July Newsletter V2

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have reached the end of another fun filled and successful school year. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all staff at Squirrels Heath Juniors. Each year brings its own challenges but as always you have pulled together and risen to the challenge to ensure that the children always get the very best we can provide. Thank you for everything you have done to make our school a great place to learn. I hope that you all enjoy a well-deserved rest.

Farewell to staff leaving the school

Sadly along with Mrs Cross, we will also be saying goodbye to Mrs Gould today. Mrs Gould has been a Teaching Assistant at the school for the past 8 years and has led Art Club after school. On behalf of the school community, I would like to thank her for her service to the school and wish her well in her future endeavours.

Farewell to Year 6

To the year 6 pupils leaving us, a very sad farewell. We hope that you have all enjoyed your time with us and that you will remember the school with fond memories. You will always be part of the Squirrels community. We wish you all the very best of luck in secondary school and beyond

Key Stage Two SATs Results

I am very pleased to report that we have once again had a very successful year in terms of our Year 6 SATs results. All of our results are above national averages and in most cases well above national levels.  Our higher attaining pupils performed incredibly well. These results are remarkable bearing in mind the disruption to learning caused by Covid. Well done to the children and staff for all their hard work.

Year 4 Multiplication test

This year for the first time all Year 4 pupils nationally completed a multiplication test to check their rapid recall of all tables up to 12 x 12. I am very pleased to announce that our children performed incredibly well with 81% of learners passing the test. A number of our pupils made amazing progress from the start of the year too – well done everyone!

For our current Year 3 pupils – the summer break is a great time to practise your multiplication tables. We can’t wait to see what you can achieve next year!

Summer Reading Challenge

Just a reminder that the local libraries are once again running their summer reading challenge. Pupils are encouraged to read a total of 6 books over the summer period and if they complete the challenge, they are awarded a certificate. This is a great way to encourage good reading habits and taking part will help to ensure that children continue to develop good reading skills over the summer break. This is important as we often find that children fall back in their learning after a prolonged break from school. Squirrels Heath has always had an outstanding number of pupils completing the challenge and we would love to continue this trend. Get reading everyone!

New classes

From September our new class arrangements will be as follows:

Start Times and Finish Times in September

As has been the case this academic year, in September children will be allowed to arrive at school from 8.30am, entering the premises either via the front gate in Salisbury Road or the back gate in Brentwood Road. The children will be permitted to walk straight into their classrooms where they will be met by their teacher and complete some early morning work. Registration for Y5 and Y6 will be at 8:45am and registration for Y3 and Y4 will be at 8:50am. To help ease congestion at the end of the day, Y5 & Y6 will finish school at 3.05pm and Y3 & Y4 will finish at 3.15pm. All children will be dismissed from the main playground.

Breakfast Club

We will continue to offer a Breakfast Club again in September to pupils in all year groups. There will be a club for children in years 3 & 4 and a club for children in years 5 & 6. Breakfast options will include cereal or toast, milk and juice. The charge is £4 per session, payable in advance, via sQuid or if you are in receipt of childcare vouchers we are now registered to accept vouchers from Edenred, Care 4, Government Childcare, Faircare, Sodexo, Reward Gateway and Computer Share. Pupils are asked to arrive at the front side gate on Salisbury Road at 7:45am where they will be met by a member of staff. 

If you have not already completed the Google Form and would like to enrol your child please click on the link https://forms.gle/jeteQf2aMcPsdnVi9

Facebook

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. 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 click on the link to follow the simple instructions   https://www.shj.havering.sch.uk/Parents/School-App/

Vacancy

In September we will be advertising for a Relief Midday Assistant. If you are interested or know someone who may be interested please contact us in September.

I hope that you all remain safe over the summer and that you are able to enjoy some time quality together with your families. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 5th September.