HH Newsletter S1 w4

A Message From Mr Mills-Bishop

Dear Parents and Carers,
This past week has been another great week at Halley House, supporting children to live the school values in all they do; KS2 were all out on Monday afternoon for their 'Outdoor Adventures' forest schools program, swimming continues in earnest, we had a number of pupils out at the cross country festival with coach and even a small number of children taking part in a Spanish workshop at the Southbank Centre with the British Film Institute.
The children have been very welcoming to me since I joined, and our assembly time has been incredibly special. In 'whole-school' assemblies so far, we have been looking at the Halley values of 'Helpful and Kind' and have been playing some simple games to understand what this looks like . Please do ask the children about these assemblies and what they can remember from them. This week, specifically, we looked at independence and launched a 'learning behaviours initiative' called '3 Bs before the boss!' - The '3Bs' are... book, board, buddy and then the 'boss'. This means we wish for children to use their recorded learning (book), the information on the white board and their peers (buddy) to problem solve independently, before seeking adult intervention. This way they will learn to be resilient learners who make good progress overtime.
Next week in assembly we are looking at behaviour, and in particular, transitions around the school and how we ensure we are ready for learning after doing less 'unstructured' activities like playtime/lunchtime.
To support the school and the children to behave at their very best, please also remind them (as we will) about our DoJo system.

Children are given one 'positive' DoJo for general good behaviour and two DoJos for directly displaying the school values.

After a non-verbal cue and then a verbal warning, if poor behaviour persists, then staff issue a ‘needs work’ DoJo to children. This includes at playtimes, lunchtimes and during transitions (e.g. around site). If children get 8 of these in the same week, then they miss 'DoJo time' on a Friday afternoon.

DoJo Rewards -

50 ‘positive’ DoJos = a message home
200 DoJos = Bronze certificate
500 DoJos = Silver certificate
850 DoJos = Diamond certificate
1000 DoJos = Platinum certificate

I am really looking forward to issuing some DoJos myself over the coming weeks :-)
On a different note, it has been very valuable talking with you all, in various ways, to gather everyone' views on the work of the school so far and how we can further work together to make Halley House a truly excellent learning environment for all children.
Following our meetings, I now plan to offer some further ‘surgery times’ after the half-term break, where parents can come and meet with me on a one-to-one basis.
These dates/times are as follows:
Friday 23rd February 2024 - 9.30am to 11.30am
Thursday 29th February 2024 - 9.00am to 11am
If you wish to attend, please pop by reception and I will see people on a 'first-come-first-served-basis' - so, you simply take a ticket and then we can have a chat 'in turn'. I will, however, need to keep meetings to 10 minutes each.
As a final reminder: the official deadline for new parents and carers to apply for a reception school place (for September 2024) has now indeed passed. However, if you know of anyone who may have missed this deadline (or could be interested in our lovely school), then please do recommend Halley House to your friends, family members, work colleagues and neighbours; there is still a chance they could get a spot. Some of our other classes also have a limited number of (in-year) spaces available. Filling the school with new pupils is key to our growth and your help with this is ever-so important.
Thank you for your support.
Mr Mills-Bishop

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