School News

Friday 23rd May 2025

Nash Mills CofE Primary School

In many ways, this half term has felt like a bit of a whirlwind, with only 5 weeks in which to cram all of our usual fun! However it has been fantastic to see so many opportunities being offered to our pupils and so much learning taking place. As we come towards this point in the year, we begin to see the fruits of much of our work in the school year, and I know that the staff have been really enjoying seeing the great progress that the pupils have been making. This week I have seen some amazing letters written by Year 1, well planned stories written by Year 4 and heard some of the thoughtful and considered questions asked by Year 3 pupils during their trip to Verulamium. It is a real pleasure to see the children growing each day!

And as we come to the final half term of the school year there is lots to come! We have many exciting things coming up, including trips, sports days, residentials, productions and much, much more. Thank you in advance for your support in making these dates a success; we know that it does place certain pressures on families but appreciate your support in making our school such a vibrant place to be.

The first item on the next half-term's agenda will be our Swimming Pool sessions, which will take place for the first three weeks, with each class having opportunities to learn to swim or to develop the skills that they already have. A number of families have not yet paid for this; we really do rely on the contrubutions towards trips and events as it means we can offer much more. If you are able to contribute as per the letter sent earlier this term, please do.

Thank you for your help and support. We hope that you all have a great half term!

The Nash Mills Bubble Run!

It was fantastic to see the children having so much fun this afternoon as they took part in the first Nash Mills Bubble Run! The children spent time with their 'buddy class' to take on the challenge, running as many laps as they could through the different bubble stations around the school. It was brilliant to see so much enjoyment and so many of our older pupils helping and supporting others to ensure that everyone could take part.

Thank you for your fundraising efforts with this. Please collect any sponsorship money and return it to the PTA post box under the shelter in the school playground the week after half term if possible. If you can, remember to complete the sponsorship form and Gift Aid declaration as this could help to raise even more.

The funds raised by the PTA help further exciting things to happen in school. Over recent weeks, our Skateboarding and Minecraft workshops have been supported. Next term, we are hoping to purchase some Virtual Reality equipment which will help to further add to the exciting provision we have in school.

Wheelie Good Fun!

Skateboarding Workshops

We really enjoyed the skateboarding. We learnt how to do lots of tricks and how to ride the skateboards. It was fun wearing knee pads and almost everyone fell off at least once! Adam Y5

I had never done skateboarding before and it was scary at first because I was worried I'd just fall off but once I got used to it, it was really fun! Evie Y6

A huge thank you to the PTA for funding this exciting opportunity!

It’s All Roman to Me

Year 3 time travel to Verulamium

Year 3 had an amazing time at the Verulamium Museum on Tuesday. They self-explored around the museum looking at old artefacts and completed Mosaics, before moving on into a small workshop, immersing themselves into the Roman life and shopping for Roman food and household items.

After a spot of lunch, we walked around the park for the 2,000 year old Roman wall that still stands, and we saw where the hypocaust would have been. Year 3 conducted themselves very well on the trip and have learned lots more about the Romans, which will help them with the rest of their topic.

Staffing Update

As we come towards the final half term, we are busy beginning to plan for the next school year. After extensive work in school over the past few weeks, we are pleased to be able to share our current plan with you in terms of staffing for next year. Please be mindful that these plans can change, but we will do our best to provide you with as much warning as possible if they do.

Mrs Jessop will be reducing the number of days she works in school as she begins to find new activities outside of work. We are pleased to share that Mrs Nicholls will be starting her training as a SENCo and working alongside Mrs Jessop next year in order to take on the role.

Sadly, we will also be saying 'goodbye' at the end of term to Mrs Gazzard, and to Mrs Setterfield who has been at Nash Mills for 18 years!

We are pleased to be welcoming back Miss Webb and Miss Jones, who have both been away on maternity leave this year.

The current staffing plan for September is:

Nursery: Miss Webb (M&T), Miss Archer (W-F) & Mrs Holmes

Reception: Mrs Wilson, Mrs Levy & Mrs Armitage

Year 1: Miss Brewer & Mrs Akhtar

Year 2: Mrs Nicholls (M,T,F), Miss Jones (W,Th) & Mrs Cambridge

Year 3: Miss Lyden, Mrs Jakeman & Miss Hatting

Year 4: Mrs Barrett (M-W), Mr Shane (Th-F), Miss Fraser

Year 5: Mrs Lewis & Miss Finnis

Year 6: Mrs Ofosu & Miss Hollis

Our team of SEND teaching assistants, working across classes, will be Mrs Gabor, Mrs Gamage, Mrs Impey and Miss Powell. Miss Bentley will continue to run our Forest School provision and work with children from across the school.

Out of School Achievements

It is always brilliant to see Nash Mills pupils doing well outside of school as well as in!

Well done to Dylan and Harry who, last weekend, took part in a national football tournament. Their team scored 42 goals and conceded 0; an amazing achievement. Well done boys - we are very proud!

Attendance

As we wrap up the final week before the half-term break, attendance has dipped slightly across the school, but we’re hopeful for a strong return afterwards! Year 4 leads the way with an excellent 98.6%, closely followed by Year 3 at 97.5% and Year 1 at 97.3%. Year 2 also performed well with 95.7%, and Year 6 came in at 95.3%.

Year 5 saw a slight drop to 94%, while Reception and Nursery finished the week at 93% and 92% respectively. While these figures are a little lower than we’d like, we know how much our pupils value their time in school—learning, playing, and growing together.

Let’s all enjoy a well-deserved break and come back refreshed, ready to aim high and make every school day count! 🌟📚

Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots!

This week, our TTRS leader board is based on studio speed, which reflects how quickly pupils are answering questions, our top 5 are all under 1 second a question and the top 20 are all under 1.5 seconds!

Our Numbots leader board reflects the number of levels passed with 3 stars (the most for passing a level). Well done to all of our leaders this week.

Mr Shane

Leader board this week

1st - Ivy (Y2)

2nd - Amelia-Rose (Y1)

3rd - King (Y2)

Leader board this week

1st - Noah (Y6)

2nd - Ivy (Y5)

3rd - Edward (Y4)

Electric Vehicle Charging

You may have noticed that the school has recently had some Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers fitted in the car park.

As of this weekend, these chargers are available for use by the general public through the Monta Charge app. The use of these chargers is at a greatly reduced cost compared with other local public charging points and will help to raise further funds for the school. Public Charging is available from 5pm to 8am weekdays and during weekends and school holidays, subject to terms displayed in the car park.

Please share this information with family and neighbours. We hope that it is a useful addition for the local community!

Upcoming Dates

26th-30th May - Half Term (school closed)

2nd-20th June - Whole School Swimming!

2nd-6th June - Year 6 Residential

2nd-6th June - Y4 Multiplication Check week

2nd June - Weekly music workshop sessions for Nursery to Year 2 begin

9th-13th June - Y1 Phonics Check week

10th June - Y2 Class Assembly

11th June - Y4 Trip to Hampton Court Palace

17th June - Y3 Class Assembly

18th June - Y2 Trip to London

20th June - Reception Trip to Ruislip Lido

24th June - Y1 Class Assembly

24th June - Y4 Electric Umbrella event at St Albans Cathedral

25th June - Reception Coffee Morning

26th June - Nursery Coffee Morning

26th June - Y1 Trip to RAF museum

30th June-4th July - Sports Week

1st July - Y4 Class Assembly

3rd July - Sports Day - 11am EYFS and 12pm KS1 and KS2.

4th July - PTA Summer Disco

7th July - Reports sent home

9th-11th July - Y5 Residential Trip to Phasels Wood

10th July - Pupils in new Classes in school. Y6 to their new secondary schools.

14th-18th July - Art Week

14th July - Music Performances

15th&16th July - Y5/6 production 'Oliver with a Twist' - 2.15pm

17th July - Church Service

17th July - Y6 Leavers Party

18th July - Leavers Assembly

18th July - Last day of term - school closes at 1.30pm.

21st-23rd July - school closed for INSET and Occasional Days.

School reopens for the new school year on Thursday 4th September.

Good Shepherd Booking

Good Shepherd Club—to book spaces at Breakfast or After School Club, please visit

http://www.goodshepherdclubs.co.uk/

Logging Absences

Thank you to those who have now managed to log child absences on Arbor. It has really helped the office, meaning that we know where all of the children are more quickly in the morning. If The instructions on how to do this are set out below.

If your child is unwell, Hertfordshire Attendance team require that the nature of the illness is recorded, so please include this in your message (cough, cold, temperature, vomiting etc.). Please note that any absence requests for future dates will still need to made through the school office. In line with our attendance and safeguarding policies, a reminder to report your child's absence every morning, by 8.30am, until your child is well enough to return to school.

Step 1 -Click on Quick Actions button and then click Attendance followed by the green Log Absence button (top right).

Step 2 - Enter the absence details. If your child will be absent all day, there is no need to edit the start and end times that will automatically appear. If your child is ill, please ensure that you enter the nature of the illness and then press the green Log Absence button.

Step 3 - Once you have logged the absence, the school office will 'accept' it. Approved absences then appear in the Attendance tab of the Arbor App. It is not possible to edit an absence once it has been approved, so if you have any queries, please email the school office who will be able to help.

Pupil Premium

Did you know that your child may be able to receive additional support in school in addition to free school meals, if you qualify for certain benefits?

If you receive any of the following, your child may well be eligible for the Pupil Premium. This provides them with free school meals throughout their time at school, but also a range of additional things in school to help with their learning and engagement. If your child might be eligible, please visit the following site (https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/ufs/HCWH.eb?ebd=0&ebz=1_1717745705707) or speak to the school office who will be happy to help.

Income Support
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (as long as you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and you don't get more than £16,190 a year)
Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
Universal Credit (with annual earned income of no more than £7,400 after tax and not including any benefits you get).

The application process only takes a few minutes and we are more than happy to provide support if it is needed.

Clothing Bank

Thank you for your donations towards our clothing bank. If you have any old clothes following clear-outs, please drop things in. The clothing bank is emptied regularly so should be ready for more donations.

The school carpark is open between 7am and 6pm on weekdays. Members of the local community are more than welcome to use it too so please spread the word!

Water Bottles!

Just a reminder, please, to send your child into school each day with a full water bottle. Especially as the weather gets warmer, it is vital that the children have access to water throughout the day.

If bottles need filling up, they can do this in each classroom and water is available in the dining room and on the playground at lunchtimes for any refills. Please do encourage your children to ask for help with this if they need it; the adults are more than happy to support.

Birthday Celebrations

Due to a number of incidents of allergic reactions across Hertfordshire, the council have recently changed their guidance in that schools should not be allowing children to hand out sweets for birthdays and other special events. Staff and parents are obviously unaware of what is being provided and so it presents a risk to certain members of our school population.

We still think that it is important that the children have some way of celebrating their birthdays in school and so moving forward we can share that, on their birthday (or the day closest to it), children are welcome to come to school wearing their own clothes. This will help them to feel special on their birthday and to help them celebrate with their friends for the whole day.

Please note that, from next week, teachers will not be able to support the children in handing out sweets at the end of the day.

Thank you for your understanding with this change.

Final Thought

This thoughtful quote from Tom at Electric Umbrella is a fantastic reflection on what we try to do for our children each day.

What superhero 'cape' does your child have that makes them special?

What about you?

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