The school calendar is filling up with exciting trips and visits. This week, Year 6 spent Monday afternoon at Surrey University Research Park, learning about the wide variety of careers available to those interested in healthcare. The children learnt about the role of dieticians, radio therapists, music therapists, occupational therapists, healthcare assistants and podiatrists. This gave the children an exciting insight into a world of careers that they may not previously have been aware of. Years 3 and 6 had a very successful Buddy Day today, where they got the chance to know each other during a walk through the Chantries before stopping to play games and take part in nature art and team building challenges. The teachers enjoyed hearing the supportive and encouraging conversations between the Year 6 children and their buddies throughout the day - well done to Year 6 for being great role models! Next week, we’re looking forward to all the new children in Reception coming in for their first full week. Year 4 are heading off to Butser Ancient Farm on Monday and we are hoping for a dry day on Thursday for Year 4 and Year 5’s Buddy Walk to the Chantries.  

Thank you for making a real effort with the parking at drop off and pick up. You might have noticed that we have had visits from Surrey County Council Road Safety Officers and our Health and Safety Govenor this week. Whilst there have been some improvements, following a near miss last week, we will continue our strenuous efforts to encourage parents and carers to consider the safety of children, and to be considerate to residents.  We will continue to work with SCC to ensure the safety of all and ask for your continued co-operation by not stopping in the middle of the road to let your children out of the car, or parking on pavements, double yellow lines or the zig-zags. If you are not the regular person picking your child up, please could you pass this message on to other caregivers – thank you. 

The school is committed to ensuring the snacks children eat in school are healthy and do not contribute to litter around the school grounds. This is not a new initiative; however, the beginning of the school year is always a good time to remind the children of this and press re-set. Some suggestions of suitable snacks include: fruit, vegetables, savoury items, healthy muffins/flapjacks etc. The following snacks are not suitable in school: crisps, sweets, cakes, biscuits, fruit winders or other snacks containing largely refined sugars. In a bid to keep our school tidy and do our bit for the environment, we ask that packaged snacks are not sent into school. Please remember when baking, that no nuts are allowed on site. Thanks for your support in keeping us a healthy school! 

As you will be aware, the Ofsted inspection took place at Pewley before the summer holidays. I am delighted to be able to share the report with you; it will also be published on the official Ofsted website. The report really captures the essence of the school, with the pupils saying their time at school is ‘joyful’ and the inspectors saw first-hand how our values are at the heart of the school’s work. Being graded as ‘Outstanding’ in all areas is absolute testament to the relentless hard work of Clare and the team. Despite the challenges of last year, the happiness, welfare and provision of high-quality education always remained the priority.  We won’t rest on our laurels and have plans across the whole school to continue building on these strengths. 

One final note, as we seem to be having all four seasons each day, please ensure your child brings a coat to school, we love using our fabulous outside grounds! 

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Vicky 

Thought of the week: We are all unique - Psalm 139 v14 “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”  

WHOLE SCHOOL

A reminder of school start and finish times:

• Pewley Down (infants) starts at 8.30am and finishes at 3.00pm.
• Holy Trinity (juniors) starts at 8.35am for Years 3 & 4; 8.40am for Years 5 & 6 and finishes at 3.15pm.

Dates for the Diary

• Wednesday 23 October – Early Finish PD pick-up at 1.15pm, HT pick-up at 1.30pm
• Thursday 24 and Friday 25 October – INSET days
• Monday 28 October – Friday 1 November – Half term holidays
• Monday 4 November– Children back to school

Keeping Children Safe Online & Mobile Phone Policy 

In line with the nationwide movement to protect children's childhood, at HTPD we are strongly recommending that children are not bought a smart phone while they are in primary school and hopefully for some time afterwards too! The more of the school community that agrees with this philosophy, the less of an issue peer pressure becomes and the easier it becomes for parents to say no to a mobile phone while their children are in primary school. As a school we are determined that we can reset children's expectations regarding technology and create a new normal, whereby children are free to enjoy rich and varied lives, build relationships and learn essential skills, without the distraction of smart phones. I have attached a useful one-page guide to this newsletter, with some useful tips for managing children's use of technology you may already have at home. 

It has been pleasing to see the numbers of children bringing a phone to school dwindle over the last few years to almost none. In line with our local partners at secondary schools, we have now reviewed our policy. Children's phones are not allowed in school unless there are extenuating circumstances that require this. If you feel this applies to your child, please email me (vickye@htpd.surrey.sch.uk) with an explanation of why this is the case. Any phones that are given permission will only be allowed to be feature phones (non-smart phones) and must be left at the office for the duration of the school day. Please note, smart watches with messaging or photography capability are also not allowed in school, even if these features have been disabled. We appreciate your support in this update to our policy. Please contact Tom Everard, our Esafety lead, if you have any queries or would like to discuss anything related to keeping children safe online. He can be reached on tome@htpd.surrey.sch.uk