Haltwhistle Academy Newsletter

Welcome back!

It's been a positive start to the year for all our classes, with all children settling quickly into familiar routines and new classrooms.  You will have noticed a few new faces on morning gate this week and we are pleased to welcome several new members to our expanding team:

Our new pastoral team have already provided exceptional support for our children and families this week, welcome and thank you to Miss Ridley (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) and Mrs Brockman (Monday and Friday).

Joining our teaching team, we have Miss Kennedy in Y5/6, Miss Arkless in Y5, Mrs Wealands has been working alongside Mrs Allsop in Y3/4 and Miss Davison has been working alongside Miss Macdonald in Y1.  

Joining our support team, we are pleased to welcome Miss Watt in Y2, Ms Teasdale in Y3/4 and Ms Smith in Y5/6.  

We hope your children have enjoyed seeing friends and getting back to school as much as we have.  We have a 'Meet the Teacher' event on Wednesday 20th September from 3.30 - 4.30pm when you are welcome to visit the classrooms for an informal discussion with staff or just so that your child can show you their new classroom.  

LKS2 Art

LKS2 spent their first art lesson of the term exploring Roman pottery - understanding what it was used for and making sketches of some of the main features in preparation for moving on to designing and making some Roman-esque vessels of their own.   

Y6 Science

Year 6 have been investigating the question ‘How does light travel?’ They carried out an investigation to prove that light travels in straight lines from a light source. They could explain their findings using a range of scientific vocabulary. Well done Year 6! 

Y2 Science

In Science this week Year 2 completed a quiz with a difference to see how much of their Year 1 Science they could remember! Firstly they had to collect all of the questions and answers which had been lost in our forest school. Then they had to sort out which were the questions and which were the answers. Finally they recalled their Year 1 Science knowledge to match up the questions and the answers. Everyone remembered so much of their Year 1 learning - we were all very impressed!  

UKS2 Art

Upper KS2 have been building their knowledge of colour theory identifying and mixing primary, secondary and tertiary colours. This will help us as we move on to develop our own artwork based on futurism this term. 

PE days!  Please come in correct kit with black / white trainers.

Year 6 Miss Thompson and Y5/6 Miss Kennedy - Monday, Wednesday

Y5 Ms Arkless - Monday, Friday

Y3/4 Miss McAlister - Monday, Thursday

Y3/4 Mrs Allsop / Mrs Wealands - Thursday, Friday

Y2 Miss Stronach / Miss Broadbent - Monday, Friday

Y1 Miss Davison / Miss Macdonald - Tuesday, Thursday

R Mrs Round -  

Skillsbuilder - building our skills for life

Skills builder at home

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

Our school designated safeguarding leads are Susie Drake, Tony Irvine, Michelle Brewster and Bethan Allsop