Safeguarding has the highest priority at Almond Hill and is at the forefront of all we do. The school is committed to the safety of all pupils and staff and promotes an ‘it could happen here’ ethos to support our vigilance.

All of our children have the right to be safe and happy at school and it is our responsibility to try to make them feel that way. All adults working in school are subject to DBS clearance and appointments follow the school’s Safer Recruitment Policy. Safeguarding is discussed at all meetings and there is an expectation for all staff to be highly vigilant.

All staff undertake safeguarding training on appointment, statutory 3-yearly update, and annual school update along with regular specific training. The governing body has appointed a named safeguarding governor and there is a governor safeguarding working party that meets to regularly monitor all of the school’s safeguarding procedures. The school invites external reviews of school procedures to ensure the very best practice is maintained. Our monitoring involves all of our stakeholders and covers all aspects of our provision as well as statutory responsibilities. The school’s Child Protection Policy and Whistleblowing Policy are published on the school’s website.

All of the school policies support our safeguarding practice but we believe that our effective safeguarding is achieved not only through policy documents but through our daily actions and building strong relationships with our children, so we know them well, and they all feel confident to build trust in the adults they work with.

All schools have a clear responsibility placed on them by the Children Act 1989 and guidance from the Department for Education and Skills to safeguard the welfare of all their pupils.  In doing so, schools are expected to consult with Children’s Services if they believe there is a possibility that a child may be suffering from abuse or neglect. A referral to Children’s Services is not intended to be an accusation of any particular action or against any particular person. It is the reporting of concerns that have come to the school’s attention. This is in accordance with Hertfordshire Area Child protection procedures.

Almond Hill Junior School has a Child Protection Policy and follows safeguarding guidance from other key documents e.g. Keeping Children Safe in Education, all of which are available for parents/carers to see. 

Mrs. Fordham is the Designated Teacher for Child Protection. In her absence, Mrs. Burgess, Mrs. Birchall, Mrs Barker, Mrs Wright and Miss Simmons deputise in this role. They will be happy to discuss any questions or concerns parents/carers may have about child protection policy and practice. The appointed governor for Child Protection and safeguarding is Mrs. Claire Lanni.

The school’s SENCo is Mrs. Birchall. Parents are welcome to make an appointment to meet with her if they have specific concerns they wish to discuss. 

Sometimes a child will need extra support. This may be educational (they may need more time to understand the work they are doing) or they may be ‘able’ and need to extend their learning. They may be experiencing behavioural or emotional problems and need support to overcome them. Children with special educational needs at both ends of the spectrum are catered for. A team of experienced teaching assistants support pupils in class and lead individual teaching programmes.

Children who need their work to be differentiated beyond that normally planned for the class may have an Individual Education Plan (IEP).  These outline specific targets children are working towards and are drawn up in consultation with the child and parents to ensure learning is personalised to their individual needs. The IEP is reviewed regularly and parents are invited to contribute their views at the meeting and review progress. Some children have an Assess. Plan, Do, Review (ADPR) which is an ongoing document detailing strategies to overcome barriers as well as cognitive targets.

The school website publishes our ‘Local Offer.’ This details the provision that may be offered to a pupil at the school with special educational needs. 

Sometimes children need a short intervention to help them make progress in particular areas. This may be for aspects of their academic work or to support emotional or behavioural development. In this instance, parents are informed and invited to discuss the intervention with the class teacher, the teaching assistant leading the intervention or the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo). Sometimes, children need very specific support; teachers work in close liaison with outside agencies such as specialist outreach teachers who provide guidance and extra tuition when needed. Any additional provision is always fully discussed with parents. All additional provision is mapped so that it is tailored to individual needs. A copy of the school’s SEND policy is on the website and available from the school office.

Objectives 2024-25 based on school self- evaluation: July 2024 Yr3-6 assessment outcomes, evaluation of school improvement actions 23/24, consultation with staff and governors, feedback from pupils and parents, May 2021 Ofsted, Attendance data 2023-2024, External visits from HfL HIP and TLAs

Objective		Link to Ofsted RAG rated summary
1.	To support vulnerable learners/disadvantaged groups to ensure progress and achievement including those with SEND and in receipt of PPG with a focus on attendance and provision.	Leadership and Management/Overall Effectiveness Achievement of targets related to attendance for vulnerable groups were extremely strong. Targets related to progress of pupils with SEND, inclusion of PPG and well being have also been achieved in the main.
2.	To develop and improve oracy and writing across the school to ensure children can articulate themselves effectively both verbally and in writing	Quality of Education/Leadership and Management There has been progress in the development of oracy across the school; it is now seen as a subject and strategy featuring in the English profile and action plan objectives have been met. Although writing attainment remains the same the staff have developed a long term plan, sequence for learning and teaching and assessment frameworks for writing in each year group to ensure consistency. There has been some external support with this to check for coverage and heed has been taken of the writing framework released in July 2025 by government. Oracy and writing objectives will be extended into school improvement plan for next year.
3.	Continue to develop the foundation curriculum and subject leadership to ensure a broad, balanced, progressive, well planned, delivered and assessed curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils at our school	Leadership and Management/Behaviour and Attitudes/Personal Development/Overall Effectiveness Progress has been made towards targets related to knowledge organisers, retrieval and assessment practices. Diversity targets continue to be addressed and outdoor learning has been embedded into the well being accreditation action plan. All will continue to be extended into the school improvement plan for next year,

2025-2026 Summary of Objectives

Objectives 2025-26 based on school self- evaluation: July 2025 Yr3-6 assessment outcomes, evaluation of school improvement actions 24/25, consultation with staff and governors, feedback from pupils and parents, May 2021 Ofsted, Attendance data 2024-2025, External visits from HfL SEA and TLAs.

Key Priority		Objectives
1.	To support vulnerable learners/disadvantaged groups to ensure progress and achievement including those with SEND and in receipt of PPG with a focus on attendance and provision.	To improve attendance with a focus on those pupils in receipt of PPG Scaffolding for inclusion as part of a wider focus on metacognition ‘Saplings’ alternative provision for children who are not yet ready for the Year 3 curriculum Develop provision for older readers (upper school Years 5 and 6) for whom phonics has not worked
2.	To develop and improve oracy and writing across the school to ensure children can articulate themselves effectively both verbally and in writing	Develop ‘Oracy’ further as part of the planned and delivered curriculum   To improve writing attainment across the school through the development and embedding of a rigorous and progressive bespoke scheme
3.	Focus on personal and social skills to ensure children have the skills and knowledge to access learning and develop personal skills for success and happiness and citizenship skills to contribute to their community	‘Let’s grow’ project to develop independence and resilience  To acquire the wellbeing accreditation and ensure full range of areas for development have been addressed Outdoor learning to be embedded into planned curriculum and provisions  Social time provision to ensure children enjoy and develop play and problem-solving skills and are ready to learn in lessons
4.	Continue to develop the foundation curriculum and subject leadership to ensure a broad, balanced, progressive, well planned, delivered and assessed curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils at our school	Ensure curriculum is well planned and progressive Ensure curriculum is remembered and transferable Ensure curriculum is supplemented and enriched Introduce and develop the use of AI to increase effectiveness of staff

 

 

To keep you well-informed about your child's learning we:

• Invite you to a formal parent teacher interview twice each year. This may be offered remotely.
• Provide you with an annual written report in the summer term.
• Invite you to view your child’s work at any time after school.
• Invite you to open events to see your child’s classroom and work.
• Provide a year group e-mail so you can contact class teachers directly.
• Invite you to contribute to school self-evaluation.
• Invite parents of children with special educational needs to review meetings every term.
• Invite you to parent forums and to workshops that explain aspects of school policy and developments.
• Publish information about what your child has been learning through our Medium Term Plans under the learning section of our website.
• Publish a weekly newsletter to inform you of school events and diary dates.
• Welcome parental help which is highly valued encouraging volunteers to support a range of activities in the classroom (subject to safeguarding checks).
• Publish a wide range of information on our school website.

In addition to a range of information that is published on our school website, the school publishes a weekly newsletter on Fridays and a reminder email on Mondays of key events for the week. 

The school uses Arbor for communication and which will allow you to receive messages from the school and for you to be able to reply to those messages. This system allows for messages to be sent in a cost effective way. Please support the school by downloading the app so messages can be sent to you free of charge. All payments and consents for trips tec are also  made through Arbor so it is important you have the app.

We aim to inform parents of events in the school calendar as soon as possible. Parents should be aware the school itself sometimes has limited notice of activities pupils are invited to take part in. We aim to keep our parents fully informed of curriculum developments and events. Letters will be issued with details of specific events and these will also be published on the school website for reference.

Each year group has an e-mail that parents can use to contact class teachers. These boxes are checked weekly by teachers so should not be used for urgent queries:

year3@almondhill.herts.sch.uk
year4@almondhill.herts.sch.uk
year5@almondhill.herts.sch.uk
year6@almondhill.herts.sch.uk

The Special Educational Needs co-ordinator (SENCo) also has a dedicated e-mail iep@almondhill.herts.sch.uk for parents of pupils with special needs.

Should you ever have any queries or problems relating to your child at school, we believe it is very important that they are resolved quickly. Parents are encouraged to make an appointment with the class teacher. Should you have continued concerns, please make an appointment with the Deputy Head. If an issue is still not resolved, please make an appointment with the Head Teacher.

There may be occasions when we need to contact you urgently.  It is very important that the office has details of how you may be contacted during the day and an emergency contact number plus an additional 2 emergency contacts.

Seesaw

At Almond Hill, we use Seesaw across all classes. Seesaw is a fantastic way to see in 'real time' what your children have been learning at school. Children can share videos, photos of their work or use the creative tool to show you what they are proud of. We are really excited about Seesaw.