Marking

It has been some time since my last blog, apologies! Since the beginning of term Cathedral Primary School has been through its first Ofsted inspection. HMI visited the school on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week and it was a good opportunity for the school to demonstrate its achievements after only eighteen months since opening. The team worked very hard and we expect that they will be very pleased with the report which will be published within the next month or so. Here at BCCS staff have been working very hard to ensure that marking and feedback are consistently on the agenda. We know that students do well if they received opportunities to re-draft their work and correct consistent mistakes. Last academic year we introduced RAR (Read and Respond). After marking, we hope that students have an opportunity to look at the comments of the teacher and correct where appropriate. Of course the response as you would expect is variable. I have been into a number of classrooms over the last week or so looking through books and discussing work with students. There is evidence of some very hard work from both teachers and students and a large number are rightly proud of their work. In some books it appears that the teachers are working harder than the children! I have asked staff this week to ensure that all have an opportunity to go back into their books and complete any incomplete RAR work. I have also asked a number to get the glue stick out and glue in any random sheets (a particular issue of mine) Please do take an interest in your child’s book and encourage them to take pride in it completing RAR and reference the whole school approach to literacy. We ask students to underline and date all work and to ensure that they write legibly! There should be a check list on the front cover of student books for you to refer to.

Enjoy spring

I hope all students are enjoying a well-deserved break and enjoying the beautiful weather. It seems that spring has well and truly arrived over the last few days and that adds to the list of distractions for students who are trying to revise for the public examinations. If students and parents are struggling here is some more help published today in the Independent newspaper. http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/top-10-revision-tips-for-your-final-or-firstyear-exams-8576161.html Of course the beautiful weather is also a perfect opportunity to get out and about. Enjoy!