Haltwhistle Academy Newsletter

Reading diaries

Number games to practice place value

Year 3 have been learning about place value and have been ordering numbers up to 1,000. They played a game against their partners to show their understanding of ordering numbers. It was a bit tricky at times but everyone persevered!  

Baking Bread 

This week in nursery we have been learning about our sense of taste. We learnt how to make bread, taking it in turns to mix the ingredients to form sticky dough. After washing hands, we then each rolled a small bit of dough into a ball shape and left it to rise, before baking in the oven. At snack time we ate our buns with a choice of butter or jam. They tasted delicious! 

Sycamore Gap- One year on @ The Sill

Mrs Hawkin has been working extremely hard alongside other schools within the area to engage with an Art project at The Sill. Working with local artist, Becky May, the pupils in Year 6 have created ceramic artwork which hangs proudly. On Friday, the pupils travelled to The Sill to participate in a range of activities focused on 'The Arts' to commemorate the historical sycamore tree which stood on Hadrian's Wall - Sycamore Gap. A cherished landmark in our region which was terribly vandalised one year ago. Watch or listen out for us on the local TV and radio news. 

Attendance Week

What a fantastic week! 169 Pupils in our school achieved 100% this week! From singing and dancing into school on Monday to wearing our favourite hats, we have had a great time motivating ourselves to come to school. Well done everyone!

To celebrate this achievement, 2 lucky winners from Years 1-6 are the first to try our 'Fire Pit Friday' next week - more information to follow!

Exploring our sense of touch!

In Early Years we have been learning about our sense of touch this week. In nursery, we have really enjoyed painting with different textured wands; sorting objects according to whether they are hard or soft; guessing what object is in the box by using our hands to feel and making rubbings of the bark in the forest. 

Early Years Forest School

Teeth brushing in Bramble class

This term we have been learning all about ourselves. We have been thinking about how to keep our bodies safe and healthy. This week we were learning about our sense of taste and oral hygiene. We watched a video and learnt a song about brushing teeth, then gave brushing our teeth a try in school. We all got a timer to help us to make sure we brush our teeth for at least 2 minutes.

This week we have been learning all about our sense of taste. We looked closely at our tongues in the mirrors to see if we could see our taste buds.

Year 1 update

Year 1 have had a super busy week, Miss Davidson and Miss Bell are so proud of every child in year 1. They are all working so hard and adjusting to new routines in year 1 incredibly well, even when it can be a bit tricky sometimes we are all staying positive and never giving up!!

We had lots of fun in computing this week, the children worked in pairs to log onto a computer. Miss Davidson was so impressed as to how patient the year 1 were when completing this task, and how kind and helpful they were if their partner became stuck trying to log in. 

In science, we made our own rain gauges. We talked about our key scientist (Christopher Wren) and had a look at meteorologists, including what a meteorologist is, and what they study. We then made our own rain gauges using old plastic water bottles, and left them outside. We have been measuring how much rain has fallen each day, ready to complete a table of results next week.

Finally, year 1 worked so hard in PE this week. In our fundamentals lesson, we were looking at jumping, hopping and sipping. We had to be very coordinated to do this, and lots of children in year 1 were pleasantly surprised at how far they could jump when they tried their very best!

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.

Internet Safety Monthly Messages

Check out our parent/carer guides for s

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.