FLEDGE AND FLY HIGH
Introduction
We would like to welcome you to our first new look monthly newsletter. These newsletters are designed to update parent, carers and the community as to the goings on at Hinchliffe Mill School, what we're up to and what we've got to look forward to.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you as parents, governors, staff and the children for making me feel so welcome beyond the caretaking I did last term. This half term has spelled some changes within school, with positive outcomes already being seen throughout school. I know that change can also bring anxiety but my key aim is to work hand in hand with all stakeholders to ensure each and every child at Hinchliffe Mill receives the best education and offer possible. Some of these changes will be happening now and others will be happening from the next academic year. We always endeavour to get things right first time, but from experience this is not always possible. Communication between parents/carers and school is key and we would always like the opportunity to be given the chance to respond to alleviate any concerns that you may have. We have an open door policy where parents and carers can contact teachers directly and also contact me if they feel the need beyond that of the class teacher.
As we enter a new chapter at Hinchliffe Mill, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a few things to ensure you as parents and carers are kept in the loop.
I think it's now time to grab a cuppa, see what we are up to and what we have to look forward to.
Thank you all for your ongoing support.
Please remember if you're not following our Facebook page, like, follow and share for regular updates!
Staffing Update
You will have seen from my previous communications some of the staff who are currently working with us here at Hinchliffe Mill during the term. As we start to build a firmer and sustainable staffing team from September, I would like to welcome our newest addition, Miss Dunkerley. She will be the new Cherry Class Teacher from the Autumn Term, who has a wealth of experience, especially in the Early Years and Key Stage 1. Here is a little more about her...
Well hello, I am Miss Dunkerley and I currently teach throughout school at Holme. My background is mainly in Early Years and Key Stage 1. I have been a teacher for over ten years and prior to this was a registered nurse. I live locally to the school and taught previously at Hinchliffe Mill. I have a loving family and a pet dog, they all certainly keep me busy!
I am looking forward to working as part of the Hinchliffe Mill School team and can't wait to support Mr Bond and the school in our endeavours to ensure every child counts and receive the best education possible.
I am looking forward to working within the Hinchliffe Mill community and I look forward to getting to know the children further and find out more about them when I visit during the second half of the Summer Term.
Cherry Class
I am sure you will join me in thanking Mr Rutson for the brilliant job he is doing and he will remain as the Cherry Class Teacher for the rest of this term, being ably supported by Miss Tilburn and Mrs Holroyd. They have been working hard with the support of Miss Wood from Holme, updating the provision in Class 1. It's currently work in progress, but it's great to see new furniture being delivered and made, along with the children accessing different areas of learning. We're looking forward to seeing how the classroom is developing over the term.
Little Wandle Phonics
From June onwards, we are changing our Phonics scheme from Monster Phonics to Little Wandle. The staff are currently undergoing training and receiving CPD in being able to teach the Little Wandle scheme. Miss Wood will be sending out a letter shortly and organising a workshop for parents to learn more about the scheme and how you as parents and carers can support their child at home. Please look out for this letter coming out shortly.
Let's Sing!
Some of the Key Stage 2 children joined other local schools for a singing event in Holmfirth on Friday 10th May. It was great to see some of our community in the audience. We had a wonderful time! Thank you to Mrs Marsden for organising this event.
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 currently have availability in all year groups!
Friends of Hinchliffe Mill School
Summer FaYRE
Friends of Hinchliffe Mill School are currently preparing four our Summer Fayre to run alongside our Sports Day on Friday 28th June.
They are also for donations of raffle prizes. If you feel you can help, please do not hesitate to contact one of the Friends of Hinchliffe School members via the details above.
We will be extending an invite to the children and parents of our new starters in September. Please do let them know, or if you are reading our newsletter, you are more than welcome to join us!
Finally, if you feel you can support and would like to be part of the Friends of Hinchliffe Mill School group, you are welcome to join.
School Website
As the term and next academic year progresses, we will be updating our school website. This is the first port of call if you need any information about school. 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. You can access the Cherry Class, Oak Class and Rowan Class 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 Roberts is 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.
Our Values
Our 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 honest, communicate clearly, be respectful, have confidence, embrace responsibility, support one another and have resilience for their future. These will be featuring more regularly within school through our positive behaviour policy, being rewarded as part of house points and celebrating these in our half termly Values Award assemblies. These will be children who have been recommended by staff and their peers, achieving our 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 last half terms award winners. Great work! We can't wait to see more children actively showing our Values.
Hinchliffe Mill Bookworms
We love to see bookworms here at Hinchliffe Mill and it's been great to see so many children read more than 20 times last half term. We usually celebrate 30 reads, but changed it slightly due to the short term. Keep up with the reading and we hope to see more children being celebrated next half term!
Celebration Assembly
It's been great to see our children continue to be awarded for showing superb behaviours and manners at lunchtime. Our Resilient Readers have been trying hard with their reading and comprehension skills throughout the week and we cannot forget our Headteacher Awards for children who demonstrate our school values. Here are some of our award winners for April and May.
Attendance Matters
At Hinchliffe Mill 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 Hinchliffe Mill and follow our school procedure in-line with our policy that has been ratified by the governing body and also follows national guidelines. 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: 97.6%
- Cherry Class: 93.9%
- Oak Class: 98.8%
- Rowan Class: 97.4%
May Attendance Figures
Whole School Attendance: 96.8%
- Cherry Class: 97.4%
- Oak Class: 96%
- Rowan Class: 95.6%
Our target as a whole school is 97% and we were unfortunately just short of the mark in May, but did better in April. We hope to see the good numbers of attendees continue during June and July!
As you will have noticed the celebration of our school through Facebook shows just how committed we are at Hinchliffe Mill 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!
School Educational Visits
During April and May, Oak Class were given the opportunity to find out more about the Vikings in York and Rowan Class attended their annual residential at Cliffe House. It's fair to say everybody had a wonderful time! Cherry Class will be visiting Chester Zoo during June. Here are a few pictures from these recent visits. If you would like to see more, please visit our Facebook page.
Parental Engagement
We have had our parents' evening in February and also a Coffee Morning for parents with Mr Bond and Mr Park-Paul. Thank you to those parents who were able to make it. The next one will be on an afternoon in late June/early July and the date will be made available in our next newsletter. We hope to see some of you there to support in shaping our school moving forward. We will also be looking at a range of workshops and 'Meet the Teacher' events from the next academic year, so please keep an eye on future newsletters for further information.
SATs
A very big well done to our Year 6's on completing their SATs. They took each test in their stride and we are so proud of how they did and will no doubt be just as proud of what they achieve!
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 support and 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 Mrs Holgate 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 Mr Rutson in Cherry Class, Mrs Marsden in Oak Class and Mrs Holgate or Mr Knaggs in Rowan Class in the first instance. We will endeavour to help in any way we can.
Safeguarding
Hinchliffe Mill 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 Mrs N Holgate (Deputy Headteacher).
Our Safeguarding Governor is Mr A Beaumont.
If you have any safeguarding concerns at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Mr Bond or Mrs Holgate.
Our school website also has further information around safeguarding and e-safety, which will be updated at regular intervals.