Issue 3 - 18th September 2026
Issue number: 3
Date: 18th September 2026
Dear Parents/Carers,
It has been a busy and productive week across the school, with lots of exciting learning opportunities taking place. Our Year 4 pupils have taken part in pedestrian skills workshops, which have been both highly engaging and informative. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and have gained valuable knowledge to help them stay safe when out and about.
Meanwhile, our Year 6 pupils are beginning to settle into their new roles and responsibilities within the school. From Headteacher's Assistants to Lunch Leaders, they have embraced these opportunities with enthusiasm and maturity, demonstrating excellent leadership qualities and setting a fantastic example for our younger pupils. Look out for an update on pupil leadership as the term progresses.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming parents and carers to our upcoming information meetings next week. While we will share key information with those who are unable to attend, these sessions are always most effective when delivered in person, providing an opportunity to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of the year ahead.
Attendance has not been particularly high since our return to school. We understand that children do become ill; however, wherever possible, children should be in school. Please note that teachers are unable to provide work for children who miss learning due to absence from school. All families will receive a letter regarding attendance next week.
Have a good weekend.
Emma Fordham,
Headteacher
Key Messages
Secondary School Applications
Please remember to apply for your child's secondary or upper school place for September 2027. The online application system is now open.
Please see the attached leaflet for details of open events. Further information is available at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions.
Saturday 31 October 2026 - Closing date for applications (online and paper).
Parent Information Meetings – Reminder
We believe that in order for children to fully benefit from their experiences at school—both in learning and in wider opportunities—it is vital that parents and carers are kept fully informed about what is happening and why.
For this reason, we strongly encourage you to attend our Year Group Parent Information Meetings. At these meetings, teachers will share important information about exciting school events, curriculum plans (long and medium-term), and how you can support your child at home. We will also be discussing swimming, school trips, The Climb, and our ‘Let Grow’ initiative and how it has been incorporated into our revised values.
For Year 6 families, we will also provide details about Grafham and SATs.
The meetings will be held in the school hall, which can be accessed via the hall doors through the quadrant after pick up. The meetings will begin once teachers have finished releasing children at the end of the school day, which is likely to be around 3:30pm. The finish time is flexible, as teachers will be sharing a presentation and families will have the opportunity to ask questions. We anticipate that the meetings will last no longer than one hour. Children and siblings are welcome to attend and a creche will be available for those who wish to use it. This will be clearly signposted from the hall.
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Tuesday 22nd September – Year 3
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Wednesday 23rd September – Years 4 & 5
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Thursday 24th September – Year 6
Uniform Sales
Thank you to everyone who has donated preloved uniform. Your generosity means that we currently do not have the room to accept any more donations.
Diary Dates
Did you know, you can subscribe to our calendar to keep up to date with the events going on within the school?
Follow the link below, select 'subscribe' and follow the instructions for your device.
Attendance
Year 3 96.84%
Year 4 95.88%
Year 5 97.93%
Year 6 94.78%
All Students 96.33%
3L 100%
5B 99.7%
Lower School Winner
Upper School Winner
Class of the Week
Lower School Winner
Upper School Winner
The Tidiest Classroom Award
Upper School Winner
House Points
Almond Hill Achievements
Autumn Term 2026
At Almond Hill, we love to share and celebrate your successes. If you would like your child featured in our weekly newsletter, please complete the form below and add a photo of your child. You can see some of our recent achievements below...
SEND and Pastoral Parent Drop ins...
We welcome all parents to attend our SEND and Pastoral 'drop ins' (whether your child has a diagnosis or not) if they feel they would benefit from speaking to our SENCo and/or our pastoral team. In our experience, almost all children benefit from pastoral support during their journey at school. Examples of where this has been supportive in the past are when friendship issues arise, loss of a pet, online issues outside of school, family break up and bereavement. We are always delighted when more parents join us.
Tuesday 13th October - 8:45-9.30am
Thursday 3rd December - 2.30-3.15pm
FOAH Update...
The first FOAH meeting of the academic year will take place on Tuesday 29th September at 6.00pm on Microsoft Teams.
Friends of Almond Hill are a dedicated group of parents who organise fundraising and fun events for our pupils and parents. 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 the school budget. Thank you very much in advance. Any help is always so greatly appreciated.
We view all parents and carers as members and welcome support in any way, big or small. FOAH are keen to organise events that reflect the interests of pupils as well as parents and carers!
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/314936004903028?p=kejLz1R4NY7nnW3TQq
Meeting ID: 314 936 004 903 028
Passcode: dD7sQ73Q
Chritmas Card Designs
As some Christmas items are starting to appear in the shops, Friends of Almond Hill are also getting ready for the big day and will be sending home a template on Friday for your children to create Christmas cards and gifts from their designs - so please look out for these.
Additional templates will be available if there is a change in artistic direction and we also have a limited number of Christmas themed stencils, which can both be collected from the office. Please can we ask that all artwork is clearly labelled and returned to your class teacher by Monday 28th September as we are unfortunately unable to allocate time in class for this activity.
In Other News...
Year 4 Pedestrian Skills
This week Year 4 have been visited by Mr Lai from the Safer Travel Team to rehearse safer pedestrian crossing skills. Mr Lai has been incredibly informative, even teaching the adults a thing or two about how to cross the road safely. We discussed the ways in which we can identify if there is a danger present - checking for…
Year 6 Commonwealth - Sports Leader Training
This year's Sports Leaders began their roles on Wednesday by attending a Stevenage Sporting Futures training afternoon. Here, they joined representatives from other local schools to consider what qualities make good sports leaders and role models. They learned lots of fun games that they will use to engage groups of children…
