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

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.

​Dear Parents and Carers,
 
We have received the following communications from the online safety team at Stockport LA.  We regularly hold conversations with parents around this topic and unfortunately find ourselves in discussions with families when things go wrong online particularly for our older children.  There is a large amount of support available in the resources that have been shared with us and I want to share a small part of these with you in this correspondence.  I will continue to share more with you in newsletters across the year.
 
I have shared guidance here with you regarding social media.  I know a large number of our children access the apps that are mentioned here.  I would remind you that many of these apps have a recommended age of 13.  Whilst I understand there are many different ways to use these apps, I would encourage you to have conversations in your home regarding safe use if this is appropriate to your family situation.
 
Please be assured that online safety is an integral part of our PSHE curriculum across the year but this is obviously one area where working in partnership is key.
 
Find out how to keep your child safe online. Don’t forget that the Online Safety Hub is now live! You can access it for free here:

https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/  The Online Safety Hub is a brand-new online resource with lots of expert advice and guidance to help you manage your child's safety online as a parent. It includes information on the latest hot topics when it comes to keeping children safe, such as how to manage your child's screen time, understand the latest gaming platforms, what they mean for your child’s safety and lots more.
 
We’re also offering you as a parent, a free Qustodio account facilitating parental controls on any individual device and free premium access for 30 days. Gain more visibility on what’s going on in your child’s online world. Block dangerous content, introduce screen-free schedules, receive alerts for inappropriate content, keep tabs on their location and more. Follow the link to create your free account https://www.qustodio.com/en/30-days-school-special/?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=OSHub&utm_campaign=stockport

Navigating social media and gaming safely
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/articles/navigating-social-media-and-gaming-apps-safely
Supporting families to discuss how to keep their children safe online using our ABC model.

Safe Chat : The best messaging apps for children
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/articles/safe-chat-the-best-messaging-apps-for-children-1
A good place to start for messaging apps.

Snapchat
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/reviews/snapchat
Review of the snapchat platform
Information, advice and guidance for parents

Tiktok
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/reviews/tiktok  
Review of Tiktok
Information, advice and guidance for parents
 
Instagram
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/reviews/instagram
Review of instagram - Information, advice and guidance for parents
 
Discord
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/reviews/discord
Review of Discord - Information, advice and guidance for parents

The prevent duty - advice and support for parents
https://stockport.onlinesafetyhub.uk/parent/articles/the-prevent-duty-advice-and-support-for-parents
Information and advice relating to the prevent duty.

We have also been asked to share a current online safety concern.

A safeguarding issue has been identified regarding the Spy Dog, Spy Pups, and Spy Cats book series by Andrew Cope. A web address printed in these books is now under the control of another party and redirects to inappropriate content. The publisher, Puffin, is currently addressing the matter and confirms that the website is not associated with Puffin Group or the author, Andrew Cope. 

If your child owns any Spy Dog, Spy Cat, or Spy Pup books, please check for website links at the back of the books and ensure the sites cannot be accessed. The stories themselves remain safe to read; the concern relates only to the outdated link.
I trust this information is of use to you and your family.

Best wishes,
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,
​
As we move towards the start of a new month, I wanted to update you on a few matters.  The children continue to be very settled in school and are enjoying their new Quest – What Makes Our World Work?  Thank you to those of you who attended the Meet the Teacher event for years 1 – 6.  If you were unable to attend the presentations that were shared are on the school website.

School Attendance

For those of you who were with us this time last year, I wrote to you outlining new statutory guidance regarding attendance.  I am sure you will agree that attending school is important for every single one of our children at Norbury Hall.  We understand that children get poorly from time to time and need to be at home but we would encourage you to ensure that attendance at school is maximised.  The following information may help to guide your thinking.

Please be aware that there is no way of authorising a term time holiday.  These are now recorded as unauthorised absences which could lead to a penalty notice.  I am being asked for an increasing number of term time holidays.  As a school we do not currently issue penalty notices but this is a conversation I plan to revisit with our Local Governing Board this term. 

Safety at the start and end of the school day

The gates to school are opened at approximately 8:30 am and are closed again at around 9:05 am.  Please make sure you have left the site by this time.  If you are detained in the school building you will need to leave via the school office.  I would ask that conversations with teachers at the start of the day are brief as they have to start their teaching day.  They will always be willing to make an alternative time to talk if it is a longer conversation.  If you are late to school in the morning, please enter via the school office so that we can ensure your child receives their mark in the register. 

At the end of the day, the gates are opened at approximately 3 pm.  They will be closed at around 3:25 pm.  This is because we have after school clubs on site and need to ensure the children still inside the building are safe.  Again, please make sure you have left the site by this time.

The children are not allowed to play on the adventure playgrounds or tyre park at the start and end of the school day.  Please keep your children with you at all times before the doors open in the morning and after your children have been handed to you at the end of the school day.

School Fund

We ask for a voluntary donation to school fund on an annual basis.  We request a sum of £7.50 per family.  This will be added as a payment to school money.  This helps us buy additional resources for the children in their classrooms.

Parents’ Association

Thank you to those parents who attended the AGM of our Parents’ Association last week and thank you to those parents who have put themselves forward to form the core committee.  We are looking forward to another exciting year of fund raising – please see the diary below for events this term.  As well as attending events, an easy way to donate is to sign up to the Easy Fundraising website which brings funds directly to our Parents’ Association without any additional cost to you.  They are currently working in association with Tesco.  Please follow the link to be able to donate – https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/norburyhall/?utm_campaign=pmc&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tesco-bff-wa1

The school disco on Thursday 23rd October, is for all children in the school.  This is a Glow Disco with UV lights.  We ask that the children wear a white T-shirt or top.  The Parents’ Association have UV paints and temporary tattoos for the children.  Children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are invited to come between 5:15 pm and 6:15 pm and children in Years 3 – 6 are welcome from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  Nursery parents are permitted to stay but we ask that all other parents drop their children off and collect them at the end – this is simply due to capacity within our school hall.  Plenty of school staff and members of the PA team are on hand to look after the children.  There is an unlimited supply of juice or biscuits for the children.  Sweets and other treats are available for the children to purchase.

At the end of the disco, please queue outside the main entrance.  We will sit the children down on the hall floor and then allow parents to come through and pick their children up, exiting through the rear entrance of the hall and back on to the school car park.  We have found this is the most efficient and safest way to match the children to their adults at the end of the event.

OPAL

In my last newsletter, I informed you about the Outdoor Play and Learning project we are taking part in.  We have our audit and first staff training session for this on Wednesday of this week.  As a result, we intend to get the children outside as much as possible even if it is wet.  Please can you make sure they come to school dressed for this with wellies and waterproofs. 
Thank you as ever for your continued support.
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to the start of a new term and new school year.  I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer break and that the children are refreshed and ready to return to school.

Welcome to our new Nursery and Reception children who will be starting with us this week.  Welcome also to children joining in other year groups.  If you are a family new to school, you are very welcome.  We know that your child starting school is an exciting time but also recognise this can be daunting as you get to know us and understand how the school works.  Our Nursery and Reception teams are open to any query or question – if you are unsure about anything or need to talk to someone, please ask.  Similarly, our office team are happy to help.  Please either contact them by phone or [email protected].  Our website is a great source of information.  All newsletters and year group information can be found here and there is a Parents Hub – the password for this is NorbertHazel2025.

Staff News
We welcome Mrs Sarah Gray back following her maternity leave.  She is teaching in Year 4 and spent some time with the children in the summer term.

​Meet the Teacher Event – Wednesday 10th September
Parents of children in Years 1 - 6 are invited to attend our annual Meet the Teacher event.  We will be holding sessions at 5:15 pm and 6 pm – the session will be a repeat so that you can attend more than one session if you have more than one child in the school.  The session will outline the necessary information for the children in each year group and you will have a chance to ask any questions.  Please enter the school via the main entrance; sessions will be held in the classrooms.

Communication with School
It is really important to us that you converse with us regarding your child.  There are obviously formal events within the calendar to facilitate this but we recognise there are many other times where you may have messages you want to convey or need a conversation. 

You are welcome to hold an informal conversation with teachers at the end of the day.  However, if this is a longer conversation, it may be necessary to make an appointment for a more formal conversation.  A quick message can be placed in your child’s reading record.  These are checked each day.  The office staff are also available if you need to get a message to us.  Please contact them either by telephone or email. 

Teachers will respond to an email you send to their personal email address but please be mindful that within a busy teaching day they do not have time to check their emails whilst they are teaching.  Emails will not be responded to before 8 am and after 5 pm.

Medical Updates
If following the summer break, you have any medical updates regarding your child, please let us know.  You can either email the office with the update or make an appointment to see your child’s class teacher.  If your child has an inhaler, please make sure we have this in school and that it is date.  If your child has a Medical Care Plan, we will shortly be sending them out for you to review and sign.

Uniform
It was lovely to see the children looking so smart yesterday as they returned to school.  Please can I remind you that the children are unable to wear jewellery to school and we will be asking them to remove any items they do wear.  The children need wellies in school for outdoor activities – please make sure these have your child’s name in them.  The weather is quite changeable at the moment and we will endeavour to have the children outside whenever possible.  Please make sure they have a coat in school so that they can stay dry in wet weather.

Parents’ Association
Our Parents’ Association raised in excess of £15,000 for us last year.  This money enables us to offer so much more to our children.  They are holding their AGM in school on Wednesday 17th September at 6 pm – all are welcome to attend.

School Office Administrator
We have a vacancy in the school office for an administrator.  If you think you might be interested or know someone who could be the post is advertised on the Greater Jobs website (https://www.greater.jobs/job/75732649).

We are looking forward to another great year for the children in our care.  We very much want to work in partnership with you to make every moment safe, exciting and successful for your children.
​
Best wishes
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,

This will be the last newsletter of the year.  Your children have amazed us this year
with their enthusiasm for learning, their caring and polite manners and their sense of fun.  Their annual reports are a real celebration of all they have achieved and we are very proud of them all.

We wish our Year 6 leavers the very best of luck as they start new adventures at
high school.  We will miss them. 

There are a few updates I need to give you some of which relate to events
​in September.

Sports Day
At the time of writing, the weather looks fairly unsettled for this week.  We are very much hoping Sports Day can go ahead but will need to decide on Wednesday morning based on the safety of the children.  We will communicate this to you as quickly as possible. The Nursery beginning of the week group, RN, Year 1 and Year 2 event will take place at 9:30 am and the Nursery end of the week group, RH and Years 3 – 6 will take place at 1:30 pm.
​
Meet the Teacher
For Years 1 – 6 we will be holding our annual Meet the Teacher event in September.  We do not hold a September meeting for Nursery and Reception as the induction meeting took place in June.  The presentations shared at the Nursery and Reception meetings are on the school website if you want to refer back to them. 

The Meet the Teacher sessions will be on Wednesday 10th September.  The teachers will share their presentation at 5:15 pm and 6 pm – this is repeated so that parents with more than one child in school can attend different presentations.  The event will be held in the classrooms.  We hope to see as many of you attend as possible.  Following the event, the presentations will be on the school website.

Parents’ Association News
Thank you to those of you who attended the Summer Festival.  I am delighted to say that we raised £3639 on the night.  Thank you so much to the team for organising such a great event.  The total raised this year by the Parents’ Association is £15,700.  The school are so grateful for this as it means we can offer so much more to our children.  The children really enjoyed the cinema visits which were funded by the PA and we were also appreciative of the time some members of the PA gave to organise a Teddy Bear’s Picnic event for our new Reception children. 

The Parents’ Association will be holding their annual AGM on Wednesday 17th September at 6 pm.  This event will be held in the school.  All parents are welcome to attend.

School Meals
The cost of school meals will be rising to £2.80 in September. This increase has been passed on to us by our school meal provider.  School meals continue to be free for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as part of the Universal free school meals scheme.

School Library
Do you have some time to spare during the school day to help us keep our school library organised and tidy for the children?  We would welcome any offers of help from September.  If you would like to know more or volunteer, please email the school office.

School Uniform
I sent links to uniform providers on my last newsletter.  Please can I remind you of the uniform requirements for PE lessons.  The children need black shorts, a white T-shirt, black pumps and trainers and jogging bottoms for lessons outside when the weather is colder.  We ask that PE kit isn’t branded – please save these items of clothing for wearing outside of school.

OPAL
OPAL is an Outdoor Play and Learning initiative that we have signed up to as a school.  Children in British primary schools spend 20% or 1.4 years of their school attendance in play.  The programme looks to enhance the offer given to the children during their recreational time.  This will be an 18 month to 2-year programme as we work alongside a mentor from OPAL.  A working group has already been established and taken part in an introductory meeting.  You will hear more about this project as we move forward but we are asking that if you have a tidy of toys over the summer break you consider donating anything suitable to the project.  We are particularly looking for moving toys e.g. cars, diggers etc and small world play toys.  Additionally, if you are getting rid of any old suitcases, these could be excellent for storage.  We will set up some donation points in the new school year.  If you want to know more about this initiative please visit the OPAL website - https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/

I would like to finish by thanking you for your support this year.  I hope you have a lovely summer break and we look forward to seeing the children in September.
​
Best wishes,
Becky Wood

Dear Parents / Carers
​
I am writing to primarily update you on staffing arrangements for next year.  However, there are one or two other pieces of information so please read beyond the information about 2025 / 2026 classes!

​Phase Team Leader – Mrs Kerry Robinson

Phase Team Leader – Mrs Sara Turner

Phase Team Leader – Miss Becca Morgan

Phase Team Leader – Miss Hannah Garrett

You will notice that some members of staff are not included in next year’s teaching profile. 
Mrs Julie Rice is moving to a job within the Four Rivers Trust.  Mrs Rice has been at the school as an Assistant Headteacher for 12 years.  For a large proportion of this time she has been the Inclusion Lead and SENDCo at the school and I know many of you have appreciated the support she has given individual children and families.  We will very much miss Mrs Rice’s wealth of knowledge and the care and nurture she has given to so many of the children.

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Sarah Downes to the school as our new Inclusion Lead and SENDCo.  Sarah is currently SENDCo in another Stockport school and is looking forward to joining the Norbury team.

Mr Dan Hopwood is also moving to a job within the Four Rivers Trust.  Mr Hopwood has made a big impression on the school in a short space of time and I know that those children who have been taught by him have enjoyed their time in his class.  Mr Hopwood has also helped to coordinate many sporting events at the school and we are grateful to the time and energy he has given this.
​
Mrs Claire Miles also leaves us.  Mrs Miles has been part of the Year 1 team for a large part of this year and we are grateful to her for her thorough teaching as well as the care and nurture she has given the children in 1H.

Transition Week

All children will move to their new classes during the week beginning 14th July.  They will be taught by their new teachers during this week.  They will go to their current class teacher on the Monday morning and will then move to their new classes during the morning.  From Monday afternoon to Friday you will be able to drop them off and pick them up from their new teacher.  We will send details nearer the time explaining which entrance and exit you will be using. 

Stockport Food Bank

The foodbank has been in touch to offer support to any family who may need this across the longer summer break.  We have to nominate families and then give you the paperwork to be able to visit over the summer.  If this is something you would be interested in please get in touch – we are keen to support families who may benefit from this invaluable service.

School Uniform

We are trying to hold a more limited stock in school so if you still wish to order uniform for September, the best way to do this is online via the Your School Uniform website - https://www.yourschooluniform.com/   
The next delivery date to school is 17th September 2025 (order online by 24/08/25). If uniform is required for September 2025 you can organise delivery to your home address.
Please remember there is also the option of using Cress who are a preloved uniform shop supported by our Parents’ Association - https://www.wearecress.com/find-your-school/?srsltid=AfmBOorGdWN-cbW8-salKVNKcT9pQjr-Q3ZASIpvHWTR3lQk_X6bCLKV

I have added the calendar of outstanding events below.  Please refer to my previous newsletter for further details.
​
Best wishes,
Becky Wood

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the warm spell we are experiencing at the moment.  The children have come back to school after the Easter break refreshed and ready to learn.  Our Quest ‘Who do I aspire to be?’ continues with a focus on art, dance, music and narrative.  Initial work is focused around the theme of giants with a focus on the BFG.

Relationships and Values at Norbury Hall

I recently wrote to you to consult on our work to redefine the values in school and to share part of the revision of our behaviour policy.  This is a consultative process and I asked for any responses to be sent into school.  Please see the newsletters section of the website to view this and make any responses by the end of this half term.

Sun safety

Whilst we are enjoying this warm spell, I would like to remind you to send your child to school with a hat, a water bottle and with sun cream applied.  If you require your child to reapply sun cream during the school day, we are unable to do this for them.  However, they can do this for themselves.  Please however keep an eye on the weather.  If rain is forecast, please send them with a waterproof jacket or coat.  We endeavour to go outside even when wet so please make sure they have this back up.

Drop off and pick up times

Thank you for your continued support with both parking and safety whilst using scooters and bikes.  Could I please also request that dogs are not brought into the school grounds.  I have been made aware that a couple of dogs are being brought on to the playgrounds. This could be unsafe and we do have some children who are wary of dogs so I would ask you to consider alternative arrangements.

Appointments in the school day

We have an increased number of parents picking children up for appointments during the school day, particularly during the afternoon.  It is important your children are in school as much as possible so where it is feasible we would ask you to make appointments outside of the school day.  I understand that in some instances this isn’t possible and school will always support genuine appointments.

PA news

As ever, our PA are working hard to support our children in a variety of ways.  Thank to those of you who took part in the Easter egg challenge. We have school discos this Friday (16th May).  The EY and KS1 disco will be from 5:15 pm – 6:15 pm and the KS2 disco will be from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm.  The disco at the end of Year 6’s SATs week is a Norbury tradition and we look forward to seeing all of our children but especially our Y6 children.  For further details please see the PA Facebook page or notices on the school gates.  The PA Summer Festival is on Friday 4th July starting at 4 pm.  We hope to see as many of you there as possible.  We are grateful to the PA for funding a whole school event for our children.  Over the course of a couple of days in July, all of the children will be going on a visit to the Savoy Cinema in Heaton Moor.  We will be going in four separate groups and will be needing some parent volunteers to support each group.  Further details to come from school shortly. 
This is a very short half term but a very busy one! 

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

​Our new values are prominent in our school entrance, on our school website and we are familiarising our children with these.  Our values are:

• Curiosity
• Responsibility
• Bravery
• Kindness
• Understanding

We think this summarises what it means to be a learner and part of the Norbury Hall community.

To further our work on a new approach to rewards and consequences, we wanted to ask for parent and carer viewpoint on our thoughts.  We have formulated the attached documents as a full staff team alongside our local governing board and a small council representing the children have also considered them.  If you have any views on our proposals, we would like you to get in touch with us and share your thoughts.

We have used the language within our work of ‘rewards for actions’ and ‘solutions for mistakes’.  We haven’t used the language of sanctions or consequences as we want the children to understand that with the right set of actions we can move forward.

We obviously plan to make sure the children understand these guidelines once they are formalised.

I would like to make it very clear that these guidelines are not for instances of bullying or racist behaviours – these will still be considered under the relevant policies which can be found on the school website.  Similarly, for some children we sometimes have more bespoke plans in place.

We will be rewriting the behaviour policy in light of this work and the attached documents will be a part of this.  This has to be reviewed by staff and governors and will be published for September 2026. 

We look forward to your comments and thoughts.  Please put these in writing and email them to your child’s class teacher or to the [email protected] address.

​Dear Parents and Carers,

As we move towards the Easter break, I wanted to get in touch to thank you for your support this term and to update and remind you about a few things.
​
We have started our final Quest of the year this year.  It is entitled ‘Who do I aspire to be?’  Today the children have discovered the BFG’s knapsack in the school grounds.  The BFG had left the children a letter telling them about their new Quest which will explore the themes of giants and then dreams.  This Quest will focus on the arts and will begin with a focus on painting and drawing skills before moving on to look at sculpture, dance and music.  Our Norbury Fest afternoon on Wednesday 9th July will showcase our learning from the Quest and we hope to see as many of you as possible at this event.

Safety on our Playgrounds

You will have recently received a text message informing you that we had an injury on one of our playgrounds because there was a collision with a child on a scooter.  I have previously written and requested that all parents and children come off scooters or bikes as they enter the school grounds and stay off them once through the gates.  We have a small number of children and parents who are continuing to use scooters and bikes within the school grounds.  This disappoints me as this has led to an injury for one of our school community.  I am sure you will agree with me that the safety of all within our community, especially our children, must be paramount.  I would ask that all adhere to this request.

School Meals

Please could we remind you that you need to give one week’s notice to move your child from school dinners to sandwiches and vice versa.  This is because the kitchen order in advance.  Please email the school office to make any changes to meal arrangements.

Term Dates – 2025 / 2026

I included these dates on my previous letter but have kept them here in case you missed them.  These are available on the school website.

​Autumn term 2025
·       Term starts: Monday 1 September 2025
·       INSET days (children do not attend school) – Monday 1st September and
        Tuesday 2nd September
·       Half term holiday: Monday 27 October to Friday 31 October 2025
·       INSET day (children do not attend school) – Monday 3rd November 2025
·       Term ends: Monday 22 December 2025

Spring term 2026
·       Term starts: Monday 5 January 2026
·       Half term holiday: Monday 16 February to Friday 20 February 2026
·       Term ends: Friday 27 March 2026
·       Easter public holidays: Good Friday 3 April and Easter Monday 6 April 2026

Summer term 2026
·       Term starts: Monday 13 April 2026
·       May Day Bank Holiday: Monday 4 May 2026
·       Spring bank holiday: Monday 25 May 2026
·       Primary half term holiday: Monday 25 May to Friday 5 June 2026
·       INSET day (children to not attend school) – Monday 8th June 2026
·       Primary term ends: Friday 24th July
·       INSET day (children do not attend school) – Friday 24th July 2026
 
 
Parents’ Association News

There will be a planning meeting for summer term events on Wednesday 9th April at 6 pm at the school – all are welcome to attend.

Thank you for your continued support. 
Best wishes
Becky Wood

​SPRING TERM 2025
Wednesday 9th April
6 pm – PA planning meeting at school

Friday 11th April
School finishes for the Easter break