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Welcome Back!
Welcome Back!
What a wintry start to the term we’ve had! Thank you to everyone for your patience, flexibility and good humour during the recent snowy weather. It has been wonderful to see the children return with rosy cheeks, big smiles and plenty of stories to share. Despite the cold conditions outside, our school has been full of warmth, laughter and learning. The children have settled back into their routines brilliantly and it’s been lovely to see classrooms buzzing once again with curiosity, creativity and enthusiasm. A special thank you to our staff, who worked so hard to ensure the school was safe, welcoming and ready for learning.
We’re now looking ahead to an exciting term filled with new topics, events and opportunities. As always, we really appreciate your continued support - it makes such a difference to our school community.
Let’s hope the worst of the winter weather is behind us, but whatever the season brings, we look forward to sharing another fantastic term together.
Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!
Mr. Swift
Learning in Classrooms
Learning in Classrooms
Year 4
In Year 4 we have been reading 'The Firework Maker's daughter' by Philip Pullman. We have been learning about how to use fronted adverbials to make our sentences even better!
In Maths, we have been learning to find missing lengths on shapes and a formula to find the perimeter of a rectangle.
In Science, we have been organising animals into different groups. We looked at what a carnivore, omnivore and herbivore is and decided which category to sort the animals into.
Year 3
In Year 3, we have been learning about different types of rocks and how they are formed. In Art, we have started learning about our new artist, Sonia Delaunay. We learnt about the difference between complementary and harmonious colours and how they work.
Sunshine Learning Community
In the Sunshine Learning Community, we have been exploring the feelings we have in each Zone of Regulation. In Science, we have been learning about Space - the children have enjoyed learning about the different planets and how many moons they have. In Forest School, the children created bird feeders.
Year 2
In Year 2, we have been learning about money in Maths where we have been looking at comparing amounts and how we can make an amount with different variations of coins. We have also started to look at Australia where we created postcards with a key location in Sydney.
Year 1
In Year 1 we have been celebrating the New Year and thinking about how to make a resolution for ourselves. We also made calendars. In Science we have been looking at the Seasons and Winter, discussing what the weather looks like, what we would wear and considering animals that hibernate. We used fine motor skills to cut snips in paper to create snowflakes. We have been looking at numbers to 20 in Maths and been learning to count using teen numbers. We used cuisenaire rods to represent tens and ones and learnt some new songs to remember how to write teen numbers and explore groups of ten. Some of us took this learning into 'explore & learn' time and used the 100 squares to count up to 100 and into the thousands!
Reception
At the beginning of the year, we enjoyed a walk in the snow, made our own snow in the classroom and discussed how water freezes into ice. This week, we have been reading, 'George and the Dragon'. We have started to paint and build our own huge castle out of cardboard! We have been designing and building our own smaller castles too and learning about fictional animals, such as dragons, unicorns and centaurs. We have been drawing and describing dragons and looking at scales, horns and claws.
Experiences and Opportunities
Experiences and Opportunities
Forest School
Forest School
Year 3 and 4 have been busy over the last 2 weeks. They used spades, forks and hand trowels to dig the hard ground, which paid off when they found a skull! We originally thought it was a bird, but later found out it was a rabbit!
We talked about the RSPB's 'Big Garden Birdwatch' that is taking place in the UK, which inspired us to make bird feeders and practise mindful eating ourselves!
Celebrating Success
Celebrating Success
Class Dojo
Class Dojo
This year, we have introduced Class Dojo. A way of celebrating individuals and classes that are following our school rules of:
Be Kind. Show Respect. Aim High.
Children will be able to receive one or two points for these core values from any member of staff. We will keep an eye on which individuals, classes and house groups are being the kindest, most respectful and ambitious over the year.
Blue House
168
Green House
184
Red House
196
Yellow House
214
HIGHEST NUMBER OF LEVELS PASSED
1st) Maisie -Year 2
2nd) Yevin -Year 2
3rd) Bella-Year 2
MOST MINUTES PLAYED
1st) Lily -Year 3
2nd) Antonia- Year 6
3rd) Ava- Year 3
Attendance
Attendance
Nursery
87.6%
Reception
90.4%
Year 1
96.9%
Year 2
95.2%
Year 3
89.1%
Year 4
95.9%
Year 5
96%
Year 6
94.8%
Congratulations to Year 1 for aiming high with their attendance this week. The class will receive bonus Class Dojo points for Aiming High!
Learning of the Week
Every week, we celebrate extraordinary learning that has taken place in classes. It may be that they have pushed passed an obstacle in their learning; worked on their presentation; thought about how to help others amongst other things.
Our Learning of the Week from Friday, 16th January goes to:
Reception
Michaela - excellent phonics work this week.
Oscar - for excellent handwriting and for taking real pride in your work.
Amaya - for trying hard to improve her writing
Hunter - for some to write some amazing describing words.
Year 1
Logan - Logan has demonstrated understanding of numbers by noticing and commenting on addition and subtraction facts in everyday situations.
Eden - Eden has been working hard on letter formation and using punctuation in her sentences.
Lucas D - Lucas has been working hard on participating in activities this week and trying new things in his learning.
Reggie - Reggie has shown a positive attitude to learning and tries his best.
Year 2
Theo D - For trying really hard with his handwriting practice this week.
Toby - For some brilliant Maths work this week while looking at coins. Toby could tell us what each coin was.
Charlie - For working so hard throughout this week. He has written an amazing diary entry in English and has created a beautiful postcard of one of Sydney's famous landmarks.
Bella - Bella has done some amazing work in Science looking for Minibeasts in their microhabitats. She was gentle and kind to all the insects she had found and was brave enough to hold a few.
Year 3
Bella - Bella’s attitude towards learning has been fantastic this week. She made a great prediction in English at the start of the week, and has continued to learn her times tables in Maths.
Archie - Archie has shown great perseverance and independence since returning from the Christmas break. He is starting his learning straight away, without any support and we hope this continues!
Ella - Ella enjoyed learning about our new artist Sonia Delaunay this week and looking at different types of her artwork.
Arison - Arison showed a great interest during our science lesson this week, when we were learning about different types of rocks and describing them using different adjectives.
Year 4
Riley - Riley has come back after the Christmas holidays with a great attitude. He is putting his hand up in every lesson and joining in with class discussions.
Poppi - Poppi has been trying hard to get her head around millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres and how to change from one to the other. She has been using this skill to work out which measurement she would need to measure different lengths.
Emma - Emma has been learning to use fronted adverbials this week. She made a really boring sentence into an upleveled version!
Imani - Imani was making excellent suggestions in her science discussion this week. She had to decide different groups to put her different animals in. Imani was able to argue, respectfully, and share her ideas.
Year 5
LJ - LJ has come back after the break with a fantastic attitude to his work. He has tried his best in all lessons and has been really helpful around the classroom.
Maisie - Maisie has worked really hard this week, putting 100% effort into everything she has done.
Ellis - Ellis has shown determination and has worked really hard this week leading to confidence in long multiplication and a wonderful character description of his hero.
Jamie - Jamie has shown a huge amount of resilience in maths this week when learning long multiplication and division. He has persevered, even when he has found it hard.
Year 6
Sophia - In English this week, we have been looking at the features of a brochure and Sophia’s presentation was clear and precise. Sophia always aims high in all her subjects and always puts 100% into all her work.
Brooklyn - Brooklyn was excited to start our new topic in Science this week, and contributed to all of the activities and class discussion with enthusiasm. She gave a great explanation about why a black-winged stilt and crane-fly could not be part of the same classification group.
Precious - Precious had an amazing, positive attitude towards learning this week! Precious has tried hard, asked for help when struggling and has persevered through it all.
Harlie - Harlie has also shown great resilience this week and is trying extremely hard. She has come to every booster offered and even went to find Miss B for extra maths at breaktime.
Sunshine Learning Community
Riley - For contributing to class discussions with confidence, especially in Science where we are learning about Space and in Maths where we have been learning about shapes.
Luka - For demonstrating a fantastic attitude towards learning, putting his hand up and contributing in class with great ideas.
Savannah - For being a superstar in our Growing Minds lessons this week. Trying her hardest and using her creativity to make each Zone of Regulation.
Isla - For using her reading skills to help others during quiet reading and Understanding My World lessons. It has been lovely to see her read with confidence and inquiry.
Well done to everyone who worked so hard this fortnight, it is fantastic to see so many positive learning experiences!
Pupil Leadership
School Council
Each class has now chosen two school councillors to represent them on the School Council. These pupils will share their classmates’ ideas, help make decisions, and take part in projects to improve our school. We’re proud of everyone who put themselves forward and look forward to seeing the great work our new councillors will do this year!
Reception - Rayn and Jules
Year 1 - Maya and Johnny
Year 2 - Finlay and Alessya
Year 3 - Bella and Scarlett
Year 4 - Harleigh and Poppi
Year 5 - Harry and Char
Year 6 - Liam and Archie
Letters
Please find all of our latest letters here: https://www.micklem.herts.sch.uk/letters/
If you have any questions regarding anything coming up, do not hesitate to ask.
Upcoming Dates
Upcoming Dates
W/C 9th February - Children's Mental Health Week
Friday 13th February - PTA non-uniform day: 'wear what you love'
W/C 16th February - Half-term Holiday
PTA
We are always looking for new volunteers to join the PTA. Without your help we would not be able to run some of the amazing events that we do for the children.
If you feel that you are able to help in any way then please contact the school office.
SEND and Family Support
Hertfordshire SEND Local Offer
Hertfordshire SEND Local Offer
Want to know more about SEND services in Hertfordshire? Join this FREE webinar, taking place on Wednesday 21 January at 8pm.
To register, click here: https://buff.ly/ARV8w8f
The Hertfordshire SEND Local Area Partnership has developed a new SEND Strategy for 2026–2029, which sets out Hertfordshire's shared ambitions to improve outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This strategy has been shaped by the voices of children, young people, families, and professionals across education, health, and social care.
Have Your Say!
They want to hear from families again. Go along to one of their online sessions to give your views on the strategy and tell them if you agree with the priorities.
The session will take 90 minutes and includes a short presentation on the strategy, followed by focus group discussions. In order for them to facilitate conversations, they have limited spaces to 30.
For more information and to sign up, click here: https://buff.ly/ezJKf1G
DSPL8 - Support and Services for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Dacorum
DSPL8 - Support and Services for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Dacorum
DSPL8's End of 2025 Parents/Carers Newsletter is now available on their website and includes lots of information about FREE workshops, courses and events coming up in the spring term. Save the date for their information fair in Bennetts End Community Centre on Thursday 5th March.
Children's Wellbeing Practitioner Workshops
Children's Wellbeing Practitioner Workshops
Mental Health Support Team (Including SEND MHST)
Mental Health Support Team (Including SEND MHST)
Workshop Booking Links:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/parent-mental-health-workshop-tickets-1715375888459?aff=oddtdtcreator
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coping-with-exam-stress-tickets-1914184470279?aff=oddtdtcreator
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coping-with-exam-stress-tickets-1914378330119?aff=oddtdtcreator
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