Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Our latest Ofsted report has now been published. We are pleased with the report in that it recognises the continued effort and hard work of all involved.
Mrs. Fiona Airey, our new Headteacher in September, is aware of the report, the work still needed to be done, and is looking forward to continuing the hard work with the Elmhurst team.
The report can be read here:
Thank you to all of you for your ongoing support.
Tracy and Mike
Website posts you may have missed:
News items and updates
Attendance at Elmhurst – w/c 7th June
Whole school – 97.1%
Year 3 – 97.4%
Year 4 – 96.5%
Year 5 – 99.4%
Year 6 – 95.3%
Holly and Sycamore have 100% attendance… We think it’s the 3rd or 4th time for Holly!
End of year events
Following on from the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday, we are now able to go ahead and make some plans, albeit limited, for the end of the school year and various events. We will share more details along the way but the key events include:
Transition day
Traditional transition visits will not be able to take place. This includes transition visits to secondary schools. We have plans in place for the year 2 children to visit the site and meet their new teacher outside of the classroom. We will do the same for the other year groups as well. They will be able to spend some time with their new teacher outside on the school grounds. This will be during the last week of term.
End of year reports
End-of-year reports will be sent out on Friday 9th July. We had hoped that we would be able to invite parents in for an open afternoon to collect reports and speak with the class teacher but this is now no longer an option.
Sports days
We are not able to invite parents into the sports days this year, due to the bubble limit and expectations, but we are still going to go ahead with a “Covid secure” version for the children. Years 3 & 4 will have their sports morning on Monday 12th July and years 5&6 on Tuesday 13th July. It will be a different type of sports day to the ones we are used to. Children will compete in class races, not house teams, and we will limit the type of races included. Equipment will be wiped down between use. Children will be encouraged to take part but can also choose simply to spectate if they wish.
Leaver’s events
We are still intending to hold a Year 6 leaver’s service on Monday 19th July. This will be in line with the end of year service we were able to do last year – socially distanced and with leaver’s hoodies.
We are also looking into the possibility of a “fun” event for each year group to celebrate the end of the school year. We are planning an evening around the campfire for Year 6. The provisional date for this is Tuesday 20th July – more details will follow.
The ESA has also organised “Bubble Bach” for all the children to enjoy. This will be an “in school” event for each year group.
Please may we also take this opportunity to remind all parents and family members that access to the school site, until the 19th of July in the first instance, is limited to appointments only?
Reading at Elmhurst
We expect all children to read at least four times a week to an adult.
Congratulations to Yew classes who achieved 100% in their reading target. Well done. Who will join them next time?
Please support your child by reading with them at home.
Summer Reading challenge
You may also like to get involved in the Library Wild World Heroes challenge. More details can be found here:
https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/
Road works – sewer renovation on Somerton Road 21st June
Advance notice that sewer repairs will be taking place in the local area. Work will take place on the lower section of the B3151 between Hindhayes Lane and the Street Cross roundabout. There may be a smell of resin during the works but water and sewerage services will operate as normal.
Two way traffic lights will be in place for one week. This may impact on your journey to school and the amount of traffic using Elmhurst Lane instead.
Class photos
We have had a lovely couple of days with Fran – thankfully, the sun was on our side!
Photos should be ready to order from next week. Your child will be sent home with an ordering form and proof etc. We will then ask for all forms to be returned by an agreed date so that all the processing and delivery should be complete before the end of the school term. Details will follow next week.
We kindly ask that once the photos have been purchased, they are not shared via social media and are restricted to family use only due to safeguarding concerns.
Sun cream and sun hats
Please remember to send your children in with sun cream and sun hats during this particularly lovely spell of hot weather. They will also need plenty of fluids. Water is preferable.
School grounds and wildlife
In an attempt to encourage biodiversity and provide wildlife habitat for our local wildlife, we are using this term to rewild some areas of the school ground. Whilst this wild and unkempt look is not to everyone’s liking, it is doing the job and we are seeing a significant increase in native plants, weeds (flowers by another name!) and wildlife. It is a great opportunity to learn about the interconnectedness of all things and interdependence, giving the children a better understanding of their environment, their school, their local area, and their place within it. Mrs. Chard, the lead on this, writes a weekly blog detailing the work that is being carried out. Please read; it is very informative and includes beautiful photos of the school grounds.
There is, however, some misinformation being shared that needs to be corrected. A few of the children have expressed concerns about ticks. Spring and summer is peak time for tick.
Ticks are becoming much more common now across large parts of England, particularly in woodlands, along woodland edges, on heathland and moorland, and in some grassland sites. Their numbers are increasing largely due to the increase in deer numbers. Reports from the public about ticks in gardens are also increasing. With deer moving into urban areas and now becoming a more common feature in gardens, they are bringing ticks with them.
The government have produced a very helpful and informative leaflet about ticks and the best way to remove them:
PE Days
On days that your child has PE the children should come to school dressed in their PE kit. Please make sure that the children are wearing their PE kit as some are wearing items that are not appropriate.
Sports trophies – a message from Mrs Rousell
Please could all of the Elmhurst sports trophies be returned to the school office? These trophies were given out in July 2019.
If you know any of the children please could you pass on a message that we are looking to get them returned?
These are the children that we think may still have trophies:
Kieran Wigley
Charlie Court
Max Court
Evan Dobbins
Liam Morrice
Sabina Gheorghiu
Abigail Brimson
Thank you!
RSE Day – Thursday 24th June – a reminder
RSE Day is a national celebration of excellent education around healthy relationships and positive sexual health for educational settings, families and organisations. It is held on the last Thursday in June each year and allows the opportunity to share successes and good practice, hold events and encourage everyone to see RSE as their responsibility. The theme for RSE Day 2021 is ‘Faces’.
To celebrate RSE Day this year, we are hosting a family bake off (please see the poster for further details). We will also be creating class ‘family trees’ on the school site. If your child would like to take part in this, they need to bring in or send via Class Dojo a rainproof (!) photo of their family which will then be hung on a tree at the back of the school. Thank you in advance for your support.
Work from the week:
In a change to the gallery work, we will now be including examples of work in the weekly newsletter. Here are some of the things we have being doing at Elmhurst this week.
