In school we are required to ensure pupils are eating a healthy lunch. If parents choose to send a packed lunch, this must also be healthy and in line with guidance, particularly for Early Years pupils. A school lunch should consist of a balanced meal including a range of the main food groups, not just sugary snacks. This year the guidance for Early Years pupils has been updated and we have changed our menu offer in line with this. We encourage all of our pupils in Reception to have a school meal.

For those in Y1-6, please find the link to the NHS packed lunches guidance below.

Lunchbox ideas and recipes – Healthier Families – NHS

The below items should not be in packed lunches and are not part of a balanced meal at lunchtime:

• Fizzy drinks or squash
• Chocolate spread or crisp sandwiches

Please remember that nuts are not permitted due to allergies in school.

Please see your child’s class teacher in the first instance or a member of our leadership team with any queries about school lunches.

YR,1 & 2 have a daily snack provided by the national fruit scheme. This is mainly a piece of fruit but often vegetables, the items vary weekly and are seasonal. The snacks are located in the classrooms and the timings of snacks are managed by the individual class teachers.

Y3, 4, 5 & 6 can bring a piece of fruit from home to eat at playtime as a healthy break time snack if they would like to, this is optional. We ask that this is only a piece of fruit, no biscuits, nuts or fruit bars please. A small tub with chopped fruit ready to eat is also acceptable, children are encouraged to sit or stand until they have eaten their fruit to prevent any choking hazards when playing.

A warm welcome to this new academic year. We hope you had an enjoyable summer break. It’s been wonderful to welcome back familiar faces and see so many new ones. This week our pupils have been ready and excited to learn which has been a delight to see in school. We are keen to get started with the wide range of exciting learning opportunities this term.

Some reminders,

• Please use our website as the first point of call for information. This is updated regularly by staff and has a wealth of information for our school community.
• Please showcase our values of being Ready, Respectful and Safe in and around our school site with your children. Being prompt and using the main school entrances as a safe way to enter our site. Please don’t cross the car park. Ensure we are all courteous to our local residents by respectful parking choices and keeping our families safe by travelling carefully to and from school.
• Families who use the rear playground, please drop children off at the green gates, encouraging children to walk to their classes independently to meet the staff who are ready to greet them. This will help our new Reception pupils to find their line and prevent a large crowd of people on the playground, as this makes it tricky for young children to navigate around.
• Club information has been sent via parent pay, please book these early to avoid disappointment.
• Wraparound care needs to be booked and paid for by parents using our advance booking system on parent pay, only in extreme circumstances can this booking be completed by our office staff team. Bookings should be completed by the Thursday before the required week. We are monitoring the frequency of late bookings and administration time, which may result in administration fees.

Today we said our goodbyes to class 6 in our leavers assembly. Thank you to all those who attended to celebrate the many successes of the children throughout their time at Hodnet. Miss Darmanin read an amazing individualised poem about each child and we watch the leavers video which Miss D made for the children using photos and videos of them throughout their journey in school. Safe to say it has been an emotional time today!

We are so proud of them and all that they have achieved and we wish them the very best of luck on their onward learning journeys.

Wishing all our school community an enjoyable summer break. Have fun, stay safe and we look forward to hearing about your adventures when we return in September.