Newsletter - 24th June
Summer Term Dates
It has been one of the wettest summer terms we have had and our fingers are crossed that things will warm up soon. However, with so many outdoor activities this half-term, we will be happy if we just get some dry weather. Some of this terms upcoming events are:
| 21st June - 24th June | Year 6 PGL |
| 25th June | Year 3 trip to Capel Manor Gardens |
| 26th June am | KS2 Sports Day |
| 27th June am | Ks1 and Receptions Sports Day |
| 5th July | Summer Picnic @ 2pm. |
| 9th July | Year 2 Trip to London |
| 1oth July | Year 6 production - 2pm and 5pm |
| 17th July | Year 6 trip to KB02 |
| 23rd July | Year 6 BBQ 5:30 - 7:00pm |
| 24th July | End of Summer Term - school finishes 2pm |
Retiring
We would like to inform you that three cherished members of our staff are retiring: Susan Moore, our Lead Learning Mentor; Shirin Masud, our Assistant Headteacher; and Maria 'Mimi' Hall, our dedicated Early Years HLTA. These incredible individuals have been invaluable to Honilands, touching the lives of countless pupils throughout their years of service. Their contributions to our school and community have been extraordinary, and they will be deeply missed. We extend our heartfelt thanks for all they have done for our children and wish them the very best in their retirement.
We do not usually share staff leavers so early but as so many of you have worked with these fantastic members of our school team, we wanted to give you plenty of opportunity to wish them well before they leave at the end of this term.
Government introducing new penalty notices for schools
We would like to draw your attention to the new statutory framework from the Department for Education which all schools must adhere to from 19th August 2024. Therefore, any holidays or unauthorised absences taken after this date will be subject to the new penalty notices. I’m sure many of you will be aware of this as it has been well publicised in the national news and social media.
The DFE have removed the Headteachers authority to code any absence as an authorised holiday.
Please make sure that you inform the school office of your child's absence and please do not book any holiday during school term time.
Academisation
As shared in the previous newsletter, we are moving forward with academisation and lots of work is going on in the background working towards this. As we are currently in an election period, and purdah rules are in place, things have slowed down a little. However, we are hoping to formally academise and join the Children First Academy Trust in the Autumn Term, if not by the start of the new academic year.
Arbor
Arbor is a simple, smart and cloud-based MIS (Management Information System), which helps us work faster, smarter and more collaboratively as a school.
The Arbor App means we can keep you informed about your child’s life at school in a much more accessible way.
Log into Arbor to see and update your child’s information, get live updates, and eventually to make payments or bookings on the go! It is important to note that we will also be stopping our text-to- parents service at the end of this academic year, as it is costly and inefficient to run multiple platforms as a school. So please make sure you download the app so that you can continue to get our regular communications.
Place2Be
Sadly this will also be the last year that we enjoy the Place2Be service, a counselling service that the school has been working with for over 20 years! We are having to part ways with this fantastic service due to the current financial constraints that schools are experiencing. The service has been fantastic with brilliant counsellors who have formed fantastic relationships with our community: children, parents, and teachers. Kathleen, Place2Be leader, has been a fantastic servant to our community, supporting so many of us when we have needed it most. We will miss this provision and we hope that in the future, if school finances improve, we will be able to re-start this brilliant relationship. We would like to thank Kathleen, Vanessa, and the rest of the team for everything they have done for our school.
Aspens School Lunches
School lunches are free for all children and we would like to increase our uptake, from 74% we are currently getting to 90%+ for the next academic year. With free meals provided for all families, we would like to see all our children taking up this option as it is both tasty and nutritious food.
Please click the link below to read more about Aspens and the quality of their food provision. If you have any questions about school lunches, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the school and we will do our best to answer any questions you may have.