In the last few weeks a great deal has happened at Ferry Lane and it has been quite hard to keep up! But it has all been good and I certainly have enjoyed every minute… Where to start?

Well today has been unbelievably brilliant. It started last night when Mr Sloan texted me to say we would be in the papers for all our hard work on the blog! So I went to have a look and it was true – we are all over the media! Mr Sloan has cleverly made some links for you… Here is the newspaper article, and here is a longer version on the Haringey website.-

Then Mr Sloan emailed me to tell me to go to the website and see the fantastic film of the BBC Dr Who writing project. And what a stunner it is! Once you get over the embarrassment of seeing yourself on film (do I really sound like that?!) you can really enjoy it. I watched it with Ms Cozier who is also on the film (we were giggling) and we telephoned Ms Prothero, our Chair of Governors, to tell her she was famous too! The best bit was seeing year 5 talking about their writing and how it’s been much more fun and how much progress they have made.

I know who is really responsible for all this and it is actually Mr Sloan, and every child, parent, member of staff and visitor who has been on the blog or on the film - THANK YOU!

This brings me to the best day out I have had in a long time. I was very lucky to go to Wales with Year 5 and I was really pleased to be inside the tardis (yes it is bigger on the inside!)… However I also broke 3 school trip rules and had to report myself to Mr Mackie when we made it back to school. Unfortunately I may not be going on any more trips! So please remember that you need to know what the rules are and then you need to follow them if you want to have trips! Just so you know, you are not allowed any electronic equipment, fizzy drinks or chocolate… Can you hazard a guess as to what I might have done wrong, just by not thinking carefully enough? Don’t make the same mistake; Mr Mackie can get quite cross!!

However the trip itself was great and I am so proud of our school!

We are also in the middle of producing a truly excellent school prospectus and I need your help to get it finished. We have had some lovely photos taken by a professional photographer (let me know if there is any reason you don’t want to be in our prospectus) and now I need you to give me 3 words (I know we could have hundreds) to describe what our school is actually about. What is it that is really good about our school? What is it that is totally unique and makes our school the best one to learn in? We will use your ideas to create our new school slogan which we will use in the prospectus. So they need to be good words as they are going to convey a powerful message, one that tells people just what we really stand for as a school community and what we really think is important.

So please help me out! Just three words is all I need, but they need to be top quality so get thinking please!

I am so proud that we have come third in the Blog Awards! I can’t believe how much of a difference our school blog has made to children’s enjoyment and learning; I certainly didn’t believe it would have such an impact when we started. When I see the writing that children are doing I am so impressed and also it gives me much more of a chance to dip into their work and leave comments. I am really, really pleased with the way this blog has made a difference.

Mr Sloan has even been invited to train up other teachers in Haringey and has put together some videos to help them learn how to blog so they can make the difference to children’s learning in other schools. I am going to look at his videos carefully and see if it helps me to get better at blogging too!

Year 3 have also made a brilliant start to their blogging and I have enjoyed reading their work, keep it up! I was also impressed that individual blogs are being organised in Year 5 and 6. I can see that Year 4 have been really enjoying learning about rainforests and I am looking forward to reading your posts carefully this holiday!

I juts really wanted to say THANK YOU to Mr Sloan for starting it all but a really big WELL DONE to all the children, staff, parents and visitors from all over the world for contributing and making this one of the best school blogs in the country! Keep on blogging!

This weekend I went to watch the London Marathon because my cousin Peter was running to raise money for a children’s hospital. I think this is the third time he has run the London Marathon and he has also completed the New York one too. It was a great day out with a lovely atmosphere. I can’t believe how many people ran for charity and some of their outfits were pretty funny! You might have seen it on TV, you might even have gone along to watch and cheer. The website is www.virginlondonmarathon.com if you want to find out more. Some of you will know about the history of marathons if you have studied the Ancients Greeks. I will be impressed with whoever can tell me how they came to be called marathons!

I was really pleased this year because I actually saw Peter run past as we were standing outside the Tower of London. I also saw the winners of the men’s race run past me, including Mutai, and the people in wheelchairs were amazing; I don’t know how they managed to wheel themselves for such a long way. Some of the wheelers and runners looked very tired when I saw them but they were kept going by the cheering of the crowds, which is why it’s so important to go along and cheer, even if you know you are never going to run one yourself! (My nephew thought he saw me running on TV but I can assure him that was not me!). Peter had trained really hard for this race and he finished the marathon in 3 hours 2 minutes and 6 seconds which I think is unbelievably quick. Peter was quite disappointed as he really wanted to finish in under 3 hours. He said afterwards that he had found the last 2 kilometres really hard going and nearly had to give up. But he heard the crowds cheering and also the stewards encouraged him and he was able to finish. I think he should be very proud of his achievements!

The cheering of the crowd helps to keep runners going.

I wanted to share this story with you as a lesson never to give up. If you believe in yourself you can do it! I think we should always try to challenge ourselves to do that little bit better and you could think about what it is you would like to improve on. For year 6 it might be that last bit of revision before the SATs? Maybe you feel you need to practise your handwriting more or get more involved in science? Perhaps it might be doing something with your family? The possibilities are really endless and each of you will have different ambitions and goals. Whatever they are, it’s important not to give up. You don’t know what you can do until you try. I am in the middle of writing another essay for my course and I am finding it really hard. But I am hoping I can still finish it in time!

Tired, but proud to have completed the marathon!

Going back to Peter, he had said this would be his last London Marathon, but now he is thinking he could do just one more! I really hope to see him run again next year and I KNOW he can do under 3 hours. Even if he doesn’t he will have raised a lot of money for a children’s charity and at the end of the day, that’s what the London Marathon is really about; ordinary people making a difference by doing something extraordinary. See you next year Peter!

On Thursday 7^th of April we shall be holding an event after school in the Main and Community Halls celebrating the conclusion to our Ferry Lane Identity Project. Make sure you’re there!

Over the last half term parents, children, governors, teachers and support staff have been thinking about what it is that makes them the person that they are – culture, friends, family, experiences and so on. We then asked everyone to try and think of an object that would represent what it is that defines them. Each person was then photographed with their item and then had to design a little poster which included their photograph and a brief written description of their object and why it was important to them. I chose a strange little vase that had belonged to my grandparents. A whole range of objects were chosen from Turkish instruments, Ghanaian cloth, special coins and National costumes to jewellery and photographs. Ms Pattison chose her childhood Teddy…

We have put up the posters all around the school and they look fabulous as you can see#

We are delighted to have this opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our school community and will be looking forward to the exhibition. In addition to the Identity work guests will be able to look at the KS2 topic work that will also be on display – we have already had a sneak preview of Year 4’s Iron Man models which are terrific. International Food will be provided by Parents who always do us proud at these events. What a wonderful conclusion to the Spring Term.

Charity and Making a Positive Contribution:

This week I felt really sad and wanted to take some action to help people in Japan. I read about a primary school where the children had all been in class when the earthquake and tsunami had struck. It really affected me quite strongly, especially when I saw photos of their school bags lying in the mud. It really brought it all home to me, that some of those children have suffered terribly or have lost their families and I had several thoughts. The first was we are so lucky to have a school with books and pens and teachers where we can all come and be welcomed. We have a school where children and adults are polite and supportive to each other and where we have tried to make it as safe as possible. Millions of children around the world are not as lucky as we are.

I then reflected on how terribly frightening it all must have been, to have been caught in an earthquake and a tsunami, especially for children who would find it harder than adults to understand what was happening. Then I realised that the children in my school would want to try to do something about it and support the children in Japan. If you recall, we did some bake sales for Haiti last year and sent lots of money to the charity there to help rebuild homes for families. In fact, we are really good about thinking about others and raising funds to help them. Most recently we had our Red Nose Day celebrations – I am still giggling at the memory of the male teachers in their red dresses and the beard shaving in assembly will stay with me a long time! But the serious purpose behind the fun is still that we are raising money to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

I suppose what I am trying to say is we need to do something to help the children in Japan! Luckily I have an idea… We can do a non-uniform day on Friday 8th April where you can wear your own clothes to school and bring in £1 for charity. I might even persuade the teachers to let you have a Golden Time in the afternoon or possibly some fun activities? I thought we could send the money to World Vision who are trying to set up ‘Child-Friendly Spaces’ which are places for children who have lost their homes and their loved ones. In these special places, children can play safely and express themselves. This will help them recover from the terrible things they have experienced. World Vision also plan to provide hot, good food to people living in evacuation centres. If  you want to find out more you can visit the World Vision website, but some of the information you will find there may upset you, just like it did me. Please make sure your parents are OK with you looking at this website before you visit it… www.worldvision.org.uk is the address.

What I really want you to do is dress up in your best non -uniform clothes and bring in a pound next Friday to help to make a difference! Thank you – I know I can count on the children and families of Ferry Lane Primary to support this idea!

This half term, we are thinking about how we are all unique and how we all have different skills and qualities that make us special. I have used Amina and Atifa’s website to try to make my title special!

In assembly we heard about a boy who had found the courage to stand up for himself and to stand up to some children who were bullying another boy. I would like to hear from you about what makes you special; it might be something you can do, something you have learnt at school or something you have found hard to do but have managed to overcome your fear and succeed at something you find difficult.

Last week I went skiing and I had a really great time. I am quite a good skier as I started when I was very little and I go several times a year. Last year my brother had a bad knee and he could not ski so he asked me to take my nephew on his first chairlift ride as he was very scared. He was 8 at the time and was going to ski school the next day and was very nervous. We went in the cable car up the mountain and skiied nervously down the slope. When we got to the bottom of the chairlift I could see he was really scared. He clung onto my arm with a vice-like grip and we gingerly got onto the chair lift. We wooshed up the mountain, dangling in the sky. Less than a minute later he looked at me and smiled and said, ‘I shouldn’t have been so worried. This is OK!’. He is a really confident skier now and has been going down slopes that even make me frightened!

I am telling you this story so you can see how even when you are really nervous, you can find it in yourself to try your best and succeed, even when things are very difficult. Your story might not be as adventurous as the one I have told you but I would still like to hear it! Remember we are all different and we are all special in different ways, you just have to find the way in which you are special and be proud of it!

‘WHAT IS THIS?’ I hear you asking.

Well the children at Ferry Lane would be able to tell you exactly what it is and how it went from being flat and empty in the first photo to being blown up and full in the second as their teachers helped me demonstrate this in my science assembly this week.

I am really interested in science, probably because my dad is a physicist and worked at CERN (he is mostly retired now but still goes in to look for particles and find things out about the universe!). If you want to find out more about the kind of work they do at CERN you can look on this link which takes you to the kids page. There is lots of information there, including a 3 minute video to tell you what people like my dad do at CERN. In fact, something that we all use every day was invented at CERN and it is called the World Wide Web (you might know it better as the Internet). Some of the information is really complicated but I have just enjoyed playing some of the games on the kids zone and I think you might enjoy them too!

Our school is a science focus school and we are trying hard to make science investigations more exciting. if you look on the class posts then you can find some videos of recent experiments, including the coke and mentos experiment we had to do outdoors as it was so messy!

We are also looking forward to Year 5 going on a science trip soon where we hope to meet Professor Brian Cox, who has been on our televisions a lot recently and also sometimes works at CERN. I have enjoyed the Wonders of the Solar System series especially and am hoping that I get to go on the trip too!

But what about my assembly and the mysterious photos at the beginning of my post? Well, I think you might be able to guess that there was something in the glass jar and then we added something else and then a reaction happened that resulted in the glove blowing up. I hope someone will be able to explain it to those of you that were not in my assembly. I look forward to hearing your ideas and explanations!

I am feeling quite nervous as I write my first post and I wonder if there are some parents and possibly even some children who might also feel the same way? If so, I would urge you to be brave and start writing, even if your first contribution is only small. You can see from the replies and comments on the blog that the community is very welcoming and supportive, even if you make mistakes!
If you look at some of the fantastic work that has already been posted and commented on, you can see what an extremely valuable learning experience this blog is for all of us. If we try something new or something that is hard, we will learn from it, and that is what Ferry Lane is all about!
I have started a course and just handed in my first piece of homework. I found it really hard to make sure I got it done in time and did not leave it all to the last minute. I imagine that some of the Ferry Lane students might feel the same way. This is one of the things I have decided to set myself as a target and although I am worried it will be difficult for me, I am determined to do my best and try to be successful. This is all we can expect from anyone, that you have tried your hardest.
It’s also part of our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) topic this half term. The topic is called ‘Going for Goals’ and we have had assemblies and done some follow up work in class. I think it is true to say that every child in our school has drawn around their hand and written their goal on this. We have taken all of these hands and used them to create a whole school display, which is looking brilliant! We talked about having a goal that might be to do with learning or doing something better, or to be a better friend or to help more at home. Children came up with some great suggestions and I hope they have shared them at home.
So please do join us in our new blog and make some comments or ask some questions. Whatever happens don’t be afraid to try!
Maxine Pattison HT