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Henley Primary School

Information for New Reception Parents 2023 - 2024

 

This section is for parents of children who have been offered a Reception place at Henley to start in the 2023/2024 school year. If your child has not been offered a place but you are interested in joining us, please email office.henley@gpfschools.org 

We are delighted to welcome your child to Henley Primary School in September 2023. If you have any questions please feel free to email the school at office.henley@gfpschools.org.

Please find below some information you may find useful. You will shortly receive a welcome pack with the following documents enclosed: 

  • Admissions form 
  • Asthma plan 
  • Details of the house your child will be in
  • Photo book 
  • "Getting to know you" questionnaire 
  • Home-School Agreement 
  • Friends of Henley School welcome letter
  • SCC reply form 

Some of these documents will need to be filled in and returned to us. The letter in your welcome pack explains which documents you need to complete and when they will need to be returned. 

We will be holding a parent information session from 5:30pm - 6:30pm on Wednesday 21st June, which is your opportunity to meet your child's new teacher and learn more about the school. 

We would also like to invite your child to meet their new teacher and classmates at our induction sessions:

Wednesday 28th June - 1:30pm-3:00pm

Wednesday 5th July - 1:30pm-3:00pm

Wednesday 12th July - 1:30pm-3:00pm (uniform sale)

Wednesday 19th July - 9:30am-12:00pm (lunch at 11:30am)

On Wednesday 12th July we will be holding a uniform 'sale' where you will be able to pick up good quality second hand uniform. There's no charge, but you will be able to make a donation to our PTA if you wish. 

On the final session on Wednesday 19th July, you are welcome to join your child to try a school lunch. We will be having roast pork with Yorkshire puddings, seasonal vegetables and gravy. We will contact you in the coming weeks with final details. 

Henley Primary School is a happy and thriving school, and our entire team looks forward to making your child’s time with us a positive and fulfilling experience.

SCHOOL STRUCTURE

We have four mixed age classes at Henley:

Class 1 – Reception
Class 2 – Year 1 and 2
Class 3 – Year 3 and 4
Class 4 – Year 5 and 6

THE SCHOOL DAY AND TERM DATES

This is an example of a typical day at school. Some days we have other activities such as PE, Computing etc.

8:15am – Gates open – Children are welcome to arrive any time from 8:15-8:30. When they arrive they will be supervised on the playground.

8:30am – Lessons start – We begin our day with the register and ‘morning activities’. These are quiet activities that children can complete to allow a calm start to the day. At the beginning of Reception, these may be building with lego, developing cutting skills, drawing or simple threading activities. By the end of the year these may be handwriting, reading, mental maths skills.

9:00am – Phonics – All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have daily phonics lessons. We use these lessons to systematically teach the children all of the letters and sound needed to learn to read. Please be aware – we do not expect children to be able to read, write or recognise any letters before starting school. Children all start at different levels and all make good progress.

9:30am – English – This will be a play-based session, during which the children listen to stories, talk about the characters in stories and play games to develop speaking and listening skills. The children will also have access to play in the classroom

10:30am – Assembly

10:45am – Morning Break

11:00am – Maths – Children take part in a range of play-based maths activities

11:45am – Reception lunch and playtime

1:00pm – Afternoon begins – Our afternoons are more varied than our mornings. We have a range of lessons such as Art, Design and Technology, History, Geography, Religious Education, Science, PE etc. During the afternoon each class goes outside to run the ‘Golden Mile’. The older children run one mile around the field each day. Our younger children start off by running one lap of the field and gradually build up to running a whole mile by the end of the school year.

3:15pm – School Finishes

3:15pm-4:15pm – Enrichment Activities

3:15pm-6:00pm – Escape After School Club

Our term dates can be found here

WHAT DOES MY CHILD NEED TO BRING TO SCHOOL?

Each day we ask for children to bring:

  • Book bag – We cannot accommodate back packs as space is limited. Book bags can be purchased cheaply from supermarkets. If you would like a branded book bag, they be purchased from our uniform supplier, Brigade.
  • Water bottle
  • Healthy Snack – fruit, vegetables, crackers, cheese etc. – Please note: We ask for grapes to be quartered lengthways to prevent risk of choking.

We ask for the following to be sent into school on the first day of school. These can stay at school during the term:

  • Trainers
  • Welly boots
  • Change of clothes, including underwear – please put this into a drawstring bag so it can be stored easily in the classroom.

Please ensure all items are clearly named.

THE CONSORTIUM TRUST AND GREENFIELDS PARTNERSHIP

We are proudly part of The Consortium Trust and The Greenfields Partnership. 

The Consortium Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust comprising many schools, many of them small primary schools. Visit the website to find out more about The Consortium Trust. 

We also form a partnership with one other local school, Helmingham Primary, about 5 miles away from Henley. Together we are The Greenfields Partnership.  

Arbor

We use Arbor to take payments, obtain consent for trips and to make breakfast and afterschool club bookings. 

If your child has an older sibling in school, you will soon see your Reception child's details appear on your existing account. 

If you have not used Arbor before, you will shortly receive a welcome email with a link to log in for the first time.

Once you have logged in, you will see some "notices" on the left hand side for you to complete. This only needs to be completed once. 

If you have any questions, or any problems logging in, please contact office.henley@gfpschools.org 

uniform

Our school colours are red and navy. Please see our uniform page for more details and how to order. Please ensure all uniform is named. 

We will be running a uniform swap shop at 3pm on Wednesday 12th July - where you will have the opportunity to pick up good quality second hand uniform free of charge. 

We do this each term, our families bring in any good quality second hand uniform and this is made available for anyone to take what they need. There will be the option of donating to The Friends of Henley School at the swap shop, if you wish. 

locality committee 

Our Locality Committee (which covers both Henley and Helmingham primary schools) is made up of people from different groups, including parents, ex-parents, and other interested people co-opted from the local community.

You can find out more about our Locality Committee here

friends of Henley school

We have a thriving PTA, The Friends of Henley Primary School who arrange fantastic fundraising events. All funds raised are put back into the school. 

Just in the past year the children have enjoyed a Christmas Disco, a village Halloween trail, after-school film nights, an Easter egg hunt, not to mention lots of dress down days! For the adults, they've organised a quiz night, unwanted gift swap and a very popular Ceilidh (barn dance). 

The Friends of Henley School are always looking for new members and new ideas. If you would like to be part of the Friends of Henley School, please contact them by email friendsofhenleyschool@gmail.com 

escape! breakfast, afterschool and holiday club 

 

ESCape!, our Breakfast and Afterschool Club, runs 5 days a week. 

Breakfast Club: 

Breakfast Club is from 7:30am until the start of the school day. 

At ESCape! Breakfast Club your child will start the day with a healthy breakfast and then will have the opportunity to play indoors or outdoors before school starts. 

Afterschool Club: 

ESCape! Afterschool Club has varying session times (see below). 

3:15pm - 4:15pm - a small snack and free play, indoor and outdoor (weather permitting)

4:15pm - a snack, including a variety of local and exotic fruits and vegetables along with a selection of the following: pitta bread, hummus, crumpets, tortilla chips, popcorn, malt loaf and banana bread. 

4:45pm - homework time! Children in Classes 1 and 2 will read to an adult, older children will complete their homework or read independently. 

5:15pm - 6pm - Crafts, colouring, painting. 

Costs and session times: 

7:30am - 8:30am    £2.50 for the first child, additional siblings £1 each

3:15pm-4:15pm      £3.50 

3:15pm - 6pm         £10 

4:15pm - 6pm         £6.50 (for children attending an enrichment activity from 3:15pm - 4:15pm) 

We currently accept the following childcare vouchers: 

  • Tax Free Childcare 
  • Sodexo
  • Edenred
  • Computershare

How to register/book: 

Bookings for ESCape! are on Arbor. Bookings are on an ad-hoc basis, so you are free to only book the sessions you need. Payment is taken at time of booking. If you are using childcare vouchers, you will see your voucher balance on your Arbor account, and payment will be taken from this balance. 

Bookings close on Arbor 48 hours ahead of the session start time (eg. bookings for a Friday 3:15pm-4:15pm session close at 3:15pm on Wednesday). This is to give us time to arrange staffing levels. 

Sessions can be cancelled, please email the office to do this - office.henley@gfpschools.org. Sessions cancelled more than 24 hours ahead will be refunded. 

Attendance

We are committed providing an education of the highest quality for all of our pupils, this can only be achieved by supporting and promoting excellent school attendance. Only by attending school regularly, and punctually, will children be able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. High attainment depends on good attendance. 

If your child is unwell, please call or email the office before 8:45am. Any child who has diarrhoea or vomits must wait 48 hours before the last instance of vomiting or diarrhoea before returning to school. We ask that non-emergency GP and dentist appointments are scheduled out of school hours as much as possible.

Lateness

Children who arrive at school after 8:45am are considered late and will be marked in the register as such. Children who arrive in school later than 9:00am will be marked as having an unauthorised absence. Persistent lateness can result in a penalty notice being issued. 

Holidays during term time

Parents considering a holiday during term time must complete an absence request form, available in reception. Holiday absences during term time can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Where a holiday is not authorised, consideration will be given to issuing a penalty notice. 

learning characteristics and learning pi

Our learning characteristics are areas of development that we believe are vital for pupils to gain the learning and life skills that they need to go on and lead active and fulfilled lives:

The learning characteristics are at the heart of everything we do. We intend for all children to develop the learning characteristics and to demonstrate these both in school and at home. 

PE 

Each class has one hour long PE lesson per week. Each class also spends an additional 15 minutes completing The Golden Mile each day. The Golden Mile is a mile long walk or run around the school field. 

Children can wear a t-shirt in their house colour for PE. Your welcome letter, which will be posted to you, will tell you which house your child is in. For information about PE kit, please see our uniform page

school meals 

Every child is entitled to Universal Free School Meals (UIFSM) until they reach Year 3. 

We serve two meal options each day, a meat option and a vegetarian or vegan option. We ask the children each morning which option they would like. We can cater for dietary needs and allergies. 

Alternatively, children can have a packed lunch. We are a nut free school - packed lunches and snacks must not contain any nuts. 

Although every child receives a free lunch until Year 3, if you are on a low income, please do consider applying for Free School Meals. This allows the school to access additional government funding which we can use to support your child's education. You can check eligibility and apply for Free School Meals on Suffolk County Council's website.

houses 

We have four houses named after local rivers; Gipping, Deben, Stour and Orwell. All children are assigned a house group when they join the school, details will be on your welcome letter. 

The children compete in these 4 house teams for PE, sports day, behaviour points and house point challenges. Points are collected by house captains and recorded weekly. House points are recorded weekly and displayed in the classrooms. 

House groups also work with the school council and pupil parliament team to help make decisions about the future of the school.

House colour t-shirts can be worn as part of PE uniform.

private music lessons

We work with an outside company, Band Academy, to offer private music lessons within school hours. 

They offer 1-1 lessons in guitar, ukulele, piano and singing.

These lessons are chargeable. For more information, visit Band Academy's website.

afterschool Enrichment activities 

We run a whole range of enrichment activities at Henley. These change each half term. 

There is a charge of £3.50 per session, which are booked in half termly blocks. 

You will receive an email at the end of the Summer Term which will tell you the clubs we have available for the Autumn term and how to book. 

facebook

Please take some time to look at our Facebook page. Our children take part in a lot of activities in school and much of this parents don't get to see. For this reason we keep parents updated on Facebook. 

If you're not on Facebook you can see what goes on in school on the News and Events page. 

asthma

If your child suffers from asthma we will need completed asthma plan. This plan gives us all the information we need to help your child manage their asthma in school. 

We ask that the plan is completed at your child's next review with their asthma nurse. You will receive a blank asthma plan in your welcome pack.