Introduction
What a half term it has been so far. We feel like our feet haven't touched the ground with all the experiences we have been having. This month seems to be like no other since I started in September and the children have all been very busy with their learning and also the additional experiences they have had outside of the classroom. We have quite a bit to look back on and also to look forward to during the remainder of the half term. I can't believe we have three weeks until we have the Easter break! What's the saying... 'Time flies when you're having fun!' Without further ado, sit back, grab a cuppa and scroll through what life is like at Holme!
Please remember if you're not following our Facebook page, like and share for regular updates!
Strictly Pennine
The dancers were ready, the stage is set and wow, what a performance from Holme School! Just over half a term in the making, the children did a fabulous performance with other schools in the area and blew us all away! Thank you to Dance Emporium for supporting with this and to FOHS for financially supporting the venture. The children loved the experience and it seems like we have some budding dancers in our midst! Thank you to all the parents, staff and indeed the children themselves for creating something magical and another memory in the Holme School journey!
World Book Day
On Thursday 2nd March we celebrated World Book Day and it was fantastic to see a number of characters come to life! The Year 5/6 children visited Huddersfield to take part in a World Book Day Quiz and did really well. Thank you to Mrs Guest, Miss Talbot and Dr Williams for making this happen. Here is just a snippet of our day. I wonder if you can spot Wally or maybe two?
Music for Youth Regional Festival
The children in Key Stage 2 have been involved with Music for Youth. They have practised at Holmfirth High School and performed at Colne Valley High School on Sunday 5th March. They did exceptionally well and we are all very proud. As one grandparent put it 'Holme were absolutely the best as their story was told well through the song and music and it was a very complicated set'. Thank you to all the staff and families who supported the children and no doubt there will be more musical opportunities to look forward to in the future!
Parents' Evening
We would like to remind parents and carers that Parents' Evening will be held on Wednesday 29th March between 3:30pm and 7:00pm. You will be able to sign up for a preferred time slot through Weduc shortly. Please look out for a form to complete on the app. The office will confirm a time in due course, once they have received your request.
New Website Update
Our new school website is live with updates being added regularly. We are still currently experiencing some difficulties with our Facebook feed and apologise for any inconvenience. The website will be updated over the coming terms, so please look out for updates.
Weduc
We have made a start on using Weduc as part of our parental communication platform. We will be increasingly placing notices and letters to complete on here rather than in paper form, so do urge parents to download the app if you haven't already. If you would like further information or support using Weduc, please contact Miss Talbot in the office who will be more than happy to help.
Parents' Open Book Evening
On Wednesday 8th February, we held our termly Open Book Evening. This will gave parents and carers the opportunity to have their child's work showcased to them and also gave the opportunity for parents and carers to have a discussion with their child's class teacher. We hope you found this useful and will be looking at how we can alter this in the summer term to allow more parents and carers to have the opportunity. We hope to publish more information in our May newsletter.
Shine Bright Values
Our shine bright values encompass what we believe our children should foster during their time with us to become well-rounded citizens in our community and the wider world. We cultivate our children to be independent, resilient, respectful, creative, adventurous and aspirational for their future. These will be featuring more regularly within school both through being rewarded as part of Class Dojo and having a 'Shine Bright Values' award of the week. This will be one child in the entire school each week who has been recommended by all the staff in school, achieving one of our Shine Bright Values really well. We would like to encourage parents and our local community to support us with these values outside of school to ensure that the children understand the language and are able to show these life skills in order to thrive, not just now, but in the future. Here are our first few award winners, who have shown independence and aspiration. Great work! We can't wait to see more children actively showing our Shine Bright Values.
Parents Coffee Morning
We wanted remind parents about our next half term coffee morning. Our next coffee session will be at 8:45am to 9:30am on Friday 17th March. Please feel free to join us to have a natter. We are open to suggestions about what themes of these you would find helpful to discuss or learn. If you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to let us know. We hope you can join us!
Celebration Assembly
It's been great to see our children continue to be awarded for Honour of Holme, Remarkable Writer, Regal Reader and Maths Mogul. We've also added our Shine Bright Values award and most recently our Spelling Shed award. Here are some of our award winners from February and March.
Please remember to keep those pictures of what your child is up to outside of school coming in for our Shine Bright Board. It doesn't have to be a sport, it can be anything they're proud of achieving. We do ask that you send these to shinebright@holmejischool.co.uk. When we receive them, they will be printed and placed onto our board, being celebrated in the next Celebration Assembly.
FOHS will be supplying refreshments each week and we kindly ask that you make a donation as all funds go back to the children. All of our community are welcome to attend the assemblies outlined on the Key Dates section at the end of each newsletter.
Attendance Matters
At Holme Junior & Infant School, we fully recognise the impact of good attendance and punctuality on the success and development of young people both socially and academically.
Research has proved that any young person with attendance under 95% is at risk of achieving a grade lower in every subject by the time they leave school. We expect all children to attend school regularly.
We do understand that children become ill and there are guidelines around how long a child should be absent for. We do take these guidelines onboard. We do ask that parents consider the period of absence beyond the guidelines as this may have a negative impact on the child missing further learning.
We take attendance seriously at Holme and follow our school procedure in-line with our policy that has been ratified by the governing body and also follows national guidelines. You can take a look at our policy here for further information and clarification. If you are ever unsure, please contact the school office in the first instance who will happily support and advise.
February Attendance Figures
Whole School Attendance: 96.3%
- Class 1: 97.8%
- Class 2: 95.3%
Our target as a whole school is 97% and we have just missed that last month. Well done to Class 1 who managed to attend above our target.
Miss Talbot's Reminders
- To ensure the smooth running of the school's finance, please can we ask that lunch payments are kept on top of weekly. Please feel free to see me in the office if you are having any issues with payments.
- A reminder that we have a multi skills after school club Monday 13th, 20th and 27th March. This is a free after-school club and available to all. I will be sending news out about the after-school clubs for the summer term over the next week or so.
- A reminder that the Let's Sing event is on 24th March at Holmfirth High School.
As you will have noticed the celebration of our school through Facebook shows just how committed we are at Holme to show the rounded education our children experience. Teachers will be updating our community at least once per week as to what is going on in their class and we will celebrate achievements from our week celebration assembly. I will also be updating Facebook with any further posts that I feel will support our school community. Give us a follow and a like and share with your friends far and wide!
Outdoor Learning
The children are enjoying their Forest School sessions this half term with Miss Wood. We would like to make parents aware of the dates for the rest of this half term:
- Class 2 - 16th March
Please ensure that your child comes to school on these days with the relevant and appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather as Miss Wood will take the children outside where possible!
Snow
We would like to thank parents and carers for their understanding with the weather we experienced on Friday 10th March. It was great to see all the children (and parents) having fun in the snow and even taking their learning outside. Here are some pictures from the day that were kindly sent in to us.
As we experience the wintry weather, we would like to remind parents of our policy and to check Weduc for updates when there is a possibility of late opening or closure. If you are ever unsure, please check Weduc and the school website in the first instance. Thank you.
Comic Relief
On Friday 17th March we will be raising money for Comic Relief. Children are invited to dress differently for the day and if possible bring in a donation (suggested £1 donation) for Comic Relief. Children could wear a fun outfit, a dress up costume, their own comfortable clothes or come in with a red nose, just whatever will make them smile.
Amazon Wishlist
We are in the process of creating an Amazon Wishlist. As a small school we do value donations and support with resources for our children. Please take a look at our list and see if there is anything you would like to purchase for the school. There is no obligation, and if you would like to be anonymous, we're also fine with that! We guarantee that everything on the list will support with the children's education directly in school.
Here is the link if you'd like to have a nosey. We will start adding items shortly. Please feel free to check regularly as we will be adding items at regular intervals: https://amzn.eu/4YvautA
Cost of Living Crisis
As we are living through these very difficult times with the cost of everything rising at an alarming rate, if you need any support either financially or practically, please do speak to a member of staff, as there are many agencies and charities that have a range of offers to support families through these times and we can confidently signpost you to the most appropriate.
Dates for the Diary
As always, if you wish to speak to us about your child, please do not hesitate to talk to Miss Wood in Class 1 and Mrs Guest or Mrs Haley in Class 2 in the first instance. We will endeavour to help in any way we can.
Safeguarding
Holme Junior & Infant School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff, volunteers and parents to share this commitment.
We have safeguarding policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our child protection and safeguarding policy which can be viewed in the policies section of our school website. Our safeguarding policies and procedures seek to ensure that every child, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, has a right to equal protection from harm.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about a pupil are discussed with the child’s parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda: to challenge ideology that supports terrorism and those who promote it, protect vulnerable individuals from being drawn into terrorism, and raise awareness of radicalisation risk.
Our Acting Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mr D Bond (Interim Headteacher).
Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) is Miss B Wood (Acting Assistant Headteacher).
Our Safeguarding Governor is Mrs M Thomas.
If you have any safeguarding concerns at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Mr Bond or Miss Wood.