Our School Vision
Introduction
The first summer term has seen the blossoming of the season and the school grounds spring to life. We have embraced the challenge from our most recent OFSTED inspection and continuing with our curriculum development to ensure that every child receives the best education possible. Our informal collaboration with Hinchliffe Mill has proved to continue to be fruitful, supporting them through a very recent OFSTED inspection.
Having taken feedback onboard, this newsletter will compromise of different sections. There will be information from the half term, the usual information and reminders and then key dates and safeguarding information at the end. This should allow our community to hone in on specific areas rather than reading through the full newsletter.
Grab a cuppa, see what we have been up to during the first half of the Summer Term and what we have to look forward to over the next half term.
Thank you all for your ongoing support.
Please remember if you're not following our Facebook page, like and share for regular updates!
LATEST NEWS
Staffing Update
As many of you are aware from recent correspondence, Mrs Broughton will be starting her maternity leave not far into the coming Autumn Term for around two to two and a half terms. We have successfully recruited to cover her maternity leave, and it's with pleasure to introduce you to Miss White. She will be teaching the Year 3 and 4 children during mornings and Class 2 during afternoons from September. Without further ado, here is a little more about her...
Hello! I am Miss White and I am very excited to start my teaching career at Holme Junior and Infant School. I am an extremely approachable teacher who is here to support all children and parents. I am so eager to bring my passion for teaching to life by supporting children each day to achieve their personal and academic goals.
A little bit about me, I love reading, swimming and spending time with my friends and family. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch! I look forward to meeting you all in the next academic year.
Miss White will be spending time during the second Summer Half Term getting to know the school and most importantly start those positive relationships with the children. She will be in school during transition and is working closely with Mrs Broughton between now and her maternity cover starting, to ensure the transition between them for the children is seamless. I am sure you will join me in welcoming her to the Holme Team!
It is also with sadness that we have said goodbye to two members of staff most recently. Miss Keeling and Mr Hooley have both left the school for their own personal reasons. Mr Hooley is still supporting the school, and you may see him one day per week and during some school holidays completing the role of Caretaker. We wish them both all the best with their future endeavours and it's great to still have Mr Hooley onboard in a small capacity.
We will also be saying goodbye to Miss Dunkerley as she has secured a teaching post from September. She has been instrumental in supporting the school as a casual teacher and teaching assistant, and will be missed. She won't be too far away though, as she has been successful in securing a teaching position at Hinchliffe Mill. Teaching staff in school do have release time, which equates to two half days per week, unless they are a senior leader, where this is more. This is statutory time that they are given for planning, preparation and assessment, as well as for additional duties, such as, subject leadership. We are currently formulating a plan to replace Miss Dunkerley from September to cover the role of teacher release and will update you in the next newsletter once this is finalised.
Finally, as I am currently Headteacher of both Holme and Hinchliffe Mill, I am spending time between both schools where the need is required. This may mean that some weeks I have a larger presence at Holme School than others. As Hinchliffe Mill is very close to Holme, I am never far away if I am required and Miss Wood is very capable as Assistant Headteacher to deal with situations while I am not in school. I would like to thank you for your continued support while we support our neighbours down the road at this time.
Year 6 SATs
We'd like to say a big well done to our Year 6's. They've tackled their tests with stealth and resilience and we couldn't have asked for anything more or be prouder. When they receive their results towards the end of the term, we will be proud of their achievements and I am sure we couldn't ask for anything more. Well done girls!
Let's Sing
Well done to the Key Stage 2 children who attended the Let's Sing event in Holmfirth alongside other children from other schools within the Holmfirth area. A lot of our children showed confidence and talent, which is a testament to how our children at Holme develop as part of their journey. Well done to all!
Amazing Art
It's been amazing to see that artwork that is being produced. We will be part of the upcoming Arts Festival and some of our work will be showcased. Here are some samples of work we have produced over the half term.
Class 1 Ducklings
Class 1 had some very exciting arrivals in April. Meet the ducklings! They have been looking at their features and how they grow. A huge thank you to the Howard family for supporting us with this!
Care Crew Foodbank Visit
Our wonderful Care Crew took a trip to the Food Bank at the Full Life Church in Holmfirth to drop off Holme School’s kind donations. They were shown all the fantastic work they do, collecting uniforms, unopened toys and fresh, frozen and dried foods. The children did a brilliant job stacking shelves. Thank you to Miss Talbot for organising it and Mrs Thomas, our governor, for accompanying them.
Goodbye and Good Luck
It's always a sad occasion when we have to say goodbye to one of our Holme family. We said a big goodbye to one of our amazing Year 5 pupils who started a new school in June. We had a tea party, some live music and a quiz to mark the occasion. We all wish him the best of luck for the future!
RECURRING NEWS AND REMINDERS
Prospective Parents
If you know of any parents who are looking for a school place, please do send them our way and we can showcase what our wonderful school has to offer! We have availability in Reception, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 for a September start.
Holme School Parents' Parking Promise
Congestion on the roads around school at drop off and pick up poses a risk to children and their families, as they travel to and from school.
It’s a parent’s responsibility to see their children safely to and from school but, in doing so, they should not create dangers to others. Walking, scooting, or cycling to school has endless benefits for you and you child/ren and is without doubt the best way to travel to and from school.
However, we recognise that there are circumstances when travelling to school via car is the only option. If this is the case, then we would ask you to please park with care and consideration.
We are asking parents and carers to complete and sign the parking promise, agreeing that, as a caring and responsible driver they:
- Will NOT park or stop on the ‘SCHOOL KEEP CLEAR’ markings during school hours
- Will NOT park on double yellow lines in and around the school and village with the exception of a displayed valid Blue Badge
- Will NOT park on single yellow lines during the hours stated in and around the school and the village with the exception of a displayed valid Blue Badge
- Will NOT block the school entrances
- Will NOT park on pavements in the village, making it difficult for prams and wheelchairs to get by
- Will NOT park on the school side of the road creating a bottleneck and hazards for children crossing
- Will make sure children get out of the car safely
- Will park some distance away from the school, walking a short journey, even in bad weather conditions. (We have made arrangements with The Fleece to utilise their carpark and walk the short distance to school or advise parking on the cobbles at the bottom of Meal Hill Road.)
- Will turn my engine off while waiting outside school, to avoid unnecessary air pollution
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED AND VALUED SUPPORT
We also had a visit from the Road Safety Team at Kirklees who worked with Class 2 to learn all about the dangers of the road and what to do.
School Website
As the year progresses, we will be updating our school website. This is the first port of call if you need any information about school. Some parents and carers have asked questions about where they can find information. I thought it would be useful to signpost the most common pages that might be helpful (and to possibly bookmark for the future):
- Calendar - Our calendar is regularly updated. It can be found here.
- Class Curriculum Information - Teachers update their Class pages at least once a term with important updates as to what children are learning and ways in which parents and carers can support at home. These should be updated by the 19th January for this term. You can access the Class 1 and Class 2 pages.
- Curriculum Information - We are currently in the process of updating our school curriculum. You can find more information here. Please use the links at the side or the 'Curriculum' drop down menu to see specific pages.
- Policies - We are currently in the process of updating our school policies. If you see a little red page with the Adobe symbol in it, this means the policy has recently been updated. You can find our policies page here. These will continue to be updated.
- E-Safety - We have created a dedicated page with information for parents and carers. It can be found here. We have also produced a page with questions and answers that parents and carers may find useful. This can be found here.
- Parent Information - Miss Talbot and Miss Devlin are currently updating our parent information pages. Please keep an eye here as updates continue. Please use the links at the side of the 'Parent Information' drop down menu to see specific pages.
Shine Bright Values
Our shine bright values encompass what we believe our children should foster during their time with us to become well-rounded citizens in our community and the wider world. We cultivate our children to be independent, resilient, respectful, creative, adventurous and aspirational for their future. These will be featuring more regularly within school through our positive behaviour policy, being rewarded as part of Class Dojo and having a 'Shine Bright Values' award of the week. This will be one child in the entire school each week who has been recommended by all the staff in school, achieving one of our Shine Bright Values really well. We would like to encourage parents and our local community to support us with these values outside of school to ensure that the children understand the language and are able to show these life skills in order to thrive, not just now, but in the future. Here are our April and May award winners. Great work! We can't wait to see more children actively showing our Shine Bright Values.
Positive Behaviour Policy
We have updated our Positive Behaviour Policy to include our Shine Bright Values. We wanted to make parents and carers aware of what positive behaviours we would like to see on your child's journey throughout Holme School and also the awards and consequences children will receive dependent on the behaviours they display in-line with our code. We will be celebrating our Shine Bright Values daily in class and allow children to understand what these mean to them and also how they support in their whole Holme School journey to leave as well rounded citizens.
Celebration Assembly
It's been great to see our children continue to be awarded for Honour of Holme, Shine Bright Value award, Remarkable Writer, Regal Reader and Maths Mogul. We've also added an all new Lunchtime Award and Super Speller! Our lunchtime award winner is chosen weekly by Mrs Crowther. This lucky person will be able to have their trophy and Munch eating with them for the week. She's keeping a close eye for those with good manners, eat their yummy lunch and are respectful at all times during their time in the dining hall. As spelling is a school focus, we have also introduced our Super Speller, where one child throughout school is chosen each week. Here are some of our award winners for April and May.
Please remember to keep those pictures of what your child is up to outside of school coming in for our Shine Bright Board. It doesn't have to be a sport, it can be anything they're proud of achieving. We do ask that you send these to shinebright@holmejischool.co.uk. If pictures are sent to Mr Bond or the Office e-mail, there is no guarantee they will make it to the board. When we receive them, they will be printed and placed onto our board, being celebrated in the next Celebration Assembly. Please note, any that are received after a Thursday lunchtime will be celebrated the following week.
Attendance Matters
At Holme Junior & Infant School, we fully recognise the impact of good attendance and punctuality on the success and development of young people both socially and academically.
Research has proved that any young person with attendance under 95% is at risk of achieving a grade lower in every subject by the time they leave school. We expect all children to attend school regularly.
We do understand that children become ill and there are guidelines around how long a child should be absent for. We do take these guidelines onboard. We do ask that parents consider the period of absence beyond the guidelines as this may have a negative impact on the child missing further learning.
We take attendance seriously at Holme and follow our school procedure in-line with our policy that has been ratified by the governing body and also follows national guidelines. You can take a look at our policy here for further information and clarification. If you are ever unsure, please contact the school office in the first instance who will happily support and advise.
April Attendance Figures
Whole School Attendance: 97.2%
- Class 1: 96.7%
- Class 2: 97.6%
May Attendance Figures
Whole School Attendance: 95.6%
- Class 1: 91.7%
- Class 2: 99.6%
Our target as a whole school is 97% and we were unfortunately short of the mark in May, but performed better in April. We hope to see the good numbers of attendees continue during the rest of the Summer Term!
Miss Talbot's Reminders
- Just a gentle reminder that reception children receive free milk until they turn 5. If you would like your child to continue to have milk then this is payable through cool milk www.coolmilk.com
- We remind parents and carers that the schools office telephone is only manned until 3.30pm, therefore any messages that are left may not be picked up until the following day.
- Please can we ask that the office is given as much notice as possible for any medical appointments during school hours. Where possible we ask that routine medical appointments are made outside of school hours.
- Finally, thank you all for your continued support.
As you will have noticed the celebration of our school through Facebook shows just how committed we are at Holme to show the rounded education our children experience. Teachers will be updating our community at least once per week as to what is going on in their class and we will celebrate achievements from our week celebration assembly. I will also be updating Facebook with any further posts that I feel will support our school community. Give us a follow and a like and share with your friends far and wide!
Outdoor Learning - Forest School
Forest School has recommenced during the Summer Term as the weather is now more clement. As we will be continuing to develop our area, the staff will continue to utilise other areas of the school grounds until it is ready and safe. Please can we ask that children come with appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear. The next scheduled sessions for the whole school are:
- Thursday 13th June
- Thursday 4th July
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Cost of Living Crisis
As we are living through these very difficult times with the cost of everything rising at an alarming rate, if you need any support either financially or practically, please do speak to a member of staff, as there are many agencies and charities that have a range of offers to support families through these times and we can confidently signpost you to the most appropriate.
Wellbeing
We have developed some comprehensive parental advice around wellbeing, which can be found on our school website. If you have any concerns around your or your child's wellbeing, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Bond or Miss Wood at this time.
Dates for the Diary
As always, if you wish to speak to us about your child, please do not hesitate to talk to Miss Wood in Class 1 and Mrs Guest or Mrs Broughton in Class 2 in the first instance. We will endeavour to help in any way we can.
Safeguarding
Holme Junior & Infant School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff, volunteers and parents to share this commitment.
We have safeguarding policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our child protection and safeguarding policy which can be viewed in the policies section of our school website. Our safeguarding policies and procedures seek to ensure that every child, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, has a right to equal protection from harm.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about a pupil are discussed with the child’s parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda: to challenge ideology that supports terrorism and those who promote it, protect vulnerable individuals from being drawn into terrorism, and raise awareness of radicalisation risk.
Further information around safeguarding can be found on our website, which has recently been updated. We ask that parents explore these pages if they are unsure of any procedures.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mr D Bond (Headteacher).
Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) is Miss B Wood (Assistant Headteacher).
Our Safeguarding Governor is Mrs M Thomas.
If you have any safeguarding concerns at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Mr Bond or Miss Wood.
Our school website also has further information around safeguarding and e-safety, which will be updated at regular intervals.