Dear children, parents / carers,

What a wonderful start we’ve had to the new school year — it’s hard to believe that September and October have flown by so quickly! It has been such a busy and exciting term already, filled with rich learning experiences and opportunities for our children to be their best.

Many of our pupils have taken part in a range of enrichment activities, including visits to the Cheltenham Literature Festival and our Year 6 PGL residential — both of which were fantastic experiences and thoroughly enjoyed by the children, creating special memories for all of them. (Photos below.) A heartfelt thank you to all the staff who supported and made these opportunities possible.

I am also delighted to share some very special news about our school houses: Northgate, Eastgate, Westgate, and Southgate. Over the past few weeks, every child in the school has had the chance to design a house shield, and the creativity, thought, and pride shown in their designs have been truly inspiring. Each shield reflects the unique geographical location and history that our house names represent. After much careful consideration, four winning designs have been selected to represent our house teams. A huge well done and thank you to the children whose artwork will now become part of our school identity — and to every pupil who took part so enthusiastically. The shields will now be displayed in school, on our house displays, and during upcoming house events. 

Northgate - Peter Riley

Eastgate - Samuel Watson

Southgate - Seira Vipin

Westgate - Amelia Melody Trivess

Looking ahead, our school value for next term will be Resilience. Two of our pupils, Blossom Anuebu and Lucia Michalisko, have designed thoughtful logos that beautifully capture what resilience means to us here at Kingsholm. Their designs show examples of how we can keep going when things feel challenging, learn from our mistakes, and supporting one another to persevere. This value will be explored in depth through our worship and across the curriculum next term.

After the break, we look forward to more wonderful opportunities — celebrating festivals, sharing of achievements, and continuing to watch and support our children to grow.

I wish everyone a happy, restful, and safe half term, and I look forward to welcoming everyone back for another exciting chapter at Kingsholm.

Take care,

Mrs Hanson

Acting Headteacher Inclusion and Early Intervention

Kingsholm C of E Primary School and Nursery

Next term the value will be Resilience.  We asked the chidren to design a logo about what this value means to us at Kingsholm.

We received so many wonderful designs and as always it was very difficul to choose.

Well done to Blossom Anuebu who designed our lower school school ( KS1) and Lucia Michalisko who designed our upper school (KS2) value.  These will now be displayed on the website and our values displays.

The next value will be shared in due course and we will ask the children to design a new logo for this value too.

At Kingsholm, we recognise the importance of regular attendance. All pupils should attend school for every session that is available to them, unless the reason for their absence is one that meets the school’s criteria for authorising absences, e.g. illness, non-routine medical/dental appointments, religious observance.

Please ensure your children are in school every day, on time and ready to start learning.
We thank our Kingsholm family for all of your support and understanding of the importance of good, regular and punctual attendance.  

To help to improve attendance, here are some important key facts and reminders of how we can work together to be our best:

What is ‘regular’ attendance and why is it important?

• Being in school every day gives your child the best chance possible to achieve their potential.
• It is the local and national expectation that children attend school 100% of the time. However, it is important to note that we understand exceptional circumstances and that illness happens. 
• Children should attend school unless they are genuinely too ill to attend, or have the absence authorised by the Headteacher. 
• Parents and carers should only ask for a leave of absence from school in exceptional circumstances. These are defined as those that are rare, significant, unavoidable and short.

Authorised absence

You have informed the school that your child will not be in and the reason you have provided is acceptable. 

Unauthorised absence

Your child does not attend school and you have not informed us of the reason why, or the reason provided is not acceptable. 

Lateness

Pupils who are late for school miss vital learning time and disrupt the start of the day for others in the class and teachers. All pupils should be at school before the gate closes at 8:50am.

• The morning register is taken in the classroom at 8.50am. Any pupil arriving after 8.50am will be registered as late (L code) and the minutes of lateness will be recorded in the register.
• Any pupil who arrives later than 9.20am, without a legitimate reason, will be coded with a U code which is unauthorised. Regular unauthorised lateness can lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued.

What parents / carers can do to help promote good attendance:

• Make sure your child arrives at school on time every day.
• Follow the school’s procedures for notifying absence, and always let the school know of any days that your child is unable to attend.
• Take an interest in your child’s education.
• Ask them about their day and praise and encourage their achievements at school.
• If your child is missing school or is seemingly unhappy, you should discuss your concerns with your child.
• Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of them missing school, but be on the alert for any particular reasons for non-attendance, such as any problems with school work.
• Contact the school as soon as possible when a concern is identified so that we can work together to resolve any difficulties.
• Be willing to engage with any support offered by the school.

Legal Duty as a Parent / Carer

Once a child is registered at a school, the parent / carer has a legal duty to secure the regular attendance of that child. Failure to secure the regular attendance at school of a registered pupil is a criminal offence which can lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued or prosecution of the parents/carers in a magistrates’ court.

What should I do if I am struggling to get my child to school?

Please let us know. Your child’s health and wellbeing are important to us. We will work with you to offer appropriate support.

However, if you do not engage with the support the school has put in place and your child continues to have unauthorised absences you are at risk of a fixed penalty notice being issued by the Local Authority.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

How to contact the school office: Telephone 01452 530777 or email virtualoffice@kingsholm.gloucs.sch.uk

Weekly Year Group Attendance

Week beginning 13th October

Reception  89.9%
Year 1        94.2%
Year 2        94.6%
Year 3        94.1%
Year 4        95.3%
Year 5        94.3%
Year 6        95.2%
Whole School 94%   

Week beginning 20th October

Reception 87.4%
Year 1       92.6%
Year 2       95.6%
Year 3       94.1%
Year 4       90.3%
Year 5       92.6%
Year 6       93.9 %
Whole School 92.5%    

Hello families and friends,

What a fantastic end to this term at Forest School and Forest Families After School Club!  We've had all the weather,  with so much fun and learning.  We were thrilled to have so many parents and carers come to our Year 3 open mornings.   The children were so happy to have their adults there. Grown-ups were shown around by the children, learned the Forest School rules, tried out some of our bush craft equipment to make sparks, and helped their children with den building and investigations .  We used our celebratory fire to cook popcorn.

Amongst all this and with all the groups there have been gym sessions, climbing, using fire steels,  using the saw, working on making rain splashed flags, webs and learning more about resilience, patience, friendship, teamwork, community and how it feels to be a successful learner.

Wishing you all a happy and playful half term week.

With kind wishes

Kate Shepherd Forest School Leader

Forest School Plea -  We are in need of volunteers to help with our Forest school sessions.... If you could spare a few hours ( morning sessions - 9am - 11:45) ( afternoon sessions - 1:30pm - 2:55pm) we'd love to hear from you, please contact the school office.

• All day Tuesday
• Wednesday Morning
• Thursday morning
• Friday All day

PGL

A group of our Y6 children wanted to share with parents their thoughts on the PGL Residential (Monday 20th October - Wednesday 22nd)

It was amazing, exhilarating, exhausting, wet, calm and fun! Our favourite things were the giant swing, the sensory trail, the food, the silent disco and the hydration station. It was amazing to meet all the PGL staff they were really nice, friendly, helpful and kind. It was brilliant to be with our friends and sleep in dorms. We really got to know people better. We also found the courage to tackle high activities - once we got up there, there was no going back! We all really liked the gift shop too! We had a wonderful few days.

A huge thank you to the staff who accompanied the children - we know you always go above and beyond.

Non Residential Children Fun Days

Not all of our Y6 children went to PGL, but those who did not had 3 days of different activities in school and they also wanted to share some of the activities they did.

We made vanilla cupcakes, we did some stop motion, painting, made bracelets, had a special Forest School session, built fords outside and watched some movies. We had an amazing time and really enjoyed it. It was very fun. We really liked spending time together, we had snacks and even double bagels! It was a great experience.

We were delighted that Beth Anderson facilitated these different activities for the children every day. 

A huge WELL DONE to all our Year 4 children who performed brilliantly at the recent iSingPop concert. It was fanastic to see so many parents / carers in attendance to support the children. 

Thank you to all the children who took part in the Break the Rules Day today.  The children enjoyed their crazy hair and fake tattoos as well as brining in a toy and wearing non uniform jumper and trainers. We are still counting the final sum however, so far, we have raised............ £605.65

The PTFA have scheduled the following meetings which are always at 9-10 here at school and 6-7 at the Farmer's Club

• Wednesday 5th November
• Wednesday 3th December
• Wednesday 4th February

Have a lovely weekend and do get in touch if you are able to help.

PTA@kingsholm.gloucs.sch.uk

The PTFA

Our Year 3 children have been busy over the past few weeks creating lanterns which will feature in the forthcoming Lantern Parade that takes place on Saturday 15th November. 

Gloucester Lantern Parade - Christmas in Gloucester, Gloucester - Visit Gloucester

• School Photo Deadline for free delivery to school is Wednesday 5th November.  Orders after this date will incur a delivery charge to your home.
• Kingsholm Star Assembly will take place on Tuesday 4th November at 9.10 approximately in the Oak Hall - our first day back after half term
• Parental  Feedback Sessions - Wednesday 26th November 9am and 2.30pm. We are reinstating the once per long term opportunity to share information with parents and ask for their feedback on different aspects of school life. This is not an opportunity to discuss individual pupils, (Any queries still need to go via class staff), but a chance to look at school life generically. Everyone is invited, your thoughts matter and we want to shape future provision with you.
• Family Support. We appreciate for many these can be tricky times. Do get in touch if you have any worries about food, finances or housing and we will try and help. Please contact the Virtual Office - virtualoffice@kingsholm.gloucs.sch.uk
• Reminder - We wanted to share with you a brilliant app that has be brought to our attention Olio - Your Local Sharing App  It's been designed to help with saving money and it's eco friendly!  Beat waste with Olio: the app for finding what you need and sharing what you don’t with local people.