Latest News | Glade Hill Primary School

Headteacher letter - Summer 1 2024

Thu 25 Apr 2024 Mrs Stapleton

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

Memorial Mosaics arrive at School!

Wed 17 Apr 2024 Mrs Stapleton

Today, the wonderful artist Julie Vernon delivered our two beautiful memorial mosaics to school to commemorate a child from Year 1 who sadly died in November 2023. These were created at school with Julie by our children and staff, and also the child's parents. We will be displaying these in Lower School, in the entrance hall and in Buttercups classroom.

Pupil Council Interview with Governors

Fri 22 Mar 2024 Mrs Lineker

This week our wonderful Pupil Council were interviewed by our Governors to find out what our children thought about our school. We were so proud of how polite, respectful and honest they were! They spoke so highly of all the staff at Glade Hill and how fun teachers made their lessons. Take a look at the poster below to see what they said.

Consultation on SEN Unit

Mon 18 Mar 2024

The formal consultation on the provision of a new SEN unit at Glade Hill Primary School opens today. All stakeholders are invited to make comments regarding this provision by e-mailing the school on admin@gladehill.nottingham.sch.uk and putting SEN unit provision in the subject line.

For the full consultation document please see the Parents Views page or Letters & Newsletters page of our website.

Glade Hill Tree Planting

Wed 13 Mar 2024 Mrs Stapleton

Glade Hill Tree Planting 2024!

Over the past week, Mr Strachan has been out with our children in all weathers planting some new trees on our school site alongside Nottinghamshire County Council staff.

As you know, all our classes are named after trees as we are the Glade on the Hill, and the new trees include a tree for each class from the name family. So we have planted a Magnolia tree, an Oak, a Sycamore etc etc.

Take a look at some photos below.

World Book Day 2024!

Thu 07 Mar 2024 Mrs Stapleton

Happy World Book Day!

There are so many exciting things happening today at Glade Hill . We have the masked reader quiz, fantastic costumes or comfy clothes, toilet roll book characters, live reading lessons and Premier league reading challenges.

What a great day!

Take a look at some photos from our day below and some winners and 'Top 3s' from our toilet roll book character competition.

Headteacher Letter - Spring 2

Mon 19 Feb 2024 Mrs Stapleton

19th February 2024

Dear Parents and Carers of Glade Hill,

I hope you all had a nice half-term break. It has been so lovely to see all of the children back in school and ready to continue their learning.

This term we are excited to welcome back two familiar faces who are returning to work at our school. Mrs Raynor has returned to us to be our Office Manager and Attendance Improvement Officer, and Miss Bacon has returned to work as a Teaching Assistant in our Year 1 team. A warm welcome to both of them from the Glade Hill family.

As I shared in my last letter, we have lots of exciting curriculum activities planned this half-term, so just a reminder to check the MarvellousMe and Arbor app for updates, reminders and messages. Several year groups have trips and visits coming up, such as the Year 3 visit to Creswell Crags, and we also have a number of sports events in which children may be selected to represent Glade Hill. Our Apps are our main communication tools so if you do not yet have them, or you are experiencing problems, please speak to a member of our Office team who will be happy to help you. The Arbor app is also how you book your children onto Breakfast Club and After-school clubs, so please ensure you are able to do this.

Last term our Year 3s and 4s experienced swimming lessons and impressed everyone with their resilience and enthusiasm. The staff at Southglade Leisure Centre were very complementary about the children’s attitude and behaviour as well. Well done Year 3 and 4, and keep up the hard work this half-term. We are very proud of the progress you are making in swimming and learning how to be safe in the water.

Finally, as you know improving attendance remains very important to our school and is one of the key priorities on our School Development Plan. Your child coming to school as much as possible is an important way that you can support their learning and achievement. We will be presenting children with 100% attendance for the Spring term with BRONZE star badges to mark this achievement. If any children achieved 100% in the Autumn and Spring terms then they will receive a SILVER star badge! We have also been continuing to announce which classes have the best attendance each week in assemblies, which is still proving to be very motivating. The winning classes earn extra outside time and the phase attendance trophy for the week!

Mrs Raynor, our School Attendance Officer and Office Manager, will be closely monitor attendance and ensure we act following our policy. This is available on the school website and follows guidance from the Local Authority and the Government on how we can ensure good attendance for all. This includes us not being able to authorise holidays in term-time unless there are exceptional circumstances, and also meeting with parents where the attendance of children is of concern. Mrs Raynor will also be working with our Education Welfare Officer and other Attendance Officers in our local area to look at how to support attendance moving forwards. Please continue to ensure your child is in school as much as possible so they can get the best out of the great learning we have on offer.

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

Headteacher letter - end of Spring 1 2024

Fri 09 Feb 2024 Mrs Stapleton

Dear Parents and Carers of Glade Hill,

We have yet another fantastic half-term at Glade Hill and it was so lovely to celebrate this at our Special Awards assemblies today. The children have blown us all away with their commitment to learning, and how golden and SPARKLY they are. Well done to all the children chosen for awards today, I hope your grown-ups enjoyed the presentation.

All classes have done lots of fantastic learning this half-term and the children are making some fantastic progress. Take a look at some examples of their work below. I know you will be as impressed as I am!

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

This term we have made the following progress towards these:

To review current policy and improve provision to raise attainment in reading across the school. – Focus for staff meetings, visit by PEIA English Lead to review provision, coaching staff by English Lead Miss Whiles.
To develop assessment strategies across the curriculum to support children in making accelerated progress. – Focus for staff meetings, observations of teaching and feedback by Mrs Want (Deputy Head) and coaching support.
To continue to raise attendance levels across the school, reducing the absence rates and supporting persistent absentees to attend school more regularly. – new Office Manager and Attendance Improvement Officer employed (Mrs Raynor) who will start after half-term, ongoing incentives and rewards, support for families by PEIA attendance team.

As shared before, as parents and carers you have a valuable part to play in supporting these development areas too. Some ways you can do this are listed below:

Read with your child at least three times a week and record this in the school diaries.
Complete any homework or online learning given to support your child to make the best possible progress.
Ensure your child is in school as much as possible, good attendance is proven to support pupil achievement and wellbeing.

With so much going on in school, and lots of trips and enrichment activities coming up after half-term, 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 hope you all have a lovely half-term break.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Anna Stapleton - Headteacher

Headteacher Letter - Start of Spring 1

Wed 10 Jan 2024 Mrs Stapleton

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:

To review current policy and improve provision to raise attainment in reading across the school.
To develop assessment strategies across the curriculum to support children in making accelerated progress.
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

Peace Chains - Picture News

Mon 18 Dec 2023 Mrs Stapleton

As part of our Christmas activities, all our classes have been tasked with creating peace chains as part of our Picture News Scheme.

Each year Picture News aims to share some happiness and joy with their schools through their Christmas Campaign. For this year, as there is so much uncertainty and unrest in the world, they felt that writing down and sharing messages of peace with others would be a small but powerful way for schools to use their voices.

We have also shared some photos of our chains on social media through X (formerly known as Twitter)!