Dear Parents/Carers,

On Monday, I had the pleasure of joining Year 3&4 for their trip to the Veralamium Museum in St Albans. They were also very lucky to visit a live excavation site and explore a range of interesting artefacts from various time periods including the Victorians and Romans. The children also enjoyed attending a workshop at the museum where they got to learn more about the changes the Roman's made, what life was like for them and also handled a range of artefacts. This was a lovely opportunity for the children to consolidate their learning about the Roman's.

Also this week, we are delighted that Mrs Hodgson, a local resident, has started as a volunteer once a week listening to readers. We are so grateful she has kindly offered her time and I know how beneficial it is for the children to read regularly with an adult. 

Later in the week, I met with the Change Team where we discussed proposing to local councillors and our MP installing railings outside the school gates. They assessed the area and we discussed how this would improve safety. Following on from this, the children wrote letters, read these in assembly and led a pupil petition which I will share on their behalf. I also received some letters from the children asking for us to do a sponsored litter pick to raise money the conservation charity 'Sea Changers'. More details about a sponsored litter pick around the village will be shared in due course. 

I am very proud of these leadership behaviours from our children and would like to say a big well done to our young change makers!

In other news, as you may be aware, over the last year, we have implemented a new English scheme called 'Literacy Tree'. This is accompanied by a wide range of high-quality, diverse and engaging literature. This scheme is bespokely designed for mixed age cohorts and we have seen some excellent writing produced. 

As with the rest of our curriculum, our English scheme follows a two year cycle and I am pleased to share that Miss Carty has secured a grant towards the cost of the books for next years cycle. We look forward to sharing these texts with the children as they progress through the curriculum.

Have a restful weekend.

With best wishes,

Mr M. Beach

Headteacher

🗓️Things happening next week:

• Wednesday- Easter Service - 2pm at St John's Church - children to please bring in decorated egg and plain boiled egg in the morning (both named)

• Thursday - Open Afternoon 2:30pm onwards (please arrive via the school office to sign in)

• Friday-  Last day of term (1:30pm finish)

📩Communication sent out this week:

• Upcoming Easter events

• Summer Term Clubs - this is also on our website here

Whole school attendance this week: 97.2%

Overall attendance so far this year: 94.6%

Well done to Year 3&4 for the highest attendance this week with 96%

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

We politely ask that if you plan to take your child out during school time, a leave of absence form is completed. For appointments, we ask where possible that these are not during the school day. If this is not avoidable, please kindly share the relevant information for this appointment in order for us to be able to authorise this.

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 

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we reach the end of term, the Governing Board would like to share a short update. 

Our successful Ofsted inspection took place this term and we are very proud of the outcome. We felt that the report captured the school perfectly, reflecting the caring, ambitious and inclusive environment that staff work so hard to create each day. In particular, we are delighted that the inspection recognised the school’s strong focus on pupils’ personal development and wellbeing which is something I know we all value. Once again we would like to thank all the staff for their continued hard work, before, during and after the inspection.  

Following this inspection and SIAMS inspection which took place six months prior, we have been working with Mr Beach to construct the next two-year development plan. The next steps from SIAMS and Ofsted were small but useful recommendations, and we are pleased to be using them to keep improving the school in a measured, positive way.  

Our Finance Committee has also been reviewing contracts and budgets ahead of next term’s budget planning. This work helps ensure that the school’s resources are used carefully and directed to where they will make the most difference.

We look forward to a busy and exciting Summer term and wish all families a happy Easter break.

Sarah Pugh - Chair of Governors

Darkness into Light - Ephesians 1v7

"When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price to make us free. Because of Christs death on our behalf, God has forgiven our sins"

We have continued to explore our value of the month 'Forgiveness' during the lithurgical season of Lent. 

This week, our Big Questions was: Why is forgivness so powerful?

Here are some of the children's reflections:

"Forgiveness is powerful because if you have done something and you are forgiven it is a weight off your shoulders" Ophelia

"It is powerful because if you do not forgive you will probably regret it for ages and it will make others feel sad" Kiera

"Forgiveness is powerful because you might also then get forgived" Charlotte

"Forgiveness is powerful because if you forgive someone, they know you are ok" Elise

We look forward to seeing everyone at our Easter Church service next week.

This week we hear from Year 1&2 who have had a wonderful half term.

In R.E, our enquiry question is “What are the best symbols of Jesus’ death and resurrection at Easter?”

We have explored the Easter story and looked for symbols within the story such as palm leaves, thorns, bread, coins, towels and olives - ask the children to explain the importance of some of these symbols to you! We have looked especially at the cross being the most important and commonly used symbol of Christianity. We also made our own crosses using sticks and ropes.

Our Maths learning has been focussed on multiplication and division. The children have explored arrays and used these to support their multiplication and division facts. We have solved arithmetic problems and challenged ourselves with worded problems, too. Keep practising counting in steps of 2, 5 and 10 at home! 

Within our English lessons, we have been sharing the book ‘The Odd Egg’ by Emily Gravett. We have explored the different characters in the story and how their feelings change throughout the story. We have also learnt a lot about birds and their young which the children have found particularly interesting. They are looking forward to writing their own ‘egg spotters guides’ next week. 

In Design and Technology, we have linked our learning to our History topic and we have been creating our own castles. The children have worked carefully to cut and join their castles and create the features of a castle such as battlements. We also spent time exploring why castles were first built and the types of people who lived and worked there. Next week, we will compare a variety of castles around the UK.

This week in Science we took our learning outside to enjoy the wonderful Spring sunshine. The children completed a sensory walk and noticed many signs of Spring such as daffodils growing, birds tweeting, blossom on the trees and emerging minibeasts. We used our sense of sight, touch and listening. See if you can experiment with all 5 of your senses over the Easter holidays!

Awards we are working towards

House Points