It has been a busy start to the academic year, however, we are thankful for the return of children to school and the fact that movement around the building by pupils is now permissible.
We had the sheer joy of welcoming over 250 pupils into our Year 8 this year and it is fair to say that they have made a good start to the year. I have been very impressed with the pupils’ good manners and by the continual ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good afternoon’ greetings that I am met with as I move around the school. It is a real pleasure to see young people being able to articulate greetings, to hold doors open for their peers, to extend gratitude to teachers and staff who are here to help them and to watch the embedding of the Lurgan Junior High School work ethic amongst them. In no time at all, really, they have got to know ‘how we do things’ here in the Junior High and I have no doubt that they are already playing their role in ensuring that our high standards and expectations are maintained.
I extend my thanks to all of our parents for their continued support and hard work in relation to school life.
Training by eminent educationist, Tom Sherrington
On 27th August, I was thrilled, along with my expert staff, to welcome Tom Sherrington to a training event for our teachers. Mr Sherrington is a renowned figure in the field of education, having been a principal for many years in England before pursuing his career as an educational consultant. I first got to know Mr Sherrington when I wrote a chapter for his book, ‘The Learning Rainforest: Fieldbook’, and it was a real honour and privilege to work with him again.
It is not every day that a school manages to procure such a fantastic speaker, and always keen to lead the way, we opened the event up to our partner schools from across the Craigavon Area Learning Community - the vast majority of whom attended, along with Education Authority colleagues and our District Inspector.
We were delighted that Mr Sherrington was able to deliver bespoke training based on his ‘Walkthrus’ programme and staff present were able to benefit from his insights and his many words of encouragement and wisdom. As a staff, we are excited about the training that we received and we are keen to put into practice the strategies given to us in relation to both pastoral care and the curriculum.
Indeed, in our most recent staff training held last week, we have already begun to revisit concepts introduced and to embed the great ideas that we have explored thus far with the programme. I have no doubt that these efforts will be instrumental in making sure that my staff continue to be equipped with the skills that they need in order to continue to ensure that your child is catered for at Lurgan JHS.
Tom Sherrington Event
Twilight Training
I look forward to reporting on future successes and developments through the year ahead.
J. McCoy