From the Head of Primary 19.10.19

The final week of this half term has been as busy and productive as usual. We have welcomed the CIS visitors who gave us some great feedback and were very impressed by all of the wonderful things that are going on in school. The Student Council had the opportunity to meet with the visitors and as expected did a great job of representing our Primary students. We now look forward to receiving their report and working on their recommendations for the future.

Earlier on in the week Year 2 enjoyed a trip to the Cocoa Kingdom Chocolate Factory. The children were able to take part in a number of fun and interactive activities and even had the chance to sample the handmade chocolate. As well as being a delicious treat for the taste buds, the trip was a great link to what the children have been learning in class and will round off their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory topic. 

Our celebration assembly this week saw the first of our primary performers. A big well done to Year 2 who performed the Chocolate Song and did themselves proud as our first official performance. 

As we approach the beginning of Term 1.2 you will soon receive new homework grids from your class teachers.  As a school, it can be difficult to strike the homework balance with parents often having different expectations and opinions on what homework a school should be setting for their children. Some parents believe that children should not be given homework at all while others welcome a number of homework tasks for their children to complete.  We have done our best to listen to previous feedback and that is why we set a mixture of compulsory and optional tasks. What is clear is that homework should: 

• Reinforce skills, concepts and information learned in class.
• Teach students to work independently and develop self-discipline.
• Encourage students to take initiative and responsibility for completing a task.
• Allow parents to have an active role in their child’s education and help them to evaluate their child’s progress.
• Relate what is learned in school to children’s lives outside of school and help to connect school learning to the real world.
• Be varied and meaningful and not always rote practice.

If you have any questions about homework or comments about the homework grids please do let me or your class teacher know. 

Finally, as I come to end of my first half term, I would like to thank all of you who have made me feel so welcome and part of the KIS community. I don’t know where this half term has gone but it’s certainly been a busy and productive one. 

Wishing you all a safe and happy half term.

Joanne Smith

Head of Primary