July Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

Fond Farewell

We come to the end of another academic year when we have to say goodbye to our Year 6 pupils. We thank them for their effort and commitment during their time with us – it will be sad to watch them leave. We wish them well in secondary school and look forward to hearing about their many achievements.

We also say farewell to Ms Flynn who has taken up a new post in another Havering school. Mr Leslie, our PE coach, is also leaving for pastures new after four years at the school. Mrs Hammel and Mrs Chestnutt will be starting their maternity leave so we wish them both well and look forward to meeting their new arrivals in the autumn.

New Staff

We would like to welcome Miss Sibanda, Miss Conboy and Mr Pharamond to our teaching team. We hope that they will all be very happy here.

From September our new class arrangements will be as follows:

Old Class	New Class	Teacher
Egypt	3 Willow	Mrs Kemp
Kenya	3 Palm	Miss Weller
America	3 Poplar	Miss Conboy
3 Holly	4 Holly	Mrs Bush
3 Birch	4 Birch	Mr Steele
3 Maple	4 Maple	Mr Frith
4 Ash	5 Ash	Mrs Cross & Mrs Sharma
4 Oak	5 Oak	Miss Bryant
4 Elm	5 Elm	Miss Sibanda
5 Fir	6 Fir	Mrs Marshall
5 Cedar	6 Cedar	Mr Hackett
5 Beech	6 Beech	Mr Fowles
5 Pine	6 Pine	Mr Pharamond

Attendance

We would like to congratulate the children on their attendance this year. Thank you to all those parents who have ensured that their children attend school regularly. Our overall attendance this year is 96.3%. There were 36 children who have gained 100% attendance and a further 135 children who have 98% - 99% attendance. All of these children have received a certificate and pencil in our celebration assembly today.

Key Stage 2 Results

We are delighted to announce that once again Year 6 pupils have performed very well in their SATs. In terms of the school’s performance, our results put us above both Havering and National averages in all areas. This year also saw a rise in the number of pupils achieving Greater Depth. The percentage of children achieving the higher standard was also above Havering and National averages in all areas – a remarkable achievement! Well done to Year 6 pupils and staff – all that hard work certainly paid off. Please have a look at our website for information about performance in each subject.

School Blog

If you have not yet had a look at our school blog, please make the time to do so. The blog is a great way to keep in touch with what is happening in school, including photos from key events. There are a number of posts already with more being added all the time. To access the blog, please go the main page of our school website and click on the School Blog tab.

School Games Award

Congratulations to Mrs King, Mrs Cross, Mr Leslie and the rest of the PE team for achieving the School Games Silver Award this year. The reward scheme recognises schools for their commitment to the development of competitive sport across the school and into the community. It looks at how many young people in the school are engaged in sporting activity, how many competitions are being entered, the number of pupils in school leading games and sporting events and links with local community clubs. A big thank you to all parents who have supported us with getting children to and from the various events and providing encouragement to all our athletes as well as the children themselves who have taken part in events– it has truly been a team effort! We will be aiming for the gold award next year.

Snack Stall

A big thank you to Mrs Lucke and the School Council for your efforts with the school snack stall. The children have enjoyed the opportunity to purchase fruit and juice every Friday. Thank you also to all parents who have sent in donations of juice. The total raised this year is £460.17. 

As suggested by the children, we have purchased a box of magazines for the playground which the children have really enjoyed reading. Thank you too for the donation of children’s magazines which have been sent into school. With some of the remaining money, we hope to purchase some crazy catch net games for the start of the new term in September.

Sports Day

A big well done to all the children for their superb efforts in this year’s Sports Day with special congratulations to team Weir who won the competition overall!  Thank you to our super supporters and proud parents who came to watch on the day. We hope you enjoyed the Sports day as much as we all did!

Year 6 Production

Thank you to all the Y6 parents/carers who came along to the Y6 Leavers Production. The children put on a fine performance and we all thoroughly enjoyed their singing, acting and dancing.

The Student Council chose to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity. We raised a total of £175.00 at this event. Many thanks for your contributions.

Dance Competition

Last Tuesday, children from our dance club took part in a Premier Sport Dance Competition at the Broadway Theatre in Barking. Seven schools took part in the show and the competition was stiff! We are delighted to announce that our school finished third overall and we were awarded a lovely new trophy. Well done to all the children involved and a big thank you to all of our supporters.

French Day

Thank you to all our pupils and staff who dressed up for French Day. The children enjoyed tasting some French food, taking part in a French performance and learning some new vocabulary words. A special “merci” to Mrs Atkinson for organising such an enjoyable day.

Cricket

Well done to the children that took part in Hall Mead's first 'Wind-ball' Cricket Festival on Tuesday. We had a fun morning competing against Upminster Junior and Branfill Primary Schools. Congratulations to Freddie P and Eddie W- you were both chosen by the Hall Mead Pupils to be 'Players of the Match'.

As always, thank you to our fabulous parents who supported the event. We look forward to taking some more children to this event next year.

Mrs. King

Summer Reading Challenge

Don’t forget that local libraries are running the Summer Reading Challenge over the holidays. We would strongly encourage all our pupils to take part. Reading forms a big part of our curriculum and the ability to read with understanding has a great impact on the academic performance of pupils. Any pupil who completes the Summer Reading Challenge will be awarded with a certificate at an assembly in September.

Dates for the Diary

September
4th	Inset Day (school closed)
5th	Inset Day (school closed)
6th	Inset Day (school closed)
9th	Children return to school
11th	Cuffley Camp presentation to Yr 6 parents at 2.30pm
17th	6 Fir & 6 Pine to Tate Gallery
18th	Year 3 to Hylands Park
19th	6 Cedar & 6 Beech to Tate Gallery
23rd	Year 4 Informal Parents Meeting
24th	Year 6 Informal Parents Meeting
25th	Year 5 Informal Parents Meeting
26th	Year 3 Informal Parents Meeting
October
14th	Year 3 Harvest Assembly to Parents – 2:15pm
15th	Year 3 Harvest Assembly to Parents – 9:05am
16th	End of topic celebration at 2pm – all years – parents invited
16th	Individual Photos
17th and 18th	Year 6 Shakespeare workshop
21st – 25th	Half Term
28th Oct – 1st Nov	Y5 Bikeability
November
5th	Flu Immunisations (details to follow)
5th	Open Evening 3:30 to 5pm
7th	Open Evening 3:30 to 6:30pm
8th	Year 6 to Millfield Theatre
December
11th	Year 4 Christmas play to parents – 2pm
12th	Year 4 Christmas play to parents – 6:30pm
13th	End of topic celebration at 2pm – all years – parents invited
17th	Year 5 Carols in the playground – 3pm
18th	Year 6 Carols in the playground – 3pm
19th	Year 3 Carols in the playground – 3pm
20th	Last day of term
January 2020
6th	Inset Day (School Closed)
7th	Children return to school

Lastly, on behalf of the staff and governors at Squirrels Heath Junior School, I would like to say a big thank you to all parents for your support throughout this academic year. I hope that all of you are able to enjoy a lovely summer break with your children. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 9th September.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M Shipton

Head Teacher