Newsletter

Spread Your Wings (national Charity) Blue Day

February is rare diseases month and the 15th February is designated as Angelman Day. The closest date that we could acknowledge this is Friday 13th February. The colour of the charity is blue, so today we asked all of the children to come to school dressed in blue and to pay £1 on School Money. Thank you for your support.

Parent Meeting – Special Educational Needs in the mainstream classroom

On Wednesday 25th February at 9:30am we are holding a parent workshop about SEND in the mainstream classroom via Zoom. We will be sharing information about how we support SEND children in our classrooms at Holly Park including adaptations and interventions and provisions we provide for different needs. We will look at how adults support children to help with their learning and the range of professionals for different agencies we have who come to Holly Park to do assessments and support children. We will also be discussing SEND support plans and the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process. Please do join the session if this is of interest to you. Mrs Kelly will email out the Zoom link ahead of the meeting.

National Chess Championships

I am delighted to share some positive news regarding the Under 11s Holly Park chess team. Amazingly, after a couple of years of practice and determination they came first place at the North London region National Chess Championships. They now go forward to the next stage. The Under 9 team also did very well and they all played really well, a very new team which has much potential to be competitive.

Identifying Children at Lunchtime

After half term, we will be introducing extra lanyards at lunchtimes for children. We still have the yellow allergy lanyards and the blue Halal lanyards. However, we want to ensure that our vegetarian and pescatarian children are identified – especially the youngest children who may be unsure if they are vegetarian or who may be unsure of what the ingredients are in certain foods. We will be introducing a green vegetarian lanyard and a purple pescatarian lanyard.

Food Bank Aid’s ‘Healthy Smile Campaign’

Next half term, our school will be taking part in Food Bank Aid’s ‘Healthy Smile Campaign, helping to support families who are unable to afford basic dental care. How you can help We are inviting families to donate toothpaste and toothbrushes to help fill the dental care gap for children and adults using local food banks. There will be a basket in the foyer between Monday 23rd February and Friday 20th March for any donations of toothpaste and toothbrushes. Every donation helps families take care of healthy smiles – thank you so much for your support.

Read Together in Class – (Change of Date)

On Tuesday 24th February, parents are invited to come into school with the children to read. The session is from 8.45am to approx. 9.15am. Parents are welcome to read to children or listen to children read a book to you. Children love to read and share books with adults. You will be reading with a small group of children. If you have more than one child you will need to decide which class to go to as there will only be time for one class. The event will be repeated in the Spring and the Summer term so there is a chance to read with your other children to. We hope that many of you will be able to visit. The event is not really suitable for toddlers to join you in the classroom.

Results of our House Challenge

Following our annual House Challenge event last week, the results were as follows:

Griffin 80 points Joint First Place
Phoenix 80 points Joint First Place
Hydra 78 points Second Place
Unicorn 73 points Third Place
Dragon 71 points Fourth Place

World Book Day

This year, World Book Day is on Thursday 5th March and we have lots of exciting activities planned! Our Holly Park theme this year is… Magical Creatures and mythical Beasts! • All children are invited to dress up as their favourite book character from a book of their choice. • The Holly Park World Book Day Pop-Up Museum will be back! This year we are asking pupils to make (at home) and bring in their own model creation of a mythical beast or creature. They can re-create one that is well-known or invent their own. It could be made from card, paper, clay, material, cake…anything they like! These will be collated in to an exhibition for every class to visit. • Ms Sampson will be leading a whole school assembly. • During the day, children will be drawing their own magical creature or mythical beast. Each class will collate these to create a ‘Bestiary’. These will then be made available in the library. • Pupils will receive their book tokens that can be used to buy special World Book Day books in shops (or £1 off a preferred book). • If you would like to get involved with further activities at home then there are many suggestions on the World Book Day website: https://www.worldbookday.com

Support a Local Theatre production

Looking for something to do in half term? Treasure Island is on at Manor Drive Methodist Church in the half term holiday 18th to 21st February with a Saturday matinee at 1.30pm. Tickets are available from mdprods.org.uk. Mathew Dickinson’s productions are always good fun and of high quality.

Ramadan

A letter has been sent to parents of children in Years 4,5 and 6 about Ramadan and fasting. If this affects your child, then please send the slip back or contact the school office. Thank you.

Card Games for Breakfast Club

We would really welcome donations of complete card games for children in breakfast club to use. We are thinking of games such as: normal packs of playing cards, UNO and Top Trumps. If you have any complete sets at home which don’t get used, we would be very grateful. Thank you.

Attendance

Whole school attendance for the last week was 96% Well done to Year 4 Sycamore Class with the best attendance at 99%.

Dates

Tuesday 24th February Read Together in class 8.45am to 9.15am
Wednesday 25th February Parent meeting on Zoom – SEND in mainstream schools
Friday 27th February Chefs In School
Monday 2nd March Times released online for parent consultations
Thursday 5th March World Book Day
Friday 6th March The Holly Park Book Swap
Friday 6th March Y4 Pyjama Party
Monday 9th March First Aid lessons this week
Tuesday 10th March KS1 maths meeting at 9am
Tuesday 10th March KS1 Book Look at 3.45pm
Tuesday 10th March Barnet Dance festival
Wednesday 11th March KS2 Book Look at 3.45pm

Term dates for parents: Term dates

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