Introduction
Wow, what a month it has been! It's great to see the community spirit and buzz coming back not only in school but within the local community. It hasn't been too long since our last newsletter, but we are evolving as a school in lots of ways and looking forward to sharing with you what we have done so far in the short time. Please remember if you're not following our Facebook page, like and share for regular updates!
New Website
You may have noticed that our website has not been updated recently... fear not we may have another one in the making! First and foremost, we would like to thank Adam Welsh from Fallen Leaf Web Design for supplying our school website over the last five years. This has supported the school vastly throughout this period and ensured that parents and the community have been kept up to date with what is going on at Holme.
With changes happening within school, we no longer have the manpower for one person to update our website on a weekly basis as their time has been allocated to working with the children. Due to this we have made the decision to opt for a website platform that all staff can access and update their own areas of responsibility within school. We are exploring options of having a website by the end of the month, which will begin to be updated from November onwards.
In the meantime, we will send any necessary updates by e-mail. Thank you for bearing with us!
Curriculum Update
As we approach the end of the first half term, we have already made quite a few changes to our curriculum. Our work with Curriculum Maestro is in full swing and the children have been loving their learning in the blocks that are being taught.
Miss Wood is our new English Leader, and her role includes reading, writing and phonics throughout school. She has been spending time this half term baselining our current provision and creating an action plan to move our English offer forward this academic year. She is going to be hosting workshops next half term to talk to parents about how we teach children within school and how you can support your child with their learning. Watch out for dates in our November newsletter!
As Maths Leader, I have started to baseline our current provision and reviewing actions in order to make maths learning as rigorous as it possibly can be. I will also be hosting a workshop around how maths is taught throughout school and how you can support at home during the spring term.
During the spring and summer terms we will be hosting further curriculum workshops in order for parents to support their child's learning with other members of staff. Please look out for these dates in our January newsletter.
Finally, we will be updating our curriculum information on our website from next half term. This will include termly curriculum letters and long term plans for this academic year. As the year progresses, subject leaders will be updating their subject pages to host more in-depth information around what children will be taught and when in their subject area. As parents, we hope you will find this information useful to enhance the understanding you have of your child's learning to complement the opportunities of coming into school and also seeing our fantastic work on Facebook.
Reporting Absences
We would like to kindly request parents inform the school office or the class teacher of any absences by 9:15am. You can call the school and leave a voicemail or e-mail the office directly. We request that detail is given beyond 'unwell' for our records. If absences aren't recorded with the office by 9:15am, the office staff will give a courtesy call following our safeguarding procedures. Thank you for your cooperation.
Flu Immunisation Programme
Just a reminder that Locala will be coming into the school on Monday 31st October to give the flu nasal spray to all those who's parents/carers have consented online. If you have not yet consented and would like to, please refer to the previous emails or contact the office.
Prospective Parents Open Morning
Do you know any prospective parents who may want to consider our school as an option for their child in the future? Our Year 6 children will be on hand to show any prospective parents and their children around school for a personal tour. Mr Bond and Mrs Stephenson, our Chair of Governors, will be on hand to answer any questions parents may have. This will be from 9:30am - 11:30am on Friday 11th November. No pre-booking is required. We hope to see some new faces!
Celebration Assembly
Celebration assemblies are becoming a firm favourite at Holme, not just for the children, but also for me! It's been wonderful spending time with our 'Honour of Holme' award winners, having a well-earned hot chocolate and biscuits while discussing their achievements.
It's also been great to give out trophies to our Remarkable Writers, Regal Readers and Maths Moguls. We had our first community celebration assembly on Friday and it was wonderful to see such a great turn out. To kick this off we also celebrated attendance and birthdays. It was great to see that both classes received 100% attendance last week... what an achievement! We look forward to these continuing throughout the year.
We wanted to remind parents and carers that children will be selected for awards the day before our celebration assembly and parents will receive an e-mail to make them aware, so they have the opportunity to join us. This will only work if you can keep it a secret!
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.
Here are our award winners so far...
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 student with attendance under 95% is at risk of achieving a grade lower in every subject by the time they leave school. We expect all students to attend school regularly.
September Attendance Figures
Whole School Attendance: 97.05%
- Class 1: 97.22%
- Class 2: 96.95%
Well done everyone - absolutely amazing attendance in September. Keep it up!
Open Book Evening
On Wednesday 19th October we will be holding our first Open Book Evening. The purpose of this will be to allow parents to come into school and look at their child's work. Class teachers will be on hand to have any informal discussions that you feel might be necessary at this point during the school year.
Your child(ren) are also welcome to attend and show off what they have been learning. Books will be available from 3:15pm until 4:30pm. We can't wait to see you there!
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!
The Fleece
The Fleece has been a staple diet to us here at school. From power cuts to fundraising, landlady Shirley Amesbury, has been an ambassador within the local community. Serving the children, a 'pub lunch' and also supporting us in hosting a fundraising Coffee Afternoon for Macmillan, we have built up a relationship that will be fostered as part of our future at Holme Junior & Infant School. These experiences are ones that will never be forgotten and, in the process, earned £400 for a worthy cause! Here are a few photos from our time at the Fleece. I can assure you; these won't be our last!
We also ended up in the Huddersfield Examiner and Yorkshire Live! Read more about our adventures here: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/amazing-yorkshire-landlady-lets-entire-25126421
Hallowe'en Disco
Harvest Donations
The new Holme School Care Crew, supporting mental health and emotional wellbeing, will be helping to coordinate the Holme School Harvest donations for the Holme Valley Food Bank. Please see the notice below:
Forest School
We are proud to announce that we are able to facilitate Forest School sessions for children at Holme Junior & Infant School. Miss Wood has completed her Level 3 Forest School Leader qualification practical assessment and is keen and eager to put her newly acquired skills into practice! This term, the sessions will take place over three sessions on a Thursday afternoon for each class.
You will have received a letter on Monday 10th October by e-mail about our Forest School, including session dates for each class. Please make sure that slips are handed back to class teachers by Friday 14th October in order for a smooth start from the last week of this half term.
Holme Village AGM
We would like to thank the local community that were able to attend the AGM yesterday at the Sunday School. We hoped residents found it helpful learning more about the Residents Association and how vital the Community Centre will be to the whole community as well as our school. To learn more please visit their website: https://holmevillage.org.uk
Holme DIY SOS
We would like to thank the community for donations towards giving our school a well-deserved fresh lease of life. Chris from Easy Fireplaces in Milnsbridge and Arran Crabtree have donated some furniture and sink with associated plumbing for our kitchen area. Thank you so much for your donations, these will really support us in making our school a better place!
We are still in need of some new units and a worktop for our kitchen area. If you can support or know somebody that can, please direct them our way!
Telephone: 01484 687362 or via e-mail: office@holmejischool.co.uk. Thank you.
Holmbridge Rural Christmas Fair
Save the date! Holme School children carol singing at Holmbridge Rural Christmas Fair, Saturday 19th November between 2 and 4pm. More details to follow!
Dates for the Diary
Please note that additional events may occur beyond the below list and will be updated in the following newsletter.
As always, if you wish to speak to us about your child, please do not hesitate to talk to the class teacher and we will endeavour to help in any way we can.
Credits:
Created with images by MclittleStock - "responsive theme screen multidevices" • magele-picture - "Curriculum" • boygostockphoto - "contact us" • etonastenka - "Confetti scattered on the light blue background. Bright dots on the background." • Markus Mainka - "Christmas balls baubles decoration color colors in a row isolated"