School News

Advice for Parents

Please take a look at the poster below, which guides parents on what to do should your child fall ill during the period affected by COVID-19.

Live Learning Spring 2020

A somewhat truncated set of Live Learning sessions this term due to the enforced closure as a consequence of COVID-19. Despite that, we had a really good turnout at the lessons for Years 2, 3 and 5 - thank you very much and we hope you enjoyed them (your feedback below certainly seems to suggest that was the case).

Until we can open our doors to share more fantastic learning with you, please take care and staff safe.

Live Learning - Summer 2019

Once again, a big thank you to all of you who have been to support our Live Learning sessions - the children really enjoy your participation in their education.  There have been some large attendances this term, with our ever-enjoyable Year 6 Memory Book session proving particularly popular.

Thank you for all of your wonderful feedback and for your three-word summaries, all of which has been gathered together in the document below

More Live Learning next term.

Eco Discovery Bus Project, an update!

• Lovely outcome from Leadership Day is attached, to help plan provision.
• Meanwhile Y6 have collated Pupil Forum votes and the wrap will be white on a blue background, including many designs by the children and logos from our PCL and F & F Tesco sponsors.
• The concrete base is funded by PCL, via our new Governor Paula Stenning.
• F&F have provided a generous £4,000 this is likely to fund the wrap, releasing more school funds to maintain the bus in the longer term.
• Parental donations total contributions are £537.07 from individuals and Christmas collections.
• Our PSA have agreed to donate up to £3,000, if required: this will contribute towards resources including at least  2 scopes for wildlife and planet or star gazing and binoculars which will subsidise parental contributions above.
• Dad Dan Clarke has helped review space and design so that seats upstairs are being removed for space and tables for a full class to be available upstairs. 
• Facilities team are meeting with Mrs Massey to consider storage and additional resourcing before the end of term

All systems steaming ahead for this exciting initiative, instigated due to consultancy funds from our Conference involving many staff and additional Senior leadership traded roles beyond Howe Dell.

Live Learning

Our Live Learning sessions proved as popular as ever this Spring with good turn outs and fantastic feedback from each year group.

Thank you all once again for attending and sharing your child's learning - we hope to see as many of you back with us in the Summer Term.

Debbie Cole recognised as Outstanding Governor of the Year!

Highlight of the week is the exciting news announced on Saturday morning at the Annual Governors' Conference that our wonderful Chair Debbie Cole is indeed recognised as Outstanding Governor of the Year.

Twitter Quotes..

"Outstanding Governor Award for Debbie Cole who leads governance of Outstanding School and Outstanding Day Care at Howe Dell. Well Deserved.

Congratulations from the Howe Dell Family. Mrs M"

"Thank you everyone for your support today and of course for the nomination. So pleased to be part of this amazing school and helping to make a difference. Outstanding" Debbie Cole.

Live Learning Sessions - Autumn 2018

Thank you once again to all of you who joined us for our Live Learning sessions this term - we hope you all enjoyed them and judging by your feedback you certainly have. Over 50 families joined us to share and experience their children's learning. Your feedback is always welcomed and we have compiled this into a table and wordle, both of which are included as attachments to the Newsletter.

Please watch out for future Live Learning dates which will be announced in your child's Class Newsletter, due out on 14th January.

Once again we will be participating in the Mathletics Numeracy Challenge, which this year will run from 19th to 25th November.

Children can score points by competing against each other or by completing curriculum challenges.

For the first time this year, certificates will be awarded in assembly to the child from each class who scores the most points across the week.

Please encourage your child to participate - you never know, it might just be them who earns the certificate.

National Young Mathematicians' Award 2018

Once again, a team of Year 6 children represented Howe Dell in this year's NYMA competition, held by Explore Learning in conjunction with the University of Cambridge. The children had a great afternoon solving a four-stage puzzle set specifically for the event. Well done to the team: Fahima, Pranav, Alex and Victor.

Mathletics

In case you were wondering what your child may be missing out on by not having access to Mathletics, why not take a look at the video below which will give you a brief introduction.  There's also a separate clip showing the thoughts of the University of Oxford on the benefits for children who use Mathletics.

Bought directly from Mathletics by a parent, a single child subscription would cost £59. Through Howe Dell, you can have both Mathletics and Marvellous Me for your child for a combined fee of only £10.

Live Learning

Thank you to all of you who turned up to our Live Learning sessions last term - the attendance was amazing. Your feedback, which is attached and is also on the website, helps us to keep improving our outstanding school but also demonstrates how much you enjoy and value the sessions. Watch out for dates for the Spring Live Learning sessions in your child's Class Newsletter, which will be out on 15th January.

National Young Mathematicians' Award

Adam, Diya, Tapi and Yahvi did themselves and the school proud in becoming the REGIONAL WINNERS of the National Young Mathematicians' Award run by Explore Learning in conjunction with The University of Cambridge, just missing out on a place in the final itself. They were highly complemented for their teamwork schools, scoring top marks for that in the regional final, and for the number of solutions they found together with their recording and explaining skills.  What a great achievement. They received their medals and goody bags in assembly.

Mathletics Challenge

We are entered into the next Mathletics challenge, which runs for the whole of next week (Monday 20th November to Sunday 27th). Please encourage your children to go onto Mathletics as much as possible next week to see how high we can climb up the leaderboard as a school.

Maths Week

Monday 2nd October marks the start of Maths Week. Children from Year 1 to Year 6 will experience The Adventure Of The Missing Number with the Quantum Theatre Company on Monday and children from Year 2 upwards will enjoy Brain Blaster puzzle workshops with the Happy Puzzle Company on Thursday. All of the children in the school will participate in a Maths Carousel and Friday provides everyone with the opportunity to dress up with the Wear-A-Pattern-To-School day.

Contributions have been requested for children in Year 1 upwards to help us cover the costs of the events.

If you are a parent whose job involves Maths in any way and you can spare some time to come into school to talk about it please let your child's class teacher know and they will organise a mutually convenient time.

Live Learning

An absolutely fantastic set of Live Learning sessions this term with some very special and rewarding feedback for staff. Thank you to everyone who attended and responded so positively. Next term's Live Learning will be centred around writing but in the meantime have a wonderful summer and good luck to all of our Year 6s who are moving on (and whose parents attended these sessions in record numbers!).

Mathletics Challenge

We are taking part in a new Mathletics Challenge which is running from 3 - 16 July 2017. Last year we were in the top 25% of schools but this year we want to go higher! Our aim is to get into the top 10%. You will have seen from last week's newsletter that we are number 4 in the list of Hertfordshire schools as far as Mathletics is concerned and with your help we can move that even higher too.

Please encourage your children to use Mathletics as much as possible over the next couple of weeks, not just on those activities which they are good at but also to challenge and stretch themselves.

In fact why not have fun together and attempt the challenges as a family. Good luck everyone.

The top 10% beckons!

Live Learning - Spring Term 2017

Thank you once again to everyone who came along to our Live Learning sessions, which this term had a theme of Reading. Feedback once again was overwhelmingly positive with some lovely comments made about your children's learning and about the teachers, teaching strategies and methodologies used in the classroom. From the 3-word summaries we have produced a wordle which clearly sums up the mood of the sessions and the positivity they create.

Watch out for class newsletters being issued on Monday 24th April which will provide dates for next term's Live Learning dates.

Thank you all once again - it is so good to see these sessions continuing to engage and expand as each year goes by.

KS1 Production

Children from Year One and Two recently performed their version of the Nativity.  Following our eco values we watched as people travelled to meet the new born King - but Angel Mason struggled to reduce the traffic in Bethlehem. 

All the teachers and staff at Howe Dell were incredibly proud of their acting, singing and dancing.

Live Learning - Autumn Term

Thank you once again to all of you who were able to come and participate in our Live Learning sessions this term. Over 80 parents, carers, and grandparents shared our Maths-themed lessons with some very generous comments and extraordinarily positive feedback received:

"Thank you for having these sessions where parents can get involved in their children's learning"

"Thank you - really enjoyed today's Live Learning"

"Absolutely amazing - a true test of strength and ability in Maths. This was by far the best Live Learning ever"

"Very interesting - I learnt a lot myself"

"Brain power needed!"

"Everything is perfect"

"It has given me an idea of how we can make learning fun at home"

"It has helped me to know which Mathletics section to focus on"

"It captivated the class very well"

"I liked everything in the lesson"

"The most useful thing about the session was watching the children stretch themselves"

"Teachers made the lesson very interactive and interesting"

Your class newsletters for the Spring term (which will be issued on 9th January) will provide you with details of your child's next Live Learning session.

Thanks again for joining in and we'll see you all soon.

Mathletics Numeracy Challenge

The school have entered the Mathletics Numeracy Challenge which runs from 21 November to 4 December. It challenges children with questions and multi-player games in a safe environment. There are even prizes available for the top performing classes in the country.

Please encourage your children to participate just by using their normal Mathletics login.

Live Learning - Summer Term

Thank you once again to everyone who came to school to share in our Live Learning sessions - we had another great turnout with extremely supportive comments on your evaluation forms.

Class Newsletters published in early September will set out the dates for the Autumn Term sessions. In the meantime, below is a summary of the sessions from the summer. 

Live Learning

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Live Learning sessions this term - lots of lively learning and wonderful shared experiences. We hope you have enjoyed receiving your certificates!

Thank you also for your very kind comments and responses - all of which have been passed back to class teachers.

Watch out for news of next term's Live Learning sessions through class newsletters and Dates For Diaries.

Below is a wordle incorporating your three-word summaries:

Maths Problem of the Week

This week's Maths Problem of the Week to be shared and enjoyed at home is now up on the Maths home page - click below to be taken straight there......

Park and Stride Treasure Hunt

We had a fantastic time on our treasure hunt. Lots of you joined us with your parents to make the trip to school from The Galleria, picking up clues along the way, which spelt out the name of one of our very special visitors this morning. Strider and Buster joined us for a walking to school celebration assembly. The people from Living Streets talked to us about the importance of walking, cycling or scooting to school instead of taking the car: healthy lifestyle, more time to talk to each other, less pollution and feeling awake and ready for school were only some of the reasons they put across.

Over 30 of you pledged to walk that little bit further to school in future and a number have also asked for a park and stride space at the Galleria.

Thank you to everyone who participated and well done to Jonathan from Y1 who won the Strider Goody Bag.

Some of the pictures from the event are below.

Living Streets Travel Audit and Walk To School Challenge

Recently, a group of Year 6 children conducted a travel audit of the area surrounding school, with Living Streets, the organisation behind our Walk Once a Week (WOW) challenge. They found a lot of good things to help our sustainable, active journeys to school, such as clear signage, drop-down curbs, traffic calming measures and road crossings, however, they also came across parking on yellow lines, ticketing enforcement and litter, which is something we don't want to see.

The main reason for the survey was part of a build up to our PARK and STRIDE TREASURE HUNT we will be hosting next Monday, 30th November. We will be starting at 8.15 from The Galleria main car park and walking down Tamblin Way to school. There are clues to collect along the way and we will have a very special visitor in school awaiting our arrival.

To help us out, the Galleria have very kindly offered FREE PARKING from 8.00 - 9.30 to anyone participating in the event (print out the permit below and display it in your car). If anyone is interested in a more permanent Park and Stride space at the Galleria please let Mr Mason know via the school office.

We hope as many of you as possible can join us on Monday.

Live Learning Autumn Sessions

A very big "Thank You" to everyone who came and participated in our Live Learning sessions this month. Altogether we had 101 parents, carers and grandparents - a record turnout!  We hope you all enjoyed receiving your certificates to mark the occasions.

Below you will find the summary of all of your comments - some of them were absolutely lovely - thank you again. We look forward to seeing even more of you all next term.

School Direct Teacher Training

Ever thought about going into teaching as a profession? Did you know that there is a salaried route into the profession which allows for on-the-job training?

In conjunction with our Partner Schools, we offer a School Direct training programme aimed at recruiting would-be teachers into the profession. Applicants need to have a degree and hold GCSEs in Maths, English and Science.

If you are interested and would like to know more or would like to make an application then click on the link below which will take you to the University of Hertfordshire webiste.

World Education Games

Launched this morning in Sharing Assembly and with more information with this week's newsletter, the World Education games gets underway next week.  The event involves children all around the world and will last for three days from 13-15 October. 

Your child, because of their subscription to Mathletics, are already registered.  However, don't leave it until next week to take part, get online now for the warm up activities.

We hope that all children enjoy the experience whilst at the same time raising money for UNICEF.

Click on the link below to find out more and participate.

On Wednesday this week, Angus and Joshua in Year 5 competed alongside twelve other teams from schools all over Hertfordshire in the Mini Green event of the 2015 Hertfordshire Schools Tennis Tournament.

The Boys Doubles was held at Broxbourne Tennis Club this year, and the standard of competitors was very strong - including County players from Wheatfields & Bishops Stortford schools.

No trophy this year, but the boys fought hard & showed the teamwork and sportsmanship that Howe Dell children are known for. Well done boys!

WOW Challenge and Walk To School Week

Since September the school has been participating in the WOW Challenge (Walk Once a Week), in conjunction with Living Streets.  Children record their journeys to school each day upon arrival and that information is used each month to award badges to those using a sustainable method of travel to get to school.  So far the children have logged an incredible 31,478 journeys to school, of which over 84% have been classified as Active Trips. This has resulted in a whopping 2,415 badges being awarded to children from Year 1 to Year 6.

Last term Year 6 children contributed articles for the very first edition of WOW News, a publication produced by Living Streets to celebrate this fantastically healthy initiative; that publication is included here with the article on page 3.

Of course, not only does the scheme promote a healthy lifestyle it also allows families additional time together in the mornings to converse and observe the world around us. 

Next week, Monday 18 – Friday 22 May is Walk To School Week.  More than ever during this week we should be trying to use the most sustainable form of transport to benefit both our health and the environment.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Stargazing Live Event  -Thursday 19th March

We had a wonderful evening last Thursday, thanks to input from the Hertford Astronomy Group, the University of Hertfordshire and the PSA (together with the assistance of certain individuals regarding introductions and cakes!) The Planetarium proved hugely popular as did our talk "To The Edge Of The Universe And Back Again In 30 Minutes!" There was also Stellarium software set up on laptops with students from the University of Hertfordshire on hand to provide assistance as well as a variety of telescopes provided by our Astronomy friends.

Over 80 visitors was testament to the efforts that went into the evening - thank you everybody.

WALK TO SCHOOL ONCE A WEEK
We have now launched our Walk Once a Week challenge (or WOW).

For more information please see the attached sheet.

Currriculum 2014

View our curriculum review in preparation for September 2014 below.

DRIVING TO SCHOOL
Due to increasing numbers of families and staff, the Car Park has become for staff only before and after school.  The barrier times are 8.15-9.30am and 2.30-4pm. Access will remain for displayed Disability badges and Day Care.

A plea to parents living locally: if you live within walking distance, then please, please, please try to walk in with your children whenever possible; we are an eco school, trying to promote sustainability and there is obviously less space for parents who genuinely need to drive in. For health and safety reasons, parents are reminded they MUST NOT DOUBLE PARK in the school car park.

Mrs Williams still has some parking permits available for the Airfield Car Park for parents. Our aim is to reduce congestion around the school gates, be ECO friendly and get active by walking to school. If you are interested in a pass, please contact Nina Williams at the Children’s Centre on 01707 263291, ex 2, to discuss.

SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOL
To find out about safer routes to school during winter months please see the link below.