Dear Parents and Carers,

Book fortnight is a special two weeks in school designated to raising the profile of reading for pleasure and helping the children to recognise the importance of reading. Reading for pleasure opens up new worlds for our children. It gives them the opportunity to use their imagination to explore new ideas, visit new places and meet new characters. Interestingly, reading for pleasure also improves children’s well-being and empathy. It helps them to understand their own identity and gives them an insight into the world and the views of others.

This year, book fortnight will run from Monday 23rd February and our focus for book fortnight is around protecting our earth and environment. Through exploring books around these topics the children will have the opportunity to empathise with others and understand why it is important for us to look after our planet. They will learn about ‘Earth Heroes’ who have made great achievements to protect our earth. We will be using the text ‘Dear Earth’ by Isabel Otter as a stimulus for this theme. We will also link our Design and Technology learning about mechanisms to make moving pictures and mechanical systems to encourage others to protect our environment.
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Home Learning
In addition, during this fortnight, the children will also be involved in many other activities to promote a love of reading. For home learning we would like the children to create their own story stones or pebbles to represent their favourite stories. These may be just decorating one stone or maybe a small set of stones:

Competitions always create a real buzz about books, and the children always enjoy sharing their creations.

Once these are completed, we will then display these in school, and we will award prizes for each class. They will then be used as part of our OPAL project and be used in the school grounds. We would like the children to complete their creation and bring it into school for the week beginning Monday 2nd March where they will be shared and discussed in class and prizes will be given for creativity.
 
Dressing up day
On Wednesday 4th March the children can come dressed as their favourite book character or they can wear their own clothes. Again, this provides the opportunity to discuss different book characters and share ideas for reading. The PA are arranging a costume swap ahead of World Book Day where parents will be able to bring in unwanted/outgrown costumes and they will then set up a stall after school for people to make a donation for a new outfit before the big day. More information on this will follow shortly.
 
Read Dating (Year 1-6)
The children will also be asked to bring in their favourite book. This is so that the children can participate in an activity where they share these books with each other, promoting them to their classmates. The children need to be able to discuss their book and why they really enjoyed it. The idea is that during this session the children will hear about at least 30 different books that they might also potentially enjoy. Your class teacher will be sending out a note informing you on which day your child needs to bring in their book.
 
The children will also be involved in many other activities during book fortnight such as visiting our reading den on the theme of preserving our rainforests and other quizzes and reading competitions. We hope the children enjoy all the activities we have planned for Book Fortnight and also have plenty of opportunities to read for pleasure both in school and at home. We will be sending out further suggestions of exciting reads for you child during our Book Fortnight,
 
Best wishes,
Bridget Adnett 
Deputy Headteacher English lead

Dear Parents,
​
During the second part of the spring term and the first part of the summer term, we will be delivering Relationship and Sex Education for Years 1 - 6.  These lessons will take place as part of our PSHE curriculum.

If you would like to view the Relationship and Sex Education materials that we will be using, then you would be more than welcome to request this.  Please could you contact your child’s class teacher to do this.  We feel that it is important the children take part in these sessions as part of our on-going programme of personal and social and health education.  I would like to emphasise that all themes covered are taught in an age appropriate way.  Key themes explored within certain year groups are as follows:

If you would like to discuss anything further please do not hesitate to talk with your child’s class teacher, Mrs Adnett, Miss Garrett or Miss Wood.  If you do not wish your child to take part in these sessions, then please can you let Miss Wood know in writing that this is your decision.  We will of course make alternative provision for your child during this time.
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Yours sincerely,
Karen Matthews
​PSHE Lead

Dear Parents and Carers,
​
I can’t believe how fast this term is going.  The children are really settled in their learning and enjoying this term’s Quest – Are You Ready to Travel the World?  The children are enjoying the history and geography foci within this.  I have a few updates for you as we approach the half term break.

Parent/Teacher Meetings
Parent/Teacher meetings are due to take place after the half term break. 
With the exception of 4H and 5H the arrangements will be as follows:

Tuesday 24th February – 3:30pm - 7pm
Wednesday 25th February – AM (Nursery only)
Thursday 26th February – 3:30 pm – 6 pm

Parent/Teacher meetings for 5H (in person, by phone or online)
These will take place on:
Tuesday 24th February – morning only
Thursday 26th February – morning only

Parent/Teacher meetings for 4H (in person, by phone or online)
These will take place on:
Tuesday 3rd March – morning only
Wednesday 4th March – morning only

We will shortly be sending you an email from ‘Parents Booking’ who are the online
platform system we use to organise Parent/Teacher Consultations.  

This allows you to choose, book and edit the meetings scheduled with the class teacher.
The log in screen is very simple and straightforward to use, no username or password
is required.

The platform in now live and will close on Friday 20th February.

Curriculum Evening
Thank you to those parents who attended the recent curriculum evening supporting you in the work you do with your children at home.  We are in the process of getting the resources shared at this event on to the school website so that they are accessible to everyone.

OPAL
Thank you so much to the parents and friends of the school who volunteered to help at our recent build day for the OPAL project.  We are grateful for the time given and the enthusiasm of the team who achieved so much during the day.  The OPAL project will launch after the half term holiday so please make sure your child has the appropriate waterproof coat and wellies so that they can access all areas!

Thank you also for the donations that you sent in for the OPAL project.  A group of our Year 5 children were an excellent help sorting them and getting them into the new storage.  We are still wanting a few items so if you have any of the following, please send them into school at your convenience:
· Lego
· Sheets
· Rolls of wallpaper
· Small world – small people figures, animals, wooden dolls house/figures
· Construction resources
· Guttering
 
Car Park
Please can I politely remind parents that the car park should only be used if you have arranged this with the school office.  I am mindful that there are a lot of pedestrians in the morning and at pick up in the afternoon and would like to minimise traffic in and out of the car park.

School Discos
Finally, can I remind you that our popular school discos are this Thursday. 
Please see below for timings.

Thank you, as ever, for your support
Becky Wood

Wednesday 28th January is a busy day in school and we just wanted to remind you of the events taking place on this day:

​Thank you so much to all of our parents who have been collecting items from our bingo boards for our OPAL project. Please could your child bring these items into school on Wednesday 28th January. If you have any larger donations that may be difficult for your child to carry, please drop these off at the junior gate that leads onto the junior playground. Mrs Adnett will be there to support with this. We really do appreciate your support with this project – it will make such a difference to playtime provision.

Year 6 – Quarry Bank Mill: The children will be leaving promptly at 9.00am so it is important that the children arrive at school for 8.45am to ensure they are ready to leave
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Year 4 – Stockport Air Raid Shelter: The children will be leaving school at 9.30am and will return to school by the end of the day.

Children are required to wear school uniform for both trips.

​These workshops are to support you in terms of helping your child with the basic skills of phonics, reading, spelling and number facts.  This will follow the format of our September Meet the Teacher event with two sessions available for you to attend.  The first one will be at 5:15 pm and the second session will be at 6 pm.  Teachers will repeat the content in both sessions so that parents with more than one child can attend more than one year group presentation.  The sessions will give you some ideas about how you can help at home as we know what a great impact this can make for our learners.

Welcome back!

We hope you have had a fun festive break and have also managed to get some rest!
A huge thank you to the parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles and family pets who helped to walk with us to Hazel Grove Baptist Church and Norbury Church during the last few weeks of the autumn term. We really appreciate your support and couldn’t make these visits happen without your help.

Are You Ready to Travel The World?

We had a great start to the academic year last term and saw the children thrive building their scientific knowledge. This term our whole school Quest focus will be linked to our history and geography objectives.
On the first day back we held a whole school assembly to introduce the new quest – Are You Ready to Travel The World? We were presented with different items of luggage containing clues as to our chosen destinations.
In Year 3, the children will be travelling from Salford to Los Angeles! They will be travelling across the United States, Canada and Mexico to move between venues hosting this year’s FIFA World Cup. We will be comparing the human and physical features of Stockport to Los Angeles. We will also be exploring the human and physical features of some of the other 16 cities across North America which are hosting the matches.
In Year 4, the children will begin their journey travelling to Berlin where they will be planning their own journey and will be helping an ancestor of a local soldier from Hazel Grove to learn more about their great grandad and the part he played in World War 2. The children will be comparing the human and physical features of Berlin and Manchester.
 
OPAL Bingo

The OPAL project is starting to take shape. The Working Party has met with our school mentor three times across this term.  We plan to introduce new areas for play after the February half term holiday.  Mrs Adnett and Miss Garrett have written to you to explain some next steps including a bingo style collection event after Christmas and a working party day where we would appreciate parental help to help us get organised for our February launch. 

The working party team day is Friday 23rd January, where we would appreciate any volunteers to offer help to come into school to build and prepare items for the project. The date for any donated items to be brought into school is Wednesday 28th January. Thank you again for your continued support.

P.E Kits

Please can we make sure that the children are appropriately dressed for outdoor P.E lessons, especially during the colder months as these lessons may take place on the playground or on the field.

In Year 3 this term, the children will have golf, handball and basketball lessons across the term. Year 3’s P.E days are on Monday and Tuesday.

In Year 4 this term, the children will have dodgeball and netball lessons across the term. Year 4’s P.E days are on Monday and Wednesday.

Both year groups will also have O.A.A sessions (Outdoor Adventurous Activities) where they learn team-building and problem-solving skills.

Year 3 will continue to get changed in school so will keep their kits in school to be worn as needed. These will be sent home between half terms but also when needed to be washed. Please can P.E kits be clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Year 4 will continue to come to school in their P.E kits.
 
Home Learning

New home learning grids will be given out the first week back and the children will continue to receive weekly spelling lists.

Thank you as always for your continued support,
The Year 3 and 4 Team

Welcome back!

We hope you have had a fun festive break and have also managed to get some rest! Thank you so much for the lovely Christmas gifts, thoughtful cards, and warm wishes we all received. 

A huge thank you to all our helpers who helped us to walk with us to Hazel Grove Baptist Church and Norbury Church during the last few weeks of the Autumn Term. We really appreciate your support and these events couldn’t happen without your help.

Are You Ready to Travel The World?
Last year, we had a great start to the academic year and saw the children thrive, whilst building their scientific knowledge. This term our whole school Quest focus will be linked to our history and geography objectives.

On the first day back we held a whole school assembly to introduce the new quest – Are You Ready to Travel The World? We were presented with different items of luggage containing clues as to our chosen destinations and people.

In Year 5, the children will start their career as travel agents by voyaging all the way to South America, specifically Manaus, a city in Brazil, which is right in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. We will be discovering key information about the River Amazon, the journey it takes and which countries it flows through as well as comparing this river with the largest river in Europe, the Volga and our local river, the River Mersey. We will be exploring similarities and differences between human and physical features in Manaus and Stockport as well as looking at the history of Stockport and how transport has evolved over time.

In Year 6, the children will begin their journey in Africa, where they will be enlisted as a slave. We will then travel to travelling to the Caribbean to work on a cotton farm.  After that, we will travel from the cotton farm to the UK to look at how the cotton was turned into thread and how children were used a labour; discussing the advantages and disadvantages of this. At this point we will visit Helmshore Mill in Lancashire to experience what life was like for children working in the mills and why the geography of the location helped the mill. Finally, we dive into the inspiring history of the Suffragettes, exploring their courageous "Deeds not Words" campaign and the pivotal role they played in securing the right to vote for women. This topic allows us to examine the struggle for equality, the difference between the peaceful Suffragists and the militant Suffragettes, and how these historic figures shaped the democratic society we live in today.
 
OPAL Bingo

The OPAL project is starting to take shape. The Working Party has met with our school mentor three times across this term.  We plan to introduce new areas for play after the February half term holiday.  Mrs Adnett and Miss Garrett have written to you to explain some next steps including a bingo style collection event after Christmas and a working party day where we would appreciate parental help to help us get organised for our February launch. 
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The working party team day is Friday 23rd January, where we would appreciate any volunteers to offer help to come into school to build and prepare items for the project. The date for any donated items to be brought into school is Wednesday 28th January. Thank you again for your continued support.

P.E Spring 1

In Year 5, Miss Manfredi’s class will start their swimming lessons on a Friday Morning, whilst the other class do Gymnastics.  On Thursdays, both classes will do basketball outside.  
In Year 6, we are very fortunate to be working with Stockport County on Monday afternoons. On Fridays, both classes will do hockey outside.

Home Learning

New home learning grids will be given out the first week back and the children will continue to receive weekly maths activities. If there is something more specific you would like your child to work on at home, please get in touch with your child’s teacher and we can arrange this for you.

Thank you as always for your continued support.
 
Best wishes, 
The Year 5 and 6 Team

Spring Term – Are You Ready to Travel the World?
 
Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas and would like to wish you a Happy New Year.
Firstly, thank you once again to all the parents who gave the most thoughtful gifts and vouchers to our Early Years Team.  We really felt so valued and appreciated by your generosity!

Our snowy and icy start to our spring term links in perfectly with our first part of our theme to weather and travelling around the world, both here and in the Arctic. We are learning to wrap up warmly and consider our clothing choices and even our class bear Norbury has been fully kitted out too, as he prepares for his travels!

We are beginning to learn about:
· Finding out about different types of houses; where we live and around the world
· Finding out more about different countries in colder and warmer climates
· Exploring animal habitats and ways of life in colder and warmer climates
· Creating our own junk models
· Practically adding and subtracting two sets of objects
· Practising to put the bigger number in our head and count on from this
number when adding
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Our PE this half term is gymnastics, we are exploring:
· The different ways our body moves
· How to travel in different ways
· Different apparatus and how to use them safely, such as the mats and benches
· Different types of jumping.
 
Reading books
Please aim to read with your child at least three times a week.  Books can be changed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Please sign your child’s reading book at home to let us know that you have heard them read, even if they haven’t yet completed the book. Comments are always welcome and useful for us too, but we appreciate that there may not always be time for this.

Play – Opal Project
Just a reminder that we are collecting donated toys for our new Opal Project (see above bingo board) and we welcome any contributions you may have on Wednesday 28th January.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support,
The Reception Team

Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break.  We are delighted to see the children back in school.  The snowy start has been an added excitement for them but maybe not the staff team!

We have started the new term by launching our new Quest –
​‘Are You Ready to Travel the World?’  This will combine our history and geography as we all become international travellers.  Each year group received a suitcase or bag containing clues about their destination to get them thinking about the world beyond Hazel Grove.

Helping your child with their learning

We would like to invite you to an event on Wednesday 28th January to support you in terms of helping your child with the basic skills of phonics, reading, spelling and number facts.  This will follow the format of our September Meet the Teacher event with two sessions available for you to attend.  The first one will be at 5:15 pm and the second session will be at 6 pm.  Teachers will repeat the content in both sessions so that parents with more than one child can attend more than one year group presentation.  The sessions will give you some ideas about how you can help at home as we know what a great impact this can make for our learners.

PA Movie Afternoons

The popular Parents’ Association Movie Afternoons are due to take place towards the end of January.  Years 3 – 6 are invited to stay on Tuesday 20th January and Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are invited to stay on Thursday 22nd January.  The event runs from the end of the school day with pick up at 5:30 pm.  For further details please follow this link to the PA website - https://www.norburyhallpa.co.uk/movie-afternoons.html#/. 

To purchase tickets, please follow these links:
KS1
https://tickets.matterpay.com/s/norbury-hall-parents-association/ZXZlbnQ6ODI2NA%3D%3D/norbury-hall-january-movie-afternoon---ks1
KS2
https://tickets.matterpay.com/s/norbury-hall-parents-association/ZXZlbnQ6ODI2NQ%3D%3D/norbury-hall-january-movie-afternoon---ks2

OPAL

We are aiming to launch our OPAL project after February half term with new areas for the children to use during their playtimes.

We are continuing to ask for donations to support this project.  A Bingo Board was circulated via a special newsletter before Christmas for your child’s year group.  These are on the newsletters section of the website and also on the school gates.  Phase Team Leaders will be circulating these to you again via their newsletters.  The donation date for these items is Wednesday 28th January. 

We will also be having an OPAL working party day on Friday 23rd January from 9.15am where we would like some volunteers to help us to construct some shelters for resources and some wellie boot storage using the pallets that have been donated. If you are handy with a drill, prepared to clear and dig or if you could help organise resources you would be perfect for this job! Even if you could spare us half an hour that would be amazing. We will have made some prototypes to get us started. There will also be some bacon butties for encouragement! If you can offer your support please get in touch with us at: [email protected]

Cold weather
Thank you for sending your child ready to play outside whilst we have the colder weather.  The children have enjoyed playing in the snow. 

Please continue to send your child dressed for the outdoors.  Unless the rain is torrential or it is deemed unsafe to play outside, we will get them out whatever the weather.  Knowing they have spare socks if their feet get wet and something to keep their head dry is really important to their enjoyment and comfort.

We are looking forward to a new term with the children and as ever very much value your support.
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Spring Term: ‘Are You Ready to Travel the World?'

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back! We hope you all had an enjoyable and restful break! Last half term, we worked incredibly hard across the curriculum and the children worked hard to develop their science knowledge! Our clever clogs have continued to work their socks off and we are so pleased with the work they’re producing and the enthusiasm they are showing in their own learning. We really appreciate your support and kinds words throughout last term, thank you for all your continued support.

 Are You Ready to Travel the World?

To launch our new Quest, which is titled, ‘Are You Ready to Travel the World,’ the children were presented with a variety of suitcases, back packs and chests, during a whole school assembly. The children were shown and discussed various items found in their special bags and have started to investigate who they belong to and where they have come from. This term there is a geography and history focus right across school.

In Year 1, the children will be making links with a school in Ghana and learning about the similarities, differences and changes in schools. This will then move to looking at the similarities, differences and changes between homes. Throughout this, the children will be investigating how to travel from the UK to Ghana and learning about the world around them, including the continents and oceans.
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In Year 2, the children will be investigating and learning about the similarities, differences and changes between The UK and China, (Shanghai). The children will discover a suitcase which has been left on a train in Shanghai. The children will investigate and plan a route to return the suitcase back to its owner, looking at the geography and how to travel from the UK to Shanghai. The children will also be looking at the similarities, differences and changes between transport, with a particular focus on trains.

OPAL reminder

The OPAL project is starting to take shape.  The Working Party has met with our school mentor three times across this term.  We plan to introduce new areas for play after the February half term holiday.  Mrs Adnett and Miss Garrett have written to you to explain some next steps including a bingo style collection event after Christmas and a working party day where we would appreciate parental help to help us get organised for our February launch.  Please find below a reminder of the bingo items which would really appreciate being donated by EYFS, Year 1 and 2. The working party team day is Friday 23rd January, where we would appreciate any volunteers to offer help to come into school to build and prepare items for the project. The date for any donated items to be brought into school is Wednesday 28th January. Thank you again for your continued support.

The PA plan to run the following events in the spring term

Thursday 22nd January – Movie Night for EY and KS1
Thursday 5th February – School Disco

General Information reminder
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With the colder weather on its way, please can we request that children bring a coat with them each day. A pair of wellies or extra shoes is useful for our weekly, outdoor learning activities. It would be useful, as with all items, that they are clearly labelled.

Dear Parents and Carers,
I cannot believe how fast this half term has gone.  The Christmas Fair on Friday marked the start of our Christmas activities in school and we look forward to welcoming you at the events we will be holding over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you to those of you who attended parent / teacher meetings earlier in the half term.  I hope you found the appointment useful.  As ever, the team are always happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have regarding your child.

Staff News
I am delighted to tell you that Miss Hannah Garrett and Mrs Bridget Adnett have been successful in securing the role of permanent Deputy Headteacher at Norbury Hall Primary School.  Hannah and Bridget have been doing this role for the past 14 months in a temporary capacity.  Members of the Governing Board joined me to interview last week.  Both Hannah and Bridget’s enthusiasm and commitment to the role were highly evident.  As the role is a job share, Miss Garrett will be available in this capacity on a Monday and Tuesday and Mrs Adnett from Wednesday to Friday.

Whilst sharing this news, it seems relevant to share our leadership structure in school with you.  Mrs Sarah Downes is also a member of the leadership team in her capacity as Inclusion Lead and SENDCo.  Mrs Downes is non-class based on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and is available to meet with parents if you have any concerns about your child in relation to any additional needs they may have.

We also have phase leaders who ensure the smooth running of a couple of year groups in the school.  They are there for the children, staff and parents and spend their leadership time ensuring that the education of the children in their phase is the very best it can be.  The phase leaders are:

Mrs Kerry Robinson
Nursery and Reception

Mrs Sara Turner
KS1 – Year 1 and Year 2

Miss Becca Morgan
Lower KS2 – Year 3 and Year 4

Miss Hannah Garrett
Upper KS2 – Year 5 and Year 6

Parents’ Association News
I am delighted to tell you that our Parents’ Association raised a grand total of £4807 last Friday at our Christmas Fair.  I would like to thank Dannielle and her team for another great event.  Thank you to those of you who helped out in any way – it is much appreciated.  The PA has raised approximately £7000 this term.  Much of this will be supporting the OPAL project.

The PA plan to run the following events in the spring term:
Tuesday 20th January – Movie Night for KS2
Thursday 22nd January – Movie Night for EY and KS1
Thursday 5th February – School Disco
More details about these events will be available nearer the time.
 
OPAL
The OPAL project is starting to take shape.  The Working Party has met with our school mentor three times across this term.  We plan to introduce new areas for play after the February half term holiday.  I am sure you will appreciate that there is a lot of work to do behind the scenes before we can really get going.  Mrs Adnett and Miss Garrett will be writing to you to explain some next steps including a bingo style collection event after Christmas and a working party day where we would appreciate parental help to help us get organised for our February launch.  This date is Friday 23rd January.

I explained earlier this term that we are getting the children outside even when it might be raining.  We would ask that each child has a waterproof coat for playtimes as this will obviously dry off more quickly.  Please make sure this has your child’s name in it.

School Car Park
Can I please remind you that parents should not use the school car park unless you have an agreement with us.  I am mindful more parents are doing this and I am worried about everyone’s safety as cars pull out of the car park during the start and end of the day.