As I said to the children in assembly this morning, it feels like this term has gone in a flash and yet they have achieved so much. It is a privilege to work with your children every day and see how they flourish and progress. Thank you to all of our staff, governors and parents for another successful term. We wish you all a restful Easter break.
Staff News
As you know, we say goodbye to Miss Adams and Miss Woods today. We wish them every success in their new roles.
We are excited to share that Miss Lewis is getting married this weekend. We are sure that you will want to join us in wishing her and her new husband every happiness in their future lives together.
In more good news, I would like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Kent-Bourne, who this week learnt that she had passed her Level 3 Early Years Practitioner course with distinction, and to Mrs Pullen, who successfully passed her Higher Level Teaching Assistant course. I am very proud that our staff embrace new learning challenges and demonstrate our learning culture to our children. Well done to both of you.
St George’s Day Uniforms
You will know that our first day after Easter (Wednesday 23rd April) is St George’s Day. We have been asked by a parent to restart the old tradition of children being able to wear their ‘other’ uniforms on this day. If your child is a Squirrell, Cub, Beaver, Scout, Rainbow, Brownie, Guide or belongs to another uniformed organisation, they are welcome to come in to school wearing their uniform on St George’s Day. We look forward to seeing them.
Year 3 Sports Festival
We hope that all of our children from Year 3 came back talking enthusiastically about their sports festival on Wednesday. Thank you to all parents who also supported the event. We are very fortunate to be a part of the Dacorum School Sports Network who offer these opportunities for our children. Thanks also must go to Miss Penning who ensure that school sport is championed at Galley Hill. You will today have also received her sports newsletter to tell you more about all that has been going on.
Message from the Chair of Governors
As we come to the end of the Spring term I would like to wish all staff, pupils and parents of Galley Hill a very happy Easter holiday. It was a pleasure to meet so many parents at the recent parents evening and to receive so much positive feedback. It is great to know that so many of you are happy and your children are happy to come to school. Naturally, not all responses were positive but those that were not have all been passed on to school and I have every confidence that the comments will be considered very seriously.
Anti-racism parent forum
Thank you to those of you who attended our anti-racism parent forum last week, it was really helpful for us to hear your thoughts. The following points were discussed:
Parents reported they feel welcome at Galley Hill and their children feel welcome.
Parents feel the school handle racist incidents appropriately, and it was agreed that parents should always be informed of racist incidents either via phone call or face to face, on the same day as the incident took place. We also discussed ensuring children have a trusted adult to talk to about racist incidents.
We discussed festivals and celebrations such as Ramadan and Black History Month. We will look into inviting parents in to school to talk to the children and to share their experiences during these celebrations.
Parents reported their children feel represented in our curriculum - but we could have more.
We discussed when new children join the school the wording of our application forms might be overwhelming or misunderstood, particularly in terms of noting down dietary requirements for religious reasons. We will look in to changing this.
We will also hold a similar forum for our pupils from minoritised ethnic groups to gain their views.
Parents feel the forum was worthwhile and would like the opportunity to meet again in the future.
SEND Parent/Carer coffee morning on Friday 27th June
SPACE will be there to explain how they can help and support families.
A time to drink tea, coffee, eat biscuits and chat from 9am to 9.30am.
Then meet the SPACE representative at 9.30am.
SPACE are an award winning Hertfordshire based charity supporting families of children and young people who are neurodivergent (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Tourette’s and other neurodiverse conditions.)
Whether you think your child may be neurodivergent, are going through the diagnostic process, or have already received a diagnosis you are in safe hands. Everything we do is designed to help you navigate local services, build confidence, share knowledge and enjoy social opportunities and activities where you, your children and young people can ‘be themselves’.
