Staff Leaving Almond Hill 

Mrs Campbell: After 11 wonderful years at Almond Hill School, it is with great sadness that I say goodbye. It has been an absolute privilege to work alongside such amazing children, supportive parents and dedicated staff. You have made my time here so special. 

During my time at Almond Hill, I have experienced so many important life milestones, from qualifying as a teacher to becoming a mum to my twins. I have loved leading Art and have been fortunate enough to work across every year group at some point during my time at the school. The memories, friendships and experiences I have gained here will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Although I am leaving Almond Hill, I will be staying in teaching and moving to a school a little closer to home. While I am excited for this new chapter, I will miss being part of this wonderful community. Thank you to everyone for your kindness, support and friendship over the years. I would love to keep in touch and I wish all of the children, families and staff every happiness and success for the future. 

Miss Porter:  It is with great sadness that I'm leaving Almond Hill. I have loved my nine years here, teaching so many amazing children and working with so many wonderful people but I've decided that teaching is no longer for me. Instead, I'll be helping children across the country improve their life skills to help them have a brighter future. Thank you to everyone for making my time here so special- I will definitely miss Almond Hill! 

Staff Joining Almond Hill 

Information for parents/carers with children in year 5. Further information about moving to secondary or upper school in September 2027 will be available at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions from 1st September 2026. 

Important Dates  

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

With lots of discussion about the upcoming football match taking place early on Monday morning, I wanted to write in advance to clarify our arrangements for the school day, as we anticipate receiving a number of queries.

School will be open as normal and children are expected to arrive at the usual start time. On this occasion, we will not be operating a soft start.

Given the amount of learning time lost last week due to the heatwave, we feel it is important that children do not miss any further school time where this is avoidable. We therefore appreciate your support in ensuring that children arrive promptly and are ready for the day on Monday.

The school reading challenge is nearly complete and this week the children had a class challenge to complete for bonus points! Each class had 8 ‘pizza’ slices to find that had book related challenges. They then had to ‘deliver’ their pizza to Mrs Fordham. The winning class was 6W Dolphins – I was won over by the way they presented their answers – 100 bonus points! I am still debating whether to deduct points from some classes due to one courier asking for a tip and another one only delivering 7 pieces!  

There is one more week of the challenge and then points will be counted on Friday 10th July. Winners will be announced before the end of the term. 

We understand that there are times when parents need to arrange for someone else to collect their child, whether at the end of the school day or for transport to and from sporting events or other activities. For safeguarding reasons, it is essential that we are informed of any such changes in advance. We cannot allow a child to be collected by someone who is not their parent or usual carer without prior confirmation from you. Currently, these messages are sometimes shared via phone calls, the main admin email, or year group email accounts. This can occasionally result in information being missed, delayed, or not seen in time. To improve both safeguarding and efficiency, we have introduced a dedicated Change to Collection form on our website. We kindly ask that you complete this form (in the same way you would report a same-day absence) whenever there is a change to your child’s usual collection arrangements. Please also use this form if another parent is collecting your child, including for school events.  

https://www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/form/?pid=17&form=536   

The Frogs that Flip are excited to announce a fun event for their second pledge! 

They will be hosting a “Guess the Member of Staff by Their Baby Photo” challenge, and there’s already lots of excitement building among the children. The purpose of school government events like this is to help pupils fulfil their commitment to raising money for charities, while having fun as a school community. This will take place on Tuesday 7th July.  

Friday 10th July – Year 6 End of Year Water Fight! 

Children will need additional clothes for the water fight (this doesn’t need to be uniform but clothes you don’t mind getting wet and dirty for example, a swimsuit with a t-shirt over) as well as a towel and a named water gun if they have one. Children will change into spare clothes for the water fight. These will get wet and they can change back into their dry uniform after the water fight. Children have asked if they can bring water bombs and this has been agreed as long as they clear up the mess at the end! Water guns can be filled at school - there is no need to fill at home.  We do advise guns as they are easier to fill. Please do not go to any extra expense as it may be cancelled at short notice if the weather is unsuitable. 

Tuesday 14th (6S) Wednesday 15th (6C) Thursday 16th (6W) - Graduations 

All graduations will take place from 2.00 till 4.00pm in the school hall. 

Where possible, please arrange for younger siblings to be collected on the day of the graduation as space in the hall will be limited and it is nice for children in Year 6 to have this time to celebrate. Where this is absolutely impossible, please inform the class teacher of the younger sibling that they will need to be taken to the hall at the end of the school day. The Year 6 teachers have been busy putting together a wonderful event for you all and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. 

It is a formal event and in previous years, the majority of children do wear formal attire be that a dress, suit or a shirt and tie but this is not compulsory (just think your best partywear – not football kit!) As always, we do not expect you to buy anything specifically for the afternoon. Children will need to wear uniform to school and they will change into their chosen outfit for the afternoon. 

Friday 17th July - Fairlands Valley Park Trip  

As part of our end-of-year celebrations, we are excited to let you know that we will be taking our Year 6 children on a local trip to Fairlands Valley Park on Friday 17th July for their final outing at Almond Hill. 

This is a local walking trip, so we do not require consent, but we would like to share some important information to help you and your child prepare for the day: 

• We will leave school shortly after morning registration and aim to return by approximately 1:30pm. 

• Please ensure your child comes to school with a packed lunch and water bottle plus additional drinks. 

• If your child is entitled to free school meals and would like one for that day, please inform the school office by Thursday 25th June so we can let the kitchen know. 

• Your child will need a swimming costume and towel, as we will finish the trip with some fun in the splash park (subject to it being open). 

• Children will also be enjoying time in the park, playing games on the green and having a picnic lunch together.  

• Please make sure your child wears comfortable shoes suitable for walking to and from Fairlands.  

• Children can bring suncream too. This should be clearly labelled with their name and must not be shared with other children in case of allergies. They must look after this themselves. 

• Children should not bring any money as we will not be buying refreshments at the park.  

Friday 17th July - Shirt Signing 

In the afternoon, once we have returned from Fairlands, we would also like to invite children to take part in the tradition of shirt signing to mark their final days at Almond Hill. If your child would like to participate, please ensure they bring in a spare school shirt that they are happy to have signed by their friends and teachers. Pens such as Sharpies are suggested but children will be responsible for any pens they bring in. 

We hope parents are looking forward to the Rocksteady concert next Wednesday. The concert doesn't start until 2.15pm so please don't arrive too early as we can't let you in the hall before the bands are ready. You will be asked to sign in at the main office and we ask that you please remember to sign out at the end. If the concert finishes before the end of the school day, you are welcome to take your child home but we will not be able to get siblings out of classes. They will need to stay until the end of the school day as normal. 

In partnership with The Reading Agency, Hertfordshire Libraries are proud to present this year’s Summer Reading Challenge: Read to the Beat. 

The challenge aims to keep children reading throughout the summer holidays and rewards them for reading for pleasure. Your children can sign up for FREE at any Hertfordshire Library from 4 July 2026. The Challenge finishes on Saturday 5 September 2026 (or Sunday 6 September if your local branch is open).  

Children are encouraged to read any 6 library books over the summer holidays. This could include listening to an e-audiobook, reading independently, or reading with parents or carers – any reading is good reading in our book!  

There are also some reading and library related challenges as part of Read to the Beat. These challenges are listed in the packs that children receive when they sign up for the challenge and children can complete them to earn reward stickers if they choose to. 

Children that bring their certificate in during September to show their teacher will get 10 house points!!