25th April 2025
Dear Parents
We hope that you all managed to have some quality family time over the Easter break. This is only a short first week back which might be quite helpful to ease us all in to what is a short but busy half term.
Easter Egg Hunt
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended the Easter Egg Hunt on Friday, 18th April. FoHA hosted a truly wonderful event, and we are incredibly grateful to the volunteers who put in so much effort to make the day both successful and a fantastic fundraiser for our school. The dedication of our volunteers was core to the event's success and I genuinely appreciate everyone who gave their time, and went above and beyond to support our school. It also proved how heavily the school relies on a few people to make things happen. I know that FoHA are desperate for new parents to join who can help share the load. If you think you can or even if you are interested in finding out please contact FoHA on this email address.
The Easter Bunny delighted everyone, while the children enjoyed hunting for clues and received delicious Easter eggs when they unscrambled the clues. The day was filled with fun activities such as face painting, Easter crafts, a bouncy castle, and the most delicious treats prepared by Mrs Banham and Mrs Bristow—thank you for your amazing baking!
It was a terrific day which left the organisers exhausted but happy. Those of us who attended certainly slept well that night! We don’t have a final total for the day but with over 600 tickets sold I would imagine the amount will be in the thousands which is excellent for a small school of only 213 children.
Chess
Huge congratulations to Elliot and Oliver for coming 1st and 2nd place in our annual Harpenden Academy Chess tournament. Next week, they and 4 runners up will represent the school as we compete at the Harpenden tournament.
Spring Stroll
On Thursday morning, the whole school set off on a Spring Stroll as part of our Hearts and Minds project. What a joy to see everyone outdoors, enjoying being active and connecting with friends. We returned to school feeling tired but with a great sense of wellbeing!
Reception Numbers
During the holiday we received our allocation of new Reception parents and children for September 2025. We are delighted to say that we have been allocated 30 children which means that we should be full for September. In a year when there is a low birth rate to be full on allocation is brilliant. We have already noticed that some of our new parents have joined our Instagram account and are also receiving our school newsletter so an early welcome to you!
Herts Advertiser Article
It has been brought to our attention that an article has been published in the Herts Advertiser with an error. The article titled “Which primary schools are over capacity in St Albans and Harpenden?” states inaccurate information about Harpenden Academy. It has been reported that Harpenden Academy has 420 places available (50% under capacity), this is incorrect and the true number of places is 210 with 213 pupils on roll. The school’s PAN is 30. We are currently over PAN in our KS2 classes with 32 in Year 3 and 6 and 33 in Year 4 and 5. Our current Reception class has 27 children and is the only class with spaces. We have contacted the newspaper to ensure that this article is corrected and that the correct information is shared with the public.
Holiday requests
I am sending out information regarding holidays in school time again as I am starting to get many requests from parents for a few days here and a few days there off school. Each day is 2 sessions and children are only permitted 10 sessions unauthorised before the fixed penalty fine process begins. Therefore a few days here and a few days there quickly add up to 10 sessions.
No one understands more than a person working in education that it is significantly cheaper to go on holiday in term time- believe me we understand -but equally we have to work inside the new ruling from the DFE. Please contain holidays/ day trips etc to within the 13 weeks off the children get from school wherever possible. Thank you.
Dates for Diaries - Family Science Event - Hands On Science, Thursday 22nd May 6.30pm-8.00pm
We have the return of lovely Mark the 'Science Man' on Thursday 22nd May. This time he will be working with Year 4 in the afternoon but in the evening he will be holding his family competition. For those of you who are unaware, we invite families back to school in the evening for a 6.30pm start and Mark sets a task to be completed in family groups over the evening. It all becomes ridiculously competitive. Family groups is a very loose term and any one can be in the family group. It’s a huge amount of fun and the children often come in their PJs or onesies for the evening as it finishes approx. 8.00pm.
The event is great fun – parents and children enjoy it hugely so I would urge you to save the date for the event. There is no cost to this and no need for tickets however if you can indicate if you are coming along, by completing the Edulink form by Monday 12th May, I can give Mark some rough numbers so he can prepare the equipment.
Parenting In The Digital Age - Parent Workshop at Roundwood Park School, 6th May 2025
We would like to advertise the upcoming smartphone-free presentation on 6th May at 7.00pm at Roundwood Park. This event is specifically designed for parents of primary school children and will cover important topics regarding technology use. As space is limited to 350 attendees, we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible using the following link: Sign Up Here. This event is an opportunity to connect with other parents and gain valuable insights into navigating smartphones, social media and addictive technology, so we hope to see a great turnout! Make sure to reserve your spot today!
Co-Curricular Clubs and Teacher Clubs
Clubs will start back next week, w/c 28th April with the exception of Traffic Light Creative and Performing Arts which will start today after school.
New Netball club for Year 4 and Year 5 - there are still spaces
Due to popular demand we are starting a netball club for Year 4 and Year 5 children after school on a Wednesday afternoon. The club will take place in both the hall and the playground and will be run by the external provider, Netball4Fun.
Please see a flyer advertising the club which will start after the Easter break in the summer term. The cost of the club is £6 per session and the club will run from 3.20pm-4.20pm from 30th April 2025. We will need a minimum of 10 children for the club to go ahead.
Please click on this link to book your child on to the club. https://bookwhen.com/netball4fun/e/ev-shf5-20250430151500
The passcode is ACADEMY
Happy birthday this week: Kieran (Yr 3) and Ophelia (Ladybird)
Please click here to view our Harpenden Academy vacancies
Please click here to view our Scholars' Education Trust vacancies
Harpenden Museum Family Day
Join us at Harpenden Museum on Saturday 3rd May for our family day of free activities to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Come and learn about Harpenden's role in World War 2. Pick up a self-guided family walking trail of key sites around town, get stuck into some arts and crafts activities, or try on wartime clothes! We will be open 11am-3pm, in the Eric Morecambe Centre, and look forward to seeing you there!
You can also pop into St Nicholas' Church, one of our trail stops, for tours of the bell tower from 11:30am-1pm and cream teas in Cornelia’s Café from 10am-1pm.
If you miss us on the day, the walking trail can also be downloaded from the Harpenden & District Local History Society website or picked up from the museum at a later date.
