School News

Friday 26th June 2026

Nash Mills CofE Primary School

I just wanted to start this week's newsletter by saying 'thank you' to our parents. As I'm sure you will appreciate, the last few days have presented some real challnges for both our pupils in school and those who have been away on the residential trip.

Temperatures such as those experienced are becoming more and more part of our summers and, therefore, something we will have to learn to live with. We have spent lots of time this week working with staff in school, local partners and Hertfordshire County Council to ensure that we are able to remain open and safe for pupils. Whilst the hot classrooms have not been dangerous, there have been some more uncomfortable times, however the children have dealt with it brilliantly. This is a big factor in our ability to stay open when other local schools have closed. We know what an impact closing schools have on families, work and arrangements at home and will do all we can to remain open.

Thank you for your support and trust during this week. It is very much appreciated. Here's hoping for a cooler period from Monday!

Year 6 live it up in the New Forest

This week, Year 6 have spent the week on residential in the New Forest. Despite the heat, they had a great time, with lots of fun and adventures with their friends.

Highlights of the week included go karting, rifle shooting, the 3 stack, zip wire and crate stack climbing activities, not to forget the regular ice cream breaks! Some of Year 6 were delighted to be able to watch the England football match on Tuesday night (even though the game itself wasn't the best!).

During the week, we also went to visit different places, including Lymington Lifeboat Station (RNLI) and Hurst Castle, which we got to on a ferry.

Everyone was well fed during the week, with meals including home-made pizzas, hot dogs and fajitas.

We would like to thank the staff who came with us and looked after us. We had a blast!

The Opera is here!

Year 2 and Year 5 had the exciting opportunity to take part in an opera workshop led by Hertfordshire Music Service. The children learned how to warm up their voices, how an opera is created and about the many different people involved in bringing a production to life.

They then used music and drama to recreate a scene from The Magic Flute. The children became an opera chorus, with some taking on the role of Papageno, one of the main characters, while others played the birds trying to evade being caught. It was a fun and memorable introduction to the wonderful world of opera!

Star of the Week!

Nursery

Beau

For being a lovely kind member of our Nursery class this week. Beau has been helping his friends with class activities and sharing during play.

Well done Beau!

Reception

Gabrielle

For your progress in writing, particularly your growing ability to write independently. We also love your beautiful artwork, which demonstrates amazing attention to detail and artistic flair. Well done!

Year 1

Lilian

For being a wonderfully happy and cheerful member of the class, and for the tremendous growth in confidence you have shown throughout the year.

Year 2

Lana

For showing incredible growth and maturity, and making positive choices in your learning. You are becoming thoughtful and responsible - well done!

Year 3

Israel

For being consistently hardworking, showing maturity and always telling the truth. Thank you!

Year 4

Max

For the brilliant effort he makes to produce his best work - well done Max.

Year 5

Sianna

For her determination to suceed, her hard work is paying off.

Year 6

For a fantastic week away in the New Forest, dealing amazingly with the heat and working together as a team so well. We have been very proud of you!

Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots!

This week's TTRS leader board is for most correct answers over the last 7 days. Our top 3 this week accumulated a total of 2,112 correct answers! That answer has a special name - any child who can tell me what it is will get 2 house points!

Our numbots leader board is for the most number of levels passed with 3 stars in story mode. Well done to our top 3 this week!

Mr Shane

Leader board this week

1st - Ralph (Y1)

2nd - Mia L (Y2)

3rd - Clay (Y2)

Leader board this week

1st - Joseph (Y3)

2nd - Àine (2)

3rd - Emel (Y5)

Attendance

Despite the hot weather this week, we’ve still seen some strong attendance across the school—thank you to families for your continued efforts during challenging conditions. Year 5 led the way with an excellent 98%, followed by Year 1 at 96.7% and Year 6 at 96.6%. Year 2 achieved a solid 95.7%, while Reception recorded 95% and Year 3 94.8%. Year 4 finished the week on 93.7%, and Nursery at 92.6%.

We recognise that the heat has led to one or two additional absences this week, but we are hopeful that with cooler conditions, attendance will continue to improve next week.

Staffing Updates

Following the sharing of our staffing plan before half term, we have a few small changes to let you know about.

Within our office team, we will be saying 'goodbye' to Mrs Jeffery, who has been part of the Nash Mills family for over 25 years, working in various roles during that time. Currently, Mrs Jeffery looks after many of the core background processes within school, including our finances and funding, trips, lunches and many, many other key tasks. We will be incredibly sad to see Mrs Jeffery go, but wish her the best of luck in retirement. Mrs Jeffery is currently building her 'forever home' and is looking forward to welcoming a grandchild into her family; it sounds like she will still be very busy! Mrs Lewis, who has been working in our office since Easter will be permanently joining the team from September.

With our Year 4 class, Miss Finnis has decided that she would like a little more time with her new baby on maternity leave so will not be rejoining us just yet. Mrs Petrina, who has been working in Year 5 with Mrs Lewis this year will be staying with us until Miss Finnis returns.

Sadly, Mrs Gabor, who leads the provision for Year 1 and 2 pupils in our Green Room, will be leaving us. I am pleased to share that we will be joined by Miss Cutler, who currently works in another local school, who will be taking on the role of SEND Lead Teacher for our pupils who are not quite ready to engage with the full curriculum.

You may have heard in the news that the school Sports Premium funding has been cut from next year. We are aware that our children get a huge range of sporting opportunities at Nash Mills and are very keen to ensure that this is not impacted by the reduction in funding. Therefore, our governors have worked hard to fund a new Sports Coach role to which we have appointed Mr Liu, who will be joining the team from September.

We look forward to welcoming our new members of staff in the coming weeks.

Building Works Update

You will have seen that the scaffolding and fencing has been erected this week to allow our roofing project to begin. Thank you for your patience whilst different parts of the school have had to be closed off to keep children safe - this was more intrusive than we have anticipated. However, once the scaffolding is complete, the fencing will be moved in, meaning that the paths are clearer again.

The works to the old school walling are also progressing well and we hope will be completed on time ready for September.

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's book to share this week...

Goodnight Mister Tom

Goodnight Mister Tom is a brilliant story set during World War II. It follows a boy called Willie, who has to leave London and go to live in the countryside with a man named Tom. At first, Willie is shy and nervous, but as he spends more time with Mister Tom, he starts to feel safe, happy and confident.

Willie and Mister Tom become close friends who help and support each other, showing how important friendship can be. A key theme throughout the story is the importance of kindness, as we see how caring actions can completely change someone’s life for the better. Willie shows great courage as he learns to be brave, try new things and believe in himself.

It is a fantastic read that will make you happy and sad, laugh and cry. Even if you don't you have a particular interest in WWII or war stories, it is still worth a read as it is really about people, feelings, friendship and finding a place where you belong.

Measles

We have been asked to share this message from the Hertfordshire Director of Public Health

The number of children with measles has increased since the start of the year, with most cases in unvaccinated children aged 10 years and under. Measles is a very infectious illness which can make children very unwell and sometimes leads to serious complications. Sadly, two children in England have died from measles in 2026.

In Hertfordshire we have had outbreaks of measles in some of our schools and cases of measles are increasing. I am therefore asking that parents take the following actions:

Check your child’s red book or the NHS App to make sure your child is up to date with their vaccinations.
If your child has missed one or both doses of MMR, please contact your GP practice to arrange an appointment.
You can also contact your local Community & School Aged Immunisation Service who run vaccination sessions for all ages. Details can be found here: https://www.hct.nhs.uk/service-details/service/hertfordshire-and-east-anglia-community-and-school-age-immunisations-35 /
If your child is ill and you are worried it might be measles, check symptoms of measles here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles. If you need help, please phone your GP or 111 and follow their advice.

Toys from Home

Please remember that we encourage children not to bring in toys from home unless there is a special focus in class. We are seeing more things being bought in at the moment, which has led to some disagreements between children.

World Cup Matches

We know that some of the children will be keen to watch the upcoming World Cup matches and recognise that this will cause difficult conversations in some households!

However, for the time being, we need to remind you that we will expect the children in school each day and on time as usual so would ask that there are not too many late nights over the coming weeks please.

Polite Reminders

A gentle reminder to allow Arbor notifications to pop up on your mobile phones so that you don't miss any messages sent from school. Arbor app messaging is often used by school to communicate things such at short-notice cancellations / menu changes etc. We are noticing that many parents are currently missing messages, so please check the settings on your phone to ensure you have notifications switched on for the Arbor app - thank you.

Also, a polite reminder to park respectfully around the school site, in particular avoiding the pub car park, especially in the afternoons so that their customers can park. Thank you.

Please click here to read the latest parent newsletter from the Developing Specialist Provision Locally Team in Dacorum.

Upcoming Dates

30th June - Y3 Class Worship

1st-3rd July - Y5 Residential Trip

1st July - Governors Resource Meeting

6th-8th July - Sports Week

7th July - Reports sent home

7th July - Y4 Class Worship

7th July - Y4 trip to Electric Umbrella at the Cathedral

8th July - Sports Day - 11am EYFS, 12pm rest of school

9th July - New class transition day

10th July - PTA summer disco

13th July - Art week

13th July - EYFS Showcase 9am

13th July - Music Concert 2pm

13th July - Full Governing Body Meeting

14th July - Y1 RAF Trip

15th&16th July - Y5&6 Production

17th July - Y6 Leavers Party

20th July - Whole School Church Service

21st July - Leavers' Assembly and last day of term. School closes for the summer at 1.30pm

22nd &23rd July - INSET Days

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!

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 about to close! 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 approximately £12.50 per week.

Please do encourage family and friends with Nursery-aged pupils to come and see us.

Final Thought

Following on from last week's focus around being honest with those around us, this week, some pupils have looked at the poem 'The Blind Men and the Elephant' by John Godfrey Saxe.

The final lines of the poem make the point that arguments can happen when sometimes we want the same things and mean the same thing, but do not fully understand what the other person is talking about.

Sometimes this can happen when we are not being completely honest with those around us.

Do you notice any examples of this this weekend?

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