Dear Families,  

Next week sees the start of our Christmas events. We are kicking off with the fantastic Year 3 play. We are delighted so many parents are able to join us to watch what promises to be a wonderful, festive production. Please can I ask that parents ensure their children attend both evening performances even if you were unable to secure tickets for both as they will be missed during the show! For the evening performances, children will need to be dropped back to the year 3 classroom doors at 5.40pm and collected from the classroom doors at the end of the performance which is due to finish at 7.00pm. Please note, there is no charge for tickets for the play. However, we will be raising funds for the school by offering light refreshments on the evening performances so please bring some cash along. We will also be asking for donations on the way out too.  Please refer back to the email sent on Wednesday for more details. 
 
I hope children are looking forward to their Christmas dinner and class party days! This will start w/c 9th December with each year group having their own day! Children can wear Christmas jumpers and/or Christmas accessories on their year group’s day if they would like to. Please don’t feel you need to buy anything for this! If you don’t have anything Christmassy at home (or your child doesn’t want to dress up) non uniform or school clothes is absolutely fine! Please do help our cook to prepare for this very popular event by pre ordering your child’s lunch in advance via SchoolGrid. 

Our FOAH present room will open its doors on Tuesday 10th December. Gifts can be purchased in advance on School Gateway until 3rd December or cash will be accepted on the day. All gifts cost £2.50 and there is no limit to the number of gifts purchased. A big thank you to FOAH for organising this event. 
 
Families of children in Years 4 and 5 are invited to join us for Christmas Carols on the evening of Tuesday 10th December starting at 6.00pm. We will be selling mulled wine and mince pies so please bring along some cash. Some of you may remember we hosted this a few years ago and it was a lovely, festive event enjoyed by everyone. This will take place outside in the quadrant with Mrs Cleaves leading the vocals. As this is outside, there is no need to book a place just turn up, wrap up warm, enjoy a festive treat and sing some carols. A bucket for volunteer donations will be present. 

Year 6 children and our school choir will go to St Nicholas’ church on Tuesday 17th December for their carol service which is one of our favourite Almond Hill traditions. It is always a lovely service and a real pleasure to be a part of. If you are attending, please remember, space in the church only allows for two parents per child. Please don’t arrive until 1.30pm to allow children to arrive and get organised. We would also ask, to ensure all children are kept safe, that you allow children and staff to leave first and return to school and collect them from the school in the usual way. They will need to be signed out but may be collected slightly earlier depending on the finish time.  

We are pleased to offer many of our events free of charge such as our Christmas activities, after school clubs, writing days. The cost of many of these events are covered by the school and those we do charge for are often subsidised. However, we will be raising funds at our Christmas events for Year 3, 4 and 5 and would appreciate any support in doing so.  

We end the final week with another Almond Hill tradition – our talent shows will take place during the school day on Wednesday 18th December. Teachers will be running auditions for children who want to take part and they will be informed by their class teacher if they have been successful. They may bring special props or chosen outfits for their performance. Children in the upper school will perform in the morning and the lower school in the afternoon.  

That brings us to our final day on Thursday 19th December. School will finish at 12.30pm on this day. As with the end of the summer term, we understand Letchmore do not finish until Friday. I do not want to put unnecessary pressure on families with children in both schools so we will finish early as planned on Thursday (12.30pm) but for those parents who really need it, school will remain open until 3.15pm. Children will be invited to watch a film in the hall and will be supervised by support staff.  

Please note, this is not expected to be a ‘staggered finish’. We would expect children to either be collected at 12.30pm or 3.15pm. 

We have requested consent to leave early on Arbor. Please log in to the parent portal and let us know if your child is allowed to leave early on Thursday 19th December. If you decline or do not respond, your child will be expected to stay until 3.15pm unless they are collected by a parent. Please use the guardian note section to let us know if your child (Yr 5 and 6) is allowed to leave independently. Please be reminded, our cook is preparing cold options only.  

Have a good weekend.

Emma Fordham
Headteacher

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