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  • Issue 10 - 15th November 2024

    Published 15/11/24

     

    Dear Families,  

    Another week of our pop-up pool! I hope the children are really enjoying this opportunity to learn to swim. After the sessions are complete, it would be great to gather your feedback about this. Year 4 had their trip to the cinema this week. I am sure they told parents all about it and hope the rest of the school are looking forward to their trip in the coming weeks. Please ensure children are only bringing healthy snacks to eat at the cinema (the same as they would for break time at school).  

    A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to a wonderful open evening – our staff for putting on beautiful displays and our fabulous Year 6 ambassadors who were a real credit to us on the evening showing parents round confidently and demonstrating to prospective families all that is good at Almond Hill. 

    In this week’s newsletter, there are a few opportunities for you to provide feedback and suggestions for things. Please do try to do this as we really do use your feedback to help make positive changes to our school. 

    Have a lovely weekend!  

    Emma Fordham
    Headteacher

    Key Messages

    Parking Around School  

    I am disappointed to report we received several complaints last week from local residents in regard to the way parents are parking when dropping or collecting their children. I completely understand how difficult it is to park around the school and can see that this causes problems for parents. When our school increased in size, the drop off facility was put in but with such few spaces this hasn’t helped as much as we would have liked. On the flip side however our neighbours should be able to access their houses and driveways without obstruction. Some residents have sent photos of the obstructive and/or dangerous parking and I must inform parents that my advice to these people is to report to the police and/or local council.  

    As a school team, we have talked on many occasions about ways we can improve the parking situation both for our parents and our neighbours but we are struggling with a solution. We have invited traffic wardens to the school at our busiest times, met with a local councillor and contacted the local police but we are now asking for your help. Do you have any suggestions on how we can help ease the congestion outside school? Please leave your comments below. We understand many people are frustrated and the reasons why so please only complete the form if you are able to provide suggestions.

    Parent Survey

    Parent Survey  
    As you know, we are always looking at ways to improve our school and your feedback is invaluable in helping us to do this. Please can you take the time to complete the survey below to give your feedback on different aspects of school life. There is a section for you to add your child's name if you would like a response from school. Please only use this if you are hoping to hear from me, as previously, some people got phone calls who weren't expecting them.

    https://www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/survey/?pid=166&form=70  

    Communicating with Parents Through Seesaw 

    As mentioned on a recent newsletter, the admin team have been discussing communication methods and how we can reach more parents. Currently, we use email, phone, our newsletter, Facebook and our website.  We have decided to trial using Seesaw’s announcement function to send reminders of upcoming events/deadlines. You hopefully saw the first announcement which was sent on Wednesday this week regarding Christmas card designs. We were able to see how quickly this was being viewed by parents and think this will be a good way to communicate.  

    If you do not have access to Seesaw, please enter your details below and we will connect you with your child’s journal. 

     

    School Photos 

    Please be reminded, THE DEADLINE FOR FREE DELIVERY TO SCHOOL IS: WEDNESDAY 20TH NOVEMBER 2024. Any orders placed after the set deadline will be subject to postage & packaging charges with delivery direct to your home address. For any issues regarding Online Ordering Access Codes, please contact the office. 

    Reverse Advent Calendar  

    Year 5 are going to be leading a community action project very soon! This will be a reverse advent calendar. This involves giving items (rather than receiving them) to those who need them during the run up to Christmas. Year 5 will explain a lot more next week but we wanted to give parents as much notice as possible! If you are able to, please start to collect and bring items in to your child's classroom that you would like to donate to Foodshed- a local Stevenage food bank. These items must last until Christmas so no fresh produce please and watch this space for more information next week too! 

    School Improvement Plan

    Please see a summary of our most up to date school improvement plan.

    You can download a copy to view here

    Objectives 2023-24 based on school self- evaluation: July 2023 Yr3-6 assessment outcomes, evaluation of school improvement actions 22/23, consultation with staff and governors, feedback from pupils and parents, May 2021 Ofsted, Attendance data 2022-2023 and external visits

    Objective

    Link to Ofsted RAG rated summary

    1.

    To continue to develop the leadership and management of the school to maintain overall good effectiveness and progress to secure outstanding effectiveness with a focus on provision for SEND and governance and continue to expand upon staff subject knowledge

    Leadership and Management/Overall Effectiveness

    Staff knowledge and overall progress of provision for SEND and governance has improved significantly acknowledged by the School Effectiveness Advisor in reports. The SENCO has supported all staff to expand upon their knowledge and governors have committed to visits to ensure accountability. There will remain a focus on SEND provision next year within a wider focus on all vulnerable learners.

    2.

    To provide a curriculum that empowers children and equips them with secure skills and knowledge that build progressively across the key stage and prepares them for the next stage in their education. There will continue be a specific focus on the core subjects especially writing and a new focus on curriculum planning and accurate assessment in foundation subjects.

    Quality of Education/Leadership and Management

    Attainment and progress in maths and reading is secure. Writing remains a focus for next year. There has been significant progress in curriculum planning and assessment in foundations subjects. Subject leaders will continue to work on this next year.

    3.

    To embed ‘The Climb’ behaviour for learning strategy including a focus on the importance of excellent attendance and to further develop retention and recall teaching strategies to ensure children maximise opportunities to learn and make progress through engagement. To develop a strategy for physical and mental resilience and strength.

    Leadership and Management/Behaviour and Attitudes/Personal Development/Overall Effectiveness

    There has been significant progress with embedding ‘the Climb’ behaviour for learning strategy. Attendance has improved and is broadly in line with national data and lower than national data for persistent absentees. Retention and recall teaching strategies are embedded in practice across the school. Physical and mental well- being has been a priority and engagement highly commended by Stevenage Sporting Futures as well as achieving the Gold Mark Active accreditation. Attendance will remain a focus next year within a wider focus of all vulnerable learners.

    2024-2025 Summary of Objectives

    Objectives 2024-25 based on school self- evaluation: July 2024 Yr3-6 assessment outcomes, evaluation of school improvement actions 23/24, consultation with staff and governors, feedback from pupils and parents, May 2021 Ofsted, Attendance data 2023-2024 and external visits.

    Key Priority 1

    Key Priority 2

    Key Priority 3

    Objectives

    Objectives

    Objectives

    To support vulnerable learners/disadvantaged groups to ensure progress and achievement including those with SEND and in receipt of PPG with a focus on attendance and provision.

    • To improve attendance with a focus on those pupils with prior attendance below 96%
    • To continue to improve provision for children with SEND so all children make good or better progress from their starting points
    • To prioritise a sense of belonging for pupils in receipt of PPG/in poverty therefore increasing engagement
    • Pastoral and wellbeing with a focus on building resilience and empowering the child 

     

     

     

    To develop and improve oracy and writing across the school to ensure children can articulate themselves effectively both verbally and in writing.

    • Baseline oracy skills and develop a planned curriculum to address gaps and prioritise skills: learning to talk and learning through talk
    • To improve writing attainment across the school through the development of a rigorous and progressive bespoke scheme

    Continue to develop foundation curriculum and subject leadership to ensure a broad, balanced, progressive, well planned, delivered and assessed curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils at our school 

    • Knowledge organisers developed and used in all foundation subjects
    • Retrieval practices will be used in all foundation subjects to ensure learning is embedded
    • Outdoor learning will be more effectively embedded across the foundation curriculum
    • Technology will continue to be used to support summative assessment in foundation subjects
    • Diversity will be even more effectively embedded across the foundation curriculum

     

    Read More
  • Issue 9 - 8th November 2024

    Published 08/11/24

     

    Dear Families,

    Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed the half term break with your families.  

    I have been really touched by some generous donations by parents recently to help our whole school community, preloved uniform and books, swimming kits and sensory toys to name but a few. Thank you so much! 

    I can’t quite believe I am saying this but Christmas is (fast) approaching and with Christmas comes lots of wonderful events for the children. We will outline these events in more detail over the coming weeks but please take a look at the events list and put the key dates in your diary. Parents are invited to attend the Year 3 Christmas performance, the Year 4 and 5 carols and mince pie evening and the Year 6 carol service at the church so hopefully with advance notice, many of you will be able to join us for the festivities! 

    As well as the planned Christmas activities, we also have our usual variety of events planned for this month. We have our open evening for prospective parents on the 14th November where we will welcome lots of families to look at our wonderful school. This is supported by Year 6 children who act as ambassadors for the school and show parents round. We always receive positive feedback about this event and are really looking forward to this year’s open evening.We have the first of our cinema trips next week with every year group going this month! Mrs Burgess and Mrs Birchall will be hosting another SEND/Pastoral coffee afternoon on Thursday 21st November and all parents are very welcome to come along.  

    Have a lovely weekend!  

    Emma Fordham, 
    Headteacher 

     

    Key Messages

    Online Safety

    We have been made aware of a WhatsApp group called ‘The World’. It has been reported that there are children in the group who attend Almond Hill as well as local secondary schools and there is some inappropriate content being shared within this group. If your child has a phone/access to WhatsApp, I would urge you to check the groups they are in and monitor the content.  WhatsApp groups are a consistent issue for children in KS2 and the Almond Hill Online Safety Group have been preparing a video – look out for this soon! 

    Change to Gate Times

    From next Monday, all gates will open at 3.10pm at the end of the day as there are often children returning to classrooms from outside lessons just after 3.00pm and we want to keep the site as safe and secure as possible. 

    Swimming – Pop up Pool  

    Wow. What a week it has been for our swimmers! It was wonderful to see the pool set up when we returned from half term and I know the children have really enjoyed their lessons this week. Thank you to parents for bearing with us whilst we get the initial assessment lessons completed to ensure we have children in the right groups. It has been a big task to juggle but really appreciate your support to ensure we do it right. We would really benefit from some more donations of towels if you have any at home that you could spare. Please bring any donations in to the office – thank you!

    Cinema Trips 

    A huge thank you to parents for kindly offering to support us on this trip. We now have enough parent volunteers.  

    Here is a reminder of the dates and films for each year group: 

    Year 4: Kung Fu Panda 4 – 13th November, 10:30-12:10pm 
    Year 3: Garfield – 27th November, 10:00 - 11:45am 
    Year 5: Asterix and the Secret of the Magic Potion – 19th November, 10:00 - 11:40am 
    Year 6: Despicable Me 4 – 28th November, 10:00 - 11:45am 

    Lost Property  

    Please ensure you label all items of your child’s unform – including coats. Many children have the same or similar coats and it is incredibly difficult to get these back to the correct owner if they are not labelled. 

    Contacting Parents 

    There are times during the day where someone from school may need to call home. We know as parents, when you see your child’s school calling, it can be a worry - especially if it is a missed call. If a member of staff calls you, we will try to leave a message (providing there is the option to do so). Please listen to the voicemail before calling back as the office team may not always know who has called and we don’t want to cause any more worry. In an emergency, we will try the other contacts on the list and/or text you. Teachers sometimes call during their free time but are not always available when a parent calls back – if the call was urgent, they would leave a message and let the office team know. It is always best to listen to your voicemails before calling back.  

    Disability Equality Questionnaire for Parents 

    The definition of disability is a broad one.  ‘A person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’ (Equality Act 2010). The Equality Act 2010 replaced previous discrimination law and provides a single piece of legislation covering all types of discrimination that are lawful.   

    We would like all parents who feel they and/or their child fits the definition outlined above to complete the disability equality questionnaire. The data collected will be used when writing our school’s accessibility plan and disability and equality policies. In most cases, we know if a child in our school has a disability but it is not the case for our parents and it would be useful to know how we can better support our school community as a whole. You do not have to provide identifying details about yourself or your child but there is the option to do so at the end should you wish to be involved in any future focus groups etc.   

    https://forms.office.com/e/htcdMFtbak  

    Flu Vaccine – Consent Form  

    Please find attached the E-consent letter for your child’s Flu vaccination for this coming winter. Please note that you can consent for either the Flu nasal spray, OR the non-gelatine IM Flu vaccine. Please make sure you complete the form online as soon as you can. The portal will close 48 hours ahead of the Flu session. Vaccination UK East Anglia Immunisation (schoolvaccination.uk) Flu can be very unpleasant for children and can sometimes cause serious problems, such as pneumonia. Children can catch and spread flu easily. Vaccinating them also helps protect others who are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from flu, such as babies and older people. The School Immunisation team will be coming into the school on Thursday 14th November to deliver the vaccine. Please be aware that children can NOT receive this vaccination with their GP unless they are clinically vulnerable.

    Read More
  • Issue 8 - 25th October 2024

    Published 25/10/24

     

    Dear Families,  

    We have had a variety of visitors in school over the past couple of weeks and I am delighted to tell parents we have had some wonderful feedback about the children.  The visitor from Taylor Wimpey North Thames took the time to email and say ‘what enthusiastic, well behaved and bright children’ we have. Our Jewish visitor also commented on how well-behaved the children were during her visit and said Almond Hill is ‘one of the best schools’ she has been to! Finally, our photographers were here on Tuesday (who visit lots of schools) and wanted to tell us how impressed they were with the children's good behaviour and manners. It really is fantastic to hear such positive feedback about the children and really wanted to share that with you all.  

    Please can I urge parents to take the time to read this newsletter. It contains lots of important information about all things related to school life. In response to feedback from parents, we add more and more to our newsletter rather than sending reams of emails to make it easier for parents to go back and find information should they need to and to keep information all in one place but this only works if everyone reads it.  

    During the week commencing 4th November we will be selling poppies on behalf of The Royal British Legion. Children can bring some money in during this week to donate in exchange for a poppy. 

    Have a lovely half term break and we will see you all back on the 4th November ready for Autumn 2!  

    Emma Fordham, 
    Headteacher 

    Key Messages

    Reminder: the deadline for secondary school applications is Thursday 31st October 2024.

     

     

    Safeguarding – Please Read  

    At the end of the school day, we often have parents come into the building through external doors. Please do not do this. We have lots more clubs after school than we have before which means there are more children still here at the end of the school day. Any visitors to our school must be signed in at the office to ensure we know who is here in the event of an emergency and to safeguard all the children in our care. If you need to come in to school for any reason (other than Premier), please come to our main reception.  This is particularly important if you are coming in to collect a child late. The office staff make a note of all children who are waiting at reception to be collected and they must be signed out by the office team before leaving. The school office is open from 8.15am until 4.30pm every day. 

    Reports Regarding Children at Almonds Lane Cemetery

    It has been reported by adults and children that some children are going to Almonds Lane cemetery before and after school and not always behaving respectfully. Please can families discuss with their children to ensure this is not the case. I would suggest that visiting the cemetery at primary school age is something that should be done in the company of an adult to ensure everyone's feelings and well being are taken into account. 

    Responses to Questions Regarding the Pop up Pool 

    In response to the letter sent this morning, we have had some queries that we wanted to address in our newsletter so all parents received the same information. 

    Lots of the queries have been around payments. We do not expect (or need) parents to pay for 20 swimming lessons now. All we ask in the first instance is that parents who gave consent for their child to have lessons in the pop up pool pay for their child's initial lesson which is £4.50. Children will be assessed during this lesson. This may mean this is the only lesson your child has meaning no more payments will be required. Other children will be asked to complete lessons which will cost £4.50 each but parents will be informed about this. The number of lessons any child has will be dependent on their swimming ability with a maximum of 20 being offered. These will take place every day for 4 weeks in the month of November. In order to ensure that parents are not put under any undue financial pressure (especially in the run up to Christmas), the payment request will remain open until near the end of the spring term. 

    Lessons at Stevenage Swimming Centre will continue whilst we trial the pop up pool. Slots are hard to get (especially afternoon slots) so we don't want to give ours up until we know that the pop up pool will be successful. Children who currently go down to the Stevenage pool can do both if they want to. Where children have started their lessons already and started making progress, it is important they get the chance to complete the course.

    Hopefully this answers any queries. We will answer any further questions after half term.

    Halloween Disco

    I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff and parent volunteers who facilitated the Halloween disco on Tuesday.  It was a really well put together event by FOAH and ran seamlessly from a delivery point of view with well over 200 children enjoying themselves immensely. I am especially indebted to staff who gave up their evening on Tuesday who are also going to Grafham on Friday and into half term. It was also lovely to see a slightly expanded group of parent volunteers able to help at this event. 

    However, I am sad to say that we have had a handful of parents who have been particularly hard on the office team this week due to the Halloween disco. I understand it can be difficult if your child misses out on events taking place in school which is why we aim to give plenty of notice and reminders through our weekly newsletter. As mentioned before, we have a duty to ensure the children within our care are safe and therefore need time to ensure risk assessments are completed and distributed to the relevant staff in good time before the event. This includes our parent volunteers who kindly give up their time to host these events. When food is being served, we must ensure dietary requirements are met and all staff supervising are aware of any needs. This is a big task for over 200 children and some medical needs require specifically trained members of staff to supervise which must be planned for in advance. 

    We are also not able to accommodate the swapping of tickets. There are over 200 children who attend the discos who need to be registered and we need to know who is going to be here.  

    Please don’t put staff in a difficult position by calling/emailing and asking them to ‘bend the rules’ to fit your child in. No-one likes saying no. We don’t say no to be awkward. We have deadlines in place for safety reasons and it is never about the money.  

    This year, 70% of the school community attended the disco which is the same number as last year.  

    The disco has been on our website calendar since the end of September and has been mentioned on our newsletter for the past 4 weeks as well as a reminder being added to Facebook. That being said, the admin team will take some time to discuss communication methods (we currently have our website/newsletter, email and Facebook as communication tools) to see if any improvements can be made and welcome any positive suggestions from parents. 

    Cinema Trips 

    Thank you to the Year 4 parents who have already completed the collection arrangements form for the cinema trip. If you haven’t already done so please do ASAP. Please note, if a form is not completed by Friday 25th October, your children will be expected to walk back to school after the film.  

    https://forms.office.com/e/SpYXKX6ueW

    Disability Equality Questionnaire for Parents   

    The definition of disability is a broad one.  ‘A person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’ (Equality Act 2010). The Equality Act 2010 replaced previous discrimination law and provides a single piece of legislation covering all types of discrimination that are lawful.   

    We would like all parents who feel they and/or their child fits the definition outlined above to complete the disability equality questionnaire. The data collected will be used when writing our school’s accessibility plan and disability and equality policies. In most cases, we know if a child in our school as a disability but it is not the case for our parents and it would be useful to know how we can better support our school community as a whole. You do not have to provide identifying details about yourself or your child but there is the option to do so at the end should you wish to be involved in any future focus groups etc.   

    https://forms.office.com/e/htcdMFtbak  

    Flu Vaccine – Consent Form

     Please find attached the E-consent letter for your child’s Flu vaccination for this coming winter. Please note that you can consent for either the Flu nasal spray, OR the non-gelatine IM Flu vaccine. Please make sure you complete the form online as soon as you can. The portal will close 48 hours ahead of the Flu session. Vaccination UK East Anglia Immunisation (schoolvaccination.uk) Flu can be very unpleasant for children and can sometimes cause serious problems, such as pneumonia. Children can catch and spread flu easily. Vaccinating them also helps protect others who are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from flu, such as babies and older people. The School Immunisation team will be coming into the school on Thursday 14th November to deliver the vaccine. Please be aware that children can NOT receive this vaccination with their GP unless they are clinically vulnerable. 

    Flu Consent Form

    Flu Leaflet

    Read More
  • Issue 7 - 18th October 2024

    Published 18/10/24

     

    Dear Parents/Carers,  

    This week, Almond Hill were the host to a county wide initiative which aims to give children with a disability, hidden disability or a lived experience of one, a chance to share their views with a wide audience. The children involved were great at sharing their opinions and showed maturity when they were asked to contribute in front of others.   

    The next meeting will be at a different Stevenage school in November (date to be confirmed) and we will be working towards developing ideas of how to provide social media content for #SENDtakeover2024. This is when Voices of Hertfordshire have been given the chance to be in charge of Hertfordshire County Council, Voices of Hertfordshire, Services for young people and Health social media channels for the day on the Tuesday 3rd December 2024 as part of World Disability Day.  Well done to our school representatives! 

    Next Friday, our Year 6 children will set off for their residential trip to Grafham. I am sure they will have a fantastic time and will come back with lots of stories to share with you all! Please keep a look out on Seesaw for updates. A huge thank you to the staff who have given up their weekend to accompany the children too (although, they love it nearly as much as the children do!) and Mrs Patterson for all her hard work organising the trip. I would also like to thank Loraine Rossati, (one of the councillors for Symonds Green) for kindly donating to help one of our families to attend.  

    Have a good weekend. 

    Emma Fordham, 
    Headteacher 

    Key Messages

    Reminder: the deadline for secondary school applications is Thursday 31st October 2024.

     

    Maths games for children in Years 3-5 

    Children in Years 3-5 will be bringing home a maths game today. These have been kindly donated by another local headteacher and are excellent for learning times tables. All children are expected to know their times tables by the end of Year 4 so this is a great way to help your child learn at home in a fun way. It will also be really helpful for the upper school maths curriculum too as times tables knowledge is crucial for many topics such as fractions and ratios. 

    Early Arrivals – Neighbour Complaints  

    I am disappointed to report we have had complaints from our neighbours about how early parents are arriving for collection at the end of the school day which results in engines idling, streets blocked and long queues of traffic outside of school. This poses a huge safety risk too as people are overtaking the queue of cars to continue their journey. I would urge families to avoid driving if at all possible or car share and certainly not queue for long periods of time outside school. Please be mindful of access to homes and local streets - if tempers flare there is more likely to be an accident.   

    Swimming Forms – Year 5 and 6 

    Thank you to the majority of parents who have completed the swimming ability form. We will phone anyone who has not responded by the end of the day today in order to ascertain any barriers and to plan swimming groups after half term. Families can expect to hear about swimming groups before half term.  

     

    Cinema Trips 

    Thank you to the Year 4 parents who have already completed the collection arrangements form for the cinema trip. If you haven’t already done so please do ASAP. Please note, if a form is not completed by Friday 25th October, your children will be expected to walk back to school after the film.  

    https://forms.office.com/e/SpYXKX6ueW  

    School Photos -Tuesday 22nd October

    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.  

    Asda Cashpot for Schools 

    Don’t forget to sign up! So far, our cashpot is on £230.73 and continues to rise! A big thank you to everyone who has shopped at Asda and selected Almond Hill as their school! Please spread the word to your friends and family. 

    43 days left!

    Headlice 

    Unfortunately, headline is a recurring issue. We do urge all parents to check their children’s hair regularly and treat any cases immediately. More information on what to look out for and how to treat headline can be found on the NHS website http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Head-lice/Pages/Introduction.aspx  

    Please ensure you check your child’s hair routinely. For further information on head lice and how to treat, please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/ 

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  • Issue 6 - 11th October 2024

    Published 11/10/24

     

    Dear Parents/Carers,  

    It was lovely to see some of our new families on Wednesday for the 3L parent lunch. I hope you enjoyed it. I know the children loved having you here! We are looking forward to welcoming parents of 3W next Wednesday. Please remember, we are only able to give parents a lunch if a pre-order has been made

    We will be holding our open evening on Thursday 14th November from 5.30-7.00pm.  We would love to welcome as many families as possible to take a look round our wonderful school. Please share our flyer with your friends and family or share our post on Facebook – thank you! 

    As many of you know, we have an Almond Hill Facebook page. We currently have 219 ‘followers’ and would love to see many more of you. If you have Facebook, please follow our page.  

    Have a good weekend.

    Emma Fordham
    Headteacher

    Key Messages

    Reporting on the day absence, requesting time off and changes to collection. 

    We have changed the way we would like parents to report absences. Currently, we ask parents to phone the school office on the day or to email. 

    Going forward, you can report on the day absence in the following ways: 

    • by phone (01438 233660 option 1)  

    • by submitting on to the Arbor Parent Portal (How to Guide

    We have also reinstated the online form for requests for time off in term time. If you are requesting time off in term time for holidays, a religious festival or other events, please submit the form on our website. You will also find a form here to inform us of medical appointments.  Please be advised that the government does not consider holidays to be an exceptional circumstance. These are highly unlikely to be authorised and may incur a fine. 

    Changes to collection – on the day 
    As previously requested, please do not email these changes in. As you can imagine, the school email address gets lots of email daily and it is monitored by one person. This means that some requests/emails may not be seen straight away so it is important that if there is a change to collection, you call the school office. These changes need to be called through by 2.45pm to ensure they are delivered to your child’s class teacher in time for the end of the school day. We cannot guarantee messages will get through to the class teacher before the end of the day otherwise. 

    Swimming Year 5 and 6

    Please can I remind parents in Years 5 and 6 to complete the form below as soon as possible regarding swimming ability and consent for the pop-up pool. The deadline for submitting the form is Friday 18th October. It is a huge administrative task allocating the swimming lessons and we need to be able to do this before half term so we can let families know who needs to bring kit in for the first day after half term. 

    Donation Request

    Thank you to the school staff who have donated kit. We would still benefit from swimming costumes and trunks in a range of sizes if parents can please have a look at home for these. I want to remove barriers where I can and I think kit is something we can certainly support with. Please bring donations to the office – thank you. 

    School open events and key dates for secondary transfer 

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

    July, September and October 2024 

    Schools hold their open events 

    Thursday 31 October 2024 

    Closing date for applications (online and paper) 

    Cinema Trips 

    Thank you to the Year 4 parents who have already completed the collection arrangements form for the cinema trip. If you haven’t already done so please do ASAP. Please note, if a form is not completed, your children will be expected to walk back to school after the film.  

    https://forms.office.com/e/SpYXKX6ueW 

    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.  

    Asda Cashpot for Schools

    Don’t forget to sign up! So far, our cashpot is on £204.37 and continues to rise! A big thank you to everyone who has shopped at Asda and selected Almond Hill as their school! Please spread the word to your friends and family. 

    *New* Winter Menu for School Dinners 

    This is also available to download at the bottom of the page.

     

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  • Issue 5 - 4th October 2024

    Published 02/10/24

     

    Dear Parents/Carers,  

    We have an exciting month ahead! We're looking forward to welcoming our Year 3 parents for lunch on the 9th, 16th and 23rd. Parents are also invited to meet their child's class teacher during parents' evenings on the 8th and 10th. Plus, the children can look forward to the FOAH Halloween (silent) disco on Tuesday, 22nd October! If you haven’t already, be sure to book your child’s ticket on School Gateway by Tuesday 15th October, as we absolutely won’t be able to add any more children afterward as health and safety risk assessments have to be written. We'll also be hosting our monthly book sale on Wednesday 23rd October, just before half-term from 28th October to 1st November. 

    Please note, some clubs are cancelled in the coming weeks due to parents' evening and/or the Halloween Disco.

    Tuesday 8th October (parents' evening) - cooking, French and netball 
    Thursday 10th October (parents' evening) - Outdoor activities
    Tuesday 22nd October (Halloween disco) - cooking, French and netball 

    Have a good weekend.

    Emma Fordham
    Headteacher

    Key Messages

    Responding to feedback about the pop-up pool

    Thank you for taking the time to read the letter regarding the pop-up swimming pool. I am really pleased to see that parents have taken the time to ask questions and give feedback and it is fantastic to see all the positive comments about the pool. As previously mentioned, we will answer questions via the newsletter so that all parents can be informed and information can be shared with everyone at the same time. Please see below for answers to the comments raised so far. Please feel free to submit the form if you have any other questions.  

    When will lessons take place? 
    There will be 12 children in a group and 10 half an hour lessons across the school day. 

    Will there be an option to pay the swimming fee over the term/year? 
    Yes. Payments will be made via School Gateway and you will have the option to pay over a number of months with a deadline being around February/March 2025. 

    Does my child have to take part? 
    We would like every child in Years 5 and 6 (even if they are competent swimmers) to get at least one chance to have a go and also be assessed but we appreciate some children already have lessons outside of school and can swim the 25 metres required. We will be asking for consent for children to use the pool so you are able to decline this opportunity if you would prefer.  

    Where will children get changed? 
    Children will be separated into boys and girls for changing in the same way they are when they go to the pool. We do not want any children to feel uncomfortable getting changed for lessons so will of course accommodate a space to change privately where we can. You can help with this by allowing your child to wear their swimming costume under their uniform to make getting ready for lessons quicker.  

    How deep is the pool? 
    It is a 10m x 5m x 1.4m heated pool with an average temperature of 30° C. 

    What year groups is this for? 
    For this year, we will be offering this opportunity to Years 5 and 6. I thought it would be very tough for the Year 6 pupils to miss out on such an exciting chance and in this way all the children in the school currently will get a turn this year or next. 

    If the trial is successful, we will book this provision annually and it will be offered to the children in Years 4 and 5 meaning that children who need it will get two sustained periods to secure this skill.  

    Please can you clarify the cost? 
    We have calculated that each lesson costs £4.50 which means if your child swims for the whole month (20 lessons in total), this will cost £90. The lessons take place daily and last for 30 minutes. 

    We appreciate that this will be very difficult for some families. No child will be denied the chance to swim if their family cannot or does not pay. However, we would not be able to fund a huge shortfall each year so if we were not able to cover the costs with voluntary contributions and possible fund-raising activities, we would not be able to make this an annual feature of our school offer. 

    Please can I ask parents in Years 5 and 6 to complete the form below as soon as possible.  

     

    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. 

    July, September and October 2024 

    Schools hold their open events 

    Thursday 31 October 2024 

    Closing date for applications (online and paper) 

    Cinema Trips 

    As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, these are the dates for the cinema trips. 

    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 

    Year 4 parents, as the Year 4 film is in the afternoon, we wanted to give you the option of collecting children from the cinema or from school. We will need to know before the day so we can plan for the correct number of staff waiting at the cinema as well as those walking back with the children.  Please complete the form (linked below) to let us know your plans as soon as possible. Parents will need to collect from the cinema at 2.45pm. We will not be in a position to wait so anyone who has not been collected at this time, will be brought back to school. We anticipate we will be back at school by 3.30pm. The time of arrival is approximate. 

    https://forms.office.com/e/SpYXKX6ueW 

    Voices in Hertfordshire

    Earlier this week, I sent a letter to parents about the Voices in Hertfordshire Project. This is a great opportunity for the right children and would urge parents to read the information and complete the form attached if your child would like to participate.  

    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

    Parents’ Evening 

    We are planning Parents’ Evenings for the Autumn Term on Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th October.  

    Booking is now closed - please contact the school office if you need to make any changes or you have not yet booked an appointment. For those classes with a shared teacher, your appointment will be with one or both of the teachers. 

    You will receive a paper copy of the parents’ evening information today to give you an opportunity to digest the information and ask questions during the appointment.

    School Uniform Reminder  

    Please be reminded that school uniform is a white polo shirt or shirt and red t shirt for PE. Red polo shirts are not part of the school uniform. We like the children to look really smart and to differentiate between the two uniforms. Please help us by supporting our uniform policy. We appreciate that cost can be a barrier so invite parents to attend our uniform sales which are held monthly. We wouldn’t want anyone to purchase unnecessary uniform so if you are reusing an older siblings uniform or have already purchased for this year, please don’t worry I would just ask that when you replace the uniform, you replace with the correct items. 

     https://www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/page/?title=School+Uniform&pid=48  

    Umbrellas  

    We know the weather has been pretty awful recently but can I please ask that children do not bring umbrellas to use at break/lunchtime as they can be dangerous when children are running around. If the weather/rain is too bad, children will be inside. 

    Donation request 

    Following my letter regarding the pop-up pool, I would like to ask parents for any donations of old swimming costumes/trunks, swim hats or towels. I want to remove barriers where I can and I think kit is something we can certainly support with. Please bring donations to the office – thank you. 

    Clubs 

    Can I ask parents to please be mindful when signing up for clubs and ensure your child wants to attend as parents and children are disappointed when they are full and it is a shame when then they have spaces due to people regularly not attending. The idea of these after school clubs is to provide additional enrichment opportunities outside of the curriculum – they are not intended as childcare so please make sure your child wants to join the club you have selected.  

    If your child is part of a club that they don’t want to attend, please contact the school office so we can remove them from our register. Not only does it take a lot of ‘admin time’ to follow up on attendance to clubs, but we also have a waiting list of children who we could offer these spaces to. 

    Read More
  • Issue 4 - 27th September

    Published 27/09/24

     

    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

    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.  

    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.  

    Read More
  • Issue 3 - 20th September 2024

    Published 20/09/24

    Dear Parents/Carers,

    A big thank you to the parents who attended our open evenings this week. I hope you found them useful. For those who were unable to make it, we have added the PowerPoints at the end of the newsletter for you to take a look at.

    We had our first FOAH meeting of the year on Monday where we discussed the events and activities they would like to run for your children throughout the year.  We really need your support to keep Friends of Almond Hill going! If you are willing to help organise events for our children to help raise funds for the school, please let the office know. Even if you only have a small amount of time to offer, we would love to hear from you. Over the years, our parents have supported many fun events for the children and FOAH have paid for resources and educational activities which we are not able to provide from our budget. Thank you very much in advance. Any help is always so greatly appreciated.

    On Tuesday next week, all parents and carers are welcome to attend our SEND/Pastoral coffee morning with Mrs Birchall (SENCo) and Mrs Burgess (Pastoral Lead). This will take place 8:30-9:15am in Beech Room in Acorn House. Your child does not need a diagnosis for you to attend. If you feel you could do with some support, resources, or just a chat with a knowing ear, please come along.

    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)

    Drop off Zone

    Please be aware there was an error on the gate times on the last newsletter. The vehicle gate to the drop off zone opens at 3.10pm not 3.00pm as we do not wish to encourage parents to come early and queue. This is because our neighbours complain about excessive traffic at the end of the school day.

    Please think of our environment and switch your engines off whilst waiting outside the school.

    Nut Free School

    Can we stress to all parents the importance of not allowing children to come to school with any product containing nuts.  At present, we have a number of children with severe allergies and therefore strongly require parents to be mindful and check that the snack and lunch items they are providing do not contain nuts.

    SEND/Pastoral Parent Meetings

    Tuesday 24th Sep 8:30-9:15am
    Thursday 21st Nov 2:30-3:15pm

    We want any parent who feels these sessions may benefit them to have the chance to attend so welcome feedback about the time/dates that these are planned.

    Arbor Calendar/School Calendar

    We are really pleased so many of you are getting used to using Arbor. As you know, there is a calendar within the app. This relates to your child’s school day and includes and clubs they have enrolled in and will also include sporting events they may have been invited to. All other events that take place in school (not child specific) will continue to be on the calendar on our school website.

    Lost property

    All of this uniform was collected at the end of ONE lunch time this week. PLEASE make sure all of your child’s uniform is clearly labelled with their full name so that if it is lost, we can return it to your child. Of course, it would be much better if children collected their belongings and took them back to class with them after break/lunch so please encourage your children to do this.

    Read More
  • Issue 2 - 13th September 2024

    Published 13/09/24

    Dear Parents/Carers,

    Welcome to this week’s newsletter! Each week, we’re excited to bring you the latest updates, reminders, and a look at the wonderful things happening across our school. From classroom activities to upcoming events, we aim to keep you informed and connected with everything that's going on. You will notice that we have ‘key messages’ at the start which is important information for all followed by attendance figures, Almond Hill Achievements, house points and key dates. The final part of our newsletter showcases the wonderful events that have happened in school and other information relevant to families.

    I would like to remind parents of the information meetings that are planned for next week to provide families with information on exciting school initiatives (such as The Climb) and show you where information is on our website to support you at home like the long and medium term plans for curriculum. Year 3, 4 and 6 will be held in the hall and Year 5 will be one of the Year 5 classrooms in Acorn House. They will run from 3.30-4.30pm. Parents can make their way to the hall once they have collected children from class. Children and siblings are welcome to stay.  Please don’t worry if you are unsure on where to go – there will be signs to help you. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

    Thank you for your continued support and engagement in our school community. We hope you enjoy reading this week’s highlights.

    Emma Fordham,
    Headteacher

    Key Messages

    Operation Encompass

    We wanted to make our new parents aware (and remind parents) of Operation Encompass which is a system in place between schools and the Police to support families. Operation Encompass is the notification to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, of incidents where and when a child or young person has experienced or been exposed to any domestic abuse.

    Operation Encompass allows the Police to liaise with a trained member of school staff (DSL) so they can use the information that has been shared in confidence whilst also ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have experienced a domestic abuse incident. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for all those involved.

    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)

    Drop off Zone

    There are over 300 children arriving and leaving our school every day. We welcome children riding bikes/scooting to school if they are wearing a safety helmet. In the interests of the safety of all our children, we expect you to observe the parking restrictions when dropping off or collecting your child in a car. Please can you make your child aware that the raised area outside of the school is not a pedestrian crossing. At the end of the day the school gate area is very busy.

    At the beginning of the day, most parents with children in Years 4, 5 and 6 do not park. They drop their children off and let them walk to class. However for children in year 3, it is more likely they will want to park and take their children to the classroom door. This can cause difficulties if all the available spaces are already filled. Please be mindful of this issue. There is a 10 minute window for children to be dropped off and the car park tends to be quieter in the latter half of those 10 minutes e.g 8.50-8.55am.

    If you park in the ‘drop off’ zone at the end of the day it must be in one of the marked bays. You may not park on the access roadway around these spaces. Adults who park in one of the allocated parking spaces at the end of the day need to get out of their cars and walk to collect their child. The ‘drop off’ area is for vehicle entrance/exit only NOT for pedestrian use. I am sure like me; you wish to keep our children as safe as possible. I hope the guidelines are clear enough for all parents/carers to follow. If you have any queries or concerns about the use of the drop off, please contact me.

    If you are driving to school, please park safely and in line with restrictions. Please also show respect to our neighbours in adjacent roads so their access is not restricted by inconsiderate parking.

    Clubs

    Wow! We are really pleased families were so eager to sign up to clubs this term. In the past, we have had clubs that we have not managed to fill and even though we have increased our offer this term, many of the clubs were full on the day they opened! If you are not able to sign up for club on the Arbor Portal, it is most likely because it is full. Please ensure you have access to the portal (particularly for new parents) as without this, your children may miss out on events and clubs.

    Year 3 Parents

    We will be offering Year 3 parents a couple of 1-hour sessions to talk about our behaviour policy, Therapeutic Thinking. Please complete the short poll below to help us plan this to suit the majority of parents.

    What is therapeutic thinking?
    Therapeutic Thinking is a behaviour management approach which focuses on all behaviour being a form of communication. The basis is that we need to 'analyse' children's behaviour for what they are not saying and put into place support for them in order that they can thrive and develop not only academically but socially & emotionally too. The ethos is that we teach children to read, do maths, swim and we also need to 'teach' them what positive behaviour looks like. It has to be explicitly taught so we can't just bribe with extrinsic rewards as we want children to be able to make good choices for themselves (intrinsic) even when we are not there. 

    When children feel negative, it is harder to make good choices. It's like when we're tired, hungry, stressed we are not the best versions of ourselves. So in order for some children to be able to make better choices we need to help them feel better about themselves by giving them more positive, pro-social experiences.

    The theory is underpinned by ACES (adverse childhood experiences), attachment and being ‘trauma aware’ and how all these things can impact on children. Research shows for it to work, it has to be a whole school approach and needs to be embedded in policy. Consistency is key so children get the same experiences from all staff which makes them feel safe and secure at school. 

    Everyone makes mistakes and when children get it wrong we focus on repair, reflect, restore strategies such as reflection & restorative conversations to help them make a better choice next time.

    Seesaw - Year 3

    Children in Year 3 have now been added to Seesaw. Please follow the link in the invite to join your child’s journal. If you haven’t received an invitation to join, we do not have consent for your child.

    Supporting your school – Introducing Friends of Almond Hill

    We’d like to welcome back existing parents and introduce ourselves to those who have joined us this year. We are Friends of Almond Hill (FOAH for short), the PTA responsible for raising funds and running events so your children have the best experiences and some nice extras at school.

    Last year we ran a Halloween Disco, Movie Night, and Present Rooms for Christmas (sorry to mention the C word!), Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We had enough funds to purchase additional equipment for the outside gym and provided year books and leavers hoodies for those leaving the school. We are always looking for people to help us as little or as much as you can – after all, more hands make light work.

    If you have any “spare” time, useful skills, or matched funding by your employer and would like to get involved and make some new friends, please email us at foah@almondhill.herts.sch.uk, our first on-line meeting (via Teams) is on Monday 16th September at 6pm. Joining details can be found here if you’d like to say hello and find out more. There are formal roles available (we are a registered charity) and ad-hoc opportunities based on the specific activities we are running. Alternatively we’d be really grateful if you could support the fund raising activities we are running throughout the year if you can.

    SEND/Pastoral

    These sessions are a chance for parents to come and meet with other parents and Mrs Birchall our SENCo and Mrs Burgess our Pastoral Lead to talk about all things SEND and pastoral. 

    Tuesday 24th Sep 8:30-9:15am
    Thursday 21st Nov 2:30-3:15pm

    We want any parent who feels these sessions may benefit them to have the chance to attend so welcome feedback about the time/dates that these are planned.

    Read More
  • Issue 1 - 6th September 2024

    Published 06/09/24

     

    Dear Parents/Carers,  

    A big welcome back to you all and I hope you enjoyed the summer holidays. I trust our new families in Year 3 and across the school are settling in well and we wish you a warm welcome to our school.  

    Our value for September is friendship. Children can always help others by offering to play with everyone and not leaving others out. We have a friendship bench on our lower school playground where children can go if they are struggling to find someone to play with. We also have a friendship room which is for children who may find social times particularly hard. This is run by our pastoral team and they offer a range of activities for children to do to ensure they enjoy their lunch times. 

    We have lots of exciting events this term including visitors to the school and school trips (please check the diary dates further down). As well as this, I would like to draw your attention to the parent information meetings that are planned for w/c 16th September to provide families with information on exciting school initiatives (such as The Climb) and show you where information is on our website to support you at home like the long and medium term plans for curriculum. These will be held in the hall running from 3.30-4.30pm. Parents can make their way to the hall once they have collected children from class. Children and siblings are welcome to stay.  

    Please take the time to read our newsletter as this is our main method of sharing information with you at home. For those of you who don’t know, the newsletter is on our website and is shared with families via email on a Friday afternoon. We often get emails/phone calls requesting information that has been on our newsletter. After feedback from you, we limited the amount of emails that were sent to parents and therefore much more information has been added to our newsletters which remains a more reliable source of information (as opposed to WhatsApp groups - so I am told 😊). 

    Have a good weekend.  

    Emma Fordham, 
    Headteacher 

     

    Key Messages

    Weekly Celebration Assembly

    This year, we have combined our achievement and singing assemblies into one feel good weekly celebration assembly which is run by Mrs Small and Mrs Cleaves.  We will begin with celebrating the children who completed the summer reading challenge over the holidays. If your child took part, please email a photo of their certificate or send them in with their certificate FAO their class teacher. I know children are very keen to be awarded their 10 house points. On this note, we continue to invite children to bring any trophies, certificates, awards or photos from achievements outside of school to share with pupils in assembly (as well as being added to our website/newsletter).  We also celebrate the musical talents of our children and invite those who play instruments to play for their peers whilst they enter the hall for assembly. If your child would like to do this, tell them to speak to Mrs. Small. 

    In our assembly today, we introduced our new pupil leadership teams. We have a range of roles available for children across the school including, play leaders, sports captains, reading mentors, headteacher assistants and lunch time leaders. A big well done to those children who were selected to take on any of these roles this term.

     

    Attendance  

    Please be reminded, gates close at 8.55am  and if you arrive after this time, you will need to come via the main office to be signed in.  This is to ensure the site is secure and it is imperative children don’t ‘squeeze in’ at the last second as they could get missed if their class has left to go to the hall for example.  

    Parents will receive a letter in the next few weeks reminding them of the expectations and the new national regulations with regards to school attendance. I would urge you all to take the time to read the information. With the cost of living crisis and more pressure on families, we continued to see an increase in the number of holidays taken in term time last year. I would like to remind parents that I cannot authorise time off during term time unless for exceptional circumstances. I understand parents may feel that the time off will not affect their child significantly negatively however the overall education of the class is affected if the teacher has to repeatedly catch up those who have missed prior learning. 

    Seesaw

    We use Seesaw across the school to share and celebrate the children’s work. Parents tell us they love these updates. New parents will receive an invitation to join the app but only once consent has been given. This has been sent to you via the Arbor Parent Portal. Please allow us some time to get this set up. For more information, follow the link below: www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/Seesaw 

    Follow us on Facebook 

    For those of you who don’t know, we have a school Facebook page. We already have 217 of you following but would love to see many more of you including our new families! Please follow the link to follow our page: https://www.facebook.com/121almondhill  

    Other Key Apps for School

    Please download the School Gateway app to make payments for school trips etc. You will need to give your email address and you will be given a PIN number to set up your account.  To order and pay for school dinners, you will need to use School Grid.  

    Parents of children who have joined us this term, you will need access to the Arbor Parent Portal. Many of you have already logged in which is fantastic but if you haven’t and need help with this, please contact our office.

    Coming to School/Mobile Phones

    School policy allows for children in years 5 and 6 to bring a mobile phone to school for safety reasons if they travel to and from school independently. Mobile phones must be switched off whilst on school premises and not be used during the school day. There is no need for parents to inform the class teacher/office if their child is walking home independently. I would ask that children do not however bring their phones on school trips or after school events. Please can I remind parents, especially those in year 5 and 6, that unaccompanied children should not arrive at school before 8.45am. I appreciate some children are keen to get to school but the school grounds are not supervised before this time and accidents can happen.  

    Collection at the end of the School Day 

    Children in Years 3 and 4 need to be collected by an adult unless we have written permission for children to go home with older siblings. Please confirm this with teaching staff via the year group email. There are no laws about this as such as it relates to the level of the child's competency however we feel that most children in Years 3 and 4 do not have the experience to make safe choices when circumstances are not as they have expected. It is also sometimes not possible for an older sibling to keep a younger sibling safe. Ultimately it is the parents' decision however we are responsible for the safeguarding of the children so will want some dialogue if children younger than Year 5 are not being collected by an adult. As the school has become larger and access routes (both pedestrian and vehicle) have become busier, this becomes increasingly important.   

    Children in Year 5 and 6 are allowed to leave school independently. Teachers will walk them up to the gate at the end of the school day but will not monitor collection. If your child is due to meet you from school, please ensure they know where they are going. It is also important to remind children to return to school if they find the person who is meeting them is not where they were expecting them to be. 

    Contacting the School 

    There will be times, as parents, where you need to contact the school and general enquiries can be made via the school office by phone or email. You are also very welcome to email the year group email addresses to contact your child’s year group. Please only use the year group email for NON urgent queries/questions as they are not monitored during the day  

    Year3@almondhill.herts.sch.uk  
    Year4@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 
    Year5@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 
    Year6@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 
     
    If you have any questions regarding your child, please make an appointment after school to see the class teacher initially as in most cases they will have the most up to date information on your child. If at this point you still feel you would like to speak to someone at our school, please first contact Miss Simmons, our Deputy Head (admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk) or if your child has special educational needs or disabilities, Mrs Birchall our SENCo (iep@almondhill.herts.sch.uk). If the issue is of a pastoral nature, Mrs Burgess our pastoral lead can be contacted at burgess@almondhill.herts.sch.uk The Designated Teacher with overall responsibility for Child Protection is Mrs Fordham, with Mrs Birchall, Mrs Burgess and Miss Simmons as deputies. The deputies (especially Mrs Burgess) deal with day-to-day safeguarding issues but all cases are shared with the whole safeguarding team. Mrs Fordham can be contacted using the admin email address and will respond accordingly. However, depending on the nature of your email, it may be passed on to a more appropriate member of staff for a response.  Mrs Fordham is often unavailable at short notice and an effective and more efficient response is often achieved by speaking to someone else on the team. That being said, Mrs Fordham will always make the time to speak to parents if all other avenues have been exhausted, the matter is extremely urgent or parents have a specific reason why they believe she is the only person who can deal with the matter.

    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 2024 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) 

    Saving the Planet ‘One jumper at a time’ 

    The launch of our Pre Loved uniform sales have been overwhelmingly successful and we would love to extend this further with the aim to reduce waste ‘one jumper at a time’. As well as old uniform, we would like to ask families to consider donating shoes (that no longer fit but are in good condition), coats, Christmas jumpers, World Book Day costumes and hangers. Please remember to remove your child’s name from any donated items or they may eventually make their way back to you!  

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