Issue 4 - 27th September

Dear Parents/Carers,

Next week, we have a Blue Cross volunteer coming in on Wednesday 2nd October to visit Year 5 to deliver an assembly about pets and wellbeing. The assembly is free of charge but we would love to make a donation to the Blue Cross as a thank you for their visit. This is now available on School Gateway for anyone who wishes to contribute.

We are planning Parents’ Evenings for the Autumn Term on Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th October. We will be using a hybrid system for these appointments, whereby it is parental choice whether the appointment is face to face or online. All online appointments will take place in a ‘block’ at the start of one evening and a ‘block’ at the end of the other. Appointment lengths are timed and teachers will need to keep to these strict timings.

The booking system opened on Wednesday 25th September and the booking system will close at 6pm on Wednesday 2nd October. Should you wish to make any changes after this date, please contact the school office. For those classes with a shared teacher, your appointment will be with one or both of the teachers.

Please visit https://almondhill.parentseveningsystem.co.uk to book your appointment. A short guide on how to add appointments is available on the school website. Please log in with the following information: your child’s first name, surname and date of birth. It is vital that you use the same information held by the school as any discrepancies will prevent you from accessing the system. Please log into the parent portal on Arbor to double check the information we hold for you and your child to ensure you are inputting the correct information. You will receive a paper copy of the parents’ evening information on Friday 4th October to give you an opportunity to digest the information and ask questions during the appointment. Please read the email sent on Tuesday for more detailed information.

Have a good weekend.

Emma Fordham,
Headteacher

Key Messages

School open events and key dates for secondary transfer

Moving on 2025 leaflet Information for parents with children in year 6 at primary/junior school. Further information about moving to secondary school in September 2025 will be available at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions

The timetable below gives you an idea of what will happen over the next few months.

First week of September 2024	Admissions information is available online for parents to read or download
Monday 2 September 2024	Online application system opens and the “Moving On” leaflet is distributed via children’s current school
July, September and October 2024	Schools hold their open events
Thursday 31 October 2024	Closing date for applications (online and paper)

Cinema Trips

I am pleased to be able to tell you all children will be going on a school trip to the cinema in November! The trips will take place during the school day and at no charge to parents. On the day of their trip, children will come to school as normal to be registered and then walk down the Leisure Park to watch the film before walking back to school around lunch time except for Year 4 who will be watching their film in the afternoon so can be either collected from the cinema or from school upon our return (please note, this may be later than usual). We must know beforehand if you are collecting from the cinema and will ask you to complete a form nearer the time. Please note, if your child has not been given consent to watch PG films, we may be in contact to discuss this with you.

Year 4 - Kung Fu Panda 4 - 13th November 1:00 - 2:40
Year 3 - Garfield - 27th November - 10:00 - 11:45
Year 5 - Asterix and the secret of the magic potion - 19th November 10:00 - 11:40
Year 6 - Despicable me 4 - 28th November 10:00 - 11:45

As a school with high expectations for behaviour and learning where hard work is greatly valued, we believe taking advantage of occasional opportunities like trips to the cinema where there is no cost involved. We are also aware that for some children, trips to the cinema happen very rarely or not at all. A huge thank you to Miss Simmons who has organised this FREE enrichment event for the children.

Online Safety – The Dark Web Explained

Being aware of the Dark Web can help you have informed conversations and support your child if you are concerned. Please take at the following website for more information: https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/parents/articles/dark-web-explained/

SEND/Pastoral Parent Meetings

21/11/2024 - 21/11/2024 - 2:30pm – 3:15pm

SEND/PASTORAL Coffee afternoon

Year 6 Parents - Grafham

For anyone who was unable to attend the Grafham meeting in the Summer term, you can find useful information in the PowerPoint below.

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School Photos

Our photographers will be in school on Tuesday 22nd October to take individual photos of the children. The photos taken of Year 6 will be used in the yearbook so please do your best to be here on the day. Almond Hill siblings will also have their photos taken on this day.

Pop-up Pool Feedback

Please take the time to read the letter that was sent via email on Thursday for information on the pop-up pool. If you have any feedback, please add it to the form below (also linked in the letter). Please avoid emailing as these may get missed. All feedback/questions will be collated and we will respond via the newsletter.

Year 3 Parents to Lunch - Information for ALL parents

During October, we will be inviting Year 3 parents to have lunch with their children. As I am sure you will remember, this is a lovely opportunity for both parents and children but it does rely on help from the wider school to make it run smoothly. The lunches will take place on:

Wednesday 9th October – 3L (Mrs Lyons)

Wednesday 16th October – 3W (Mrs. Ward)

Wednesday 23rd October – 3B (Miss Bonfield and Mrs Geer)

An email has been sent to Year 3 today with more information.

The menu will remain the same for the rest of the school but we will need your help in preordering your child’s meals for this day to help our cook prepare for the increase on orders on these days. You can do this today. As always, pre orders must be in by 8.55am on the day your child will be taking the meal or a cheese sandwich will be offered.

School Gateway - Bank Transfer has been renamed One-click payments

A message from School Gateway

To make our payment options easier to understand within the School Gateway app, we’ve updated the name of Bank Transfer to One-click payments.

Some of your parents may already be using this functionality, so please let them know that in order to see these changes they'll need to download the latest version of the School Gateway app from their App/Play store. Once they've updated the app, they'll be able to look out for our new One-click payments button which has replaced the Bank Transfer button at checkout.

It's likely that there are parents at your school who aren't taking advantage of this functionality yet. One-click payments is designed to save parents time at checkout, so recommending it to them can help them get the best out of School Gateway.

We’ve created some handy guidance to make sure it’s as simple as possible to set up, so please feel free to share this with your parents.

Diary Dates

Did you know, you can subscribe to our calendar to keep up to date with the events going on within the school?

Follow the link below, select 'subscribe' and follow the instructions for your device.

School Calendar

UPCOMING EVENTS

Club End Dates and Collection Points

^Club	^Day	^Time	^{Club Leader}	^{Collection point}	^Year
^{Football 3&4 Booked half termly (paid) 9th Sept – 21st Oct}	^Monday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{WB Coaching}	^{Year 5 gate (by the church)}	^3&4
^{Football 5&6 Booked half termly (paid) 10th Sept – 22nd Oct}	^Tuesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{WB Coaching}	^{Year 5 gate (by the church)}	^5&6
^{Netball 17th Sept – 26th Nov}	^Tuesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Mrs Small/Miss Wase}	^{Year 5 gate} ^{(by the church)}	^{5&6 Boys and girls}
^{French 17th Sept – 26th Nov}	^Tuesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Mrs Pridmore}	^4W	^3&4
^{Cooking – 8 weeks 24th Sept -19th Nov}	^Tuesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Mrs Bond, Mrs Hukin, Mrs Lamacraft}	^{Computer room}	⁴
^{Dance (paid) 18th Sept – 11th Dec}	^Wednesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Lynsey Pollard}	^Hall	^All
^{Football Year 6 only 18th Sept – 23rd Oct}	^Wednesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Miss Simmons/Miss Harris}	^{Year 5 gate} ^{(by the church)}	⁶
^{Mad Science (paid) 18th Sept – 27th Nov}	^Wednesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Mad Science}	^3W	^3&4
^{Stop Frame Animation 25th Sept – 20th Nov}	^Wednesday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Mrs Lyons}	^3L	⁴
^{Basketball 19th Sept – 17th Oct}	^Thursday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^Premier	^{Year 5 gate} ^{(by the church)}	^5&6
^{Gymnastics 24th Oct – 28th Nov}	^Thursday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^Premier	^Hall	^5&6
^{Outdoor Activities 19th Sept – 28th Nov}	^Thursday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Miss Harris}	^{Year 5 classrooms}	^3&4
^{Basketball 20th Sept – 18th October}	^Friday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^Premier	^{Year 5 gate} ^{(by the church)}	^3&4
^{Gymnastics 25th Oct – 29th Nov}	^Friday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^Premier	^Hall	^3&4
^{Outdoor Activities 20th Sept – 29th Nov}	^Friday	^{3:15 – 4:15pm}	^{Miss Harris}	^{Year 5 classrooms}	5&6

Pre-Loved Uniform Sale

Change of date
The first uniform sale will take place from 3.00-3.30pm in the hall on Thursday 3rd October. It is really important that all uniform is clearly labelled to allow lost items to be returned to your child. We regularly invite parents to look through and claim items that belong to their child. Although some items are collected, we are still left with lots of uniform. Ordinarily, these items would be recycled but after listening to parents and understanding how successful ‘nearly new’ uniform sales have been locally, we decided to hold uniform sales once a month at the end of the school day. We have lots of items including t-shirts, cardigans and jumpers and welcome all parents to come to the sales. We are asking for a voluntary donation of 50p which will be given back to the school to purchase more uniform.

Pre-Loved Book Sale

The next book sale of the year is during the day on Wednesday 23rd October. If your child would like to purchase a book, please can they bring their money to school with them (exact money is preferred where possible). Books cost just 50p each!

Our last book sale made £93.60! Thank you!

Attendance Matters

Year 3 97.82%
Year 4 93.41%
Year 5 91.37%
Year 6 97.36%
All Students 95.01%
Lower School Winners - 3W 99.6%
Upper School Winners - 6C 98.6%

Almond Hill Achievements

Click the button below to see all the wonderful things our children have achieved outside of school.

ACHIEVEMENTS

House Points

FOAH News

Silent Halloween Disco 22nd October

Can you floss like Frankenstein, dance like Dracula or waltz like a Witch?

Friends of Almond Hill will be hosting silent discos for each year group on Tuesday 22nd October. Tickets are £5 each, include a drink and a snack and can be purchased on School Gateway until 15th October. Please note we are unable to accept cash on the day or bookings after this date.

Details of the discos are as follows
Year 3 – 3.15 to 4.15 (Class teachers will drop them off after school)
Year 4 – 4.00 to 5.00
Year 5 – 4.45 to 5.45
Year 6 – 5.30 to 6.30

Please drop your children off at the hall and pick them up from the central cloakroom – this will sign posted.

We hope to see you there and can’t wait to see your dance moves.

FOAH Christmas Cards
As some Christmas items are starting to appear in the shops, Friends of Almond Hill are also getting ready for the big day and will be sending home a template today for your children to create Christmas cards and gifts from their designs - so please look out for these.

Additional templates will be available from the office if there is a change in artistic direction, and we also have a limited number of Christmas themed stencils available from your child's class teacher. Please can we ask that all artwork is clearly labelled and returned to your class teacher by Monday 7th October as we are unfortunately unable to allocate time in class for this activity.

Next Meeting Monday 14^th October at 6.00pm

Microsoft Teams

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 353 847 555 630

Passcode: MR2xuQ

In Other News...

Art Club
What a lovely first art club with members of Year 3 and 4. They used flowers and leaves to create an imprint into clay. Next week these will be painted to create beautiful ornaments.

Bloomsbury Author Visit
We have an exciting visitor planned in October for Years 3 and 4. Colm Field will be hosting an assembly on 16th October and will hold a book sale after so children have the opportunity to purchase one of his books. He will give children some general advice for storytelling, and why they should write on their screens / tablets (as he works construction and writes on his phone), before playing a trailer and reading an excerpt from the book. They will then get into a world building exercise based on the racetrack in the stories, (the toy you put on the track decides the universe you visit!). We will provide more details about the book sale nearer to the time.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Visit

A volunteer from The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) will be visiting Year 5 and 6 in November to tell them all about the wonderful things they do. As with the visit from the Blue Cross, the assembly is free of charge but we would love to make a donation to the RNLI as a thank you for their visit. This will be available on School Gateway the week before the assembly.

https://rnli.org/

Events in the Local Area
https://www.stevenage.gov.uk/community-flyers