I am delighted to see that so many of you are reading our weekly newsletter. We know that communication from schools can feel overwhelming at times—especially if you have children in more than one school—so we have tried to streamline things as much as possible by using the newsletter as our main way of sharing information. 

We feel it is important (and much easier for families) to have all key updates in one place, so you can refer back to them whenever you need to. We regularly review how we communicate and are always open to feedback and suggestions from parents and carers. We know that what works well for some may not work as well for others, and finding the right balance can sometimes be a challenge but your thoughts and ideas really help us continue improving. Our parent forum is a great way to share your ideas. Look out for details on our next meeting which is planned for Wednesday 25th March.  

We are beginning to plan the clubs we hope to offer in the summer term. We are really proud of the range of opportunities we provide, especially as all clubs run by school staff are completely free. We are also fortunate to work with a number of external providers who offer fantastic additional activities for the children and we have negotiated some funded places so all children can be involved.  

As we prepare for next term, I do want to gently remind families that our free, school‑led clubs should not be seen as childcare. Many of the sports are run by Miss Harris and due to the nature of her role as our PE coach, she is often required to attend sporting events. These events can extend beyond the school day. This then results in her after school club having to be cancelled. 

We pay to be a part of Stevenage Sporting Futures, which gives our pupils access to a wide variety of competitions and festivals—something we feel is important to take part in. However, the dates for these events are often released at very short notice, meaning that club cancellations can sometimes be unavoidable. We appreciate that this can be frustrating and thank you in advance for your understanding. 

We are beginning to prepare for November’s swimming sessions, which will take place in the popup pool. Although the pool will not be on site until November, we need to gather consent now so that we can plan ahead. Please complete the consent request on Arbor even if you have done so previously. 

Consent received this year will remain in place until your child leaves Almond Hill. You are welcome to amend your consent at any time by contacting the school office. 

We continue to collect information about children’s swimming progress outside of school. If your child attends swimming lessons, please let us know when they achieve any new stages so we can update our records. This is a huge help when planning sessions and writing reports. Please email any updates to admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk. 

If you would like some more information about the pop-up pool, you can look on our website: https://www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/page/?title=Swimming+at+Almond+Hill&pid=231 Please note that some of the information may be adjusted slightly when we agree final arrangements.  

Thank you for your support. 

As of 1st April 2026, the price of a school meal will increase from £3.45 to £3.55. 

Our Parents’ Evenings (PTI’s) for the Spring Term will be held on Tuesday 10^th and Thursday 12^th March. Miss Porter will be conducting appointments on 4^th and 10^th March.

We will be again using a hybrid system for these appointments, whereby it is parental choice whether the appointment is face to face or online. All online appointments will take place in a ‘block’ at the start of one evening (3 appointments) and a ‘block’ at the end of the other (5 appointments). Appointment lengths are timed and teachers will need to keep to these strict timings.

Appointments can be made from 6pm on Thursday 26^th February and the booking system will close at 12pm on Monday 2^nd March. Should you wish to make any changes after this date, please contact the school office. For those classes with a shared teacher, your appointment will be with one or both of the teachers. Please be mindful that appointments do fill up quickly. If you have a strong desire for a particular day, time or type of meeting, I would urge you to secure your appointment early.

Please visit https://almondhill.parentseveningsystem.co.uk to book your appointment. A short guide on how to add appointments is available on the school website. Please log in with the following information: your child’s first name, surname and date of birth. It is vital that you use the same information held by the school as any discrepancies will prevent you from accessing the system. Please log into the parent portal on Arbor to double check the information we hold for you and your child to ensure you are inputting the correct information.

Face to Face Appointments

If your child is in the upper school, please go straight to Acorn House. You will be able to look at your child’s books in the classroom and meetings will be in offices (Year 5 downstairs and Year 6 upstairs).

If your child is in the lower school, please go straight to Oak House. You will be able to look at your child’s books in the classroom and meetings will be in offices within Oak House.

I am pleased to be able to offer a free crèche which will be available in the Den for all in person PTI meetings on the 10^th and 12^th March. This room can be accessed from the quadrant.

Online Appointments

If you choose an online meeting, please see the below link for a guide on using the system. Please read this carefully as it tells you how to check that your technology will work correctly for the meeting. You will be sent a link for the meeting and you will need to ensure you are prompt to start. The meetings follow back to back so your time cannot be adjusted. The meetings will be timed to 9 minutes and will cut out after this time. There will be a clock on screen as an indicator for both you and the teacher that the meeting is coming to an end.

https://support.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/article/801-video-parents-how-to-attend-appointments-over-video-call

We must ask parents to comply with our remote learning policy to ensure safeguarding in the meetings. In attending the meeting, parents must be appropriately dressed, they should be in a neutral, quiet, downstairs area of the home. Parents should be aware of any backgrounds that could be seen by teachers - e.g. personal photographs of family and background noise.

All meetings are subject to technology working and we ask you to be supportive if things do not go quite to plan. Please be assured that if there is a technical hitch at the time of the meeting then your child’s teacher will contact you to rearrange.

After school activities

Premier will be running their wraparound care as usual, as well as our external football and dance clubs.

As previously confirmed, all Booster clubs will not be running. Due to staff availability, there will also be some clubs that will not run during the week commencing 9^th March. This will be confirmed in a separate email.