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As the headteacher at RAMJS, the pressure is always on at the end of the year to offer some profound words of wisdom to our young people, advice that may carry them forward with a feeling of empowerment.  Words that will challenge and inspire our future teachers, Drs, politicians, builders, engineers, electricians, nail technicians and a whole multitude of professions (some of which may not yet have been invented) to follow the trajectory we aspire for them to have and live a truly wonderful life! 

Now don’t ask me why but this extract from Lewis Carrols, The Walrus and the Carpenter has been inexplicably running through my head all week: 

“The time has come”, the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax – Of cabbages – and kings- And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings.” 

Perhaps, in a strange way, it sums up that whilst my words may seem nonsensical to you now, they may just go on to inspire something spectacular.  Could I one day feature in a book you write about the mad headteacher who broke her leg and whizzed around school on a pink scooter with a matching cast?  Will you become a shark crazed marine biologist because I shared my obsession with sharks?  Might you become a headteacher yourself, determined to make a difference to the most wonderful people you will ever meet?   

The possibilities are endless, and it may simply be that in writing some words that have come from my heart, I remind you of how important you are, how loved you are and how brave you can be! 

When Lewis Carroll wrote Through the Looking Glass and included this poem, could he ever have imagined that it would be included in a Walt Disney film, Alice in Wonderland or that it would inspire John Lennon to write ‘I am the Walrus’? 

Words convey a thousand meanings and having read the first few chapters of Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave,  (lent to me by Mrs France), words are described as being the most powerful thing, by far more powerful than numbers because numbers can be made into words but words can not be turned into numbers!  There is also space in words.  They change according to whose mouth they are coming from, and in my opinion, nothing could be truer because whilst actions often speak louder than words, words empower the action and give it momentum.  In short, I am hoping that my rambling words will do just that… strike you into action like a match being struck into flame! 

So what wisdom am I trying to impart?  Where do I even start?  I think most importantly I want you to remember that even though you may not feel it, you are spectacular.  You are also entirely unique, there is and only will ever be ONE you.  And some days, you will make mistakes, wish you had done things differently and wish you were just like someone else because they are so wonderful, and they always do everything right.  Ironically, I can guarantee that someone else will be looking at you, wishing the exact same thing.  So, the first thing I want you to do, is love yourself.  You and you have a long journey ahead and getting to know yourself is the surest way to make sure you follow your gut (it is always right) and work on being who you want to be.  Find out what you like, what your heart tells you and what your morals and values are.  Use these to guide you; if you’re not sure think about how we used our school values to help us work as a family. 

Secondly, I want you to remember that making mistakes is about how we learn.  If we never fallen, how would we learn to get back up?  Making mistakes is what it is to be human.  You learnt to walk by standing and falling, crawling and standing, falling and getting back up.  You couldn’t just walk one day so life is very much like being a baby; with each day you gain wisdom and knowledge.  This helps you make sense of the world.  Some days you may have eaten a worm or some dirt (a mistake) but one you learnt from; that didn’t then stop you trying new foods and discovering that you like cheese or ice cream, pickles or chocolate now did it- Mistakes are part of life, learning from them is what counts! 

And finally, I want you to promise me that no matter what, you will not quit.  You will find a way to keep climbing that mountain because the best views come after the hardest climbs.  You will face challenges, but you will overcome them because as you have shown us this year, you were the Year group that smashed your SATs despite missing 2 years of school! You were the children who got on with it and showed the world what you could do, and I know that at times you felt like giving up, but you didn’t! You dug deep and you gave it your best! 

I am going to finish on this poem because it often inspires me to keep going and if this is the only thing you take away from your time with us at RAMJS, I hope it gives you a steely determination to never give up on yourself because, believe me, the best is yet to come! 

“Don’t Quit” 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low but the debts are high, 

And you want to smile but you have to sigh, 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit. 

Life is strange with its twists and turns, 

As every one of us sometimes learns, 

And many failures turn about 

When we might have won had we stuck it out. 

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow – 

You may succeed with another blow. 

Success is failure turned inside out – 

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, 

You can never tell how close you are, 

It may be near when it seems so far; 

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit – 

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit. 

 To the Class of 2022, you have been amazing, now go forth and make us proud xx 

Mr Nickson and all at RAMJS

It is our school mission to provide ‘Brighter futures for all!’ and what better place to start than building a love of the great outdoors into our curriculum.

For many of our children, life experiences may be limited due to the high levels of deprivation in the community.  Being an inner city school, the access to nature, outdoor activities and the opportunities to try new things are reliant on funds, transport and expertise.  It is our hope that through the development of our curriculum, we can begin to give children regular life experiences that will help them develop new hobbies and passion alongside the confidence to push themselves to try new things and experience their ‘Best Life!’

Through our exciting new curriculum focus, Children at RAMJS have the opportunity to embark on some amazing outdoor learning and as part of our quest, we are building our own outdoor learning space from scratch!  Our children have a designated session, every other week, building on learning and life skills whilst impacting positively on our external environment.

What is most wonderful about this process is that as we develop our own forest and growing patches, fire pit and outdoor classroom, the RAMJS family will be part of planting the seeds for future generations of children to enjoy God’s world in all its wonder;

 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?”

Job 12:7-9

To compliment our new curriculum focuses, we are also planning lots of trips; the purposes of which is to give our children first hand experiences that both broaden their horizons and provide experiential learning opportunities.  These trip are designed to allow children to experience different settings and develop an awareness of the different seasons.  

The trips are underpinned by our school values:

Ambition-to gain a greater awareness of the locality; exploring new activities that impact on life chances and encourage new hobbies and enjoyments.

Courage-gaining the courage to try new activities and gaining a strong understanding of the activities that children enjoy/don’t enjoy to ensure a wider future prospect.

Respect–to build an understanding of the importance of respecting nature and our environment which positively impacts on the world around us and beyond.

Love–to develop a love of nature, the outdoors and a passion for trying new experiences that broaden life chances.

Hope-to give hope to our community and our future generations of a sustainable, respected and loved planet based on a sound foundation of respect for the world in which we live.

Faith-to find peace and tranquillity in the world around us; recognising the gifts bestowed upon the world by our own individual God whilst using our own personal faith and beliefs to demonstrate thanks for all we have by taking care of our environment.

We look forward to updating our school community with regular posts about this exciting learning that is taking place.  You can find more information on our school website – https://www.ramjs.lancs.sch.uk/outdoor-learning/

If you want to see the proof about why this project is so important, these wonderful smiles are telling us the huge value and impact this work is already having!

The Plastic ProblemAs part of their oceans topic, Year 5 and 6 were left horrified to learn the extent of plastic pollution in our oceans. 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped in the oceans every year; with a million single use plastic bottles  being sold around the world every minute of every day. 

 In school, as part of our ‘all we can’ ethos,  we are looking at ways to make our school more eco friendly with things like plastic recycling bins around school  and litter picking. Please can you help support our mission at home too by thinking about your own shopping habits. Simple changes like reusable water bottles and paper sandwich bags rather than plastic, for example. Every little helps! You can see some of the children’s emotive work on their class pages. #saveouroceans #ditchtheplastic 
Year 6: https://www.ramjs.lancs.sch.uk/ocean-exploration/Year 5: https://www.ramjs.lancs.sch.uk/ocean-explorers

Mental Health-Why it is important to talk!

Currently, 10% of young people have experience poor mental health.  The statistics below are worrying and they do not, as yet, reflect the impact Covid-19 has had on our children and young people.

When we think about the following how does that make us feel?

• 20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year.¹
• 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.² 
• 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem³, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.⁴

As an advocate for children, it breaks my heart to read such worrying statistics, but it also makes me wonder what we can do differently?

I think for many grown ups our childhood experiences could not have been further away from the life our children experience on a daily basis.  I don’t remember having to worry about “fashion” or “diets” until I inflicted it on myself as a young adult.  I remember that mobile phones became a ‘thing’ when I was maybe 16 and they didn’t have cameras or social media and they hadn’t, at the time, become permanently stuck in our human hands!

I remember ringing a friend meant dialling a landline and we often spent much of our time outside, making dens, riding our bikes and causing minor mischief before returning home for tea, bath and bed.

Granted, I would not want to stand in the way of progress and Mr Nickson is a complete Tech Whizz so I have a house full of gadgets and gizmos a plenty but I also have a strong urge to connect with nature and that allows me to limit my brain frazzle by doing the simple things in life, like walking Tilly the fur baby.

So what is the solution? What can we do to make a difference to the mental health and wellbeing needs of our children?  I wish I knew all the answers but I have a few suggestions about the things we try to do in school.

We talk, talk and talk some more.  Our HEART ROOM (https://www.ramjs.lancs.sch.uk/the-heart-room/) is a hive for talking because we recognise that through talking we gain answers and insights.  These insights help us form relationships and help us work out solutions to problems.  The old saying ‘A worry shared is a worry halved’ is so true and the more we talk the better.

We also try to factor in time to simply be and therefore the reason we are developing our Outdoor Curriculum in the hope that by building a LOVE for the great outdoors, we are showing how much enjoyment can be gained from the simpler things in life…nature!

At RAMJS we fully recognise that in some cases, we need professional support and that is why we work closely with CAHMS, our School Nursing Team and other professionals including our in-school counsellor and our Church in a bid to make our space a safe, supportive environment for all.

On Friday 08.10.2021 we will be wearing Yellow in support of YoungMinds charity.  This simple act is about raising awareness so that our children know that how they are feeling is important and talking about it is OK! 

At RAMJS we believe in doing All We Can, All I Can, All You Can and we hope you will continue to support us in our quest for happy, healthy children! We know that for our children, it takes COURAGE (one of our school values) to speak out about how you are feeling! As an adult it also takes courage to ask those difficult questions but if we are courageous together, we could really make an impact!

For more information about supporting the mental health needs of young children, the NHS have included a wealth of advice and guidance for parents and carers and as always, if there is anything you need our help with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/supporting-others/childrens-mental-health/