Headteacher Blog - Week Beginning 20 April 2026

Last Week's Highlights

What an exciting week we had! The school was buzzing with energy as children returned to new learning, new focus texts, and the start of fresh units of learning in one of our foundation subjects. It's wonderful to see the enthusiasm our pupils bring to their learning.

A particular highlight was our Year 4 and Year 5 pupils representing Southill at a glow-in-the-dark handball event on Thursday. I must admit, I didn't even know such a thing existed until this week! The children wore luminous bibs, painted their faces with luminous face paint, and played handball in the dark. They represented our school impeccably and created some truly amazing memories. Well done to all who took part!

This Week: Parent Consultation Meetings

This week brings another exciting event - our parent consultation meetings. I always look forward to these meetings because they are a huge part of something that is very important to us as a school: building strong partnerships with parents.

Why These Meetings Matter

Research shows that strong partnerships between parents and school hugely contribute to children's learning, and these conversations between parents and teachers can have an enormous impact on your child's progress.

The meetings provide an opportunity to:

• Reflect on the progress your child has made this year
• Discuss next steps in their learning
• Explore what they can do to maximise their learning potential

These conversations are really important for your child's education here at Southill.

Shaheena (our inclusion lead) and I will be around during the meetings too, so please do come for a chat with us if you have anything you'd like to discuss.

How We Communicate With You

Parent consultation meetings are just one way we try to maintain strong communication with you at home. As a reminder, we also:

• Use Class Dojo to enable good communication between teachers and parents
• Publish a weekly class blog to showcase an element of what your children have been doing in class
• Send Term Talks to inform you about what the children will be learning over the term
• Send regular important messages from the office via Arbor
• Provide a 'snapshot' report during the spring term to show children's progress
• Write an end-of-year report in the summer term to outline all the wonderful things your child has done during the year

We are always looking for ways to improve our communication and partnership with you, so please do let us know if you have any suggestions.

Fitness Friday Update

A reminder about Fitness Friday now the weather is improving:

• Takes place every Friday
• Starts at 8.30am
• Provides an opportunity for and do some fun exercise before school

We will send an Arbor message if Fitness Friday ever has to be cancelled due to the weather. 

Important Change to Gate Arrangements (Starting This Week)

To ensure a safe perimeter of the school during Fitness Friday, there will be a slight change to how we manage entry for Fitness Friday:

• The KS1 gate will open at 8.30am for the start of Fitness Friday
• The gate will close at 8.35am to maintain security
• The gate will then reopen as normal at 8.45am for the start of the school day

We hope to see lots of you joining us for Fitness Friday!

I'm continually inspired by the energy and progress I see in our children every day - whether it's the excitement of a new topic, the determination at a handball event, or the small daily victories in the classroom.

Our partnership with you is at the heart of everything we achieve at Southill. When we work together, there's no limit to what our children can accomplish.

Thank you for your continued support. Together, we're nurturing confident, resilient learners who will carry these experiences throughout their lives.

Here's to another wonderful week ahead!

Matt