Only three weeks and 6 days before we get to start learning together again – Hooray! (We see you on Tuesday the 5th September.)
What do you think we might be learning about?
Here’s a clue:
Author: Mr Roberts
Learning to be proud of…
The Learning Team in year 5 – Children, Teachers, Parents and Supportive wider community – have blown my mind!
I was delighted to welcome Mr John Shaw to open our ‘Reflection Section’ in celebration of his wonderful wife and our incredible governor, Ann Shaw.
Mr Flint and Mr Watson were able to share the amazing learning journey they have taken the children on and we could all see the impact of that journey on the children. An added bonus was our new area for reflection and learning!
Thank you to all.
Goodbye and look forward to seeing you soon…
A Lovely Celebration and Leavers Assembly to round off an incredible year of learning.
Thank you to all of you for being so positive, being solution focused and helping us to make the difference.
Enjoy your summer and I excitedly look forward to all the incredible opportunities that September will bring.
Year 6 pull off 5-star Production!
Thanks to Year 6 and everyone involved in creating a wonderful production of Cinderella Rockerfeller. A masterpiece!
The BIG Debate
The Philosophy Club organised and ran three Debates which culminated in a panel debate.
The question: Are people born bad or do people do bad things?
We were lucky enough to welcome Professor Paul Standish from the (UCL) Institute of education to listen to the debate and offer some ideas.
Thank you to the Philosophy Club, and all the children for participating so passionately and so openly to other people’s ideas.
Parent Action Day – THANK YOU!
We are greater than the sum of our parts. Thank you to all the children that were dragged along on a Saturday. I was most impressed when I suggested I should pay one child for their work and they said, ‘You don’t need to – this is my school!’
Special mention to:
Mr Rybaczonek – Blanca’s Grandfather
Mr Singh – Yashmeet’s father
Mr Morgan and Ms Farrar – Rose, Evie and Beth’s parents
Mr and Ms Kwiecien – Taddy’s parents
Ms Whyte – Charlotte and Harry’s mother
Mr and Ms McHugh – Lewis and George’s parents
Mr Watson – Katie’s father
Ms Fuller – Logan and Jackson’s mother
Ms Gagea – Katrina, Reuben and Sophia’s mother
Mr and Ms Rowe – Emma’s parents
Mr Russell – Orla’s father
Mr and Ms Austin – Charlotte and Harry’s Grandparents
Thank you for making the difference.
Thinking at Maple Cross
I attended a conference on Saturday entitled, ‘Why should Philosophy be taught in schools?’ At Maple Cross, you can argue that our approach to learning, being driven by and driving research, and our focus on the importance of children driving their own learning, ensures that philosophical skills of critical thinking, reflection, debate and being open to possibilities, are in use at every moment.
If learning is applying critical thinking to ideas and real life experience, and, applying critical thinking is, in many ways, the development of philosophical skills, then learning is philosophy!
Year 6 recently experienced a more abstract philosophical discussion based on the work by the philosopher Peter Worley from his book, ‘the if machine Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom.’ I had the pleasure of meeting Peter on Saturday and asking him some questions posed by the Year 6 children…here are his responses:
- The children asked if I could try to confuse Peter with his own arguments (Peter discusses the idea that, if a chair is used as a hat, then is it still a chair?)…
And some more questions for Peter:
Hertfordshire School’s Games
Our success in the local gymnastics competition qualified us to entry at the Hertfordshire School Games which took place on Friday. Our children performed incredibly well and won the award for honesty – my personal favourite award! Thank you to Ms Short for arranging the day; Jolie and Connie for being the team’s amazing coaches (the only school with student leader coaches I might add!); the parents who made the effort to get the children to St Albans and, most importantly, the children: Jolie, Connie, Joshua, Baylee, Blanca, Kieran and Lillian, for representing the school so positively.
Children’s University Graduation
It was a pleasure to see our children continuing to learn outside of the classroom. Special thanks to West Herts College for hosting and supporting the school in our 6th year of Graduations!
Three Rivers Sports Award Evening
We were delighted to see some of our students receiving awards at the Awards Evening. Well done to Ibtissem, Noah, Jolie, Connie, Jessie, Josh, Lillian, Blanca, Keiran and Baylee and a special thank you to the parents and staff who allow us to compete and succeed at such a high level.
