Trinity First School, Nunney Road, Frome, Somerset, BA11 4LB
Tel: 01373 461949 Email: office@trinityfirstfrome.co.uk
Head’s Update
21.03.2024
This week the Frome Kindness Festival is taking place and we were lucky enough to begin our week with a visit from two volunteers from the festival who led assemblies for us. The assemblies explored the theme “kindness bridges the differences between us”. They included a Buddhist story about a monkey king who makes himself into a bridge to save his tribe and teaches humans a lesson about kindness. The human king, who had wanted to take control of a mango tree and rid it of the monkeys so that he and his people could enjoy the delicious fruit themselves, was shown an example of a leader leading with kindness. For me, kindness in leadership is so important, but the importance of it can often be overlooked or misunderstood. Sometimes, this happens because kindness can be mistaken as weakness, and sometimes it can be hard to act in a way that is perceived as kindness by all parties; sometimes things are just too hectic to enable kindness to be given or received. I think kindness is often something we can think of as old-fashioned or appropriate only for young children, but this is underestimating the power of being kind. When we were reviewing our core values, we spent a lot of time considering kindness, debating whether there was something better or more up-to-date that we should aim for instead. We concluded there wasn’t.
As part of the festival, I also attended a workshop on ‘Kindness in the Classroom’. This was specifically aimed at the Early Years and some parents may have been able to attend the workshop led by the same speaker on toddler tantrums, where I believe some of the same research and conclusions were being shared. I hope you did, and if so, I hope you found it as interesting as I found the classroom workshop! For me, coming after the assembly, it enabled me to think about what it means to lead children with kindness, as parents at home and as teachers in school. Mikkel, the Danish speaker and leader of the Kind Heart Project, has worked extensively with kindergartens in Denmark to research what kindness in the classroom looks and feels like, and what it needs to ensure it becomes a natural part of life within the classroom. He used a phrase which is simple in concept, but really powerful in action. He said his research has shown that children thrive in circumstances where the adults around them ‘set clear boundaries with great care’. This is not making rules for the sake of it, but making sure children have the guidelines they need to feel safe and secure, knowing what they can do and also what they can’t do. It is about using our wisdom as parents and educators to think deeply about what is in the best interests of our children, which may not always be what they want to happen, and making sure our decisions are taken from a place of love and care.
Returning to our assemblies, there was also an opportunity for the children to reflect on times they have received kindness, and the people that they might find it hard to be kind to, as well as the importance of being kind to ourselves sometimes too. As one of our core values at Trinity, kindness is something we talk about often and regularly see excellent examples of in the children. So, it was no surprise to hear them make many fantastic suggestions during the assembly of ways to be kind to others. It was lovely, though, to hear them share examples of when someone else has been kind to them. Kindness is something that comes naturally to children if they are in the right environment, it is our role as adults to encourage and promote that environment.
14.03.24
It has been a bit more of an ordinary week this week, with no trips to the book shop or pyjamas. However, there have still been plenty of great things to celebrate.
To enhance our curriculum offer, we subscribe to the Somerset museums service, which enables us to access artefacts for use in lessons and also to bring visitors into school to lead workshops. Each year we make sure that every class has at least one workshop linked to a history topic they study. This week it was the turn of Year 2, who had a great morning taking part in activities to support their learning about the Great Fire of London. The children were able to explore typical clothing of the time, with a dressing up opportunity included. My favourite activity is when they have a real hands-on experience to help them understand why it might have taken so long for the fire to have been put out. The activity involves a small group of children who need to move water from one end of their line to the other. To do this, they have no hoses or taps. Instead they need to use buckets to scoop water out of a large pot, which they then pass down the line to the end. It is a really practical way to help the children understand the time it would have taken, and also how much water could have been spilled and therefore wasted.
Since September, Mrs Williams has been teaching a small group of children how to play the recorder in an after school club. These children were able to take part in a concert at the Cheese and Grain yesterday evening, with children from a few other local schools and professional musicians. As we would expect, the children represented Trinity brilliantly, with exemplary behaviour and real enthusiasm for the event. Mr Reid accompanied them to the concert and was so impressed. We have an amazing music offer at Trinity, driven by Mrs Williams’ expert knowledge and endless enthusiasm and so it is fantastic to be able to provide the children with opportunities to perform, especially at events like yesterday when the children performed in a real music venue, alongside professional musicians.
On Saturday afternoon it is the Easter Fair. The FOTFS committee members have been hard at work planning and preparing lots of great activities for the children to take part in so do please come along and support the event if you can. There will be an Easter trail, some planting and several craft activities so plenty to occupy the children. Refreshments will be on sale and the children from Mrs Williams’ Songbirds club will also be performing so there are plenty of reasons to come along!
08.03.2024
Today we are celebrating World Book Day with lots of stories and storytelling…as well as being in our pyjamas! We started the day with a whole school assembly, something which doesn’t happen all that often but which is always lovely. There are many benefits to having smaller assemblies but I always love seeing all the children together and having the chance to all focus on the same thing. It also meant we could admire each other’s pyjamas, onesies, oodies and dressing gowns. We are looking very cosy at school today!
Today’s assembly gave me the chance to share one of my favourite books, A Cultivated Wolf. This is the story of a wolf who decides to go to school so that he can learn to read. He makes this decision after he comes across a cow, a pig and a duck all enjoying their reading in the farmyard – and refusing to run away when he tries to attack them. The book works its way through the journey of reading, from those early days of learning sounds right up to being a fluent, expressive reader – or reading with style as the pig encourages the wolf to do. It is a lovely way to explore the journey of becoming a great reader with children, who can not only recognise where on that journey they are, but also see the benefit and value of persevering.
The children have all loved paying a visit to Hunting Raven over the last week, where they have been able to exchange their World Book Day token for one of the special World Book Day books. As ever, Tina has been wonderful, making sure there were plenty of books for everyone and inspiring and enthusing the children about the books they could choose from. We really are so lucky to have such a wonderful book shop right here in Frome.
Finally, thank you so much for all the wonderful photos of the children reading outside of school. We have loved seeing them, and Mr Reid is in the process of using some of them to make a beautiful display in the library. We love seeing the children become enthusiastic readers and really hope that we are helping to grow a lifelong love of reading in all our Trinity children.
01.03.2024
Thank you to everyone who has been into school this week to meet with their child’s class teacher. These meetings between parents and teachers are a very important part of school and enable us to make sure that parents know the key information about how their children are doing in school. Having even a relatively short amount of time dedicated to a sit-down conversation about your child’s progress (academic and personal/social) is a critical aspect of the partnership between home and school.
From the parents I have spoken to this week, I know that you value the chance to come into school as much as we want to welcome you in. However, I also know that the logistics of life can sometimes get in the way and parents cannot always come in during the times we are able to offer. If this has been the case for you, please do get in touch with your child’s class teacher, who will be happy to arrange a meeting at another time, or even a phone call if that is a more practical solution. Teachers are always available to have a quick chat at the beginning of the school day, and can have a longer chat after school, in addition to exchanging messages on Class Dojo so I hope that all parents feel that there is open communication between them and their child’s teacher.
I was so pleased to be able to welcome parents to our first Parent cafe this week. This is something that I would like to make a regular, monthly event, with a different focus each month. In order to try and make it as accessible as possible, we will be offering different days and will look to have a different focus each month as well. This month we were joined by Melody Hunter Evans and Liz Smith from Frome Town Council, which meant the focus was on the Find directory on the FTC website and the wealth of information that holds. There are so many groups and organisations in and around Frome with something to offer children, young people and families and Melody works hard to keep the directory as up to date as possible. It really is a great place to go to find out what is on offer in Frome – from social groups and clubs to financial support. If you haven’t already, I recommend having a look at the directory.
23.02.2024
How lovely to see the children back in school this week, all looking refreshed and ready to learn! Due to staff absence, I have done some phonics teaching on several days this week, which was a real pleasure. I was very impressed with how well the children understand their phonics, and how they enjoy learning new words and getting their new books. The children knew the routines of the lessons incredibly well and they were very kind to me – it is a long time since I taught phonics regularly!
Earlier in the week, our application to convert to academy status and join the Midsomer Norton Partnership Trust (MNSP) was approved by the Region’s Office. Early in the summer term, all parents will be invited to a meeting with me, some of our governors and Alun Williams, the CEO of the trust. At that meeting, you will be able to hear why we have chosen to convert and to join MNSP, and you will also have the chance to ask Alun any questions you may have with regard to the trust itself. It is an exciting development for Trinity and one which I believe will enable us to continue to grow and thrive.
Next Wednesday we are holding our first Parent Cafe. This will be held in our new quad room, right in the heart of the school. Melody Hunter Evans from Frome Town Council will be joining me, and hopefully lots of you as well! The cafe will be a chance to have a chat (with me and Melody and with each other as parents) and to find out more about the different organisations and places where you can find help, support and information in and around Frome. I really hope you will come along, and I hope it will be an enjoyable and informative event. Please don’t feel you can only come if there is something you feel you need help with. I am looking forward to having more time and a much warmer and drier space than the gate to catch up with parents and find out how things are going so please do drop in if you can!
09.02.2024
Earlier this week, I spent a morning visiting every class. I was able to see how well the children at Trinity learn and how focused and ready for learning they all are. I saw a mixture of maths and English lessons, and throughout the school I saw children having fun in their learning.
In Reception, the children were doing maths and I witnessed some amazing talk amongst the children about numbers and some great reasoning when they were explaining their answers. In Year 1, the children were learning all about similes and were saying and writing fantastic sentences describing polar bears, penguins, mountains and the ocean. Their choices of things to show the comparisons were ingenious!
In Year 2, the children were learning all about multiplication through arrays so there was lots of talk about columns and rows. They are also at the stage of discovering the magic of multiplication and working out that if they know one multiplication fact, they automatically know two!
It was back to English in Year 3, where the children were finding out about rats in preparation for their new story. I learned a number of facts about rats during my visits to Holly and Bramble. The children did too, and they were also organising the facts into related groups as they are exploring what makes a good paragraph.
English was a subject in Year 4 as well, where the children were tackling direct speech and the related punctuation….there are so many things to remember with that! I was really impressed with their proof-reading as it takes careful attention to check and be sure that everything that should be there is, and also that nothing extra has snuck in!
It was a truly lovely morning!
02.02.2024
We have had some lovely connections with the wider community over the last two or three weeks, most of which have stemmed from our collaboration with Frome Town Council. Some of our Year 4 children worked with Katie from FTC to identify appropriate routes for families to travel to and from school safely on foot or by bike/scooter. Following the activity, I had the following from Katie:
‘Just a quick note to say what a pleasure it was to work with your Year 4s last week. We covered a lot of ground mapping different routes to school, looking for signs of Spring and talking about the benefits of active travel and how to keep safe whilst walking and wheeling. we spoke about air pollution and other environmental impacts of cars in the areas around school, and everyone was so engaged and knowledgeable.’
I am looking forward to seeing the Walking Wheel Map Katie is putting together as a result of this work with the children soon.
Our youngest children have been involved in litter picking in and around our school, again with Katie, which they engaged in most enthusiastically! It is frightening how much litter they were able to collect from green spaces in less than an hour – especially when we bear in mind how tricky the grabbers can be to operate when you are only little! The children loved being able to do something to make a positive difference to the area and were so keen to do more that Katie has promised to investigate whether she can source some grabbers and hoops that we can keep permanently at Trinity.
On Monday morning, 8 of our Year 4 children took part in a swimming gala, along with children from across all First schools in Frome. Our children did brilliantly well, with strong individual performances and finishing second overall as a team. They thoroughly enjoyed the morning, were very keen to swim as much as possible, and behaved impeccably. Well done!
Finally, probably the most exciting event of the week has been the BMX display the whole school was treated to yesterday morning. Again, this was organised and funded for us by Frome Town Council, and the children LOVED it! There was so much excitement this morning as the children told me about the tricks our visitor performed. Matti Hemmings is a current British BMX champion and also the holder of three Guinness World Records, so a real treat and spectacle for the school.
26.01.2024
Over the last couple of weeks it has been fantastic to see so many parents coming into school for the Share my Work sessions. Each morning, the hall has been full, and the atmosphere so busy as the children have had the chance to show mums, dads and grandparents the work they have done so far this year. We value these sessions as a super opportunity for the children to talk about their learning, and they probably serve as a reminder sometimes too! From the fabulous attendance of adults, it is clear that it is also something that parents value, which is great. Hopefully all the children are able to find lots of things to show off how much they have learned in a variety of subjects and come away from the sessions feeling really proud of how hard they have been working.
In a much wider sense, working together with parents is a very important part of our role, and we know that there are many pressures facing families at the moment. We are always keen to do what we can to support, even if that is just signposting to services that are much better equipped to help than we are. Unfortunately, we also know that it is not just families facing pressures at the moment, many of our support services are also extremely stretched and it can be hard to access the help or advice that is needed. Something that we have already started as a way to help this is our parenting group, which runs every Tuesday afternoon from 2pm to 3pm. The group follows a loose structure, based on training Mr Reid attended on parenting support, but is very much enriched by the varied contributions of everybody attending. There is plenty of opportunity for open discussion, with parents attending contributing as much or as little as they feel comfortable doing, but everyone attending feels huge benefit from the chance to share concerns and know that they are not alone. If you feel this is something that would help you, please do get in touch with Mr Reid, me or the school office if you would like to find out more. It is a very welcoming group!
We are also aware that managing children’s anxieties is an increasing worry for parents and in order to support with this, Mrs Crawley is in the process of putting together a plan for an information-sharing session, which we will hold later this term. This will be a chance for parents to come along and get some advice and tips, as well as an opportunity to share experiences with other parents who are feeling the same way. As with anything we do, it is intended to be a supportive conversation. We cannot promise to have all the answers but we are seeking expert advice and information to make sure that we are as well informed as we can be and so as well-placed as possible to support those parents in need.
Finally, we know that reading with children at home can sometimes be a cause of stress, especially when lives are busy or when, in spite of our best efforts, your child is really not keen on reading. We also know that not every parent will feel confident reading with or to their child. We really want to help and support with reading at home, and while we already have some ideas, it would be great to hear from parents what the particular difficulties are so that we can aim to make the support we offer as useful and effective as possible. Please do get in touch with me and let me know what aspect of reading at home you would like some help with. It really doesn’t matter what the issue is, please don’t worry that it is silly – it isn’t if it is affecting your child’s reading. So please don’t be afraid or embarrassed about coming forwards, we can only help if we know what to help with!
19.01.2024
In our weekly Stars assemblies on Friday mornings, I always ask one or two children from each class for the highlight of the week in their learning. I love hearing the responses, and enjoy the variety each week. There are often responses that are perhaps unexpected, but I think it is really important that we celebrate lots of different learning and take pride in the fact that the older children often cite as a highlight something that they have had to really think about.
This week, across our ten classes, six different areas of learning were highlighted by the children. PE, which is a regular favourite, was the best bit of the week in three classes. The children in Sunshine class had enjoyed doing gymnastics with Mr Sing; in Jasmine class the children had great fun learning skills for basketball, bouncing and dribbling the ball, and in Maple class the children loved doing street dance with Mrs Manaia. I happened to see the end of that lesson, when the children were taking it in turns to show skills they had been working on during the lesson and it was clear to see what fun they were having, alongside challenging themselves to perform in front of others.
Forest School is another regular favourite, and this week it was the children in Poppy class who identified it. The hot chocolate they had to drink while they were there was perhaps the most memorable aspect of the visit, but the focus of their visit was to explore the different textures they could find. In Rainbow class, the children have been learning about toys from the past as part of their learning in Understanding the World, and having hands-on experience of lots of old toys was their identified highlight. In Oak class, the children have been using the story ‘Emma Jane’s Aeroplane’ to inspire their learning in literacy and the children felt that the writing they have done this week, creating their own ‘second chapter’ to the story was their highlight.
Holly and Bramble classes both felt that their learning in art was the highlight of the week for them. The children were creating and using patterns to make a background for self-portraits they will be doing in a week or two. Pine class chose reading as the highlight of their week, which was based upon their exploration of the reading material available to them in the classroom, and subsequent reorganisation of the book shelves to make it easier to find the kind of texts they are looking for. Finally, in Gorse class the children have been using TT Rock Stars in class as they prepare for the multiplication tables check that they need to do during the summer term. The children were very proud to report on their increasing speed and accuracy with their multiplication facts.
12.01.2024
As you will see further in this newsletter, Trinity First School’s application to convert to an academy and join the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership is proceeding so I thought this is a good time to share a little more detail around the application. Academy trusts have been in existence for some years now, but the staff and governors at Trinity have always been confident in our status as a Local Authority maintained school. As you know, we are a successful school and we make sure we are always looking outwards to find the support and challenge needed to ensure consistent and continued success. Over recent years, this has become increasingly important as the resources within the LA have dwindled, along with many other public services. This, together with the potential for change across Frome, encouraged the governors to explore the options available to us in terms of joining a MAT (multi-academy trust). The governors looked at a number of different MATs, visiting schools, meeting with the leaders of each MAT and seeking written responses to a set of questions. As I am sure you can imagine, this process took some time, but it was important to be thorough.
The Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership is a strong, local trust that we feel is well-placed to provide us with the resources to enable Trinity to continue to thrive. Trinity joining the same trust as Oakfield and Frome College will also strengthen and enhance the education pathway many of our Trinity children take. We have always worked together as schools in Frome, but we believe that being part of the same trust will provide greater stability and coherence to our children as they make their way through our various schools, allowing the children to continue building on the firm foundations we give them here at Trinity. Critchill School has been part of MNSP for several years and having the three schools that share this site as part of the same trust also brings exciting potential for development.
We are slightly later in the process than Oakfield and Frome College, whose applications to join the trust have already been approved. Ours is on the verge of being submitted and we hope will gain official approval next month. Once this has happened, it will take time before all the various legal processes have taken place, so it could be many months before the process is completed. In a practical, day-to-day sense, very little is likely to change, but what changes we see, we expect to be ones which will have a positive impact on the children’s experiences and outcomes.
In addition to the formal offer to meet with governors and trust leaders, I am more than happy to have a chat with parents at any point to talk through any questions or concerns you may have.
05.01.2024
Happy New Year everyone! I hope all our families had the chance to enjoy time together over the Christmas break. It has been lovely to welcome the children back, refreshed and ready to learn.
Although it has been a very short week for the children, the teaching staff have been back at work a little bit longer, with two training days to start off the year. Over the two days, we have covered different aspects of school life as part of our continuous development programme for the school. On Tuesday, our focus was subject leadership and reading and on Wednesday we were concentrating on spelling. Although we have subject specialists who deliver some of the teaching (Mrs Robertson for Spanish, Charlotte who teaches the Year 4 children the violin, and Mr Sing, everybody’s favourite PE teacher) most of the time at this stage in education, children are taught everything by their class teacher. To support a strong curriculum, we have a leader for each subject and make sure that these leaders (our class teachers) have time to explore their subject in depth and to develop expertise which their colleagues can call upon. For the last few years, we have also made sure that our subject leaders have membership of the relevant subject association, which in turn allows them to have access to expertise as they seek to continue to develop teaching and learning in their subject here at Trinity. I am delighted that our subject leaders are really dedicated to the subject that they lead and work hard to ensure that it is planned and taught in the best way possible as this can only enhance the experience that the children have.
Tuesday afternoon was time for reading. As you know, we are thoroughly committed to doing everything we can to teach reading to as high a standard as possible, alongside encouraging a love of reading for pleasure in the children. To support this, I tasked the teaching staff with some research into current high quality texts which they can share with their classes as we know that the quality of the text can make a huge difference to the children’s experience of it, but keeping abreast of all the top quality books coming onto the market is extremely time-consuming. Hopefully now, we have lots of ideas as a staff for books to inspire the children with! Mr Reid and I have also been carrying out research into the teaching of reading, so we will be looking at ways to adapt out processes to incorporate new ideas to help us be even more successful.
Spelling is one of those areas of learning that can often instil fear and dread into people so it was great to be able to welcome an excellent consultant to Trinity to work with the teaching staff on Wednesday to promote the joys of spelling with us! We know that English is a ridiculously complicated language and that this makes learning to spell so tricky for so many people. However, on Wednesday we focused on celebrating the quirks of our language and the importance of taking time to explore words, and their meanings and origins, to really support the children in developing the skills they need to become good spellers. We know that there are far more words in the English language than we are capable of learning to spell as separate units, so our attention was very much on how we can create in the children the mindset and skills needed to enable them to make increasingly accurate attempts at spelling the unfamiliar and complex words that we would like them to be comfortable and confident using in their writing. It was a really interesting training session, and we also had a lot of fun, which is possibly not what most people might have anticipated!
The other exciting event today, has been the signing off of our new room. Over the summer we have had builders on site, converting the central quad into an extra indoor space for us to use throughout the day. This has been a very long process, beginning with protracted negotiations with the Local Authority to reach an agreement on what we were able to do, followed by difficulties finding the right contractor. Initial plans were interrupted and delayed by Covid and then had to be changed completely when the rapid rise in costs following the invasion of Ukraine meant that our original intentions became unaffordable. We went back to the drawing board, came up with an alternative and then began the process all over again!
However, this is all behind us now and we are very much looking forward to using the space to further improve several aspects of school life. It is going to be a very busy space (there is never enough room in a school!) and it will be in use throughout the day. It will provide us with another space for our reading groups and other group activities in the mornings, and each afternoon it will be the base for Rockets, our nurture provision. It is also going to be a really useful space for Trinity Plus to be able to access, especially as we have increased capacity in our wraparound care to meet increasing need for places. When you come to parents’ evening in a few weeks, do feel free to have a look!
15.09.2023
Well, week two has been intense! We had our long-awaited call from Ofsted on Monday morning and our inspector was with us on Tuesday and Wednesday. The outcome of the inspection will be made public with the publication of the report in a few weeks’ time. Until then, the information we are able to share is very limited. So although it has been a very busy week, there isn’t a great deal to say which feels rather odd!
I can tell you that the children were brilliant throughout (no more than we expected!) and absolutely did us proud. During the course of the inspection, the inspector visited all classes and spoke to small groups of children about lots of different aspects of the school. She talked to children about their learning in a number of different subjects, she heard some of our children read, and also observed them at playtimes. She visited breakfast club and spoke to the children about the wider opportunities they have at Trinity, such as after school clubs, trips, visitors and so on. Whatever they were asked to do, the children were fantastic.
I would also like to thank you as parents for all of your support, from your kind words and wishes when I saw you on the gate, to your responses to the parent survey online. Thank you for persevering in spite of the technical issues with the website! The results on the survey are overwhelmingly positive. We are absolutely thrilled that 100% of parents who completed the survey would recommend Trinity to other parents; that means an awful lot to us as a whole school team. An Ofsted inspection is a stressful time for a school, but we very definitely felt the love and support from the parent body and felt very grateful for it.
During the inspection, the inspector also met with staff and governors. The time from the initial phone call on Monday morning to the end of the inspection on Wednesday evening was extremely busy, with everyone making sure they had everything they needed for lessons and meetings. We are looking forward to a well-earned rest this weekend, and hope all of our Trinity families enjoy the weekend too.
