Dates List
There is a dates list attached to your newsletter email. We have tried to make it more user-friendly and we hope that you will agree that it will be more useful. We will add to it as the term progresses and send it with each newsletter. We will also keep the website calendar up to date as we go through the year.
School Council Update
The school Council have been meeting regularly and planning events with Mr Burnett. Before Christmas, they organised the collection for Cash for Kids. We had an overwhelming response from everyone and we took all of your donations to the pick up point at the end of term. We filled 8 supermarket trolleys with gifts and we know that these will have made a real difference to lots of children in our region at Christmas. Great work!
This term, our focus is on the Foodbank and we have collected lots of food from you all over the past two weeks. Thank you for all of your donations, yet again! These will be collected and taken to the West End Foodbank and will be very gratefully received. This is a key time of year where donations dwindle but need increases. Thank you for your support.
Litterpicking in KS1 and KS2
Children in KS1 and KS2 had some workshops in school with Newcastle City Council where they learned about the importance of keeping our communities clean and free from litter. They all worked very hard to tidy up the school site and we collected lots of litter to be recycled or disposed of safely. Well done, everyone! thank you to everyone who completed the homework challenge. We will announce the winners of the poster competition next week in assembly. More pictures in the Gallery.
Children's Mental Health Week
The 9th-13th February is Children's Mental Health Week. In an age-appropriate way, we will be talking about the importance of our mental health and how we can look after ourselves and each other. The theme this year is 'This is My Place' and the focus is on a sense of belonging and how important it is to belong to families and communities. You can find out more and get some ideas for talking at home by clicking on the link below.
Attendance
We have excellent attendance at Havannah First School and it is always above national and local averages. However, we still have a significant number of holidays in term time and these have a significant impact on learning for the children who are missing school. They also result in our Teachers and Teaching Assistants having to work with individuals to catch up on missed learning and this is very difficult to resource and takes staff away from teaching and providing interventions for those who need them most. Please book your holidays in the school holidays and support us to give every child the continuity of learning which we value and which is necessary for everyone to make progress. School starts at 8.50am. Please ensure that your child arrives at school on time to start learning with their classmates. Children who are late miss out on important early morning activities which are designed to consolidate learning, introduce new topics and practise basic skills and knowledge in English and maths.
Thank you for your support.
Training Days for 2026-27
If you are making plans and booking holidays, I am sure it will help you to know the dates of next year's training days. These are:
Tuesday 1st September 2026 Friday 23rd October 2026 Monday 7th June 2027
Parents and Carers' Evenings
These take place in the week beginning Monday 16th March. It is a vital opportunity to catch up with your child's teacher and talk about their learning and progress. Booking will be available from 6.00pm on Monday 23rd February. Please make sure that you get booked in. If you are unable to make the set dates, teachers will be happy to rearrange for another mutually convenient time. Thank you.
Safe Play at School
We continuously remind children in school to play safely, following the golden rules and always being kind and considerate. The children know what safe physical contact is and they know that they are not allowed to play games which are rough and which could be described as 'play fighting'. Staff intervene when they see play, or any interactions, which are rough or unsafe and this is always followed up. It would be very helpful if you could all reinforce this at home and remind children that it is not safe to be rough in their play or to act out fighting which they have seen on TV or in the online games which many of them play. Please also ensure that your child is accessing safe material online and playing games which are age appropriate. Thank you for your support.
Parking
Huge thanks to everyone who is using the Park and Ride and walking the last part of the journey into school. You are making the area around our school safer and cleaner for everyone. If you are driving onto Primrose Lane to park near school, please do not:
- park in the school safety zone
- park on double yellow lines
- park on a resident's drive or in an allocated bay (numbered or 'visitor')
- block residents' access or other parked cars
- park near or on crossings and junctions
We continue to receive complaints from residents who are very angry and this is taking up a lot of our time, as well as being very unpleasant. We have worked hard with NCC and GPA to create safe access to school and our school car park is now a much safer environment for everyone. However, we ask that everyone works to ensure that the streets around school are also safe and that parents and carers show respect and courtesy to our neighbours.
Thank you for your support.
Our Amazing Parents and Carers
Thank you to everyone who has featured as part of star of the week in Reception or volunteered details of their jobs and interests to support our curriculum. We are looking forward to seeing lots of you during Careers and Aspirations Week. We will be in touch to invite some of you nearer the time. Look out in the Learning Galleries for one of our parents who came to school to tell Reception about her work as a glaciologist in the Antarctic. We were in awe and the children were inspired! Thank you!
January Learning Galleries
It's been a long and busy January, so settle in with a cup of tea and enjoy looking at our learning and fun in school!
Credits:
Created with images by mnirat - "Closeup Colorful drawing pins on Calendar page with date." • Eleseus - "Close-up photo of a Parking Sign with the sky and trees in the background"