Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that everyone had a really great half-term holiday last week and a really purposeful and settled first week back; it is a shame we have 'lost the weather' somewhat, but hopefully sunnier times are only just around the corner. 
This week, you may have noticed a new staff member on site, please join me in welcoming Miss R Jackson to Halley House and, more specifically, to Sharman Class - please do help in making her feel most welcome at our lovely school. 
Miss Jackson will typically be in class teaching Sharman Class for four of the five days each week, and Miss E Waite (DHT) will teach the fifth day. 
Following feedback from parents, there are some additional changes happening to the behaviour processes at the school...

1) The Introduction of a full House System
We are introducing a full 'House System' this term (...think 'Harry Potter' and 'House Captains' etc. etc). 
This means the children will be divided into one of four houses, with family groups in the same house. We will use the colours of red, blue, green and yellow to represent the houses and they will be given special names around a chosen central theme (E.g. authors or mountains etc. etc. etc.) Each house will have a dedicated year six captain who will update the school on 'running totals of house points' each week. 
Essentially when a child earns one DoJo point, they will also get one house point as well. 
This means we can increase the number of rewards children are getting for good behaviour and good work. 
We really want all children, who show good behaviour each and every single day, to be rewarded far more frequently and in a much bigger way. 
At the end of the school year, there will be an annual house shield presented to the winning team. 
For now, please talk to your children about potential 'names' for the houses - there is a suggestion box in my office and I would love some ideas as to what to call our new houses. 
2) 'Restorative Justice Time' (i.e. frequent and small consequences) for any poor behaviour
We are also introducing more consequences into our practice here at school - should the children show poorer behaviour. 
Essentially, if a child is showing behaviour that falls short of our very high standards, they receive a non-verbal 'cue' and then a verbal warning, before then having a 'needs work' Dojo marked on their DoJo profile (which you can all see and track). 
If a child were to have two (or more) of these (the... needs work DoJos) in any one day, then they will miss a small proportion of their free time (either playtime or lunchtime). 
This will be five minutes for the infants (yrN, yrR, yr1, yr2), ten minutes for lower Key Stage Two (yr3, yr4) and fifteen minutes for upper Key Stage Two (yr5, yr6) each time. 
The time will be spent 'putting right what went wrong' or 'restoring the justice'... (e.g. tidying-up if they made a mess, fixing equipment if needed and able-to, finishing-off work, saying sorry or writing a letter of apology, practicing lining up etc. etc. etc.), or simply talking about the issue at hand...and the right course of action to take, or even just reflecting upon the incorrect choices that were made. 
This is to 'teach' the behaviours we need to see, from all children, moving forwards and for us to do so more swiftly than before. 
We will trial this over the coming weeks and months, and monitor the impact of our work. 
It is my vision for Halley to be a calm and orderly place, where deep, meaningful and enriched learning happens because of the strong relationships and positive environment that we nurture overtime. 
As ever, thank you for your ongoing support - this is an incredibly special school and I am very optimistic about the coming months and years ahead, here at Halley. 
Mr Mills-Bishop
Headteacher
Halley House School