Yesterday
Posted on 11th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

From Parent Pay to Arbor

From September we will Using Arbor for our communication, booking and payment system. At the moment we use Arbor for our main MIS system which holds all our the information about children and staff. It’s our method for taking registers, recording attendance, needs and attainment. We will be extending its use to take over the elements that we currently use Parent Pay for.
We will be providing information later this term about the changes needed to ensure the system is ready for parents to use from September. This will include tasks for families to set up their accounts with an Arbor App. We thank you and ask for your cooperation with this, to ensure the transition can run smoothly.

We will stop using Parent Pay from September and there will be a transfer process. Please ensure debts are paid, they will not be cleared as part of the transfer, they are expected to be paid. Thank you.
Arbor has the capacity to deliver all aspects that we currently use Parent Pay for, so we hope to save by only purchasing one tool going forwards.

Yesterday
Posted on 11th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Sports Day ready!

We look forward to welcoming families to school for our sports day afternoon next Friday, 19th June, 1.15-3.15. All children in PE kits with water bottles and prepared for the weather! Hopefully it will be sun cream and sun hats!

Yesterday
Posted on 11th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

RAF Shawbury Forces Covenant event

On 11th June we attended RAF Shawbury to participate in a special covenant signing event showcasing our commitment to service families. The children who represented school were excellent, so engaged and excited by the experiences on offer today. They should feel very proud of themselves.
We tried out new skills in the air traffic control teaching area and tested our patience, resilience and hand-eye coordination skills in the training school in the helicopter training simulators. A wonderful experience.
The adults representing their respective organisations spoke highly of our Trust and individual school commitment to service pupils and their families. Another proud day to be part of Hodnet school!

1 week ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Nursery pupils

A reminder that our Nursery opens in September 2026. Please spread the word!

We can have up to 20 pupils per day and take children from age 2 to age 4. Details can be found on our website or by contacting school. We really want our nursery to be a thriving success, we acknowledge that this may take time to establish, so we would appreciate further community support to spread the word – our great school is expanding, please share!

1 week ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Summer 2 half term events

The key dates for this half term are:

June:

Mon 1st – School re-opens
Tue 2nd – YR visit to Shrewsbury Museum
Fri 5th – DEAR 3pm (no phones please)
Mon 8th – Y1 Phonics screening week
Thur 11th – RAF Shawbury covenant event
Thur 11th – New YR (26/27) parents evening 5.30pm
Tue 16th – Y4 trip to Cadbury World
Wed 17th – Y1 Class assembly, 9am Y1 parents welcome
Wed 17th – Y2 Trip to Chester Zoo
Thur 18th – Y5 Taster day to Thomas Adams School
Fri 19th – Father’s Day lunch & Sports Day afternoon
Mon 22nd – Armed forces week TBC
Thur 25th – New YR intake in school 9-11am
Fri 26th – Y5&6 London visit
Mon 29th & Tue 30th – Y6 move up day to Grove School
Mon 29th – Wed 1st – Y6 move up day to SJT
Tue 30th – Local governing body meeting
Tue 30th – New YR intake in school 1.15-3.15

July:

Fri 3rd – DEAR 3pm (no phones please)
Mon 6th & Tue 7th – Y6 move up day to Thomas Adams School
Mon 6th & Tue 7th – Move up sessions for each class
Tue 7th – New YR intake in all day. KS1 full day move up.
Wed 8th – Y1 Art trip to Shrewsbury Museum
Mon 13th – Y6 church retreat day
Wed 15th – Y3 Egyptian workshop
Thur 16th – Church service, 2pm at St Luke’s, Hodnet
Fri 17th – End of year reports out to parents
Mon 20th – Rock Steady concert
Mon 20th – Optional drop in parents evening
Mon 20th – Y6 play at 6.30pm
Tue 21st – Y6 end of term trip
Wed 22nd – Leavers assembly 9am
Wed 22nd – School closes for summer. Reopening on Wed 2nd Sept.

1 week ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Young Achievers Award 2026

Wem Rotary Club organised a wonderful event this week acknowledging children across our North Shropshire Schools community who have achieved great success through times of challenge.

Our recipient of this award is Lucas in Y6 who has shown resilience, bravery and great strength recently during times of significant challenge for his family. Despite this, he has thrived in his Motor Cross, riding for team GB and winning countless events throughout the country – an amazing achievement. In school he has continued to work diligently with a joyful positive outlook and a huge kind heart. We are incredibly proud of Lucas, a very deserving winner.

1 week ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Respectful parking and travel around school

A polite reminder that we expect adults to role model respectful behaviours and school values when around school, this is essential at drop off and pick up times. We acknowledge that pick up and drop off times can generate anxiety, particularly if people are running late or other reasons which can cause frustration for drivers/pedestrians. However, shouting, foul language or other verbal or physical aggression will not be tolerated and should not be witnessed by our children or wider school community. It was really disappointing to hear of verbal aggression this week by drivers outside our school and we offer our apologies to any families who had to unfortunately witness this disrespectful behaviour.

We ask again that parents/carers and family members park respectfully and legally when accessing our school. Please do not park in the turning circle, across driveways, on the zig zags, or blocking entrances to designated parking areas. The rules apply to all road uses and should therefore be applied by all.

We encourage you to report those who fail to adhere to the highway code to the community policing team.

Mrs Lyall

1 week ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2026 by Penny Lyall

Smart watches changes 4.6.26

Our policy for the use of smart watches is changing with immediate effect, this is a Trust wide directive from our CEO and comes in conjunction with the changes to the use of mobile phones in schools.

We currently allow children to wear a smart watch if it has the capacity to be placed in school mode to disable specific features such as photographs, messages or internet use. However due to the potential for harm, and therefore safeguarding concerns linked to the reliability of these functions, the inability to check or monitor this, and the potential for misuse – they are now not allowed to be worn by children at Hodnet school. Children have been made aware of this change.

There are a number of varieties of digital watches available currently, and many were used widely within school. We acknowledge that many of our children and families were adhering to the rules and using their watches safely, but unfortunately others were not. In order to safeguard our community by protecting from the potential of photograph or recording misuse we must now enforce this blanket ban on smart watches for children. Adults are allowed to wear them and are our bound by our code of conduct.

For clarity, the watches which are no longer allowed to be worn to school are the ones that:

are connected to a phone – even if in school mode, this is no longer permitted
have the ability to take photographs
have the ability to connect the internet
have the ability to voice record
have the ability to view, send or receive messages
have the ability to play games

A simple analogue watch is fine to wear, also a simple digital watch which does not have any of the above functions is also fine to wear. A fitbit type watch which does not have any internet connectivity and is not connected to a phone, but is simply recording steps and telling a digital time is also fine to wear.

We appreciate your support with this matter. Safeguarding our school community is our main priority and must come first.

Please see your child’s class teacher with any queries in the first instance, I am happy to discuss any further points.

Thank you, Mrs Lyall.

4 weeks ago
Posted on 15th May 2026 by Penny Lyall

Safeguarding awareness

Our school website has useful information about how we keep our pupils safe, our safeguarding intentions and how we teach children to be safe.

Safeguarding – Hodnet Primary School

On the Parents Support area on our website we have information about online safety, supportive information and links.

Parent Support – Hodnet Primary School

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Lyall, Headteacher, who works alongside our Deputy Designated Leaders Mrs Williams and Miss Darmanin and our Safeguarding Governor, Jen Rogers, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children. Please see the safeguarding team with any questions, queries or concerns.

4 weeks ago
Posted on 15th May 2026 by Penny Lyall

Parking reminder

We kindly remind parents/carers and family members to park safely, respectfully and lawfully at pick up and drop off times. As a school community it is crucial that we work together to ensure the safety of the pupils in our care.

Thank you for your continued support.