‘Please tell us your views on the school’s ethos ‘It’s all about The Climb’. What do you understand of it?’ 

I was blown away by the responses to this question, some of which were incredibly insightful and showed a real understanding of what we are trying to achieve. There were some parents who explained they were not fully sure on the purpose of ‘The Climb’ and there were some misconceptions I am happy to address here.  

I wanted to explain more about ‘The Climb’ for those who were unsure but I am delighted to share some quotes from our parent survey that have explained what we are trying to achieve in a wonderful way…

Academic achievements are not the sole basis for reaching the top of the hill. When children at Almond Hill consistently do the right thing (not because they want to avoid negative consequences but because it is who they are,) they receive a ‘Top of the Hill’ badge as recognition of their continued climbing. If you want to know where your child is on their journey, please ask your child’s teacher at Parents’ Evening.  

For those who want a reminder (or have not seen) our video explaining ‘The Climb’ can be watched below.

How can I be Top of the Hill?

Please be reminded that the contributions for swimming lessons in the pop up pool will close 31st March. The office will be in contact with parents (if they haven’t already) to provide a gentle reminder of the number of lessons your child had. Please log in to School Gateway and make a contribution if you are able.  

We have had a few instances over the last few weeks where parents have signed their child up for an event (taking place off site) and on the day, the child has not been aware of the event or they have not been collected/dropped off as planned. We work really hard to take part in so many events and we really try to ensure that all children have the opportunity to take part (if they want to).  When you are sent the invite for your child, it will provide the information of event, date, times, location etc along with a deadline to respond to provide your consent.  If the deadline passes without consent/communication, the place will be passed on to someone else. Please check with your child that they want to take part before signing them up. If they don’t, that's absolutely fine but please ensure you have declined on Arbor so we can offer the place to someone else. These events are planned by Stevenage Sporting Futures with a minimum/maximum participation requirement that we need to meet in order to attend. 

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 the admin team.  

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. 

We were delighted to see so many year 6 parents joining us via Teams for the SATs information evening on Monday. The slides shown are now available on our school website (can also be seen below). If you have any further enquiries regarding the SATs, please contact your child's teacher via the year 6 email: Year6@almondhill.herts.sch.uk

SATs Support Resources: /page/?title=SATs+Support+Resources&pid=199