Headteacher Letter - Start of Spring 1

Dear Parents and Carers of Glade Hill,

I hope you all had a nice Christmas break. It has been so lovely to see all of the children back in school and ready to learn.

This week we had a visit from Pat Fielding, CEO of Nottingham Schools Trust (NST), and he was really impressed with what he saw. During our learning walk together around the school, we saw some great work by pupils, positive attitudes to learning, golden behaviour, and all staff going above and beyond to ensure children make the best progress possible. Well done Glade Hill, let’s keep up the good work!

We have lots of great learning planned this term, so make sure you also check out our website for useful information regarding what your children are learning in their classes. Our teachers have been working hard on the ‘Class Pages’ and they will be updating them throughout the term with photographs, examples of work and useful links to support your child’s learning.

As part of our efforts at Glade Hill to continually improve, we have three School Development priorities for this academic year.

These are as follows:

1. To review current policy and improve provision to raise attainment in reading across the school.
2. To develop assessment strategies across the curriculum to support children in making accelerated progress.
3. To continue to raise attendance levels across the school, reducing the absence rates and supporting persistent absentees to attend school more regularly.

Staff training and development for the Spring and Summer terms will focus on improving the teaching of reading across the school and also developing assessment practice to help move children’s learning on. Senior Leaders will also be continuing to work with staff on implementing our assessment policy.

As you know improving attendance continues to be very important. Your child having the best possible attendance is an important way that you can support their learning and achievement. Research shows that children with over 95% attendance achieve better grades, achieve their best and are happier and more settled in school. The Government are really focusing on this area, and are launching a campaign ‘Every moment matters’ to raise awareness of the importance of good attendance for all children.

To support this area in school, we will be continuing to present children with 100% attendance each term with star badges to mark this achievement. The bronze badges We will also be continuing to announce which classes have the best attendance each week in assemblies, which the children love. The winning classes earn extra outside time and the phase attendance trophy for the week! Thank you in advance for making sure your child comes to school as much as possible, and please let us know via the office if you require any additional support.

With so much going on in school, and lots of trips and enrichment activities coming up, make sure you check the Arbor and MarvellousMe app for updates, reminders and messages regarding all the fun things we are going to be learning and doing. These are our main communication tools so if you do not yet have the apps, or you are experiencing problems, please speak to a member of our Office team who will be able to help you. The MarvellousMe app is also used to send ‘badges’ when your child has been praised by a member of staff including leaders, so keep a look out.

Thank you in advance for all your support for our amazing school and I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Anna Stapleton

Headteacher