Message from the Head
Dear Parents,
I’m not sure where to start this week. We have been so busy. It’s been anti-bullying week in school and thank you to Ms Howlett and the students who talked to us about how wretched bullying can make people feel and focussed us on our acts of kindness for the week. The whole Senior school was involved in writing and circulating kind messages.
On this note, my hopefully kind message to you all is that you do not need to worry if I ask to meet with you or email or call you. I am used to working very closely with families and believe that sometimes a face to face discussion (where possible and convenient) can be a very positive step between school and home when caring for your son or daughter. The ‘open door’ nature means that I am pretty ‘hands on’ in the school. Yes, I am Head of Hollygirt – and you know what a privilege I believe that to be, blessed with such an amazing staff team and wonderful students but I am also a human being and a mum- a parent.
To raise money for Children in Need a tabletop sale was held on Thursday lunchtime plus the amazing onesies that have graced the corridors. I am not sure of the total monies raised yet but thank all of you who have contributed goods and money to help fundraise and I’ll let you know the amount raised as soon as possible.
We have started a new supervision system in the morning for Senior School students (thank you Janet) and will be adding toast to this service for our early arrivers. All of this is on a trial basis for the time being but we will be taking feedback from the students as we go. If your son or daughter does arrive early into Senior School, they should go straight to the hall.
In between all of this activity, I managed to get over to the Juniors to deliver an assembly about story-telling using story cubes – a wonderful story-telling resource. I was very impressed with the way the Junior students engaged and assembled all the pictorial clues together into some very imaginative stories.
The Leadership Team continue to work hard and we spent Saturday with our trustees (who give their time freely) to look at the aims and vision of Hollygirt. It was a great strategic day and we covered a lot of ground, literally with a full tour of the site! At Leadership meetings, we are very busy – reviewing (amongst other things) the way we assess and report information home, how we manage events and our calendar! Bear with us – we hope to be able to move us a little way from the paper-based system we use currently for trips and dates etc and are working on plans here and especially around information on our website.
In the interim, we will send an email next week with all of the dates in the run-up to Christmas, but a heads up that the Carol Service date is now 14th December at 5.30-6.45pm. It is more or less straight after the Christmas Fair and should finish before the Nottingham Hight School Senior Carol service, in time to allow you to attend both if that is your family.
Have a good weekend,
Helen Barsham
Head
Message from the Head of Juniors
Dear Parents,
I loved all the odd socks worn by children on Monday. Odd Socks Day celebrates what makes us unique. Children have been participating in a range of activities and assemblies as part of our Anti-Bullying week as well as remembering the importance of ‘One Kind Word’.
Well done to all the children who have dressed up in brightly coloured clothes today for Children In Need. Year Six should be very proud of their efforts. The Bake Sale was amazing and there was a huge range of beautifully decorated cakes, cookies and other delicious items. Thank you to parents for your help with this. I will let you know the total amount raised, including merchandise we have sold, when this has been calculated.
Years 4, 5 and 6 will be participating in Sports Hall athletics during their PE lesson on Tuesday. I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy this and look forward to hearing of their successes again.
A reminder that if you have made an appointment, our Schoolwear providers will be in school on Thursday for you to order the new PE kit. This will also be available online from February. There is no expectation that you will buy the PE kit immediately and we are suggesting a ‘roll in’ period, with the view that everyone will be in the new PE kit by September 2022.
On Friday (until Saturday morning), it is our ‘Minimal Technology Day’. We look forward to hearing all about the alternative activities children have chosen to do. Thank you in advance for your support with this and for collecting sponsorship money.
Next week, I will be sending out a summary sheet of all the key events in December. As we move into the final weeks of term, there is a lot going on so hopefully, this will be really useful.
Please note that school is closed to all pupils and staff on Friday 3rd December for our annual Prize Giving holiday.
You will have been sent information and a link to give consent for the annual flu vaccinations- this is for children in Reception to Year 6.
This week’s Stars of the Week can be viewed here.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Wright
Head of Juniors