Friday 23 October 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a fantastic week we have had leading into the half-term break! It was wonderful to see so many of you on Monday and Wednesday for our Parents' Evenings. Thank you for taking the time to meet with teachers and discuss your children's excellent progress.

Today, our Year 5 pupils rounded off the half-term beautifully with a brilliant Harvest Festival performance. It was wonderful to see all of their hard work and fantastic artwork enjoyed by so many parents and carers, with everyone thoroughly enjoying their wonderful rendition of the classic song, 'Cauliflowers Fluffy'. What a vibrant start to the day! Thank you also for your generous donations, which will make a real difference to those in need.

School is now closed for the half-term holiday. We look forward to welcoming all children back to school on Monday 2nd November.

Looking Ahead to Next Half-Term:

• Friday 6th November – 'Be Bright, Be Seen' Non-Uniform Day: To promote road safety as the evenings get darker, we will be holding a themed non-uniform day. A letter with more details will follow when we return.

•Tuesday 10 November- Mental Health Awareness Parent Coffee Afternoon: A reminder that this event will take place at 2:30pm in the Lodge. Hosted by Mrs Crute-Mussell and Mrs Waggeh, this is a great opportunity to meet them and connect with other parents.

We are thrilled to announce that we have just received a large stock of brand-new reading books for Key Stage 2! We are deeply committed to investing in our children's reading and these fantastic new titles have been carefully chosen to spark imagination, build confidence, and foster a lifelong love of reading.

Finally, Well done everyone for officially making it to the October half-term break! We hope you all have a wonderful, restful, and safe half term. We look forward to seeing everyone again when the school reopens on 02 November.

Mr. Robinson

Headteacher

Upcoming dates

Monday 2 November

Children return to school

Friday 6 November

Be Bright, Be Seen’ Non-Uniform Day

Monday 9 November

Anti-bullying week- Odd Sock Day

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

Friday 13 November

Children in Need fundraising day

Tuesday 17 November

Siblings and Portrait Photos

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: Ashaya

Star Learner: Josiah

Reception | Rabbits

Values awards: Luca

Star Learner: Magnus

Year 1 | Deers

Values awards: Faustina

Star Learner: Maelie

Year 1 | Foxes

Values awards: Sesen

Star Learner: Hanna

Year 2 | Puffins

Values awards: Tommy

Star Learner: Arthur

Year 2 | Owls

Values awards: Annabelle

Star Learner: Lily-Rose

Year 3 | Ducks

Values awards: Aston

Star Learner: Elisa

Year 3 | Swans

Values awards: Jorge

Star Learner: Valentina

Year 4 | Woodpeckers

Values awards:

Star Learner:

Timetables champions:

Year 4 | Kingfishers

Values awards: Geard

Star Learner: Greta

Year 5 | Pine Martens

Values awards: Anaya

Star Learner: Anabel

Otters

Values awards: Ivy

Star Learner: Ross

Year 6 | Wildcats

Values awards: Nana

Star Learner: Gabriella

Year 6 | Eagles

Values awards: Mariya

Star Learner: Ollie

House points

It has been another fantastic week of competition! Jupiter took the crown as this week's top scoring house, racking up an impressive 82 points. Saturn followed in second place with 65 points, closely trailed by Venus with 63 points and Mercury with 60 points.

When it comes to the overall term leaderboard, it is an incredibly tight race at the top! Venus is currently holding onto first place with a grand total of 455 points, but Jupiter is hot on their heels with 439 points. Saturn sits comfortably in third with 365 points, while Mercury continues to build their total at 312 points.

Fantastic effort from everyone this week, keep up the brilliant work!

Jupiter

Points this week: 82

Total points this term: 439

Saturn

Points this week: 65

Total points this term: 365

Venus

Points this week: 63

Total points this term: 455

Mercury

Points this week: 60

Total points this term: 312

Learning this week

This week in Reception

This week in Reception our children have been looking at 1 more and 1 less, and composition of numbers. We have learned that a whole number is made up of different parts eg. 3 is made up of 2 and 1. At home, can you have a go at adding one more or one less with your toys and exploring what happens? In Literacy we have talked about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters, and had a go at innovating our story - replacing the Three Billy Goats Gruff with our own characters. We have also spent lots of time enjoying our newly revamped outside area, learning about how to use the different resources and making sure that we look after them properly.

This week in Year 1

This week in Year One we have continued to use the story ‘Owl Babies’ for inspiration to write our own sentences. We have focused on applying capital letters, finger spaces and full stops to our sentences. In Maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of the part-whole model. We have also started to include subtraction within fact families. We enjoyed completing an investigation using our sense of smell in Science. We found out that different things can have a strong smell whilst others can have a weak smell. In Art, we used the piece of art ‘Castles and Sun’ by Paul Klee to create our own version by drawing around shapes and painting with water colour paint.

This week in Year 2

This week in year two the children have worked extremely hard consolidating their learning on addition and subtraction. In Literacy, we have completed our stories based on Meerkat Mail. We have also completed our cold write which was an independent piece of writing about camels. The children really impressed us in Science by showcasing their understanding of the learning we have completed this half term on animals. It was wonderful to see the children using scientific vocabulary correctly and labelling animals clearly. In Music Miss De La Canina enjoyed getting the glockenspiels out and exploring them. It was lovely to see so many of you at parents evening and we hope you have a lovely half term break!

This week in Year 3

What a busy and creative final week in Year 3! In maths, we have been sharpening our calculation skills by adding and subtracting groups of 10s and 100s, while in literacy, the children have been using their imagination to write their own versions of The Day the Crayons Quit. In PSHE, we celebrated what makes us unique by designing vibrant stained-glass windows to showcase our individuality, and in music, we worked on keeping the tempo by tapping along to the song "Let Your Spirit Fly!". Thank you for a wonderful term - we hope you all have a lovely, restful half term break!

This week in Year 4

This week in Year Four we enjoyed no pens day! Maths was focussing on area and involved painting, making stamps, and using creative resources in a repurposed way which was thoroughly enjoyed. We also had some fun twist sfor handwriting and spelling- writing words in glitter or pipe cleaners. For Art we explored work by Maryam Arslan using impasto, then recreated with our own ideas - this activity also really helped us to learn about and build our resilience. We are creatively rewriting our own story version on The Wild Girl using our toolkit, they are very interesting and we can’t wait to share them with you sharing techniques we have learnt about and applied. Finally in Science we have used our data we collected last week to graph our findings to share and compare.

This week in Year 5

This week in Year Five we completed, edited and published our independent suspense stories. There was some beautiful handwriting on show! In maths, we looked at multiples and factors, using our times tables knowledge to support our learning.

Next half term, we will be writing an explanation text in English. In maths, we will begin our fractions topic.

Well done on a great first half term Year Five and we hope you have a lovely break!

(PE days have now changed to a Wednesday and a Thursday)

This week in Year 6

What a busy and exciting week we have had in Year 6! We were delighted to welcome the Deputy Headteacher from The Astley Cooper School, who gave the children a great insight into secondary school life and what their future school days will look like. In English, the children finished writing their brilliantly innovated stories, changing original characters, new plot twists and ambitious vocabulary. Meanwhile in Maths, everyone showed impressive determination as we continued to master the steps of long division. Thank you for all your support this half term and we hope you have a lovely half term!

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

School News

Jupiter - Mental Health Awareness Parent Coffee Afternoon

Please come along and join us for our Parent Coffee Afternoon on Tuesday 10th November from 2.30pm - 3.00pm. The focus will be Mental Health Awareness. Please talk about this with other Jupiter parents, as it would be great to see as many of you there as possible.

Mrs Crute-Mussell & Mrs Waggeh

Secondary School Application Deadline

This is an important reminder that the statutory deadline for submitting your child's secondary school application is Thursday 31 October 2026.

All applications must be completed online through this link before midnight on this date.

Key Information:

Deadline: 31 October 2026 (11:59 PM)
National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
Where to apply: Hertfordshire County Council Admission Portal

Please note that any applications submitted after 31 October will be classified as "late". Local authorities process on-time applications first, which means late applications severely reduce your chances of securing a place at your preferred schools.

If you have already submitted your application, you do not need to take any further action. However, we highly recommend logging back into your portal before the deadline to double-check that your preferences are saved and submitted correctly.

Community News

Delivering Special Provision Locally

Dear Parents/Carers,

Please find a link below for the DSPL8 Parents/Carers Newsletter Autumn 2026.

Autumn Newsletter