Newsletter

School Governors

I would like to express my thanks to Annemarie Thomas, Lorean Lynch, Claire Powell and Andrea Messios who have all come to the end of their time as governors at the school. All of them are current parents and have given their time in a voluntary capacity to support the leadership of the school. They have all taken on various roles and attended committee meetings, learning walks, full governing body meetings, attended training, met with subject leaders and written reports. Their help, support and challenge has been invaluable for the school especially through our last Ofsted inspection. They will be missed on the governing body.

Christmas has Arrived!

On Monday, every child in school from nursery to Year 6 made a Christmas decoration to hang in the dining hall. This is a Holly Park tradition and helps to make the school look festive. On Wednesday, the children were SO excited to come into the dining hall and see all of the decorations hanging there. The hanging of the decorations in the dining hall always marks the official start to the festivities at Holly Park. This year the theme was Christmas painting – ranging from: candy canes in nursery, Christmas trees painted in different ways in Reception, Year 1, Year 4 and Year 5 to reindeers Year 2, wreaths in Year 3, and window frames and trees in Year 6. Well done to Mr Llewellyn who coordinated this.

Elf on the Shelf

This year we have been lucky again to have been visited each day by two very naughty Elves on the Shelves!! The children have enjoyed seeing them each day and seeing where they are in the school and what they are up to. Photographs of their antics can be found each day on the school website and on Google Classroom. Photos of the elves will also appear each day over the weekend.

The Mayor of Barnet Visits Holly Park

The Worshipful the Mayor, Councillor Danny Rich, invited pupils at Holly Park Primary School to assist him with the annual Snowdrop Planting Project. Some of our children (supported by HPS adults) planted bulbs on the school grounds. The London Borough of Barnet Annual Snowdrop Planting Project is a Council project where snowdrops are planted in memory of every child that died in the Holocaust. This year’s planting of 2,000 bulbs will take the total planted in Barnet so far to 71,000.

Accidents and Injury at School

A reminder that Not everything recorded in the accident book is required to be reported to parents. Staff make an informed judgement of whether an accident should be reported to a parent. Small cuts, falls, bangs and grazes and minor injuries cannot be reported. Not all bumps and scrapes require reporting. Small scrapes, falls and tumbles are a natural part of growing up. With a school of approx. 400 children we cannot possibly inform parents of all small bumps and bruises. Time and personnel are limited and this is put to best use caring for the children rather than making unnecessary administrative phone calls. We report what we believe to be appropriate and proportionate. Administering first aid as necessary and logging the injury in an accident book if it is reported is what is required when it comes to dealing with minor accidents and injuries.

External Clubs for Spring Term

Next week we will be sending out the details for paid lunchtime and after school clubs run by external providers. Please do sign up as quickly as possible for January as places will be limited.

Christmas Parties and Party Food

For the annual Christmas parties we always ask parents to provide food for a party tea. We are asking that children should bring in a small party pack on the day of their party SEPARATE to any packed lunch. This will be their own party pack for their party day. The party pack must not contain nuts. No fizzy drinks can be brought in. Children will need named water bottles. Children will take home their rubbish and any uneaten food. Children should come to school on the day of their party wearing party clothes (sensible shoes) for the whole day. Please make sure that the party clothes are warm clothes

Christmas Lunch

Christmas lunch day will be on Wednesday 10th December. Children are allowed to wear their jazzy jumpers again on this day if they wish.

PTA Jars

Thank you to those of you who supported the Christmas Fair by filling jars with sweets and treats. Every jar filled earned a house point.

First- Griffin
Second – Hydra
Joint Third – Dragon & Phoenix
Fifth – Unicorn

Festive Book fair

On Thursday the 11th December we will be hosting a festive book fair in the hall from 3.30pm. It will be run by Pickled Pepper Bookshop and they’ll be bringing along a range of fabulous books for children of all ages. This is a great opportunity for you to come along and buy books for now – or for seasonal presents! Best of all, they will be giving us 10% of all proceeds so if you buy any books, you will also be supporting the school so that we can buy some more books for our library.

PTA Christmas shop

The PTA Christmas shop will be open on the mornings of 15th and 16th December. This is an opportunity for children to secretly buy gifts for parents or carers while they are at school. Look out for more information about signing up to this from the PTA.

Attendance

Whole school attendance for the last week was 96% Well done to Year 4 Sycamore Class with the best attendance at 100%.

Dates

Monday 8th December Nursery stay and play for new children 4-5pm
Tuesday 9th December Nativity Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday 10th December Christmas Lunch
Thursday 11th December Y3 Nativity at 9.30am
Friday 12th December Y3 Nativity at 2.15pm
Monday 15th December Y3 and Y4 parties
Tuesday 16th December EYFS parties
Tuesday 16th December Y1 and Y2 parties
Wednesday 17th December Y5 and Y6 parties
Thursday 18th December Choir sing a long 2.30pm
Friday 19th December Term ends at 1.30pm