Things coming up next week:

Monday- Parent Forum @9am (please report to the school office)

Tuesday- FOGGS AGM @7pm (remote/via Teams)

Wednesday- EYFS Forest School PM (please can Nursery & Reception children bring in Forest School clothes in a seperate bag)

Whole school attendance this week: 94.9%

Overall attendance so far this year: 96%

Every day counts! All classes begin learning activities as soon as the children arrive at 8:40am. 

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 

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Further to the communication from Mrs Curtis,  HCL, our catering provider, have released their new Winter Menu (effective from half term). As you will note, it follows a three week cycle. 

This has been uploaded to our website: School Meals Menu 

As a polite reminder, all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a Free School Meal under the Universal Infant Free School Meal Grant from the government. We have found that our younger children are always more keen to try new foods when with their friends at lunch time. We also have our salad cart which is on offer for all children having a school meal from Monday-Thursday.

It is important to check if your child(ren) is/are in Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 whether you may be eligible for Free School Meals. You can do this online by following this link: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals 

This week, we hear from Year 3&4 who have had a very busy start to the Autumn Term!

In English, we have recently started a new text in English lessons called ‘The Mermaid of Zennor.’ The story is set in Cornwall and tells the story of Tom Taskis who runs away with a mermaid!  Whilst reading the story we have made predictions about what might happen next, used fronted adverbials in writing sentences and created storyboards of the main events in the story.  Next week we will be creating information booklets about visiting the town of Zennor.

In Maths, we have had a focus on place value, addition and subtraction.  In every lesson we use a range of manipulatives including bead strings, cubes, place value charts and Dienes to help us with our learning.  We are currently learning how to add and subtract using the column method.

Our topic in Science is ‘Forces and Magnets.’  We have been making predictions and carrying out investigations using a variety of different magnets.

In History, we are learning about ‘The Romans’ in our history lessons.  We have found out about the Roman army and drawn pictures of the weapons and shields that they would have used.  We have also researched Boudicca and how she rebelled against the Roman army.

In Art lessons we are learning about drawing and perspective.  Our focus artist for this unit is Vincent Van Gogh.  We have experimented with drawing different sorts of lines, used pastels and chalk to add colour to still life drawing and learnt techniques for using perspective

Year 3 and 4 were all very excited about venturing up to the woods today!  We started the afternoon by looking for the clay faces on the trees created by Year 5 and 6 on their last visit to the woods.  We spend the rest of the time in small groups taking part in a range of activities including making natural sculptures with clay, using tools to whittle sticks and den building amongst the trees.

This year, for Harvest, we are sharing our offering with DENS (local food bank in Hemel Hempstead).

Below is the high needs list from DENS. Thank you in advance for your support and generosity.