Noticeboard

Week beginning 27^th November 2023

 

Well done to all those who decorated their bags for the ‘Be safe, Be seen!’ campaign today. The Junior Travel Ambassadors will be announcing the winners and distributing prizes soon.

 

Our ‘Bikability’ training is taking place next week for children in Years 5 and 6 who signed up for this event. Please ensure that any bikes coming into school on Monday are road worthy to ensure the children’s safety during this training. Signs have been put up at the front of the school to show the children where they can leave their bikes when they come in on Monday.

 

The children in Class 5 are leading their class assembly on Wednesday next week. If you have a child in this class and wish to join us, please come to the school hall for a 9:15 start. We hope to see you there!

 

There is a netball match against Smitham (away) on Thursday 30^th. We wish the girls the best of luck and congratulate them on their 5-3 win last week. Great news!

On Friday we are holding our Open Afternoon event. Please do come along from 1:45 to visit your child’s classroom and have the chance to see their learning and talk to them about this.  Where possible please try to leave younger siblings and buggies at home as the classrooms get very busy during open afternoons. Once you have finished looking at your children’s books, you are permitted to take your child/children home. Please let the class teacher know on the day, if you are taking your child early.

 

On Saturday, between 12-3, our much-awaited Christmas Fair will be taking place. It will open with children from our infant and junior choirs singing outside year 1. If your child is in the choir, please can they be here by 11:45 to get ready. Thank you to all those parents who have volunteered your time to help run stalls and to prepare for this event. Without you, this event would not be possible. We still need more volunteers so if you can help, please do let us know. Raffle tickets are due back in school by 28^th November if you wish to be in the prize draw. Our PTA work so incredibly hard to raise funds for our school and thanks to their hard work over the past year we hope to soon be able to replace the stage area in the playground with an outdoor classroom. This will provide much needed shade for the children in warmer months and enable us to teach out door lessons to whole classes. We are so grateful to all our parents for your support in raising funds for this project.

 

Lastly, please can we remind parents and carers of children in Year 5 and 6 to give consent for ParentPay for the CSMA Fairfield Halls trip if you have not already done so. This trip is taking place on the 4^th of December. We are looking for parent helpers with this event. If you are able to assist, please drop an email to admin@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk and we will get back to you.  Thank you.

Also on ParentPay are our residential trips to Carroty Wood and the Isle of Wight. Payment is not yet due but we wanted to let you know they were available in case you wanted to pay by monthly instalments. 

 

Have a great weekend.

Week beginning Monday 13^th November 2023

We start by saying a huge thank you to all our parents and carers who joined us for our parents’ evenings this week. We hope you found the meetings useful and had the opportunity to ask any questions that you may have had. Please may we remind you that we are always here to discuss any questions, worries or concerns that you may have, even outside of parent/teacher meetings. If you would like to speak to your child’s class teacher, you can catch them in the morning or send an email to admin@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk to arrange a mutually convenient appointment.

We would like to congratulate class 10 for a wonderful class assembly on Diwali. We were so impressed with their knowledge of this festival, their brilliant acting, super singing and beautiful Rangoli patterns. We wish all those celebrating this Sunday a very Happy Diwali.

Next week, we launch our Anti-bullying week with the theme ‘Make a Noise about Bullying’. The children will be thinking about how they can be a kind friend to others and discussing the importance of not being a bystander when they see somebody in need. Look out for some keyrings made by the children to mark this event, demonstrating our shared commitment to making our school a happy and safe place to be for all. On Monday, the children are invited to wear odd socks to school to mark the start of this important week. Odd socks show that we are all unique and our differences should be celebrated as something that makes the world a diverse and special place.

On Thursday, our netball team have a match against Chipstead Valley at home and the girls’ football team have two matches this week. The first is a home match on Tuesday 14^th against Woodcote and the second is an away match against Kenley on Thursday. We wish all those competing, the best of luck and we know they will give it all they’ve got!

There will be a school council meeting on Thursday 16^th at 12:30 in the computing suite. Please remind your child, if they are a class rep, to go for an early lunch on this day.

Year 6 booster groups begin next week. We thank parents and carers for ensuring their children’s attendance at these additional sessions which are designed to give free, personalised support for your children in areas of learning where they may need some consolidation. 

Our Year 6 pupil advocates will also be launching a book club from next week for children in EYFS and KS1 (Years 1 and 2). This will take place in the library area at school between 12:30 and 1:00. In this club, our younger children can come in and read to, or with, some of our fantastic Year 6 readers. We love using peer support to inspire and encourage our pupils. There is no requirement to book a place at this club. Numbers in attendance will be managed internally and all children are welcome to participate.

The Scholastic Book Fair will return to school on Tuesday 21st November through to Friday 24th November. We are thankful to the support of the PTA for helping to manage the event after school at the top of the playground under the shelter. We hope you can pay a visit. All proceeds made support the school with investments in new texts for the classrooms. Purchases can be made using cash only.

We also wanted to let you know that our PTA will soon be running the Grand Raffle again this year. The first prize is an electric Lexus Rz for the weekend. The second prize is a £50 Love2Shop voucher and the 3^rd prize is a Space NK Advent Calendar. The ticket books will be sent home with the children shortly. If you would like to enter the raffle, tickets are £1 each or £5 for the book.  There will be a box in the office labelled 'raffle tickets' for parents to drop money and tickets in. This will be emptied on a daily basis. The draw will be made at the Christmas fair so the deadline to return the tickets and money will be Tuesday 28^th November. 

Lastly, we have recently received some concerns from parents in our community who have sighted a man acting suspiciously in our local area. He is described as being approximately 35 years old, with brown skin and usually wearing a hoodie. We have shared these concerns with our safer neighbourhood policing team who are aware of the man in question. The police have asked that if any parents or staff members witness this person acting suspiciously near our school, to phone the police immediately. A member of staff is always on the gates in the mornings but please do remind any children walking home alone to go straight home and not deviate from their route.

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

Week beginning 6^th November 2023

The children have had a great first week back at school following the half term break. This week in assemblies we have been thinking about ‘effort’, what it means and how we can show it even when we are finding things tricky. We have been really impressed with the effort and determination that the children have been putting into their learning in order to be the best they can be!

Congratulations to our girls’ netball team who took part in their first interschool competition this week. Although they did not win, they put in a great collective effort and represented the school brilliantly, we are very proud of them. Well done girls!

Friday was a mufti day and we would like to thank all those who donated so generously to our PTA Christmas Fair. If, you forgot your donation, please feel free to drop it into the office next week. The Fair is scheduled to take place on Saturday 2^nd December between 12-3 so please make sure you pop this date in your diary. It is set to be a great event!

Next week, we start the week with a Reception Open Morning for parents of children who are due to start school in September 2024. If you have not already signed up to attend, you can do so via the following link on our website. Reception Open Mornings | The Hayes Primary School. Those attending will hear a short talk from the leadership team along with the pupil advocates and be given the opportunity to tour the school to see our facilities and our children engaged in their learning. We look forward to seeing you there.

Our parents’ evenings are scheduled to take place next week on Tuesday (EYFS and KS1 in person and KS2 virtual) and Thursday (EYFS and KS1 virtual and KS2 in person) next week. If you have booked a face-to-face appointment, please come in and sit outside the school hall until you are called in at the time of your appointment. If you have a virtual appointment, please check that you are able to log in in advance of the meeting. If you are experiencing any difficulties, do let us know ahead of the meeting date so we can try to resolve these for you.

Also on Tuesday, the children in Year 6 will be having their height and weight checks with the school nursing team. If you do not want your child to take part in this, please opt out by following the instructions that were sent to you in the information about this check. Thank you.

We are pleased to be working with the NSPCC to teach our children about keeping safe. On Wednesday next week they will be leading workshops for children in Years 2, 5 and 6 and will be encouraging our children to seek help if and when it is needed via a trusted adult or through Childline if they need it.

Also on Wednesday, the children in class 10 will be leading their class assembly at 9:15 in the school hall with a focus on Diwali. If you have a child in this class and you would like to join us for this event, we would love to see you there.  Please may we remind all parents who attend class assemblies, that any photographs taken are for personal use only and should not be shared on social media if there are any children other than your own in the image. This is for the children’s safety and we thank you in advance for adhering to this.

On Friday we will be holding a Remembrance Day assembly for the children. At the end of break time, we will hold a 2-minute silence on the playground in memory of those who lost their lives in the war. We shall remember them.

We have a parent who is interested in running an afterschool chess club for children in Years 4-6. In order to see if this club is viable or not, we are asking families to let us know if this opportunity might be of interest to you. The club will run from 3:15 until 4pm and will cost £6 per session. The parent hoping to lead this extra-curricular activity is a qualified teacher who has taught chess previously to develop logical and strategic thinking. If your child would be interested in attending an after-school chess club please drop us an email on admin@hayesprimary.croydon.sch.uk so we can get an idea of numbers. Thank you.

Lastly, we know that we have many creative and artistic children in our school. For Comic relief, Amazon are hosting an ‘unlock a smile’ competition that we think some of our children may enjoy taking part in. To participate, children are invited to design an (original) image for an amazon locker. Winning entries could be displayed in our local area. Those wishing to enter should grab an A4 piece of paper and draw your ‘wildest boldest ideas’ to celebrate comic relief. Entries should be scanned in on the comic relief website found here: Unlock a smile challenge | Comic Relief. Winning artists will receive a goodie bag crammed full of red nose day treats and their school will receive an amazon voucher to be spent on resources for our children. The closing date for entries is the 24^th November 2023. If your child chooses to enter…Good luck!

Week beginning 9th Of October  

 

Thank you to our wonderful PTA for organising the school discos on Friday evening. The children all had a great time dancing the night away! Thank you also to all of the parent volunteers who supervised this event. Without you, events like this would not be possible. If you would like to see some images of the disco, be sure to check out the recently updated gallery on our school website which can be accessed via the following link: Gallery 2023-2024 | The Hayes Primary School  

 

Congratulations to the children in class 11, who led a fantastic Harvest assembly on Monday. They spoke confidently, sung in 2 parts and helped us to always remember to be grateful for the food we eat. Your generous donations will be collected by the Purley food hub on Monday morning. We thank all those who contributed. 

 

Last week the children thoroughly enjoyed the amazing drumming workshop that took place as part of our Black History Month celebrations. The children learned drumming techniques that originated from Western Africa and played rhythms in 4 parts. Thank you to our PTA for fully funding this opportunity for all children. 

 

I would also like to congratulate the children in Year 5, who successfully completed their training to become qualified Mental Health Champions.  They now have an in depth understanding of strategies that can be used to look after their own mental health and wellbeing and also how they can support others to do the same. Those who enjoyed the training and wish to put this to good use, now have the option of applying for a job in our lunchtime Calm Club. If they wish to do so, they can write a short paragraph to Mrs Rich, our nurture assistant, explaining why they think they would be good at the job and sharing their ideas for how we can better help any children who become dysregulated during the lunch hour. Past ideas have included Yoga, painting, jigsaws, colouring etc. The deadline for applications is Monday 16th October in order to ensure that we have enough time to get the club up and running again after the half term break. 

 

On Monday, we wish the best of luck to the children in Years 5 and 6 representing the Hayes in the cross-country event at Lloyds Park. You are all superstars, and we will be cheering for you along the route! Parents are responsible for transporting their children to this event. Registration is from 3:45.

 

Tuesday is ‘Hello Yellow’ day! Your children are invited to wear something yellow with their school uniform (e.g. T-shirt, socks, hairband) in support of the charity Young Minds who do essential work in supporting children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. We have added the option of making a voluntary donation (suggested amount £1) for this event and all monies raised will be sent directly to the charity.  If you would like to learn more about this charity you can use the following link: #HelloYellow | World Mental Health Day | YoungMinds . If you or your child are struggling with your mental health, please do talk to us. We now have 4 trained Mental Health First Aiders, who can support you through signposting to relevant services.

 

Leading on from the above, this Thursday, the children in Class 12 will be leading our assembly about wellbeing at 9:10 in the school hall. If you have a child in this class and wish to attend, we would love to see you there.  

Some advance notice that we will soon be hosting our first SEND Coffee morning of the year. This will take place on the 19th of October and the focus will be on reducing anxiety. We will be joined by Zoe Barkham-Manlow, an expert in the field. If your child is not on the SEND register, but this is an issue that you would like to know and understand more about, you are also welcome to come and join us. Please pop the date in your diaries.  

 

Lastly, a lost and found notice. We have found 2 sets of keys in the last week. If you or your child has lost them please let us know. We are also trying to locate a missing pair of glasses. These are black with orange rubber on the ear pieces. If your child has picked these up accidently, or you have seen these, please do return them to us as soon as possible.   

 

Many thanks, have a great weekend. 

Week beginning 2^nd October 2023

 

We start our bulletin with a success story this week and wish to congratulate our boys’ football team who played, and won, their first league game against St David’s yesterday after school. Their first match was won 3-0 and the second 5-2. Not only did the boys play skilfully, they demonstrated great teamwork, sportsmanship and respect towards their opponents, shaking hands and giving them three cheers. We are really proud.

 

With a strong commitment to equality of opportunity, we are excited to also let you know that this year, for the first time, we have managed to put together a girls’ football team who trained after school today with Mr McEvoy as their coach. Our girls demonstrated some fantastic skills, worked well as a team and demonstrated their strong desire to fulfil our Hayes Vision to ‘Be the Best they can be!’ Their first league match is in November and we are excited to support them on their footballing journey!

 

Today in school we celebrated National Teaching Assistant Day. We reflected in assembly about the importance of showing gratitude and saying thank you to people who help us. The children offered their messages of appreciation to our team of support staff thanking them for ‘helping me to learn and progress’, ‘playing with me in the playground’, ‘cheering me up when I am feeling sad’ among many other things.

 

Next week marks the start of Black History Month. The theme this year is ‘Before-Windrush’ and throughout the month, the children will have the chance to take part in a range of learning opportunities to broaden their cultural understanding. We begin on Monday and Tuesday with all children participating in African drumming workshops that have been fully funded by our amazing PTA. Thank you!

 

Also, on Monday, the children in class 11 will be leading our Harvest assembly at 9:10am in the school hall. Parents of children in this class are invited to attend. We would like to thank parents for your generous donations of non- perishable food items and toiletries. We will still accept these on Monday if you have not yet had a chance to donate and wish to. All foods collected will be given to the Purley Food Hub to support local families. We are grateful to the hub for their efforts to ensure that no child or family, in our local area, goes hungry. If you are experiencing hardship and need support, please do talk to us, we may be able to help.

 

On Tuesday, we are excited to let you know that our children in Year 5 will be participating in training with a Mental Health and Wellbeing organisation called One Goal. This training will help the children to learn how to become Mental Health Champions. It is designed to help children better understand and manage their own mental health needs and encourage them to reflect on how they can support and promote the wellbeing of others.  Once trained, we will be looking to re-instate our lunch time 'Calm Club' to provide peer support to children who may be feeling dysregulated or in need of emotional support at lunch time. More details to follow soon.

 

On Thursday, we are holding an open morning for parents of children due to start school in September 2024.  This begins at 9:30am in the school hall. If you wish to attend, please ensure you have booked a place on our school website. The link can be found here: Reception Open Mornings | The Hayes Primary School

 

Next Thursday is also our school CENSUS day. On this day, the number of children who eat a school dinner has a direct impact on the funding that we receive for the rest of the year. With this in mind, we appeal to you to encourage as many children as possible to have a school dinner. To make it more tempting for the children, we will be swapping the Thursday and Friday menu for next week as our data shows us that the Friday menu is our most popular choice.

 

On Friday, the school photographer is in school and will be taking individual and sibling photographs. Please ensure, as always, that children are in the correct full school uniform. If your child has PE on this day, please send them in uniform and pack their PE kits and trainers in their bags. They will be permitted to change after they have had their photographs taken.

 

In the evening, the PTA are holding their first school disco of the year. Tickets are available for purchase on the PTA page along with information about timing of these events. If your children are going straight from school to the disco (Years 1 and 2), you may wish to pack them a small snack (nut free) to eat after school to ensure they have enough energy to dance the night away! Children in Reception will have a smaller in-class disco before the end of the school day.

 

Have a wonderful weekend. See you in October!