Newsletter

Harvest Festival Next Week

Advance notice that we will be holding our Harvest assembly on Tuesday 13th October for Food Bank Aid. The theme for this term’s Food Bank Aid school collections is ‘Breakfast’, encouraging pupils to help everyone in our North London community to start their day with energy and focus. They are asking schools to concentrate on collecting oats, porridge, cereal and cereal bars.

Walk to School Week

Next week is Walk to School Week. We encourage the children to walk to school or to park a little further away and walk the last bit – this is called ‘park and Stride’ Why walk to school?

Safety training – you can practice your road safety skills on the way to school
Congestion reduction – fewer cars on the roads make the roads safer
Health benefits – you are getting exercise on your way to school
On the ball! – you arrive at school awake and alert
Our fun and friendship – you can chat to your friends and family on the way
Learning for life – you can look at and learn about your local area

Just One Tree – We are now a Planet Hero School

On Friday 168h October we will be joining Barnet schools in celebrating and raising money for ‘Just One Tree Day’ Just £1 plants one tree. The charity help to Combat Climate Change through reforestation. JUST ONE Tree, make it simple to plant trees! They are a non-profit initiative making an impact in the fight against climate change through global reforestation. They plant their trees in areas severely affected by mass deforestation, maximising the effect. As part of a borough wide project on the environment, Barnet are asking all Barnet schools to participate in this initiative. I am delighted to tell you that due to our commitment to this project over the past few years that we have now been recognised as one of the elite Planet Hero Schools because of our continued support. Children need to wear green and/or brown clothes on 16th October and donate £1 on School Money. If every Barnet child brings in £1 for the non-uniform day, that is a lot of trees being planted by the charity in the Kenyan rainforest. You can find out more about the initiative here

Little City – Open session for toddlers

On Wednesday 21st October, we are being visited by Little City – a wonderful interactive role play set up with marvellous resources. Children can be builders, vets, post office workers, hairdressers, shop assistants, doctors and so much more. From 9am to 10.30am we are holding an open session during our Play Group time for any toddlers in the local community to come and play. Attendees do not have to belong to Holly Park. So if you have friends, family or neighbours with children under 5 years of age please let them know they are welcome. The cost for this special session is £10 paid by card or cash.

Be Bright Be Seen Day

Our annual “Be Bright Be Seen Day”, to raise awareness of the importance of being safe on the streets especially as the nights draw in earlier in Autumn will be on Friday 23rd October. We ask all of the children to come to school dressed in bright clothes – not just colourful – but as bright as they can find.

Black History Month – October

October is Black History month. Over the month we will be doing various assemblies. I will be leading an assembly about Martin Luther King and Mrs Mehtar will be leading one about Ruby Bridges. In classes all of the children will be having a guided reading session and talk time. In addition, KS2 will be participating in African dance workshops.

THE HALF-TERM SCREEN-FREE CHALLENGE

GIVE UP YOUR SCREENS TO HELP US BUY OURS!

Could your children give up their screens for fun for one day this October half term? We are challenging Holly Park children to take part in our Screen-Free Day Challenge, raising money through sponsorship towards new audiovisual equipment for our school hall. Our current projection and sound system is almost 20 years old and is no longer fit for purpose. We’re fundraising to replace it with a modern screen and sound system that can be used for assemblies, lessons, performances and events across the school.

The challenge:

Choose one day during October half term and encourage your children to give up their screens for the whole day – no TV, gaming, YouTube, tablets or phones for entertainment. Which day you choose is completely up to you. Necessary screen use is absolutely fine, and taking part is optional. We know screens can be important for communication, accessibility and family life, so this is about having fun, trying something different and discovering what else we can do with our time while raising much needed funds towards our new hall screen. Children will bring home a Screen-Free Day Sponsor Form with plenty of ideas for things to do instead. Can you sponsor them? We’re hoping our Screen-Free Day Challenge can help us raise £5,000 towards our new hall equipment. You and your family and friends can sponsor the children per hour, for half a day or a whole day to give up their screens. Donations can be made through our fundraising page. Every little counts and will take us another step towards our new screen. Thank you for supporting the Big Holly Park Appeal!

Attendance

Whole school attendance for last week was 97% Well done to Year 4 Mulberry Class with the best attendance at 100%.

Dates

Monday 12th October Walk to school week
Tuesday 13th October Harvest Festival
Friday 16th October Y1 phonics meeting for parents at 9am
Friday 16th October Just One Tree Day
Monday 19th October Y6 National Assessment meeting for parents at 9am
Wednesday 21st October Meeting for Y4 parents about Cuffley camp 2027
Wednesday 21st October Y1 Little City workshops
Thursday 22nd October Y6 to Imperial War Museum
Friday 23rd October Be Bright Be Seen Day
HALF TERM