Issue 39 - 17th July 2026
Dear Families,
As another school year draws to a close, it is wonderful to look back on the many memorable moments we have shared and the progress our children have made throughout the year.
It has been a pleasure to watch our pupils grow in confidence, develop new skills and support one another along the way. Whether in the classroom, on educational visits, through sporting events, performances or the many everyday moments that make school life special, there has been lots of opportunities to celebrate.
To our Year 6 pupils, we send you lots of luck as you prepare to begin the next stage of your journey. You have been fantastic role models for our younger children and have made a lasting contribution to our school community. We hope you leave us with happy memories, lasting friendships and the confidence to embrace the exciting opportunities ahead. We are incredibly proud of all that you have achieved and wish you every success at secondary school.
For those families who will be joining us in September, we extend a very warm welcome. We look forward to meeting. Our school is built on strong relationships, a love of learning and a supportive community spirit and we are delighted that you will be part of it.
As we head into the summer break, I hope you are able to enjoy some well-deserved time together, creating special family memories and recharging for the new school year ahead.
Please take a moment to read the information below regarding arrangements for the early finish on Wednesday.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday 2nd September, ready for another year filled with learning.
Wishing you all a happy, safe and enjoyable summer.
Emma Fordham,
Headteacher
Key Messages
IMPORTANT PLEASE READ
The summer term finishes at 1.00pm on Wednesday 22nd July.
School will finish on Wednesday (1.00pm) but for those parents who really need it, school will remain open until 3.15pm. Children will be invited to watch a film in the hall and will be supervised by support staff.
Year 3 and 4 – Please complete the consent request on Arbor. This must be completed if you want your child to stay until 3.15pm on the last day of term. If not completed, we will expect an adult to collect at 1.00pm.
To clarify:
Consent - you would like your child to stay untill 3.15pm
Decline - you will be collecting your child at 1.00pm.
Year 5 and 6 - This will be the last day of junior school for Year 6 and their early finish is a rite of passage that we do not want to take away but we do need to ask permission for children in the upper school to leave independently on the last day of term. Without consent, your child will not be released at 1.00pm and will be expected to stay until 3.15pm, unless collected by an adult.
It is essential that these are completed so that we can plan for the correct number of staff to supervise those remaining at the end of the school day. With that in mind, please can we ask all parents/guardians to complete the notice to either consent or decline the option given.
To access the consent, please login to the Arbor Parent App and go to 'notices' which can be found underneath your child's profile image on the homepage. Any problems, please contact the school office.
Please note, Premier will not be running after school club on this day.
6S won the reading challenge - pizza to be arranged!
Thank you for the entries to the guess the adult from the baby photo event which we operated as a team event - the adults have clearly changed a lot as the highest score was 3/17! The adult that was guessed correctly the most was Mrs Pridmore and £154 raised for charity - the RSPCA. Thank you to the Frogs that Flip for organising this event! They have one more fun event that they are busily trying to organize involving classrooms as 'escape rooms'!
School open events and key dates for secondary / upper transfer
Information for parents/carers with children in year 5. Further information about moving to secondary or upper school in September 2027 will be available at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions from 1st September 2026.
Important Dates
The timetable below gives you an idea of what will happen over the next few months.
|
First week of September 2026 |
Admissions information is available online for parents to read or download. |
|
Tuesday 1 September 2026 |
Online application system opens and the “Moving On” leaflet is distributed via children’s current school. |
|
July, September and October 2026 |
Schools hold their open events. |
|
Saturday 31 October 2026 |
Closing date for applications (online and paper). |
External Clubs
Our external clubs are now open for booking for the autumn term.

Lindsey Pollard Dance School - lindseypollarddance.com
| Wednesday 8.00-8.45am | Cheerleading | Year 3 - 6 |
| Wednesday 3.15-4.15pm | Street Dance | Year 3 -6 |

WB Coaching – Football Clubs https://coaching-wb.classforkids.io/term/12P
Please note, from September, the Monday club will now be run on a Thursday.
| Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm | Football | Year 5 and 6 |
| Thursday 3.15-4.15pm | Football | Year 3 and 4 |
Winter Lunch Menu
Hayfever Medication
Due to the high pollen levels at the moment, we would like to kindly remind parents that if your child requires antihistamine medication for hay fever, this should be administered at home before they come to school in the morning.
Arbor Parent App
We are always looking for ways to improve our communication with families, and Arbor is a fantastic tool that helps us do this.
Currently, we use Arbor primarily for emails and occasionally, text messages. Moving forward, we will be making greater use of Arbor App Messages. This will make it easier for parents and carers to:
- Find and access messages in one place
- Reply directly to communications from the school
- Receive updates quickly and conveniently
Using the app also allows us to see when messages have been read, helping us to follow up more effectively if an important communication has been missed.
To ensure you receive all future communications and can take full advantage of these features, we would like to encourage all parents and carers to log in to the Arbor Parent App if you have not already done so.
If you have any difficulties logging in, please contact the school office.
The Arbor is available on your phone's app store.
Diary Dates
Did you know, you can subscribe to our calendar to keep up to date with the events going on within the school?
Follow the link below, select 'subscribe' and follow the instructions for your device.
Preloved Book Sales
Our preloved book sales have now finished for this academic year. A big thank you to everyone who has donated or bought books this year!
We would love to add more books to our sales. If you have any you would like to donate (particularly chapter books), they would be gratefully received. Please give any books to your child’s class teacher.
Uniform Sales
A huge thank you to everyone who has donated or purchased uniform throughout the year. Your support has helped families save money, reduced waste, and contributed to a more sustainable school community.
Almond Hill Achievements
Summer Term Achievements 2026
Gymnastics
Congratulations to Zoë in Year 4 for simultaneously achieving bronze and silver Hertfordshire Gymnastics Proficiency Awards in Sports Acrobatics. Here she is pictured with her certificates. Well done, Zoë!
Gymnastics
Annabel took part in a gymnastics competition a…
Almond Hill Alumni
Wow! We were absolutely delighted to hear about the success of former Almond Hill pupil, Rio, who is embarking on an impressive career in the Premier League.
It is always wonderful to see our former pupils achieving their ambitions and Rio's journey is a fantastic example of where hard work, dedication and perseverance can lead. We are incredibly proud of his achievements and look forward to following his progress in the years ahead.
https://www.thecomet.net/news/26227308.rio-cardines-journey-stevenage-premier-league/

Attendance
Year 3 96.28%
Year 4 95.68%
Year 5 95.89%
Year 6 96.82%
All Students 96.16%
6C 99.3%
3L 97.1%
Lower School Winner

Upper School Winner

House Points
Overall Winners – huge congratulations to GREEN house on winning the house cup for this academic year!
FOAH Update...
The next meeting will take place on Monday 20th July via Microsoft Teams:
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/347315433483251?p=g86KYyiQJpRrbjyvUB
Meeting ID: 347 315 433 483 251
Passcode: sp9bJ9wP
In Other News...
Netball Tournament
Last Tuesday, our Y5/6 Mixed Netball Team took part in a tournament. This was the final time the whole team would play together and they absolutely smashed it. The first game was against Knebworth where they passed with confidence throughout. It finished a draw and Mason scored a brilliant goal setting us up for the rest of the after…
Legoland
Legoland was another huge success this year. Unlike previous years, this time we went on a Thursday instead of a Friday and queues were much shorter meaning there was plenty of time for more rides and more fun! The children had a great time with many of them stating it was their best memory from Year 6.
SSFT Annual Sports Awards
Mrs Bond and Miss Harris were invited to the SSFT annual sports awards on Friday evening. There were lots of other local schools in attendance and it was a lovely celebration of sports achievements and participation across Stevenage. We do a huge amount of work with SSFT who organise many different events and opportunities for our ch…
Year 5 Science at Barclay
On Tuesday 14th July and Wednesday 15th July, Year 5 went on a science trip to Barclay Academy. The first task we had to do was try and spot the dangers in the science lab. Then we started our investigations. First, we layered the following liquids in a test tube: golden syrup, detergent, water with food colouring, sunflower&nbs…
Year 3 Maths Challenge
Some of our Year 3 children took part in the Herts for Learning maths challenge a couple of weeks ago. They had to compete against many other schools from the Hertfordshire area. The team worked so well together and completely aced the first round heats, finishing in the top 20. This is something that no team at Almond Hill…
Year 6 French Themed Afternoon
In Year 6 we sorted the story into the order of events and made a cartoon/story map. We read through some of the story and highlighted any French vocabulary we have learnt in our previous lessons. We watched and listened to a French version of Puss in Boots.
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Additional Information for Families...


