Today, all families will receive a letter regarding attendance. The letter contains important information about different types of absence, attendance expectations, and guidance from Hertfordshire's Code of Conduct regarding penalty notices and term-time holidays. 

If your child has strong attendance and is currently attending school above 96%, you may feel that much of this information is not directly relevant to you. However, we would encourage all families to take a few moments to read the letter so that everyone is aware of the current guidance and procedures. 

For families whose child's attendance is below the national average, we would particularly urge you to read the information carefully, as it outlines the support available and the importance of ensuring children attend school regularly wherever possible. 

The pop-up pool will be arriving during the October half-term break, ready for swimming lessons to begin in November. We are looking forward to providing this exciting opportunity for our children. 

There are still a number of outstanding consent forms. Please log in to Arbor and check the ‘Notices’ section to ensure your child's consent has been completed and is up to date. We will also be contacting families of children in Year 4, 5 and 6 directly where consent is still required.   

Thank you for your support in helping us ensure all children are able to take part in this valuable experience. 

The Stevenage Community Trust runs an annual Christmas Gift Card Scheme, providing £200 in gift cards to support struggling families and children in need across Stevenage and the surrounding villages.  Families are unable to self-refer for this support, as all applications must be submitted by a professional on their behalf. 

If you feel this scheme could help ease financial pressures over the Christmas period and support with the cost of gifts or food for your children, please contact Mrs Wright in the strictest confidence: wrighth@almondhill.herts.sch.uk  

Applications must be submitted by 31st October. To allow sufficient time for completion before the half-term break, please contact Mrs Wright no later than 19th October.

As the colder months approach, families who are experiencing financial hardship may be able to access support with their energy costs through a Heating Grant. Applications are open from 1st October to 31st March. The scheme is available to people on a low income, including those in employment, receiving state benefits, or receiving a pension. Please note that you do not need to be receiving benefits to be considered for support. 

Successful applicants will receive a £300 grant, which will be paid directly to their energy provider to help with heating costs during the winter months. 

If you think you may be eligible, we encourage you to explore this opportunity and contact Mrs Wright in the strictest confidence: wrighth@almondhill.herts.sch.uk who can apply on your behalf. 

Our Parents’ Evening (PTI’s) for the whole school will be held on Thursday 8th October 2026, with both online and in-person appointments available.  All online appointments will take place in a ‘block’ at the start (9 appointments) beginning at 1.30pm.  Following the end of the school day, our in-person appointments will begin at 4.00pm.  The evening will finish at 7.30pm.  Appointment lengths are timed and teachers will need to keep to these strict timings.  

Appointments can be made from 6.00pm today and the booking system will close on Wednesday 30th September at 4.00pm.  Should you wish to make any changes after this date, please contact the school office.  If the class has a shared teacher, your appointment will be with one or both of the teachers.  Please be mindful that appointments do fill up quickly.  If you have a strong desire for a particular time or type of meeting, I would urge you to secure your appointment early.    

Please visit https://almondhill.parentseveningsystem.co.uk to book your appointment. A short guide on how to add appointments is available on the school website. Please log in with the following information: your child’s first name, surname and date of birth. It is vital that you use the same information held by the school as any discrepancies will prevent you from accessing the system.  Please log into the parent portal on Arbor to double check the information we hold for you and your child to ensure you are inputting the correct information. 

We work really hard to take part in so many events and we try to ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate (if they would like to). When you are sent an invitation for your child, it will provide information about the event, date, times, location and a deadline by which we require your consent. If the deadline passes without consent or communication, the place will be offered to another child.  Deadlines are often quite short and are often beyond our control, as the notice we receive from organisers can be limited. 

Please check with your child that they would like to take part before signing them up. If they do not wish to attend, that is absolutely fine, but please ensure you let us know by replying to the invitation email. These events are usually planned by Stevenage Sporting Futures and often have minimum and maximum participation requirements that we must meet in order to attend. 

We appreciate that families lead busy lives and that emails can sometimes be overlooked. However, all events require a risk assessment so it is important that consent is provided and any required information is returned by the deadline so that the risk assessments can be completed and shared with staff in good time before the event. We understand how disappointing it can be for children to miss out however we are unlikely to be able to accommodate late responses once places have been allocated and event paperwork has been finalised.

A reminder of the dates for the Year 3 parent lunches.  Lunch will be served at 12.20pm on separate days: 

Wednesday 7th October – 3L (Mrs Lyons) 
Deadline for orders: 9:00am Thursday 1st October 

Wednesday 14th October – 3C (Miss Clarke) 
Deadline for orders: 9:00am Thursday 8th October 

Wednesday 21st October – 3B (Miss Bonfield and Mrs Geer) 
Deadline for orders: 9:00am Thursday 15th October 

Adult orders should be placed using the Arbor School Shop. Child meals are ordered in the usual way on School GRID. Please see the email sent to parents on Monday for a reminder of the details.