Our Christmas dinners and class parties were the highlight of the week this week. With music playing in the beautifully decorated dining room. Sue, our cook and her team provided a lovely meal for staff and children to enjoy. A big thank you to our kitchen staff who served the children with smiles and festive cheer! 

A huge thank you to FOAH for another hugely popular present room.  The wonderful team of volunteers have worked really hard to provide an excellent choice of affordable gifts – something to look forward to on Christmas Day! Our FOAH elves have told us they sold 870 gifts! A big thank you to everyone who came along and purchased a gift!  

On Tuesday evening, we held our 'Mince Pies and Carols sing along evening.' Despite the chilly weather, lots of parents and children turned up to get in the Christmas mood with some fantastic singing- along with fabulous dance moves and superb percussion work! Thank you to everyone who came to join in the fun. We'll see you again next year!

I am sorry to inform you all that Mrs Small will be leaving Almond Hill at the end of this term. She has had to prioritise family circumstances and decided to move on from Almond Hill into the educational training setting as of January. She would like to thank every child, staff member and parent she has come into contact with for helping her settle into Almond Hill life. 

I would like to thank Mrs Small for her contributions not only as a class teacher but as one our school leaders. Her dedication to sport and celebration has been truly appreciated by staff and pupils.  

I am pleased to be able to tell you that we have been successful in securing an experienced, qualified teacher, Mrs Barhey, who will be joining us in January '25 for two terms. She has worked in two Hertfordshire schools for over 20 years across all year groups from year 1 to year 5. She will be working alongside our very experienced year 5 team to ensure a smooth transition for the children.  

On Wednesday, we had our end of term Rock Steady performance for parents. Mrs Cleaves went along to watch. "Wow! What a fantastic performance! It was like being at a proper rock concert. Well done to all the children who took part and a special thank you to Olivia, our Rock Steady Band leader." 

A big well done to all the parties who took part in the school election. I am pleased to announce our winners! This year’s elected school government are THE COLD CAPYBARAS. Please see below for a reminder of their manifesto.  

Finley, the Prime Minister has already met with Mrs Fordham to discuss commencement of their pledges.  

I am pleased to say that four children in Year 4 achieved their 25m swim. This is particularly impressive when you consider Year 4 were only added on at the end of the lesson period. The instructors tell us that although not formally assessed due to the limited time, the other children who had lessons from Year 4 really gained in confidence and water skills and will be in a good position to gain their 25m next year so well done!  

As you know, we have been looking into ways we can improve the congestion around the school at pick up times. We have been liaising with a variety of professionals as well as yourselves and Letchmore to see what we can do to ease the problems this causes.  We have been considering the idea of a ‘walking bus’ for children in Year 5 and 6 which would consist of a member of staff walking children (who have been given permission) down to Letchmore Park where they would meet parents. We would like to know if you would consider using this if it was given as an option – this would be for children in Year 5 and 6 only as the member of staff would not be able to wait with children at the park.

Another consideration is to change the collection time. We would be interested to hear from Year 5 and 6 parents if you would (honestly!) delay coming to school if we were to let Year 5 and 6 children leave 5 minutes later at 3.20pm. The time it takes to collect is actually quite short so it would make quite a difference to the number of cars on the road but only if parents would genuinely come later if this was an option.  

We have also written to Local councillors, Stevenage Borough Council and Herts County Council and are starting to receive responses which we will share with you in January.