Howley Grange Primary School

Dear Howley families,

How can there only be three weeks of this academic year left! I truly do not know where this year has gone - it seems to have absolutely flown by. What I do know is that it has certainly been a very successful one and there is much to look back on and celebrate. Our forthcoming Parents’ Open Evening will provide a great opportunity to do so. Teachers have been working really hard on our children’s end of year reports which you will receive on Tuesday 9th July. On Wednesday 10th July, school will be open for those of you who wish to pop in and see your child’s current teacher. You are also welcome to go and say hello to your child’s next teacher too. There are no set appointment times, so please come at the time that suits you best between 3.45-5.45pm. We look forward to seeing you.

Recently, I wrote to you explaining the staffing for the next academic year. We are nearing finalisation and will be letting yourselves and the children know who their new teacher/s will be next week. On Monday 8th and Friday 12th July, children in Reception to Year 5 will be visiting their new teachers and classrooms in preparation for September. There are no changes to where the children will leave school at the end of the day, they will be dismissed from their current classroom as normal.

During the summer break, school will be completely closed as the local authority are undertaking a large-scale project on site. The works will entail some excavation and we will be monitoring its progress very closely over the summer holiday. The local authority has assured us it will be completed ready for re-opening to our children and families in September. However, we have taken the precautionary step of putting two INSET days on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September in order to ensure staff can access the building in good time to get Howley ready to warmly welcome everyone back on Wednesday 4th.

I really do enjoy this time of year as it seems to provide so many opportunities for us to be able to open our gates and welcome our community into school. In the past few weeks, we have been visited by our families for our Father’s Day celebration. Today, we have had the privilege of meeting our new Reception children and their families and we still have Sports Days and our Year 6 end of year production to come!

I must just take a moment to reflect on our school fete that took place earlier this month, what an absolutely brilliant day it was! I had the honour of being on the gate and welcoming people into our school. I cannot tell you how heart-warming it was to see current, past and future pupils and their families join us. It reminded me that we have a truly special community here at Howley, which came together on that day to raise around £5000 – which is such an amazing achievement! This will make such a difference to our children. My deepest gratitude goes to our PTA, whose hard work and determination made the event happen, and to everyone who came to support us on the day or through the giving of donations in the build-up. I am truly thankful to you all.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and look forward to a busy, but rewarding, end to our school year.

Take care,

Miss Lewis

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Parents' Evening

On Wednesday 10th July, we are holding our end of year ‘drop in’ Parents’ Evening from 3.45-5.45pm. Please note there are no set appointment times for this evening. You will receive a copy of your child’s end of year report on Tuesday 9th July. Teachers will be available in their classrooms should there be anything you wish to discuss and workbooks will also be available for you to have a look through. You are also more than welcome to visit your child’s next class teacher too. You will also receive a powerpoint at some point next week, providing you with key information about next year that we hope you will find useful.

Anti-Bullying Award

We are pleased to share with you that Howley Grange have received the Dudley Anti-bullying Accreditation (DABA) in recognition of our commitment to ensure bullying is not tolerated within our school. In order to gain the award our well-being warriors needed to demonstrate a commitment to embed an ethos where all members of our school community feel valued and supported. We have a fantastic team of wellbeing-warriors who work alongside Miss Adams and I am very grateful for all the work they do. Matt Osborne, who works for the local authority judging the applications, presented the award in our key stage 2 assembly and this was a perfect opportunity to thank them all. Keep up the good work!

School Attendance

Why is school attendance important?

Regular attendance at school ensures that children get the best possible start in life. Good attendance supports learning, the development of social skills and friendships, as well as building good habits that are essential for adult life. School education lays the vital foundations of a child’s life. Research clearly demonstrates the link between regular attendance and educational progress and attainment.

Why we monitor attendance?

Every day at school counts. Absences lead to missed learning and create gaps in children’s education that can seriously affect their academic progress and attainment. Attendance is monitored for all pupils and parents are informed if they meet a threshold, irrelevant of the reasons for the absence. This is to ensure parents are kept informed and to offer support if needed. The DfE: Working Together to Improve School Attendance document recognises any child with attendance of below 90% as ‘persistently absent.’ This is equivalent to 19 days absence. Although the DfE sets these boundaries, at Howley Grange attendance isn’t just a statistic. We make calls and send letters to open conversations about how to support families and want to work in partnership in ensuring that all children have full and equal access to all that the school has to offer.

If you would like to discuss any matters regarding attendance please contact the school office.

Parking

We continue to receive complaints from irate local residents because of the way cars are being parked at school drop off and pick up times. We have no authority over the roads, we can only request that you park with consideration for others. Our relationship with our local community is being damaged by careless parking, so we need your support. Please park where you are not causing inconvenience or danger to other road users. If you see parking which needs to be reported, please use this link to inform Dudley's Civil Parking Enforcement:

Civil Parking Enforcement | Dudley Council

Bikes and Scooters

As a health promoting school, we encourage children to travel to school on bikes and scooters and have a bike park situated on the Early Years playground. However, for everyone's safety, please ensure that that children dismount their bikes and scooters as they enter school and push them across the playgrounds to be ‘parked’.

01384 685101