Reaching high for the best for your child

We have just received the final, published version of our Ofsted inspection report and we are very pleased!

The overall outcome was satisfactory, with many good features. The new inspection framework, introduced in 2009, has 'raised the bar' and it is a great achievement to have sustained this overall judgement from when we were last inspected.

Pupils acknowledge the growing success of the school. One expressed the views of the overwhelming majority, saying, ‘We like this school - it helps us learn. We like all the lessons and the activities. We feel very safe in school; we know our teachers care for us.

Parents are positive about the school. One parent reflecting the views of many said, ‘Staff at this school are a very approachable and hard working team of people who really have the best interests of the pupils at heart. My child has jst finished two years in the Foundation Stage and has had a fantastic experience.’

Please take time to read the report carefully. There is so much to celebrate in the report about our wonderful school: indeed, the word 'GOOD' is mentioned 30 times, and there are some OUTSTANDING elements!! Click here to read the whole report, but I have drawn out the main strengths below:

The school has some good features, and the headteacher, senior leaders and governors are particularly successful in improving the Early Years Foundation Stage, links with parents and safety.

The headteacher and senior management team have a clear vision for its future improvement and have made many good changes in recent years.

The school ethos is friendly, warm and welcoming and relationships are good.

As a result of rigorous monitoring by senior leaders, teaching is improving rapidly and the proportion of lessons where progress is good is increasing.

A significant number of lessons observed during the inspection were of good quality.

Aspects of safeguarding are good because senior leaders rigorously ensure attention to detail. Parents appreciate the meticulous systems in place to keep their children safe.

Links with partners are good and contribute to the improving provision.

Pupils show good awareness of how to stay safe & healthy.

Curriculum enrichment is good and pupils enjoy a wide range of clubs and activities.

The provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage has improved dramatically in the last two years and is good with OUTSTANDING features.

Good progress was observed in a Year 6 literacy lesson, where high expectations, brisk pace and rigorous use of challenging questions ensured all groups of pupils made significant gains in understanding enabling them to compare and evaluate newspaper articles.

Links with parents are good.

The school has good capacity to improve further.

As you know, Ofsted inspectors visited us last Thursday and Friday and I am pleased to report that the inspection went very smoothly and successfully.

Thank you to all the teachers and staff who worked so hard to make it such a success – you were as brilliant as you always are! 

We will be able to give you more precise details when the full report is published on 18th November and we will be sending out a copy to all parents/carers in the school. Next month’s Parent Forum on 9th December will also be an opportunity to discuss the report, so do come along.

In the meantime, thank you to everyone who returned their questionnaires, and also to the large number of parents who came to meet the inspectors during the Friday coffee morning. They were very impressed at the turn-out, and thank you for the lovely things you said about us!

The Friends of Fairlands would like to thank everyone who attended our Pamper and Shopping evening on Friday 24th September!

It was a great night and we raised £148.00, so again thanks to everyone who helped and came out on a damp Friday evening to have an evening of girly pampering!

Look out for more FOFs events on the community pages...

Our Summer Fayre got off to a great start last Sunday, when it was officially opened by the Mayor of Stevenage, Michael Downing.

The event went extremely well and we were pleased to make a profit of £873.11!

Thank you so much to all the Friends of Fairlands for their hard work - don't forget that they are always looking for new members, so contact the school office if you are interested in getting involved.

Summer Fayre and Car Boot sale
Sunday 11th July
11am - 2pm

Another Summer Fayre at Fairlands that promises to be great fun again this year!

Try your luck at Hook a Duck, the Coconut Shy, Splat the Rat, the Bottle Tombola, Lucky Dip and lots lots more, with some great raffle prizes (20p a ticket or £1 per book, TOP PRIZE £100 CASH!).

Lots of things for you and your little ones to make as well as Scrap Booking, and Cooking Demonstrations, Dancing , Singing and Football 5 a side.

BBQ for Lunch, ice lollies or ice creams for pudding!! And of course the cake stall will be tempting you too...!

If you make a donation on entrance then you automatically get entered to win a food hamper! So bring family, friends & neighbours for a great day out!

If you would like a stall or to book a car boot pitch (£10 per table on the day, £9.00 in advance) then contact Sue Hurren suehurren@fairlands.herts.sch.uk or the school office on 01438 351053 for a booking form.

On Monday 26th April, eight pupils and two parents from Year 1 attended the very first cooking club session. They made a basic scone recipe but were shown how it can easily be adapted to be either sweet or savoury based.

The children worked in twos and made the following flavours: Cheese and herb / Cheese and Sun-dried tomatoes / Cherry / Currant

The main skill which was learnt was "rubbing-in" which is going to prove to be very useful over the next few weeks as they are going to be concentrating on recipes using scones as their base. They will be making pizza scones, meat cobbler and fruit crumbles.

A great skill for safely cutting small ingredients with scissors was also learnt. The ingredients go into a paper cup and then you cut them inside the cup without the scissors having to go near your fingers. Ir was very easy for everyone and great fun - try it at home and see what you think!

Our scones smelt amazing and made us all very hungry whilst we were cleaning up. Everyone got to take a selection home with them to share with their families and the comments were great. All eight children said that they'd enjoyed their first session and were looking forward to doing more cooking both at school and at home.