Newsletters
Please keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment and click a headline to read more.
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Week beginning 29th March
Fri 26 Mar 2021Thank you to all those who sponsored the children’s fund-raising efforts for Red Nose Day. We are delighted to report that we raised a grand total of £1200 for this amazing charity. Thank you everybody!
Thank you also to all the parents and carers who attended our virtual parents’ evenings over the course of the last 2 weeks. We had over 90% attendance at this event and welcomed the opportunity to discuss lockdown learning and beyond.
Our new nature area
The focus of family walks around the local area or getting out into the woods has been so important for many in recent times. The simple method of being calm and quiet amongst the trees, observing nature around us can help both adults and children boost health and wellbeing. Time outside can also offer huge learning opportunities across all curriculum areas as well as develop children’s confidence, independence and problem-solving skills. We take our learning outside in all year groups, and it would be fantastic if we had a zone on our playground where we could practice the forest school techniques traditions to benefit from opportunities to enhance our curriculum and well-being.
We have started to construct an area at the top of the playground and we would love to incorporate more natural resources. If you have anything that you think would be fantastic for our outdoor learning space then we would be incredibly grateful. Anything from logs to sit on to canes or sticks for building dens, wooden offcuts to pallets or used large electric cable reels. Also, pebbles, large garden stones/rocks, any spare pots for planting, bulbs and/or small shrubs to enhance the area. There are a few pictures below to give some ideas.Please contact Mrs Farr at jfarr1.306@lgflmail.org or leave a message at the office for her attention if you think you have anything that could enhance this new exciting area where we can not only watch nature bloom and flourish, but the children too. Thank you.
On Wednesday evening, we are hosting a parent workshop all about how to keep your children safe on line. This is being run by Vodaphone and Digital Awareness UK- it takes place at 6pm and is FREE. Please register to participate using the following link and you will be sent an email to join: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-hayes-primary-school-keeping-children-safe-online-during-covid-19-registration-138446550359 It will be packed full of useful information to help protect your children on line.
World Autism Awareness Week
29 March - 4 April 2021
World Autism Awareness Week is back from 29 March to 4 April 2021. We will be raising awareness in school to help children understand how autism effects one in 100 children in the UK. We will be accessing powerpoints, videos and activities to promote understanding of how this effects children and adults. Please click on this link to go to the National Autistic Society website.
Wall outside the school: please can we remind you that children should not climb or walk along the walls outside our school. One of the walls has bollards around it, while we wait for it to be removed. Thank you.
Just to remind you, school will be open as usual on 30th April as the INSET originally scheduled for this day has been moved to 6th May to tie in with the school closure for polling.
In the summer term, we will break for half term on Friday 28th May at normal time, with children returning to school on the 7th June. The last day of term will be Friday 23rd July where the children break up at 1:30.
Next week is a short week and we break for the Easter holidays at normal time on Wednesday 31st March. Following the Easter break, we look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 19th April from 8:45 am for the start of the summer term.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Hayes Team
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Week beginning 22nd March
Fri 19 Mar 2021What a fantastic day we have had today celebrating Red Nose Day for Comic Relief. The children looked wonderful dressed in something red/something silly and took part in their sponsored activities with pride. Thank you to all those who have already sponsored their children and donated to this charity. If you are yet to do so, there is still time. The link to donate is: Fund Raising | The Hayes Primary School. So far we have raised a whopping £955 – the child in each class who has raised the most money will receive a prize which will be announced in our virtual achievement assembly. Deadline to donate by: Monday 22nd March. Many thanks.
The children are settling back into school really well, we are so proud of how quickly they are getting back into their normal routines. We know that there are some parents who have been worried about whether or not their child/ren may have fallen behind and we wanted to reassure you that we have an extensive catch up programme in place to help recover missed learning where necessary. We have welcomed a new member of staff, a qualified teacher called Miss Hamid, who will be working across the school providing catch up lessons. Additionally, each member of the senior leadership will be teaching groups of children over the course of the week alongside other members of staff. In class, teachers are differentiating the learning to ensure it is accessible to all and are also frequently providing opportunities to revise key skills. Our wonderful team of support staff are also running a number of interventions during the course of the school day. We have every confidence that we will be able to close gaps and help the children catch up in their learning, should they need to, over time.
We would like to share some happy news with you. Miss Booth will be getting married on the first of April and therefore, upon her return to work in the summer term she will be known as Mrs Sutherland. We are delighted for Miss Booth and wish her and her husband to be, the most wonderful day.
We would also like to say a huge well done to the children in Safari class who had their first ever swimming lesson last week. The children were so sensible and listened brilliantly to Miss Browne. We know that Rainforest class will be just as amazing next week when it is their turn to swim. Next week, children in the odd number classes will have their swimming lessons.
Thank you to those parents who continue to adhere strictly to our COVID risk assessment by wearing face coverings, using our one-way system and ensuring that you avoid gathering in groups at the beginning and end of the school day. Whilst we are delighted to be back in school, we must remember that the virus has not gone away. We are doing everything in our power to keep our entire school community safe from harm and to avoid any future bubble closures and we thank you for your support in this endeavour.
Please may we remind you that we are still required to run track and trace services over the Easter break and if your child becomes unwell and receives a positive test result, you must notify the school by emailing head@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk as this has implications for others who may need to isolate. Thank you.
The children will break up from school for the Easter break on Wednesday 31st March at NORMAL TIME and are due to return back to school on April 19th.
We thank you for your on-going support and wish you a great and safe weekend.
The Hayes Team
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Week beginning 15th March
Fri 12 Mar 2021Week Beginning 15th March 2021
As we reach the end of the first week back we want to start by saying how impressed we have been with the children who have all settled back, quickly. It has been wonderful to hear the sounds of learning and laughter ringing through the corridors once more and hope we can remain fully open from now on in. It goes without saying that we have loved having our children in the Hub from January – but it is so fantastic to have everyone back together.Safety: thank you also to you our parents and carers who have all been adhering strictly to the expectations set out in the risk assessment to keep everybody safe. Our staff have all been given access to lateral flow tests which they are encouraged to use twice a week in order to help identify asymptomatic cases. The government have now also announced that this is available for families of school age children and those of you who would like the opportunity to undertake regular testing can order/ collect 2 boxes of lateral flow tests using the following link: COVID Test Finder (test-and-trace.nhs.uk). The more people in our community that are testing, the more likely we are to identify positive cases and minimise potential transmission.
Book Week Bakes: today in virtual assembly, our Book Week cake bake winners were announced. A massive well done to everyone who took part- the cakes looked amazing and we are sure tasted delicious too! Below are the winning entries, got a certificate and a book today, from EYFS, KS1 and KS2. The cakes look amazing!
We welcome Miss Petiti to our team. She works in After School Club on a daily basis – I am sure we will all make her feel very welcome.
Next week we will begin to host our parent/ teacher evenings on Tuesday 15th March and Thursday 17th March for parents of children in Early Years (EYFS) or Yrs. 1 and 2 (KS1) and on the 23rd March and 25th March for parents of children in Yrs. 3-6 (KS2). Instructions on how to book your appointment were emailed to all parents yesterday and you can also find it on our website. Booking opens at 8:00am on Saturday 13th March and will remain open until 4pm the day before the appointment is due to take place.
Wrap Around Care: just a reminder to parents dropping off their children in the morning for breakfast club. Please remember that it is also a car park and cars do drive in and out of this area. Therefore, ensure your child/ren are with you at all times when you come onto the premises. Many thanks.
Red Nose Day, Friday 19th: we are selling red noses for Comic Relief which will take place next Friday. The noses can be purchased via parent pay at a cost of £1.50 and your child can come and collect theirs from the office, after 930am. Also, each class will be participating in a fund-raising event, details of which will follow in a separate letter early next week- all classes are choosing what they want to do and it is going to be an exciting day. It’s never felt more important to have some fun and raise money to support people living incredibly tough lives. Red Nose Day donations help tackle important issues including homelessness, hunger, domestic abuse and mental health stigma, all of which have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. We need the power of funny to turn laughs into lasting change and at The Hayes we are doing it large, so your support is as important as ever. Thank you for your donations in advance.
Whereas the red noses can be paid into Parent Pay (because he school have purchased the noses) any donations for sponsored events must be paid directly to Red Nose Day and the link for this is here: https://app.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Foc/Default.aspx?shopid=3386 There is also a page on the website which has the link- we will also add some past red nose day photos to liven it up (News/ Fundraising).
GOOD NEWS! The council have agreed to install a zebra crossing on Hayes Lane to help our families make their way safely across the road on their way to or from school. The planned works will commence on Monday 22nd March and are expected to be finished by 2nd April 2021. Please be aware that there may be some disruption on the road outside of school during this period of time and allow extra time for your journey to school.
On the 15th March, the children in Year 6 will be working with The Anne Frank Society to learn about prejudice and discrimination and how we can work together to overcome this. The children will participate in a virtual delivery of various workshops during which they will have time to reflect on the importance of identity and having a sense of belonging. We believe it is important to promote diversity and inclusion and ensuring our children understand the harmful and lasting effects of discrimination, is an important part of ensuring that this can be stamped out.
Reminder: on 31st March at 6pm, we are hosting a FREE parent workshop on line entitled how to keep your child safe on line during COVID-19. This is going to be a very informative event that helps keep our children safe. Tickets can be booked via the following link : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-hayes-primary-school-keeping-children-safe-online-during-covid-19-registration-138446550359
Polling Stations: on 6th May we have been notified that the Local Authority will be using The Hayes as a polling station. For this reason, and to minimise disruption and any unnecessary school closures, we have moved the Inset day that was originally planned for the 30th April to coincide with the Polling Day. Please note this date change in your diaries. To confirm, school will be open as normal on the 30th April but closed to children on Thursday 6th May due to polling/INSET.
Swimming: next week, swimming re-starts for the following classes, on the following days:
Class 10 and Class 6: Monday
Class 8 and Class 12: Tuesday
Safari and Class 4: Wednesday
Class 2: Thursday.Reminder for Year 1 parents, if you have not done so already, please can you return your consent forms for the hearing tests taking place in school on the 25th and 26th of this month. Without your consent, this cannot be administered. If you would like your child’s hearing to be checked, you MUST return the signed consent form to school. Thank you.
That is it! We thank you for your ongoing support, have a safe and relaxing weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week.
The Hayes Team.
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Week beginning 8th March
Fri 05 Mar 2021Happy Friday! The last week of home schooling has finally arrived and we are so excited to be in a position to finally welcome back all children on Monday next week. For full details of how this will work please refer to the letter sent to all parents by Miss Slade earlier in the week. We would like to reiterate our enormous gratitude to all of our families that have been supporting learning at home over the last two months. You have carried the baton brilliantly but we are now ready and excited for you to pass it back, so we can begin to run once more!
Please may we remind you all that, whilst on our premises, there is an expectation that those over the age 11 will wear a face covering for the safety of everybody in our community. We will be taking every possible action to ensure we remain Covid free and avoid bubble closures where classes have to return to home learning. Wearing a face covering is proven to minimise the spread of the virus. Therefore, if you are not wearing a face covering, please consider dropping your child at the gate.
This week we celebrated book week with a whole host of fun and exciting activities from extreme reading, cake baking, dress up day and masked readers! Did you manage to guess who they all were? Congratulations to the winners of the cake decorating competition. At The Hayes, we promote a love of reading and can’t wait to hear about all the books that have been enjoyed together at home over the last 2 months. Please ensure the children have their reading books and reading records in school every day.
Finally, there are some upcoming events for you to add to your diary. Parent teacher meetings will take place virtually on 16th and 18th for parents of children in Years: Reception, 1 and 2 and on the 23rd and 25th for children in Years 3-6. These events will take place virtually you will soon receive an email with instructions on how to book your 10-minute appointment. The event will take place between the hours of 3:30 and 6pm.
We will also be fundraising for Comic relief on the 19th March. We have approximately 240 red noses on their way for the children to purchase if they wish to do so. When they arrive, we will let you know and those wishing to purchase a nose (first come first serve) can do so via ParentPay. Each class will also be leading a fundraising activity in their bubble, details will follow asap.
There will also be hearing tests taking place in school for children in Year 1 (with consent) on the 25th and 26th March. More information about this hearing screening to follow shortly.
Wrap Around Care, for those who have used it before, re-starts on Monday.
That just leaves us to say – many thanks for everything you do, have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing each and everyone of you on Monday!
The Hayes Team
