Each week in our whole school assembly we celebrate children's attendance by the winning class for that week receiving Paddington Bear to sit pride of place in their classroom. The class  with the highest attendance figure is rewarded with a class prize. 

The winning class for the last week was: 

Week of 30th January:   Ireland Class with 97.77% attendance

Whole school attendance : 94.4%

Week of 23rd January : America class with 100% attendance

Whole school attendance : 93.4%

Our whole school target attendance for this academic year across all classes is 97%.

If you need to speak with your child's class teacher you are very welcome to contact the school office to arrange a telephone call or conversation. 

Please can we ask that all email communication to staff is sent via the office. This helps us to ensure that your email is passed to the member of staff best placed to address your query. Thank you. 

Polite reminder that no dogs are allowed on school site even if on a lead. 

Thank you for your co-operation 

Thank you for taking the time to attend the Learning Review meetings for your child on Wednesday. It was lovely to see so many of you in attendance with your children. Please may we take this opportunity to remind you that if you do bring your children to evenings and events such as the Learning Review meetings, that you ensure they are supervised. They should not be on the school playground or any other areas of the school without parental supervision. Thank you, this helps to ensure that the children are safe at all times. 

We're pleased to announce our forthcoming workshops, which are free to attend and delivered as part of our Early Intervention Hub.

These online workshops are designed as a starting point for families with children who have low level difficulties. These are one-off 2-hour sessions conducted virtually via Microsoft teams. Please note these workshops do not support moderate/severe difficulties and will not address risky behaviours (self-harm, suicidal ideations).

To register for any of our workshops, please follow the link below then fill in the standard referral form in the ‘Any other relevant information’ section. Please state that the referral is for a workshop, and include the workshop date.

https://chums.uk.com/emotional-wellbeing-service/#workshops 

 NSPCC number day is Friday 6th February. Children will be invited to dress up if they wish with inventive or simple ideas on how to represent numbers. Last year we had children dress as calculators, dart boards and uno cards! There will be a variety of fun activities and all proceeds will go to the NSPCC. 

If you wish to make a donation then you can do so on our just giving page below:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/ardley-hill-academy-17?newPage=true

Mark your calendars! This year’s Safer Internet Day takes place on Tuesday 10th February, focusing on the theme: 

"Smart tech, safe choices - Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI".

  As artificial intelligence becomes a bigger part of our daily lives—from voice assistants to homework helpers—we want to ensure our students have the skills and confidence to use these tools securely and ethically.

To celebrate, Chiltern Learning Trust is hosting an exciting competition across all schools in the Trust! We encourage all students to get involved and showcase their digital citizenship skills.

We are challenging students to create an original, informative resource using Canva (KS1 can create a poster on paper)  that highlights safe AI habits. Students can choose to design:

• Eye-catching Posters

• Innovative App Designs

• Engaging Animations

• Short Informative Films

Entries must be emailed to the office (if using Canva) for the attention of your child's class teacher by Monday 9th March. 

On Thursday 12th February, we are inviting all children to wear red or pink to school as a way of celebrating love and kindness, in exchange for a £1 donation, which can be paid via Bromcom or in cash. All money raised will go towards improving our Reception outdoor area, helping us to buy exciting new equipment such as a climbing frame, mud kitchen and woodwork bench. These resources will support children’s play, creativity and physical development. Thank you so much for your continued support — it really does make a difference! 

Donation will be set up on bromcom next week. 

Shine Bright Wear Bright ‘Mufti Day’ for Children’s Mental Health Week 2026

Friday 13th February, Ardley Hill Academy will be taking part in CHUMS Charity’s Shine Bright Wear Bright 2026 campaign to raise awareness and vital funds to support the mental health & emotional well-being of children and young people across Luton & Bedfordshire - a cause we feel is now more important than ever.

Children’s Mental Health Week is taking place from 9–15 February 2026 and is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on and raise awareness of children and young people’s mental health.

CHUMS believes every child should have easy access to mental health support whenever they need it.

CHUMS have supported more than 800 children and young people in 2025 across Luton & Bedfordshire.  Many of these children and young people face challenges making it hard for them to focus at School. CHUMS has developed a unique service delivery model to ensure that children and young people are able to access a service that supports their individual needs.

Shine Bright Wear Bright

As a school community, we will be encouraging all students and staff to use clothing and colour to express themselves on Friday 13th February. Last year we raised an amazing £382.26! Donation is option but if you would like to then you can, by donating online at https://www.justgiving.com/page/ardley-hill-academy-18.

Your child/children’s SBWB outfit can be as simple or elaborate as they like! SBWB is an opportunity for self-expression and celebrating a diverse range of emotions. The day also provides a great opportunity to be open about mental health and start conversations within our school community.

We’re delighted to be hosting a SBWB Mufti Day during Children’s Mental Health Week and raising much-needed funds for CHUMS. It’s thanks to supporters like you that CHUMS is a British Children & Young Adults mental health success story. Thank you for helping us to keep that story going!

If you would like more information, please contact the school office, or see the CHUMS website http://www.chumscharity.org/SBWB26 for more ways you can fundraise and support CHUMS.

Miss Slough

Mental Health Lead

Our next cultural day will be on Friday 27th February where our focus will be Japan. 

What is Cultural day?

•A day where the children learn about the culture of a specific country.

•Is not just a ‘geography’ day.

•Children will be taught about an aspect of the country by each teacher in the Key Stage.

•We will avoid any countries that are the class names.

Activities include but are not limited to:

•Geographical features of the country (major cities, landmarks etc)

•History of the country.

•Sport created or played in that country.

•A fact file for that country.

•Trying/making/exploring food from that country.

•Fashion/clothing from that country.

We’re pleased to share that our school is taking part in the Young Mathematical Story Authors (YMSA) Competition this year. This international competition encourages children to combine maths and creativity by writing a short mathematical story picture book.

Children can take inspiration from well-known stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which explores size and comparison, and create their own imaginative maths-based tales.

Thanks to the support of Oxford University Press, HarperCollins and Charlesbridge, the winner in each age category (4–7, 8–11 and 12–16 years) will receive a £100 cash prize.

Full details and entry information have been uploaded to your child’s Google Classroom.

All entries should be returned to class teachers by Friday 13th March.

We hope many children feel inspired to take part and enjoy this exciting opportunity.