I wanted to let you know that we have been informed by Ofsted that the draft version of our recent inspection report has been delayed. This means we will not receive it until after half term. As soon as the draft arrives and the process moves forward, we will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience and understanding 

Each week, we will provide feedback from our recent parent survey.  

I am really pleased to see that many of you feel communication from school is adequate. Communication is something we regularly discuss, both as an admin team and as a wider school community, and we continually look for ways to improve it. I understand that some parents feel that although dates for events are shared early, specific details are sometimes communicated at shorter notice. We appreciate that this can be frustrating. While we always aim to provide dates as early as possible to allow families time to plan, it is not always possible to finalise all details far in advance, as plans can sometimes change at short notice. Parents have also shared that they would like to receive more updates about their child’s progress. If you have any concerns or would like an update, you are always welcome to email the year group email address, and your child’s class teacher will be happy to help. 

It is clear that Seesaw is a popular tool, and many parents would appreciate it being used more consistently. We agree that Seesaw is a valuable resource for strengthening communication between home and school, and we are currently exploring how we can make greater use of it across the school. 

Thank you to the parents who completed the idling survey over the last couple of weeks. It is clear from the responses that many parents are concerned about cars idling at drop off/pick up. I appreciate the feedback and ideas and will be spending some time looking over the suggestions.  

We are so lucky at Almond Hill to be invited to take part in so many sporting events outside of school. We aim to attend as many of these as possible, as they provide valuable enrichment and extra-curricular opportunities for our children. However these events require a great deal of planning. If your child is invited to an event, please take the time to talk to them and check that they would like to attend before signing them up. We would never expect a child to take part if they do not want to. Dropping out at the last minute can unfortunately result in events or clubs being cancelled unnecessarily. For each event, we create an initial list of invited children but we also hold a reserve list. If a child is unable or does not wish to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to a child on the reserve list with plenty of notice. 

I wanted to take a moment to thank parents who provide medical evidence when requested and an extra thank you to those who provide it without being prompted! This allows us to authorise absences much more quickly and helps our office team work more efficiently, giving us more time to deal with other matters as they arise. Providing medical evidence also helps us prepare for your child’s absence in advance, such as checking that a lunch hasn’t been booked, informing their teacher or removing them from clubs where necessary. 

Please can I remind parents who wish to make a contribution towards their child's swimming lessons in the pop-up pool that the payment request will close on Friday 27th March.

Although the pool is no longer here, we continue to collect data on children’s swimming progress outside of school. If your child has swimming lessons, please do let us know when they achieve any of their stages so we can update our system accordingly. This is a huge help when planning for next year’s lessons. Please email admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk