Dear Howley families,

Welcome to our final newsletter of this half term. As ever, there is a lot of information below which we hope you will find interesting and useful.

As we approach the Whitsun break, it is lovely to look back on a busy and successful half term. Across the school, our children continue to work so hard and give their best each and every day. Year 2 have had a visit from the Animal Man, Reception have been to the farm and Year 6 have just come back from their Astley Burf visit. I must just give our Year 6 a special mention. Not only have they represented Howley brilliantly on their residential, they also approached their SATs with such determination and resilience. They should be really proud of themselves as they absolutely gave their very best.

There are other year groups who will be undertaking statutory assessments when we return after the break. Year 1 will have their phonics check, Year 4 their multiplication check and our Reception children will be assessed against the early learning goals. I have no doubts whatsoever that everyone will try their hardest. The message to our children is all they can do is try their very best, we cannot ask for anything more. As we all know, scores based on a test taken in one moment in time, could never capture our children’s stories or define them as individuals. They are, and always will be, so much more than a score.

Looking forward, we have an action-packed last half term of the year starting with our fete on Saturday 8th June. I know that our fantastic PTA have been working away behind the scenes to get everything ready. I truly do not know how they manage it, but year and after year, they put on the most brilliant day for us all to enjoy and raise such a lot of money for Howley. My thanks go to all of the volunteers who are giving up their time and to our school community for supporting our PTA via lucky dip prizes, donation etc. All we need now is for it to not rain on the day!

Thank you to everyone in our school community for their continued support this half term, especially our staff team and brilliant children for their hard work. I am sure next half term will bring more success and the opportunity to take a moment to look back and celebrate the progress that our children have made this academic year.

I would like to wish everyone a super half term break and hope you all manage to relax and make happy memories with your families and friends.

Best wishes,

Miss Lewis

Music Lessons with Dudley Performing Arts

We are working with Dudley Performing Arts to provide music lessons in school and now is the time to start!  The team at DPA have decades of experience and are the biggest provider of music education in our area.  Students can start learning for as little as £8.50 per session and if you would like your child to start, simply click on the link below to find out how it works.

Learning a musical instrument is a great thing for young people to do. It can help in all sorts of ways and research suggests that it can help children develop academically and socially.  Lessons take place in school, making it easy to fit in around your busy family lives and we hope that you will take up this amazing offer.

Music Lessons in Schools | Dudley Council

Dates for the Diary

Half term  27th - 31st May

School Photographs - Wednesday 5th June

PTA mufti day for bottle stall - Friday 7th June

PTA Summer Fete  - Saturday 8th June 

Outdoor Learning Week - w/c 24th June

Reception Fathers' Day Celebration - Thursday 20th June 9.00am

Years 1 & 2 Fathers' Day Celebration - Friday 21st June 2.00pm

INSET (school closed for children) - Friday 28th June

GENERAL ELECTION - Thursday 4th July (school closed for children)

Parents open evening - Wednesday 10th July

Reserve Sports Day - Thursday 11th July

Term ends Friday 19th July

Next year:

INSET days - Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd September (school closed to children)

Term begins for Years 1- 6 - Wednesday 4th September

Half term - 28th October - 1st November

Last day of term - Thursday 19th December

INSET day - Friday 20th December (school closed to children)

Term begins - Monday 6th January

Half Term - 17th - 21st February

Term ends - Friday 11th April

Term begins - Monday 28th April

Bank Holiday - Monday 5th May

Half term - 26th - 30th May

Last day of term for children - Friday 18th July

INSET day - Monday 21st July (school closed to children)

There is one INSET day to be confirmed for the school year 2024/25

Food Hub Reminder

Please see below for information about Umar Masjid & Community Centre.  The next free food distribution for anyone in need is Saturday 25th May from 11am until 12pm.

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