Newsletters

Please keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment and click a headline to read more.

• Week beginning 28th February

  Sat 26 Feb 2022

  Week beginning 28^th February 2022.

  Book Week: this week we are celebrating BOOK WEEK when we will be revelling in the joy of books. We launch this week with a special assembly in the hall, on Monday. World Book Day is on Thursday 3^rd March and, on this day, we invite all children and of course staff, to dress up as a favourite character from a book. This does not have to be a shop bought costume, we love seeing home-made creations so let your imaginations run wild! During the week there will be a number of fun events for the children including drama and dance workshops led by Boom Arts Academy. These will be linked to the whole school text that we will be looking at – Zoo by Anthony Browne. There will also be some masked readers shown to the children each day – have fun guessing their identities! We thank Mrs Randall, our English co-ordinator, for her hard work in organising this fun packed week. She writes below:

  Extreme Reading Competition: please take a photo of your child, reading in extreme or in a really unusual places. These photos will be displayed around the school. To take part, please put the photo of your child on Google Classroom, thank you. Deadline: Friday 4^th March, 12pm.

   

  Tasty Book Competition: we are running a cake-making/decorating competition with entries based on a literary theme. Cakes will be sold on Thursday 4^th March, after school to raise funds for new books for our book corners. A child from each year group will receive a prize for winning.  We look forward to receiving your entries. Good luck!

   

  Parking: sadly, an ex-parent complained to the school yesterday about a few parents/carers parking over the drives in Stenning. This is preventing residents from leaving their homes or letting emergency services getting through to elderly people who live in these properties. This is frustrating for our community and also breaking the Law. Please can you refrain from doing this, or the neighbours will be forced to contact the Police.

  Red Nose Day is coming! From Monday, we have a small number of red noses to pre-order for Red Nose Day which we shall be celebrating in school on Friday 18^th March. Noses can be purchased at a cost of £1.50 and will be distributed in the week of the event. More information in terms of sponsorship, on what each class or year group are going to do for RND will follow – it is going to be a very fun and exciting RND week! Whatever money you can give will make a difference, no matter how small. Together, we can help people live free from poverty, violence and discrimination because we have the power to change lives.

  Secondary School Offer Day: Tuesday is offer day for those of you who have a child in Year 6. We hope you are all happy with your allocations. Over the remainder of the year we will work closely with the relevant secondary schools to ensure a smooth transition for the children. In the summer term we will also begin transition work with the children to reassure them about taking the next exciting step in their educational journeys.

  COVID Summary: please click on this link to access our revised Risk Assessment. We are more than aware that Law and Guidance can be confusing, please read our summary below, taken from the document Schools COVID-19 operational guidance and our explanation of this for our context. Please also note that the Government will update this again, from 1^st April, 2022.
  From 24^th February:
  *While you’re no longer required by law to self-isolate, if you have COVID-19, the Government guidance and The Hayes states that you should still stay at home and avoid contact with other people. This helps reduce the chance of passing COVID-19 onto others- we continue to have vulnerable staff and pupils in our school.
  *Self-isolation: this can be for up to 10 days from when your symptoms start although many people will no longer be infectious to others after 5 days. You can do a lateral flow test from 5 days after your symptoms started (or the day you had the test if you do not have symptoms) and another the next day. If both tests are negative and you do not have a high temperature, you're less likely to pass COVID-19 to others and you can go back to your normal routine. If you test result is positive on day 5, you can carry on doing rapid lateral flow tests every day until you get 2 negative test results in a row.

  The Hayes additional school measures:

  *Face coverings: it is up to individuals if they wish to wear a covering. However, if a member of staff has a meeting with a parent/carer who does not want to wear a covering (and vice versa, making adults uncomfortable), the meeting could take place remotely.
  *Bubbles: The Hayes will no longer work in bubbles (including wrap around care), except for: sport in the hall – max of 30 children. Sport with more than 30 should take place outside.
  *Assemblies: achievement assemblies with whole school continue to be virtual due to numbers of adults and children in the hall. Monday assemblies will take place in the hall for Key Stages (EYFS/KS1 and KS2) and streamed into the other classes in other Key Stages. Class assemblies will continue to be recorded on iPad and sent to parents via Google Classroom.
  *Performances: no in-person performances- to be reviewed end of spring term.
  *Parent/carer meetings: continue to be virtual in the spring term.
  *From guidance: individuals can still reduce the risk of catching and passing on COVID-19 by: getting vaccinated; letting fresh air in rooms; wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces (especially where you come into contact with people you do not usually meet); when rates of transmission are high; trying to stay at home if you are unwell; taking a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms; staying at home and avoiding contact with others if you test positive; and washing your hands/‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’.
  Please note, any of the above could change if we get another outbreak – when we will be advised by the PHE.

  PTA: it is with sadness that Danni (Chair) and Verity (Vice Chair) have decided to step down at the end of the school year. We thank them for all that they have achieved over the last five years which has also included coming up with ideas to raise funds during a pandemic- not an easy task – thank you both again, you have been fantastic in your roles, with the team have raised ££££££s for our school and we are very appreciative of all you have done. If anyone is interested in filling either role, please contact Danni directly on: direct danniharrington1@gmail.com If there is more than one candidate, there will be an anonymous vote.

  Above and Beyond the Call of Duty: this week is dedicated to Mrs Sutherland for working so hard even when she is poorly, is kind and caring and all that you need, for being amazing, wonderful and being the best. This week’s award was nominated by both staff and children. Well done!

  Football:  a massive well done to our football team for winning 5-3 against St David’s School yesterday. Huge congrats to the team, particularly to Lilybell who scored 2 goals and Freddie, Tom and Taejahn who all scored 1. An awesome result.

  Parent Governor Vote: many thanks to all our very credible candidates, the deadline was yesterday and Miss Slade will contact all nominees on Monday before informing you all! Very exciting!
  Lastly, it is with great sadness that we must inform you that Mrs Gourlay (Class 3 teacher), will be leaving The Hayes at the end of this term.  She is relocating to Leighton Buzzard where she has purchased a new family home. Mrs Gourlay has been with us at The Hayes since 2018 and during that time has been a fantastic teacher to many children. We will be very sorry to see her go but wish her the best of luck in her new adventure- her new school are very lucky to have her.  We are, however, delighted to let you know that we have appointed Ms Fidge who has over 10 years experience of teaching in primary schools, to take over the responsibility of Class 3 for the summer term. Over the coming weeks, Ms Fidge will be spending time with Mrs Gourlay to ensure there is a thorough handover. She is looking forward to meeting the children soon and I am sure you will give her a warm welcome to our school community.

  Thank you for your ongoing support. Have a lovely weekend.

  Best wishes,
  The Hayes Team

  

• Week beginning 21st February 2022

  Fri 11 Feb 2022

  We have reached the end of this half term and today we part for the half term break. This break also marks the half way point in the academic year. The children have been working very hard and we wish them all a restful break. We welcome all children back to school on Monday 21^st February. Please click on this link to access the school diary and please note that there is not an INSET day on Monday 21^st.

  Mufti Day: we have had a wonderful day in school today wearing something red to celebrate the love and care in our school community. Thank you for your donations which will be used to pay towards new reading books in KS2 (with a particular focus on increasing the cultural representation in the texts available to children). So far we have raised £470 with 51% of parents/carers contributing. If you have not yet done so, please do consider (on Parent Pay), as the money raised is going to a very good cause. It will also go towards a school council fundraising initiative to purchase a fish tank and fish so that we can have some school pets. There was a unanimous vote for this in our most recent council meeting.

  Mental Health Week: today has marked the end of children’s mental health week where we have all been thinking about the theme ‘Growing Together’ and considering how we can all grow as individuals over the coming weeks. We have also thought about how our behaviours and actions can create the conditions needed for others to grow and flourish. Much like a tree needs sun, rain and protection from the elements to grow well, we want the children to understand that we too require the support and protection of others in order to do our best emotional growing.  Every person in the school (adults and children) have made a public commitment to growing and improving on our ‘growing together tree’. Each individual has written on a leaf, something that they can do to improve themselves or improve our environment to make it better for others. We are proud of these pledges and look forward to supporting children to achieve them and be the best they can be.

  Pick up and drop off: when you collect your child/ren at the end of the day, please can we ask you to discourage them from climbing on the equipment and up the trees. Thank you.

  Class 9 Assembly: this week we would like to say a huge well done to Class 9 who led an amazing class assembly on Wednesday morning. This focused on Chinese New Year and the children shared many facts with our school community. The assembly was uploaded on to Google classroom for all parents of children in Class 9 to see. We hope you enjoyed watching this as much as we did! Class assemblies will continue to be recorded this year.

  Valentine’s Day Cake Bake: we would also like to express our enormous gratitude to all those who baked cakes for the Valentine cake sale that took place after school today and to the PTA who organised and ran this event- £430 was raised! Thank you!
  Height and Weight Check: in the first week back to school, the children in Reception will be having their height and weight check with the school nursing team. The outcomes of these checks are NOT shared with the school. If any concerns are identified, the team will communicate directly with you.

  Welcome Back! We are delighted to report that after the half term break Mrs Shaikh will be returning to school to teach Class 8 once more. She thanks you all for your kind messages of support and is looking forward to coming back in and working with her class once again. We thank Mrs Hamed for covering this class in Mrs Shaikh’s absence.

  An Appeal! We are asking any parents/carers/relatives who are builders or have links with the building trade whether you might be willing to help us with a project. We are interested in building a small outdoor classroom similar to the example pictures below (ideas only) so that the children at The Hayes have a more permanent outdoor learning space. If you think you might be able to help us with this project by donating materials, your time to plan it or some labour, we would LOVE to hear from you.  Please drop Mrs Olley an email on deputy@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk to discuss further. Thank you in advance.

  Have a fantastic half term holiday, stay safe and relax! See you all on Monday 21^st February.
  Best wishes, 
  The Hayes Team

  

• Week beginning 7th February 2022

  Sun 06 Feb 2022

  Week beginning 7^th February 2022.
  The final week of this half term is upon us and the forthcoming break marks the half way point of this academic year. Where does the time go? It really does fly when you are having fun!

  Road Safety: we must start this bulletin by sharing a serious message. On Friday morning at school drop off, a member of our school community was struck by a car on our new zebra crossing outside of the school. Thankfully, apart from being very shaken, they received only minor injuries. This could have been a very different situation had it have been a child that was hit by the car. Please, please can we remind all members of our community to drive with care and caution particularly when approaching pedestrian crossings and at busy times like pick up and drop off. Our crossing is there to keep us safe and was campaigned for, for a very long time. Please slow down as you approach it to ensure everybody's safety. Thank you.

  Winter Photography Competition: following on from the success of the autumn photography competition, below you will find information about the winter photography competition.

  Children’s Mental Health Week: starts tomorrow, Monday and there will be an assembly on Monday to launch this event which has the theme of Growing Together. There is no shortage of news reports at the moment highlighting the prevalence of mental health difficulties that many children have been experiencing as a result of the pandemic. If you are worried about any of your children's behaviours Place2Be have some useful articles for parents that may be of interest to you. These can be found via the following link: Place2Be: Parenting Smart: Articles​ Many of you have reached out to us as a school to share concerns that you have about your children’s mental health. It is important to us as an organisation that we remove any stigma surrounding mental ill health and teach our children that if they are suffering, there is support available. Together, we can make a difference and early intervention is key.

  Safer Internet Day: is on Tuesday and we would like to express our thanks to 3 Discovery who did some amazing work with our children in school last week. Their workshops involved moviemaking, poster creation and all sorts of wonderful activities to teach our children how to be safe when using the internet. Hopefully, your children have shared some of their learning with you at home. We will shortly be sending you a link to a Padlet document so you can see some of the children’s wonderful creations for yourself. A massive well done to Mrs Sutherland who organised the week – superstar!
  School Council: following on from this week’s School Council meeting, the children on the committee have requested that the last day of term is a mufti day where the staff and children are invited to wear their own clothes to school. If possible, the children have decided they would like their peers to wear something red. This is because Valentine’s Day is approaching and they felt that this would be symbolic of the friendship and love within our school community. To participate in this event the children have requested to make a £2 donation to support the school in a fundraising endeavour. The monies raised will be spent on two things. Firstly, we are looking to improve the reading materials for children in Key Stage 2 (Yr 3-6) with a specific focus on improving the cultural representation that is seen in the books we have to offer to the children. Secondly, following a unanimous vote from all classes, in a discussion about the possibility of having a school pet/s, the children on the School Council would like to purchase a fish tank for the entrance lobby of the school. They believe that having some school fish will help children to learn about responsibility, looking after and caring for animals and feel that it would also help children who are feeling a bit stressed, sad or cross to relax and calm down. Please, if you can, do support the Council in their fundraising endeavours. Thank you in advance. For the children in Safari, we acknowledge this was supposed to be your special PTA prize mufti day and will set a new day for you to have an additional mufti (at no cost) when we return after the half term break.
  Valentine Cake Bake: additionally, on the last day of term (Friday 11^th February) the PTA will be hosting a Valentine Bake Sale. If you are able to bake cakes to support this endeavour, the PTA would be extremely grateful. The more cakes they have to sell, the more funds available to spend on our children. If you are not a baker, please support by visiting the sale after school and purchasing a cake or two! Thank you from the PTA in advance of your support.

  We break up on Friday 11^th at normal time and wish you all a wonderful half term break. We will be back at school from Monday 21^st of Feb where we look forward to welcoming you all back and hopefully seeing the start brighter evenings for the second half of the school year. Stay safe!​

   

  Above and Beyond the Call of Duty: congratulations to Mrs Yates who was nominated on Friday by many children, for ‘being a great, kind and helpful music teacher, teaching lovely sounds and songs and being enthusiastic!’ Well done!

  Thank you for your ongoing support.
  The Hayes Team

  Share Your Creativity in the Great Outdoors Photography Competition

  Each season we will be running the Great Outdoors Seasonal photography competition. The first competition, held in autumn 2021 was an amazing success and we hope that our winter ‘Miracles of Nature’ will prove just as popular. So, get out in the great outdoors and enjoy the wonders of nature and wildlife around us!

  What to do: take a photograph that celebrates winter as you see it. Photos should feature landscape or portrait photographs of natural settings. It can be of wildlife, woodland, seascape – of anything that depicts winter at its finest.
  Equipment: the photo can be taken on a tablet, phone or camera.
  Winners: there will be one winner from each class, from EYFS, KS1, lower KS2 and upper KS2.

  Prizes: winning photos will take pride of place in our news bulletin, website and Twitter pages. The winning photos will be displayed in a large frame in the school corridor in the form of a collage.

  Terms and Conditions

  *Photograph to be taken by a child (not adult) on either a camera, tablet or smart phone.

  *One entry per child.
  *Photo to have a title.

  *Entrants email to Mrs Staines: wstaines.306@lgflmail.org who is the administrator for this exciting, new competition.
  *With entries (jpg), please state name of child and class.
  *Closing date: Wednesday 9^th March, 12pm
  *Judges: our School Council, Governors and Miss Slade.

  *Miss Slade will announce the winners during the virtual assembly, Friday 11^th March and they will appear in our bulletin.