Glade Hill Primary and Nursery School
We are Golden and we SPARKLE
Headteacher Letter - end of Autumn 1 2025
Dear Parents and Carers of Glade Hill,
The first part of the Autumn half-term has flown by and I cannot believe that we will back at school for Autumn 2 very soon.
Our first half term focused on making sure all children have quickly settled into their new classes and are engaging in the great learning that has been taking place. I hope the parents and carers who were able to join us for the ‘Meet and Greet’ and ‘Stay and Learn’ sessions enjoyed meeting their children’s class staff and also seeing the learning in action. I know I have been so impressed with all the children’s GOLDEN behaviour and their SPARKLY learning so far! Parents’ evenings will be on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th November so please make sure you book a slot.
Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended the PINS coffee morning (Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools). The feedback provided will be really useful to share with all staff and also guide actions going forwards in school in relation to further strengthening our inclusive practice and meeting the needs of all children. There is another opportunity for you to attend one of these meetings on the 27th November at 8.45am so save the date.
A big thank you as well to our FrOGs (Friends of Glade Hill School) Parent and Carer group who have been very active already, organising the Bring and Swap Pre-Loved Winter Clothes event and also preparing for our exciting Christmas and Winter schedule. They have some exciting events planned for this school year, further details to follow after half-term.
We have also celebrated Harvest this last half-term, once again collecting an ENORMOUS amount of food for the Bulwell and Bestwood Food Bank. Thank you so much for your generosity and for supplying the requested items, unopened and in-date. We also dressed to impress on our ‘Wear it Gold’ day to show our support for the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), raising awareness of this charity for a cause that is very close to our hearts.
As part of our Collective Worship sessions in Assemblies and through in-class work, we have celebrated Black History Month. This year the focus was on ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’ and we had lots of visitors during October, including from Diversify, to discuss this important area. Celebrating our diversity is a very important part of our values and ethos at Glade Hill and we are proud of our work in this area. Thank you to Miss Ross for your hard work promoting this across school and to Mrs Speed for sharing your talents.
Just a reminder that our three Priority Areas for School Improvement this year are:
- Improving the teaching of Writing to improve outcomes across the school.
- Improve teaching, provision, experiences and support for children facing barriers to their success such as those who may have “unfair starting lines" in life. Some children need extra help to have the same chances as others.
- Support teachers to develop as leaders through training and support.
One way that you can support us with these goals, is by making sure that you read with your child three times a week. Regular practice is essential for progress in reading, and reading is essential for improving achievement in writing and other subjects. We have a fantastic individual reading reward scheme for all children whereby ‘every read counts’ and children can earn prizes such as teddies, notebooks, pencils and books. We also reward the classes in each phase with the highest reading percentage each week.
Another important way that you can support us with these goals, is making sure that your children are in school as much as possible. Research shows that children with over 95% attendance achieve better grades, achieve their best and are happier and more settled in school. We have lots of incentives to celebrate excellent attendance, including class trophies and attendance badges/ medals.
However, we also must inform you when your child’s attendance drops below this 95% level, even if you have informed us of a valid reason why they could not be in school e.g. serious illness. This will take the form of emails, texts and letters from myself and our Attendance Improvement Officer Mrs Raynor. If you do receive one of these letters and would like to discuss additional support for your child regarding attending school regularly, please contact Mrs Raynor via the school office.
Finally, thank you to the parents and carers who completed the feedback questionnaire. We will be sharing a more detailed response to the suggestions made early next half-term. However, one suggestion that we are going to action immediately is to try to reduce the number of separate information sharing emails that you receive. We are asked by Nottingham City Council and other organisations such as the NHS or local activity groups to share a lot of information with parents and carers, and I know from my own children’s schools that these are ever increasing even if they can be useful. Therefore, from next half-term we will be endeavouring to send a weekly ‘signposting’ email with all the information being contained on one email. Hopefully this will be useful for you all.
Thank you for your ongoing support and look forward to seeing you after the half-term break.
Kindest regards,
Mrs Anna Stapleton - Headteacher