Mrs Fordham can be contacted via the school’s admin email address and will respond accordingly. Depending on the nature of your enquiry, your email may be passed to a more appropriate member of staff to ensure it is dealt with efficiently. 

Please note that parents sometimes request to speak to a specific member of staff; however, we are often unable to accommodate these requests. Members of staff may be teaching, in pre-arranged meetings, working directly with children, or otherwise engaged before, during and after the school day. In many cases, a quicker and more effective response can be achieved by following the routes outlined below.  

There will be times, as parents, where you need to contact the school and general enquiries can be made via the school office by phone or email. You are also very welcome to email the year group email addresses to contact your child’s year group. Please only use the year group email for NON urgent queries/questions as they are not monitored during the day:

Year3@almondhill.herts.sch.uk  
Year4@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 
Year5@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 
Year6@almondhill.herts.sch.uk 

If you have any questions regarding your child, please make an appointment after school to see the class teacher initially as in most cases they will have the most up to date information on your child. If at this point you still feel you would like to speak to someone at our school, please first contact Miss Simmons, our Deputy Head (admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk) or if your child has special educational needs or disabilities, Mrs Birchall our SENCo (iep@almondhill.herts.sch.uk).  

If the issue is of a pastoral nature, Mrs Wright our pastoral lead can be contacted at wrighth@almondhill.herts.sch.uk The Designated Teacher with overall responsibility for Child Protection is Mrs Fordham, with Mrs Birchall, Mrs Barker, Mrs Wright and Miss Simmons as deputies. The deputies (especially Mrs Wright and Mrs Barker) deal with day-to-day safeguarding issues but all cases are shared with the whole safeguarding team.  

Mrs Fordham is frequently unavailable at short notice but she will always make time to speak to parents where all other avenues have been exhausted, the matter is extremely urgent, or where there is a specific reason why it can only be dealt with by her. 

Occasionally, children report an injury at school but then refuse first aid. Mrs Fordham has reiterated the importance of accepting first aid when it is needed, and we kindly ask that you also discuss this with your child at home. 

If an injury is significant, we will always contact a parent and we will inform you if first aid has been offered but refused. 

As you may remember from our previous newsletters, our application to Tesco Stronger Starts was successfully selected for the customer vote in Tesco stores.  Voting has commenced in store and will run 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.    

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.  

Our school is taking part in the Modeshift STARS initiative which is a national scheme that helps schools encourage safe, active and sustainable travel. The programme supports schools across the country to develop effective Travel Plans that promote walking, cycling, scooting and the use of public transport instead of car journeys. 

By taking part, we’re working towards accreditation that recognises schools for their commitment to reducing car use and making travel to and from school healthier, safer and better for the environment. 

As part of the project, we’ll be: 

• Encouraging more families to walk, cycle or scoot to school 

• Promoting road safety and awareness 

• Running events and activities to make active travel fun and achievable 

• Working with parents and pupils to develop a school Travel Plan 

The Modeshift STARS Education scheme has been running since 2008 and is supported by the Department for Transport. Over 1,400 schools in England have already achieved accreditation and we’re excited to be working towards joining them! 

By supporting this project, parents and carers can help us create a healthier, safer, and more sustainable school community. 

We are looking at the issue of idling cars around the school and would be interested to gain your views.  

We are looking forward to welcoming parents to our workshops next week. We hope the sessions will be both informative and enjoyable. 

9.00-10.30 – Monday 2nd February - 4A  
9.00-10.30 - Thursday 5th February - 4W  
9.00-10.30 - Friday 6th February - 4C    

All sessions will take place in the hall. Please come to the hall doors in the quadrant after drop off. We will leave the drop off zone open to help with parking. When the workshop finishes, please can all parents sign out and leave via the main reception. If your car is in the drop off zone, this can be accessed after leaving the school from the main reception gates.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. 

Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI for Safer Internet Day 2026 | Childnet 

Safer Internet Day 2026 will take place on the 10th of February 2026, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Smart tech, safe choices – Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI’. 

Everyone’s talking about AI, and with many children and young people hearing about and using AI online, it’s important they have the skills and confidence to make safe choices when they are using smart technology. 

This Safer Internet Day we are exploring the impact of AI on all of our lives, looking at how AI can be used for good, and giving advice and guidance that empowers people to use AI safely and responsibly.