Micklem Newsletter

Welcome to your child's learning!

Another week done! Considering we had a Bank Holiday weekend last weekend, it has been an incredibly busy week with lots of different learning opportunities and trips! I had the joy of joining Nursery on their trip to Mead Open Farm this week, and we had an amazing time! We were all exhausted...especially staff at the end, but it was incredible to see the awe and wonder on the children's faces as they interacted with different elements of the farm. In addition to this, we have had tag rugby and football trips as well!

There has been a real buzz of learning across the school over the last fortnight and it has been wonderful to see. In other great news... we are on the field again! Summer is finally here (although no-one seems to have told the temperature) and children are now cartwheeling across the field at break and lunch.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!

Mr. Swift

Learning in Classrooms

Nursery

Nursery have been exploring real life superheroes from Police to Vets. We have taken on the roles within our explore and learn time and have cared for all the soft animals.

Nursery finished this fun-packed week with a trip to Mead Open Farm, where we stroked rabbits, fed goats, groomed a pony and went on a Tractor Trailer Ride, as well as seeing all the farm animals.

Reception

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks in Reception. We have been planting seeds in our garden, dissecting tulips to learn about the features of a plant, finding seeds in fruit and vegetables, learning about teen numbers, drawing on tables with magic pencils, working on our ball skills and learning how to resolve conflict by ourselves. It has been lovely to be out and about, not only in our garden, but on the field and in Forest School too.

Year 1

In Year 1 we have been learning about caring for the environment and looking at the perspectives of others through the book 'Brum and Sun'. We have written sentences using conjunctions and giving a 'voice' to the Earth. In Science we have explored ice and practiced scientific skills of predicting, observing and recording results to find out how heat changes the state of water (ice). In Geography we have compared the weather in the UK to the weather in a cold country and looked at physical and human features using geographical vocabulary. We have had fun outside playing phonics football and building structures. This week we have used our creative skills to turn boxes into models adding features and learning how to join materials.

Year 2

In Year 2, the children have written some brilliant narratives based on Jim and the beanstalk. Everyone has come up with some brilliant creative stories that we have loved reading. In Maths we have finished looking at fractions and have just started a new topic all about time.

In Art we have been looking at Giuseppe Arcimboldo, in groups the children created some unique portraits using Fruit.

Sunshine Learning Community

The children in the Sunshine Learning Community have worked hard to be authors and publish their own book. They shared their books with the Nursery children, who absolutely loved them!

Column addition and subtraction has been our focus in Maths and the children have worked hard to understand this method.

In Understanding My World, we explored May Day: why we have a bank holiday and the traditional cultures.

Year 3

Year 3 participated in a 'non-competitive' tag rugby competition this week. Everyone showed great sportsmanship, respect and all tried their best! Well done, Year 3!

We have continued with our Forest School experiment, deciding what would make the best pizza base! Currently, we have tried crumpets, pita bread and wraps! Delicious!

Year 4

This week Year 4 finally finished their book- The Iron Man! They have been learning to use the PEE method to answer comprehension questions based on the text.

Year 4 visited Camelot Rugby Club to have an afternoon of tag rugby against lots of other schools. I was very impressed with the level of sportsmanship Year 4 showed.

Year 5

This week Year 5 have been enjoying their class book- Kick- and are eagerly awaiting to hear what happens next! They have published their own information pages, whilst in maths, they have been looking at coordinates, translation and reflection.

Year 6

Year 6 have been busy preparing for SATs this week! We have smashed angles, statistics and even algebra. The children have worked so hard and we couldn't be any prouder of them. Good luck next week - you will all be great!

Experiences and Opportunities

Forest School

We've been carrying on with our pizza base taste testing, and structure building at Forest School this fortnight. We tried pitta bread, then used food colouring to 'paint' pizza toppings onto wraps.

Children asked if they could make them for each other, which was a really lovely way to demonstrate how effective team building activities are.

We used mini marshmallows and dried spaghetti to build structures. This was tricky because the spaghetti kept breaking, but with perseverance, the children produced some fantastic work!

I'd personally like to thank the Forest School helpers and a big shout out to those children who built, lit and cared for the fire. They followed our safety rules perfectly and their sense of achievement was wonderful to see.

Alfie, George and Harry...thank you!

Art club

Art club children continued to take their line for a walk! They created drawings without lifting their pen from the paper, looping back and forth, going over existing lines and taking great care when adding colours. Well done everyone

For everyone at Micklem ...to encourage creativity at home, we have a display board where children can add their artwork for everyone to enjoy.

So, pick up a pencil, there are no rules, just have fun, we would love to see your art.

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

Green House

Red House

Yellow House

HIGHEST NUMBER OF LEVELS PASSED:

1st) J J - Year 2

2nd) Christopher- Year 2

3rd) Eleanor - Year 1

BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT IN STUDIO SPEED:

1st) Brooklyn- Year 6

2nd) Alex- Year 4

3rd) Stefan V- Year 3

Attendance

Nursery

86.9%

Reception

92.8%

Year 1

96.9%

Year 2

92.4%

Year 3

94.8%

Year 4

95.4%

Year 5

96%

Year 6

96.2%

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, 6th and 13th February goes to:

Reception

Well done to Melina for showing great perseverance in P.E. while balancing her egg on a spoon.
Well done to Max for taking pride in presenting his work.

Year 1

Ada for persevering in Maths and doing extra Maths activities at home.
Johnny for coming up with some really good ideas for his writing and for working really hard on his presentation.
Isabella for leading play with her friends by setting up and ‘delivering’ a Phonics lesson to them and practicing her knowledge of sounds.
Reggie for taking his learning from Geography/Science into his play and creating his own representation of the Earth map and discussing how we can look after the world.

Year 2

Well done Charlie for creating a brilliant story all about paint land and King Splodge.
Wyatt worked really well in his group in art, contributing some brilliant ideas to their Giuseppe Arcimboldo inspired portraits
Oakley has worked really hard in English the last few weeks and there has been a huge improvement in his attitude towards his learning which is amazing to see.

Year 3

Earl’s shown great perseverance this week in Maths, with Year 3 starting their new unit on ‘time’. It’s been very tricky at times but Earl has never given up!
Archie has worked really hard this week on his spellings and handwriting. All his Year 3 adults can see how much effort he is putting into his work lately and we are all very proud!!
Mia’s attitude towards learning her spelling this week has been amazing. She is practising her spellings in school every day and it is great to see!
Bella was fantastic during Art this week. She was able to create her own pattern design, inspired by William Morris.

Year 4

Poppi worked hard at school and at home in her computing learning. She created a procedure to draw a windmill with the click of one button!
Lacey has shown great perseverance this week in her English. She has written an excellent ‘menu’ for the Iron Man. She used alliteration, expanded noun phrases and did a great job editing her work!
Darius worked really hard to learn his spellings. He got 6/6 and was very proud of himself!
Alfie was in charge of the fire at forest school this week. He showed a great attitude and listened carefully to advice from Miss Evans. Alfie showed his kind side and toasted some marshmallows for Miss B!

Year 5

Harry for making some amazing class contributions to our writing this week.
Rhiannon for drafted her paragraphs for her information page about Jakarta and has used high-level punctuation and great tier 3 vocabulary.
Seb has made a real effort with his writing this week and the presentation of this information page was great.
Hriyaan has produced a great informations page about the history of football and has taken great care with his handwriting and presentation.

Year 6

Laney for always trying hard and showing a great effort in preperation for SATs.
Sophia always aims high and is an absoloute role model to others.
Xiamara has written a fantastic dual narrative, which demonstrates her fantastic writing skills.
Leo has shown a great determination and effort towards maths and is smashing it!

Sunshine Learning Community

SJ for working really hard in Maths this week, learning how to do column subtraction. Well done!
James N for working hard in Maths this week, even when it was challenging sometimes. Well done for helping others and showing how to do column subtraction.
Jayden for writing an amazing story about a viking. Well done Jayden!
James S for sharing great ideas for our class story and showing such interest in learning about Vikings.

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

11th - 14th May - SAT's Week (Year 6)

19th May - Year 4 & 5 Trip to Whipsnade Zoo

22nd May - PTA Non-Uniform Day

5th June - Sports Day

8th June - French Day

19th June - Marvellous Men Gift Sale

23rd - 26th June - Year 6 Residential Trip to Ferny Crofts

3rd July - Sponsored Bounce

3rd July - Summer Fayre

PTA

We very kindly had two volunteers from BAM Construction join us last week to work on our Sensory Garden Project. They helped by painting the fence as well as the benches inside to help brighten the area. The Sensory Garden is really starting to take shape now and we are hoping for this to be completed soon.

Our Marvellous Men Gift Sale is taking place in school on Friday 19th June where children may purchase gifts for their loved ones. Gifts range in price from £1 to £6 and payment can be made in advance by going to Arbor-School Shop- Marvellous Men Gift Sale and then selecting the amount you wish your child to spend.

We are still grateful for any new unwanted gift items that you may have for our Summer Raffle. Please bring any donations to the school office.

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

pta@micklem.herts.sch.uk

SEND and Family Support

DSPL8's Summer 2026 Parents/Carers Newsletter is available to view on their new website here. It includes lots of information about FREE workshops, courses and events coming up in the summer term. These are some that stood out to us:

SEND Provision Consultation

The Hertfordshire SEND Local Area Partnership has developed a SEND Provision Plan 2026-29 which supports the delivery of the new SEND Strategy for 2026–2029. The strategy sets out their shared ambitions to improve outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

More children and young people in Hertfordshire are requiring additional support at school, many presenting with increasingly more complex needs than in the past. Families have consistently told them they want clearer pathways and better local options. In response, this Special Education, Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Provision Plan outlines how they will strengthen support in local schools, increase specialist provision where it is needed, and ensure every child receives the right help, in the right place, at the right time.

Feedback gathered so far has helped identify key priorities and has informed the five core elements of the draft SEND Provision Plan:

Strengthen capacity in mainstream schools
Expand specialist capacity in mainstream schools
Create more special school places
Update special school designations
Child centred placements

As part of the SEND Provision Consultation running from 23 March to 15 June 2026, they are seeking your views on whether the plan reflects your priorities, and how it can be further strengthened before it is finalised.

You can share your feedback by completing a short survey or by attending one of their consultation events. All details on how to get involved are available on the Local Offer: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/SENDProvisionPlan

Thank you for your time, your views are important to them. All responses will be carefully considered and will directly influence the final SEND Provision Plan for 2026–2029.

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