Headteacher letter - Summer 1 2024

Dear Parents and Carers of Glade Hill,

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. It has been so lovely to see all of the children back in school and be so keen to get back to their learning. The first 2 weeks have flown by with all the great learning in school!

Our Year 6s have been working really hard and will be taking their SATs later this half-term during May. I am so proud of all their progress and hard work, and I know that this will be reflected in their results. Keep up the good work Team 6 and I know you will reap the rewards!

The Year 2 children will also be undertaking some assessments, but these will be later in the Summer term this year due to changes in Government guidance and results reporting. Although there will still be some tests, these will be used to inform future teaching and learning, and will not be reported in the same way as previously. 

We again have lots of exciting curriculum and enrichment activities planned for this term, including our clubs, trips and in-school experiences. For example, the children across lower school recently accessed an ‘Owl Experience’ day as part of their English learning and some of our Year 4 children are accessing ‘Wild Things’ outdoor learning. Unfortunately, we have had the sad news that the Year 2 Wollaton Camp and the Year 4 Colwick Camp have been permanently closed due to the financial situation at Nottingham City Council, meaning that these year groups will be unable to go on residentials this year. We are working hard as a school to arrange alternative experiences, so watch this space.

Our Year 5s attended their first swimming lessons of the year this term, and impressed everyone with their resilience and enthusiasm. The staff at Southglade Leisure Centre were again very complementary about the children’s attitude and behaviour. Well done Year 5.

Finally, as I have shared with you before, our three Priority Areas for School Improvement this year are: improving the teaching of Reading; continuing to improve Attendance; and also developing our Assessment processes.  Teachers and support staff have attended in-school training on how to improve the teaching of reading and how to use assessments to move children’s learning on. We have also continued our incentives to improve attendance. Overall, as a school we are making good progress towards our targets. This progress has been shared with our Governing Body and also our School Improvement Advisor who both complimented the progress we are making.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Kindest regards, Mrs Anna Stapleton - Headteacher