Haltwhistle Academy Newsletter

Thank you to all the families who attended our 'Meet the teacher' event on Wednesday.  We hope you enjoyed meeting the staff teams supporting your child and seeing around their new classrooms.  We have an Early Years Open Evening coming up after school on Thursday for new children and families interested in joining our school in the future (details below), we'd be really grateful if you could share this event with friends and family. 

School election news

Attendance Week

Early Years Open Evening *Thursday 26th September 3.30-4.30pm*

Our Early Years Nursery and Reception classes are open on Thursday after school for younger siblings and other families considering Haltwhistle for their child.  We accept children onto our nursery waiting list for places from birth, so please do encourage friends and families to come and experience our wonderful setting for themselves.  

KS1 Geography walk

Key Stage One enjoyed a very sunny walk around their local area this week as part of this term’s Geography topic. As we walked we spotted lots of different human and physical features and ticked them off on our lists. At the ambulance station we were lucky enough to see the flashing lights and hear the siren and Miss Sloane even saw some salmon jumping in the river. It was lovely to see the children out in the local town chatting to lots of the shop workers who came out to see us.  A big thank you to our helpers who joined us on our walk. 

Music tuition

Reception class photograph

 Keep your eyes peeled for this lovely photo of our new starters in this weeks Hexham Courant. What a fantastic bunch they are! 🥰

West Northumberland Football League

We are always continuing to develop opportunities for sport. We are pleased to announce that we have been able to work with local schools Allendale, Henshaw, Greenhead, Shaftoe and Newbrough to create our very own league. There will be opportunities for pupils to take part in the main league for Year 5/6 and mini-tournaments for Year 3/4 pupils. Further information will be provided in due course. 

A special thank you to Haltwhistle Jubilee FC who continue to support our school and have donated a set of new goals for our playground to enable us to continue to support a keen interest of football in school. 

*We will be fundraising this term for sports equipment to include 6 additional junior goals *

School driveway

Please could we remind parents that the school driveway can be used at the following times only:

• To drop off for breakfast club (before 8.20am)

• To collect from after school care (after 3.45pm)

The drive is closed to vehicles from 8.20 - 9am and 3pm - 3.45pm to ensure the safety of the young children walking to and from school.  Only school taxi's and drivers with a blue badge can use the driveway during these times and must observe the 5mph limit.  

Thank you for your support.

Life on the Wall

After-School Club - Full of Beans

Internet Safety Monthly Message

Understanding Autistic Overwhelm, Meltdown and Shutdown Workshop for Parents 

Hexham Family Hub Monday 14th October 10-12 

Delivery of in-person learning workshops on understanding Sensory Differences is taking place with a member of the Autism Central at Daisy Chain team. We will look at how sensory differences impact autistic people. This workshop is aimed at the parents and carers of school-aged children. No diagnosis is necessary.

Places must be booked: https://daisychainproject.co.uk/product/in-person-learning-workshops-northumberland/

Haltwhistle Family Hub

Attendance Matters - important changes coming

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.

Pupil illness - Please note that in line with the new attendance guidance, we need a clear reason for absence for the school register.  If your child is 'poorly' their absence is registered as unauthorised until a reason is provided. Please contact the school office as soon as possible so that the illness reason can be authorised.   

Under the new government policy, if one parent takes their child on an unauthorised term time holiday, both parents with parental responsibility could be subject to a fine issued by Northumberland County Council.  This includes when parents are separated.  

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.