This week the school field was bouncing with energy (and dodgeballs) as students faced off in one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Thanks to the amazing leadership of our student government The Cold Capybaras. While players were ducking and diving, our student government was behind the scenes making it all happen. From organising teams to keeping the energy high, they delivered afternoons of fun, laughter, and school spirit. Great job to everyone who played - and an even bigger shoutout to the leaders who made it happen!   

Following direct guidance from the local authority, we have decided it is right to end the tradition of children bringing sweets or treats into school to give out to classmates to celebrate their birthdays. 

We have an increasing number of children in school with severe allergies or other dietary needs and it is an unnecessary burden on staff to be checking for allergens every time treats come in from home. In contrast, when we are making and tasting food at school as part of the curriculum, we are able to carefully ensure that all allergies and other dietary or cultural needs are catered for appropriately when purchasing food and risk assessments are written and shared before any event to ensure all members of staff are aware of any specific needs and to limit risks. 

We appreciate that some will be disappointed by this decision and others will be very pleased. We can assure you that if your child wants their birthday to be celebrated at school, we will still do this through singing to them and through other class-based traditions. 

With sports day fast approaching, I wanted to give a quick reminder of the plan. Our sports days will be held on the following dates:  

Year 3 and 4 - Thursday 5th June 
Year 5 and 6 – Friday 6th June  

Although we have allowed 9.00am-12.00pm for the sports days, they may finish earlier than this (but not later) especially if the races are over quickly! Parents can come round to the field after drop off. All children must go to class first to register as normal and then will be brought out to the school field for sports day. We know that not all parents are able to attend in school events so we will be taking some photos which will be uploaded to Seesaw.  

A reminder of your child’s house colour has been sent via email but another will be sent after half term. Ideally, children will participate in their house teams so please can they wear a t-shirt in their house colour if possible.  Please do not worry if your child does not have an item of clothing in their house colour. We do not expect parents to purchase anything. We have bibs for anyone who hasn't got a top in their colour. 

School will be selling light refreshments and baseball caps so please bring cash with you. Please make sure your child has their water bottle with them. 

Toilets will be signposted - for safeguarding reasons, please ensure you follow the signs to our 'visitor' toilets. 

This week, we have been celebrating ‘Walk to School Week’, by making as many active journeys to school as possible. Your challenge over the May holidays is to continue this ECO-tastic work, by making even more journeys by foot or wheels! Remember - catching a bus or train are also great ways to travel alongside others. We challenge YOU to make an active journey every day of the May holidays! Record your active journeys however you like – you could create a diary, make a poster or take photographs to share with us in school! 

This week for Healthy Eating Week, we have been comparing foods and discussing how/when we can make healthier choices. During the half term, we would like Year 3 and 4 to name as many different fruits and vegetables as you can using the letters of the alphabet. You can present in a way of your choice. Children in Year 5 and 6 can do this too OR you can choose to create a glossary of any key words you have learnt this week and write a sentence for each. 

Every term, we try to do something to promote kindness in our school, community and nationally. Our kindness ambassadors would love you to write poem about kindness that the school could learn in the last half term. If you see yourself as a budding poet, this could be the task for you!  

We are so lucky at Almond Hill to have lovely school grounds and outdoor spaces to enjoy. We have the field, playgrounds and the jungle gym for playing games but we want to use the Quad to create a space where you can relax and feel calm. We need your help! Your home learning project is to design a relaxation space for all children to enjoy!  

Mrs Lyons and Miss Andrews will be hosting this workshop to give parents the opportunity to discuss any worries or concerns they have around online safety (and mobile phones in particular). Like you, we are not experts but it is a good opportunity for us to look at these issues together and come up with some ideas to help support each other. This will take place from 3.30 until 4.30pm on Tuesday 1st July. Ideally, children will not attend this session so we may offer a creche if this helps parents attend.  

Please ensure you have read the email sent to parents on Wednesday regarding the year 6 graduation events. Tickets are available on the Arbor School Shop now.  
Monday 14th July - 6S  
Tuesday 15th July – 6B  
Wednesday 16th July - 6C  

In October, we communicated that we had changed the way we would like parents to report absences. Previously, we asked parents to phone the school office on the day or to email.   

Now, you can report on the day absence in the following ways:   
by phone (01438 233660 option 1)    
by completing the form on our website   
by submitting on to the Arbor Parent Portal (How to Guide)   

Please do not use the year group emails for this or admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk. The year group emails are not regularly monitored and there are so many emails coming into admin and with only one person managing this box,  they may be missed. You will still be contacted by the office team to check absence if you have emailed one of these as it may not have been passed on and we have a duty to check children’s attendance.   

We also reinstated the online form for requests for time off in term time. If you are requesting time off in term time for holidays, a religious festival or other events, please submit the form on our website. You will also find a form here to inform us of medical appointments.  Please be advised that the government does not consider holidays to be an exceptional circumstance. These are highly unlikely to be authorised and may incur a fine.   

Please do not send communication through School Gateway as this is not regularly checked and although you are able to message us, we are unable to reply.  

Changes to collection – on the day   
As previously requested, please do not email these changes in. As you can imagine, the school email address gets lots of email daily and it is monitored by one person. This means that some requests/emails may not be seen straight away so it is important that if there is a change to collection, you call the school office. These changes need to be called through by 2.45pm to ensure they are delivered to your child’s class teacher in time for the end of the school day. We cannot guarantee messages will get through to the class teacher before the end of the day otherwise.  

Year Group Emails  
The year group email addresses are a way to communicate with the class teachers for non-urgent queries. They should not be used to report absence or for anything that requires an immediate response as they are not monitored daily. 

As you will have noticed, we have started to use Arbor School Shop for payments.  After half term, all payments will be done through Arbor except for those that are ongoing on School Gateway (i.e Legoland and Crucial Crew for year 6, Grafham for year 5 and Shuttleworth for year 4). 

Please note that when using the school shop, you won't be sent an email or confirmation of your purchase, but you can see which items you've been invoiced for. 
 
A guide is available if you need help with purchasing from the school shop: https://support.arbor-education.com/hc/en-us/articles/5068444710813-Purchasing-School-Shop-items-on-the-Parent-Portal-or-Parent-App