Newsletter

Special Themed Lunch – Chinese New Year

We will be having a special menu for Chinese New Year on Tuesday 24th February.

The menu will be:

Chicken Chow Mein
Vegetable stir fry noodles with broccoli and baby corn
Pineapple fried rice
Caramel banana cake

Communication

Thank you to parents who completed the communication questionnaire just before Christmas. It was very helpful. The overwhelming majority of parents felt that communication was really good at Holly Park.

There were comments such as:

Holly Park is great at communication
I feel very informed about things
Thank you for seeking feedback on this
Excellent overall
The school communicates well with parents
I appreciate the effort the school puts into keeping families informed
Communication is generally strong
The school is transparent and open
Well-structured information
Multiple forms of communication used so we are definitely going to get the information
General information and dates are readily available
Lots of information in newsletters
Lots of methods of communication
Frequent reminders and updates
Clarity of information is top notch
The school shares information about everything that happens and informs and reminds us about important events which is helpful
Effective and efficient communication ensures the full school community is connected
Responsive staff

Whilst there were some individual comments about how the school could improve communication, there was one overwhelming comment that came up several times that parents felt could be improved and could be a barrier for parents. Many parents felt that with only one parent getting the information via text or email was a problem and that it would be much better if both parents got the information. We have looked into this as our contract with the text/email provider has just come to an end. It will cost the school another £1,500 on top of what we already pay in order to allow a larger access e.g both parents to have access. As you know, school budgets are VERY tight – however we have listened to parent feedback and feel that this will be money well spent and we have extended our contract so that all parents can get communications. We hope that parents will appreciate that we have listened to feedback and that this will make things easier for families.

Spread Your Wings (national Charity) Blue Day Friday 13th February

On Friday next week we will be supporting our national charity – Spread Your Wings. Spread Your Wings is a charity that supports children with Angelman Syndrome. Spread Your Wings is a charity close to our school community as Alex who runs Non-Stop Action has a son with Angelman’s Syndrome. Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a rare neurogenetic condition affecting around 1 in 15,000 people, about 500,000 in the world. It affects the nervous system causing severe physical and learning disabilities, little or no speech and issues with movement and balance. A person with Angelman will have near normal life expectancy, but they will require support throughout their life. AS is caused by one of several different types of disruptions of a region of Chromosome 15, all involving a single gene, UBE3A. AS or Angelman Syndrome, was given its name by a British paediatrician, Harry Angelman. He first identified it in 1965. Initially, little was known of the disorder and few other cases were identified. 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 on Friday 13th February we are asking all of the children to come to school dressed in blue and to pay £1 on School Money. Thank you for your support.

Identifying Vegetarians

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 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. Please could you call the office next week and speak to Bogumila if your child is vegetarian and needs a lanyard. IF your child is vegetarian but eats fish (Pescatarian) please could you also call the office and say that your child is pescatarian. We will be introducing the lanyards after half term so it is important that parents call next week so we know who needs a lanyard.

Healthy Schools Award – Gold

I am delighted to tell you that we have successfully achieved the GOLD Healthy Schools Award. This is testament to the hard work of everybody across the school. A particular thank you and well done to Miss Michael who collated all of the evidence together and completed the application and presented to the assessor.

The feedback was: ‘A lot of hard work across the school has been completed in order to improve the emotional health and wellbeing of your pupils. This work has made a significant difference to the whole school community, with clear plans in place to further embed and extend this work. I was interested to read about how you facilitated linking parents with Early Help and the range of support that you have in place for pupils with increasingly complex challenges. Your Gold report was completed to a very high standard. Well done!”

Incognito Theatre

Our neighbours at the Incognito Theatre were very pleased that several families came to their production of Grimm Tales before Christmas. Their next show is in half term week and is suitable for over 18s only. The Height of the Storm by Florian Zeller It is running Sunday 15th to Saturday 21st February. Details on www.incognitotheatre.co.uk Tickets are selling well with best availability in mid-week

Term Dates for the Academic Year 2026/27

These will be published in the newsletter next week.

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.

Annual House Challenge

On Monday we had our annual ‘House Challenge’ This is an opportunity for children to work together in their house teams to earn points for their house. The children worked in their house teams to pass the ball from the front to the back of their line – doing ‘under and over’ They kept going for 15 minutes to see how many times they could get the ball from the front to the back of the line. There was lots of fun and laughter. The results will be shared in assembly next week.