Another short week after the Royal wedding and I'm still trying to get into a routine- hence missing writing my blog last Sunday.

Last week was very quiet in school with SATs in years 2-6 and our Foundation and year 1 children out of school on day trips. I know the younger children had an enjoyable time but I'm not sure about the rest. The year 6 tests seemed quite hard this year particularly the maths papers but they are all over now for another year. It is such a shame that children and schools are judged on their performance in these tests when so much more, relevant learning goes on which is not celebrated. SATs are just a snapshot of how a child performs on that particular day but teacher ongoing assessments are far more accurate.

I've just come back from The Tiverton Imps Gala where a squad of our children took part. Our children did well and some of them represented school and their swimming club. We bring back to school a trophy for fastest relay and some children won individual medals. We will share our experiences and successes in Assembly tomorrow.

Next week I have lots of meetings after school. Looking at the diary I think there is an equally busy time during school time too. I'll let you know more next week.

Weekend celebrations

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I know some of you had street parties to celebrate the Royal wedding. I admit I thoroughly enjoyed the whole occasion on the television. Mrs Thompson travelled to London on Thursday night and soaked up the atmosphere on the crowded streets.

After the wedding celebrations Mrs T travelled back to Devon to support our children who 'endured' the Exmoor Challenge on the Saturday. The weather was fine for walking but most of the children found it hard going despite all the practice walks. Their perseverance and determination to complete the 16 miles is worthy of praise. I will post team photos when I get them.

Parent Pay has got off to a great start but I understand that some parents have some concerns about the implementation of our new system.

We’re very proud to be the first primary school in Devon to go live with parent pay and we believe that it will assist us in becoming more efficient in an environment when there are enormous pressures on us to find savings with very little room for manoeuvre.

Although there may be initial teething issues the projected savings on admin time will free up staff for other important tasks. We also believe that it will save time for parents too as the facility is there 24 hours a day.

Any initiative that helps us to become more efficient frees up funds to be spent where they are most on important, on the children.

Many of you will already be familiar with Parent pay as Uffculme have used it for a few years now. For those of you with children starting at Uffculme in the future it will be good practice for you!

Soon we will be setting up the school shop which will make it easier for you to order and pay for uniform and other school merchandise.

Have a good week.