Friday 06 November 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a great start to the new half-term. We kicked things off with a wonderful assembly where the children shared some brilliant ideas about how we can show kindness to one another every day. Over the coming weeks, we will be looking out for acts of kindness around the school, big and small. Please chat with your children at home about what kindness means to them.

A huge well done and thank you to everyone who dressed up today for our Be Bright, Be Seen Day. It is great to see the vibrant colours and high-visibility outfits! We have been spending time discussing road safety in school this week. Now that the days are shorter, it is incredibly important that our children remain visible on their journeys to and from school. Please take particular care during drop-off and pick-up times and keep your children close to you when walking near roads.

You may have noticed the new shed near the school entrance - this will soon house our uniform exchange. This initiative will allow us to distribute pre-loved uniform items directly to families, helping to reduce costs for families and to enable recycling. Can you help? If you have any high-quality, uniform items that you no longer need, please pass them to the school office. Thank you in advance for your support in getting this project up and running. We will be in touch with details about how the uniform exchange will work once this is ready.

Please look out for a letter next week regarding our latest parent survey. It is always incredibly helpful to hear a wide range of views from across our school community. Your feedback directly impacts school life and your previous input has already helped to shape our current priorities, including developing our Pastoral and Inclusion Team as well as upgrades in the playground and the KS1 toilets. It would be wonderful to get as many responses as possible this time around, so please do take a few moments to share your thoughts with us.

We have had a few reported cases of head lice in school recently. Please could we ask all parents and carers to check their child’s hair this weekend and treat accordingly if necessary. Your cooperation helps us keep this under control.

Finally, you may have heard reports that a nearby local school went into lockdown yesterday following a police incident. We want to reassure you that we were in contact with the police, who advised us that we did not need to take the same action, though we remained highly vigilant. The safety of your children is our absolute priority and we have a lockdown procedure which is regularly reviewed, and the children practice it termly so they know exactly what to do in a calm and safe environment. and we will communicate with you if there is ever an incident at our school.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Robinson

Headteacher

Upcoming dates

Tuesday 10 November

2.30pm- Mental Health Awareness Parent Coffee Afternoon (in the lodge)

6.00pm - YR 2027 Prospective Parent/Carer presentation and tour

Wednesday 11 November

Remembrance Day- children who are members of Brownies, Guides or Scouts are invited to wear their youth organisation uniform to school for Remembrance commemorations

Thursday 12 November

Deadline for Christmas art orders

Friday 13 November

Children in Need fundraising day

Monday 16 November

Anti-bullying week- Odd Sock Day

Tuesday 17 November

Siblings and Portrait Photos

Monday 24 November

Flu Vaccine (if consent has been given)

Wednesday 9 December

9.15am - Y2 Winter Festival to Parents/carers

Please find term dates here

Attendance

At Danes Educational Trust, we believe that regular attendance is vital to support high-quality teaching and learning. Learners cannot reach their full potential unless they attend school consistently.

Reception | Hedgehogs

Weekly attendance: 89.7%

Attendance YTD: 83.7%

Reception | Rabbits

Weekly attendance: 91.4%

Attendance YTD: 86.3%

Year 1 | Deers

Weekly attendance: 97.5%

Attendance YTD: 96.3%

Year 1 | Foxes

Weekly attendance: 95.8%

Attendance YTD: 93.8%

Year 2 | Owls

Weekly attendance: 94.5%

Attendance YTD: 91.3%

Year 2 | Puffins

Weekly attendance: 93.9%

Attendance YTD: 96.2%

Year 3 | Ducks

Weekly attendance: 93.5%

Attendance YTD: 90.7%

Year 3 | Swans

Weekly attendance: 97.5%

Attendance YTD: 98.7%

Year 4 | Kingfishers

Weekly attendance: 94.9%

Attendance YTD: 90.7%

Year 4 | Woodpeckers

Weekly attendance: 94.7%

Attendance YTD: 93.3%

Year 5 | Otters

Weekly attendance: 96%

Attendance YTD: 93.4%

Year 5 | Pine Marten

Weekly attendance: 88.2%

Attendance YTD: 90.3%

Year 6 | Eagles

Weekly attendance: 94.2%

Attendance YTD: 90%

Year 6 | Wildcats

Weekly attendance: 93%

Attendance YTD: 93.8%

Awards and celebrations

We are so proud of these students for earning the Values Award, being recognized as Star Learner, and becoming the Timetable Champion! Your hard work, positive mindset, and commitment to learning shine through in all that you do. Keep it up ! You’re setting a fantastic example for others, and we’re excited to see all the amazing things you’ll achieve next!

Reception | Hedgehogs

Values awards: Antonia

Star Learner: Arthur

Reception | Rabbits

Values awards: Francie

Star Learner: Jenson

Year 1 | Deers

Values awards: Nectarie

Star Learner: David

Year 1 | Foxes

Values awards: Kodi

Star Learner: Noah

Year 2 | Puffins

Values awards: Tommy

Star Learner: Emila

Year 2 | Owls

Values awards: Bella

Star Learner: Daniel

Year 3 | Ducks

Values awards: Maria

Star Learner: Meliz

Timetables champions: Dominic

Year 3 | Swans

Values awards: Jorge

Star Learner: Alex

Timetables champions: Oliver

Year 4 | Woodpeckers

Values awards: Chloe N

Star Learner: Jorja

Timetables champions: Oheema

Year 4 | Kingfishers

Values awards: Trinah

Star Learner: Alp

Timetables champions: Priscilla

Year 5 | Pine Martens

Values awards: James

Star Learner: Harry

Timetables champions: Tyler

Otters

Values awards: Lea

Star Learner: Abigail

Timetables champions: Emir

Year 6 | Wildcats

Values awards: Felix

Star Learner: Michal

Timetables champions: Callum

Year 6 | Eagles

Values awards: Liona

Star Learner: Jessica

Timetables champions: Darya

House points

It has been another fantastic week of hard work and dedication across all houses! Venus led the charge this week with an impressive 122 points, extending their overall lead at the top of the termly leaderboard to 664 points. Saturn followed closely behind with a strong weekly tally of 111 points, bringing their total to 551, while Mercury put in a great effort to earn 94 points (482 overall). Meanwhile, Jupiter added 54 points to their score, keeping them firmly in second place overall with 573 points. Keep up the brilliant effort everyone—every single point counts!

Jupiter

Points this week: 54

Total points this term: 573

Saturn

Points this week: 111

Total points this term: 551

Venus

Points this week: 122

Total points this term: 664

Mercury

Points this week: 94

Total points this term: 482

Learning this week

This week in Reception

This week in Reception children have been discussing circles and triangles, we have talked about their properties and been spotting shapes in the environment. We have been making Gingerbread Men, as next week we will be reading a very well known story! Children have learnt about ‘Be Bright and Be Seen’ so we can be safe as the seasons change as it is getting darker. We also had lots of fun creating firework themed art work!

This week in Year 1

This week in Year One we started our history unit Technology over time. We have thought about what a piece of technology actually is and discovered this doesn’t have to be electronic, just something that helps us complete a job. In maths our focus has been on subtraction and remembering to take away carefully, we practiced different methods of completing this, using counters, crossing out and jumping on a numberline. Our biggest challenge this week has been trying to login to the chromebooks, the children had to carefully copy their username and password. Remember be bright to be seen.

This week in Year 2

This week in Year Two the children created striking Guy Fawkes artwork using vivid oil pastels layered with a black powder paint wash to capture the bright glow of fireworks across the night sky. In Maths, we spent time consolidating core concepts to strengthen key skills and problem-solving confidence. For Literacy, we are placing a big emphasis on writing fundamentals, so please continue to remind your child at home to check for capital letters, full stops, and finger spaces. Finally, in Science, our young learners investigated how exercise impacts the body by locating and measuring their own pulse before and after physical activity.

This week in Year 3

This week in Year Three In Literacy, the children have been bringing their writing to life by using adjectives and rhetorical questions to hook the reader. In Maths, we have been building our confidence with addition and subtraction, focusing on calculations without exchange. In our Science lessons we explored the five food groups and learned how each plays a vital role in keeping our bodies healthy. Meanwhile, in PE, the children have been showing great poise and balance as they focus on movement control in dance. Finally, we kicked off our new History topic, stepping back in time to begin discovering the fascinating journey from the Stone Age to the Iron Age!

This week in Year 4

This week in Year Four, we have learned how to use fronted adverbials to write a journalistic recount of an event and we really enjoyed pretending to be journalists interviewing our favourite Disney characters! In maths, we have been learning how to use the column method to add 2 4-digit numbers - why not ask the children to show off their skills doing this at home? Meanwhile, in History we began our new topic, ‘Ancient Egyptians’ and came up with a list of questions we would like to investigate over the term. We also really enjoyed discussing symbols and what they mean to us in our RE lesson this week. I wonder what symbols you can spot as you go around Hemel this week!

This week in Year 5

This week in Year Five we looked at squared and cubed numbers where children have been able to use concrete resources to identify the difference between them. In English this week, we have been exploring the features of explanation texts where we have written an extended piece on why schools use school uniform. In Science, we started our new topic which is Space, where we looked at our solar system and the objects within it.

Please remember that PE is on Wednesday and Thursdays now.

Well done on another wonderful week, Year Five!

This week in Year 6

This week in Year Six we have been consolidating our understanding of the order of operations (BIDMAS) in Maths, with the children showing great resilience as they practiced their skills. In English we enjoyed our ‘hook’ lesson in which we debated the merits of having an ogre in school - some very creative ideas were on display. Our new topic in History is Ancient Greece and we began by finding out about where and when Ancient Greece is and was and how the geography of Greece affected the creation of city-states. In PE we began a new unit of Dance in which we practiced stomping, clapping and sliding to a steady beat. A great start to the half term Year 6.

Jupiter PTA

We are proud to have a dedicated and enthusiastic team of parent teacher association (PTA) at our school. The PTA plays a vital role in bringing together families , staff and the wider community to support and enhance the education experience of all our children. Through fundraising events, volunteer support, and community initiatives, the PTA helps provide valuable resources, enrich learning opportunities, and create a positive, inclusive environment for everyone. We welcome all parents and carers to get involved, whether by joining the committee, helping at events, or sharing ideas every contribution makes a difference!

PTA Events and website link