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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 16^th 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.

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.