13th November 2020
Dear parents/ carers,
What a great end to the week we had, your support of our ‘Henham’s Children in Need pyjama day’ raised £255! Thank you all so much for your generosity in these challenging times, what an amazing community we have!
This is quite a long newsletter, so get your cup of tea ready!
School Lunches: You will recall last week I announced that due to the changes in the government directive regarding Extremely Clinically Vulnerable staff, we needed to reduce to a baguette only menu from Monday 16th November. I am delighted to let you know that our safer recruitment has been finalized now after a backlog from the DBS system and we are able to return to a hot and cold menu option from Monday 23rd November. It will be baguettes only next week still, due to food deliveries, but a revised hot menu will be sent out to you early next week, which will take effect from Monday 23rd. Thank you all for your continued support and understanding with the difficult decisions and adjustments I am having to make at this time.
Headteacher Awards: Headteacher Awards are back! Congratulations to the following children who received one of my awards on Friday:
| Reception Class | Patrick |
| Year 1 | Leon |
| Year 2 | Ava |
| Year 3 | Loui |
| Year 4 | Harry |
| Year 5 | Christina |
| Year 6 | Alec |
Writing Competition Winner – a message from Miss Jeremy: Thank you so much to all the children who participated in the Henham and Ugley Writing Competition. I was overwhelmed by how many children participated and the high level of creative writing that was produced. It was an incredibly hard decision to make, but I am pleased to announce that the winner is Lexi in Year 3, who produced an enchanting story about the adventures of Willow and her alien friend Eshu. Congratulations Lexi!
Keep your eyes peeled for the next whole school writing competition and thank you again to everyone for getting involved.
Parenting Alone: Parenting alone can be full of pressures and challenges. If you’re feeling lonely, lacking in confidence, not getting out enough, swamped by responsibilities or desperate for ‘adult conversation’ Volunteer Befrienders can help. Our Befrienders are non-judgmental, good listeners, empathetic and willing to help and support you by offering encouragement to access your local community, attending activities / groups with you where safe and allowed, and telephoning or meeting up for a socially distanced chat.
Take the step to reducing your loneliness by getting in touch with Essex Befriends. You can self-refer for a Befriender by emailing parents@mindinwestessex.org.uk
Dyslexia and Dyscalculia: The British Dyslexic Association have a series of webinars providing support for dyslexia and dyscalculia; many of them are free and specifically for parents. For more information, please follow this link: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/shop/webinars
School Photography – Early Bird Reminder: Following Pret-a-Portrait’s recent visit to take school photographs, I just wanted to remind you that the early bird deadline for you to receive a 25% discount on the school pictures finishes next Wednesday 18th November. If for any reason you have lost your original viewing instructions please don’t worry. Pret-a-Portrait will be more than happy to help and you can contact them directly on 0800 021 7626 or customerservice@pret-a-portrait.net
Entry to and from school: Just a reminder to keep to the left entrance on the way into school, and exit on the left, away from the entry path and leave the school grounds promptly, (children are not allowed on the play equipment before or after school), this should help everyone remain socially distanced during pick up and drop off. If you need to speak to me, could I remind you to still remain socially distanced. If your conversation is sensitive, please let me know so we can move away from the flow of parents and children into and out of school; thank you.
Christmas cards: Following a discussion on our school Facebook page, you are all much further ahead than me with Christmas! I thought I would address the questions raised regarding children wanting to bring in Christmas cards this year and the location of a postbox. After discussion with parents after school Friday, I have decided that children can bring in Christmas cards but rather than having a centralised postbox in the reception area, these will be in your child’s individual classes. If the cards are for someone outside of your child’s class, these can be left in your child’s class and will be distributed in school at a later date.
Design a Christmas Card project with Prontaprint Bishops Stortford: Anna has advised that orders already in, will go back to the classrooms at the end of next week. Thank you so much for the designs already received. She is still happy to receive orders. These can be handed into your child’s class.
Christmas Trees at Squires: Squires, the lovely gift and garden centre between Stansted and Ugley (next to Sworders auction rooms on Cambridge Road), will be selling Christmas trees again this year.
Sally Lewis, the owner, will be donating £5 from every tree purchased to a local school of the purchaser’s choice. What a great way to raise funds for the school as fundraising opportunities are so limited in the current climate!
She plans to have trees for sale from the end of November.
Reverse Advent Calendar – Uttlesford Food Bank: Keep an eye out for information coming out soon of our reverse advent calendar in support of Uttlesford Food bank (UFB). After speaking with UFB, the plan is for each class to bring in grocery and toiletry items, to be distributed at the beginning of January, which for many is a very challenging time. As soon as I have the list of the types of items most needed, I will send this out. They also have an appeal now for Christmas hampers for vulnerable families.
If you would like to support UFB before Christmas, details of their current campaign can be found here:
Coming up:
PSA AGM: The PSA are holding their Annual General Meeting via zoom on Monday 16th November at 7.30pm. If you would like to attend, please contact Katie Moxley at Katie.PSA@henhamugley.essex.sch.uk who will be able to provide you with more details. A link to the event will be sent on Monday.
Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying 20th November: 16th-20th November is Anti-Bullying week. Every class will be organizing awareness about Anti-Bullying all week. We are joining in with the National Awareness raising day on Friday 20th November and asking everyone to come to school wearing ODD SOCKS! (no donation).
Year 3 Parent Consultations – week commencing 23rd November: As you know the Year 3 parent consultations could not go ahead last term and it is important that you have an opportunity to discuss your child’s development with Miss Branch. Unfortunately, as the Government measures have changed, we are no longer able to offer face to face meetings. Miss Branch and I are currently organising these meetings online, via zoom, and will be in touch next week to confirm the exact arrangements; days and timings etc. Thank you for your patience in the meantime.
Parent forum with Mrs Hall – Wednesday 25th November, 1pm: As I am currently unable to hold a parent forum face to face, I have booked in a parent forum via zoom for Wednesday 25th November. All year groups are welcome. In order for the zoom to run smoothly, please send any questions you would like raised in advance of the meeting to: head@henhamugley.essex.sch.uk If you are unable to attend, I am still happy to receive your questions, which will be answered at the meeting. I will send a link to the meeting nearer the time; I look forward to ‘seeing’ you there.
Flu Vaccinations – Wednesday 9th December: Please find attached a letter with full details of how to register your child for the vaccine. Please note we cannot register your child, it must be completed by following the link on the attached letter. For more information, please use this link: www.nhs.uk/child-flu
You made it to the end! Continue to keep safe everyone,
Kim
Kim Hall
Headteacher
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