Hartley Primary Academy Newsletter
October 2022
Principal's Welcome
Dear Parents/Carers,
What a wonderfully busy first term we have had! I can't believe we have only been back at school for seven weeks and yet so much has been achieved!
After all of our summer refurbs the school is looking amazing and it was great to hear all the children commenting on the new carpets, decoration and furniture around school. We have done a lot of decluttering and Mr Goldsmith worked like a trooper to move furniture, load skips, build new furniture and generally run around tidying and fixing things! Mr Goldsmith, as I'm sure you're all aware, has been at Hartley even longer than me (and that's 18 years this year!) and he has done a sterling job of looking after our school all that time. Mr Goldsmith has been promoted within the Trust and will soon be managing the site teams at Milestone and Hartley and we hope to have a caretaker to take on the physical aspects of the job for him. Mr Goldsmith is not leaving us but his role is changing and, hopefully, he won't have to do quite as many of the mucky jobs involved when you work in a primary school (I'll leave that to your imaginations!).
This term we have been reminding our pupils about the expectations for behaviour, uniform, attitudes, etc, as we do at the start of every school year. This year however we are working even harder on these areas because COVID saw a lot of things slip - uniform expectations had to be more flexible because shopping wasn't easy, we had lots of separation between year groups, changes to lunchtime routines, etc. The list goes on! Although COVID hasn't gone away we are functioning normally in school and want to make sure that our pupils, staff and parents all have the same high expectations and aspirations for our school and the children who attend it. We hope you will all support us as we work on this. One of the things we speak to the children about regularly are our rights and responsibilities, which apply to everyone, not just the children!
WE AGREE...
We have the right to be safe
We have the responsibility not to hurt others.
We will not hurt other people’s bodies or feelings, or play fighting games at play time.
We have the right to be respected
We have the responsibility to not offend or be rude to others.
We will not be rude, use bad language or be disrespectful to children and adults.
We have the right to learn
We have the responsibility to behave sensibly and keep a good learning environment.
We will not disrupt learning time with behaviour that is not welcome by others.
We have the right to be heard
We have the responsibility to listen.
We will not talk over other people or argue with staff. We will listen and be polite at all times.
We have the right to be happy
We have the responsibility to be kind and to help others be happy.
We will always be kind and considerate of others.
Children at Hartley have always had outstanding behaviour and that is still evident as you walk around our school, but there are some who have slipped into bad habits (e.g. talking over others, chatting in assembly, ignoring Midday Supervisors, etc) and we want to help them to make better choices and ensure they are considering the 'rights' of others in our school community.
This term I am sure you will have seen my plea for more parents to join the PTA, as the PTA was at risk of having to fold. Fortunately some wonderful parents responded to the plea and we now have two new co-chairs - Katie Endersby and Rima Brock and a whole host of new committee
members to help organise events and rally up other parent helpers! Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting and became members - you're all amazing and we are so delighted that the PTA can continue! Clare Barratt continues on the PTA as Treasurer and Claire Rolls as Secretary. The children have been busy in school doing their Christmas card designs and plans are afoot for a Christmas Market on 3rd December. There may also be some other plans in the making so keep an eye on your inbox for further info from the PTA!
I hope you all have a super half term - I know the staff are in need of a well-earned rest and I'm sure the children are too (although I'm sure they won't admit to that!!). See you all back on Monday 7th November!
Kind regards
Nicole Galinis
Principal
Staffing update
Mrs Wallace (Ash Class) is sadly leaving us today and will soon be winging her way to Australia where she will be emigrating with her family. We wish her well on this exciting new adventure! Mrs Louise Welch, who already works at the school and is familiar with the children, will be taking over as Ash Class' teacher from 7th November.
We will be welcoming Mrs Suzanne Ducey to the team as a TA in Years 1 and 2 and Paige Stillwell to the Nursery team as a new nursery assistant at the start of Term 2.
Mrs Lisa Barton will be starting on 28th November as our new FLO (family liaison officer) and Attendance Officer - look out for her on the top playground every morning from then on! Mrs Barton will be based in the office to deal with attendance for part of the morning and then she will be available to meet with parents and pupils to support with any pastoral needs or family difficulties. Once she has settled into her post you will be able to contact her directly using the FLO (flo@hartleyprimary.org.uk) or Attendance (attendance@hartleyprimary.org.uk) email address, depending on what you need to speak to her about.
We also have two new Midday Supervisors - Mrs Rickards (already a member of the Breakfast Club team) and Mrs Jennings-Albert . This term Mrs Davies took over the running of Breakfast Club and Miss Marmon became our Senior Midday Supervisor - both are doing a fabulous job along with their brilliant teams.
Mrs Bruce (Year 5 TA) will be leaving us on 11th November to start an exciting new career working for a children's charity. Mrs Bruce has been at Hartley for many years and we are very sad to see her go, but we hope you will join us in wishing her the best of luck in her new role. We are currently advertising to fill Mrs Bruce's position. If you know anyone who has experience as a TA or a TA qualification, please signpost them to our advert.
We are also advertising for a 1:1 TA - this position does not necessarily require a qualification but applicants must have experience of working with children and have a calm, patient manner. If you know anyone who would be interested please signpost them to this advert.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Thanks to our amazing Mrs Wickens and lots of very supportive parents and staff, we managed to raise a whopping £420! This money will help Macmillan Cancer Support in so many ways, so thank you to everyone who came along, donated cakes or raffle prizes, bought raffle tickets or bid on the football boots - every penny contributed will help. Here are some of the ways our donation could help:
£71 could help run an Online Community forum for over 3 hours. Typically, that would give nearly 198 people affected by cancer both emotional and practical support.
£100 could pay for a person affected by cancer to attend a health and wellbeing event, providing them with skills to improve the management of these areas in their lives.
£350 could pay for a Macmillan grant that helps a family affected by cancer take a holiday and enjoy precious time together.
£606 could pay for a Macmillan Support Worker for a week, helping patients, family members and carers manage the social and practical problems of living with cancer.
£1135 could pay for a Macmillan nurse for a week, helping people living with cancer and their families receive essential medical, practical and emotional support.
Jeans for Genes Day
We had another successful charity event in September, with our Jeans for Genes Day, raising an amazing £305.97! The money we have donated will be used to provide nursing care, equipment, activity weekends, online support and counselling for those with genetic conditions and their families. Thank you for your generosity and support with this event.
The Jeans for Genes campaign raises awareness of the daily challenges faced by those living with a genetic condition and raises money to fund projects that make a tangible difference to the lives of those affected.
Most importantly, the campaign:
brings together the genetic condition community in order to make a loud noise about the issues that matter to them,
shines a light on the organisations that work tirelessly to improve the lives of affected individuals; and
celebrates the achievements of those living with a genetic condition.
Attendance
At Hartley, our school attendance target is 96%. Research suggests that even missing a little bit of school year on year, children can leave school with lower opportunities than they are capable of. As a school we strive to give children the best chance in life and this includes encouraging excellent attendance.
Attendance is monitored on a daily basis, and we send parents and carers a letter if their child’s attendance causes concern. Parents may also be requested to attend a meeting at school about attendance if this fails to improve.
If your child is ill, please telephone school before 9.00am on the first day with the reason for your child’s absence and continue to report their absence if they are absent for further days. This applies regardless of type of illness (sickness included even though we will assume they will be off for 48 hours we do need confirmation please). Please also make sure you tell us the names of all of your children who will be off sick - sometimes we get a message about one but not about the older/younger sibling! Whether you email or leave a message on the absence line, please give details of the illness, rather than saying they are 'poorly' or 'unwell' - we need this information for our records. Thank you.
In line with the Government Guidelines, term-time holidays will not be authorised, unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you are wishing to take a holiday during term time please write to us beforehand. Please note parents could receive a fine for taking children out of school for holidays.
School must be informed of any medical or dental appointments and evidence may be requested. Please email or phone school to arrange this prior to the appointment.
Punctuality is also important. Every day, between 8.45 and 9.00am, children have either ‘early work’ or in some cases intervention groups. It is extremely important that children arrive on time at school. Children who arrive after 8.45am must be signed into school by a parent/carer, via the School Office.
Rule around sickness
On the whole the rule is that children should be kept off for 48 hours if they are sick or have diarrhea. If your child is sick once and you know it is not caused by a bug, e.g they vomited after a severe coughing episode or they had bad acid reflux which made them sick, then they can return to school the next day. We don't want bugs being spread around but we also don't want children sitting at home when they are fit and healthy!
Mascot
This is our new school mascot 'Hartley'. Starting from today, she will be awarded to the class with the best attendance each week and they will get to keep her in class until the following Achievement Assembly. The House Captains will be changing the coloured ribbon that she wears to match the House (lions, leopards, pumas, tigers) with the most House Points so that she can also be used to celebrate which House has won each week.
Safeguarding at HPA
If you are concerned about a child: the picture below shows our Designated Safeguarding Team who are specifically trained to handle safeguarding questions, concerns and situations as they arise. However, any member of our staff will listen to a concern from any child or member of our school community - so, if you do have a safeguarding concern, please speak to someone at school about it or email dsl@hartleyprimary.org.uk or phone the main school office.
Operation Encompass: we are an Operation Encompass school - for more information, please see the link here
National Online Safety: for the third year running we are an accredited National Online Safety School, recognising our work with children and adults about staying safe online. If you haven't signed up (for free) to the website, please do so here
Safeguarding Policies: our safeguarding policies are available on our school website here
Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs): all of the children have regular reminders of our AUPs. These detail the rules around using devices in school and how to keep themselves and others safe online. Please have a look at them using the link here
For more information about safeguarding, please visit the safeguarding section of our school website.
Dates for the diary
(please note these are subject to change but we will inform you as soon as possible if this is necessary)
Monday 7th November - Start of Term 2
Week beginning Monday 7th Novemeber - Clubs begin
Tuesday 15th Nov, Wednesday 23rd Nov & Thursday 1st Dec - Open mornings for Reception 2023 intake
Friday 18th November - Children in Need day - Children invited to wear something yellow and/or pudsey merchandise, plus welly walk to raise funds (separate letter has been sent from The School Council)
Friday 18th - 'Open Classrooms' after school (a chance to come into your child's classroom and look at their books with them - more information will follow)
Friday 25th November - Year 1 Orchard theatre trip
Friday 2nd December - Elf day - Children are invited to dress as an elf or in something 'elfy' for a donation to The Altzeimer's Society and sweets & bottles for the tombola
Saturday 3rd December - PTA Christmas Market
Week beginning Monday 5th December - last week for clubs & parents are invited to attend
Week beginning Monday 5th December -we will be delivering the NSPCC's Speak Out: Stay Safe programme to the children in assembly time
Tuesday 13th December - 9.30am Reception Christmas production - parents invited to watch
Wednesday 14th December - Christmas dinner day
Wednesday 14th December - 2pm Year 1 & 2 Christmas production - parents invited to watch
Thursday 15th December - 9.30am Year 1 & 2 Christmas production - parents invited to watch
Thursday 15th December - 2pm Year 3 & 5 Christmas carol concert - parents invited to watch
Friday 16th December - 2pm Year 4 & 6 Christmas carol concert - parents invited to watch
Tuesday 20th December - Last day of term - Finish at 1.30pm
Uniform
Thank you to everyone who has stuck to our uniform policy and provided the correct uniform for their children - this year we have nearly a complete school of pupils in the correct uniform and they are looking very smart indeed!
Unfortunately there are still a few children being sent in wearing non-school uniform. If you do not have a plain black sweatshirt or hoody for PE your child should wear their normal school jumper, fleece or cardigan - not a random sweatshirt in a different colour or with large logos or print all over them.
Children should also be wearing school shoes, not trainers, unless it is a PE day. If you cannot get school shoes for some reason then they may wear black plimsoles instead.
If you do not have the correct uniform please send a letter or email so that we are aware and can see if there is anyway that we can help.
Harvest Collection
A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Harvest collection this year for the Community Cupboard foodbank. We collected a huge 165kg to donate and the volunteers at the Community Cupboard were so grateful for everyone's generosity. Our Head Boys and Girs, along with Mrs Adams and Miss Galinis helped to deliver the donations.
We also raised £168.25 for the Red Cross Pakistan Flood Appeal. Thank you for your generosity.
Boys' Football Tournament
On Saturday 8th October, our team of seven boys and their parents travelled to Riverview Primary School in Gravesend for the annual 'Early Season 7s' tournament. We played six group matches, winning four, drawing one and losing one, meaning we came second in our group on goal difference. The top four in the group then played off against each other to determine the winner of the Ford Shield...we won the semi final on penalties and went on to win the final against Culverstone Green in extra time! The boys all played brilliantly throughout, in excellent spirits and represented the school superbly. Congratulations to all involved! Mr Dutton
Girls' Football Tournament
On Wednesday 12th October, our girls football team followed in the boy's footsteps to Riverview in Gravesend to play in their annual football tournament. The girls played against 3 other schools - we won two of the matches and drew one meaning we won the group overall with seven points! We then played the second placed team in the final of the group but lost one nil. The girls, as the boys, had a brilliant time and represented our school and themselves superbly! I look forward to organising more matches throughout the year. Mr Dutton
Sports Day 2022
On Wednesday 28th September, children from Reception to Year 6 took part in the Hartley Primary Academy annual Sports Day. During the morning, KS2 competed in 8 different sporting activities including speed bounce, javelin and shuttle runs, to earn points for their house. The children demonstrated grit and determination to score as many points as they could, whilst being cheered on by parents and family members. It was an extremely close competition with only 5 points separating the top two teams. Tigers were crowned KS2 sports day champions, scoring a total of 1646 points. In the afternoon, it was time for our KS1 pupils to shine. The children competed in 4 sporting activities including the football dribble and the egg and spoon obstacle and ended the day with some running races. It was great to see so many adults supporting the children throughout the afternoon. It was fantastic to see many of our nursery children cheering on their friends who have now moved into Reception. It was a close competition but the Tigers were crowned KS1 sports day champions with a score of 776 points. Well done to all of the children for taking part.
Stay and Play
The children enjoyed welcoming their parents/carers into school earlier this term and it was lovely to see so many of you coming in to share an afternoon with them. There was a wide range of activities across the school, with outdoor learning, art, PE and PSHE on offer in the classrooms. It was a lovely chance, as well, for our teachers to meet the parents as well - if you came along, thank you! If you couldn't make it, look out for more dates throughout the year.
Times Tables Rock Star Day!
A huge thank you to Mrs Palmer for organising the inaugural 'Times Tables Rock Star Day'! The children dressed up as rock stars for the day and there were so many amazing costumes around the school. The aim of the day was to raise the profile of our subscription to Times Tables Rock Stars, which is an online software designed to improve recall of multiplication facts, and it certainly did that!
Termly moan about parking!
It is becoming an absolute joke that every term we have to remind some parents about how to park correctly! Every term we have complaints from other parents and from neighbours that some people are parking in an inconsiderate and even dangerous way, and yet these few people continue to do it! So, yet again, we would like to remind everyone that you should not park on zig-zag lines, yellow lines, on pavements, across driveways or on people's front gardens/grass! Please do not park in the small entrance road to the school - this must be kept clear at all times in case we need an emergency vehicle to have access - it also makes it very dangerous for children coming out of school when the road is jammed full of cars and we have had several near misses because people try to turn their car around and can't always see small children in the road or on pavements.
Free School Meals
If your child is under 19 and in full-time education, you may be able to get free school meals for them if you receive certain benefits. The quickest and easiest way to check whether your child is eligible for free school meals and to apply is via the KCC website:
https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals
If your child is already registered for free school meals, you do not need to reapply. If you’re not sure whether your child is already registered, please call the school and we can check our records, or you can contact KCC on 03000 416464.
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