‘How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow’
I have another great book I’d like to recommend to parents. As the title suggests, Free Range Kids encourages parents to give their children the freedom to develop resilience and build independence. This aligns closely with the thinking behind the ‘Let Grow’ initiative we’ve been trialling in school.

I promise I won’t continually bore you with book recommendations, but I found this one particularly interesting—and at times, very funny.

We are delighted to inform you that our application to Tesco Stronger Starts has been successfully selected for the customer vote in Tesco stores.  Voting will commence in store from mid-January 2026 until the end of March 2026. 
We applied to help with payments towards the deficit of the pop up pool.  
 
The project with the highest number of votes across our region will receive up to £1,500, the second placed project up to £1,000 and the third placed project £500.   

What happens next? 
Stores which will vote on our project: 

• 2202 Broadwater Stevenage Superstore SG2 8DT 

• 3213 Stevenage Extra SG1 1ES 

• 4775 Woolmer Green Express SG3 6FP 

• 6131 Old Stevenage Express SG1 3EF 

• 6546 Stevenage Chells Express SG2 0LU 

• 6565 Hitchin Station Lyon Express SG4 9SP 

 To vote, you will need to make a purchase of any value within store. You will receive one token per transaction. It is not necessary to purchase a carrier bag to receive a token. 

I hope children are looking forward to their Christmas dinner and class Christmas fun days! This will start w/c 8th December with each year group having their own day! Children can wear Christmas jumpers and/or Christmas accessories on their year group’s day if they would like to. Please don’t feel you need to buy anything for this! If you don’t have anything Christmassy at home (or your child doesn’t want to dress up) non uniform or school clothes is absolutely fine! Please do help our cook to prepare for this very popular event by pre ordering your child’s lunch in advance via SchoolGrid. 

• Monday 8th December – Year 3 
• Tuesday 9th December – Year 4 
• Wednesday 10th December – Year 5  
• Friday 12th December – Year 6 

If it is not your child’s Christmas dinner day, the kitchen will be offering a cold lunch option.  

Our FOAH parent volunteers have been busy organising a fun and festive Fair for our school community and we can’t wait! This will be hosted after school (3.15-5.00pm) on Thursday 11th December and there will be lots of stalls in Oak House for you to have a look at.  The doors to the hall and Year 3 classrooms will be open for families to enter and exit the school. The drop-off zone will remain unlocked and available for parking. Unfortunately, there is no space for buggies.  

All families are invited to join us for Christmas Carols on the evening of Thursday 11th December starting at 5.00pm straight after the Christmas Fair. This will take place outside in the quadrant with Mrs Cleaves leading the vocals. As this is outside, there is no need to book a place just turn up, wrap up warm, enjoy a festive treat and sing some carols. A bucket for volunteer donations will be present.  

Year 6 children and our school choir will go to St Nicholas’ church on Tuesday 16th December for their carol service which is one of our favourite Almond Hill traditions. It is always a lovely service and a real pleasure to be a part of. We expect the service to last for approximately 1 hour. If you are attending, space in the church only allows for two parents per child. Please don’t arrive until 1.30pm to allow children to arrive and get organised. 

We would also ask, to ensure all children are kept safe, that you allow children and staff to leave the church first and return to school and collect them from the school in the usual way. 

They will need to be signed out but children in Year 6 and the choir can leave early on this day (providing they are collected) but we are not able to release siblings early. If children are leaving independently, they will need to wait until 3.15pm. If your child is in Year 6, please collect from the bottom of Acorn House and if your child is in Year 5, you can collect from their classroom door. 

The drop off zone will be open for parents to use but please note, there is only room for 13 cars and this will not be manned so please drive carefully. 

We end the final week with another Almond Hill tradition – our talent shows will take place during the school day on Thursday 18th December. Teachers will be running auditions for children who want to take part and they will be informed by their class teacher if they have been successful. They may bring special props or chosen outfits for their performance. Children in the upper school will perform in the morning and the lower school in the afternoon.