Weekly Message from Mrs Wilcox

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter break; it has been lovely to welcome the children back to school.

We began the week with assembly on Tuesday with truly incredible singing! The children raised the roof with ‘Another School Day’, including the chorus:

Try my best in every single way.
A lot of care a lot of heart,
Another day, another start.
Be the best that I can be today 

Then in assembly this morning, we heard many of the different ways that some of our children had been the best they could be this week. Children received headteacher awards for improved handwriting, powerful descriptive writing, persevering when sewing (tricky when you are just 6 or 7!) and geography knowledge to share just a few. I was impressed after hot chocolate when every child said thank you completely unprompted – well done children, what super stars you are.

We also awarded our half-termly running medals. Running is an important and much-loved part of our school curriculum. Tomorrow Miss Gibbs and I will be accompanying 25 of our Year 5/6 children as they run the TCS Mini London Marathon. What a wonderful opportunity for them to run in front of Buckingham Palace and down The Mall.

The PTFA are hosting their first Melbourn Fun Run on Sunday 11^th May. Places are still available from both the 5k and the family 2K route. All information and signing up is via www.melbournfunrun.org. The PTFA would love some help with marshalling too, if you can help please email funrun@mpsptfa.org. Please so support this new event.

What amazing weather we have enjoyed this week! Thanks to the warm sunshine many of the trees on the school field are now in full blossom and how beautiful they look.

The Spring Term has been a long one with some challenges for the school. Facing the prospect of a reduced budget has meant some difficult decisions to ensure that we can still deliver our school vision and maintain our high standards. As a leadership team and Governing Board, we are determined that our children’s day to day experience at Melbourn Primary School will be just the same next year as in any other. In fact, as planned in our rolling Strategic Development Plan, we should see certain areas of our curriculum provision be stronger than they currently are as a result of carefully planned priorities and staff continuing professional development.

Throughout this term, one thing has remained constant and that is the joy of working with your children. Personal highlights have been accompanying the children on school trips, watching them perform their music concerts and assemblies, seeing the pride in their day to day achievements and simply chatting with them when they have something exiting to share. I look forward to all that the Summer Term will bring and particularly seeing your children new achievements.

I hope the sun continues to shine and you have a lovely Easter break. School re-opens on Tuesday 22^nd April 2025.

Yesterday, I was pleased to meet the new principal of MVC, Rachel Spencer. I enjoyed showing Mrs Spencer around our lovely school and introducing her to some of our even lovelier children! Year 5 had many questions for her which included asking how much homework pupils have at MVC and how they choose options in Year 9!

Mrs Spencer is new to the area and to the academy. I was pleased to hear of her ambitions for the pupils and school and she shared with me the progress she has already made in the short time she has been in role since January. She has appointed some new senior leaders who will be joining the school later this academic year; she was confident and excited about the future for the school.  

I raised with her the importance of a strong transition between the primary schools and MVC and was pleased that she too is eager to grow this aspect of school life in the future. I was delighted that she has accepted my invitation to attend our Open Evening in July to meet and talk to parents and pupils.

How the blue skies and sunshine yesterday, brought out the smiles! This coincided with yesterday being the Spring Equinox, the arrival of astronomical spring, and also International Day of Happiness.

Happiness means different things to different people. To many it’s spending time with loved ones, for others it’s doing things they enjoy and for some it’s doing something that makes someone else happy. I certainly felt happiness yesterday as I accompanied Year 5 on their trip (by train and tube) to the Natural History Museum in London. A whole day sharing the children’s enjoyment was a welcome break from some of the challenges and administrative tasks of my normal ‘day job’!

I was interested to read that, in the World Happiness Report 2025 published yesterday, belief in the kindness of others is more closely linked to happiness than previously thought and also that sharing a meal with others is strongly linked to well-being. We often talk about kindness in school and especially the value and importance of showing kindness to others so hopefully this is feeding into the children’s happiness. I would also suggest by the buzz in the dining hall at lunchtime that there is  much joy being shared!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend doing whatever makes you happy 😊

It is part of our school vision to give children opportunities to understand a range of beliefs. To this end, we have had great fun today learning about the Jewish festival of Purim. It was wonderful to see so many kings and queens in school – I think I could get used to wearing a cloak but not a crown, I must admit to taking my crown off by 9am!

In assembly, we learnt about the festivities associated with Purim and heard the story of Esther.  Purim is a festival of joy and there was much joy with active audience participation! The children shook their ‘gragger’ (Jewish shaker) and stamped their feet every time the wicked Haman was mentioned in the story. Through hearing the story, the children were able to identify the courage that Esther showed in calling out something she knew to be wrong and also the kindness that Mordecai had shown to her.

The children also learnt about giving a ‘mitzvah’, a good deed, and many gave compliments to their class mates. Thank you for providing donations to the foodbank as part of this.

Thank you to Miss Cave and Mrs Benson for organising our Purim festival and a special shout out to Mrs Porteous-Butler who has advised us along the way, kindly supplied some of the hamantaschen and even led the assembly today – thank you for making our Purim day extra memorable and fun.

I was sorry to miss the dressing up and excitement of World Book Day yesterday. Thinking about which character I would have chosen for dressing up, led me to reflect on some of the most succesful books I have enjoyed sharing with children. They are usually books that are fun for children to listen to or read.  They make children think about big questions and as a result create excitement about learning.

When teaching in EYFS, one of my favourites was The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord. I know our Ladybirds and Butterflies enjoyed this book last year too. In fact, this became a family favourite when my own children were young.  My now 25-year-old son tested me just a few weeks ago to see if together we could still recite the whole story without the text and we could! “One hot summer in Itching Down ….”

My favourites books for older children have to be The Tower to The Sun by Colin Thompson which invites the reader to consider the effect of pollution and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt which raises the question – if you had the chance to live forever, at the same age as you are now, would you take it?!

I was delighted to hear that Miss Bartlett and Mrs McLeod-Jones dressed up as the ‘Evil Pea’ from Supertato for singing assembly! How my niece, Tilly, loves that story! She even carried her Supertato round with her for weeks after making one at school!

Have fun sharing some stories with your children this weekend – just think you might still be able to recite one in twenty years time if it’s a really good one! 

I became a teacher because I wanted to make a difference to the lives of children. This is the exact same reason I became a headteacher. As a headteacher, I am able to make a difference to the lives of more children than when I was a class teacher. In addition, I enjoy enabling the staff in school to be the ‘difference’ – it brings real joy to see them develop and apply their skills and as a result your children blossom.

I have not been able to be in school this week, as I am recovering from minor surgery during half-term (nothing to worry about). I have missed seeing the children and hearing about their half-term adventures but I have been kept updated by my incredible team. I have also had a couple of lovely emails from parents sharing how pleased they are with how their children are doing at the moment – thank you 😊.

I am truly grateful to all the staff and especially the senior leaders who this week, are doing my job as well as their own and doing so admirably. I am so proud of them, their commitment to your children and their drive to do the very best job possible in all circumstances. Thank you Team Melbourn – you are the best.

I look forward to being back in school as soon as possible. I am especially missing hot chocolate today!

On Wednesday, it was the turn of Foundation Stage and Key Stage One to head to the theatre. This time it was to The Key Theatre, Peterborough, to see Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo. We had a wonderful time watching and reciting key lines along with the mouse, fox, owl, snake and of course the Gruffalo! The children were a credit to the school throughout the morning; I was especially proud of the lovely  ‘thank yous’, I heard them giving the coach driver and helpers on our return.

We followed up the trip in school with Gruffalo inspired activities. The Foundation Stage teachers’ favourite moment was watching the children re-enacting the morning, complete with journey, stage set up and production. A huge thank you to the PTFA who funded the coaches and made the trip possible and to the many parents that joined us.

I hope you all have a lovely week with your children, here’s hoping the sun shines. I am getting fed up of grey skies now! See you back in school on Monday 24^th February.

I have mentioned before how providing trips and experiences for our children is such an important part of our school vision. I am so grateful to the staff who work so hard to achieve this every single week, sometimes despite inclement weather!

Last week our Year 4 staff took the children to West Stow, Anglo-Saxon village and this week Year 2 went to the Botanic gardens in Cambridge. Being outside in the cold for most of the day didn’t curtail the adult’s enthusiasm and determination to ensure that our children had an engaging and enriching experience. The children had a great time. I have heard from many Year 2 children how they saw the world’s largest seed; they were amazed that it was even bigger than their head!

This week children in Year 6 made their own biscuits complete with packaging and today everyone has enjoyed maths with jelly beans! It doesn’t get much more fun than that! A huge thank you to all the staff for making learning irresistible and to the many parents who accompany us on trips, have provided number outfits today (I loved the snake and ladders jumper!) and regularly attend school events like the Year 6 biscuit sale yesterday – what a great community we are. Thank you.

As a teacher and parent, I know and value the difference that homework can make to a child if at the correct level and in manageable amounts for their age and stage of education. For example, one teacher with a class of thirty children cannot provide regular 1:1 reading sessions for all children and deliver the rest of the curriculum too. I also recognise that for example, learning spellings by practising them 3 or 4 times a week at home makes a massive difference to children’s success in  writing.

As a parent, I remember with fondness the reading times I used to share with my own children. However, I also remember (not so fondly!) the battles we had every weekend with one of our children who felt that they had worked hard enough in school every day and on that basis should not have to do additional work at home!

We are in the process of reviewing our homework policy and would love to gather your views about you and your child’s experience of homework. Please could you take five minutes this weekend to complete this short survey. We will do out best to reflect this in any changes we make.

Have a lovely weekend; I hope you enjoy some shared reading and navigate any homework battles with success!
 

Working with children always makes me smile and oh how I smiled on Tuesday when I accompanied Mrs M-J and the MPS choir to the Young Voices event at the O2. From leaving school at 11am to our very late return, the day was joyous. We united with over 8,000 other primary school children from the south of England to form the largest children’s choir concert in the world. The songs included pop favourites and a Bob Marley medley to celebrate what would have been his 80^th birthday.

The children showcased their amazing talents with outstanding stamina, singing and dancing throughout with such enthusiasm. I am so proud of their hard work and dedication. A huge thank you to Mrs M-J for preparing them so well with the learning of the songs and dance moves. Thank you also to the parents who came along to support and share this unforgettable experience with us – your encouragement means so much!

New Year resolutions often involve an intention to become healthier. I wonder how many of you are doing Dry January or even Veganuary? In school, it is no different! This week has seen schools across Cambridgeshire mark ‘Healthy You Schools Week’. On Wednesday, Miss Gibbs led a whole school assembly about the importance of being physically healthy and of a balanced diet.

Children have enjoyed 60 second movement breaks and opportunities to practice mindfulness. In certain year groups the children have learnt about the ‘Eatwell plate’ which shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a balanced diet.

If your child brings a packed lunch to school why not involve them in deciding what should go in it to make sure it is healthy in line with the Eatwell plate.  In Foundation Stage, the children have had great fun making and eating healthy soup; they even chopped their own vegetables and wrote down their recipe. If you get requests for soup or to go to Parkrun this weekend you know why!

It has been wonderful to see the children back in school this week and to hear about their Christmas celebrations. There has been much talk about special time with family, food and of course presents too! I hope you all enjoyed the magic of the season and weren’t woken up too early on Christmas morning!

With the Christmas festivities many of our normal routines understandably take second place. Now that we are back in school, please can I encourage you to re-ignite regular reading habits.  It really is essential if your children are to become fluent readers that they read regularly to an adult at home.

The school expectation is that all children read four times a week. This week 72% of our children achieved this target. It would be wonderful to see that number at 100%! Snuggling up on the sofa and hearing my children read was always a highlight of my day. I know life is busy but, especially on these cold wintery days, what a better way than to warm your heart than sharing a book with your child. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Christmas is the best time to be a primary school teacher! December is bursting with excitement and activity and what a busy and wonderful week we have had celebrating Christmas in school. Our KS2 carol services, held in the Baptist church, on Tuesday have to be a personal highlight. To hear the children singing so beautifully in the atmospheric candlelit surroundings always fills me heart with joy. I was so proud of all of the children and especially the Year 6 readers – well done children.

This week KS1 have attended All Saints church for a Christingle service, Year 5 and Foundation Stage have enjoyed buddy sessions to make Christmas hats and most year groups have ‘show cased’ their learning in some way. The Year 4 Christmas tree decorations which they have designed and made in DT lessons are an excellent product of the sewing skills they have learnt.

Our finale today has been with class parties and Christmas lunch. We had a momentary panic when Santa who was scheduled to visit at 10:30am didn’t arrive! He must have been very busy ‘checking his list’ but thankfully he arrived later in the morning delivering presents to all classes. I had even started ringing local radio stations to see if one of Santa’s ‘helpers’ could possibly come to the rescue!

In assembly this morning, we reflected on the Christmas story being a story of love to the world. We took time to think about how we can show love to the important people in our lives. So, do keep a look out for extra help this holiday and perhaps extra hugs and ‘thank yous’.

On behalf of everyone at school may I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you have an extra special time with your wonderful children. See you back in school on January 7^th.

The children in KS1 made their teachers and parents proud this week when they performed their nativity . Well done children – I was impressed that you managed to introduce me to some new Christmas tunes. Your rendition of ‘Oh we have to go’ certainly resonated with me as I feel like I do have to ‘rush’ and ‘dash’ to get everything on my list done by the 25^th!

On Thursday of this week Mrs Thorp (SENDCo) and I visited the Houses of Parliament to watch a debate on the provision for children with Autism and ADHD in mainstream schools, led by Pippa Haylings, the MP for South Cambs.  Pippa is eager to see the failings in the system in delayed diagnoses addressed and schools funded adequately to ensure we can support the children in our settings.

Cambridgeshire has seen a 51% increase in EHCPs in the last five years and a 270% in the number of children presenting with autism. Headteachers have been campaigning for adequate funding for Cambridgeshire  schools for many years – I do hope that this message is heard and addressed. Please do consider contacting Pippa to support our call for adequate funding.

If last week in school was busy then this week has been bursting with excitement and beaming smiles! What a joy it was on Wednesday to take our KS2 children to London to see the musical Matilda.

After months of planning to take 270 children and adults to London, Matilda did not disappoint! The show was incredible and inspiring for Melbourn pupils to see children in the leading parts.  I was fortunate to sit in the back row of our seats in the stalls with a clear view of our year 5 / 6 children. I could see how they were captivated by the singing and dancing and also how they jumped at some of the louder parts! I must admit to slightly ‘leaky eyes’ as I watched how they applauded with such gusto.

I was incredibly proud of the Melbourn team on Wednesday. The children were impeccably behaved which was noted by members of the public who stopped to tell us. The theatre staff were equally impressed by our organisation telling me we were in fact their favourite school! How lovely and what a very proud headteacher day it was!

This week we have also enjoyed our wonderful Early Years nativities when the children sang and performed for their families. I am always in awe of how such young children can learn so many songs in such a few weeks and stand on the stage in front of such a big audience! Well done children you were amazing.

As I write this the children are enjoying their ‘Santa dash’ – what a brilliant week! 😊

We have had a busy busy week in school! Our year 6 children visited the Cambridge mosque, EYFA children have been visited by doctors, nurses and midwives talking about their jobs, Year 4 got to trail a new maths game, we held an Open Morning for September prospective parents and the children had fun at the PTFA discos ... phew, it’s exhausting just writing it all down!

As a Local Authority (LA) school we have regular visits from LA officers to review our provision and support us in ensuring our teaching and learning is as effective as it can be. Two visits fell into our very busy week too! On Tuesday our School Improvement Partner visited to see how the children are progressing with their writing and on Wednesday the EYFS officer spent time with us.

Both officers were full of praise for the school. In terms of writing the officer was impressed with how well our children were doing.   They highlighted the children’s handwriting and the classroom learning walls for particular praise. Our EYFS learning environment was considered to be of such a high standard that the LA have asked if they can send teachers from other schools to see it as part of their professional development. What proud moments these both were!

Well done team Melbourn 😊 I appreciate how hard you all work to make learning irresistible for our children. 

This is a message of gratitude! It was lovely to see so many of you at the PTFA firework event last weekend. We were blessed with perfect weather for fireworks, the burgers were yummy and the firework display impressive! A huge thank you to the PTFA for organising and running the event, to all of the volunteers who helped in anyway from setting up and clearing away, to marshalling and running stalls – your support is very much appreciated and meant the evening was a huge success.

It is always so lovely to come together as a community. Your collected efforts and support meant that the evening has raised approximately £8,500 which is fantastic and will be going towards our new playground equipment– thank you 😊.

As well as raising money for ourselves, it is good to remember that there are others in greater need. Today we enjoyed going spotty for Children in Need and have raised £303.40 towards this worthwhile charity – thank you!

On Monday, please remember that school is closed whilst the teaching staff have a full day of training. Enjoy your extra-long weekend. See you on Tuesday!

We have been busy busy busy in school this week! We had our inflatables day on Tuesday which was a huge success and lots of fun with three different inflatables for the children to enjoy – a bouncy castle, obstacle course and even a giant slide! There were lots of smiles.

Throughout the week children in Year 5 have enjoyed Bikeability lessons; you may have seen them cycling through the streets around the school practicing their cycling proficiency skills. Yesterday, Mr Chin spent the morning in school taking photos for our website. Then today we had Hedgehog Class assembly and our Reception intake had their photo taken by a representative from the local newspaper for the ‘starting school’ special edition.

All of this has been on top of the normal teaching and learning that takes place every day! And it’s not over yet; the weekend brings more fun with the PTFA annual fireworks event tomorrow evening! I look forward to seeing those of you who have already purchased tickets at this popular and sold out event.

Running is a big part of school life here at Melbourn, we want our children to enjoy exercise and running in particular. We are very fortunate to have our ‘golden mile’ track which the children enjoy as a class activity three times per week (on their non-PE days) and during playtimes and of course we also have our very own running coach, Mr. Chapman!

Children are encouraged to challenge and improve their own fitness levels during their golden mile sessions. This morning in assembly we awarded our first running medals of the year. A medal for the most improved runner in each class and one for the runner who could run the most laps in one ‘golden mile’ session this half-term. We also celebrated yellow team winning the KS2 cross county competition this half-term. Well done children – brilliant! I look forward to seeing who wins the medals in December.

I hope that you all have a lovely half-term break with your children – see you back in school on Monday 4^th November. 

We are so proud of your children! This September we have introduced a behaviour curriculum for each year group to support our behaviour policy and school rules of ‘Ready Respectful and Safe’. The purpose of this is to explicitly teach the children what the embodiment of these rules looks like in their day to day interactions with others and in their attitude to learning.

As part of this we have been practising stopping in corridors, letting adults through doors first and offering a greeting! Now when I say good morning / afternoon to the children as well as a responding ‘good morning’ I am often asked how I am and or how my morning / afternoon has been. They really are a joy 😊.

The PTFA have been busy planning the school’s annual fireworks events. The posters are up, the burgers and sausages ordered and tickets sales have begun! The fireworks evening is a real highlight of the PTFA year and raises a significant amount of money for the school. Last year it raised an incredible £5,925 which made a significant contribution to school life for your children.

So far this year, the PTFA have committed to paying the coach costs for our KS2 Matilda trip so that families only have to pay for the theatre ticket.  They are covering the cost of new phonic reading books for EYFS and KS1 and they are saving up to pay towards a replacement tropical play area as the current one is coming to the end of its life.

The PTFA are in desperate need of volunteers to help set up, clear away, marshal and runs stalls at the fireworks event. Without more volunteers it may be that we can’t offer the usual selection of stalls. If you could spare an hour or two you’ll be surprised how much fun helping at this event can be and we would all be very grateful.  Please email mpsptfavolunteers@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance for your support 😊

It is good to take time to stop and recognise the good things we have in life; being thankful can help lift our mood and change our focus. Harvest Festival this week was a good opportunity for the children to take time to reflect on what they are thankful for and especially for the food they eat.

As a school we appreciate the generosity of our local community in welcoming us to church for Harvest – thank you Reverend Sue at the URC for hosting us! We were incredibly proud of the children as they walked the route and the respect they showed in church. We have been teaching what it means to be respectful this term so to see this is action on Monday was an ‘aww’ moment for the staff. Reverend Sue also commented on how respectful the children were and how many thank yous she received from them. Well done children 😊

Thank you to all who donated food for Jimmy’s Night Shelter and the Melbourn Foodbank – the charities were hugely appreciative.

As someone who loves reading and sharing the joy of books with children, I have been saddened by the findings of the most recent Annual Literacy Survey. Of the 71,351 children and young people (aged 5-18) who completed the survey only two in five (43.4%) said they enjoyed reading in their free time. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 2005. Fewer than three in ten (28.0%) said that they read daily.

Reading has many benefits for children. As well as opening up magical places to explore and adventures to be shared, reading has educational and emotional gains. The more stories our children hear and read the greater their language acquisition and the greater their understanding of the structure of writing. The report also found that children and young people who are the most engaged with literacy have better mental wellbeing than their peers who are the least engaged.

So, a huge plea from me …. please spend time this weekend (and every day!), snuggled up on the sofa, sharing a book with your children. The more you read with and to them (even KS2 children) the more they will learn to love reading for themselves and be able to benefit from all that it offers. These are some of the most precious moments and the ones you will miss when they are all grown up!

The start of the school year always brings much hope for the year ahead – a new chapter of a book to be written. It is with eager anticipation that we wait to see what the children will achieve and to enjoy many fun and enriching activities together.

One of the September highlights is always the election of our house captains. After their short presentations of their suitability for the role, the children and staff in each house have voted. We are really impressed by all of our year 6 children, they have started the year showing their maturity and what great role models they are for the younger children. We announced the winners in assembly this morning:

Yellow House Captain Callum and Vice-Captain Liberty

Green House Captain Leonie and Vice-Captain Skyla

Red House Captain Freddie and Vice-Captain Ruby B

Blue House Captain Sophia and Vice-Captain Lexi

Well done children! We look forward to your leadership contributions to your teams, I am sure you are going to make us all proud 😊.

In starting the new school year, we have reflected on the achievements of Team GB at the Olympics. In assembly, we discussed some of the athletes and watched a montage which included photos and films of them practising their sports as children and then their medal winning moments. To see this was both awe-inspiring and moving. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch that montage I still well up!

The children were encouraged to think about what they would like to achieve both this school year and as adults. Some children may already know what they want to be when they ‘grow up’ whilst others won’t, but may be inspired by their favourite subject or sport.

It is really important that our children have aspiration. Aspiration acts as a motivator and helps children maintain a positive attitude to learning; spend some time talking to your children about their dreams for the future. As their teachers we won’t have the pleasure of seeing them achieve their future goals but you will. Why not write down or take a photo of them doing their ‘thing’ and keep it somewhere safe to show them when they achieve it.

The children all looked so smart in their new uniform and shiny shoes when they returned to school yesterday. It has been wonderful to reconnect with them (and you!) and to hear their news. From lovely holidays, to days at the beach, breakfasts with princesses, new puppies and even new baby siblings there has been much to share and smiles have abounded.

We also have lovely family news to share from the holidays. Miss Davies had her baby, a boy Luka Victor, Miss Angus became Mrs Barrett and yesterday as we returned to school Mrs Luckett had her baby; a boy Kasper Thomas.

A very warm welcome to the new Foundation Stage children and their parents, any new families that have joined us and new staff too. I hope you all quickly settle into our lovely school community and we look forward to getting to know you.

I hope that the 2024-2025 school year is a happy and successful one for you and your children; we are very excited for all that we have planned and to see the many achievements your children will make.

Academic Year 2022-2023