Howley Grange Primary School

Dear Howley families,

As this half term draws to an end, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your support since the start of the academic year. During the last 8 weeks, we have had the honour of welcoming our fabulous new Reception children and their families to our school. We have also helped and supported all our children to settle into their new classes and make super progress, which we very much enjoyed sharing with you at our recent Parents’ Evenings. Thank you to all of you who booked appointments and attended, we really do value working in partnership with our families and know that when home and school work closely together, we achieve the very best for our children.

As ever, our brilliant staff team have worked incredibly hard throughout the last 8 weeks. They have really enjoyed getting to know their new classes and families, and whilst everyone most definitely needs a well-deserved break next week, they have been making lots of exciting plans for the coming half term. I thank them all for their support, care and kindness. They truly are the very best of teams.

I must also send my deepest thanks to our Chair of Governors, Spencer Wigley. After an astonishing 14 years on our Governing Body, the last 10 of which have been as Chair, Spencer has made the very difficult decision to leave the Board. Governors are volunteers and yet have such enormous responsibility. I admire anyone who takes on the role and to do so for such a long time demonstrates his unwavering commitment to our school. On behalf of his fellow Governors, our staff team and especially myself, I would like to wholeheartedly thank Spencer for his hard work and support- he will be sorely missed by us all.

Autumn 2 is one of my favourite times in school as our families join us for celebrations and our PTA run some fantastic events for our children. We have much to look forward to on our return to school on the 3rd November. In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone a lovely half term break filled with fun, laughter and time to relax!

Take care,

Miss Lewis

Reading round Howley

Accelerated Reader

We are already on our way to beating last month’s results so please keep encouraging your child to read and quiz over the half term holiday too. So far in October, as a school we have read 411 books and 2,947,851 words - which is amazing.

Your child can access their account using the following link:

https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/6702136

and log on using their username and password. You will also be able to see how close they are to achieving this half term’s targets.

500 Words competition

The BBC’s 500 Words is the UK’s biggest children’s writing competition for ages 5– 11. Children are invited to write an original story in 500 words or fewer—any genre, any topic!

The competition closes on 7^th November so there is still time to enter. Winners will have their stories read by celebrities and celebrated at a special event, with amazing prizes up for grabs. For more information follow this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/500-words

Farshore Funny Fest

Farshore are organising a children's half-term event at the Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham on Sunday 2^nd November. The event is suitable for children aged 6+ and their families.

The festival sees bestselling storytellers from across the country come together for hilarious sessions, including Beano’s Directors of Mischief and Mayhem Mike Stirling and Craig Graham, and Betty and the Yeti comic creator Hugh Raine.

It will also see appearances from Birmingham locals Farhana Islam (author of The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood) and Laura Howell (Beano artist and illustrator of Minnie).

Ticket prices are subsidised, and each child gets a goody bag with a free book too, so it's a really affordable and fun day out for everyone.

Click on the link below for more information and to book tickets:

https://macbirmingham.co.uk/farshore-funnyfest

School Council

Exciting news - we are now a ‘Smart School Council’!

Over the last couple of weeks, Mrs North and the year 5 and 6 school councillors have received training to become a ‘Smart School Council’. The focus is upon all young people at Howley Grange having their voice heard through a new interactive class meeting.

There are three clear steps: Be Heard, Take a Lead, and Make Change.

Every two weeks, each class will participate in a class discussion and submit their votes so that Miss Lewis, Mrs North and the teachers can have a good look at the results and plan any actions.

We can’t wait to have our first ‘class meeting’ after half term! We’ll share our question and results with you so watch this space!

We will also be voting for a new year 3 and year 4 councillors before Christmas.

Poppy Appeal 2025

From Monday 3rd November we will be selling poppies and other poppy merchandise in support of the British Legion Poppy Appeal. We have poppies, snap bands, poppy reflectors, ribbons and stickers. There are no suggested donation amounts so if you would like your child to buy something to support the appeal, you can give as much or as little as you wish. We suggest that younger children could bring their donations in a named envelope.

Children will be offered the opportunity to buy items during the school day. We have been given limited stock and when it's gone, it's gone.

Noticeboard

We are often asked to share information with you via email about various local clubs and activities and you would be inundated with emails if we shared them all. Instead, we will use the noticeboard on the side of the building between the pond and the field to display posters which we think may be of interest to you.

Please have a look next time you are passing!

My School Fund

If you shop and Sainsburys or Argos and pay using a debit or credit card, you could be helping to raise funds for school as well as receiving e-gift cards for yourself.

School receives 1% as credit to spend with one of our suppliers and you receive 2% of your spend as vouchers for the retailer of your choice.

We have just 29 participating parents who have received rewards of £308 between them, and school have accrued £154 to spend on resources.

We want to encourage as many of you as possible to sign up so we can maximise the benefits to school.

All you need to do is register the card or cards you usually pay with, nominate Howley Grange as your chosen recipient and My School Fund takes care of the rest.

More details can be found here:

Welcome to My School Fund

We hope you will consider joining the scheme as school funding is tighter than ever, and every little helps!