The Orchard Gate

Our Orchard Gate assembly — a moment to gather, reflect and wonder, wherever we learn.

The Orchard Gate is our equivalent of a school assembly — a moment each week when we all come together, wherever we happen to learn.

Every Friday, I’ll be posting a new Orchard Gate.

It’s a chance to pause at the end of the week, look back at what we have achieved, celebrate the things that have gone well, think about the things that perhaps didn’t quite go to plan, and look ahead to what is coming next.

In a school, everyone might gather together in a hall for assembly. At Orchard, we are learning in different homes, in different places and sometimes at very different times of the day — so our gathering place needs to be a little different.

That is what The Orchard Gate is for.

Think of it as the place where we meet at the end of each week before heading off for the weekend — sharing news, celebrating our Orchard learners and leaving ourselves with something to think about.

So, wherever you have been learning this week, welcome to The Orchard Gate.

WOW! What a first week back!

Most of you finished your diagnostics on the very first day, and I’m really pleased with the results — I hope you are too!

At this point in the term, teachers are usually beginning to see how much has been forgotten over the summer. That’s quite normal. When we haven't practised something for a while, some of it gets a little rusty, and sometimes we need to spend a bit of time catching up before launching into the new stuff.

But this year, I’m actually having conversations with some of you about moving up a level!

It wasn't ideal that I had to attend a funeral on our second day back to homeschooling, but that's just life. Things don't always happen when we want them to, and sometimes we simply have to roll with it.

And you did.

I left you with instructions: if you hadn't finished your diagnostics, finish them; if you had, move on to your recommendations.

What did I find on Thursday morning?

You'd done exactly that!

You are all awesome. Thank you for just getting on with it when I couldn't be there.

Then there was a message from one of our young Year 1 boys.

He didn't want to join a session for me to show him how to do his work. He wants to be “like one of the big ones” — he wants to do his work and then show me that it's done.

Okay. Let's have that conversation!

I'm asking the older learners to look at their work before their sessions, complete the things they can manage independently and then bring the tricky bits to me.

So why wouldn't I listen when one of our youngest learners asks to try the same thing?

He's seen the older children doing it. He's thought about what he wants to do. And he was confident enough to ask.

I'm going to say yes.

Perhaps that's a good thought to finish our first week with.

Sometimes growing up happens in the big milestones we all notice. Sometimes it happens in a six-year-old saying, “I think I can do this myself.”

At Orchard, we want you to learn, to stop, to think and to wonder before rushing on to the next thing. You don't always need to write something down afterwards. You don't need to prove that you thought about it.

Sometimes you'll find something that you give a little thought to. Sometimes you'll spend much longer thinking about it. Some ideas and questions you'll come back to over and over again. And then there will be subjects you spend a long time thinking about before deciding what you think — and moving on.

So, what I'm saying today is: Sometimes, you are allowed just to think.

And with that, our first week is done.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone. I'll meet you back at The Orchard Gate next Friday.

Week 1 · 2026–27