Dear Parents/Carers,

At the start of the week, we welcomed another local church school to observe Collective Worship. It was a great opportunity to share how we deliver this at Great Gaddesden and support other schools develop their provision. Our visitor was very impressed with the rich programme we follow each week, our values led approach and how much reflection and pupil involvement is at the heart of our collective worship. 

In other news, this half term, I have been enjoying teaching a morning or afternoon in each class. This week, I had the pleasure of teaching RE in Year 1&2 and Early Years which was an absolute delight. Next week, on Monday, I will be joining Year 5&6's Computing lesson on web design, and I look forward to joining Year 3&4 before half term arrives. 

Over the last two weeks, all parents will have received a letter about an upcoming trip or activity planned for their child's class. Taking learning outside the classroom is a great way to consolidate and deepen learning as well as it to life. Thank you to the teachers and Mrs Curtis in the office for working hard to organise these experiences for the children.  

I am pleased to share the term dates for the academic year 2026-2027 which are now on our website here.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

With best wishes,

Mr M. Beach

Headteacher

Whole school attendance this week: 94.8%

Overall attendance so far this year: 94.4%

Well done to Year Y1&2  for the highest attendance this week 97%

All absences must be reported to the school either by leaving an absence message (Option 1) or emailing Mrs Redman (Pastoral Support/Attendance Lead) via absence@greatgaddesden.herts.sch.uk

Please note: in line with the statutory guidance from the Department for Education which is reflected in our attendance policy, we are unable to authorise term time holiday.

Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance 

This week, we have continued to explore our value of the month 'Thankfulness'.

Mrs Tisbury retold the parable of the Wise Builder and we reflected on how the house made of rock symbolises God being our rock and always being by our side.

We thank God for being our rock.

For families, friends, teachers and everyone who cares for us

Thank you God

For people who risk their lives for our safety

Thank you God

For the beauty of nature and the world around us

Thank you God

For all the things we take for granted

Thank you God

Help us to show thankfulness in what we say and what we do each day

Thank you God

Amen

With Christmas being a distant memory, Year 5 and 6 have been working hard in all areas of the curriculum. 

During our English lessons, we have been reading the strange and ethereal book ‘The Lost Thing’ by Shaun Tan. We have been exploring relative clauses, expanded noun phrases and parenthesis.

In Maths, our maths fluency continues to improve with regular practice of the times tables and the ‘4 minute times table challenge’ We are also deepening our understanding of fractions and decimals. 

We have started a new topic in History - Ancient Greece - where we are using primary and secondary sources to research life in Athens and Sparta as well as learning about the life of Alexander the Great. This period in history is also inspiring our work in art. Where we have been looking at Grecian pottery to help design and create our own pots from clay.

In Science we have started our topic of Electricity. We have learned that a circuit is a pathway for an electrical current to flow through. We have constructed our own series circuits and used scientific symbols to draw our circuits and their components. We have also made switches and used these to explore complete and incomplete circuits.

On Wednesday afternoon, Year 1 and 2 went on a scavenger hunt.  We went to the village allotments, the churchyard and the water meadow.  On their journey, the children were encouraged to find and collect a range of objects including something round, shiny, long, yellow, fluffy, red etc.  We also searched for signs of spring on the way and we spotted snow drops, daffodils, crocuses and catkins! 

Well done to Harry for being chosen for the Forest School award this week!

Awards we are working towards

House Points

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