11 months ago
Posted on 06th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Online and App safeguarding concerns

Unfortunately some children are accessing online content at home which is not designed for their age group and is causing distress to our school community. This is a safeguarding concern. We kindly ask that parents support us with this matter by respecting both our school and the UK guidance. Our website offers multiple links to the online safety guidance and we regularly refer to guidance in order to keep pupils safe.

Current issues relate to WhatsApp (13+), Discord (13+ or 17+) and Twitch (13+). If age restrictions were being adhered to, we would not have these concerns in our school and our children would not be subjected to harmful or potentially harmful content.

WhatsApp – multiple classes in KS2 have children’s WhatsApp groups. These groups are causing significant challenge for our school. Some children are being deliberately unkind to each other using these platforms. This is happening at home, but is causing disruptions in school and is taking up valuable staff time to rectify. The age restriction for WhatsApp is 13+.

Live streaming apps – Discord and Twitch

Discord – Discord has an age restriction of 13+. While users must be at least 13 to sign up, they don’t always verify age, and some servers geared towards older users may contain content inappropriate for younger users. Apple’s App Store rates Discord 17+ for a range of reasons, including “Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes” and “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity.”Similarly, Google Play rates the app as ‘Parental Guidance’ because of user interaction and in-app purchases.Because users may share images on text channels or engage in voice chat, children and young people run the risk of exposure to inappropriate content or language.

What is Discord? Safety guide for parents | Internet Matters link

Twitch – Twitch, a live streaming platform, has age restrictions and content restrictions in the UK to ensure the safety of users, particularly children and young people. The platform restricts access to content with sexual themes and gambling, especially for those under 18. Twitch has an age restriction of age 13 under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who ‘agrees to be bound by’ Twitch’s Terms of Service if the user is under 18.

What is Twitch? What parents need to know | Internet Matters link

We thank you for your support with this matter and hope to see a positive change in online activity to support the emotional health and wellbeing of our primary aged children. Internet use is a powerful tool and whilst we want our pupils to be proficient in the online world to further their learning and access, this needs to be in a safe, responsible way which is appropriate for their age of development.

Mrs Lyall.

11 months ago
Posted on 06th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

County show champions

Well done to the Hargreaves family for their recent success at the Shropshire County show.

Isla successfully led her calf Geletto in the young handlers class finishing second. She proudly shared her rosette in our achievement assembly today.

They also had success with their cow Showtime-Earle who won interbreed heifer champion. They proudly shared their winning sash and rosette in assembly today.

11 months ago
Posted on 05th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Summer term transition arrangements

This half term the children will have the opportunity to spend time with their next class teacher enabling them to find out about their class expectations for September. We provide this opportunity for all children and additional opportunities for those who need it as part of our Special Educational Needs offer.

On Tuesday 1st July all children will spend time in their next class. Y6 will be at their secondary schools on this day and nursery aged pupils will be in our Reception class. Classes R and 1 will spend the full day with their new class teachers. The rest of school will spend the morning in their next class. Current Y2 will be taught by miss Darmanin (Y6 teacher) for the afternoon session.

Other transition key dates:

19th and 26th June – new reception intake in school for the afternoon. Current reception taught by other school staff.
19th June – Y5 to Thomas Adams school.
30th June, 1st July, 2nd July – Y6 at secondary schools.
8th July – Y5 to Grove school.

11 months ago
Posted on 05th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Celebrating Success. Certificate of Achievement 6.6.25

Well done to everyone who received awards or shout outs today. We are very proud of you.

Class R – Harry D for being much more resilient in our classroom. Well done Harry!
Class 1 – Sid for always being a fantastic role model for learning in our classroom.
Class 2 – Charlotte for being resilient, hardworking and kind. Always showcasing our school values.
Class 3 – Cecily for being a great learning role model and having exemplary behaviour.
Class 4 – Ruby for always putting in 100% effort in all that she does. Well done Ruby.
Class 5 – Sam for contributing much more in class, well done Sam, keep it up!
Class 6 – Maisie for being an absolute superstar! Amazing effort in class and always being kind and helpful.
EY/KS1 Headteacher’s award – Rory in class 2 for showcasing our values through sharing his ideas in assembly thoughtfully and respectfully.
KS2 Headteacher’s award – Emily H in class 4 for showcasing our values through being patient, kind and thoughtful and always being respectful.
Lunchtime award – Tabitha in class 3 for being polite and kind to others.
Raffle ticket – Destiny in class 6.

11 months ago
Posted on 05th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Celebrating Success. Book Worm 6.6.25

Well done to everyone who received awards or shoutouts this week, we are very proud of you.

Today we celebrated reading in our celebration assembly, with praise for lots of children for their reading at home and reading throughout the curriculum in school.

Class R – Scarlett
Class 1 – Daniel
Class 2 – Henry
Class 3 – Myles
Class 4 – Kit
Class 5 – Emily
Class 6 – Jasper

Congratulations to all our chosen Book Worms, your reading at home and school was excellent this week.

Remember to keep up those good reading habits.

11 months ago
Posted on 05th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Weekly House Points 6.6.25

Weekly house point totals are:

Owls = 93

Badgers = 116

Squirrels = 139

Foxes = 134

Well done to the Squirrels .team this week.

11 months ago
Posted on 05th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Jackie’s retirement

After almost 30 years at our school, Jackie has decided to retire at the end of this summer term. I think we can all agree that she is deserving of a well earned rest!

Jackie has fulfilled a number of roles in school over her lengthy dedicated service, all of which have been focussed on caring for our school community. As a cleaner and lunchtime supervisor and jointly leading our wraparound care provision, she has always given her all and made a valuable contribution to our staff team.

Jackie is known by many as being kind and thoughtful, she is considerate of others and loved by our children. She will be a huge miss to our school.

On behalf of all the children and staff, we wish her all the very best in her well deserved retirement and can’t wait to hear all about the wonderful things she intends to do.

11 months ago
Posted on 04th Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Music bursaries for 2025/26

The Jon Hayward Memorial Trust (registered charity no. 1121391) has been providing music bursaries to Shropshire primary school children since 2008. They are now accepting referrals for the next academic year. They can part-fund lessons both in schools and those arranged privately. In both cases, they like to make contact through the school in the first instance to provide an impartial reference.

The JHM Trust are able to meet up to 50% of music lesson costs (up to a maximum of £250 per year) for a number of children in school years 3-6, whose families are unable to meet the full cost of tuition and do not qualify for funding from any other source. They also have a number of instruments (violins, guitars and a keyboard) available for free loan.

The Trustees will be meeting in July to look at all referrals and to decide which children the charity will be able to assist for the next academic year. Therefore, schools and families are asked to send any referrals to the postal address provided by Friday 11th July for consideration of funding from September 2025. The referral needs to be completed by the school and a parent/carer; a form has been sent to school.

Their bursaries are based upon financial need, so they ask for a family’s income details. Proof of this from Child Tax Credit statement will need to be provided either by enclosing a copy, or by the school verifying that they have seen this.

The Jon Hayward Memorial Trust was set up in memory of a well-known Shropshire folk musician who sadly died in November 2006. Jon was passionate about music and always enjoyed sharing this with others. He particularly loved to see children developing their musical ability. Over the last 18 years family and friends have raised funds to enable us to assist children across Shropshire.

Please see Mrs Williams, our music lead with any queries.

11 months ago
Posted on 02nd Jun 2025 by Penny Lyall

Roblox

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wanted to take a moment to highlight a recent update from Roblox—a popular platform among many young people—that introduces new parental control features designed to give families greater transparency, oversight, and control over children’s online activity.

New Features Now Available on Roblox

Roblox has launched several key tools that allow parents and carers to tailor their child’s digital experience more closely, including the ability to:

Block specific users from their child’s friend list, removing messaging and engagement with that person.
Block individual games or experiences, beyond general content maturity settings, for more precise content management.
Track the time spent on Roblox and gain insights into which experiences children are engaging with most.

To access these features, parents must link their own verified Roblox account—a safeguard ensuring only trusted individuals can adjust parental settings.

Updated Roblox Safety Centre

Roblox has also redesigned its Safety Centre as a one-stop hub for resources, guides, and reporting tools to help support safe and informed usage of the platform.

While no system is ever completely secure, these developments are a positive step. They reinforce the importance of combining technical tools with education, support, and most importantly —open conversation. Discussing online safety and gradually involving young people in these decisions can encourage greater digital responsibility and trust.

At Hodnet, we continue to support pupils in becoming responsible digital citizens and encourage families to stay informed and engaged with their child’s online world. Should you wish to learn more about Roblox’s safety features or need support navigating them, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs Lyall.

11 months ago
Posted on 23rd May 2025 by Penny Lyall

Garden donations please

Huge thank you to Jake and his family who have kindly donated a planter for use in our school garden. Mrs Noden has asked if anyone would kindly be able to donate some top soil to enable use to use the new planter and the existing planters and tyres to their full capacity and hopefully grow some delicious produce!

If you are able to support with this, please see Mrs Noden.

I would also like to do some rock painting with the children after half term in a lunchtime club, with the aim of creating some interesting rock animals or patterns to add to our garden areas and flower patches. If anyone has any suitable sized rocks which they would like to donate, or that children find when out and about on half term adventures, please save them and send into school. Many thanks, Mrs Lyall.

Reception Class

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Class 5

Class 6