Newsletter - Friday 4th April 2025
- lfoster51
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Issue 13 - Spring 2025
Proud to be ELSTON! Empowered, Listeners, Successful, Together, Open-Minded, Nurturing
Dear families,
March seems to have flown by and we have just one week left before the Easter break!
This week we were delighted to receive a phone call from Ofsted, notifying us that they were coming to inspect us on Tuesday and Wednesday. We have been awaiting the call for the past couple of years and feel a great deal of relief that they have finally been! I'd like to thank all families who completed the parent survey and took time on Wednesday morning to speak to inspectors. Children were also brilliant and many spoke to inspectors over the two days, proudly sharing their learning and experiences - we are all so proud of them! We are not able to share outcomes yet but look forward to sharing the report when we receive it in a few weeks time.
We look forward to welcoming you to parent consultations next week. For after school appointments, please enter through KS1 hall where there will be a range of services present and lots of lost property to be found! For Class 7 and 8 daytime appointments, entrance will be through the front office.
We've had a busy couple of weeks as you will see below. Year 6 had a fantastic time at Laches Wood - I'm sure they will need lots of sleep this weekend after a very busy 3 days! Thank you to Reception families for attending our Mother's Day Assembly. Year 1 have been busy in their music lessons (Year 1 Music) and Year 3 have been busy identifying human and physical features in the local area Local Walk in Year 3.
Next week, Year 6 will have a run through of Reading and Maths SATs papers on Monday and Tuesday, to prepare children for the tests in May. Look out for an email about Summer term clubs next week!
Thank you for your ongoing support. Enjoy your weekends,
Miss E Foster
Headteacher
Attendance
We track attendance weekly and monitor any pupils falling below 96%. School attendance has risen to 95.4%. This is above the most recent national average published (94.8% - 7.3.25). We are currently sitting 19th out of 71 schools in the Local Authority. We remain in the top 40-50% of schools nationally - well done! We'd love to see our attendance increase above 96%. Well done to Year 4 who continue to have the highest attendance so far. Reception and Years 4 and 6 have improved attendance - brilliant!
Please could we remind families to inform school of any absences before 9am. Please call 01902 558866. If you are calling before 8am, please leave a voicemail and this will be picked up and reasons for absence recorded on Arbor. Families can now also email attendance@elston.org.uk to report any absences. Families may now also report absences on the Arbor app!
If your child has a medical appointment, please bring them to school before and after wherever possible.
Year group | Up to 3.4.25 |
Whole School (Without Reception) | 95.4% |
Reception | 95.0% |
Year 1 | 95.5% |
Year 2 | 95.7% |
Year 3 | 95.1% |
Year 4 | 96.0% |
Year 5 | 94.8% |
Year 6 | 95.0% |
Punctuality is vital to ensure that pupils have a calm and organised start to the day, and can make the most of every minute in school! Please note that any pupils arriving after 9:30am will receive a 'U' mark which affects their attendance.
From time to time you might receive letters regarding your child's attendance. These letters are sent to many families and are sent regardless of whether you have contacted school or not to inform us of the absence.
Year 6 Residential
Year 6 pupils had a fantastic time at Laches Wood! We are so proud of their behaviour and bravery when taking on new challenges. They really showed our ELSTON values! Please see the blog for photos of their adventures! Residential | Elston Hall
Reading for pleasure
We are encouraging children to revisit their favorite book – the one they just can't get enough of! After rereading, the children write about their thoughts and what they love most about it in our special class scrapbook. This is a fantastic way for them to share their passion for reading. They then have the opportunity to share their ideas with the class! See our blog for pictures of pupils fantastic entries so far. Reading for Pleasure!
Year 4 writing competition
We love writing at Elston Hall and this week we had some great news. Year 4 recently entered a Young Writers Wonderverse competition, where they created poems about fantastic beasts.
We are thrilled this week to hear that all 83 children who entered that day have been chosen, to have their work published in an upcoming book. This means we are published authors! We are very proud of them all and can't wait for the copies to arrive in the Summer Term.
Easter Raffle
Next week, house captains will be selling raffle tickets for a chance to win one of these fantastic Easter hampers! Tickets cost 50p and all money raised will go towards the end of year treat for the winning house. Please send pupils in with a cash if they would like to be in with a chance of winning a prize. Thank you!
Parent consultation meetings
Parents evenings will take place on 8th and 9th April. Letters have been emailed with details of the dates and times. Parents can book parents evening appointments via Arbor. Booking will close at 6pm on Monday. Please ensure you book an appointment for each child. If you are not able to see a required time slot, then this has already been booked and is no longer available and you will need to select an alternative time. If you are unable to make any of the times advertised, please speak to your child's class teacher or someone in the office and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Lost Property
We have a huge amount of lost property in school which will be on display in KS1 hall on parent consultation evenings. Please can we ask that all items are labelled so that we can reunite them with their owner, particularly jumpers, cardigans and hoodies which pupils often remove in the warmer weather. Thank you!
Health and Safety
Please could we ask families to remind children not to ride bikes and scooters on school site at the end of the day. Pupils should also not play football on playgrounds before or after school. Thank you.
Sports News
Swimming Gala
Children from Year 5 and 6 took part in a swimming gala held at the Royal School with over 11 schools taking part. Elston competed really well over several different swimming events with a few children picking up gold and bronze medals. We are so proud! Well done!
Boys Football
Through to the final of the city championships for our boys' team! A win on penalties against a strong and determined Byhlls Acre side. Our goalkeeper was a hero saving the fifth penalty and then scoring the winner for us! Proud of them all!
Lunchtime equipment
Our Play Leaders are doing an incredible job of ensuring lunchtimes are active and inclusive with opportunities to play a variety of games! School has invested in a lot of equipment to support this, but we have noticed that we have some equipment missing. If any equipment has made its way home, please could it be returned to school. Thank you in advance!
Lunch menus
Our regular lunch menus can be found here: Lunches | Elston Hall. Please review these with your children so that they know what is on offer each day. Thank you.
Key Dates
Spring term 2025
Friday 4th April - Animal Man to visit Year 2
Tuesday 8th April - Parent consultations 4-6pm
Wednesday 9th April - Parent consultation 3:30-5pm
Thursday 10th April - EYFS Easter Bonnets. Nursery Easter singalong 11am (morning nursery) and 2:30pm (afternoon nursery)
Monday 14th April—Friday 25th April—Easter break
Summer term 2025
Monday 28th April —Pupils return to school. Swimming resumes.
Monday 5th May - Bank holiday - school closed to pupils
Tuesday 6th May and Friday 9th May - Year 4 Bikeability
Monday 12th May—Thursday 15th May—Year 6 SATs week
Monday 19th May - Wednesday 21st May - Y4 Conwy residential
Monday 26th May—Friday 30th May—Half term
Monday 2nd June—Friday 6th June - Year 4 Multiplication Checks
Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th June - Y6 Bikeability
Monday 9th June—Friday 13th June - Year 1 Phonics screening and Year 4 Multiplication Checks. New Reception parent meetings.
Monday 16th June - Y2 Beaudesert residential
Friday 20th June—INSET day—School closed to pupils
Monday 23rd June - Y1 sports day 9:15; Y2 sports day 10:45; Y3 sports day 1:45
Tuesday 24th June - Y4 sports day 9:15; Y5 sports day 10:45
Friday 27th June - Reception sports day 9:15; Nursery AM sports day 10:45; Nursery PM sports day 1pm; Y6 sports day 2pm
Week beginning 30th June - transition week Y6-7
Friday 11th July - End of Year reports out
Tuesday 15th July - Year 6 Leavers performances
Thursday 17th July - Nursery graduation. Year 6 Fun Day. Year 6 Leavers Party.
Friday 18th July—Last day of summer term
Autumn term 2025
Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd September - INSET days - school closed to pupils
Wednesday 3rd September - Pupils return to school
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