Issue 1 - 6th September 2024
Dear Parents/Carers,
A big welcome back to you all and I hope you enjoyed the summer holidays. I trust our new families in Year 3 and across the school are settling in well and we wish you a warm welcome to our school.
Our value for September is friendship. Children can always help others by offering to play with everyone and not leaving others out. We have a friendship bench on our lower school playground where children can go if they are struggling to find someone to play with. We also have a friendship room which is for children who may find social times particularly hard. This is run by our pastoral team and they offer a range of activities for children to do to ensure they enjoy their lunch times.
We have lots of exciting events this term including visitors to the school and school trips (please check the diary dates further down). As well as this, I would like to draw your attention to the parent information meetings that are planned for w/c 16th September to provide families with information on exciting school initiatives (such as The Climb) and show you where information is on our website to support you at home like the long and medium term plans for curriculum. These will be held in the hall running from 3.30-4.30pm. Parents can make their way to the hall once they have collected children from class. Children and siblings are welcome to stay.
Please take the time to read our newsletter as this is our main method of sharing information with you at home. For those of you who don’t know, the newsletter is on our website and is shared with families via email on a Friday afternoon. We often get emails/phone calls requesting information that has been on our newsletter. After feedback from you, we limited the amount of emails that were sent to parents and therefore much more information has been added to our newsletters which remains a more reliable source of information (as opposed to WhatsApp groups - so I am told 😊).
Have a good weekend.
Emma Fordham,
Headteacher
Key Messages
Weekly Celebration Assembly
This year, we have combined our achievement and singing assemblies into one feel good weekly celebration assembly which is run by Mrs Small and Mrs Cleaves. We will begin with celebrating the children who completed the summer reading challenge over the holidays. If your child took part, please email a photo of their certificate or send them in with their certificate FAO their class teacher. I know children are very keen to be awarded their 10 house points. On this note, we continue to invite children to bring any trophies, certificates, awards or photos from achievements outside of school to share with pupils in assembly (as well as being added to our website/newsletter). We also celebrate the musical talents of our children and invite those who play instruments to play for their peers whilst they enter the hall for assembly. If your child would like to do this, tell them to speak to Mrs. Small.
In our assembly today, we introduced our new pupil leadership teams. We have a range of roles available for children across the school including, play leaders, sports captains, reading mentors, headteacher assistants and lunch time leaders. A big well done to those children who were selected to take on any of these roles this term.
Attendance
Please be reminded, gates close at 8.55am and if you arrive after this time, you will need to come via the main office to be signed in. This is to ensure the site is secure and it is imperative children don’t ‘squeeze in’ at the last second as they could get missed if their class has left to go to the hall for example.
Parents will receive a letter in the next few weeks reminding them of the expectations and the new national regulations with regards to school attendance. I would urge you all to take the time to read the information. With the cost of living crisis and more pressure on families, we continued to see an increase in the number of holidays taken in term time last year. I would like to remind parents that I cannot authorise time off during term time unless for exceptional circumstances. I understand parents may feel that the time off will not affect their child significantly negatively however the overall education of the class is affected if the teacher has to repeatedly catch up those who have missed prior learning.
Seesaw
We use Seesaw across the school to share and celebrate the children’s work. Parents tell us they love these updates. New parents will receive an invitation to join the app but only once consent has been given. This has been sent to you via the Arbor Parent Portal. Please allow us some time to get this set up. For more information, follow the link below: www.almondhill.herts.sch.uk/Seesaw
Follow us on Facebook
For those of you who don’t know, we have a school Facebook page. We already have 217 of you following but would love to see many more of you including our new families! Please follow the link to follow our page: https://www.facebook.com/121almondhill
Other Key Apps for School
Please download the School Gateway app to make payments for school trips etc. You will need to give your email address and you will be given a PIN number to set up your account. To order and pay for school dinners, you will need to use School Grid.
Parents of children who have joined us this term, you will need access to the Arbor Parent Portal. Many of you have already logged in which is fantastic but if you haven’t and need help with this, please contact our office.
Coming to School/Mobile Phones
School policy allows for children in years 5 and 6 to bring a mobile phone to school for safety reasons if they travel to and from school independently. Mobile phones must be switched off whilst on school premises and not be used during the school day. There is no need for parents to inform the class teacher/office if their child is walking home independently. I would ask that children do not however bring their phones on school trips or after school events. Please can I remind parents, especially those in year 5 and 6, that unaccompanied children should not arrive at school before 8.45am. I appreciate some children are keen to get to school but the school grounds are not supervised before this time and accidents can happen.
Collection at the end of the School Day
Children in Years 3 and 4 need to be collected by an adult unless we have written permission for children to go home with older siblings. Please confirm this with teaching staff via the year group email. There are no laws about this as such as it relates to the level of the child's competency however we feel that most children in Years 3 and 4 do not have the experience to make safe choices when circumstances are not as they have expected. It is also sometimes not possible for an older sibling to keep a younger sibling safe. Ultimately it is the parents' decision however we are responsible for the safeguarding of the children so will want some dialogue if children younger than Year 5 are not being collected by an adult. As the school has become larger and access routes (both pedestrian and vehicle) have become busier, this becomes increasingly important.
Children in Year 5 and 6 are allowed to leave school independently. Teachers will walk them up to the gate at the end of the school day but will not monitor collection. If your child is due to meet you from school, please ensure they know where they are going. It is also important to remind children to return to school if they find the person who is meeting them is not where they were expecting them to be.
Contacting the School
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 Burgess our pastoral lead can be contacted at burgess@almondhill.herts.sch.uk The Designated Teacher with overall responsibility for Child Protection is Mrs Fordham, with Mrs Birchall, Mrs Burgess and Miss Simmons as deputies. The deputies (especially Mrs Burgess) deal with day-to-day safeguarding issues but all cases are shared with the whole safeguarding team. Mrs Fordham can be contacted using the admin email address and will respond accordingly. However, depending on the nature of your email, it may be passed on to a more appropriate member of staff for a response.  Mrs Fordham is often unavailable at short notice and an effective and more efficient response is often achieved by speaking to someone else on the team. That being said, Mrs Fordham will always make the time to speak to parents if all other avenues have been exhausted, the matter is extremely urgent or parents have a specific reason why they believe she is the only person who can deal with the matter.
School open events and key dates for secondary transfer
Moving on 2025 leaflet Information for parents with children in year 6 at primary/junior school. Further information about moving to secondary school in September 2024 will be available at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions
The timetable below gives you an idea of what will happen over the next few months.
First week of September 2024 |
Admissions information is available online for parents to read or download |
Monday 2 September 2024 |
Online application system opens and the “Moving On” leaflet is distributed via children’s current school |
July, September and October 2024 |
Schools hold their open events |
Thursday 31 October 2024 |
Closing date for applications (online and paper) |
Saving the Planet ‘One jumper at a time’
The launch of our Pre Loved uniform sales have been overwhelmingly successful and we would love to extend this further with the aim to reduce waste ‘one jumper at a time’. As well as old uniform, we would like to ask families to consider donating shoes (that no longer fit but are in good condition), coats, Christmas jumpers, World Book Day costumes and hangers. Please remember to remove your child’s name from any donated items or they may eventually make their way back to you!
Diary Dates
Diary Dates
Click here to be taken to our full calendar
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10/09/2024 - All DayYear 3 Pirate Writing Day
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16/09/2024 - 3:30pm – 4:30pmYear 4 parent meeting in the hall
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16/09/2024 - 6:00pm – 7:00pmFOAH Meeting
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17/09/2024 - 3:30pm – 4:30pmYear 3 parent meeting in the hall
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18/09/2024 - 3:30pm – 4:30pmYear 5 parent meeting in Year 5 classrooms
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19/09/2024 - 3:30pm – 4:30pmYear 6 parent meeting in the hall
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24/09/2024 - 8:30am – 9:15amSEND & Pastoral Coffee Morning
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24/09/2024 - 1:30pm – 2:45pmSwimming lessons start (Year 5)
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02/10/2024 - All DayBlue Cross Assembly - Year 5
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03/10/2024 - 3:00pm – 3:30pmUniform Sale (hall)
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08/10/2024 - 3:30pm – 6:00pmParents' Evening
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09/10/2024 - 12:15pm – 1:00pmParents to lunch (3L)
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10/10/2024 - 4:00pm – 7:00pmParents' Evening
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14/10/2024 - 6:00pm – 6:30pmFOAH Meeting
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15/10/2024 - 10:00am – 11:30amVoices of Hertfordshire - Almond Hill hosting
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16/10/2024 - 9:00am – 11:00amAuthor Visit for Year 3 and 4
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16/10/2024 - 12:15pm – 1:00pmParents to lunch (3W)Â
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22/10/2024 - All DayFOAH Halloween Silent Disco
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22/10/2024 - 8:00am – 12:00pmIndividual and sibling photos
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23/10/2024 - 12:15pm – 1:00pmParents to lunch (3B)Â
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23/10/2024 - 1:30pm – 3:00pm50p Book Sale
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25/10/2024 – 27/10/2024 - All DayGrafham Water - Year 6 Residential Trip
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28/10/2024 – 01/11/2024 - All DayHalf Term
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31/10/2024 - All DayDEADLINE - Secondary School Applications
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07/11/2024 - 3:00pm – 3:30pmUniform Sale (hall)
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13/11/2024 - 9:00am – 12:00pmRNLIÂ assembly with Year 5 and 6
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13/11/2024 - 1:00pm – 2:40pmYear 3 - Kung Fu Panda 4 - Cinema Trip (FOC)
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14/11/2024 - All DayFlu Vaccinations
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14/11/2024 - 5:30pm – 7:00pmOpen Evening for Prospective Parents
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21/11/2024 - 2:30pm – 3:15pmSEND/PASTORAL Coffee afternoon
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27/11/2024 - All DayYear 5 National Space Centre
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27/11/2024 - 10:00am – 11:45amYear 4 - Garfield - Cinema Trip (FOC)
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27/11/2024 - 10:00am – 11:45amYear 6 - Despicable me 4 - Cinema Trip (FOC)
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27/11/2024 - 10:00am – 11:40amear 5 - Asterix and the Secret of the Magic Potion - Cinema Trip (FOC)
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27/11/2024 - 1:30pm – 2:30pm50p Book Sale
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05/12/2024 - 3:00pm – 3:30pmUniform Sale (hall)
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05/12/2024 - 6:00pm – 7:00pmYear 3 - Christmas Performance - details tbc
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06/12/2024 - 1:00pm – 2:30pmFlu Vaccinations
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10/12/2024 - 6:00pm – 7:00pmYear 4 and 5 Christmas Carols and Mince Pies
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17/12/2024 - 1:30pm – 2:30pmYear 6 carol concert at church (tbc)
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19/12/2024 - 6:00pm – 7:00pmLast day of term finish at 12.30pm
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20/12/2024 - All DayINSET Day
House Points
It was the BLUE team that won last year’s house points battle. Who will win this year?
Remember, we relaunched our house points system last year and introduced new ways to gain points for your house.
Almond Hill Achievements
At Almond Hill, we celebrate our successes. We love to hear about what children are doing outside of school. They may have won an award in their chosen sport or learnt a new song on their instrument, we want to hear all about it. Please send us an email to admin@almondhill.herts.sch.uk with a picture of your child and some details about what they have been doing and we will include this on our newsletter and school website.
In Other News….
Year 3 Pirate Day
We are excited to announce that on Tuesday 10th September, we will be welcoming some very special guests to our school—Pirates! This exciting visit is part of our Inspiring Writing Day, and to make the experience even more immersive, we would like to invite all Year 3 children to join in the fun by dressing up as pirates! We encourage creativity with pirate costumes and any form of pirate dress is welcome. However, we kindly ask that no weapons (such as swords, cutlasses, etc.) are brought to school and that all outfits are appropriate for break and lunchtime activities. Please remember that there is no expectation for parents to purchase anything new for this event. Feel free to get creative with items you already have at home, or perhaps repurpose an old Halloween costume. For those who would like a bit of help, we will give children the option of making a pirate accessory in class. We also understand that dressing up isn’t enjoyable for all children and we do not want to cause any unnecessary upset. If your child would prefer not to dress up, that is completely fine. When we did this activity last year, some children dressed up and others didn’t and we found it to be really inclusive. We are looking forward to an exciting and inspiring day with our new pirate friends!
Asda Rewards Cashpot for Schools
For a limited time only, Asda are donating 0.5% of the value of its customer’s shopping to a primary school of their choice – every time they shop using Asda Rewards. Please help us to raise some money for our school by selecting ALMOND HILL when you shop. Please consider asking friends and family to do this too.
https://www.asda.com/cashpotforschools
Clubs
Information about after school clubs has been sent home today. Please make sure you have read the email if you are interested in your child participating in a club. Take a look at the flyers below for some information on our externally run clubs.
We had a wonderful singer perform for the children in assembly today. She works with Herts Music Service and will hopefully be offering singing lessons for children to sign up to (at a cost). Please keep a look out for more information.
FOAH Meeting
The next FOAH meeting will be held on Monday 16th September (6.00-6.30pm). All parents/guardians are welcome to join. The meeting is held on Teams and the details to join can be found below.
Meeting ID: 312 619 412 005
Passcode: Sk2EoJ
SEND/Pastoral Parent Meetings
Dates / Times
Tuesday 24th Sep 8:30-9:15am
Thursday 21st Nov 2:30-3:15pm
We want any parent who feels these sessions may benefit them to have the chance to attend so welcome feedback about the time/dates that these are planned.