Micklem Newsletter

Welcome to your child's learning!

It has been an incredibly busy and joyful two weeks back at school! The absolute highlight was our World Book Day celebrations. Our corridors were transformed into a living library as children (and staff!) arrived dressed as their favourite characters or in pyjamas. It was brilliant to see so many people engaging in the dressing up part of the day. More importantly, it was a delight to see pupils sharing stories across different year groups, reminding us all of the magic found within the pages of a good book.

Beyond the stories, we have been diving deep into our spring curriculum. Whether it was rewriting a famous story or conducting hands-on experiments in science, the engagement in every classroom has been fantastic. If your child says they "can't remember" what they did today, try asking which book character they most enjoyed meeting this week! Let’s keep that spark of curiosity alive together.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Parents’ Evening! It was a joy to share your children’s achievements and see so many proud smiles. Our partnership makes such a difference to their learning journey. Ask your child which piece of work they are most proud of this term! Last, but not least, a huge thank you to the teachers, who gave up their evenings to share your children's progress with you. We are excited about your children's learning and love sharing it with you.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!

Mr. Swift

No Outsiders

This week's No Outsiders' assembly was for Year 4, 5 and 6. We discussed the current 'Red vs Blue' challenge and how children had seen that it had reached Hemel Hempstead. We shared the risks of social media and AI, and how misinformation or things that have a negative impact can be shared far and wide. Children reflected on their use of different platforms. We also discussed how keeping yourself safe is important, but that in this instance the way to keep ourselves safe was to stay away from the situation, rather than meeting it with 'something to defend ourselves'. The children were reflective and mature in their conversations. I am proud of how they responded to a difficult situation.

Learning in Classrooms

Nursery

Our topic for this half term is 'Down at the Farm', we have been exploring animals that live on the farm and what their babies are called. We have been looking at subitising and identifying how numbers are presented as dots to represent a number.

We enjoyed World Book Week with a book called 'Nabil steals a penguin', children have been drawing and sticking their own 'Pierre the penguin'.

Reception

Over the last two weeks, Reception have learnt the maths language of length, measure and time. We have been comparing lengths and measuring items inside the classroom and outside in the garden. We have started reading Little Red Riding Hood. The children have made puppets, drawn story maps, role played and enjoyed dressing up. In Forest School, we made a wormery which has taken up residence in the Bug Hotel for us to observe. We also worked on our perseverance skills by rolling and dragging tyres.

Year 1

In Year 1 we have been learning about individuality, self expression and following your dreams through the book 'Julian is a Mermaid'. We thought of the dreams we have and explored word meanings by how mermaids move. We have also explored another book for World Book Day 'Don't trust fish!' We found it very funny and designed our own fish, labelled the structure of a fish and wrote warning posters. We enjoyed the warmer weather by making a reading cafe outside in our garden and have been looking at signs of Spring by painting Spring flowers to decorate our garden. This has gone nicely alongside our new Science topic of Plants.

Year 2

In Year 2 we have started to look at our new DT topic all about bread. We have been reading our world book day book called 'Dont trust fish!' which the children have all really enjoyed. We then wrote descriptions which we put into Gemini to create an image based on their descriptions. The fish created where all amazing and very untrustworthy!

Sunshine Learning Community

Over the last two weeks the Sunshine Learning Community has enjoyed exploring the book 'I Talk Like A River' by Jordan Scott. This book explores the concept of a boy having a stammer. We created our own acrostic poem inspired by the book, created a word river and reviewed the story - it is highly recommended by all of the Sunshine Learning Community, all giving it a 5 star rating!!

Year 3

Over the last two weeks, Year 3 have started their new DT topic, pizzas!! The children were very excited... as you can imagine! Year 3 have also had a great week engaging in activities around our chosen World Book Day book, 'If I Were Prime Minister'!

Well done, Year 3!

Year 4

Year 4 have been reading "If I Were a Prime Minister" this week and deciding on new laws that they would make, if they were in charge. They learnt facts about our prime minister and learnt how new laws are decided.
In Maths, Year 4 have been learning about fractions (which has pleased Miss B!!) They know how to partition a whole number and a fraction and how to use a number line with fractions.

Year 5

This week Year 5 have enjoyed reading the book Varmints looking at the effect that urbanisation has on the environment. From this we have made our own terrariums that we will observe over time to watch the seeds grow. We have also imagined that we were the main character and have written some fantastic diary entries showing contrasts in emotions.

Year 6

This week year 6 have been enjoying reading the book Varmints and are producing some great writing! We have been researching traditional British dishes in DT ready to plan our very own British picnic. Our highlight of the week was spending time with our buddies reading and having hot chocolate.

Experiences and Opportunities

World Book Day

What a fantastic and sunny day we had for World Book Day! The children loved reading with their parents/ carers/ grandparents at the Reading Cafes and enjoyed seeing each other's costumes in our WBD Parade. Our KS2 classes met up with the younger children and shared a book and a hot chocolate. In the afternoon, a mystery reader joined each class to read a story and each class enjoyed a fun packed day full of activities.

The Mystery Reader Competition will run until Monday. Prizes will be awarded for each key stage and a special prize for the class with the most right answers.

Over the week, each class studied a book and produced written work, art and even made presentations. Sunshine Class read, 'I Talk Like A River', EYFS - 'Nabil Steals A Penguin', Y1/Y2 - 'Don't Trust Fish!', Y3/Y4 - 'If I Were Prime Minister' and Y5/Y6 - 'Varmints'. Ask your child what they thought of their class book...

Thank you for supporting your child with this brilliant event. Mrs Stokley

Forest School

The children and adults had a fabulous time at Forest School.

Nursery and Reception found a frog waiting for them in our fire circle, and enjoyed pulling and rolling tyres on the field.

We made woodland animals out of natural resources and dough in one of our sessions. Some children went on to make woodland faces, which were brilliant!

Then we incorporated world book week into our Forest School session by reading a book in the woods, then making non-edible and edible 'Stick men'. Year 4 came to be helpers, it was really lovely to see all the children helping each other!

Art

We discovered that the lady seated on the throne was probably a muse. We learnt that muses were important figures who inspire artists, writers and musicians. We decided to focus on the gorgeous pattern on her sleeve. The design gave us lots of ideas. Using a range of everyday objects like bottle tops, Lego bricks, strings and even forks , we experimented with printing techniques. After a few tries, we produced a fantastic variety of patterns. Well done Art Club.

Sport

Celebrating Cultures Day

Reminder: Our postponed Celebrating Cultures Day will take place on Thursday 23rd April. On this day, our school community will come together to celebrate the diverse cultures that make up our community.

Please look out for the letter about this next week and let us know ASAP if you would like to host a stall.

Celebrating Success

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

193

Green House

180

Red House

291

Yellow House

206

BIGGEST INCREASE IN LEVELS

PASSED in the last 14 days

1st) Iqhra -Year 2

2nd) Liam -Year 1

3rd) Adrian -Year 1

HIGHEST COIN EARNERS OVER THE LAST 14 DAYS

1st) HRIYAAN- Year 5

2nd) HAYDEN - Year 4

3rd) SAULE- Year 5

Attendance

Nursery

90%

Reception

96%

Year 1

92.8%

Year 2

94.5%

Year 3

91.4%

Year 4

90.6%

Year 5

93.7%

Year 6

96.8%

Congratulations to Year 6 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, 6th and 13th February goes to:

Reception

Willow for amazing sounding out while writing in English.
Hannah for some brilliant sentence writing.
Edwin for drawing out a clock in Maths.
Amaya for great sounding out in Phonics.

Year 1

Bailey for working really hard in Phonics and showing great improvement in sounding out and writing words.
Maya for showing great interest in Maths by taking her learning into her own play and doing lots of recording of maths in ‘explore and learn time’.
Amelia for thinking creatively and designing different buildings and models in her play. She has used her knowledge of shape to create different structures using the magnetic tiles and adding other materials.
Luca for working really hard in Maths. He has independently understood and completed tasks to explore place value within 50 using concrete manipulatives.

Year 2

Theo A- For writing a brilliant character description on his untrustworthy fish. Theo went back and added more detail to his description.
Olivia has settled into year 2 really well. This week she has done some lovely descriptive writing of the fish she wanted to create.
Malachi has shown an amazing attitude towards his English he planned what he wanted to include in his untrustworthy fish then independently wrote sentences that we plugged into gemini to create his fish.

Year 3

Stefan was excellent in Maths this week when adding and subtracting length.
Ella has shown such a positive attitude in class this week towards her learning and wanting to improve.
Cody has shown great computing skills this week, learning how to touch type and what skills it takes. This helped him design and make his own powerpoint on why he would make a good prime minister.. with this being our chosen book for World Book Day!
Millie was excellent in Maths yesterday! She was able to independently calculate and measure the perimeter of different shapes!

Year 4

Harleigh uplevelled her sentence to… In the attic, there lay a crocked, dusty wardrobe that hadn’t been touched in years.
Rex has been sharing some interesting scientific knowledge with the class about the digestive system. He was good team member and shared his idea about where he thought different organs belonged in our picture.

Year 5

Michal Michal worked really hard today on his presentation for his independent writing. It made all the difference! Well done Michal, keep it up.
James - James worked really hard in his maths assessments this week and absolutely aced them! Well done James, keep up the good work!
Saule for working really hard on her editing skills and checking spelling and punctuation. Well done Saule!
Penny for working really hard on her editing skills and checking spelling and punctuation. Well done Penny!

Year 6

Liam for a great effort in maths recently.
Harlie for great perseverance in maths.
Iris for a good non-chronological report.

Sunshine Learning Community

Aaliyah-Mai for always using her creative skills to create crafts. Well done Aaliyah, keep using your creativity!
SJ for trying hard in Maths this week, putting your hand up and sharing the answers as well as how you got to them. Well done!
Savannah for working hard in Maths this week when learning about division. Well done Savannah!
James N for showing a calm and positive learning attitude straight after the half term. Keep it up!

French

Millie and Scarlett. Both girls have found a new confidence in French, they have been putting their hands up a lot more and they participate enthusiastically. Bravo les filles!
Amber & Emberly - Both girls were confidently joining in the lesson, answering questions and using their best French accents!

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 Xiamara

Smoking and Vaping

We are grateful that you all respect not smoking or vaping on the school premises. However, as the school gates are an area where many children arrive and leave each day, we kindly ask that you also avoid smoking or vaping nearby so we can maintain a healthy and safe environment for all of our pupils.

We appreciate your cooperation in helping us set a positive example for the children and keeping the school entrance welcoming for everyone.

Nut Allergies

I would like to remind all parents and carers that we are a NUT FREE school. This means that nuts should not be present or consumed on site. Please ensure that you do not send nuts or products that contain nuts into school with your child. This is for the safety and wellbeing of our children who suffer with nut allergies. It is incredibly important that this rule is followed at all times.

Toys and Fidgets

I would also like to remind parents and carers that children should not be bringing toys (including fidgets) from home into school. This is for a number of reasons, not least that your children get very upset if their toy gets misplaced or broken.

We will always facilitate fidgets where they will support a child's learning, but will go through proper procedures first.

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

5th - 12th March - Travelling Book Fair

16th - 20th March - Neurodiversity Celebration Week

16th - 20th March - Walk and Wheel to School Week

20th March - Red Nose Day

27th March - PTA Non-Uniform Day

27th March - End of Spring Term (1.30pm Finish)

13th April - Start of Summer Term

PTA

Our Mother's and Other's gift sale will be taking place in school on Friday 13th March. If your child would like to purchase items from the shop to give to their loved ones, then please go to Arbor - School Shop - Mothers and Others Gift Shop.

Places are still available to book for our Easter Disco on Thursday 26th March via Arbor - School Shop - PTA Easter Disco. The entry cost is £3.00 per child and children are also permitted to bring some spending money to spend at the "Hippity Hop Shop."

Easter Squares will be available to purchase in classroom's up until the end of this term. Cost is £1.00 per square and the lucky winner from each class will be drawn on Friday 27th March.

If you feel that you are able to help in any way then please contact the school office.

pta@micklem.herts.sch.uk

SEND and Family Support

DSPL8's Start of 2026 Parents/Carers Newsletter is available to view by clicking this link, and includes lots of information about FREE workshops, courses and events coming up in the spring term.

HAPpy Camps

HAPpy Camps are available for children and young people from reception to year 11, who are in receipt of benefits related free school meals. The next HAPpy programme will take place between Monday 30th March – Friday 10th April (excluding Good Friday 3rd April and Easter Monday 6th April).

If your child is eligible, secure your spot before they’re gone. To find camps in Hemel Hempstead area, or SEND specific camps, you can use the filters when searching.

Book using the link found here: https://bit.ly/BookHAPpy26HSPFb

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

What is Neurodiversity Celebration Week?

"Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by providing schools, organisations, and others around the world with the opportunity to recognise the many skills and talents of neurodivergent individuals, while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual."

Events for Parents, Carers and Professionals

Click on the link in the image to see the variety of FREE webinars and talks running, including 'Nurturing your Neurodivergent Child', 'Thriving with Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism: Build Confidence and Unlock Success', 'Rethinking Impulsivity: ADHD Traits as Entrepreneurial Assets', 'Embracing and Leveraging Neurodivergent Strengths' and 'Being a Neurodivergent Parent.'

Hertfordshire PINS (Partnerships for the Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) Webinar

James Aston joined the HCC Transforming Care Team as an Expert by Experience in 2020. He talks about his lived experience of being autistic, how he felt different to others at school and found some things difficult, mainly as a result of a lack of support and understanding. James' hope is that he inspires conversations in schools about neurodiversity, provides insights from his experience and helps fosters a sense of acceptance and inclusion for neurodivergent children in school.

Wednesday 11th March, 12.00-13.00 - Register at https://shorturl.at/n7Oo3

Wednesday 18th March, 19.30-20.30 - Register at https://shorturl.at/Dco3V

Neurodiversity Celebration Week at Micklem

Within school, we will be holding neuro-diversity themed assemblies, thinking about what makes us unique and celebrating differences.

At home, we are challenging the children to research the accomplishments of a neurodivergent individual. They can present their research in a poster to be displayed around school, or a PPT to share with peers and staff.

Click here for some ideas to get started: https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/posters

Please ensure all entries have your child's name and class on.

The deadline for entries is Friday 20th March. Winning entries will be shared in our next newsletter!

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