Dear Parents,

As we reach the end of another school year, I wanted to get in touch to thank you for all your support this year.  It is truly a privilege to work with your children and we appreciate all that you do to make their time in school successful.

Thank you to so many of you who have attended sports day events over the last couple of days.  We had the perfect weather conditions and no tricky decisions about whether to go ahead or not!  Please could I ask that any photographs or videos of your children are not shared more widely on the internet but limited to family and friends. 

Results for the Key Stage 2 Sports Day are as follows:
1st place- Yellow (curiosity) with 67
2nd place- purple (bravery) with 61
3rd place- green (understanding) with 59
Well done to team Curiosity!

If you need to contact us over the summer, we will be periodically checking the office emails.  The school office will be open from 9:30 am – 12:00 pm on Tuesday 1st September and Wednesday 2nd September if you need to talk to someone.  These are INSET days for the children.

I hope you all have a marvellous summer.  I want to wish our Year 6 leavers well as they start their high school journey.
 
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are fast approaching the end of the school year and I wanted to update you on arrangements for next year as well as imparting some other key pieces of information.

Staff News
​
Miss Gregory has made the difficult decision to step away from teaching for a while. 
I would like to thank her for the contribution she has made to Norbury Hall and wish her well in the future.

Miss Manfredi has been appointed as a class teacher from September 2026.  Miss Manfredi has supported the school this year in an agency capacity and we are delighted to welcome her to the team.

We are also saying goodbye to Mrs Boygle.  Mrs Boygle has worked with our Year 6 across this year and has been a great addition to the team.  We wish her well in the future.

Class Arrangements for 2026 / 2027

The children will work with their new teachers during the week beginning 13th July 2026.  On Monday 13th July they will come into school as usual and after registration will move to their new classes and teachers.  They will work with their new teachers for the remainder of the week.  Our current Year 5 children will be at Robinwood with their new teachers from the Wednesday to the Friday.  Our current Year 6 children will work with other teachers during this week.  Their focus will be on finalising plans for their Leavers’ Assembly.  They will be based in the hall on Monday and Tuesday and then in their classrooms from Wednesday to Friday.
​
This will obviously alter drop off and collection arrangements for the week (from pick up on Monday 13th July):

Annual Report to Parents

Annual reports to parents will be sent home with your child on Friday 10th July.  These will give you a picture of your child’s attainment and progress across this academic year.  If you want to discuss the report further, please get in touch directly with your child’s class teacher.  There is a section on the report for you to be able to respond to the report.  If you wish to do so, please return this page of the report to school.  We will then make a copy for our records and return the original to you. 

Request

Thank you for sending in cardboard boxes for use at lunchtimes in our OPAL zones.  Please could we ask that boxes that have contained nut-based products are not sent into school. This supports members of our school community with allergies.

Price Increase – School Meals

From September the cost of a school meal will rise to £3.00.  This reflects increasing food prices and a price increase from our current meal provider.  Meals continue to be free for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as well as those eligible for a free school meal.
We still have many events and activities taking place before the end of the school year.  The relevant dates are below and you should have received further information from our phase team leaders.
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is so lovely to see the children return to school refreshed and ready for their last half term in Reception.  It’s amazing to reflect on how quickly the year has flown!
As we look ahead to the final few weeks of the summer term, we have plenty of exciting activities planned.  These will give the children opportunities to celebrate their achievements, enjoy time with their friends and make lasting memories as the children look forward to their school visit to Imagine That! 

In this final half term, we are learning to: 

• Recall number facts within 10, exploring ways to make 10.  E.g. 7 and 3 make 10.
• Practically add and subtract and begin written calculations within 10.
• Share and group amounts practically.
• Write simple sentences using their k
  
• nowledge of phonics and tricky words
  taught so far. 
• Start a sentence with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
• Explore nature through our learning walks and outdoor learning; looking for
  signs of summer, including finding out about minibeasts and their habitats.
• Care and understand for our world, in particular the creatures in our
  immediate environment.
• Learn songs for Norbury Fest.
• Practise a range of activities for sports day including running and skipping races.

 
As the weather is so changeable, please make sure your child has a combination of suitable clothing brought into school so your child can fully enjoy outdoor learning and lunchtime play e.g. sun hat, showerproof coat and sun cream for the weeks ahead.  Please could we also ask for any spare socks and tights etc to be returned.
 
If you feel you need any support or have any concerns about your child, please contact us. 
Many thanks for your continued support and partnership.  It truly makes a difference in the children’s learning and wellbeing.
 
The Reception Team

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you all had a good half term break and enjoyed the sunshine we had.  The children return to a busy half term at school.  Our Quest ‘Trapped’ continues to involve them in art, music, dance and drama activities – we are looking forward to sharing these with you at our Norbury Fest event in July.  I have included dates and times of events below.  Further information about these events will come to you through correspondence from our Phase Team Leaders.

OPAL working party day

We have another OPAL working party day on Friday 26th June.  The last day was highly successful with 20+ parents and friends of the school helping to build and create our OPAL zones.  If you can spare any time during this day, we would be more than grateful.  If you can help, please contact Bridget Adnett ([email protected]) so that we have an idea of numbers.

Parking

Please can I politely remind you again that the new traffic calming measures in the area around the school are to ensure your children are safe on their journey to and from school.  Please park responsibly to ensure that this is the case.  Can I also again remind you that unless you have permission from the school, the school car park is not to be used to drop off or pick up your children.

Picking children up from the school office

I realise it isn’t always possible to make appointments for your children outside of the school day.  However, we have an increasing number of children being picked up from the school office particularly at around and after 3 pm.  I would ask that unless this is unavoidable you pick up from the appropriate playground at the end of the school day.  The school office is busy at the end of the day with many parents making a range of enquiries and this puts additional work on an already busy team.

2026 – 2027

We are in the process of finalising our team for 2026 – 2027 and allocating classes to teachers.  We will inform you who your child’s new class teacher will be in due course.  For those of you new to Norbury, we have a transition week for all children starting on Monday 13th July.  The children work with their new teacher in their new classroom during this week to support the transition from one year group to the next.  We know many children find this transition unsettling and hope that a full week enables the return to school in September to be smoother.  New Reception and new Nursery children have a separate transition programme which will be communicated to you if your child is joining us in one of these year groups.

Thank you as ever for your support.
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you are all well and looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend.

Thursday 7th May – Polling Day

The school is being used as a polling station on Thursday 7th May.  This is something that is determined by the local council and we are notified after we have set our term dates for the year.  School will be open to the children on this day.  The hall and dining room will be used as a polling station and we are able to safely lockdown this area of school so that the general public can’t get into the areas where the children are. Lunchtime arrangements will be different with the children either eating outside or in their classrooms.  The school kitchen is providing a sandwich-based lunch for children who have a school lunch.  Norbury Tinkers will be based in Mrs Mills’ and Mrs Williams’ classrooms and access to these rooms will be the external doors on to the car park.  Drop off and pick up arrangements remain largely the same.  The Year 3 children will come out on to the same playground but not via the hall doors. 

Bikes and scooters

With the recent good weather, we have more children cycling and scooting to school. 
We have such large numbers doing this so we are looking into buying an additional
cycle shelter for storage.  Our Parents’ Association are helping us to fund this. 

Can I however remind children and parents that bikes and scooters must not be used inside the school grounds.  I would also urge caution on the surrounding streets as the new traffic calming measures have made some pavements more narrow and we need to be mindful of the safety of pedestrians. 

OPAL

OPAL is now fully up and running at lunchtimes and the children are really enjoying using all of the zones that we have created. Photographs will appear shortly on our website so that you can see the children in action and the fun they have been having.

In the second half of the Summer term we would like to hold another parent volunteer day on Friday 26th June as there are several jobs we would like to do to enable us to open additional zones. This includes creating a pallet hut village as an area where the children can sit and relax with friends as well as share books. We are also hoping to create a track to enable us to have a wheeled vehicle area. If you have carpentry skills or are able to construct storage that would be amazing but we are also looking for helpers that can just help us to organise and move resources. In addition, there are also some painting jobs to do including the fencing for the Reception area that is looking a little tired.

The parent volunteer day in the Spring term was so successful and we achieved so much. If you can spare an hour or two it would be fantastic and make such a difference for the children. As we did previously, we will provide bacon and sausage butties mid-morning for refreshments.

If you are able to help please email
Mrs Adnett at [email protected].

Dear Parents and Carers

We are pleased to share that our school will be recognising World Mental Health Week from Monday 11th to Friday 15th May.

Throughout the week, children will take part in a range of age-appropriate activities designed to promote positive wellbeing, encourage open conversations and help them to understand the importance of looking after their mental health.

To mark the end of the week, we will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 15th May. On this day, we invite all children to come to school wearing green – this could be a small item, a splash of green, or even head to toe in green, if they wish.

Please note that no donations are required for this event. The focus is on raising awareness and showing support for mental health in a positive and inclusive way.

We look forward to a meaningful week across the school,
​
Kind Regards,
Sara Turner

Summer Quest Trapped?

Last week we kicked off the summer term with a new quest and a series of discoveries to make! The children received letters from a mysterious stranger, R, who needed their help. They spent the first two days of the term making plans and examining evidence to find and rescue the trapped character who we later discovered to be Rapunzel! On Wednesday, we were then treated to an amazing performance by the Wrongsemble theatre company to their version of the fairy tale. We later discovered that the performance had been inspired by the twisted tale ‘Rapunzel’ written and illustrated by Bethan Woollvin. Now we are immersing ourselves in the creative world of Bethan Woollvin, learning about her inspirations and building upon our drawing and painting skills.

Dance
This term, both Year 3 and 4 will have the opportunity to work with our dance specialist Laura Kendall who has created bespoke performances for the children. Year 3 will have dance lessons on Tuesday morning and Year 4 on Wednesday morning. At the end of the school year, we hope to share our learning with you, to perform and to celebrate our successes at Norbury Fest. This will also include a whole school collaborative performance and an enterprise project to showcase our artwork.
Year 3 will continue to have their outdoor P.E lesson on Monday afternoon and 4N will begin swimming lessons on Friday morning, with 4H playing cricket.

Here Comes The Sun!
As the sun is finally shining again, please can you ensure that your child is prepared and safe to enjoy the warmer weather. The children will need a hat to protect them from the sun – please ensure that this is labelled. They may also want to have a pair of sunglasses and their own sun lotion. This can be reapplied by the children at break or lunchtime.

Reading
We continue to work hard in school to promote a love for reading and encourage the children to read consistently at home. Reading books and Reading Records are to be brought into school every day. Please listen to your child read at home as frequently as possible, record this in your child’s Reading Record and support them in bringing these back into school each day. Please ask them questions about the text, to make predictions and to discuss characters to check their understanding. You may also want to discuss any new vocabulary with your children and use dictionaries to define any unknown words.

Thank you for your ongoing support,
Year 3 and 4 Team

Summer Term – Trapped

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to see our amazing Reception learners return to school after the break happily. We have loved hearing all their news and what they have been up to!
The arrival of a letter sent by ‘R’ saying she was trapped somewhere in the school grounds launched our exciting new Quest!  After talking about the photographic clues, the children went outdoors and found her stuck in a hanging basket! The children came up with lots of creative ideas as to how to rescue her and worked together as a team to bring her down safely. 

The children have enjoyed the performance of Rapunzel and is this steering our learning into sharing different stories and letting our imaginations take us to fun and magical places.
This term we will also be inspired by the artist Matisse, learning about colour and shape to create our own masterpieces for Norbury Fest. 

We are learning to:

• We continue to recall number facts within 10, exploring ways to make 10.  E.g. 7 and 3 make 10.
• Simple addition and subtraction practically – How many more/less?  And then written calculations within 10.
• Sharing and grouping amounts practically.
• Selecting, rotating and manipulating shapes to develop spatial reasoning skills.
• Writing a simple sentence using their knowledge of phonics and tricky words taught so far.  Starting to learn that a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
• Exploring in outdoor learning and looking for signs of summer, including finding out about minibeasts and their habitats.
• Learning to care and understand about our earth, in particular the creatures in our environment.

 
Bug Club and Weekly Reading

Please can we encourage you to use Bug Club as it is such a valuable resource ensuring the bug’s eyes get closed.  We would like you to aim at reading with your child three times a week in line with the school policy.  As the books become longer, a few pages or for 10 minutes would be ideal!  Many thanks for supporting us with your child’s reading development.
 
As ever, it is a busy term with lots of learning and activities planned for our children.  If you feel you need any support or have any concerns about your child, please contact us. 
 
Many thanks as always for your continued support
 
The Reception Team

Summer Quest – Trapped?
We have started the Summer term with the launch of a new Quest entitled ‘Trapped’.  The children came back into school to clues and a mysterious letter from ‘R’ who had been trapped in the school grounds. The children planned, designed and carried out rescue missions for R who had been trapped by the Wicked Witch. It was then revealed that R was in fact, Rapunzel! The children enjoyed the theatre production from Wrongsemble and found out more about Rapunzel’s predicament of being trapped.  This forms the starting point for a term of narrative based learning incorporating music and the arts. We are focusing our learning around the twisted tale, ‘Rapunzel’ by Bethan Woollvin.
 
Dance
As in previous years, each year group will have a different dance focus for the term. This year, both Year 1 and 2 will have the opportunity to work with our dance specialist Laura Kendall.
At the end of the year, we hope to share our learning with you, to perform and to celebrate our successes at Norbury Fest.

Here Comes The Sun!
As the sun is finally shining again, please can you ensure that your child is prepared and safe to enjoy the warmer weather. The children will need a hat to protect them from the sun – please ensure that this is labelled. They may also want to have a pair of sunglasses and their own sun lotion. This can be reapplied by the children at break or lunchtime.

Best wishes,
The Year 1 and 2 Team

Dear Parents and Carers,
​
I hope you all had a good Easter break and enjoyed the sunshine we had.  The children have returned to school enthusiastically.  We have started the term with the launch of a new Quest entitled ‘Trapped’.  The children have been planning and carrying out rescue missions for R who has been trapped in the school grounds.  Today the children have enjoyed the theatre production and found out more about Rapunzel’s predicament of being trapped.  This forms the starting point for a term of narrative based learning incorporating the arts.

Thank You
Thank you so much for your patience and cooperation following our school closure on Monday morning.  I can inform you that we did find the cause of the issue with our water and that we are happy that there should be no reoccurrence for the same reason.

Parking
The proposed traffic calming measures have been installed over the Easter holiday.  I would strongly request that you park responsibly taking the measures into account and avoiding these areas completely.  I have already had a couple of local residents get in touch with me to indicate that parking would seem in some instances to be worse and not better.   One cited that examples of parking they had seen would not allow emergency vehicles to get through if needed.  Your parking is directly related to the safety of all our children – please be mindful of this at all times.

Marathon Fund Raising for Make a Wish
The children had a great time running their part of the marathon just before the Easter break.  Some had drier weather than others but all had a great time.  Thank you so much to Paul Richardson who encouraged the children along as he did his run and thank you to our School Council for promoting this event.  I am pleased to tell you that donations to date are very close to £2000 which is excellent and will support many families who work with this invaluable charity.

Roblox
I know Roblox is very popular with a number of our children.  A couple of parents have recently highlighted the potential dangers of your children using this platform and I wanted to share this with you.  Please find attached with this newsletter a leaflet which will give you more information.  I wanted to highlight that Roblox has user generated content and chat features which could pose a risk to your child’s safety online.  Using parental controls and monitoring closely your child’s online experiences is so important and I would urge you to review these regularly. 

Dear Parents and Carers,
​
This is just a short newsletter to update you on a few things and to remind you of some previous correspondence.

Staff News
We are very pleased to welcome Miss Gregory back to Year 5.  Miss Manfredi will continue to work alongside her as she makes this return.  To support Miss Gregory, we need to move our Year 5 children to the ground floor of the building.  Our Year 4 children will be moving upstairs.  We intend to move things between classrooms on Friday morning.
We are saying goodbye to Mrs Davis after over 15 year’s service at the school. 
We are immensely grateful to Jo for all she has contributed and she will be missed.

Medication
All medication that comes into school must come via the school office and the appropriate paperwork needs to be completed.  Medication must also be collected from the school office – it cannot be sent home via the class teacher.  If your child attends Norbury Tinkers medication can be sent to and from school via their team.

Fans
We have recently enjoyed some warmer weather after a very long a wet winter.  We obviously do all we can to make the children safe and comfortable in the warmer weather but would ask that the children don’t bring hand held fans into school.

Wrongsemble Theatre Visit
Wrongsemble Theatre Company are in school on Wednesday 15th April.  All children will be watching the performance including our Nursery children.  To support this visit we would ask for a £2 voluntary contribution per child towards the cost.  This has been set up for you on School Money.

The Big Walk and Wheel – 16th – 27th March
Thank you to those families who have walked, biked or scooted to school across this fortnight.  Thank you also to our School Council for encouraging us to do so and collating the information about the number of children who have done this.

Primary Sports Coaching – Holiday Camps
Primary Sports Coaching are running a holiday camp at the school during the Easter holiday (excluding bank holidays and Monday 30th March).
For more information, please visit https://www.primaryscl.co.uk/holiday-camps/  
or email [email protected]
There are a limited number of free places for children who receive ‘benefits related free school meals’ and attend school or reside in Stockport. Vouchers will be sent to eligible families by email in the next few days. Please keep an eye on your emails and on PSCL’s social media pages.

Term Dates – 2026 / 2027
Alongside this newsletter we are publishing term dates for next year.  I would like to use this opportunity to remind parents that term time holidays are unauthorised.  It is important that your child is in school as much as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a lovely Easter break. 
​We look forward to seeing the children after this.

Best wishes
Becky Wood

​

Spring Term – Are you ready to travel the world?

Dear parents/carers,

Over this last term we have been having lots of fun in Nursery and learning lots of new things. We had a brilliant time during book fortnight and loved coming to Nursery dressed as some of our favourite book characters. Thank you so much for all your continued support.
During this term in Nursery, we have been:
​

• Practising counting in order to 10
• Counting small sets of objects with 1:1 correspondence
• Counting out sets of objects
• Singing number songs and rhymes
• Naming 2D shapes
• Using positional vocabulary in our play
• Recognising our name around the environment
• Identifying the first sound in words
• Orally blend simple words
• Practising to write/ form some letters from our name
• Mark making using different media
• Finding out about different countries around the world
• Creating our own models using the junk model equipment
• Looking at changes in our environment, due to the change in season
• Practising our gymnastics skills in the hall, using the different apparatus

 
Requests
Over the next two weeks we will be exploring more history and changes over time. Next week we will be talking about our favourite toys and looking at how toys have changed/remained similar over history. The following week we will be looking at how we have changed and grown. To help us with our discussions we would be very grateful if you could upload to Tapestry a photo of:

1. A baby photo
2. A photo of your child’s favourite toy at home

 
Sound tins
After the holidays we will have a ‘Sound of the week’ focus and ask if you can please bring in a named pencil case, small container or clean take away tub that your child can use as their sound tin. Each week we will add the new sound for your child to share with you and practice at home.
 
Reading Books
After the Easter holidays we will be sending home a wordless picture book each week in your child’s library book folder. Children will be given the choice of which book they would like to take home each week. Please share this book each week with your child and return in their library folder the following week. Wordless picture books are an important starting point because they allow children to explore stories through pictures before they are able to read written words. By looking at the pictures, children can use their imagination to describe what they see, predict what might happen next, and create their own version of the story. This helps develop early language skills, storytelling ability and confidence in communicating ideas. Wordless books also encourage children to focus on emotions and what is happening in the pictures, which supports comprehension and observation skills.
Library/reading book day:
Beginning of the week/full timers: Wednesday
End of the week: Thursday
 
Key Points
Just a reminder we are a nut-free school and we also have children in Nursery with a range of allergies. We therefore ask that no nut products are put into lunchboxes.
Remember to check Tapestry regularly as we share photos and what we have been doing each week on there. Please do speak to one of us if you are struggling to login in to your account.
 
Thank you so much for your attendance to our parent’s meetings,
The Nursery Team

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have some exciting news for you! We will once again be taking part in Big Walk and Wheel, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 16 – 27 March 2026. It’s free to take part and we would love everyone to be involved. Teachers will be talking to the children each morning about how they have travelled to school and this will then be recorded.

What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, use a wheelchair, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event.
 
Including everyone
We want to make sure that everyone can get involved in Big Walk and Wheel.
We know it may be more difficult for some pupils to take part than others. If you want to discuss more about your child(ren)’s specific needs, please contact the school office and we will make sure to look into how your child(ren) can take part.
 
Why we are taking part
Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
 
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. And that children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.

Useful resources
To help you prepare, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust has developed a handy Parent/ Caregiver page on the challenge website. It is packed with advice to help you have a hassle-free journey to school.

For more information about the event go to www.bigwalkandwheel.org.uk.
Enjoy the challenge!
​
Best wishes
Sian Murphy

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope everyone had a great half term break.  The children have come back full of enthusiasm and have very much enjoyed all that Book Fortnight has to offer.  We really appreciate your help with the events we hold as part of the fortnight and we hope this has helped to continue to engage your child with reading.

OPAL
Our OPAL areas have opened on Monday.  This was a great success and it was good to see the children having so much choice about where to play.  Please make sure that your child has wellies in school all the time as there will be times when they won’t be able to use some of the areas without them.  We will go out unless the weather is exceptionally wet or dangerous so please make sure your child has a waterproof coat in school.

NHS Guidance for Children under 5
We have been asked to share the following link for parents with children under 5.  I hope you find the information useful.
https://gmintegratedcare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/nhs-gm-get-to-know-where-to-go-for-parent-and-carers.pdf

Wrongsemble Theatre Visit
Following the success of two visits by Wrongsemble Theatre Company, we plan to have them return to school on Wednesday 15th April.  They will be part of the launch of our summer term Quest with their performance of Rapunzel.  All children will be watching the performance including our Nursery children.  To support this visit we would ask for a £2 voluntary contribution per child towards the cost.  This has been set up for you on School Money.

Food Safety
We have some children in school who have an allergy to nuts.  Please could I politely request that all families support this by not sending any nut-based products into school either as a snack or in lunchboxes.

The Big Walk and Wheel – 16th – 27th March
The School Council has coordinated and publicised ‘The Big Walk and Wheel’ which is taking place between 16th and 27th March.  You will have received correspondence from the School Council regarding this.  I would encourage as many families as possible to either walk, cycle or scoot to school across this fortnight.

Primary Sports Coaching – Holiday Camps
Primary Sports Coaching are running a holiday camp at the school during the Easter holiday (excluding bank holidays and Monday 30th March).
For more information, please visit https://www.primaryscl.co.uk/holiday-camps/  
​or email [email protected]

There are a limited number of free places for children who receive ‘benefits related free school meals’ and attend school or reside in Stockport. Vouchers will be sent to eligible families by email in the next few days. Please keep an eye on your emails and on PSCL’s social media pages.

Thank you as ever for your continued support,
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Spring Term – Are You Ready to Travel the World?
 
Dear Parents and Carers,
 
The children really enjoyed ‘Book Fortnight’ and were especially excited to dress up and celebrate world book day together with their friends!  The ‘story stones’ that have arrived into school are just great and so creative!  Thank you for taking part in creating
them with your child and they will be varnished and enjoyed as part of our Opal Play! 
The children have also been immersed in the many stories they have brought in and enjoyed sharing their favourite books.
 
Alongside, our ‘Book Fortnight’, the children are continuing to learn: -

• Numbers within 10 by practically exploring ways to make 10.  E.g. 7 and 3 make 10
• Finding 1 more and 1 less within 10.
• Exploring 3D shape.  Shape names and some properties e.g. flat and curved surfaces
• Building models with 3D shapes
• Writing a simple sentence using their knowledge of phonics and tricky words taught so far.  Starting to learn that a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
• Exploring in outdoor learning and looking for signs of spring.
• Creating a moving under the sea picture using a range of materials and media.
• Learning to care and understand about our earth, in particular the creatures in our seas.

Dear Parents,

This year Norbury Hall will be taking part in the Stockport Book Awards. The aims of the Book Awards are as follows:

·      to raise the profile of reading for pleasure
·      to offer children access to some of the best new fiction
·      to increase parents’, teachers’ and school librarians’ awareness of new fiction
·      to create a community of readers in Stockport by providing opportunities for children           to meet authors and providing a forum for reading and an opportunity to share books
 
The children will be in three categories for the award:
1.    Best picture book – for Early years and Key Stage 1
2.    Best read for Year 3 and 4
3.    Best read for Year 5 and 6
 
(See the attached book charts for each of the categories)
 
In the Early Years and Key Stage 1 category the children will be read three current picture books that have been shortlisted by teachers in Stockport who have read a much larger selection of new books. In the year 3/4 and 5/6 categories there are three fiction books that have been shortlisted that we ask the children to read. Once they have read the books the children will then be asked to vote for their favourite in their category. All children entering a vote will receive a certificate and will be entered into a prize draw firstly to receive book vouchers through school but as an ultimate prize they will receive an invitation to the Stockport Book Awards where they will receive a medal for their commitment to reading and will have the opportunity to meet the winning author in their category. This award ceremony will be held on Monday 6th July at Stockport Town Hall. The children will have roughly ten weeks to read their three books and all votes will need to be in by Friday 15th May so that we can announce the winners in the last week of term.

Children in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 category will read their books during class story time and will then be asked to vote in class. However, this is not possible for key stage 2 so we will be asking them to read their books independently. We have purchased multiple copies so that we can make as many as possible available to the children. Stockport libraries will also have additional copies to lend to the children. However, I have included a list of the books and their authors in case the children would like to purchase them themselves or receive them for presents for birthdays etc. The books are clearly highly recommended as good reading material.

In addition, the children also have the opportunity to take part in the art competition, where one lucky winner will win their height in books. Last year Norbury were very successful with this, and we had several winners and runners up from our school. The children will need to create a piece of art based on their favourite book in their category using any media, such as a painting, a collage, or a drawing. The children can complete their artwork as part of their home learning and bring it to me in school by Friday 15th May and I will enter it into the competition. Please can the children write their full name, class and the title of the book that the artwork represents.

We hope the children will enjoy participating in this year’s Stockport Children’s Book Awards and enjoy reading some fantastic books,
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Happy reading!
Bridget Adnett
English Lead / Deputy  Headteacher

Thank you to everyone who attended our Parents’ Curriculum Evening. All learning resources for each year group are now available in the Parents’ Hub.
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Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us and helps shape and improve future resources. If there’s any additional information you feel would be helpful, please use the box below to get in touch and share your suggestions.

As we start the last week of term, we just wanted to update you with a couple of items and send out important information regarding next half-term.

Book Fortnight- Protecting our earth and environment
Monday 23rd February- Friday 6th March 2026

Please see Mrs Adnett’s previous email about book fortnight on the newsletter section of our website.

Home Learning - Story Stones
For home learning we would like the children to create their own story stones or pebbles to represent their favourite stories. 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.

Book Character Dressing up day - Wednesday 4th March

Read Dating
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.

• Year 5- Wednesday 25th February
• Year 6- Thursday 26th February
  
  

OPAL
We would like to thank all the parents and carers who have so generously donated items and their time to our Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) project. The parent volunteer day was a great success and we achieved so much! We will be in touch with another date, later on in the year. Your contributions, have been greatly received and are already sparking excitement across the school grounds! This will directly help us transform our playtimes and lunchtimes, making opportunities for children to explore, problem-solve, and most importantly, have fun. We truly couldn't do this without your incredible support. The OPAL project will launch after the half term holiday so please make sure your child has an appropriate waterproof coat and wellies so that they can access all areas! During book fortnight, children will have play sessions in each of the new areas, where teachers will model how to safely use the different zones. 

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

P.E Spring 2
There a few changes in days and activities for Year 5 and 6 for the next half term.
Year 5
On Monday afternoons, Year 5 will be working with Stockport County so they will need to come in their PE kits. This will replace their Thursday afternoon session so they no longer need to wear their PE kits on a Thursday.
Fridays will stay the same, where Mrs Manfredi’s class will be going swimming and Miss Carter’s will have their PE session in school.
Year 6
Year 6 PE days for the next half term will be Tuesdays and Fridays. Please can children come in their PE kits, with all jewellery removed and hair tied back.

RSE
Please see Mrs Matthew’s newsletter about the upcoming RSE lessons. Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to get in contact with your child’s class teacher.

Parent Teacher Meetings
Year 6 and 5N
Meetings will take place on Tuesday 24th February (3:30pm-7:00pm) and Thursday 26th February (3:30pm-6pm).
5H
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
The online book platform is now open for you to book your appointment. This will close on Friday 20th February.
​
Best wishes,
The Year 5 and 6 Team

As we reach the last week of the first spring half term, we just want to keep you updated with some information and key dates for the next half term.
 
Book Fortnight: Protecting Our Earth and Environment
Monday 23rd February- Friday 6th March 2026

Each year we like to celebrate all things reading during our Book Fortnight. This year our focus is to explore texts looking to educate us to protect our earth and environment.
Please see Mrs Adnett’s previous email about Book Fortnight and on the newsletter section of our website for more information on this. Additional details with dates for the fortnight are included below:

Home Learning- Story Stones
For a special home learning linked to our Book Fortnight, we would like the children to create their own story stones or pebbles to represent their favourite stories. 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- Wednesday 4th March – The children are encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite book character.

Read Dating- 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.

• Reading Dating for Year 3 - Monday 2nd March
• Read Dating for Year 4 - Tuesday 3rd March

 
OPAL
We would like to thank all the parents and carers who have so generously donated items and their time to our Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) project. The parent volunteer day was a great success and we achieved so much! We will be in touch with another date, later on in the year. Your contributions have been greatly received and are already sparking excitement across the school grounds! This will directly help us transform our playtimes and lunchtimes, making opportunities for children to explore, problem-solve, and most importantly, have fun! We truly couldn't do this without your incredible support.

The OPAL project will launch after the half term holiday so please make sure your child has an appropriate waterproof coat and wellies so that they can access all areas! During book fortnight, children will have play sessions in each of the new areas, where teachers will model how to safely use the different zones.

Thank you also for the donations that you sent in for the OPAL project.  A group of our Year 5 children were 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 next convenience:
· Lego
· Sheets
· Rolls of wallpaper
· Small world – small people figures, animals, wooden dolls house/figures
· Construction resources
· Guttering
 
Home Learning
Our spring home learning grids will continue into the next half term but please can we emphasise the importance of reading at home consistently with your child. Regular practise of times tables, especially using Times Table Rockstars has a huge impact on increasing the children’s recall of multiplication and division facts.
At our Curriculum Evening, class teachers shared the importance of regular reading and rehearsal of number facts, spellings and consistent letter formations at home to support in school. Our presentations from the evening will be uploaded to the school website with supporting resources but if you would like any physical copies, please contact your child’s class teacher or phase lead, Becca Morgan.
 
RSE
Please see  Mrs Matthew’s newsletter  about the upcoming RSE lessons. Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to get in contact with your child’s class teacher.
 
Parent Teacher Meetings
Parent/Teacher meetings are due to take place after the half term break with meetings taking place on Tuesday 24th February and Thursday 26th February with the exception of 4H. The arrangements for Mrs Gray and Mrs William’s class will be as follows:

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

Please ensure that you organise Parent/Teacher consultations through the ‘Parents Booking’ online platform system. The platform in now live and will close on Friday 20th February. 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.
 
Thank you as always for your continued support.
Best wishes,
Year 3 and 4 Team  

As we start the last week of term, we just wanted to update you with a couple of items and send out important information regarding next half-term.

Book Fortnight - Protecting our earth and environment
Monday 23rd February- Friday 6th March 2026

Please see Mrs Adnett’s previous email about book fortnight on the newsletter section of our website.

Home Learning- Story Stones
For home learning we would like the children to create their own story stones or pebbles to represent their favourite stories. 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- Wednesday 4th March

Read Dating
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.

• Year 1- Thursday 5th March
• Year 2- Friday 6th March

 
OPAL
We would like to thank all the parents and carers who have so generously donated items and their time to our Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) project. Your contributions, have been greatly received and are already sparking excitement across the school grounds! These resources are more than just "stuff"—they are the building blocks for creativity, teamwork, and adventure. This will directly help us transform our playtimes and lunchtimes, turning every break into a high-quality opportunity for children to explore, problem-solve, and most importantly, have fun. We truly couldn't do this without your incredible support.
The OPAL project will launch after the half term holiday so please make sure your child has an appropriate waterproof coat and wellies so that they can access all areas! During book fortnight, children will have play sessions in each of the new areas, where teachers will model how to safely use the different zones. 

RSE
Please see Mrs Matthews previous email regarding the teaching of RSE lessons during next half term and the summer term. Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to get in contact with your child’s class teacher.

P.E Spring  
Just a reminder to ask that children bring the correct PE kit back to school after the half term break.
In Year 1, we are very fortunate to be working with Junior Sports Stars on Wednesday mornings and receiving football training sessions. 

Parent Teacher Meetings Year 1 and 2
Meetings will take place on Tuesday 24th February and Thursday 26th February.

Best wishes,
The Year 1 and 2 Team

Spring Term – Are You Ready to Travel the World?
Week Beginning: 9th February 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we come to the end of this half term, we’d like to thank you for all your continued support with your child’s regular reading at home, Bug Club and Phonics Home Learning.  It’s really making a difference as the children learn during phonic sessions and now in their independent play!

Some parents asked that our PowerPoint can be shared from the Curriculum Event in January; this is now on the website for you.
After the half term we will be celebrating … books! 

You will have already received information, which is on our website, from Mrs Adnett regarding Book Fortnight.

We will be: -
· Celebrating our love of stories and books.
· Sharing a book from home with the rest of our class.
· Finding out more about how we can look after our earth and specifically marine life.
· Visiting our Rainforest Reading Den in the library.
· Dressing up for Book Character Day – Wednesday 4th March
· Reading both fiction and non-fiction texts linked to our theme and enjoying lots of activities around this.
· Using our imaginations in our role-play.
· Drawing and creating our favourite book characters.
 
Home learning
Book Fortnight Activity – story stone or pebble (a label will be in your child’s bookbag for this).  To be brought into school on Monday 2nd March so they can be displayed.
 
Cool Milk
Some of the children are preferring to drink water instead of milk at morning snack.  If your child does not want milk any longer, please can you go on to Cool Milk and cancel it. 
Many thanks.
 
The Reception Team

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.
​
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