In school, we are starting to see a reduction in those seasonal bugs and colds which often arise in schools over winter, and we are all beginning to spot those hopeful and positive signs of Spring! Last week, in Assembly, I asked the children to let me know about the signs they are seeing, and I have had some lovely feedback so far, including this fantastic picture, which made me feel very sunny this Monday morning!

A huge ‘thank you’ to the parents who attended last week as part of our Inclusion Working Party – what a pleasure it was to listen to your ideas and views, and to have the benefit of your experience! It is exciting for us to think of the ways we can all work together to benefit all members of the Hunsley Family. Mrs Cheeseman, Inclusion Lead, will be sharing next steps with you all as we progress.

A huge ‘thank you’ to the parents who attended last week as part of our Inclusion Working Party – what a pleasure it was to listen to your ideas and views, and to have the benefit of your experience! It is exciting for us to think of the ways we can all work together to benefit all members of the Hunsley Family. Mrs Cheeseman, Inclusion Lead, will be sharing next steps with you all as we progress.

It was also great to see so many carers and parents at the Progress Events. We enjoyed having face-to-face sessions as well as the online sessions. I am keen to know what you think about this, too, so we have included a question in our latest Parent / Carer survey which asks for a bit of feedback on the Progress Events format, and what you find most helpful.

I also hope you found the interim progress reports useful too, which came out last week for Year 1 – Year 6. If you have any questions at all about your child’s progress, please do get in touch.

Don’t forget, this week we have Stay and Play in the hall on Wednesday and we are looking forward to seeing everyone there. It’s completely informal, so please do just drop in and stay for a chat and a cup of tea!

Lucy Hudson

Headteacher

Boromi Toy Library Launch Event, Tuesday 4 March, 2.45pm – 3.30pm

On Tuesday 4 March we would like to invite parents and carers of younger children to join us in launching our Boromi (educational toy-library) scheme. We will be able to tell you a lot more about the scheme at the launch event, but it is designed to help families of young children access educational play resources and foster those early learning skills in the pre-school and EYFS years by borrowing some really lovely toys and games packs from school. You can find out more by following the link above to their website – https://boromi.co.uk/what-we-do/ . Please save this launch date in your diaries if you are keen to come and join us at the session, to see the play library packs and find out how you can make the most of these super resources.

—-

Spring Term Parents’ Progress Events, Tuesday 11 March and Wednesday 12 March, 4.00pm – 7.00pm

We would like to invite you to our Parents’ Progress Events that are taking place in March. Following parent/carer feedback and to give parents/carers the opportunity to choose how they would like to attend their appointment, we will be trialling an online event and an in-person event.

The events will be taking place as follows:

• Tuesday 11 March 2025 – Online Appointments
• Wednesday 12 March 2025 – In-Person Appointments

Please note that all appointments should be booked through our online booking system, and they will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

The purpose of these events is to provide an opportunity for you to discuss with your child’s teacher how your child is progressing at Hunsley Primary.A letter (Ref: HP2048) has been sent with further information on how to book your appointment.

The in-person appointments on Wednesday 12 March will take place in the school hall and parents/carers will access the school though the main school entrance.

—-

Whole School Stay and Play

Our next whole school stay and play event will take place on Wednesday 19 March, 3.00pm – 4.30pm.

Before you pick up your child, why not pop in at 3pm (bring your toddlers!) for a cup of tea or coffee, a biscuit, and a sit-down, with parent-parent chat, followed by a chance to play, read stories and have fun with your children once you’ve picked them up from the classroom.

You can leave your pushchairs in the Hall whilst you pick up and then return with your children to ‘stay and play’ – feel free to stay until 4.30pm. Time to catch up with friends and chat with staff.

See you there!

Dear Parent / Carer,

What a super week we had last week with our drop-in sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. It was great to see so many families staying to play and to learn more about supporting writing. Thank you for the positive feedback – we will be hosting more of these sessions in the months to come and hope to make them a regular feature. Our Parent Partners also have a range of events and activities they are putting together, and you can read more about the things they are organising in their special HPPP Newsletter or if you follow them on Facebook.

The building progress of our new classroom is also positive, and we are looking forward to Spring when it should be ready to use. In the meantime, we would like to invite parents and carers of younger children to join us in launching our Boromi (educational toy-library) scheme. We will be able to tell you a lot more about the scheme at the launch event, but it is designed to help families of young children access educational play resources and foster those early learning skills in the pre-school and EYFS years by borrowing some really lovely toys and games packs from school. You can find out more by following the link above to their website. Please save this launch date in your diaries if you are keen to come and join us at the session, to see the play library packs and find out how you can make the most of these super resources:

• 4 March – 2.45pm to 3.30pm, Hunsley Primary Hall.

Finally,  please click on the LINK here to access the page on the DfE website, where you can learn more about the EYFS Profile assessment, Y1 Phonics Screening, Key Stage 2 SATs, optional KS1 tests, the Y4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) and other assessment undertaken by school.

If you have any questions about assessment in general, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I wish you all a good week ahead and look forward to seeing you at the Open Classroom when you come in to look at your children’s books.

Yours sincerely,

Lucy Hudson

Headteacher

Happy New Year to everyone! I do hope that you have all had a super holiday and the children feel refreshed and ready for the new term.

The end of term was such a super time, and we all enjoyed the nativities and festivities. The children did so well. I wanted to thank you for the lovely cards and kind gifts we received at the end of term – it was really thoughtful. Sometimes, gifts appear without a name or card attached, and we would not want you to think these were missed – please accept my thanks for all the kind gestures you and the children made. We especially love to look through the cards and see the happy messages the children write.

As we return, it’s time to look forward to the various events and activities planned in school. We also have a focus on the statutory events and dates we need to bring to your attention: please add the key dates and times in your diaries and we will provide further information as the term progresses There is a reminder below about dates which must not be missed. The deadline for applying for a reception place is the 15 January, so don’t forget to send your application in to the LA if you have a younger child starting school in September 2025. I also look forward to seeing you at our Stay and Play and our ParentLearn drop-in which are both next week! Until then, I wish you a super first week back in the school routine.

Lucy Hudson

Headteacher

Last week, the Y6 and 5 children welcomed the Anne Frank Trust again for what has become their annual visit to the school. The Trust have such an important message to share with the children about inclusion and what it means to be part of a global community. Every year, the children learn something new about standing up to prejudice and discrimination. This year, the focus was on gender stereotyping as well. Our children have a strong sense of their place in the community and we see that in many ways each day. 

We have been so proud of the ways the children have engaged in community events and activities this term – thank you for supporting them to get involved. This week, the Choir sang to the residents of Primrose House, as they were invited over to school to take part in a sing-along of Christmas carols together. 

Here’s a sample of the work the children have been doing to contribute to their wider community, including to the community of trust schools we are also part of. 

Trust Primary Christmas Cards

Our children have been designing Christmas cards to send to their friends at the other trust primary schools.We think you’ll agree that the cards look fantastic and bring bags of festive cheer!

Year 6 Cake Sale

Thank you to the families who attended the Year 6 Cake sale earlier in the term. £120 was raised for the House charities. 

Children in Need, 2024

We enjoyed seeing everyone dressed in their Pudsey outfits for Children in Need Day. Thank you for your kind donations for Children in Need – together you raised £126.00

The Royal British Legion – Poppy Appeal

Thank you to our families for purchasing Poppy Appeal items. We have received confirmation of the amount that we have raised for this appeal and are pleased to share this with you – £253.41.

East Yorkshire Foodbank Appeal
Thank you to everyone who donated food and other items for the East Riding Food Bank. Your kind contributions make a real difference to families in our community. 

AgeUK Christmas Shoeboxes

It was a real pleasure to take the Christmas shoeboxes this week to The Blackburn Club, ready to be distributed by AgeUK Hull to people around our community.

Thank you to everyone, children and families, who helped and donated, from contributing boxes full of treats, to helping me sort and deliver them!

I am sure they will make a lot of people smile when they open their gifts on Christmas Day.

Christmas Fayre, 2024

What a fantastic evening we had! Thank you to everyone who came and contributed for the event – and a huge ‘Thank you’ to our Hunsley Primary Parent Partners for such a fabulous set of activities in the Hall. The Choir did us proud and it was a real pleasure to meet new children and families too. All children who donated pre-loved toys and Christmas jumpers helped bring a touch of Christmas sparkle to the evening.

If you have not yet applied for your child’s Reception 2025 school pace, the deadline for on time applications is 15 January 2025.

East Riding Residents – Please use the East Riding of Yorkshire Council citizen portal to submit your school place application before the closing date – https://emsonline.eastriding.gov.uk/CitizenPortal_LIVE/en

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

We enjoyed seeing the children come dressed in their Pudsey outfits for Children in Need Day, and we also were wowed by their commitment to Odd Socks days too. Together you raised £126.00 for Children in Need with donations to Arbor.

Food packages for the East Yorkshire Food Bank and the AgeUK shoebox appeal are just a couple of the other ways the children are learning about working together as a caring community.

Dear Parent / Carer,

I hope that everyone has had an enjoyable weekend. We had a lovely morning on Saturday with the Hunsley Primary Parent Partners, running our first HP Car Boot Sale – thank you to the HPPPs for setting this up and making the event work so smoothly. The sun even shone! Well done to the Eco-Team pupils too, who make lots of repurposed products, seed gifts and pamper-packs! They raised £150.00 for their charity of the day, too.

We also are really happy to be more involved with our neighbours at Primrose House next too, too. They are keen to work with the Parent Partners and the school to set up chances for the children to collaborate with them over activities such as gardening, choir, games and social events – watch this space!

I hope that you all have a good week and I look forward to welcoming our new Reception families very soon to the school for the children’s first Stay and Play!

More information about what is happening at the school, can be found in our current Newsletter.

Lucy Hudson

Headteacher

We are pleased to confirm that the weather finally allowed us to complete the Lacerta fundraising walk for The Woodland Trust. The children walked collectively, as a chain of pupils, 43 miles for their charity!

We are so proud of their efforts – go orange team!

Thank you to the families who have already donated for this activity. If anymore parents/carers would like to do so, this can be done through IRIS Parentmail until Wednesday 20 March.

Thank you for your support

Our next Parent Learn sessions are taking place on Thursday 18 January at 4.30pm. further information can be found in the letter that was emailed today (15/01/24).

We do hope you will be able to join us!

Parent/carers of children who will turn 5 between September 2024-August 2025 need to apply for a school place at https://orlo.uk/school_PgG6f or return a paper application form by 15 January 2024.

Need help? Contact the ERYC admissions team on schooladmissions@eastriding.gov.uk or call us 01482 392100.

As per the recent email sent the charity fundraiser walk has been postponed until January due to the weather. Thank you to the parents/carers that have already donated. If you have not yet donated but would like to support this activity – the payment item is still available on IRIS Parentmail – Payments- Shop.

Don’t forget! Our next Hunsley Family Drop-In takes place on Wednesday 6 December at 2.45pm.

This is a chance for our parents/carers to have a sit down and a chat before you collect your child at the end of the day. We will focus on the Online Safety Hub which has been set up by the Trust to support parents/carers with using devices safely at home. No need to book; just drop by!

Can’t make the school drop-in? Don’t worry we will also be holding a virtual drop-in at 6.00pm. The link to join this session can be found in our recent newsletter.

Join us for our open event on Thursday 23 November. This will be the perfect opportunity to speak with members of the Hunsley Primary team and have a look around the school. Please follow this link to find out more – https://www.hunsleyprimary.org.uk/admissions/open-events/

Important Dates – further information about the applications process can be found on our website – https://www.hunsleyprimary.org.uk/admissions/

We are delighted to confirm that following our School Games Mark application, we have received the Silver Standard!

The School Games Mark is a government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Participating in this process allows schools to evaluate their PE provision and assists them in developing an action plan for future progress.

Well done HP!

Thank you for supporting all of the events and activities which took place at the end of the school year – including our super Peter Pan performance, please see our recent newsletter for photos from this event for you to enjoy. Thank you to our Hunsley Primary Parent Partners for supporting school so fully, too.

We’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy summer; we look forward to seeing everyone again in September! 

#JOIN THE HUNSLEY FAMILY

The deadline for applying for a school place for Reception 2023 is 15 January.

All applications for places at Hunsley Primary must be submitted to the Local Authority who oversees the area in which you live. For East Riding households, please visit the East Riding of Yorkshire Council normal school admissions page for further information – https://www.eastriding.gov.uk/learning/schools-colleges-and-academies/schools-and-school-places/school-admissions-and-catchment-finder/normal-school-admissions/

ERYC online citizen portal for applications – https://emsonline.eastriding.gov.uk/CitizenPortal_LIVE/en

Thank you once again to our families for your kind donations – with your support we raised £260.90 for BBC Children in Need

We currently have a vacancy for a Teaching Assistant (Level 2). If you would like to find out more, please follow the link below:

https://www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy/teaching-assistant-level-2-east-riding-of-yorkshire-1515758

We are currently in discussion with the Hunsley Primary Parent Partners on how to give our parents the opportunity to obtain pre-loved uniform items. We have a great selection that has kindly been donated by our parents. We will share information on how this will be offered to our parents as soon as arrangements have been finalised.

We are pleased to announce that the Parent Partners’ page on our website is now live. On this page you will find further information about the HPPP, and a feedback form about events and activities, which can be completed to provide your comments or suggestions for future events and activities to be set up by the HPPP together with school – https://www.hunsleyprimary.org.uk/hunsley-primary-parent-partners/

Our next Parentlearn sessions are taking place via Microsoft Teams on:

• Monday 23 November, 4.30pm – 5.30pm – Reception class phonics
• Tuesday 24 November, 5.00pm – 6.00pm – Whole school PSHE

Further information can be found in our newsletters. If you would like to register your interest to attend please email enquiries@hunsleyprimary.org.uk

Thank you to our parents for registering your interest in the Virtual Parents’ Progress Events. All appointment requests that have been received by the school have been added to the online progress event system.

Please log into the system to check and access your appointment. Details regarding log in procedures have been emailed to parents/carers.

If you have not yet booked an appointment, you will be able to log into the system until 4pm tomorrow (Wednesday 14 October) to view and choose from the available appointment slots.

If you have any questions, please do contact the school.

Contact the school today to express your interest in one of our virtual open events!

As we are missing so many of our friends, we wanted to do something to bring us all together – even if it is not in person!

With this in mind we have created a Hunsley Primary ‘We are a Team’ poster with our pupil’s pictures.Thank you to our Hunsley pupils for sending in your pictures to add to the poster.

We are delighted to be able to share this with you and we hope you enjoy looking at it. Perhaps you can spot your friends!

To view the full poster, please click here.

Please do click here to see some messages from the Hunsley staff too.

Please click here to see the latest Covid 19 education guidance poster.

HP Families: An email was sent to parents/carers on Wednesday 25 March with details on how to request childcare provision for next week. This information is also available to view on our Online Learning Platform.

Please note the deadline for requests is Friday 27 March,2.00pm.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

We have been notified that, whilst the school is closed, Jackie and the Building Bricks team can unfortunately no longer provide a wraparound care provision for the keyworker and vulnerable children that are attending Hunsley Primary. Thank you to Jackie and the team for their care of the children and their support of school at the start of this week as part of the new offer.

If keyworker / vulnerable children parents have any concerns about wraparound provision, please do contact the school on the usual telephone number.

FAO HP Families

Letters from The Education Alliance and Hunsley Primary are in the process of being sent out, via Parentmail, with regard to the arrangements for next week, week commencing 23 March 2020. We are aware that Parentmail is experiencing some delay, so the letters can now also be viewed on the Online Learning Platform –https://www.hunsleyprimary.org.uk/online-learning-resources/

The school will be operating as per the Government guidelines. The letters that are being sent out will include a registration link, please do follow this to inform the school of your requirements next week.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the school.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is now available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:
• https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:
• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

Educational resources
• https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources
• https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools

Latest Department for Education information:
• https://twitter.com/educationgovuk
• https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk/

Our school and all East Riding schools are actively monitoring the situation around the coronavirus (COVID-19) and are acting on any advice given by Public Health England and specific advice provided for school by the Department for Education.

Guidance for travellers returning from certain areas has been updated today. It starts as follows:

If you have returned from these specific areas since February 19, you should call NHS111 and stay indoors and avoid contact with other people even if you do not have symptoms:

• Iran
• Specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy as designated by the Government of Italy (12 specific towns)
• Special care zones in South Korea as designated by the Government of the Republic of South Korea
• Hubei province (returned in the past 14 days)

We have not been made aware of any pupil or staff member who has returned from any of the above areas since February 19.

The guidance continues:

If you have returned from these areas since February 19th and develop symptoms, however mild, you should stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS111. You do not need to follow this advice if you have no symptoms.

• Northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including, Pisa, Florence and Rimini) outside the specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy as designated by the Government of Italy
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Myanmar

The latest information for travellers is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public#situation-in-the-uk

General information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) is available on the NHS website here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is now available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

Please be assured that we will continue to monitor the situation and keep parents fully informed.

Welcome back to all our children and families this week! We are looking forward to the second half of the Spring Term which proves to be packed with all sorts of curriculum activities. May I also thank you all for your support and enthusiasm last half term in helping the children to get involved in the diverse range of wider learning provision we offer: this is all part of a rich curriculum to broaden experiences and support teamwork, inclusion, and positive physical and mental health in the children.

The children’s personal health and wellbeing is always very close to our hearts and minds, and this term we are continuing to focus on enriching our ‘Talk Time’ curriculum to ensure that it continues to grow with and respond to the developing school. Talk Time is what we call our Personal, Social, Health, Economic and Relationship curriculum – specifically because we know it is essential to encourage the children to talk about citizenship and their own wellbeing as part of a healthy approach. We welcome all parents to come to talk with us too about any aspect of the school’s provision. Thank you to Mr Howell for coming to talk to Y3 and 4 this week about charity work.

If you want to know more about our curriculum philosophy and content, please do come to talk with me and I would be very happy to share how we go about building learning from Reception upwards.

I look forward to talking with you more about curriculum this year! Have a super week.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

To read our current newsletter please visit our ‘Useful Downoads’ page.

We are excited to confirm that Mrs Wicks shall be following the Year 4s into their penultimate year of primary as their Year 5 teacher, helping to shape our Upper Key Stage 2 provision with myself and Miss Dixey.

We’re Hiring!
We are currently looking for a Year 4 teacher to join our Hunsley Primary Team.

We shall also be advertising other posts over the course of the term, so please do share this with any interested friends or colleagues.

For more information about working with the team and to submit an application form, please visit https://www.hunsleyprimary.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/

We are currently looking to appoint a Year 4 classroom teacher.

To find out more please visit our ‘Current Vacancies’ page on our website or follow the link below.

TES Vacancy – Y4 Classroom Teacher

We enjoyed our first after-school Drama club yesterday, on Tuesday 4 February.

A confirmation email has been sent to all parents who returned the consent slips. This first session was a taster session. If your child is no longer interested in attending, please do let us know: there is currently a waiting list and places will be reallocated as and when they become available.

HP Families – Thank you for returning the Pupil’s Choice meal feedback your child has shared with you at home. Mrs Prew has built a lovely menu based on the children’s feedback and chosen the most popular suggestions to run for the Pupil Choice week, as well as making some tweaks by bringing in extras such as carrot sticks to add to the usual salad choice. The Pupil’s choice hot dinner taster week will take place week commencing 10 February 2020.

To view the menu, please do visit the useful downloads section on our website.

We hope the children enjoy it!

Applications for Hunsley Primary Reception places

All applications for school Reception places should now have been submitted to your Local Authority. If you have not submitted your application yet or you wish to change your school preferences, please contact the Local Authority Admissions Team and they will be able to offer you advice and guide you through the process.

As always, we are looking forward to meeting the children who will be joining the Hunsley family in September 2020 and once a child has been allocated a place with us we will look to arrange various transition events to help ensure that they settle into their new school well.

Parents/Carers will receive notification of their child’s allocated school place from the Local Authority on Thursday 16 April, 2020. Please see other key dates below that you may find useful if your child is allocated a place with us:

If you have any questions – please do not hesitate to contact us.

Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to everyone! We have been looking forward to seeing the children again and hearing all about the holidays.

May I take this opportunity to thank you all on behalf of the staff for your lovely cards, feedback, messages and kindness at the end of term. We hope that the children are feeling rested, as well as fully recovered where bugs were challenging the boundless energy and enthusiasm we usually see. Back to their thriving selves, we hope! The children did amazingly well in their performances during that final week of term – we were so impressed – as were their audiences!

As usual, we have a busy and full Spring term ahead. On Monday 6 January, the HP staff team members were in school, engaged in a range of professional development activities, from off-site visits and first-aid training to curriculum planning for the year ahead. We have been excited to get involved with some really interesting educational research and evidence-based practice via the Wolds Research School, based at South Hunsley. This term, we welcome our Yorkshire Wolds trainee teacher – Miss Relph – who will be working closely with Ms Boyes and Mrs Staniforth in Year 2 until the end of the year.

There are various clubs and new activities beginning this week, so please do check our current Newsletter for details. I am also looking to set up a drama group for children who are particularly interested in working collaboratively to explore performing and will be talking to the children about what this entails. We also will be hosting a Tigers’ Trust girls’ football initiative in school this term – more on these new clubs and activities soon.
Have a super week!

The staff and children at Hunsley Primary would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who came to listen to the Hunsley Primary choir at the Elloughton and Brough Christmas Tree Festival!

The children really enjoyed themselves and we were really proud of our Christmas Tree-“May your Christmas be Merry and Bluebird Bright”

Welcome back! We all hope that you enjoyed the Half Term break and the Bank Holiday. The children really enjoyed their Chess ‘Find Out Friday’ on the last day of the half term – thank you, again, to Mr Mattos who will be coming back to run more workshops for those who wish to take it to the next level, as well as a chess club, in the new school year. If you have a spare chess set at home gathering dust, then the children would certainly appreciate borrowing it for their forthcoming activities.

We are now looking forward to the second half of the summer term and the new activities we have planned for the children, including new Big Questions – this term, we have an open question which the children can take in a range of investigative directions: ‘What’s the Big Idea About…?’ For some, this will mean exploring the Media; for others, stop-frame animation will form part of their learning programme. We’ll also be looking forward to our Tree Week, which is the last week of the term and of course the Sports Day and Choir Performance, amongst other things. Year 3 will be taking part in an exciting workshop day at Bae Systems and Reception are planning a Forest School session. Lots to look forward to.

 Enjoy the week ahead!

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

Welcome to the week. I hope that everyone enjoyed their weekends. We are excited this week to look forward to a Find-Out Friday, all about Chess! We are welcoming our chess expert who will talk to the children about how he became interested in the game and will take groups in workshops as an introduction to the club we will be running. It’s a reminder to us of the many ways in which children are all individuals, needing and enjoying different pastimes and hobbies.

Perhaps you have a hobby or pastime which the children might be interested in learning about? If so, please let us know, as we would like to invite in our parents to share their favourite pastimes, hobbies or activities with the children.

A particular ‘well done’ to Year 2 for last week’s SATs – it’s always a very busy week and as we round up the assessments this week, it must be said that Year 2 have worked beautifully (as usual!) all week and shown some super attitudes to learning.

As you’ll know, the school photographer was in school last week to take our fantastic group shots – always a great sight to see. I wanted to pass on to parents and carers the lovely feedback she gave us: she wanted to share that the children’s conduct was ‘outstanding’ and that she had been very impressed with them all – great to be able to share this feedback with you.

Just a reminder that, as ever, if you have any questions, ideas or feedback that you want to share with us, for example about your child’s transition in summer to their next class, I will always welcome a conversation and can happily arrange a meeting to discuss questions that arise – no matter how small they might seem. It’s all part of making sure the children have what they need!

I look forward to seeing you all this week at the Parents’ Progress events.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

To read our current Newsletter please click here.

Welcome to the week at Hunsley Primary! I am especially looking forward this week to our House Development Day on Friday where the children get to work in House Teams across their year groups. It is always lovely, seeing how the year groups support and help each other with their learning. The topic this week is Being Me! and you’ll guess this is all about celebrating our individuality and unique qualities, as well as thinking about what we bring to the wider team.

Last week, Reception had a super day at the Railway Museum in York – they were beautifully behaved and great ambassadors for the school. They even won high praise from the staff there who commented on their smart, blue uniform.

Comic Relief brought some smart, red noses last week too – we raised over £70 with donations. Thank you to everyone who gave money in exchange for wearing a Red Nose accessory!

I wish you all a week of sunshine! It’s been great to see a glimpse of warmth shining through this morning.

To read our current newsletter please click here.

Last week was a lovely week, culminating in the children gathering together in the Hall to listen to Mr Hall reading and teaching poems from the wonderful ‘Lost Words’ book. ‘The Newt’ was a particular success! Thank you to Mr Hall for your time and for your contribution to World Book Day – which rather became a World Book Week! We were also extremely pleased to welcome Mr Williman, Headteacher at South Hunsley, and Mr Brady, Deputy Headteacher, to read with the children too. Great to be part of the bigger Trust family! Thank you also to Miss Hepburn for producing a super dance routine with the children in costume, to the Toy Story favourite ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ – pulling at the heartstrings, I must say. Mrs Holtby and Mrs Vincent offered one-to-one reading to the children too. Following on from Mrs Malthouse’s support of the Year 3 museum visit the previous week, the children have really benefited from volunteers’ time this half term. What a great team we have!

We were also very pleased to welcome local Elloughton-cum-Brough councillors to visit the school last week – Kate Brogden and Sara Rowe have invited the choir to sing again at events this year and we all look forward to taking part.

Let’s hope we have some warmer weather ahead this week, but just in case, please do make sure your child wears a waterproof coat for outdoor play as the odd shower may still be lined up!

 
To view our World Book Day photos please click here.

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Welcome back to school, everyone, following the Half Term holiday. We all hope that you had an enjoyable break.

This is a very busy half term ahead of us all, with the children involved in a range of wider curriculum activities, as well as lots going on in the classrooms! Thank you all in anticipation of your continued support of the children taking part in events such as the World Book Day (7th March) and Comic Relief Day (15th March). We also have a number of visits and after-school sessions taking place this half term, plus a planned open classroom event for the penultimate week of term. It also won’t be very long before we find out which children will be joining our Hunsley family in September ‘19 too which will bring with it a new era for the school. Very exciting!

May I extend a ‘thank you’ to the parents attending the most recent Parent Partners group? I am looking forward to catching up with the group again later this week to update on what we have planned for the open classroom event on the 29th March. I am also on the look-out for parents who are interested in coming in to talk to the children about the work you do – if you are keen to get involved, please do let us know this week.

May I wish you all a fantastic week ahead – Lucy Hudson, Head of Hunsley Primary

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Welcome to the week!

This week, we welcome Tiger’s Trust and Fit4Fun once more to work with the pupils across the school. We were so impressed with the sports leadership skills demonstrated by the children last week that we have decided to reward Sports Leadership this week in our celebration assembly. We’ll be looking for those children who show the best team skills and leadership ethos over the coming PE sessions and after school clubs.

We also have an eye this week on handwriting – we have really noticed children ‘reaching for the stars’ with their writing, trying very hard to develop a fluent and neat style, forming their letters correctly. We use the Nelson Scheme, so if parents would like some guidance on how best to help their child with their handwriting style, please let us know. In this final week of the Half Term, the children will be working hard to complete their Big Question investigation, before they start the next exploration after the holiday. Very exciting!

May I wish you all a super break when Friday comes round. I’ll look forward to hearing all about the holidays when the children return to school.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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I hope that you have all had a super weekend. Some of you will have been to Hull Fair and braved a ride or two; some will have been spending the weekend on a touchline or spectating on the swimming pool balcony; others will have been helping out with homeworks, music lessons or listening to readers, and some of you will have done all of the above! Whatever you have been engaged in as a family this weekend, you’ll probably have wondered at how the time has flown yet again and that Autumn is well and truly here. I marvel at the fact that it is nearly time for us to leave our East Dale site and relocate to Bluebird Way. This is an intense period of activity for contractors as it is for the school and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (the arm of the DfE concerned with capital projects like this one of ours) and I will be visiting the site again this week to see how things have changed since the last visit and to map out around the building the day-to-day activity we will be engaged in in a few weeks. As parents and carers, you will be keen to visit and make plans for arrivals and collections. Watch this space for information about a date to visit the site in the coming weeks – we await confirmation from our ESFA project leads about arrangements regarding this visit but very much look forward to the weeks to come.

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Thank you to all who attended our ‘Superhero Super-Senses’ Open Event on Saturday. It was brilliant to meet new families and to get to know the children who might be joining us in September next year – we have always found this to be of benefit in helping children get off to a flying start. As always, we love to see our existing pupils coming back at the weekend too. That’s a vote of confidence!

All that remains is for me to say I hope you enjoy the week ahead – personally, I’m looking forward to another Musical Skills workshop, for one thing.

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I hope that you have all had a super weekend and enjoyed some sunshine. I am reminded about how quickly these next few weeks will fly past and how the children will soon be meeting their new teachers and gearing up to move onwards and upwards. For those parents thinking how your child will manage that next step, please can I reassure you? We will always think about each child’s needs – they are all unique and we aim to smooth that transition as much as possible by meeting their individual needs. If you feel that your child will benefit from some particular additional help with this forthcoming transition (for example, some photos of the new classroom, new teacher or some resources to take home over summer) please do ask. We will be thinking of these things over the coming weeks and chatting to the children on a regular basis so that, when the next step comes, it is an exciting one. We’ll be doing the same for the move to the new school too!

Thank you to all our parents who have returned the Parent View survey too – we have been delighted to read your feedback and to share with the Governors and Trust team, as well as our School Improvement Partner, Mr Ian Clennan, NLE, the positive comments and encouraging words you have sent in. With any questions or suggestions you share, I will take those to the Trust team for further discussion and get back to you as appropriate. It is always good to have suggestions – thank you, as ever, for your interest in the school. Enjoy your week ahead!

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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I am very pleased to be able to give you all the latest update on the progress of our new school. Having met with the ESFA team and our Project Lead, we have been informed that the new Hunsley Primary building and site are set for completion mid-October. With this now in mind, we will plan for a handover at the end of October, with the intention of starting the second half of the Autumn term with the children in our brand new building. We also look forward to receiving the new additional classroom for our current site to provide for the children in that interim period.

Thank you again to our parents/carers for the kind offers of help and support you have been sending in anticipation of our move. We will certainly welcome your input as we draw closer to moving.

Kind Regards

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

Thank you to all our families for your support and input last week: we really value the conversations, feedback and insights parents and carers give. As all of the children progress towards national assessments this summer (Reception: EYFS Statutory Profile; Year 1: Phonics Screening Check, and Year 2: Key Stage 1 SATs) their teachers are delivering really personalised and detailed learning experiences for the individuals in their classes – every child needs something unique and you’ll not be surprised to hear that their teachers really ‘go to town’ on providing that in class. We all enjoy seeing the children grow and flourish each week: when the Celebration Assembly comes round every Friday, it is quite telling to see all members of the team smiling broadly as children from every class come up to collect their certificates. There’s something very special about working in a smaller school – staff really get to know all the children and never stop following their progress, even as they move on in the school. With this in mind, our focus on transition will soon begin!

So, thank you all for helping us to really personalise how we meet children’s needs – never hesitate to speak with us and share your ideas and questions: it’s how we work best together.

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A big ‘thank you’ to our parents and carers who attended the ParentLearn sessions last week. We really enjoy working closely with you all and offering strategies and advice to support the children’s learning at home. It is also a pleasure to be able to give you a snapshot of what happens in the classroom each day. We hope that you find it helpful to learn from the school’s professionals about the Hunsley Primary approach – we all thoroughly enjoy teaching our unique curriculum to your children, as you can probably tell when you come along to one of the sessions! The resources from these sessions are available on the website, but do please ask for more guidance if you would like it.

Thank you also for your support, enthusiasm and (much-appreciated) warm greetings in the playground last week in the bitter chill of winter – the children all take it in their stride, don’t they? Let’s hope that we have seen the last of the poor weather, so we can get on with aiming for the promise of Spring!

We are delighted to hear that our wrap around care provider, Building Bricks @ Hunsley Primary, received a judgement of Outstanding from Ofsted in their recent inspection. Well done to the team and thank you to parents for your fantastic feedback!

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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We had a fantastic time on the Healthy Living bus on Friday: the children made smoothies from fruit and vegetables, did workout routines on the Wii Fit and designed their own healthy cereal, which I hope they enjoyed for their Friday supper or Saturday breakfast!

It was a very busy week with the Year 1 visit to Conisbrough Castle, Year 2’s Benchball competition and the discovery of mystery eggs on our site! What could possibly happen this week to top that? The children are very much enjoying the new Big Question (What’s it like inside the egg?) which is allowing them to explore everything from farming to life cycles and even the design of children’s interactive books.

We look forward to seeing what exactly is living inside the eggs the children have found and to furthering our exploration with a range of activities designed to encourage investigation and analysis.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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To view our Find Out Friday: Public Health Vehicle gallery please click here.

Welcome back to school, all our pupils and families, following the Half Term holiday – we all hope that you had an enjoyable break. May I extend a heart-felt ‘thank you’ to you all for sending in such positive, thoughtful and helpful comments last half term? We were absolutely delighted with the feedback survey forms handed in during the last week of half term – thank you all so much for your encouraging words. To all of the staff at Hunsley Primary, the children are very much individuals and we place great importance on getting it just right for each child whilst making sure there is a really strong sense of the whole team too. We are glad you agree that this is a special part of the school’s unique offer. It also won’t be long before we find out which children will be joining our team in September too – one thing is for sure, the families that join us will undoubtedly feel supported and included by our existing family team.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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Thank you to all our parents and carers who attended Progress Evening appointments last week. It was great to see so many of you there. It is such an important aspect of your child’s education, meeting with staff and discussing your child’s progress. If, at any point, you have questions about the curriculum or about your child’s achievements to ask, please do not hesitate to contact me directly or via the ‘Enquiries’ email address: we aim to make sure that we hear all our parents’ questions about how best to support learning at home, so we can continue to work together. I look forward to seeing you at the next Parent Learn session for your child’s year group.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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It was great to see our Year 2 parents gathering together on Thursday after school to find out more about the Key Stage 1 assessments and also the national expectations as the children move into Year 3. As you’ll know, we are recruiting a new Year 3 teacher to join our rapidly expanding team, and so the idea of looking forward to ‘next steps’ was apt! 

For all parents and carers, this Progress Event week provides a great opportunity to look in books, speak about the children’s progress and support, and have further feedback on how parents can help us to help all of the children to meet their full potential.

I will also be meeting again this week with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (the arm of the DfE which leads on building projects and funding). As the piling and ground beams are now in place on the Brough South site, the next step will be steel! Soon we will all be able to see the frame of our new school rising from the ground – quite a landmark. 

I wish you all a great week and look forward to seeing our parents at the Progress Events.

Lucy Hudson – Head of Hunsley Primary

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Happy New Year to all our Hunsley Primary families and friends. I hope that you all had a restful, fun and memorable Christmas holiday. Thank you so much for the kind and thoughtful gifts you gave – it was so lovely to read the cards and messages over the holiday! The children are always at the very heart of all we do and it is fantastic to read that you can see the impact of this.

As we take down the decorations in school, we all anticipate the new term and the exciting learning experiences awaiting the children. 2018 is the year for our big location move too: visiting the Brough South site before the end of term really helped us to visualise how the school will be positioned – even down to the drains!

As ever, the team is focussed on helping each of our children reach their goals: the Spring term, albeit brief, is a term in which we move towards a range of highly important national assessments:

• Reception: the Early Years Profile
• Year 1: the Phonics Screening Check
• Year 2: the National Key Stage 1 Assessments

The support of Parents/Carers is vital, therefore we will be offering a range of ParentLearn sessions for specific classes, which we urge parents to attend so that their child can benefit from additional targeted support to achieve their very best.

Lucy Hudson

Head of Hunsley Primary

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What a wonderfully festive Open Event we had on Saturday! It was lovely to see our Hunsley Families enjoying themselves and getting to know some of our interested parents and pre-schoolers who came to find out more about our school. We hope that you enjoyed the event as much as we did and don’t forget to put out that reindeer food on Christmas Eve.

The next couple of weeks are full of seasonal activities from around the world: as we count down through Advent, the children will also be learning about Hanukkah and finding out about a range of celebrations held at this time of year. ‘How is the world filled with colour?’ draws to a conclusion with answers to be found in everything from the children’s artwork to their science investigations.

The Not Now Nativity is shaping up well with some catchy tunes and memorable lines. Thank you to all of our fantastic helpers, including our guest ‘Artistic Director’, Mrs Nunn, and our ‘Costume Designers’, Mrs Pearson and Mrs Richardson, who are all busy behind the scenes making for a very polished performance, and not forgetting Mr Parker, and his help with technical wizardry!

We look forward to seeing our families there on the day.

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The weeks are rushing by and it is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of November. As you’ll know, every hour of the day in school counts towards each child reaching their full potential. We continue to work very closely as a team to deliver carefully planned, engaging learning experiences designed to help the children develop as learners as well as socially confident individuals. We have very much enjoyed the most recent week’s activities, including our visits to Tropical World in Leeds and our PE sessions with South Hunsley staff and Fit4Fun. We have also welcomed into school Mrs Helena Webster and Mr Paddy Hall last week – both Local Governors (and Mr Hall a Director of the Trust too) to monitor the standards delivered in school and to give me feedback on what they find. This feedback is always very useful, showing how our Local Governors are very much part of the wider school leadership team driving the school forward to continued success.

Thank you also to all of our parents and volunteers who helped us to deliver the two successful trips last week! It is no surprise that we always say ‘We are a Team!’ at Hunsley Primary.

Lucy Hudson

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What an amazing week we all had last week! The children experienced such a wide range of learning activities and investigations from asking some seriously scientific questions about the process of fire-fighting to putting carnivorous plants under the microscope. We had a long list of people to thank for helping us out by the end of the week – so to Mr Hall, Mrs Hall, Mr Clark, Mr Hussain, Mr Taylor and all of your teams, thank you from us all for supporting and inspiring the children! Please turn to our website, Facebook and Twitter to see some of the fun we have had. 

At Hunsley Primary, we aim for the children to engage in their Big Question investigations with absolute enjoyment so that learning is a real joy – I shall not quickly forget the lines of children spontaneously jumping and skipping with delight at the sight of the fire engine shooting huge jets of water. That’s something they shall not quickly forget either!

With only three weeks of term left to go, it is hard to remember the very beginning of September 2016, when our current Reception pupils joined us and Year 1 took their first steps into Key Stage 1 learning. Now, we look forward to a new group of children making their start with us, as well as a new member of staff in Mrs Gray, and our existing pupils moving onwards and upwards in their learning journey. With much to do over the next weeks, including a range of visits, induction lessons and exciting activities, I am sure the time will pass before we know it.

Please do take the opportunity to make contact with us before the end of the term, if you have any questions, feedback or suggestions for next year – we always welcome our parents/carers support.

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Our DfE Adviser visit on Tuesday went very well with Mrs Gill Broughton – she saw a range of teaching and learning activities, talked with children and parents and read the feedback sent in by our families. The personalised, caring provision on offer at Hunsley Primary always features high in Mrs Broughton’s feedback and following a full day’s inspection, we were very pleased to hear very positive and encouraging comments.

Thank you to all our parents for taking the time to speak with the Adviser and share your views.

A busy time was had by all last week, with plenty going on across four days instead of five!

The Reception Class were writing letters saying what they would like to see in their new school (writing tables, construction areas) – handy as the company providing us with our new furniture came in to visit whilst the children were deciding, so they have put in their orders! The Gardening Club enjoyed working on outdoor planting with Teaching Assistant, Mr Kendall, and with Lauren from Year 9, both of whom are volunteering with us as part of our partnership with South Hunsley. The children were able to try out the new Reading Retreat for outdoor reading and they all enjoyed developing their football skills up on the 3G, giving the Y9 girls’ PE students a run for their money too.

This week, we look forward to our next visit from Mrs Gill Broughton, our Department for Education Adviser, as well as a range of other visits and activities which you can read in our current newsletter.

As we begin our final week of the Spring Term, we could not be busier at Hunsley Primary: the Year 1s are gearing up for their Inclusive Sports afternoon at St Anne’s; Reception and Year 1 have an Easter Investigation to engage in, including a visit from Reverend Bielby on Monday and the Spring Walk on Tuesday; Gardening Club and Film Club are also on the cards, as well as a ParentLearn session for Year 1 families wanting to find out more about supporting spelling and handwriting.

By the time we return, we will already have begun getting to know our new Reception children who are starting in September, with Miss Hudson and the Reception Team planning their pre-school and home visits once again. During the weeks ahead, Mrs Boyes and Miss Briggs are preparing for the Phonics Screening Check which takes place in the Summer Term, as well as developing those vital learning skills ready for Year 1 to move into Year 2. Finally, Mrs Hudson is looking forward to meeting the DfE again this week, to continue planning the internal layout of the new school building – exciting!

May we wish you all a restful holiday? Please don’t forget that term finishes on Thursday this week.

Hunsley Primary Newsletter – w/c 3 April 2017

Thank you to everyone who supported the Red Nose Day bun sale on Friday last week. It was super to see so many children, parents and family members enjoying the warm spring afternoon sunshine together and reminded us all that we are part of a thriving and growing school community.

As we near the end of term, we are thinking about how quickly time flies and how, when we return after the holiday, allocations for our third Reception class will have been sent to parents and we will be getting ready to meet the new pupils during the summer term. We will also be gearing up for the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check and the Early Years Profile for Reception. A very busy few weeks term ahead!

We had a great week of investigations and discovery last week, exploring our Big Question. Our Reception children have spent a lot of their time looking at the difference between night and day and spotting the clues that show us how light changes. Year 1 have been immersed in writing, developing their sentences with skill!

Find Out Friday was a super opportunity to launch Science Week with a focus on being eco-friendly, looking after our world and understanding what we can and cannot recycle. Well done, Hunsley Primary – another super week of learning.

If you are an avid follower of our twitter and facebook pages, you’ll have seen some of the activities our children have been involved in last week, including a fantastic Reception class visit to The Deep and some very creative housebuilding work in Year 1.

We also very much enjoyed the Chinese New Year workshop led by Mr Hussain. So much learning is taking place!

Year 1 formalised their own set of classroom rules to go with our Playtime Values, showing that they really understand the importance of teamwork, good learning behaviours and kindness in everything they do.

We have had a great week last week – not least due to a visit to the Brough South site to see how things are progressing there. Hopefully, you were able to catch the article in the Hull Daily Mail (links on our facebook and twitter sites).

Mr Paddy Hall, Trustee of The Education Alliance and Local Governor for Hunsley Primary who came with me for the visit, was struck by the proximity of the school to natural wetlands and by the outdoor learning opportunities provided by the site.

As things move forward, we will look to document the development of the building and keep you all informed about each exciting stage! We are even beginning to think about how we would like to mark the moment we set down the first foundations of the school – all ideas very welcome!

Check out the Hull Daily Mail’s website to read the super article about Hunsley Primary’s new build. Exciting times!

The children have all enjoyed their investigations last week – how do houses change over time and what makes the best house-building material to keep those three little pigs safe and warm.

We have seen some excellent problem-solving skills and also some great teamwork, with the children supporting each other to get the job done.

We are a Team!

It is hard to believe that we are in our third week already and time is passing so quickly. The children are experiencing such busy weeks of learning!

Last week for Reception in particular was a very exciting week – someone crept into the Three Bears’ Cottage and broke a table! The children spent the week trying to get to the bottom of this mystery, measuring footprints and checking out clues. You might have seen some of the photographs on the website or on Tapestry.They certainly enjoy a good investigation.

Year 1 had a ‘sweet’ challenge too, exploring which materials would create the most efficiently built Hansel and Gretel house walls: chocolate fingers, marshmallows or biscuits. Now, perhaps we could try those on the new school…?