Dear Parents/Carers,

This week, we were delighted to be able to share our Ofsted outcome from the recent inspection.  We are delighted that Ofsted recognised the many strengths of our school and were given the 'green light' in all areas with Personal Development and Wellbeing judged as 'Strong'. There are so many comments in each of the seven areas we were judged in that capture the special nature of our small village school and I am very thankful to all of the staff, governors, parents and children for being a key part of our school's journey.

Also this week, Early Years and Year 5&6 enjoyed a visit to the Library in Hemel Hempstead.  They had some time in seperate age groups and then came together for some shared reading with their buddies. The Library staff and the mini bus drivers commented on how polite and well-behaved our children are which is lovely feedback.

As a polite reminder, class teachers are available at the end of the day for messages, questions or general comments about your child's progress, homework or support in place. In most instances, the class teacher should be your first port of call.

This afternoon, Year 3&4 ventured up to the woods for Forest School. I really enjoyed joining them although I was not quite expecting it to be quite so muddy!

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 Early Years  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 introduced our two values for this month which are 'Community' and 'Service'. We started by exploring 'Community' and looked at defining what this means, communities we belong to and the importance of our school community. 

Looking outwards, we explored the book "I am you - A Book about Ubuntu" written by Refiloe Moaholi and illustrated by Zinelda McDonald.

Ubuntu is a worldview that promotes empathy, mutual support, and recognizing that we are all part of a larger whole.

A prayer for our Community

Loving God,

We thank you for our school family and for the roof that shelters us all today. Thank you that you have called us together by name, from different homes and backgrounds, to learn and grow in this place.

Help us to build a community of true belonging. Remind us that just as a body has many parts—hands, feet, eyes, and ears—our school has many members, and every single one of us is needed. When one of us is missing, the picture is not complete.

Open our eyes on the playground and in the corridors. Give us the courage to spot those who feel left out. 

Bind us together in Your love. Teach us to celebrate our differences as gifts from You. May our school be a place where everyone is known, everyone is valued, and everyone belongs, reflecting the love of Jesus in all we do.

In Jesus’ name, Amen 

This week, we hear from Year 3&4.

In our English lessons we have been reading a beautifully illustrated text called ‘Winter’s Child’ by Angela McAllister.  We have made predictions about what might happen next in the story and written sentences using possessive apostrophes and prepositions.  The children are all really engaged and enthusiastic about the book. 

Our focus in our maths lessons at the moment is ‘Fractions.’  We have learnt what the words ‘numerator’ and ‘denominator’ mean, we have used a fractions wall to find equivalent fractions and we are currently working on mixed numbers e.g. 2 ¼ 

We have been learning about Modern Europe in our Geography lessons.  The children began by locating the 7 continents using an atlas.  We then focused on Europe and found out the names of European countries and their capital cities.  The children have been locating key features of the different countries including mountains, rivers and seas. Next week, we will be looking more closely at Italy in particular using Google Earth. 

For our whole class reading for pleasure text, we have been reading a Non-Fiction book called ‘Earth Shattering Events’ which includes information about volcanoes, earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis and other natural disasters.  This inspired us to make our own giant volcano! 

Year 3 & 4 had a very wet afternoon up in the woods today.  Mrs D challenged the children to build a giant den that would be big enough for the whole class to shelter from the rain!  The children had to use cooperation and team work to complete this task.  We also used our whittling skills to make a wooden skewer each for toasting marshmallows over a small fire! 

Awards we are working towards

House Points

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