Chrishall Holy Trinity & St Nicholas CE Primary and Pre-School

Having experimented with live class collaborating sessions via Zoom, it was decided that as a result of technical hitches, that we move to sharing class updates with each other via recorded videos.  These have been great to watch and a wonderful showcase of what children across the collaboration are learning.  It is hoped that not only will these videos support in helping the children to get to know each other, they will also spark interests in areas of learning that children might not have touched on and enrich what they already know.           

Another highlight has been our trip to the Houses of Parliament with the Courageous Advocates from all three schools and our Chair of Governors.  This was a lovely opportunity for the children to get to know each other.  On another occasion, the Advocates got together for an afternoon workshop at Rickling Primary School.  Throughout this time, children brainstormed ideas about how they could organise and lead different community events. 

In the Summer Terms, Chrishall children and families attend Rickling's RunFest and children from all three schools have the important task of designing the 1k, 5K and 10K medals. 

Year five and six children from Rickling, Farnham and Chrishall continue to come together for hockey training at JFAN every Friday.  Training sessions are led by Andy and Judy (parents and hockey coaches from Chrishall) and supported by JFAN students. It is great to see children across the three schools developing friendships with each other.  In the Spring Term matches are had against other schools. 

In the Autumn Terms, our year three and four girls from Chrishall and Rickling join forces for the annual girls’ football tournament that is hosted at Chrishall. In between training, the children have the chance to chat to each other.  At the last Easter Services, it was lovely to have Courageous Advocates from each other schools attend to do readings and prayers.  Reception and Key Stage One children from all three schools loved coming together for the Rickling dance festival last term. 

A group of Rickling Courageous Advocates recently attended Chrishall's Harvest Festival and spoke about Uttlesford Foodbank to the congregation.  Courageous Advocates from Rickling and Chrishall joined forces to drop off their Harvest contributions to the Foodbank in Saffron Walden.  Whilst there, they were given a tour and found out about parcels are made up and given to families. 

Plans for this academic year include the Courageous Advocates working on a collaborative Virtual Art Gallery Auction.

For our senior leadership team, we continue to meet every Monday evening. We work collaboratively on our School Development Plan and have been able to magpie activities/initiatives from each other schools, as well as share and develop ideas.                 

Mrs Thurgood Buss, our office manager at Chrishall meets regularly with the admin staff at Farnham and Rickling and together they discuss and share practice and procedures.  With some office staff being new to their office roles, it has been really useful for them to draw on Mrs Thurgood Buss's  experience and expertise.                                                                   

Mrs Dyer, the SIAMS and RE lead at Chrishall continues to work with Mrs Snelling, the lead at Farnham and Rickling and it is always useful for them to share what each school does, especially in relation to the Courageous Advocacy and Christian Aid work.  We are currently focusing on our Global Neighbours award and becoming UN Rights Respecting Schools.           

Mrs Stratton, our SENCO at Chrishall and Ms Woods, the SENCO at Farnham and Rickling also work together to share practice, policies, procedures and resources.  A SEND meeting with the Local Authority has been held to discuss and plan collaborative training sessions for all three schools.  Last academic year, all three schools were involved in the subject lead programme through the Uttlesford Partnership and have also attended writing moderations hosted at Elsenham Primary School.  Mrs Stratton continues to lead regular training sessions with Teaching Assistants from all three schools.                                                                         

We have termly collaborative staff meetings at which we share and celebrate teaching successes.  At a recent meeting, we built on our metacognitive work in the classroom. This academic year, we are all working on integrating metacognitive 'Thinking Aloud' characters into our teaching and learning.In addition to the termly meetings, staff often come together for virtual staff meetings throughout the term.

Whilst the Chair of Governors from Chrishall and the Federation meet regularly with the Executive Headteacher and termly with the Senior Leadership Team to review Collaboration Action Plan, governors also meet and are currently exploring ways that they can work together.  At one of Federation's Full Governing Body Meeting, Joanna our Co-Chair of Governors at Chrishall came along to share her experience of an Ofsted Inspection from a governor's perspective.

At all three schools, we are passionate about our outdoor learning and at the end of the Summer Term on our Inset Day we came together for some 'Muddy Puddle' outdoor learning.  This is now being put into practice in our everyday teaching. For the children, last academic year ended with the year five and six children going on their residential trip together. This was a lovely opportunity for the children to spend quality time together.