Haltwhistle Academy Newsletter

Football Frenzy!

We have had lots of fun this week on the Nursery story train. First we had to collect the boxes and sort them out to find the boxes big enough for us to sit in. Next we picked our favorite books and made ourselves comfortable. We really enjoyed reading our books and sharing our books with each other in the spring sunshine. 

Nursery Forest School

Reception have been reading ‘Beware of the Bears!’ By Alan MacDonald and Gwyneth Williamson. The next day we had a visit from the bears who made muddy footprints in our classroom and made a mess of our construction area. We were very sad. The bears sent us a letter to say sorry which made us feel much better. We used all of the sounds we have been learning in Read, Write Inc to write a letter back to the bears. Fantastic writing Reception! 

Forest friends

We introduced Acorn and Bramble classes to some new forest friends this week. Our forest friends are painted onto rocks and each character has its name on the back of the rock. All of the names have been taken from the plants, trees and wild life that we find in our local environment. We are going to be hiding our forest friends all around our garden for our friends to find, they can then hide them in a new place for another friend to find. There were some very busy and excited children in the garden looking for the best hiding places for their rocks and sharing their finds with each other. We saw several children giving their friends clues and directions to help them find the rocks and then using their sound knowledge to read the names on the back of each rock. 

How tall are you?

This week nursery have enjoyed using the new height chart in the Early Years garden to measure how tall they are.  

Pizza making in cookery club!

Cookery club enjoyed making tortilla pizzas this week. We added a range of toppings and plenty of cheese! The pizzas looked, smelt and tasted delicious. We are looking forward to next week. 

Swimming!

We love swimming in the rain!  Year 3/4 braved the pool and everyone showed great resilience despite the drizzle!   All the children did brilliantly and stayed positive throughout even though some of us were a little nervous at first. We are practicing using the phrase "I can't do it .... yet but I'll keep trying!"  

Carnival Float - 2024 Olympics theme

Our NEW School Parent App

Family Drop in Sessions - HINT team

Online safety training for parents

Haltwhistle Family Hub - courses for Summer

Attendance Matters - important changes coming

The government have announced important changes to the school absence measures which schools are required to implement. We are sharing these with parents now as we do not want our families to receive fine as a result of these changes in the future:

• Absence fines charged to parents will rise from £60 to £80, or £160 if not paid within 21 days. 

• From the Autumn, only two fines can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year rolling period. Any second notice will automatically be charged at £160. 

• Schools will have to consider a fine if a pupil misses 10 sessions (half days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.  For example, four sessions in term time plus six instances of arriving late would count as 10 sessions. 

Every second in school counts, as missing school, whether by being late or taking unnecessary days off, creates more new learning gaps which need to be addressed.  The best way you can support your child to recover from the lost school time of recent years is to ensure they are in school and ready to learn every day. 

We want every child's attendance to be good or better.  This means 96%+

Please check your child's attendance (see our app) against the class and national data.  School staff are able to offer support if your child's attendance is of concern.    

Please do not take your child out of school during term time as it disrupts your child’s learning and you risk financial penalties.   Any term time leave of absence must be applied for more than 2 weeks before the date of leave and can only be authorised by the Headteacher in the case of EXCEPTIONAL circumstances.  Please could we urge parents to book holidays during the 13 weeks of annual school holidays which are available each year.    In line with our attendance policy, we are required to refer all qualifying absences due to holidays during term time to the Education Welfare Officer at Northumberland County Council.  

If leave has not been authorised and your child is out of school then you may receive a minimum fine of £60 per child, per parent.  If the time out of school makes your child’s attendance drop below 90% then they are known as persistently absent under the governments attendance definitions.  This means that you may face prosecution through the courts. 

Please help us to help your child catch up by ensuring they are in school and ready to learn every day.

Before and After School club bookings

Calendar of Events - Please scroll to see all dates

If reading this on your phone, please turn your phone sideways to be able to scroll through our planned dates.  You can also add our calendar to your own phone calendar to be sure you don't miss a date.  

Our school designated safeguarding leads are Susie Drake, Alex Wood, Vicki Ridley, Shirley Phillips

Everyone is responsible for safeguarding children.  Please speak to a member of this team if you are concerned about the safety of a child.