10th January 2020
Dear Parents,
How lovely it has been this week to see the children after the Christmas break. They have settled back brilliantly and we are all set for a busy term ahead.
Before I get into school news, I want to make you aware of an incident reported to all Essex Schools this week by the Safeguarding Manager at Essex County Council.
Safeguarding Alert: A primary school received information from a parent that someone purporting to be a School Nurse contacted them by text to ask questions about their child. This was reported to the Police and has been confirmed as a hoax.
In order to ensure that no one else falls victim to this hoax, please see information below provided by Virgin Care, the care provider and School Nurse administrator for our area:
• School Nurses do not send text messages as their first contact with parents.
• If you receive a text message requesting information about your child from anyone purporting to be a School Nurse, please DO NOT engage.
• To check the validity of any request received, please contact the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service Single Point of Access:
Mid Essex: 0300 247 0014 (option 2)
North Essex: 0300 247 0015
South Essex: 0300 247 0013
West Essex: 0300 247 0122
If you have any concerns or think you have received a message as part of this hoax, please contact Virgin Care on 0300 247 0014.
Clubs – all clubs start next week, please refer to the previous clubs letter sent out before Christmas, if you need a paper copy, please just ask at the office.
There are still spaces available in some clubs. To secure a place, please sign up using the online payment method https://www.scopay.com
If your child wishes to join a club and the fees are a problem for you please do come and see me in confidence or drop me an email at head@henhamugley.essex.sch.uk
Music Lessons – Mrs Liz Kadir has spaces! If your child has ever thought about playing the trumpet, trombone, French horn or other brass instruments, now is the time to come and try! Anyone interested just needs to let the office know they would like a trial session with Mrs Kadir and this can then be arranged. Instruments are available to hire from Essex Music Services. Feel free to pop in for more information, or email me direct at head@henhamugley.essex.sch.uk
School Census Day – Thursday next week is School Census Day where the number of children who have a school meal impacts on our whole school budget. The more children who have a school meal, the better our budget!
Healthy Snacks/ Nuts – At Henham, we are proud to have Healthy Schools Status and therefore children should only bring in healthy snacks for break time and packed lunches need to consist of a balanced range of food choices. Check out http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/ for ideas on swapping to healthier snacks plus ideas for children’s lunch boxes.
We also have several children and adults with severe nut allergies in school so please remember Henham is nut-free. If your child does bring in a food item that may contain nuts, please be advised that we will place this back in their school bag to be returned home. Thank you for your continued support.
Head Lice – please can I remind you to keep a check on your child/rens hair as we have already had reports of little creatures in school! More information on how to treat the lice can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/
Adverse Weather – Not wanting to tempt fate, I thought it an ideal time to remind you of the procedure should the school need to close due to adverse weather.
Should the decision be made to not open the school, an email to all parents will be sent by 7am at the latest. This notification would also be put onto the school website. If I could be advised of a class representative for each year group to contact directly, I can then request them to put an update on the class Facebook page.
If the school needed to close during the school day, an email notification would be sent out to all parents, and again notification placed onto the school website and the Class Facebook page (if a representative is known).
It is never an easy decision to close the school and in doing so I am always mindful of the disruption this causes to families. Any decision made considers many factors, but my upmost priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all at the school.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we have a disruption free spring term!
Parent Forum – Finally, my next parent forum will be held on Thursday 23rd January at 2.15pm in the Nursery classroom. If there is anything you would like raised, please do let me know.
Have a wonderful weekend.
With best wishes,
Kim Hall, Headteacher
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