Headteacher's Blog
Head Teacher's Blog March 2024
Spring has finally arrived and I am seeing so many of our younger pupils blossoming at school. Since the beginning of the year, their confidence has grown, and along with it, their academic attainments. Our Early Years Pupils are thriving and their grasp of phonics is formidable. With the introduction of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds reading scheme in January 2022, we have seen a vast improvement in reading across the entire school population. We recently celebrated Book Week from 4th to 8th March, and it was wonderful to see children so excited about reading. This year’s theme, Reading for Wellbeing, was promoted and explored by each year level; on World Book Day, Thursday 7th March, our pupils and staff dressed in their PJs and spent some time lounging in the school library, whilst engaged in a good book!
The Big Book Swap was also a feature of this year’s Book Week. Children and staff brought in books that they had previously read and swapped for another book. Parents/carers of our younger pupils were invited to share reading time with their children during Drop Everything and Read. It was delightful to see so many parents join us on their day. At the end of the week, 3Y delivered a Book Week themed class assembly.
On Wednesday 20th March, our KS2 School Choir participated in the Voice in a Million concert at Wembley Arena. The children had a wonderful time taking part in this annual event, which showcases the children vocal talent of pupils in primary and secondary schools across the width and breadth of the country. Our choir was well prepared, as they have spent weeks in the lead up to the event, rehearsing songs and dance moves in order to deliver an effortless performance.
Congratulations are in order for our year 4 pupils, along with class staff, who tirelessly rehearsed and then delivered exceptional performances of the Easter Production. The first performance took place on Monday 25th March for the whole school population, the second performance, for parents/carers on Tuesday 26th March. Those parents who joined us for the event, I am sure enjoyed the performance as much as I did.
Another feature of the School’s spring calendar is the annual Easter Bonnet Parade. Every year I am blown away by how much effort the children (some with a little help from the adults at home) go to making such wonderful head dresses. The children proudly showed off their creations and a child in each class received a prize for the best and/or most creative Easter Bonnet. Our pupils also enjoy taking part in the Easter Egg Hunt, which took place on Friday 22nd March.
Accompanied by Mrs Qaisraini and Ms Reittie and myself, the Park Lane Primary School Art Club visited the National Gallery on Monday 26th February. The children joined a Talking Paintings guided tour, led by one of the gallery’s employees, who spoke specifically about landscapes. The children also enjoyed looking through the many and varied rooms at the gallery, which is located adjacent to Trafalgar Square. Pupils and staff were inspired by their visit to the gallery and used this inspiration to create their own works of art during the extracurricular art club sessions, which are held on Tuesday afternoons!
Twelve pupils from our Extending the Curriculum group, visited Frameless, an immersive art experience, on Tuesday 27th February. The multisensory exhibition features four galleries and showcases some of the world’s greatest works of art. Situated in Marble Arch, the children and staff had a delightful time and found the entire experience to be engaging and interactive.
During the same week, both 1G and 1Y visited the RAF museum to consolidate what they have been learning about flight during history lessons. The children had a lot of fun and enjoyed looking at all of the old planes on display in the museum, along with discovering some new and interesting facts about flight and the materials that planes are made from.
On Friday 23rd February, Caterpillar Class visited Birchen Grove Garden Centre. As the trip was local, children and staff travelled via the school mini bus. Our nursery have been exploring the theme, “Who Do I Share the World With?” and this trip ignited the children’s curiosity about the world around us; our pupils eagerly embraced the opportunity to explore the wonderful various garden items on display
We held a special Health Coffee Morning at Park Lane Primary School on Tuesday 27th February. Parents and carers joined us, along with the school nurse and representatives from the Brent Oral Hygiene Team and the Brent Immunisation Team, who were on hand to answer any relevant questions and to offer advice regarding dental health, vaccinations/ immunisations, childhood illnesses and healthy eating. The event was well attended and we received positive feedback following the coffee morning; we look forward to hosting similar events in the future.
I wrote about all the fun we had during Maths’ Week in my previous blog. You may recall that Mr. Numbervator visited Park Lane Primary School, during Maths’ Week to deliver maths themed workshops to the children in each year level. Mr. Numbervator joins us again, every Friday afternoon, to teach year 6 maths’ booster classes, which the children are enjoying.
Year 6 pupils’ thoroughly enjoyed the Staying Safe Transition Workshop delivered by the Wizard Theatre on Friday 8th March. Through dramatic scenes, role-play and interactive exercises, the session focused on reducing the chances of young people becoming a victim of crime on the school journey and beyond. Furthermore, the session raised awareness of crime, explored how our actions contributes to situations and provided practical solutions/tactics for children to implement.
During the week commencing 11th March, we observed British Science Week, which celebrated its 30th anniversary. Miss Hylton led a whole school assembly to introduce Science week and each year group was given a different activity and investigation to complete which explored time, this year's theme. In year 1, they investigated if a change in methods slows down the process on making jelly; in year 5 they created a campaign poster with a slogan to advise the public on actions they can take to reduce their risk of exposure to mould, and any associated health effects. At the end of the week, each teacher selected a Scientist of the Day; those pupils participated in a very special Robotics Workshop on Tuesday 19th March.
Members of the Park Lane Girls and Boys football clubs enjoyed a tour of Wembley Stadium earlier this month, thanks to the Wembley Community Club. The tour started with a trip to the upper decks of the stadium to get a bird’s eye view of the pitch, before descending the royal steps to get a closer look at the dressing rooms. There was a unique display of jerseys on show from some of the best players in the game, including Messi and Ronaldo, as well as current England Women's and Men's players. The children were excited to take their first steps out of the entrance tunnel onto the pitch at Wembley Stadium, before their final walk up the 107 steps to collect the imaginary FA cup trophy for Park Lane, which wrapped up an inspiring trip for our future football stars.
Park Lane Primary School has taken delivery of some fruit trees, which our school councillors, along with Mr Nigel and myself, planted in the small garden at the front of the school. The fruit trees were donated by the Veolia Orchard programme, which provides fruit trees to schools with the aim of nurturing the environmental skills of young people by teaching them how to plant and care for them, bolstering wellbeing through a deeper connection with nature and improving access to fresh, locally grown food. Our school councillors will continue to care for the trees and harvest the fruit when it has ripened.
As is usually the case, the class assemblies performed during this half term were entertaining and full of interesting information. Class 2G retold Julia Donaldson’s tale of Tidler the Storytelling Fish; 3G delivered an inspirational assembly, which celebrated International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day. Year 1 have been learning all about plants and 1Y chose this as the focus for their class assembly. The final assembly of the term was performed by 1G, who gave us a lesson on the history of flight, which ties in with their visit to the RAF museum.
I am pleased to welcome the following new members of staff to the Park Lane Primary school family:
Miss Loretta Kwong joins us as Music Teacher
Mr Luke Graham is a Learning Support Assistant
Ms Sophia Moraes is Teaching Assistant, and
Mrs Marisa Camargo is a Learning Support Assistant
I am also pleased to advise that Park Lane Primary School, in conjunction with Wembley Central Big Local, are inviting parents, carers and families, along with their little ones to our weekly Coffee Mornings. The coffee mornings will take place at the school every Tuesday from 9 to 11am, and will provide parents/carers of young children the opportunity to network, share in activities and play with their toddlers, as well as offering parenting support and advice on a range of issue, all whilst sharing in refreshments. The Parents, Carers and Families Coffee Mornings will commence on Tuesday 16th April.