Newsletter

Newsletters are emailed out to parents and carers every week on a Friday. If you do not already receive you can read it here or have it emailed by contacting the office on: office@hollypark.barnetmail.net

To see the full colour version of this week’s newsletter including photographs please scroll further down this page. You will also find there a full list of previous newsletters.

This plain version of the newsletter will translate into different community languages using the Google translate button at the bottom of this page.

This week’s newsletter:

Harvest Festival

Holly Park will be celebrating Harvest on Wednesday 17th October. To mark this event, we will be collecting dried and tinned foods, washing up liquid, washing powder, pasta sauces in jars, deodorant, toothpaste etc for Homeless Action in Barnet. It would be fantastic if everyone could donate something to support this very worthwhile cause. Please bring in all your donations on Wednesday 17th, and bring them directly to the hall where we will be ready to receive them to make an instant display for our assembly.

Permission Forms

A reminder that all parents need to return the permission forms for their children asap. The forms were in the Meet The Teacher pack. If you have lost your form, please ask at the office. Next week we will start chasing up missing forms as we must have them. Thank you

Junior Quiz

All children in KS2 (Y3-Y6) are invited to come to the Junior Quiz on Wednesday from 3.45 – 5pm. The PTA have sent home further information about this. Children will compete in their Houses and points will be awarded to them. If you want your child to participate you MUST complete and return a form.

Be Bright Be Seen Day

If you are a motorist then you will know how difficult it is to sometimes see pedestrians wearing dark clothes at night or when visibility is poor. On Friday next week, we will be having our annual “Be Bright Be Seen Day”, raising awareness of the importance of being safe on the streets. Last year, 23% of road related accidents for children happened between 3- 5pm and 14% between 7-9am on a weekday – the exact times pupils travel back and forth to school. With the clocks about to go back and Halloween approaching, we just wanted to raise awareness. We will be asking children to come to school dressed in bright clothes and we will be telling them how important it is to wear bright clothes so that drivers can see them.

Walk to School Week

Next week is “Walk to School Week”. We are encouraging children to walk to school as it is a healthier way to travel and it reduces congestion in the streets near the school. If you have to drive because you live too far away, please try to park a few streets away and walk some of your journey to school, so “Park and Stride”. All children who walk to school or park and stride will receive a sticker.

Diary Dates

Monday 15th October Walk to School Week
Monday 15th October Infant Music Festival
Monday 15th October Y5 Bikeability Week
Tuesday 16th October Willow Class Assembly
Wednesday 17th October Harvest Festival
Wednesday 17th October PTA Junior Quiz at 3.45pm
Thursday 18th October Phonics Meeting for Y1 parents at 9am
Thursday 18th October Cross Country Competition
Friday 20th October Be Bright be Seen Day
HALF TERM
Tuesday 30th October Y5 workshop for parents & children at 9am
Wednesday 31st October Y4 Restorative workshop for parents & children 9am
Thursday 1st November Holly Park Book Club at 9am
Friday 2nd November Y1 session about end of year expectations 9am
Monday 5th November Y5 School Journey meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 6th November Elm Class Assembly at 9am
Tuesday 6th November KS1 Book Look for parents
Thursday 8th November Individual Photographs
Thursday 8th November KS2 Book Look for parents
Monday 12th November Anti-Bullying Week

Eat Well For Less

Eat Well for Less are currently casting for their sixth series and are looking for families / households who would like to eat well and save some money on their weekly shop. They would love it if you would be willing to contact them. “The show follows Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace & award winning greengrocer Chris Bavin on a mission to prove that it is possible for families and households to save money on their food budget without scrimping on taste and nutrition. They hope that by analysing the shopping habits of UK families, they can help to show where we can source the best and cheapest quality food.” Eating well and to a budget is something they feel affects most of us and they want to spread the word about the new series. See their flier for contact information if you are interested.

Music News

Instrumental Tuition and Ensembles: All sessions are taking place. There are no after-school choir sessions next week.
Barnabas Choir remaining dates: OCTOBER: 30th – FULL Barnabas Choir (Years 4, 5 & 6). NOVEMBER: 6th – FULL Barnabas Choir (Years 4, 5 & 6). These are our only after-school rehearsals before Christmas; please make every effort to attend.
Infant Choir: remaining dates: NOVEMBER: 1st, 8th. Our Infant Choir will be performing at the Barnet Infant Music Festival at Cromer Road School on Monday 15th October. We will include some of the songs in the Candlelight Concert.
We now have a Holly Park Music Blog which will give you access at home to recordings of some of the songs the choirs are learning. This can be accessed here. Please be aware of the issues regarding your children accessing the internet – strict parental supervision is essential.

Niru Reid

Last week, Niru, a long established parent and teaching assistant at Holly Park very sadly passed away. Niru had two children who came to Holly Park. I had the pleasure of teaching both of them. Niru worked as a teaching assistant here for many years and again I was lucky to work with her when she supported a child in one of my Y6 classes. Niru had been ill for several years and took early retirement as she knew her time left was short. Niru loved her allotment and she was also a very good artist. She was a very brave lady who was quite forthright and spoke her mind. Today many of us attended her funeral. She has many friends still at the school. And she will be sadly missed. Niru gave a great deal to Holly Park for which we are very grateful.

Going Cashless

From after the October half term we are following many other primary schools and will be a cash free school. We will not be accepting cash for anything. All payments will need to be made online. Parents will be able to pay for everything – dinner money, trips, breakfast club etc via our online payment system. If you have not signed up to this yet, you might like to set this up in the next few weeks so you are ready. If you are not sure how to do this or have any questions, please speak to Miss Hounslow. For any parents who feel they do not have facility to do this – there is a card available from newsagents that you can put cash onto and which then enables you to be able to make payments to our system. Again, please come and speak to Miss Hounslow if you would like to know more about this.

Holly Park Online Community Noticeboard

We now have a Community Noticeboard on our school website under the ‘Contact’ heading. This is for parents and friends of the school to advertise their businesses/events. For example if you make birthday cakes, do nails, are a decorator etc. The following rules will apply: Items will be listed alphabetically to avoid any favouritism eg C for cake making, P for Piano lessons. There is a disclaimer at the top of the page saying that inclusion on the page does not mean the service is endorsed by the school in any way. The cost to advertise will be £10 per term paid to Mrs Hassan. We no longer distribute leaflets for companies advertising holiday clubs, tennis lessons etc as this is not very eco friendly. However the company can email the school office a leaflet and for £10 can advertise on this page. The page is ready and operational now.

Here is this week’s newsletter: Newsletter 12.10.18

In the first week of the new year Mrs Pelham wrote a letter to families instead of a newsletter: Introduction letter – September 2018