Howley Grange Primary School

Dear Howley Families,

With its frosty mornings, endless wind and rain, I think we might all be glad that January has come to an end! Despite the rather inclement weather, our children have been working incredibly hard and continue to produce some super work from fabulous writing about The Gruffalo in Reception, to adding and subtracting fractions in Year Six.

I must give our Year Five children a special mention for their performance at Young Voices. On Wednesday, the children travelled to the NEC to take part in a choir of over three thousand children. They sang and danced their hearts out and had the most wonderful time. We were so very proud of them all and hope the families who joined us in the audience enjoyed it as much as we did. My deepest thanks go to all the staff who gave their time to ensure our children had the opportunity to join in with this very special, memory - making event.

Next week, it is Children’s Mental Health Week. This year’s theme is ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself.’ Miss Adams and the staff team have been planning lots of super activities for our children, including Howley taking part in the ‘Harmony Big Singalong’ where schools across Dudley will be joining together for a virtual karaoke session. You can find out more about Children’s Mental Health week, including things you can do at home here Families - Children's Mental Health Week

I know our brilliant PTA have been busy meeting and planning some great upcoming events. They make such a difference for our children and have recently offered each year group £125 to spend on resources of their choosing. They couldn’t do this without your kind donations and I know that like us, they are extremely grateful for your support. I am sure the PTA will be in touch shortly with more information about their fundraising plans

I would like to wish you all a very happy and restful weekend.

Best wishes,

Miss Lewis

School Uniform

We believe wearing a school uniform helps promote a positive school identity, supports and sets high standards of behaviour and actively encourages children to take a personal pride in their appearance. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that, for outdoor PE, children should wear a PLAIN dark coloured warm outerwear and NO football shirts. School ties should be worn with white shirts. NO nail varnish or jewellery (except stud earrings) should be worn.

If you need to replace any part of your child's school uniform, including footwear, and are struggling to do this please speak to the school office as we can offer confidential support.

Full details regarding school uniform can be found on the school website: http://www.howleygrange.co.uk/page/detail/school-uniform-1

Jewellery

Please can we ask for your support regarding jewellery, especially on PE days.

We cannot take responsibility for the loss of any item of jewellery and therefore would prefer that no jewellery is worn in school.

The Association for Physical Education ‘Safe Practice in Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity’ guidelines in relation to children and jewellery form the basis of our safety rules in school. The only jewellery that children are allowed to wear in school are stud earrings which must be removed by the child or parent for PE or any other sporting activity, e.g. sports clubs.

If a child’s ears are pierced, he/she is not allowed to do PE or any type of sport for the following 6 weeks. Therefore, if you wish to have your child’s ears pierced, we would encourage you to have this done at the beginning of the summer holidays to avoid missing these lessons. Please note that taping earrings up is not considered a sufficient precaution at Howley Grange Primary School.

Reception

Reception have been focusing on the Gruffalo and the children have worked together to collage a giant Gruffalo using tissue paper.

Online Safety

As Safer Internet Day comes up on 6 February, safe & sound, Dudley's Community Safety Partnership, is reminding parents and carers to visit their help hub for information on how to keep children, young people and themselves safe online. https://www.dudleysafeandsound.org/onlinesafety