"The was the best performance I have ever seen at Short Wood - and I have seen a few great ones!"  

This was just one of the comments we received following the performances of The Lion King on Wednesday.  It was a really special Short Wood moment - seeing such brilliant performances from each and every pupil who took part was amazing.  It certainly brought a tear to many a proud parent's (and staff member's) eye.  From a seed of an idea (and a slightly risky decision to rehearse and perform in less that 3 weeks), to such a memorable day.  We hope it is one that pupils will recall for many years to come, at the end of the evening performance no one wanted it to end.  We hope it will inspire those who saw it and took part to think about joining a drama/music club to showcase their talents and get that sense of a team effort and achievement.  The Arts Centre Telford (TACT) would welcome anyone along.  The support from The Schools Arts Trust and TACT made the performance possible and supported the Short Woodies to sparkle, we cannot thank them enough for their support.  Our pupils were even treated to impromptu performances from some TACT members to motivate them on show day! We also need to thank our staff and community members who helped with creating the props and costumes, and ensured the music and drama was well rehearsed, in such a limited time.  What a talented team!

We welcomed our newest members of the Short Wood community this week as the children who will be joining our Reception came to visit us on Thursday after school with their adults. We introduced this to our transition process to ensure children (and adults - because we realise this is a big step for everyone) are confident with the spaces in which they will be learning, and have had had a chance to meet key adults before they are left with their new teachers on Monday for their first transition session in their class.  It was a lovely informal evening, with a chance to see the classrooms, play on the playground and even explore into Squirrel school.

Year 5 and 6 had an opportunity to explore online issues this week with a performance call 'Snap trap'  this is presented as a short drama, throughout which the children respond to what the characters are experiencing and consider the impact of the decisions they make.  Our Short Woodies were praised for their thoughtful and informed responses.  We have sent a summary of the issues raised in the performance by email to parents of Year 5 and 6 pupils, we would urge you to discuss this with your children.  

Year 6 pupils also attended Crucial Crew on Friday, this is another part of our curriculum to support children in making sensible, safe choices.  Again our pupils responded thoughtfully and appropriately throughout the day and I'm sure they will take messages away that will be useful now and throughout the next stage other lives.

Many of you will be aware of the incident that occurred during the Year 6 Art visit on Thursday.  We are relived that no one was seriously hurt and those who did attend hospital, as a precaution, were released later in the day. The immediate response from the Short Wood staff has been praised as exemplary and the follow up response from the emergency services was excellent too, we couldn't have asked for a more comprehensive response.  The children were also incredible, they remained calm and were so supportive of each other.  Due to the number of children it was responded to by a full range of emergency teams who took time and care to ensure all involved received the right attention in a timely manner.  We also want to thank parents and carers who responded in a practical and understanding manner as we tried to address the incident in as efficient a way as possible.  We will of course work with the appropriate authorities to support the subsequent investigation.

We held our first Short Wood Run event this week where parents and carers are invited to so some laps of the field straight after school with their children. We want to build on the success of our daily mile, encouraging our whole community to get involved, improving their physical and emotional health and well being.  Look out for the next event and bring your trainers along! 

Our Golden Leaf winners are all stars again this week well done - their photos will appear here shortly.

Next week our Year 6 pupils head off to visit their next schools - we hope they make a great first impression. In school pupils will find out which class they will be in next year and who will be teaching them, it is an exciting time.