Staff News

Please join us in welcoming our new team member Miss Peach, who joined us this week as Teaching Assistant working in both Key Stage 1 and Upper Juniors.

We are very pleased to welcome you to Team Hordle!

Breakfast and After School Club - Parent Survey

We value feedback from our parents and would like to ask you to compete this questionnaire to reflect on your child's time at The Den Breakfast and After School Clubs so far this year. 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this survey. Your contributions help us shape the service we provide. 

Please provide your response by Friday 24th January.

Thank you,

Team DEN

Den and Dinner Debt

Please can we ask that parents/guardians ensure that payments for dinners and any Den bookings are paid in advance. 

There should be no debts run up on your accounts, which should always be kept at zero or in credit.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Parent Forum Reminder

We will be running a Parent Forum on 28th January at 9am in the Acorn Room. This is an opportunity to express your views/make suggestions for our Senior Leadership Team on any matters relating to school. This could include (but is not limited to) curriculum, school activities, uniform, trips and school events.

We would love to see as many of you there as possible. In order to prepare for this event, please complete the form on the link below with your suggested topics for discussion:

Parent Forum discussion topics

Please can we ask that questions posed for discussion at the Parent Form are broad in nature and not specifically related to your child. . These questions are best answered by your child's class teacher who will be happy to discuss them at a mutually convenient time. Please email them directly in the first instance.

Even if you cannot attend on the day but you wish for a particular subject to be discussed, please complete this form and give us as much information as possible.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Important Information - Year 6 SAT's Dates

 Please note that the Year 6 SAT's week will be

Monday 12th May - Friday 16th May 2025.

Please be aware that NO child can be taken out of school during a period of statutory testing. Unauthorised absence in these weeks is subject to an immediate fixed term penalty regardless of length.

Please therefore note the above dates in your diaries, where it is essential your child is in school.

Thank you for your cooperation.

What to do if my child is absent

Please can we remind parents/guardians of our schools absence procedures:

• Contact us as soon as possible (and before 9.30am at the latest) on the first day of absence; telephone (via the schools absence line), email or visit the school office
• Advise us on the nature of your child’s absence. Please note that in the event of sickness and/or diarrhoea, the exclusion period is 48 hours since the last bout of illness
• Update the school daily on subsequent days absence unless advised otherwise.

If your child is absent and we have not heard from you by 9.30am at the latest, we will telephone you and any other contacts that have been provided to us to confirm your child’s whereabouts.

This is because we have a safeguarding duty to ensure your child’s safety as well as their regular school attendance. A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required.

Please note, if no reason for absence is received before 12pm it is a safeguarding requirement for us to visit the family home to ascertain your child’s well being.

Please help us to ensure the safeguarding of all children in our care.

Hordle Pathway ("the cut") Change

Please be aware that Hampshire County Council have carried out some works through the Hordle Pathway ("the cut") and have now switched over the pedestrian and cyclist's pathways. 

OUR SCHOOL NEEDS YOU!

PATCH Volunteer Information Event:

Friday 31st January 2025

Our current PATCH team has worked tirelessly to fundraise for wonderful additions to our school in recent years and we are extremely grateful for all their hard work. 

Sadly, next year, 3 of our key PATCH members will be leaving Hordle, as their children move on to secondary school. This leaves us with a huge hole and with growing pressure on school budgets, sadly, without the funds raised by our highly valued PATCH team and the events they run, the school simply won't be able to afford the wonderful enhancements provided for our school. 

We will therefore be holding a PATCH volunteer information event on Friday 31st January 2025, which we wish to invite you to (please complete this form to confirm your attendance).

In recent years, PATCH have successfully fundraised for:

- Daily Mile Track

- Trim trail equipment

- Library furniture

- Outdoor gym equipment

- Hall curtains / backdrop

- Outdoor shelters

- PA sound system and hall disco lighting

- Zip Wire

- PE Equipment

- Year 6 Leavers Hoodies

- Pantomine Performances

- Reindeer Visits

In short, we simply won't be able to offer the range of events that the PATCH team have introduced to the school over the years and that the years and that the children (and parents!) look forward to every year. 

For example: 

- Special Person's Day

- Secret Santa

- Storytime with Mrs Claus

- Summer Fair

- Christmas Raffle

- Disco

You already play a very important part by supporting at our PATCH events for which we are very thankful, but we need you more than ever!

You do not have to commit to helping with every single event, you can nominate yourself for a single event or task throughout the year - the more hands the merrier and all of your help, no matter how much time you can commit to will be greatly appreciated.

If you can give a little bit of your time to help the school by joining/supporting the PATCH team, please get in touch with Mrs Collins in the school office to find out more or sign up to our PATCH volunteer information event which will be taking place on Friday 31st January 2025 at 9am.

We look forward to welcoming you! 

Winter Reading Challenge

It is the perfect weather to snuggle down with a good book and our friends at The Reading Agency are running the Winter Mini Challenge - an online reading challenge which you can join from 1 December 2024 to 20 February 2025. Read three or more books to unlock digital rewards!

More information can be found here. 

Happy reading!

Read Easy - Free, Confidential Reading Coaching for Adults

Read Easy is a local charity that organises the provision of free, confidential, one-to-one reading coaching for adults, eighteen and over, who want to learn to read or improve their reading skills.  

When someone contacts Read Easy because they want help to improve their reading, our approach is to provide them with a trained volunteer coach. Read Easy currently has coaches available in the Lymington and New Milton area and we are particularly keen to help adults improve their skills and confidence when reading to and with children.  Whatever someone’s starting point, each person will be taken back to basics and can then work at their own pace. Coaching usually consists of two 30-minute sessions each week at a local venue, such as New Milton library, for as long as the support is needed. 

There are no tests or exams and we go at the reader's own pace and without pressure, using a well-established phonics-based approach.  The programme is confidential, so readers can relax and enjoy the learning.  

More information can be found here.

Hub Club Price Increase

Please be advised that as agreed by governors in July 2024, the Hordle Hub Club rates, for all internal clubs run by the school, will be increasing from £3.50 per week to £4 per week from 1st April 2025. 

Breakfast Club and After School Club rates will be staying the same and will be reviewed again by Governors in April 2025. We will advise of any changes in due course, should there be any.

We would like to remind parents/guardians of the term dates for the next couple of months. 

Friday 14th February - Last Day of Spring 1

-

Monday 24th February - First Day of Spring 2

Parents are strongly advised by the Government and Local Authority to avoid taking children out of school in term time because of the disruption it causes to their education.

Following the update to the Penalty Notice Framework, Miss Trim has kindly put together a helpful leaflet to outline the important changes and how the penalty notice system will work. The leaflet can be found here.