Issue 18 - 2nd February 2024
Dear Families,
During week commencing 12th February, our school government will be holding their second event – a bake sale! Please help to support them by bringing shop bought, pre packed cakes into school next week ready to sell at break times the following week. Please ensure these do not contain nuts (like cherry bakewells for example). The children would like to raise money for The Garden House Hospice and Cancer Research UK. Each year group will have the opportunity to buy cakes starting with Year 3 on Monday 12th February. Any cakes left over will be sold to all children on Friday 16th February. Please have a look at the wonderful flyer our Prime Minister, Willow made for more information.
Have a good weekend.
Emma Fordham
Headteacher
Key Messages
e-Scooters
Please see the below message we received from Herts Police last week. I would also like to take the opportunity to remind parents that e-scooters must not be brought into school.
An e-scooter is currently at Stevenage Police Station, having been seized by police. Please remember - if you ride an e-scooter through the public streets of Hertfordshire, you are breaking the law. E-scooters can only be used on private land with the landowner’s permission. Many parents may be unaware of the legislation and are buying these scooters for their children thinking they are harmless fun. However, these vehicles can be very dangerous and many people across the country have been injured because of collisions involving e-scooters. If you are caught riding one on a public highway, pavement, or cycle lane it could be seized by the police and you could also be reported for driving offences, which would lead to significant penalty points and a fine. If you are a parent letting your child ride these in public, you will be the one found responsible and in turn, this could affect your own driving licence.
Medication in School
We are seeing an increase in the amount of medication that is needed during the school day such as antibiotics. This takes a considerable about of time for office staff to administer. For safeguarding reasons, 2 members of staff must be present when the medication is taken. The government’s policy for administering medicines in schools states ‘medicines should only be administered at school when it would be detrimental to a child’s health or school attendance not to do so’ and ‘where clinically possible, medicines should be prescribed in dose frequencies which enable them to be taken outside school hours’. If your child has been prescribed a course of antibiotics for example that need to be taken 3 times a day, then unless stated, this could be taken outside of school hours i.e. morning, after school and at bedtime. Parents are also welcome to come to school to administer the medication required if this is at all possible, but fully understand this is not a feasible option for all. You can view our policy for supporting children with medical conditions on our website.
Increase in Meal Charges
Please be aware that that from 1st April 2024 the cost of a school dinner will increase to £3.30.
Lost Property
We have lots of lost property in school at the moment. Please remember to label all items with your child’s name to make it easier for us to reunite children with lost items. I would also ask that parents check the uniform they have at home (particularly fleeces and jumpers) as we know some children are missing named items but they are not in lost property.
Diary Dates
For our full calendar, please click the 'button' link below.
Please click here for next week's diary dates...
Attendance
Year 3 - 94.99%
Year 4 - 93.08%
Year 5 - 94.33%
Year 6 - 92.23%
All students – 93.66%
Class winners - 6B - 96.5%
The government expectation for attendance is 96%
Almond Hill Achievements
Click the button below to see all the wonderful things our children have achieved outside of school.
House Points
Upcoming FOAH Events
Valentine’s Sweet Jars – more details to follow
Mother’s Day Present Room – Friday 1st March
Friends of Almond Hill will be running a Mother’s Day present room on Friday 1st March, if your children would like to do some shopping for the special ladies in their life. All gifts are £2 and there will be a great selection of items - so they are sure to find the perfect gift. Present(s) can be purchased on School Gateway up until Saturday 24th February. What will your little one choose for you?
Movie Nights: possibly Tuesday 16th April (year 3 and 4) and Tuesday 23rd April (years 5 and 6) – subject to enough parent volunteers. Please contact foah@almondhill.herts.sch.uk if you can help with this event.
In Other News...
Year 5 and 6 Football Tournament at Giles
Year 5/6 football tournament at Giles.
Safer Internet Day
Next week we will be joining schools and youth organisations across the UK in celebrating Safer Internet Day 2024. Safer Internet Day is a global campaign to promote the safe and responsible use of technology, which calls on young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers and more, to help to create a better internet. This year the campaign will be focusing on change online, this includes covering:
• Young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology
• Using the internet to make change for the better
• The changes young people want to see online
• The things that can influence and change the way young people think, feel and act online and offline
Using the internet safely and positively is a key message that we promote in school and celebrating Safer Internet Day is a great opportunity for us to re-emphasise the online safety messages we deliver throughout the year.
We would be delighted if you could join us in celebrating the day by continuing the conversation at home. To help you with this, for the UK Safer Internet Centre have created some free activities and information for parents and carers which are available at: saferinternet.org.uk/SID-parents
Whether you have 5 minutes to start a conversation or hours to spare, there are top tips, quizzes and films which you can use at home with your child.
