Nash Mills CofE Primary School

School News

Friday 9th January 2026

DT Week

As part of DT Food Technology Week, the whole school took part in a range of practical activities designed to develop and progress food preparation skills across all year groups. Each class focused on age-appropriate tasks, allowing children to build on their existing skills and gain new ones as they move through the school, while developing confidence, independence and an understanding of food and nutrition.

Nursery and Reception children explored food preparation skills. Nursery children had a go at spreading toppings onto crackers, which proved to be a tricky but valuable skill, helping them develop hand control and coordination. In Reception, the children practised chopping fruit and vegetables safely, building confidence and independence while learning about healthy food choices.

Year 1 – Super Smoothies - Year 1 children enjoyed making their own healthy smoothies. They practised chopping a range of fruits and learned how to use a blender safely, exploring flavours and textures while developing basic food preparation skills.

Year 2 – Wicked Wraps - Year 2 focused on creating wicked wraps. As part of their learning, they went on a walk to the local shop to explore the wide variety of wraps available, helping them make informed choices before preparing their own.

Year 3 – Terrific Tarts - Year 3 children created terrific tarts, learning how to prepare fillings and assemble their dishes carefully. This activity helped them build accuracy, sequencing skills and confidence in the kitchen.

Year 4 – Fabulous Flapjacks - Year 4 made delicious flapjacks, measuring ingredients and following a recipe step by step. They developed their understanding of combining ingredients and the importance of accuracy in cooking.

Year 5 – Smashing Sauces - Year 5 worked on making smashing sauces, experimenting with flavours and ingredients. They focused on refining chopping skills, seasoning and understanding how sauces can enhance a meal.

Year 6 – Come Dine With Me - Year 6 took part in a ‘Come Dine With Me’ challenge, preparing a three-course meal. They made stuffed peppers with rice and cheese for their starter, pasta with Quorn bolognese for the main course, and a cheesecake with a biscuit base for dessert, showcasing a wide range of advanced food preparation and cooking skills.

Class Timetables

This term, please note the days that your child may require different clothing or equipment. Please note the change of day for Reception PE.

Monday

Year 1 & 4 - PE

Tuesday

Reception - Forest School

Year 5 & Year 6 - PE and Forest School

Wednesday

Year 1 & Year 2 - PE

Year 3 & 4 - Music lesson

Thursday

Nursery, Reception, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 &Year 6 - PE

Friday

Year 2 & Year 3 - PE

Healthy Snacks

Please can we also remind you that any snacks or packed lunch contents should be healthy.

Morning snacks should be a piece of fruit or similar. No chocolate or sugary snacks please.

Please also remember that we are allergy aware and, as such, nuts should not be bought into school for break or lunchtimes.

If you send grapes as a snack, please cut these in half to reduce the risk of choking.

Jewellery

A reminder, that jewellery should not be worn in school. This is to help keep the children safe whilst they are playing.

Those with pierced ears may wear a set of plain studs, but these need to be removed for PE lessons.

Pupils may wear an watch, however please avoid smart watches as these breach our online safety rules.

If you have any specific questions around this, please speak to your child's class teacher.

Clubs

After school clubs start up next week. Please collect your child promptly at 4.15pm from the East Gate (adjacent to staff car park). If your child is unable to attend a club on a particular week, please email the school office (rather than telling the Class Teacher) so that they can make sure all relevant staff in school are made aware, thank you.

Please ensure your child has PE kit in school for Hockey, Fitness, Boxing, Tag Rugby and Karate Clubs. For Football, shin pads and football boots are also required. Forest School will take place outdoors in all weather, so please ensure your child has wellies in school, along with a warm, waterproof coat, hat, gloves and scarf. We hope the children enjoy taking part!

Special Burger Day!

Each term, we have a day in which we encourage our pupils to try a hot school dinner (especially if they don't usually). To promote this further, this term's special day, which will take place next Thursday, will be a Burger Day!

Those who normally have packed lunches are more than welcome to still bring their packed lunch. For our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils, we will encourage them to also choose something to try if they wish.

Below are the menu options for Thursday 15th January:

Red - Breaded Chicken Burger or Beef Burger

Green - Plant Grill Burger

Blue - Jacket potato with beans or cheese

Yellow - Ham roll

Best Bedtime Reads!

As you know, reading regularly at home with your children is incredibly important. A good bedtime story is not only helpful in maintaining a strong routine in the evening, it also helps children to develop their imagination and vocabulary.

Each week, we will ask our staff what their current recommendations are for the best bedtime reads. We hope that it provides you with some ideas!

Miss Lyden is currently reading... Oi! Dinosaurs!

This is one of my favourites books to read with my son. Have you ever wondered what dinosaurs sat on? Or stone-age animals?

Well... meet dog, cat and frog who will take you on a historical journey about animal seating arrangements. Remember though, all animals have to sit on something that rhymes with their name such as velociraptors sitting on plug adapters.

This is a fun filled book full of animals, history and laughs.... even funnier when I decide to be more theatrical by adding voices to each character!

If you enjoy this book, then I highly recommend the other Oi! books by Kes Gray and Jim Field.

Home Learning Guidance

This term, we are having a very small shift in the way that we offer home learning opportuntities. Recently updated research, including guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), tells us that the most effective way for primary-aged children to make progress is through regular practice of core skills—particularly reading and maths.

Therefore, our priority will continue to be:

Every child reads daily for around 15 minutes
Every child spends time practising maths skills using Numbots or Times Tables Rock Stars.

We will also share Knowledge Organisers each half-term, giving you an overview of upcoming learning and ways to support the children at home, including with spelling. In addition, pupils in our Year 4-6 classes will have the end of week 'quick quiz' tasks to complete on Google Classroom which helps the teachers in the planning for the next week.

We know that family time, play, and rest are just as important as academic success. Therefore, we will not be expecting the children to do further learning on a regular basis. For those who wish to do more, optional resources such as Home Learning Menus (Years 1–4) are available on the Home Learning page of the school website and Thinking Skills tasks (Years 4–6) will be sent home at the end of some terms. These are entirely voluntary and designed to enrich learning for those who enjoy extra challenges.

Our approach ensures that homework supports learning without overwhelming families—because we value balance, wellbeing, and the joy of learning.

Supporting your child online

We know that many of the children will have received gifts over Christmas that allow them access to the internet and with many now having some level of online presence, online safety is a key area to think about.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner have just released new guidance titled 'What I Wish my Parents or Carers Knew...", which offers some excellent ideas about conversations you can have at home and things that you might be able to put in place.

The guidance can be accessed through this link.

Attendance

A huge congratulations to Year 6, who achieved a perfect 100% attendance this week—what an amazing effort and a fantastic start to the term!

Year 1 followed closely with 98.5%, and Year 5 also did brilliantly at 97.8%. Year 4 recorded a strong 96.7%, while Year 2 reached 94.5%. Reception came in at 93.6%, and Year 3 at 92.3%.

Nursery had a tougher week with 87.5%, so let’s all work together to boost those numbers next time.

Thank you to everyone for your continued commitment to attendance—it really makes a difference to learning and progress!

Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots!

This weeks TTRS leader board is studio speed, our top 3 are answering questions in under 1 second, which is phenomenal!

Our Numbots leader board reflects the most correct answers over the last 7 days. Our 3 leaders had a massive 2,613 correct answers between them! Well done to all of our leaders.

Mr Shane

Leader board this week

1st - Theo (Y1)

2nd - Visakan (Y2)

3rd - Romeesa (Y2)

Leader board this week

1st - Ivy (Y6)

2nd - Edward (Y5)

3rd - Fatima (Y6)

Upcoming Dates

12th January - Y4 Parent Coffee Morning

12th January - Clubs start for the term

13th January - Y5 Parent Coffee Morning

14th January - Reception Coffee Morning

15th January - Y6 Parent Coffee Morning

22nd January - Nursery Coffee Morning

23rd January - Reception School Nurse visit

29th January - Electric Umbrella Visit

30th January - PTA Quiz Night TBC

2nd February - Feeling Good Week

3rd February - Y2 Class Worship

3rd February - Young Voices trip to Wembley

6th February - PTA Disco

9th February - Reception Coffee Morning

10th February - Y1 Class Worship

10th February - Safer Internet Day

16th-20th Feb - Half Term

27th March - End of the Spring Term 1.30pm

Good Shepherd Booking

Good Shepherd Club—to book spaces at Breakfast or After School Club, please visit

http://www.goodshepherdclubs.co.uk/

Logging Absences

Thank you to those who have now managed to log child absences on Arbor. It has really helped the office, meaning that we know where all of the children are more quickly in the morning. If The instructions on how to do this are set out below.

If your child is unwell, Hertfordshire Attendance team require that the nature of the illness is recorded, so please include this in your message (cough, cold, temperature, vomiting etc.). Please note that any absence requests for future dates will still need to made through the school office. In line with our attendance and safeguarding policies, a reminder to report your child's absence every morning, by 8.30am, until your child is well enough to return to school.

Step 1 -Click on Quick Actions button and then click Attendance followed by the green Log Absence button (top right).

Step 2 - Enter the absence details. If your child will be absent all day, there is no need to edit the start and end times that will automatically appear. If your child is ill, please ensure that you enter the nature of the illness and then press the green Log Absence button.

Step 3 - Once you have logged the absence, the school office will 'accept' it. Approved absences then appear in the Attendance tab of the Arbor App. It is not possible to edit an absence once it has been approved, so if you have any queries, please email the school office who will be able to help.

Pupil Premium

Did you know that your child may be able to receive additional support in school in addition to free school meals, if you qualify for certain benefits?

If you receive any of the following, your child may well be eligible for the Pupil Premium. This provides them with free school meals throughout their time at school, but also a range of additional things in school to help with their learning and engagement. If your child might be eligible, please visit the following site (https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/ufs/HCWH.eb?ebd=0&ebz=1_1717745705707) or speak to the school office who will be happy to help.

Income Support
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (as long as you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and you don't get more than £16,190 a year)
Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
Universal Credit (with annual earned income of no more than £7,400 after tax and not including any benefits you get).

The application process only takes a few minutes and we are more than happy to provide support if it is needed.

Clothing Bank

Thank you for your donations towards our clothing bank. If you have any old clothes following clear-outs, please drop things in. The clothing bank is emptied regularly so should be ready for more donations.

Members of the local community are more than welcome to use it too so please spread the word!

Final Thought

This week, we began the Ubuntu theme of 'Kindness' in worship. We looked at this image from 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and ther Horse' by Charlie Mackesy.

What does it mean to you?

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