NEWSLETTER
17th November 2023
Welcome to our latest issue, keeping you informed about what is going on in school, what is coming soon and other information which we hope will be useful. You may need to click to view the web-based version if you can't see the photographs on the newsletter.
Keep scrolling down to the end for dates and reminders. If you have downloaded the School Life app, you can find more information about each event on the 'calendar' section.
Dear Howley families,
We hope you all enjoyed your half term break. It has certainly been a busy start back to school. Last week saw our Reception families joining us for their Harvest celebration. Your very kind donations have now been gratefully received by Manna House Pantry and will soon be helping those who find themselves in difficult circumstances. Thank you so much for your support and kindness.
We also welcomed a new member of staff to Howley. Miss Fox has joined us as our Reception Teaching Assistant. We know she will be an absolute asset to our school and warmly welcome her to our team.
Last Friday, the PTA organised a quiz night. I hope everyone who could attend enjoyed the evening and I’m very glad to report that the questions weren’t too difficult to answer! I would like to thank the PTA for giving up their time to organise and run the event. All of their efforts and any monies made will be ploughed back into school to support our children.
This week has been Anti-Bullying week. We have seen a very wide array of odd socks and have relaunched our Anti-Bullying Buddies who have now been rebranded as our Well-Being Warriors. We have also focussed our PSHE and assemblies around this most important theme.
Today, our school community has once again come together to show their support for Children in Need. We have held our ‘Bearpee Challenge’ with each class trying to do as many ‘Bearpees’ as they possibly can. We have some exhausted children (and staff!) and have raised money that we hope goes towards changing the lives of children in need. Thank you all so much for your kind donations.
Next week sees the start of our festive events with the PTA cinema night for years 3,4,5 and 6. This will be followed by lots of other events including our Nativity, the PTA Magical Adventure and our Christmas Singalong. We hope you will be able to join us for our celebrations over the next few weeks and will keep you up to date with forthcoming events.
Wishing all of our families a happy and restful weekend.
Best wishes,
Miss Lewis
Anti-Bullying Week
This week has been ‘Anti-bullying Week’ and it was lovely to see so many of our pupils kicking it off by wearing odd socks on Monday to celebrate diversity. Today we have completed the week by gathering together to proudly sing ‘As One.’ All children have also completed a focussed activity in their classrooms as well as attending an assembly. As part of the assembly we relaunched our anti-bullying buddies as ‘Wellbeing Warriors’ and asked any key stage 2 pupil who would be interested in joining to write a short letter to Miss Adams explaining why they want to be part of the team. We have already had lots of responses but there is still time. If your child would like to be trained to help others and is happy to give over some of their lunchtime to being ‘on call’ then the deadline for getting their letter in is Monday 20th November.
Keep a look out later in the term for our ‘Wellbeing Warrior’ newsletter sharing more information.
Reception’s Harvest Celebration
Thank you to those of you that were able to join our Reception children for their Harvest Celebration last week. We hope you enjoyed spending time with your little people, seeing what they’ve been learning and also listening to them sing some songs. Thank you for giving up your time; we’re not sure who had the most fun creating Harvest wreathes and scarecrows-the children or the adults!
PTA Wishing Well
If you have visited the school office this week you may have spotted the PTA’s brand new wishing well collection box, beautifully made and donated by one of our families. The money raised by the PTA’s fundraising events supports the little extras in school that the ever-tightening budget will not cover. We are aware that things are difficult financially for many families at the moment and also that many people cannot at present offer their time to support the PTA. The wishing well is there for those who may wish to donate any spare change occasionally to help the PTA continue their valuable work.
Reading around Howley
Author and Poet Spotlight
Our author in the spotlight this half term is Tom Palmer and our poet is Julia Donaldson.
The children will be able to discover more about them from the display outside of the hall and during assemblies led by our Reading Ambassadors. We have a selection of their books for children to read (and write short recommendations to encourage others to try the books too!). Local libraries and bookshops will also have copies if you would like to read any of the books with your child at home.
Apply for a Blue Peter Book badge
Children can now apply for an exciting new Blue Peter Book badge, designed by one of the UK’s best-known illustrators, Sir Quentin Blake. To earn a badge, your son / daughter needs to share their thoughts on a favourite book, draw a character or scene from it, and write about other books and writers that they enjoy reading. Applications can be made online or by post. More details can be found at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/blue-peter-apply-for-a-book-badge
Healthy Lunchboxes
Parents and carers can take advantage of a new Dudley Public Health and Wellbeing website to help them create healthy, yummy and tooth-friendly children’s lunchboxes.
It includes:
- Ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes for 14 lunchboxes
- Advice on how to make lunchboxes that are healthy, tooth friendly, cost -effective, time saving and full of variety
- Scrummy swaps helping make the lunchboxes suitable for a variety of dietary needs
- A downloadable weekly lunchbox planner and an editable template for parents/carers to personalise to suit their own families
And more!
To visit the site, please go to: www.dudleyhealthylunchbox.org.uk
Reminders
Wednesday 22nd November Year 4 Trip
Friday 24th November: PTA Cinema Night Years 3, 4, 5 & 6
Saturday 2nd December: PTA Magical Adventure Reception, Years 1 & 2
Tuesday 12th December: Year 1 Trip
Wednesday 13th December: Flu Vaccination catch up date for children who missed the last session
Wednesday 13th December: Christmas Singalong Years 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
Monday 18th December 2pm - Reception & Year 1 Christmas play for 1KW & RCS parents
Tuesday 19th December 2pm - Reception & Year 1 Christmas play for 1MR & RWA parents
Wednesday 20th December - Christmas lunch - please book by 8th December so we can order enough turkey
Thursday 21st December - Last day of term (3.15pm finish as usual)
Friday 22nd December - INSET day, school closed to children
Monday 8th January - Spring term begins
