Another term ending

As the Easter vacation approaches, it is hard to believe two thirds of the school year is over already. So much has been achieved since I arrived at Rego but there is still so much more which could have, and should have, been possible.

I have taken an empty space with only boxes and turned it into a proper functioning Library with space for students of all ages to read, study and carry out activities. We have held a very successful Book Week which has involved the entire Primary School and resulted in a superb Creative Writing Competition by the Literacy Co-ordinator; our Book Dragon; a Dress-up parade; 2 day Book Fair and new books for the Library from the Book Fair.

Library skills are underway with all students in Years 3 and 4 completing a unit on organisation of Fiction books, and Year 5 exploring the Dewey Decimal System. Foundation and Y1 and 2 are fairly solid in their knowledge of how the Picture books are shelved and how to look after them and they are starting to enjoy selecting from the small Non-Fiction section in their area. Have done some limited research skills with Y6 but am continually frustrated that only half the Y6 classes come to Library on a regular basis.

There is a wonderful team of parent helpers who organise displays; stamp and cover books and generally appear when I most need them. They are now being supplemented by some enthusiastic Y6 students who come down at break and lunch to do some stamping and sticking date pages in.

On the other side there is an increasing list of areas which need to be addressed and are not.

Top of the list, as it has been since the start is purchasing - none of the orders I have raised have been placed with suppliers - they have all been approved by both the Primary and Whole School Principal but that doesn't seem to make any difference. We haven't had a newspaper in the Library since Dec last year and the whole school is waiting for printer cartridges. At the moment the Library has 2 of the only working printers in the entire Primary School, and they won't last the week.

This has meant that any new books are as result of parent donations, credit from the Scholastic Book Club and credit from the recent Book Fair. Basically our parents are paying out more money to fund the school library over and above the fees they have already paid.

The new Oliver Library system is still not up and running, it's been almost an entire term now. The head of IT comes to the Primary Library most weeks and spends a couple of hours talking to Softlink in Australia or disappearing to the server room to try other options but the situation remains the same - Oliver doesn't work at Rego. So no OPACs and a limit to the skills that can be shared with the students.

Soft furnishings are non-existent, we have 15 very shabby cushions that came over from the old building and some pieces of carpet but none of the bean bags we were promised or sofas or anything else to make the Library a comfortable, attractive place for the students to visit and relax.

I have decided that the frustration of not being able to provide the kind of Library servies required is too much and today I resigned from Rego. I will work my notice during the Summer term and start afresh at a different school in the next academic year. The staff, students and parents at Rego are a wonderful community of people, however the School Board are only interested in making as much profit as possible at the expense of the students' learning environment. This is a real shame as there is such potential for Rego to be a great school.

"The Gruffalo"

I continue to be impressed with the students at Shanghai Rego. Three weeks ago I asked my Library monitors group to perform a play version of "The Gruffalo" for our youngest students in Foundation and Key Stage 1. They willingly took on the challenge and were enthusiastic about performing for the rest of the school when I sprung that on them yesterday.

Today, our lead character, "Mouse" was sick and once again the others stepped up and agreed to swap roles around and enlist help from another student to make the play happen. They were magnificent! All they had was a quick run through and they performed twice today. Once for Y3 and 4 and once for the original audience. They will get one more chance next Monday for the oldest students in Y5 and 6 and I am sure this will be equally impressive.

Today was hectic in the extreme. As well as our two performances, there were book marks to laminate, Scholastic orders to distribute and all the vendors arrived at once for the Book Fair and all wanted more tables. We have already cleared both art rooms and half the Library so that may have to be enough!

The selection looks superb! Different types from each supplier, which is just what I hoped for. Prices are also lower than I expected so hopefully the kids will get more than they expected for their money.

Book Week is here!

Book Week started yesterday. Laid the groundwork last week with letters home about the Book Fair and the Dress up day as well as a full page in the School Newsletter including details of the writing competition.

The Deputy Principal started things off with a rousing rendition of Anne Fine's "Return of the Killer Cat" to a Year 4 class. The students are really getting into the Favourite Teachers' Books competition and the Book marks are coming in thick and fast.

Our production of "The Gruffalo" will now be performed 3 times - to Y3/4 tomorrow followed by Nursery, Foundation, Y1 & 2 and then again at the Y5/6 Assembly next Monday. There has also been agreement for a parade on Friday. This will be a little bit of a logistical nightmare but what's a bit of chaos with everything else that's going on.

Can't organise an Assembly as the competitions will not all be judged until next week or the week after plus we have moved stuff around to make our Gruffalo stage so difficult to set up in the Library. Latest plan is to start a parade though the school with Y6 then Y5, 4, 3 etc until they parade through the Library then head back upstairs to collect bags etc to go home.

We'll see how it goes. Book vendors should be delivering tomorrow. Tables were supposed to be moved today after school but they were still in the art rooms when I left. Will have to follow up on that tomorrow morning as the vendors want to try and set up in the afternoon.

Scholastic order was delivered today so that also caused a bit of a buzz. The Scholastic reps will come tomorrow to make sure everything is there and sort it all out so the kids should have new books to take home tomorrow night then the Book Fair on Thursday/Friday.

The Book Dragon looks incredible - there are still some scales coming in and lots of comments/discussions going on.

Staff morale is still low, pay finally arrived but there are rumours about staff having their contracts terminated due to low numbers returning next year. Tough times and little sign of things improving.

Wonderful parents

The wonderful parents have done it again! Last week they planned and sorted out scenery and a script for my Library monitors to perform "The Gruffalo" to the little ones as Assembly next week. They found two back drops they had made of forests from previous shows and produced some curtains. We now have a stage in the Library and 9 very keen Y5/6 students practicing to be the Mouse, Owl, Fox, Snake etc....

The Literacy coordinator has also got on board and organised a creative writing competition to take place during Book Week, so suddenly it's all coming together.

Missed a couple of days at the end of the week due to a horrible cold/flu virus but went back in today and started to give out Book mark templates for the kids to colour.

Morale is very low amongst the teaching staff. Numbers of students are not really on the increase and many teachers have not had contracts renewed yet. Add to this the fact that salaries were late this month and people are starting to get a little concerned.

No orders have been placed, work on the gym/auditorium has been stopped since before CNY, and now this pay thing. Not looking too good really.

Two weeks until Book Week

Starting to build up momentum towards Book Week now. The Dragon project has proved very popular..such a fun thing to do. Lots of teachers have joined in too, including the two lovely lady PE teachers which has been brilliant.



The Parents have started to decorate the entrance hall this week and caused some raised eyebrows! They took some old books which had not sold at the last Book Fair and made a mobile from them. This did involve lots of tearing, cutting and stapling which caused me a few palpitations until I saw the results. They have created a stunning piece of art work but it is quite provocative. A couple of the teachers complained about the message we were sending the students so I sent a damage control mail outlining the creativity and imagination used in this piece of artistic recycling and things seem to have gone quiet again.

Next week I will be giving the students bookmark templates to take home and colour so that they can have a lasting reminder of Book Week.

Library skills are going quite well, Yr 3 and 4 are now doing an online survey to test what they have learned about Fiction organisation and the 5s are really getting into Dewey! Games and competitions certainly make it more interesting for me and hopefully the kids, but it does make for a lot of news as different teams vie to be the first to get the correct answer. Hard to design a quiet game, I find.

Still no functioning Oliver - I presented to the SMT last week about what should be available and that it wasn't. Not sure if it will make a big difference, once again a waiting game.

Still no orders, still no refund of the money I paid for Daily 7/10. Haven't even been paid yet.....this financial crisis is no joke anymore.