incredibly well-behaved with the obligatory three comments about their behaviour from random strangers that equated to 10 sheep points. However, it was quite an eventful trip as Miss Pinder, the designated first-aider, would rather like to forget. Six children were sick on the bus!!! That is quite a lot …….

The talk of the school with the children this week was the Y3/Y4 football match at Crawshaw. Of course, we won! I had no doubt listening to the determination of the children and watching them play at lunchtimes.

Mr Popple was incredibly proud of Y5 this week. He actually could not think of an adjective to describe them, when he was telling me what happened. He was just so proud and touched by their empathy and support. It was a real moment that highlighted how kind, caring and sensible our children are, and how they responded, helping one of their classmates when they were suddenly taken ill at lunchtime.

I love our Y6. There are 32 of them and a bunch of individual, happy, sociable, funny children. However, they never stop talking! Mr Fawcett, tells me they do manage to focus on lessons when he is teaching, which I am pleased about, but at all other times, they all seem to have something to say! They had their final Westroyd sharing assembly on Friday for parents and when I saw how much learning they had done in seven weeks, I realised Mr Fawcett must be telling the truth! I even think they managed to stop talking for a whole 5 mins through the assembly too!

As part of our partnership with Becketts University I did a bit of lecturing this week up in Headingley. Amazing facilities up there, terrible coffee though! I spoke to 60 graduates on the PCGE pathway to be teachers about how we assess and how we use that information to drive progress. We have a very tight system at Westroyd, so no child slips through the net, and we remove all barriers to success. I swiftly remembered how much I love working with children, rather than adults! I also wondered what percentage of those young adults staring at me, really wanted to be there and really wanted to be teachers? It is a tough profession, one I love, and I think you have to be passionate about the job to make it work!

I did have a chuckle on Friday about how strong the relationship is between us all and what a family we are. A couple of Y5 children were playing with a younger child over lunch, doing crafts or some sort. One of them came to me in the room next door and asked if I had a hole punch. I did make a sarcastic comment about how it was not something I carry everywhere with me, but pointed out there was probably one in my top drawer in my desk. My messy drawer, as I call it. The child went, "Yeah there is, we already went to look in there, but there was so much mess, we couldn't reach it at the back of the drawer!" 

Four days till half-term. We are playing the person who looks the most exhausted game amongst the staff! I was the winner on Friday, but still managed a game of padel to start the weekend straight from school!