25th October 2019

Dear parents/ carers,

Half term is here and we had a super M Day on Thursday with everyone thoroughly enjoying all the activities on offer, even with the rain!  Well done to everyone that supported and took part – with special thanks to Mrs Cowell for organising us all!  Look out for the next M Day next term.

A thank you also for the mountain of bags collected during our Bags2School appeal– we have had a cheque for £220!  What a great amount to add to the PSA fund to support our children.  Thank you so much.

A reminder that tickets are selling fast for the PSA Halloween disco to be held on Friday 8th November, the ticket sales will close on Wednesday 6th November.

A sports round up from Mrs Carter – What a packed and very successful half term we have had! We are so proud that Henham continues to be a platinum sports school, based on our holistic approach to participation in competition; the high value that we place on sportsmanship and leadership skills and on the quality of our PE provision across the school.

This half term, we kicked things off with a day of football skills for girls in KS2. Thoroughly enjoyable. Later in the month the girls took part in the USSP tournament and came a very creditable 3rd, whilst the boys acquitted themselves very well in their tournament and came 4th. These tournaments always involve high numbers of schools, so these results were impressive.

Football league matches have begun with mixed results in terms of the final score, but with spectacular results in terms of pupil conduct: sportsmanship; team work; leadership.

Four of our House Captains were able to take part in Bronze Ambassador training, a feature of the USSP calendar. However, what was even more fabulous was that the four who’d had the training went on to spend an afternoon training the four who did not attend. So, all our house captains are properly equipped to set sporting challenges for all children to enjoy.

Two new events that Henham took part in this half term were the Boccia and New Age Kurling afternoon and a golf tournament on a 7-hole course in Great Chesterford. The two small teams which took part played absolutely brilliantly with gold medals for our Boccia / Kurling winners! Later in the same week Henham played host to several schools who came to enjoy an afternoon of ‘multi-skills’ for Lower Key Stage 2 children. A fun-packed event, once again organised by our highly active sports partnership.

This month – last week in fact – has also seen the first of our ever-expanding list of inter-house competitions: Dodgeball. This was organised, run and refereed entirely by the House Captains with Purple House being triumphant overall. The very next day many Key Stage 2 children took part in the inter-school cross country competition and we did spectacularly well, as celebrated in last week’s newsletter. Finally, last week, some of our LKS2 children started to form a cheerleading squad who will put together a routine in readiness for a festival in December. This week, UKS2 will be given the same opportunity.

On Monday this week, we took part in an inter-school Dodgeball competition. We took 4 teams, one of whom secured silver and another bronze. Our A-team have qualified for the finals later this term. So, once again, congratulations and celebrations are in order.

In addition to all of this, we have taken to steps to maintain our high levels of provision with plenty of on-going professional development opportunities for our teachers, so that we can continue to be leaders in sport and PE provision.

Next half term, despite the shortening days we still have plenty to look forward to, including some of the finals for which we have already qualified. Well done to our children for their continued enthusiasm and positivity; to our parents for being so supportive and committed and to our staff for being so passionate, flexible and determined to promote and strive for sporting success in all its forms.

Coming up after half term: 

Monday 4th November – Children return to school

Wednesday 6th November – Year 5 and 6 dodgeball tournament

Friday 8th November – Spots and stripes day for Children in Need

Friday 8th November – Key Stage 1 Inclusion event

Friday 8th November – PSA Halloween disco

 

Wishing you all a wonderful half term – with best wishes,

Kim Hall

Headteacher