Newsletter- w/c- 26/10/20
Dear Parent/Carer,
Thank you for making this first half term manageable. We know that many parents and carers were feeling anxious about the children returning to school so we remain grateful that our attendance has been above the national and local average, showing that our families are both brave and understanding of how important a child's education is to their future success.
We are also pleased that our parents and carers have been appreciative of us trying to keep the school as normal as possible for the children. Thankfully, our staff and parents and carers' sensible behaviour alongside our enhanced cleaning measures have meant that we haven't had to close any part of the school in September or October due to a positive case of coronavirus among children or staff.
We are hopeful that November and December will be the same; however, please click here to read our current information about coronavirus, including what to do if you suspect your child is showing symptoms, and please click here to see what we have in place for remote education (i.e. children learning at home) if the school needs to close to all or some of the children.
The half term break is one week, starting Monday 26 October 2020 and ending Friday 30 October 2020. School reopens on Monday 2 November 2020 and we have some exciting activities planned for the children on this day, including toasting marshmallows on a bonfire and making fruit rockets! It would be a shame if your child missed out.
Please see below for some important notices about school life, and please enjoy your October half term break as a family.
Yours sincerely,
Mr D Short
Headteacher
Dates for the Diary
Usually, we have our Reception Christmas Concert and KS1 Nativity Production to look forward to in December. Unfortunately, these events will not occur this year. However, there are still some events parents and carers should be aware of and these are listed below:
02/11/20 - On the first day back to school, every child will have the chance to roast marshmallows on a bonfire and make a fruit rockets!
06/11/20 - Poppy-making Day - Mrs Kanzaria (Subject Leader for Art and Design Technology) has arranged for all the children to make a face covering decorated in the theme of Remembrance Day
13/11/20 - Individual and Sibling Photographs
13/11/20 - World Kindness Day - Mrs Geggus (Assistant Headteacher for KS2 and Subject Leader for PSHE) has organised a day's worth of activities all focused on showing kindness
16/11/20 - Open morning for prospective parents/carers of children starting Reception in September 2020 - click here for the details
17/11/20 - Year 6 completing the Lancaster Model Survey (N.B. this is a survey the children take themselves on a computer overseen by a nurse that analyses their mental health and well-being - the results are not shared with the school but a medical practitioner may contact a parent/carer directly if they have concerns about a child)17/11/20 - Flu Vaccination
19/11/20 - Book Fair (for 2 weeks)
07/12/20 - Open morning for prospective parents/carers of children starting Reception in September 2020 - click here for the details
07/12/20 - Year 2 children taking the Phonics Screening Check (which they should have taken in Year 1)
11/12/20 - Friends of Hurst Drive Christmas Sale
11/12/20 - Christmas Jumper Day
17/12/20 - Class Christmas Parties
18/12/20 - Last Day of Term - school finishes at 1:45pm
Nearer the time to each event, we will share more details (e.g. how the book fair will operate, how we will organise sibling photographs etc.).
Food Bank
Mrs Bye (Family Support Worker) is pleased that the Food Bank is running well. Of course, we do not have any control over what food the supermarkets donate so there will be some days when we have a lot of food to offer to families and some days where we have only a little food to offer.
Please note, children must be accompanied by an adult at our Food Bank. Mrs Bye will not know every child's allergy and dietary requirements so if a child appears at the table without an adult, the child will be sent to fetch their parent/carer, otherwise no food will be given.
Parent/Carer Survey
Thank you to those parents and carers who have already completed our annual survey. If you wish to share your opinions of the school, please click here to take the survey. Please note, the survey closes tomorrow afternoon.
Breakfast Club & Wraparound Care
From Friday at lunchtime, parents/carers will be able to book their child's place at Breakfast Club and/or Wraparound Care for the next half term (i.e. up to the Christmas Holidays).
Breakfast Club costs £1 per day and Wraparound Care costs £8 per day (and £2 for a sibling and then any other siblings attend for free).
As a reminder, we have a set number of spaces for these clubs and these are arranged on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you require more definite childcare, we recommend finding a local registered childminder which you may do by clicking here.
School Meals
We know it took a week or two for everyone (including us) to understand how to use School Grid but we are pleased that so many parents and carers are successfully using this system to book and pay for their child's school meals.
Remember, you can set up a direct debit on School Grid so that you won't ever have a debt on your account, or, alternatively, you may use the SchoolGateway app to pay for your child's meals.
We have listened to parents and carers and set up a flexible payment option on the SchoolGateway app, allowing parents and carers to pay for more than a week's worth of meals to avoid them having a debt on their account and their child being refused a school meal.
Please click here to see the new menu for after October half term and know that this is the same menu you may see on School Grid. For your information, we will start on Week 1 when the children return to school on Monday 2 November 2020.
We recommend you book your child's meals on the Sunday for the week ahead; however, if you want to book their meals for the whole of the half term, you may!
Homework
If you wish for your child to complete additional homework, please click here and find the booklet for your child's year group with suggestions of projects they may complete at home up to the Christmas Holidays to complement what they will be learning in class. Please don't forget that the most important homework you can do at home with your child is to read to them, read with them or listen to them read.
Kind regards,
The School Office Team
Hurst Drive Primary School
admin@hurstdrive.herts.sch.uk
01992 624099