Dear Families
Thank you to everyone who came to our Parent/Guardian evenings this week and thank you for supporting our book fair. It was lovely to see the school buzzing in the evening and it was also lovely to hear all of the positive comments about what we are doing. I know that I have said it before, but I am one very lucky Headteacher to be leading such an incredible team of teachers and brilliant children. As always, please do not wait for a parents’ evening if you ever have any questions, concerns or simply think that there is something we should know about your child – our Class Dojo and doors are always open.
Assembly – Be you. Be Proud – Launching Anti bullying week
We started the week with a very important assembly as it launched our Anti-bullying week. Mrs Roberts and Mrs Boswell led the assembly which had the theme Power for Good. We have a zero tolerance to bullying here at EHPS and whilst we teach children about kindness, respect and tolerance we also teach them about the consequences of unkindness and our behaviour policy. During the assembly the children learnt the definition of bullying - a negative experience that happens "Several Times On Purpose," and what we should do about it "Start Telling Other People," our STOP messages. We explored the differences between bullying and unkindness. We also looked at the Antibullying Alliance's initiative "using your power for good" and discussed many different ways to use our power for good. These messages will be followed up in PSHE+C lessons and classroom community time this week.
As a school we recognise the importance of dealing with such incidents quickly and appropriately. If your child feels that they, or another is being treated unkindly please encourage them to speak to a school adult about this.
If you have any questions about our approach to bullying please do not hesitate to ask and for more information please see our Anti-Bullying and Behaviour policies.
Child-friendly Anti - bullying policy
Interfaith Assembly
https://www.interfaithweek.org
This week also ended with an assembly to celebrate Interfaith Week which is all about celebrating the incredible diversity of faith and belief across the UK. The purpose of the week is to strengthen interfaith relations, foster mutual understanding, and showcase the invaluable contributions of faith communities. We are so proud of our ever changing diverse school community and we are working hard to ensure everyone feels represented, valued and that they belong.
In the assembly, the children learned about what it means to be a part of a community and what helping in the community could look like. The children were taught that, during Interfaith week, the world community thinks about how religious and non-religious communities can work together, be friendly and help others.
A poetry competition was also launched:
- Everyone who enters will get 5 house points.
- There will be lots of exciting prizes and certificates for individuals and the school.
- Poems must be 10 lines OR LESS.
- Children will need to give teachers their poem by Fri 21st November.
- Entries will be looked judged by our school RE lead, Rachel Ford, and we will select one entry from KS1 and one from KS2 which will be sent in to the Interfaith Week team to judge nationally.
Celebration assemblies will continue to be at the end of the terms but we are changing them slightly to provide time to celebrate outside awards. Therefore, if your child has received a certificate, trophy or something that they are very proud of, please speak to their class teacher who will let you know when to bring it in and then we can celebrate it during the assembly.
Reading, Handwriting and Phonics Workshop
On Tuesday, our amazing reception staff opened their classroom doors for the parents and carers to watch a phonics lesson and ‘see how we do it’ here. They then had a special information session with Rachael Stryjek – our phonics and Early Years Leader. We hope that these sessions are useful in guiding our families on the way we teach children to read but also how they can help at home.
Our next reading information session is on:
- Year 1 (Phonics Test) 10th February 2026 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Positive Noticing Day
On Wednesday, it was one of our favourite days – Positive Noticing Day. The children spent the first part of the morning learning about the power of kindness, each other’s brilliance and then writing a tag which positively noticed something about themselves and someone else. It was lovely to see the children wear their tags with such pride and feel ‘positively noticed.’
Thank you for your continued support and I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Pennington