In our lower school ‘thinking time’ assembly this week, we talked about the latest Lego news story. The people at Lego have promised they are going to avoid ‘gender stereotypes’ in their Lego sets. This means they want to help children to dream big and never think they can’t do something just because they are a boy or a girl. Lego don’t want any children thinking that a type of Lego is just for boys or just for girls.

We watched this interesting video below and discussed our ambitions for the futures. As we said together, everything is for everyone!

Watch the video if you haven’t already. Leave a comment below telling me your big dreams. What are you determined to achieve?

Mrt Poyton

In assembly this week we read a poem together to celebrate National Poetry Day. It was written by my favourite poet Edgar Albert Guest. He wrote poems about our school’s values of aspiration and resilience. Here is the poem. Can you leave a comment below telling me what YOU think the poem means?

When you’re up against a trouble,
    Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
    Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
    Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
    See it through!

Black may be the clouds about you
    And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
    Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
    Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
    See it through!

Even hope may seem but futile,
    When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
    Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
    Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
    See it through!

Every once in a while someone comes up with a new list of things children should do whilst they are young.

What do you think of this new one? See below. Ten things to do by the time you are ten years old. We looked at it during reflection time in our assembly video today.

Leave a comment below telling me if you have done any of these. Which is your favourite?

Which ones have you NOT done? Are any of them an ambition of yours?

What do you think should be on this list that isn’t on there?

Which ones can you do at Lawford Mead?

1. Join in competitive team sports
2. Play an instrument
3. Learn to swim
4. Take part in drama and performing arts
5. Visit the seaside and the countryside
6. Experience museums, galleries and heritage sites
7. Take part in camping trips and overnight residentials
8. Learn to ride a bike
9. Take part in debating
10. Use a library

In Friday assembly’s reflection time, we thought about last week’s historic SpaceX mission. What made it special was that the team of four space travellers, who were named Inspiration4, were NOT astronauts! They received SOME astronaut training but it was the first ever mission into space where no one on board was a fully trained astronaut! How amazing for those 4 people, their dreams have come true!

This made me realise that if any Lawford Mead pupils dream of visiting space when they are older, it could be a real possibility, even if they don’t become astronauts. It got us talking in assembly, about the big dreams and ambitions that we are aspiring to achieve in the future.

Here’s what some of the children said…

“I want to take care of sick animals.”

“I want to be a paramedic.”

“I want to earn lots of money so I can help people with it.”

“I want to be a singer but I am nervous on stage.”

For that last one we discussed how we could build confidence and find opportunities to sing at Lawford Mead!

What are YOUR ambitions for the future? Leave a comment below.

No dream is too big! Reach for the stars!

In assembly last Friday we talked about Emma Raducanu, the brilliant young British tennis player who has shown amazing resilience this year. Back in June, Emma had to pull out of the Wimbledon tennis tournament as she wasn’t feeling confident. But she went back to training and worked very hard to prepare herself for the next tournament.

And last week she BOUNCED BACK and made it into the FINAL of the US Open! Did you see what happened in the final match at the weekend…? As we saw in this Tuesday’s assembly…

…SHE WON!

CONGRATULATIONS EMMA, FROM ALL OF US HERE AT LAWFORD MEAD!

Emma had to show resilience in the final too, as right near the end of the match she slid over and cut her knee. But she stayed calm, her knee was bandaged and she bounced back to WIN!

Just 18 years old, Emma broke many records with her big win, including being the first British woman to win a major tennis tournament in 44 years!

What can we learn from Emma Raducanu? When have you showed resilience? When and how will you show it next?

Leave a comment below.

During an assembly last week, we watched the BBC’s closing montage from the Tokyo Olympics. You can watch it again below.

We thought about how the athletes would have felt when they won their medals – and how it would motivate them to keep going and achieve even MORE!

We also thought about the athlete’s families and how they would have felt watching from home and when they were reunited at the airport like we saw in the video.

We agreed that by aspiring to achieve our best, all learners at Lawford Mead (and their families) can capture those same feelings of pride.

What will you do this term to capture that feeling of pride, for you and for your family?

Leave a comment below.

In our first assembly of the term we looked at how well the sunflowers in our school garden have done over the summer break. Look how tall they got!

During the assembly we talked about how pupils might want to grow this year. We didn’t mean how TALL you will grow though, did we? We meant what do you want to work hard at so you improve, make progress and ‘grow’?

Do you want to grow as a writer by working on your handwriting or spelling? As a mathematician by working on your times tables? Do you want to grow as an scientist? As an artist? Historian? Athlete?

Leave a comment below telling us your plans for growth this year…and tell us how will you do it!

Mr Poyton

I haven’t used this blog much since children returned to school in March as we have our newsletters and emails for communication. Many thanks to those of you who have continued to use the year group blogs for homework this year.

Please see my end of term letter here and if you think you missed any recent letters then you can find most of them here.

Wishing our whole school community a happy and healthy summer break.

I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Mr Poyton

It was wonderful to see all the children smiling as they returned to school and their classrooms on Monday the 8th.

Just a reminder for parents and carers that all recent letters we have emailed out can also be found on the news and letters page of the website.

Mr Poyton

This week’s assembly video will be the LAST ONE as children are all returning to school next week! So this is your last chance to nominate a child for a shout out.

Leave a comment below by the end of the day on Wednesday, telling us why your child deserves a mention for the effort they have put into their remote learning and for showing our school values this week and since Christmas.

Mr Poyton