Dear Families,
Following a half term where we have focused on the value of generosity, we have experienced this
in abundance from our whole school community. As you know, the combined total to send to
Nathan at LAB Charity was £200 and we were also able to send items to the York Foodbank. This
week, we packed our Christmas boxes. As always, our children got so much from this activity,
carefully packing gift boxes, with love, for families much less fortunate than us. As a result of this
event yesterday, we were able to send more than 40 boxes, combined, from both our schools. These
gifts will be blessed before they begin their journey. Thank you so much for your kindness.

Another act of kindness we would like to give thanks for are the actions of one of our parents who
spent numerous hours tidying up the front of the school for us. They have also offered to fill the
spaces with more plants and I am sure you will agree it looks so much better – thank you!

As Christmas approaches, you may be managing requests for technology from your children. As
technology continues to advance, we are forced to keep reviewing our processes in terms of
managing privacy. Smart watches and mobile phones present challenges. We don’t allow children to
have mobile phones in school and we have measures in place to control the use of smart watches.
Children should not be wearing watches in school which allow them to make or receive calls or texts.
They should also not be able to make recordings, audio or video. This also extends to adults in the
school setting, no recording of events, meetings etc should take place without the permission of all
involved. I thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

Before we begin a new half term, I thought this would be a good opportunity to issue a reminder
about the timings of the school day. We register our children, in both schools before 9am as lessons
begin promptly at 9am. This is frequently a reading or phonics-based activity. As this often involves
children moving classrooms for group work, if a pupil is late, it not only affects their learning, but the
progress of the group. In both schools the gates are open at 8:45, giving ample time for the admin
matters to be taken care of. At Warthill, the school day ends at 3:15 and at Sand Hutton 3:20. If
children leave Sand Hutton on buses, please also be reminded of the need to be at the bus stop to
collect at the time issued by the transport provider.

Thank you to everyone who attended Parents’ Evenings this week. It is always a great chance to
catch up. Thank you too, if you made a purchase at the book fair. If you haven’t had a chance to look
at the books, it will still be available before or after school on Monday 3rd November. Commission
on the book fair means that our children benefit in school long after the book fair has left. Many
thanks!

Thank you to all pupils who entered the competition to win a Scholastic Book voucher at
Sand Hutton. Isaac and Ellery shared the prize with a wonderful idea to enjoy a book and
give back to school. Well done to both boys for making a shining example of our Collective
Worship theme of generosity.

Just a little something to get excited about for the week we return to school. Some of you
may remember our previous visit from Richard O’Neill, (now MBE), the Romani Storyteller.
We enjoyed his entertaining storytelling and his books.

As such a highly respected published author, we are really privileged to be inviting him to
return to our schools. He wrote us the most moving letter of praise for our children and the
inclusive ethos of our schools when he visited before and he is looking forward to his return.
This will be taking place in both schools on Thursday 6th November. Be excited! It will be
fabulous!

Thank you to Sand Hutton PTA for a super disco on Wednesday night and please look out for dates
for the Christmas Events in a separate communication.

Please stay safe over half term and enjoy whatever you have planned.
We look forward to seeing everyone fit and well on Monday 3rd November.

With every best wish,
Beverley Pawson
Headteacher
Sand Hutton and Warthill Federated Schools

Dear Families,
We have had another very busy week in both our schools. After a lovely sharing assembly last week at Sand Hutton, this morning it was the turn of the children at Warthill to celebrate their values and achievements. Well done everyone!

Thank you to both our school communities for sharing in our Harvest celebrations. Should you still wish to support one of our named charities this year, the York Foodbank and LAB Charity, you can still send in a donation of food for the foodbank or a monetary donation for LAB. We will be able to send in the region of £200 and Nathan is preparing a video for our children. We are grateful on their behalf. I would also like to thank all the children and staff for their meaningful and entertaining services.

Should you not have already done so, can I please remind you to make an appointment for Parents’ Evenings next week. As we did last Autumn, we have also invited a scholastic book fair to leave books for perusal; maybe some early Christmas shopping? Communication about this should have arrived in a separate letter. The children will get the chance to look at the books during school time too.

Talking of books, I have a book related matter to share with you. We know that many families find ways to celebrate birthdays and other events with whole classes by way of bringing sweets or cakes to share. We have always seen great care and kindness shown to pupils with dietary requirements etc so that all children are able to share in this ‘party’ at the end of the day. At Warthill this often involves sweeties at the gate for the whole school. However, recent published guidance from the DFE has made specific reference to this practice. As a result, we are expected to create specific policies which outlines a change in guidelines. I would like to do so, without losing the excitement that children share when celebrating birthdays in school with friends:

Celebrations

Many families like to celebrate their child’s birthday and other special events by bringing in a cake or sweets to the setting to share. This can mean that some children are eating these unhealthy foods several times a week. The food and nutrition policy could include recommendations for special events to ensure any food brought in from home is balanced and meets the setting’s food guidelines (for example recommending fruit platters to share or non-edible options to celebrate with such as bubbles or stickers).

The above is lifted directly from this new DFE document. In school we wanted to help find alternatives (while stressing that there is absolutely no pressure to send in anything to celebrate a birthday). Our children get really excited about new books in their classrooms. We would like to invite you to purchase or new book or send in money towards the purchase of a new book (we often buy preloved books from https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb) instead of spending money on sweets and unhealthy treats. Should you be interested in doing so, your child’s class teacher will be able to provide you with a book wish list to encourage the selection of the best quality texts and avoid duplication etc. We will then share the new book with the class and celebrate the reason for its arrival.

Thank you in advance for your understanding in this matter. This of course may impact on decisions we make regarding fund raising activities such as bake sales.

A final celebration of sporting achievements. Well done boys from both schools who played in the Year 5/6 tournament last week. A further well done to all those who took part in the cross country this week and to those who cheered on their friends! Great effort everyone. And…. an extra special well done to Thomas who goes through to the next round!

Before I finish the letter today, there are a couple of dates to remind you of:
Wednesday 22nd October: Warthill Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 22nd October: Sand Hutton PTA Halloween disco
Thursday 23rd October: Sand Hutton Parents’ Evening
Thursday 23rd October: Schools close for half term at the usual time
Monday 3rd November: Schools reopen
Monday 3rd November: Flu Vaccinations in both schools

Next week is our mindfulness week and we will be packing our Christmas boxes on Monday, ready for them to begin their journey, following a church blessing. Many thanks for the donations we have already received.

With every best wish,
Beverley Pawson
Headteacher
Sand Hutton and Warthill Federated Schools

Dear Families,
I hope that you have enjoyed the return of the sunshine this week as we have. It is also wonderful to have staff well at last. Long may it continue!

As you may be aware, at the beginning of the school year, the Governors and I agree a set of priorities for school development over the coming academic year, forming the basis for a continuous cycle of improvement. Throughout the year these priorities are monitored by me and subject leaders, as well as members of the governing body. This is overseen by the senior education adviser from the Local Authority and this will be Julie Pattison again this year. Some of you may have met her at the school gate in previous years.

These priorities include:• Taking on board, in practice, the findings from the governments writing framework; focusing on handwriting and spelling in order to improve writing stamina
• Developing strategies to further improve resilience within our school community
• Maintaining the investment made in Art, Music and French last year and further developing these areas
• Implementing the new RE curriculum
• Improving the ‘working scientifically’ aspect of Science
• This is as well as building on any previous areas we have identified so as to ensure sustained improvement for the benefit of all our pupils and the wider school community. We have also decided to embrace the LAB Charity motto into our own to cement the link between us. The Best We Can Be to Learn Achieve and Become.

I would like to thank all the children (and the adults) who went to Eureka this week. What a fabulous time we had. The day seemed to end far too soon and I must share that our children’s good manners were praised by the staff making us all very proud! It was also exciting to take the visit with both schools together, forging links between the children and staff in both settings.

Please could I make a plea around break time snacks and ask that these are healthy choices such as fruit or cereal bars. We are seeing increasing numbers of crisps and chocolate biscuits. I also wonder if these are taken from packed lunches and you are equally unaware that these at being consumed at break times.

Just a couple of reminders re term dates. This half term ends on a Thursday. School closes on Thursday 23rd October at the usual time. However, when we finish each full term, Christmas, Easter and the end of the school year at 2pm. If you are new to the school, this may be something that you are unaware of.

Finally, we know how much our children enjoy learning at home. They are increasingly able to use technology to help practise or understand facts, concepts and mathematical algorithms. Across both settings, we are noticing a growing number of pupils using methods not supported by our calculation policy. While this may not seem to be too problematic if they arrive at the right answer as a result, our calculation policy is aligned with the written methods for the end of KS2 arithmetic test. Taking short cuts can lead to misconceptions
and confusion, or result in not being awarded marks through the strict mark scheme applied to the KS2 test process. While we are pleased about the keenness to learn out of school, if you know that your child is using some YouTube or other method to practise at home, it would be helpful to check the method in school so that this doesn’t complicate learning unnecessarily. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a lovely weekend,
With every best wish,
Beverley Pawson
Headteacher
Sand Hutton and Warthill Federated Schools

Dear Families,

Many thanks again for your understanding over the last two weeks with regards to staff sickness, which has affected both settings, and the power cut at Sand Hutton which impacted school lunches. I am hoping the situations will be more settled moving forwards.

I would like to share, as I always do at this time each year, some national figures relating to school absence and the impact on outcomes for pupils. Graphs showing the impact of school absence demonstrate that there’s a negative correlation between absence and educational attainment, with persistent absence leading to significantly lower achievement levels in key stages. Graphs also track the overall trend of school absence rates, showing a rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a gradual decrease, though rates remain
higher than pre-pandemic levels. While we obviously wouldn’t want unwell children in school, for themselves or the welfare of others, we would ask you to consider the impact of taking time out of school in term time for other reasons and how this impacts cumulatively over time.

I am also sharing the link to the updated Government information around this subject. (I am well
aware or the irony of the timing of this following the staff sickness crisis of the last couple of weeks
and the subsequent impact this may have had on families and apologize again for any
inconvenience.)

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-inengland/2024-25-autumn-term

Many thanks to the Sand Hutton PTA for their kind postponement of the Big Help Out last weekend,
allowing staff to rest after a somewhat unusual week!

In more cheerful matters, I hope those of you who attended the Robinwood celebration at Sand Hutton today enjoyed the photographs and stories. I would like to say, again, just what great ambassadors for our schools your children were and how much we enjoyed spending those three days with them! In the same vein, I am really looking forward to spending the day at Eureka with the Infant Class from Warthill and Class 1 from Sand Hutton the week after next. It is always a real treat of a trip at Eureka! I am also thrilled at the idea that both our schools will be sharing this experience together. Thank you to both our PTAs for lending some financial support for the bus for this event and Robinwood. So often the cost of the coach is the most expensive part of any visit and we are so very lucky to have this subsidised in this way.

I hope that you have something lovely planned for the weekend ahead and look forward to a more settled week ahead.

With every best wish,

Beverley Pawson

Headteacher

Sand Hutton and Wrathill Federated Schools

Dear Families,

Is it only the end of week two? What residential visit? When is it the weekend?

No seriously, what a fantastic week two. I know we have some tired children heading into this weekend (and staff) but what a few days we had (with ALMOST amazing weather!)

From the outset, the children made us all so very proud! They walked up the looooong hill to arrive for lunch and their first activities. Despite the horizontal rain, just before tea, everyone got stuck in. The focus of our visit was resilience and teamwork and we saw it in plenty! Every single pupil and teacher pushed themselves outside of their comfort zone and ended each challenge with a sense of achievement. Thank you so much for entrusting your children to us and thank you to all the staff who made the visit possible either in the planning, accompanying or covering. We can’t wait to go again! We hope to be able to share some photos and videos with you soon. I am quite sure you will want to go yourself!

Sharing today at Sand Hutton set us all up for the day and we look forward to seeing many of you at Warthill next week for more of the same.

Dates for your diary:

Please note that going forwards Mrs Roughley will not be in the school office on Wednesdays at Sand Hutton.

Sunday 21^st September: PTA Big Help Out at Sand Hutton. Everyone is welcome!

Monday 22^nd September: Individual school photos

Next week, we are looking forward to a more ‘usual’ week! Have a great weekend everyone!

Sand Hutton will have library on Tuesdays

With every best wish,

Beverley Pawson

Headteacher

Sand Hutton and Warthill Federated Schools