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12th June 2026

Dear Parents

It has been very quiet this week as the Year 6 children have been on their residential school journey to Micheal Morpurgo’s Farm for City Kids in South Wales. They have all had a great time, getting to grips with mucking out pigs, collecting eggs in the morning, sawing logs for firewood in the evenings and helping prepare their own meals. It has been a wonderful experience, and we will share more information in next week’s newsletter.

Important dates for the rest of this Summer term

June:

Tuesday, 16th June	Visiting Olympic athlete, Frederick Afrifa
Wednesday, 17th June	Year 6 organising whole school fun run, Rothamsted Park
Thursday, 18th June	NEW reception parents meeting 6.30-7.30pm
Monday, 22nd June - Friday, 26th June	Well-being Week
Monday, 22nd June	Visiting cook to visit KS2 classes in school
Tuesday, 23rd June	Trust Conference SCHOOL CLOSED
Wednesday, 24th June	Year 3 and Year 5 trip to Royal Philharmonic Festival Hall
Thursday, 25th June	Selected children to District Sports 3.45pm Field events, 4.45pm Track events
Friday, 26th June	Pickle Ball Day at school - children to wear PE kit

July

Friday, 3rd July	Harpenden's Got Talent event, 9.30am
Tuesday, 7th July	I-rock concert
Wednesday, 8th July	Year 6 Leavers event
Thursday, 9th July	Move Up day and Open day event. 5.30pm-7.00pm
Friday, 10th July	Year 6 final assembly to school Reports out to parents
Tuesday, 14th July	Sports day @ SJL 1.30pm-3.20pm
Friday, 17th July	School ends 12 noon

Year 5 trip to a Gurdwara

On Tuesday, Year 5 enjoyed an enriching visit to the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Luton, where they deepened their understanding of the Sikh faith. The children received a warm welcome and had the opportunity to explore the prayer hall, learning about its significance within the Sikh community. The children were also offered parsad to try. The children enjoyed tasting this, with many commenting that it reminded them of fudge or chocolate. The visit provided a valuable hands-on experience to enhance their learning in RE.

KS2 Sustainability Conference

Our KS2 children recently had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Trust’s Annual Sustainability Conference. Throughout the day, they took part in a range of engaging and inspiring workshops. A highlight was learning about pollination, where pupils discovered the crucial role insects play in supporting ecosystems. They also participated in a fascinating workshop on climate change and its impact on animals, delivered by students from Sir John Lawes School, who brought along their own animals to enrich the experience.

The event was rounded off with an inspiring speech from the Mayor, who spoke about the importance of caring for our environment and the positive difference young people can make. Our pupils represented the school brilliantly, showing enthusiasm, curiosity and a real commitment to sustainability. It was a memorable day that will continue to influence their thinking and learning back at school.

Photo collage.sus

Photo collage.sus2

Staff changes

As we start to look towards next year already, we have some staff changes to make parents aware of. All the individual classes have been informed earlier this week out of courtesy. These changes will take place next academic year from September 2026.

Mrs Kate Watson

Mrs Watson will be taking on an advisory role for an organisation called English Hub, working with a variety of schools in London. We have used English Hub ourselves in school, so we know that Mrs Watson will excel at it! In addition to this, she will also be pursuing her second degree at Cambridge University — she is going to be a busy lady. Mrs. Watson has been a key part of Harpenden Academy since its inception in 2012, and she will be greatly missed by children, staff, and parents alike. It’s hard to imagine Harpenden Academy without Mrs Watson, but nothing lasts forever. The teachers and I are incredibly grateful for the time we have had with her in our school.

Mrs Gemma Moss

Mrs Moss will be leaving Harpenden Academy at the end of this academic year. We have been very lucky to have kept her for as long as we have as her husband has been delaying his relocation to the North of England for 2 years. We will all miss her quiet counsel and manner with the children who are very fond of her indeed. I have learnt that when Mrs Moss speaks to listen and I will miss her precise insightfulness.

We have known that this move was going to happen at some point, so over the past year Mrs Wong has been training as a SENCo so that when Mrs Moss leaves, she will seamlessly be able to step in to the role. Mrs Wong and Mrs Moss will together be heading up SEND meetings for the remainder of the year together to ensure a smooth handover of information.

Again, losing such an established member of staff, such as Mrs Moss, is a blow but we know that she and her husband have put the needs of our school before their own for far too long and it is only right that they can now finally make their move.

Miss Jodie Patterson

Miss Patterson will be leaving at the end of this academic year. She has decided to spread her wings wide and to go travelling to southeast Asia and will then settle in Australia to start a new life there. Having spent time travelling myself it is a wonderful opportunity, and I am a little envious!

Miss Patterson has been with us for 2 years and during that time has become a firm favourite with the children, parents and staff alike. We will miss her hugely, but we are excited for her future and will miss the energy that she brings to our school.

Classes for next year are still being finalised but I will hopefully be able to share those with parents shortly.

News from South Korea

On Wednesday 10^th June, Mr King, an ex-teacher from our school, informed us that he and his wife have become parents to a little baby boy. Baby Arthur is doing well, and his parents are still in the proud afterglow of being new parents for the first time. We send him our congratulations from Harpenden Academy.

Quick reminder, Trust Conference, Tuesday, 23rd June - school closed

There will be a whole Trust Conference Day on Tuesday, 23^rd June which means the school will be closed all day.

Legoland offer - Tuesday, 23rd June 2026

FoHA is once again offering highly discounted tickets for Legoland on the Tuesday 23rd June inset day! A great opportunity to visit the park on a much quieter day than school holidays and for a great price. Anyone is welcome to purchase tickets through this link so please feel free to share with friends with pre-schoolers or anyone who may be interested.

Ticket price: £20 per person

Please purchase your tickets by Friday 12th June. Tickets will be sent out during the week commencing 15th June.

INSET Day, Tuesday, 23rd June 2026

Mrs Marchment is planning to run an all day Traffic Light Arts session on Tuesday 23rd June 2026, when it is the Trust INSET Day.

The day will have a summer/seaside theme and include a range of Arts & Crafts projects and free time activities.

Time & Costs:

Short day - 8.45am-3.15pm - £30
Long day - 8.45am-5.15pm - £35

Places are limited so if you would like to sign your child up, please email Mrs Marchment directly on admin@trafficlightarts.co.uk.

https://www.foha.co.uk/fohashop/p/legoland

Reminder: Election of Parent Governor, deadline to submit paperwork Friday, 12th June at 3.30pm

All parents will have received an email about the election of a parent governor. If you would like to stand for election please complete and submit the Parent Governor Nomination Form by 3.30pm today, Friday, 12th June 2026.

Reminder: Parent Summer Survey

Please take a few minutes to complete our Parent Summer term survey.

The deadline for completion is Friday, 19th June 2026 at 8.00pm.

Reminder: Cultural Experiences Online Survey

We are currently investigating the cultural experiences our children have experienced and would appreciate you taking 5min to complete this online survey. Completion Deadline: Monday, 15th June 2026

Reminder: Fred Afrifa, Great Athlete, Tuesday 16th June 2026

Last week, we revealed the Great Athlete that will be visiting Harpenden Academy on Tuesday, 16th June 2026!

Fred Afrifa will be running a fun fitness circuit with each class, followed by an inspirational assembly and Q&A session. The children have watched a video this morning in class revealing which athlete will be visiting our school. They will have brought home a sponsorship form for this event, so make sure to check their bags for this! The funds raised will help the school to purchase new sports equipment and support Great Athletes in inspiring the next generation. The sponsorship form has all the details on how to raise money. There are even some fun games on the back of the forms – don’t forget to enter the Great Athletes competition by emailing a photo of the completed sponsorship form to hello@greatathletes.org.

Fred is an international sprinter with two national Gold medals under his belt. He’s been London Schools Champion (2011), World Youth Relay Champion (2013), Surrey County Champion (2015), and National Champion (2018). His big dream? To represent his country at the Olympics.

Please click here to view the video the children watched in class today.

If you would like to sponsor your child, you can bring in cash with the sponsorship form, or you can donate online by following this link and searching for the school name:
https://sportal.greatathletes.org/events/landing

Children will need to wear their PE kit on Tuesday, 16th June 2026. They can come to school in their school PE kit and wear it all day.

FAfrifa

Reminder: Year 6 Fun Run, 17th June 2026

Year 6 will once again be organising a whole school fun run for sports week on Wednesday, 17^th June 2026.

They will organise the marshalling and races as well as provide homemade snacks for our return to school. Please can parents make a £2.00 voluntary donation via MCAS to participate which includes your child's snack! All snacks will be nut and sesame free and will be shop bought or home made by our Year 6 children. If your child has an allergy and you would like to supply your own snack then please just drop this off at the office in a labelled bag on the morning of the race. If you would prefer your child not to have a snack then please send an email to the school office before the day of the fun run. The £2.00 payment item can be found in the store section of the MCAS Mobile App.

Sports Day, Tuesday 14th July, 1.30pm-3.20pm at Sir John Lawes (SJL)

Our Sports Day will be held once again in the sports fields at SJL in Harpenden. Our After School Club will remain open for the children and those children booked in will be escorted back to school by staff. Please note that Co-curricular clubs will have finished by this date so there will be no Irock, Game On or Teacher clubs.

Parents are invited but please can we ask you to be quiet as you walk past SJL's sports hall as there are exams on and please arrive no earlier than 13.15pm. You will need to access the field via the tennis courts. Parents can sit on the grassy bank to watch the Sports Day. The children will have lunch before they go and they will need a water bottle and a hat - no need to bring in a school bag. Please apply suncream in the morning. Please speak to your class rep or teacher if you are DBS checked and can help walk the children to SJL.

Please complete this e-form to let the school know pick up arrangements. This form needs to be completed by Monday, 6th July 2026. Whatever is on this e-form will be final and we will not be accepting any phone calls to change anything after this form has been submitted.

As many parents are aware, we introduced a new PE kit this year. As a result, we needed an alternative way to identify the different family groups during Sports Day. We kindly ask that children wear socks in their allocated family group colour to help us do this.

Woodwind Lessons at Harpenden Academy

Musicale

Summer Camps at Harpenden Academy

Traffic Lights Summer Classes

Sadie flyer

New Summer Football Camp at Harpenden Academy

Parents and children from the school have first priority to book places on the football camp. First priority for our school will be up until 19th June 2026.

Football