It’s been another busy week. Year 4 had a fantastic time at Butser Farm and it was a real treat to be able to join Years 4 and 5 on their ‘buddy day’. We were blessed with glorious weather, and it was a real opportunity for me to see the Schools' values in action. There was certainly a ‘zest for learning and a love of life’. The haze clearing over the beautiful downs and watching some of our new children seeing the view at Pewley Down for the first time really was ‘seeing heaven in the moment'. 

It was fantastic to see so many of you at the Meet the Team events this week and last, I hope you found the evening informative. Securing volunteers to take FOPS and HTSC forward for this academic year was vital for the continuation of our community events, thank you to those who bravely stepped forward. At the end of the evening, parents/carers were able to buy a chair or desk to enable the continuation of our furniture replacement programme. Thanks to your generosity, we raised approximately £1000 at HT and £700 at PD, an amazing start to the academic year!  

Exciting news - We are delighted at last to be able to confirm that thanks to very generous donations, the school now owns the field adjacent to the school, and the school is now free to use it as a wonderful, environmentally friendly space for education, accessing nature, and experiencing all the joy that this can bring. We are so excited to give our children this opportunity. It has taken a few years to make this a reality, and governors are hugely grateful to Steve Britain (a former governor) for his time, and to Hamish Ferguson and Gordons Solicitors in Guildford who have done all the legal work for the school pro bono. The school's plans for the field and how it is to be fenced and used will follow in due course.  

Having shared Pewley’s fantastic Ofsted report with you last week, I am delighted to be able to share the following BBC article with you. It is wonderful to see the school's success acknowledged and celebrated so widely! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7ymxmkn7zo  

We are in the rare position of having a few Year 3 spaces available. If you know anyone moving into the area, please encourage them to look at our website or contact the school.  

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Best wishes 

Vicky 

Thought of the week: "Love one another; as I have loved you". John 13:34 

Whole School

• 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

Harvest Fundraising

Following our first school council meeting of the year, our newly-elected representatives from each class have decided on our charitable fundraising focus for the term ahead. As usual, we're asking children to bring in items for a collection to be sent to North Guildford Food Bank on the day of our Harvest assembly, Wednesday 9^th October. Suitable items include dry or canned goods, as well as cleaning materials and toiletries. Please send any donations in with your child to the chapel on the morning of the assembly. It's always wonderful to see 

The school council have also voted to raise money for a local charity called Home Start Guildford. This organisation supports parents in our local area who have at least one child under 5 years and who are dealing with issues such as isolation, poor mental health, sickness, disability, domestic abuse and difficult relationships. If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, this can be done via Parentpay. Further details about the organisation can be found on their website: https://hsguildford.org.uk/

Thanks for your support in our fundraising efforts this year. 

E-Safety 

A big thank you to those of you who have fed back positively about our messages around keeping children safe online and mobile phone use. We are planning our first E-Safety focus group of the year and are keen for as many parents as possible to attend. Our first meeting will aim to find out priority areas for advice for our parents and carers, identify those in our school community with experience and expertise and make plans for the year ahead. Everyone is welcome, whether you are seeking advice on a particular concern, able to offer some expertise and insight or just keen to have your say in the direction we take as a school community. If you would like to attend the meeting, please register your interest by following the link below. We will try and build a consensus of when is most convenient and publish the date in advance. https://forms.office.com/e/AQFe6R4s0t

For those of you who were unable to make the Meet the Team evenings over the last two weeks, I wanted to make you aware of and organisation called Smartphone Free Childhood. This national movement aims to protect children from the harmful influence of smart phones, by engaging with parents and carers and encouraging them to join an agreement not to provide their children with smart phones until they are at secondary school, or older! If you would like to join the HTPD WhatsApp community for this organisation, the QR code below should sign you up so you can receive updates and advice from this excellent movement. The more parents and carers who say no to a smartphone during their child's primary school years, the easier it becomes for us all to say no!

Dogs

A gentle reminder that if you have a canine companion at drop off or pick up, please ensure they are on a lead in the roads surrounding the school sites.