Newsletter

PTA Spring Fair

I am delighted to tell you that the PTA Spring Fair last week raised £1,275. A huge thank you to Fahima Hussein and members of the PTA committee who organised and planned the fair and to all of the volunteers who helped, supported and ran the stalls. There was a wonderful community atmosphere as children raced around to find their eggs, played the chocolate tombola, bought cakes, played games, undertook the art and craft activities for Ramadan and Iranian New Year and parents bought second hand uniform. It was very busy and there were lots of smiling faces!

Wellbeing Week – Bloom with Kindness

‘Bloom with Kindness’ is all about showing kindness to others – being kind to others has a positive impact on our own wellbeing. The wellbeing Champions decided to link their idea with our work on getting involved with the local community. Children from Reception to Year 6 drew bright, happy pictures or wrote a happy cheerful message or a poem onto petals. These were made into flowers and then made into cards. The Wellbeing Champions took the cards to local care homes.

Older people can quite often feel lonely or isolated – so we felt that this idea would be very kind. We hope that the drawings and messages will make the residents happy and will spread some kindness. We also hope that our relationship with the care homes will blossom and that we can form strong links with children visiting the care homes in the future to read, play games and sing to the residents. In addition, all of the children to come to school as brightly dressed as possible on Thursday – blooming with colour. Thank you for your acts of kindness of donating £1 to support the replacement of our pirate ship.

Online Safety Parent Newsletter

I have decided to subscribe to a newsletter about online safety for parents – which looks to be full of VERY informative information for parents. Each month I will email out the newsletter. Copies will also be stored and collated on our website for future reference. Look out next week for the March online safety newsletter. I will also share a booklet they produce annually about parental controls.

Help your children remember more – Parent session Monday 31st March

This year, class teachers are focusing on how they can help children remember more. If you are interested in gaining a clear understanding of the work that is being done then Ms Sampson will be doing a presentation on Zoom at 9.30am on Monday. She will be outlining some of the neuroscience connected to memory, sharing strategies and example retrieval activities that class teachers will be implementing in lessons as well as suggestions on how you can support with this at home to help your child achieve the best academic success. All are welcome.

Non Stop Action – Open Dance Auditions

If you have a talented young dancer aged 10-14 they may be interested in the opportunity to audition for the street dance troupe. To register for auditions email Hannah at Hannah@NonStopAction.co.uk

Neurodiversity Merchandise

Thanks to the generosity of one of our HPS families we sold wrist bands, ribbons and key rings last week during Neurodiversity week. The sale of these goods raised £200. We are donating £100 to our national charity – Autism On The Water and we have bought £100 of Neurodiversity books for the school. With the £100 we were able to buy thirteen more books to add to the collection already generously donated by parents and staff.

Read Together Sessions

On Monday 28th April, parents are invited to go into school with the children to read. The session is from 8.45am to approx. 9.15am. Parents are welcome to read to children or listen to children read a book to you. Children love to read and share books with adults. You will be reading with a small group of children. If you have more than one child at school you will need to decide which class to go to as there will only be time for one class. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate toddlers or buggies in the classrooms. The event will be repeated in the Summer term so there is a chance to read with your other children too. We hope that many of you will be able to visit.

British Values Day

Friday 25th April is our British Values Day – children need to come to school that day wearing red, white and blue. They will be undertaking various activities about the British values in class that day.

Uniform

We have noticed recently that uniform is not being followed correctly by several children and families. After Easter we will be looking very closely at uniform and will be messaging daily to parents of children who are not wearing the correct Holly Park uniform.

Some reminders:

• For PE children must have plain white trainers.

• Navy blue trousers are NOT part of our uniform.

• Hair accessories should be in school colours

• No jewellery (except of a religious nature) should be worn

Here is the Holly Park summer uniform:

Year 1 to Year 6 Summer As Winter or: Green and white checked dress (optional and generic)
Grey shorts (generic)
White or black sandals with secure fastening (max heel height 3cm) NO Trainers or CROCS
A cap to protect from the sun

*No other items of clothing should be visible under the red polo shirt. If a child is cold they should wear a short-sleeved vest and their sweatshirt on top, PE Kit Red shorts (generic) Plain white T-shirt (generic or branded) Plain white trainers Outdoor kit of dark green jogging trousers and top Summer Dresses A reminder that our school summer dresses at Holly Park are green and white gingham – NOT red and white.

Summer Term Clubs – External Providers

It is that time again when you will need to sign up again for any clubs run by external providers. Please sign up directly with the club – a list of clubs and contacts is at the end of this newsletter.

Maths Parent Session for KS2 parents – multiplication and division

On Wednesday 23rd April Mrs Mir will be leading a session for KS2 parents about how we teach multiplication and division. She will demonstrate the methods we use to teach them and the progression of stages that the children go through from Year 3 to Year 6. The session will be in the spare classroom at 9am. Do come along.

Attendance

Whole school attendance for last week was 96% Well done to Year 5 Juniper Class with the best attendance at 99%.

Dates

Monday 31st March Parent zoom meeting 9.30am – learning strategies
Wednesday 2nd April Y1-Y6 Consultation evening 4pm – 6.30pm
Thursday 3rd April Y1-Y6 Consultation evening 4pm – 6.30pm
Friday 4th April End of term at 1.30pm
Tuesday 22nd April Summer term starts for Reception to Y6
Tuesday 22nd April Nursery closed for home visits
Wednesday 23rd April Nursery opens for Summer term
Friday 25th April British Values Day
Monday 28th April Read Together in Class
Monday 6th May Bank Holiday

KS1 External Clubs Spring Term 2025

Mondays e.Assistant Game Design (Y2 only) Lunchtime Booking: www.eAssistant.co.uk select: ‘Clubs’ then ‘Holly Park’ 077 4849 3383

Mondays Football (Y1 and Y2) Non-Stop Action After School Booking: https://nonstopaction.co.uk/ 02084460006

Tuesdays Chess (Year 2 Only) FINCHLEY CHESS MOVES Lunchtime Y2 Booking: Email: johnfleetwoodj@aol.com

Thursdays Gymnastics Vicky RG Academy Lunchtime Booking: 07725818655 info@vickyrgacademy.co.uk

Fridays Art, Karate Art Club Karate Club After School After School Booking: 07741126151 Booking: info@kaishikarateschool.com Tel 0787 550 1674 www.kaishikarateschool.com https://www.facebook.com/SheenaKaishikarate/ KS2

External Clubs Summer Term 2025

Mondays Street Dance & Game Design e.Assistant Game Design Dance Wright Lunchtime After SchoolY3/4/5/6 Booking: www.eAssistant.co.uk Booking: info@dancewright.co.uk select: ‘Clubs’ then ‘Holly Park’ 07482693890 077 4849 3383

Tuesdays Chess & Tag Rugby FINCHLEY CHESS MOVES Accelerate Sports Lunchtime After School Booking: Email: johnfleetwoodj@aol.com Booking: deanna@accelerate- sports.co.uk 07507798271 https://acceleratesports.classforkids.io/info/60

Thursdays Coding & Gymnastics e.Assistant Coding Vicky RG Academy Lunchtime Lunchtime Booking: www.eAssistant.co.uk Booking: 07725818655 select: ‘Clubs’ then ‘Holly Park’ info@vickyrgacademy.co.uk 077 4849 3383

Fridays Karate, Football, Art Non-Stop Action Art Club (Y3,4,5) After School After School Booking: https://nonstopaction.co.uk/ Booking: 07741126151 02084460006 Karate Club After School Booking: info@kaishikarateschool.com Tel 0787 550 1674 www.kaishikarateschool.com https://www.facebook.com/SheenaKaishikarate/

There is facility to translate this newsletter and the whole school website at the bottom of the website home page.