Bronte School

Headmasters Newsletter 44
11 September 2015
If, for our new pupils, last week
was a hurdle, this week has
brought the daunting experience of
the 11+ examination, which on
Thursday was sat by all our Year 6
class. Its quite something to
undergo examinations for most of
the school day, a test of character
to sit the papers and calmly to
answer the questions. Now its
over and it is the time when our
candidates can and should
avoid the temptation to re-run the
exam in their minds, and instead
look firmly forward. Im quite sure
that all of them will have done well
by themselves.

All went very smoothly with the

administration of the exam and
Im very grateful to all our staff
involved, and to Mr Devlin, the
external invigilator.
Mrs Gordon has asked me to pass
on congratulations to parents for
the healthy quality of the
childrens snacks! We introduced
some new guidelines for the start
of this term, and the children will I
am sure have benefitted from all
that parents have provided.

This past week has seen the terms

routines being established. It has
been the second and last one
when Reception children leave
early next week they are on
normal school days. Clubs and
activities got going, and also
swimming started, this term for
Years 2 and 5.
Last Fridays talk by Mrs Kybert to
Reception parents was a
fascinating insight into early
learning. It was a reminder of the
technicalities of introducing to
these 4 year-olds the mysteries
and, in English at least, some of
the quirky rules of reading, writing
and much else besides. We learned
about the power of young
childrens brains to absorb and
learn new material, but even so,
these are surely some of the
greatest learning challenges of all
our lives.

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Mrs Rezki has started some sports
taster sessions at lunchtimes, details of
which have just been sent out on
ParentMail by Mrs Wood. These are a
great opportunity to learn about a
sport and see if it is something which
appeals.

Looking Ahead

Week 3

Tuesday, 15th September

Year 1: Forest School begins

Week 4

Friday, 25th September

Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee
Morning
9.00am 11.00am & 2.30pm
3.30pm
All parents welcome

Finally, we have been looking at how to

develop assessment of childrens
academic progress, a notoriously hard
thing to do well, as the concepts of
academic ability and progress in
performance are of course complex,
and difficult to measure. Many parents
will be familiar with National
Curriculum Levels, and these have
been serving us well in giving a
snapshot of what has been learned and
absorbed. Additionally we have looking
at our ways to assess basic ability
across a range of areas, and Mrs Wood
has written to give you more details