Newsletter 17.4.2026

Diary Dates

Term Dates

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back to you all; we hope you have had a wonderful Easter break. The children have come back excited to share their experiences and have also shown they are ready to embrace a new term of learning and enrichment. The classrooms have felt settled and full of energy, which has been lovely to see.

This term is always a firm favourite in school - the days feel longer, the outdoor space is well utilised and the weather feels warmer. It is however a very busy time of year in school as we prepare the children for a range of assessments, including the Year 6 SATs in May. The children will be well prepared and fully supported for this and we know that the staff are keen to see the individual successes of the children who have worked so hard for their time to shine!

Before the Easter break, our lovely Reception children visited Langdale Church and our amazing choir sung their way through the Chiltern Learning Trust ‘busking event’, which was a huge success.

Thank you to all who supported the Easter crafts event, organised by the FALLS team where the children participated in a range of Easter themed activities. A special mention to all who entered the Easter bonnet competition too - we were amazed with the number of entries, but also the extravagance! They were all incredible and it was very difficult to choose any winners - well done to you all!

There will be many enrichment activities happening throughout this term, with trips and visits planned for the children across the school. The first one was for Lower Key Stage Two who had a wonderful time today at the Verulamium Museum and park in St Albans to support their History learning based on The Romans. What a great way to start a new school week. Our Year 5 and 6 football team has been out this week representing Lark Rise and our Year 2 team will be out next week.

Have a lovely weekend, which we hope has some sunshine and we will see you all on Monday ready for another amazing week!

Mrs Hartley

Head of School

Attendopoly

Each week in our whole school assembly we celebrate children's attendance by playing a game of Attendopoly (based on Monopoly). The class with the highest attendance figure is rewarded with a class prize.

The winning class for the last couple of weeks was:

Week of 16th March : Hummingbirds class with 98.3% attendance

Whole school attendance : 96.5%

Week of 23rd March : Penguins and Eagles classes with 100% attendance

Whole school attendance : 94.2%

Our whole school target attendance for this academic year across all classes is 97%.

Music Hero of the half term

Stormzy

We are excited to announce that our current "Musical Hero" is the incredibly talented Stormzy! This term, we are focusing on his uplifting and soulful anthem, "Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 2" (feat. MNEK). This track serves as a wonderful example of how modern music can blend different genres while delivering a powerful message of gratitude and perseverance. We hope to be able to share a special whole-school recording of this with you all as a thank you for all of your support with our musical heroes over the year. Keep a close eye on our school website in the coming weeks to hear our collective voices come together for this inspiring performance!

Artist of the half term

Bridget Riley

Our Artist for this half term is Bridget Riley who is a world-famous British artist who is often called the "Queen of Op Art" (which is short for Optical Art). Born in London in 1931, she spent much of her childhood playing outside in Cornwall, where she loved watching how sunlight danced on the sea and changed the colors of the rocks. This inspired her to create art that doesn't just sit still—it looks like it is moving! We are looking forward to finding out more information about this amazing artist and her incredible artwork.

Book Look

There will be an opportunity for parents/carers to come into school to look at the childrens' books on Thursday 30th April from 5.00-6.00pm. Please enter and leave the building via the main entrance for this event.

For parents of children in the Nursery, arrangements will be communicated to you via your child's Tapestry account.

Class Assemblies

The class assemblies to which parents/carers are invited have been added to the school calendar which can be accessed via the Diary Dates tab at the top of the newsletter.

The assemblies planned for the Summer term are:

Penguins : Friday 24th April

Owls & Robins : Friday 1st May

Ducks (AM Nursery) : Friday 12th June

Parking & Anti-Social Behaviour

We continue to have a number of local residents expressing concern about parking in the neighbouring streets at drop off and collection times. This has been highlighted recently as being a particular concern on the corner of Tarnside Close and Ullswater Road where parents are parking ON the pavement at the junction meaning that children and parents are having to step onto the road to walk round the car which is obstructing their path.

We are also extremely concerned to have received Ring Doorbell footage of some of our children (and their younger siblings) running across residents' driveways and front gardens. We would implore parents to take greater responsibility for their children whilst walking to and from school. For those children who are walking to and from school unaccompanied, please can you speak to your chiildren about expectations as we do not want to continue causing upset within our local community.

Thank you in advance for your support.

UKS2 Swimming

Children in Year 5 & 6 will start their swimming lessons on Tuesday 21st April - full details of what the children will need for their lessons have been sent out separately.

Toddington Brass Band

The children were treated this week to a performance by the Toddington Brass Band. The band is currently looking for children (and parents!) to join their development band. An instrument will be loaned to your child (free of charge) and they will be able to take part in rehearsals every Tuesday. More information is on the flyer.

VEPP (Violence Exploitation Prevention Partnership) have organised a series of interactive online discussions aimed at informing the parents of young persons at risk of exploitation and the violence associated with it.

They are held every Monday from 13th April until 4th May, 11:00 - 12:00pm online via Microsoft Teams (parents can remain anonymous if they wish).

Click the link to join the meeting: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/368339816863113?p=xK8WAy7S4mxN23JonZ

For further information, please contact Gemma via email: Gemma.Hoddle@beds.police.uk

Writing to be proud of (Year 2)

Rocco (Year 2)

Rojus (Year 2)

Roman (Year 2)

Sharleez (Year 2)

Ophelia (Year 2)

Poppy (Year 2)

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