As part of Headteacher development opportunities, the 318 Education Trust run an annual project where headteachers ‘swap’ schools for a short period of time. This year, I have been paired with Mrs Sue Lovecy who is the headteacher at StMartins School in Oswestry. From Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th June I will be at St Martins and Mrs Lovecy will be at Hodnet. Mrs Williams will be out of class and on hand to support any issues that may arise and will guide Mrs Lovecy in the role of Headteacher at Hodnet. Likewise the deputy at St Martins will support me. This should be an interesting project enabling us to see how each of the schools are led and managed, it will be particularly interesting for me as St Martins is a through school catering for pupils aged 3 -16 (and probably a huge challenge – secondary is a whole different ball game!!).

Please continue to contact school in the normal ways, staff will be on hand to support you. If there is anything particularly urgent which requires my involvement, I am contactable and will ensure I am available.

Thank you for your continued support, wish me luck!

Mrs Lyall.

Hodnet School is not used as a polling station, so we will be open as usual on 4th July.

A reminder that next week is half term. Enjoy the week, school reopens on Monday 3rd June.

The PTA have recently funded some fantastic resources and experiences for our pupils to enjoy. This week they funded the Xplore Science show which was enjoyed by all children. Thank you for providing this opportunity.

They have recently purchased:

• 10 more ipads to add to our class sets, meaning that each class can have the latest technology and enough for all pupils.
• A class group set of Bee-Bots, meaning that elements of the KS1 computing curriculum can be taught with more up to date technology. They are used most weeks and are proving to be a great success.
• New dictionaries for all KS2 pupils. These will be be a gift to the children and will be theirs to keep when they leave us. This will be repeated every year to ensure that pupils have a usable, thoughtful gift to take away with them.
• Reception new starter school bags. From next academic year onwards, pupils will have their book bags bought for them and these will be the only bags expected in school. These are the first gifts for the children and will prove really useful throughout their school life.

The PTA also contribute towards each school trip, the costs of the buses are heavily subsidised. In some cases this funding is the difference between trips going ahead or not as the cost of coaches at the moment is absolutely huge. It can be £200 for a return trip just to Market Drayton!

The PTA are a small team who always need extra support, if you could offer support, no matter how small please see one of the representatives, information on our website PTA page.

A reminder once again of the age restrictions for some of the most popular apps, games or sites.

WhatsApp – age 13+

Fortnite – age 12+

Call of Duty – age 18+

Facebook, Instagram & TikToc – age 12+

Snapchat – age 13+

Roblox ranges from age 7+, age 10+ to age 12+ depending on the platform used, but does have chat rooms which can cause a specific danger to children if they are talking to unknown people.

Some of the above platforms or apps continue to cause unnecessary distress to our primary aged children and take up valuable school time dealing with issues that spill into school. We ask for parental support and encourage you to follow the age restriction guidance to safeguard all our children. 

Click here to visit our school website online safety page ,found within the Parents Area, with useful information about how to keep children safe online, up to date guidance and useful website links with important safeguarding advice.

A safety reminder that the play equipment including the barked area should not be used after school by our children or their siblings. There are signs to remind people of these rules, but recently as the weather has started to become brighter, quite a few people have been using the equipment. Also some families have been playing on the field or going into the forest school area. We don’t intend to stop people having fun, but these areas are only insured to be used by our children, within the school day, under the supervision of school staff. Please can this message be shared with other family members who may collect your children to ensure that we can all continue to adhere to the school rules in the interest of health and safety. Thank you for your support and cooperation with this matter.