April 2022 Newsletter
Dear Parents/Carers,
We hope that you were able to enjoy some family time during the Easter break. We have had a great start to the summer term and look forward to some exciting activities in the weeks ahead.
Biodome
We are now fully into the planting season and the children have been working hard to transform the biodome and quad area into a beautiful gardening space where they have the opportunity to grow fruit and vegetables. In order to help us with this, we are asking for donations of seeds, plants, soil or compost. If you are able to help in any way, please contact the school office. We will be posting photographs of our progress on the school blog.
Jubilee Junior Bake Off
Calling all junior bakers…get ready for the Jubilee Junior Bake Off! We will be hosting a baking competition on Wednesday 25th May. Children are invited to take part by baking cupcakes, biscuits or cakes in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and bringing them into school. Designs will be judged and winners will be chosen from each year group. Each participant will receive a certificate for taking part and winners will receive a prize. All entries will be sold in our cake sale which we will holding in the afternoon.
Attendance
We have noticed a number of families requesting authorisation to take their child out of school during term time. Whilst we understand that it may be tempting to go on holiday due to the amount of money that can be saved, we ask you to consider the impact of lost lessons on your child’s education. We have witnessed first-hand the impact of lost learning caused by two national lockdowns. The staff have been working really hard to ensure that any gaps in knowledge or understanding are addressed but we really need your help and support by ensuring that pupils are in school every day. It is incredibly hard to ensure that children reach their potential if they are not present for lessons! Thank you for your understanding and support.
Clubs
We continue to offer a number of extracurricular clubs after school, these are very popular and oversubscribed. However, we have been experiencing a lot of difficulty recently due to individuals who register an interest for a club and then change their mind. As you can appreciate, it takes a considerable amount of organisation and time to ensure that the service runs smoothly and efficiently. We therefore, kindly ask that before registering an interest in a club that you discuss this with your child and ensure that they wish to attend. Unfortunately, if we continue to experience these difficulties, we may have to limit the number of clubs or spaces available.
We would like to remind you that we now have a Facebook page. Please search squirrels heath junior school – havering to follow our page (please ensure you remember the hyphen havering for the junior school page). We will update regularly with news about the school and a link to our blog will be uploaded on Friday evenings. This can also be accessed via our website by clicking on the ‘Useful Links’ tab on the left hand side of the Home Page.
Website / School App
We would like to remind parents that all the information regarding our school, including the calendar, can be viewed on our website www.shj.havering.sch.uk and in addition we also have our school App which can be downloaded.
If you have not already downloaded the App onto your mobile phone please follow these simple instructions:
- Search Greenhouse Schools
- Enter Squirrels Heath Junior School
- Enter the school code: 6472
- Tap on the cog (top right hand corner)
- Tap Notification Settings and select relevant year groups
Once you have installed the App you are able to receive notifications from us to remind you of upcoming events, view the school calendar, news, letters and even report your child's absence. The App also has a link to our school website and the office e-mail and helps parents to access key information quickly.
Contact Information
Please ensure that you inform the school office as soon as possible if you move, change your mobile number or e-mail address. It is very important that we are able to communicate information to you, especially in case of emergency.
