Nash Mills CofE Primary School

School News

Friday 23rd January 2026

The Big Garden Birdwatch!

This weekend is the Big Garden Birdwatch! The Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people take part to help build a picture of how our garden birds are doing. We would love all our children and families to get involved. Taking part is fun and easy – simply look out for birds in your garden, local park, or while you are out for a walk.

This week in Forest School, our Reception children have been busy creating a welcoming environment for birds by making nests, preparing bird food, and learning to identify the different birds found in our Forest School area. We hope this inspires everyone to join in and enjoy spotting birds together this weekend.

Miss Bentley would love to hear about all the different birds that are spotted!

Year 3's Amazing Writing

In English this term, Year 3 have been exploring the tale of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. They have paid particular attention to the setting described as Alice wonders through this mysterious and magical land, meeting unusual (and some cruel) people and creatures. Year 3 have taken this story as a way of inspiring them to create their own version of wonderland, focusing very carefully on the technique of 'show, not tell'. They have worked extremely hard and these are few of the many amazing stories that have started to be written (and yet to be finished).

The Fairy Garden by Ottilie

The Mythical Caves by Tristan

Hello Kitty and Friends World by Poppy

Art Activities

In Art, the children have been inspired by the theme of the Tree of Life, using the element of line as the foundation of their artwork. We explored how a single line can grow, branch and flow, much like a tree, and how artists use lines to suggest movement, connection and meaning. Building on this idea, pupils designed their own Tree of Life compositions, beginning with a continuous line that formed the trunk and spiralling branches. They then used colour, shape and pattern to bring their trees to life, incorporating the other elements of art such as texture, value, and space.

Wicked Worldwide Singalong

We are very proud of our school singers and no less so this week as they joined in with a live stream event from the 02, led by the lead West End actress, Emma Kingston, who plays Elphaba. They sang their Wicked Medley with brilliant enthusiasm along with thousands of other children across the world! Next stop Wembley on 3rd Feb, for our big Young Voices event which everyone has been working hard to prepare for.

Nursery Admissions - September 2026

Please share with friends and family that applications to come and join our wonderful Nursery for the next academic year are now open! Our Nursery pupils love coming into school each day to enjoy all of our fantastic facilities and benefit from the care of our dedicated Nursery staff who create a friendly, safe and stimulating learning environment.

In September 2026, we shall be admitting children born between 1st September 2022 and 31st August 2023 and are pleased to share that we offer either:

15-hour morning provision from 8.50am-11.50am

For working families in receipt of 30-hours government funding, daily provision from 8.50am-2.50pm, with the option to extend the day to 3.15pm for an additional cost of £12.50 per week.

Please do encourage family and friends with Nursery-aged pupils to come and see us - Click here for upcoming tour dates.

Star of the Week!

Nursery

Darcie

For your wonderful improvement in being independent and following our class rules. Keep it up Darcie!

Reception

Elina

For increased focus and consistent good behaviour during lessons. You are trying really hard and we are so proud of you Elina!

Year 1

Tomos

For his wonderfully positive attitude towards learning. Tomos always gives his best effort. Keep it up!

Year 2

Jasmine

For always trying her best to produce high quality work in every lesson. Well done Jasmine!

Year 3

Natalia

For her increased confidence in maths and her resilience to keep trying even when she is finding it a bit tricky. Well done Natalia!

Year 4

Lilia

For consistently showing an outstanding attitude to learning and always trying her best in every subject. Well done Lilia!

Year 5

Edward

For his positive attitude to all his learning and increased confidence to share his ideas. Well done Edward!

Year 6

Phoebe

For her fantastic engagement and enthusiasm in class. She has been consistently eager to take part in discussions, always ready to answer questions and has shown great confidence in explaining her reasoning. Keep it up Phoebe!

SEND Support at Nash Mills

As you may know, at Nash Mills, we work hard to ensure that the needs of all pupils are met wherever we can. Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Jessop continue to work closely together to support children with additional needs, mental health and wellbeing concerns, and families who may need a little extra help at different times throughout the year.

This might include support with things like anxiety or worries, friendship difficulties, changes at home, emotional regulation, behaviour concerns, bereavement, attendance, confidence and self-esteem, medical needs, or learning needs such as speech and language, attention, communication or literacy.

Mrs Nicholls leads our day-to-day provision in class, supporting children with additional needs and making sure individual learning plans are updated, in place and working well. She also helps to track progress and supports children who may need a new Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Mrs Jessop leads our pastoral provision and mental health offer, and also oversees children with current EHCPs to ensure they are supported in the best possible way.

Our teachers and support staff have a great understanding of how to support children with additional needs, and your child’s class teacher is always the first point of contact. We work using the graduated response, starting by putting in place our ordinarily available provision. If it is felt a child needs further support, Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Jessop will then offer additional advice and may seek support from other professionals where needed. If teachers have concerns that a child may have an additional or special educational need, they will always speak to you and discuss next steps together.

You can find Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Jessop on the school gate Wednesday–Friday, or you can request a meeting via the school office by emailing admin@nashmills.herts.sch.uk.

Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots!

This week's TTRS leader board is for improvement in studio speed, this shows that children are answering questions faster showing an improvement in their fluency. Well done to our top 3.

Our Numbots leader board reflects the number of stars earned in story mode over the last week, our top 3 earned 1,565 stars!

Well done to all of our leaders.

Mr Shane

Leader board this week

1st - Eren (Y1)

2nd - Theo (Y1)

3rd - George (Y2)

Leader board this week

1st - Finley (Y5)

2nd - Austin (Y4)

3rd - Amaya (Y4)

Attendance

This week’s attendance shows some great commitment across the school. Year 4 have led the way with an excellent 98.3%, closely followed by Year 5 at 97.8%. Reception and Year 1 also had very strong weeks, achieving 97.4% and 97.3% respectively.

Year 6 recorded 95.7%, with Year 2 just behind at 95.3%. Year 3 finished the week on 94%, while Nursery had a more challenging week with 86% attendance. We hope that this gets better next week.

Thank you to all families for your continued support—every day in school really does make a difference to learning.

Safe Travel to School

Many of you will be aware of the continued work that the school has pushed with the local authority to help improve road safety on Belswains Lane.

Over the past few years, the timings of the pedestrian crossing have been improved, there have been new lights and a provisional 20mph limit put into place in addition to our updated signage. We also have an offer within the school curriculium, where pupils are reminded of key road safety messages at different times of the year. The police have also carried out random speed checks on a couple of occasions. We continue to push for further measures to help protect you and your families.

Despite this, we recognise that the main road still poses risks and would ask that you have a look at this poster, which shares ways that we might improve the area further for our children.

Please also spend some time this weekend reminding your child of how they can stay safe when crossing roads.

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 Jones is currently reading The Book With No Pictures...

Every night before I put my children to bed we curl up together and read a story. This one is a little different though as it has no pictures - not a single one! It would be easy to think that this book is very serious and, potentially, a little boring however it always has us giggling and is guaranteed to send us all to bed smiling. My children love that it makes me say and do some very silly things!

Upcoming Dates

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.

The school carpark is open between 7am and 6pm on weekdays. Members of the local community are more than welcome to use it too so please spread the word!

Final Thought

This week, we have continued to look at our theme of kindness. Within this, we have looked at how, sometimes, it is not easy to show kindness and that is not always the easy option. It often requires patience and practice, for all of us.

As the Dalai Lama reminds us, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” These words challenge us to pause, reflect, and choose kindness even when it doesn’t come naturally.

As we head into the weekend, continue encouraging one another to keep choosing kindness, especially when it is hardest.

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