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. This year our farewell events have been a little different. Whilst some of our pupils returned to school the last half term, others remained at home and we are all sad that we could not say good bye in person. A goodbye video has been created for each year 6 class and will be available on Google Classrooms on Wednesday 22nd July.
On behalf of the staff and governors, I would like to thank Year 6 pupils for their effort and commitment during their time with us. We wish them well in secondary school and look forward to hearing about their many achievements.
Retirement
It is with great sadness that I inform you that, after 25 years of service at Squirrels Heath Junior School, Mrs Westlake will be retiring at the end of this term. I am sure you will join with me in thanking Mrs Westlake for all she has given to the school and wish her well in her retirement.
Reports and arrangements for September
The office staff posted out end of year reports late last week along with a letter setting out plans for September. You should therefore receive these this week. Please read the letter about returning to school carefully – there are many changes in September, including different start and finish times for each year group. If you have any questions or concerns, please email the school office.
New classes
From September our new class arrangements will be as follows:
Old Class New Class Teacher
Tortoises 3 Beech Mr Frith
Leopards 3 Fir Miss Weller
Giraffes 3 Pine Miss Conboy
3 Palm 4 Palm Mrs Hammel/Mrs King
3 Poplar 4 Poplar Miss Bryant
3 Willow 4 Willow Mrs Bush
4 Birch 5 Birch Mrs Sharma/Mrs Chestnutt
4 Holly 5 Holly Miss Sibanda
4 Maple 5 Maple Mr Steele
5 Ash 6 Ash Mr Fowles
5 Elm 6 Elm Mr Hackett
5 Oak 6 Oak Mrs Marshall

Schools for Success

We are delighted to announce that we have been chosen to take part in the Mayor’s Schools for Success Programme. We have been selected as our published Department for Education data demonstrates that pupils who join us from lower starting points go on to achieve well and make exceptional progress in their time with us.

We look forward to the Autumn term when we will receive a certificate to mark our achievement as well as a formal invitation to join the programme in the 2020/2021 academic year to share our expertise with other schools.

Readathon

Just before we were thrown into lockdown in March, pupils participated in a school Readathon. Thank you to all pupils for taking part and to parents, friends and family who sponsored the children. As a school we raised £586.55 which is a fantastic achievement, not to mention all the extra reading completed by our pupils!

Summer Reading Challenge

Havering Library Service will be running the annual Summer Reading Challenge again this year. Although it will be organised slightly differently, it is worthwhile taking part. Children who are strong readers and develop a love of reading, perform well not only in primary school but beyond. The ability to read has a big impact on children’s understanding in other curriculum areas and their knowledge of the world around them. This programme will help to ensure that pupils continue to read this summer, please encourage your children to take part.

Website

Towards the end of August, we will be launching our new school website. We hope that our new website will be easy to navigate for pupils, parents and visitors and will contain lots of information and useful links, not to mention some lovely photographs of the children. Do keep an eye out! We would appreciate any feedback upon our return in September.

Thank you

Lastly, on behalf of the staff at Squirrels Heath Junior School, I would like to say a big thank you to all parents/carers for your support throughout the year but particularly since the lockdown in March. We appreciate that it has been a very worrying and challenging time for everyone. It has been a time that has brought about much disruption and change which, in turn, can be very unsettling. However, through it all, we have also heard and witnessed great examples of people working together and supporting one another and it is this sense of community which helps us to overcome any difficulty.

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 7th September.