Headteacher Newsletter 20.06.2025

Good afternoon,

I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for your ongoing support for your child and the school, we are having a great final half term. This morning, we celebrated as a school in our assembly, the children have received between them 2650 positive points in the last week which is phenomenal!

Sports Day plans – Tuesday 15^th July

Please find below the schedule for sports day. Please note we have added in an additional entry time for spectators to arrive after the picnic should they wish.

Big Norfolk Holiday Fun opening next week

Next week, the Big Norfolk Holiday Fun programme will open booking to the public.

Free places on the Big Norfolk Holiday Fun programme are available for students who receive benefits-related free school meals.

A limited number of free spaces are also available for students that do not receive free school meals, who could be described as vulnerable or in need of a free place.

These may include:

• Young Carers
• Refugees
• Children in care
• Children with a social worker

All available activities will be listed on the Big Norfolk Holiday Fun section of the improved Every Move website. This is our bespoke activity finder for Norfolk.

Parents can use this platform to search and book their activities. Children who receive means-tested free school meals are eligible for a free place. There are also some funded places available to a small number of children who do not receive free school meals but would benefit (see below). Others can pay for self-funded places on activities.

You can check out the Every Move website here - https://everymovenorfolk.activityfinder.net/

Charity Football Match

The Year 6’s are arranging to play a charity football match on the school field on Thursday 26^th June from 3.30-4.15pm. If you would like to watch, please come through to the school field from the car park via the South Rise entrance, after pick up. PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL OF CARS COMING AND GOING AT THIS TIME. The Y6’s are asking for a voluntary contribution of £1 per person, or as little or as much as you can, to come in and watch, and the money will go to ‘Make A Wish’.

If your child is in Year 5 or 6 and would like to come and watch, or is playing in the game, and you are happy for them to attend and walk home alone, we need to know they have permission. A message will be sent out early next week with a link for you to fill in only if your child will be walking home alone. If you do not fill this in, they will have to stay until an adult picks them up. Please note, even if your child normally walks home alone, we need permission for this event, as it will be later in the day.

Finally, an important message from Mrs Ashby

I started working at Millfield in September 2005 and I have had the incredible privilege during my time here of teaching all age groups from Reception to Year 6. Last September, I made the decision to reduce my working week to 3 days a week for personal and family reasons, and it is because of this I have made the recent difficult decision to leave Millfield at the end of this academic year. It fills me with great sadness as I will miss all the amazing children and families and of course my wonderful colleagues. I will be taking with me the most wonderful memories; having taught a huge number of children and seeing them grow and develop into amazing young people. I have loved working with you all as families, and also enjoyed sharing lots of performances, learning and celebratory events, and I have hopefully provided to many of you a listening ear and support particularly in times of difficulty, or when you have needed to share any worries. What always brings a smile to me is seeing and hearing about past pupils sometimes many years later and hearing how their journeys since leaving Millfield have taken them. Millfield will always remain forever in my heart as it is where I have spent the vast majority of my career. I will continue to keep in touch and look forward to the conversations in Sainsbury’s aisles! Wishing you all the very best for the future in your own Millfield journeys.

Have a lovely weekend.

Headteacher Newsletter 13.06.2025

Good afternoon,

We have really been enjoying the sunshine here at Millfield this week. It has been really lovely to combine all year groups at lunchtime together on the field – seeing friendships blossom, siblings and cousins caring for each other across the school is wonderful to see. We have also seen the strawberries in Reception and our garden starting to come through much to the children’s excitement.

Some polite reminders

The gate for school in the morning opens at 8:35, we do not open this earlier for safeguarding reasons - staff are not out of their morning meeting or other responsibilities until this time to be ready to receive the children safely into school.

Before and after school club needs to be booked in advance. Please do not turn up in the mornings without booking, your child will not be accepted unless it is extreme circumstances. Booking is open to everyone, and can be made up to 24 hours in advance on the My Child at School App.

Sports Day arrangements

Everyone is welcome to our Sports Day. Please arrive at 11:45 and walk through the side gate, through the staff car park and around to the gate between the school and Preschool to get onto the field. Access to the field will be closed at 12:00. After this time there will be no access to the school site. We also are unfortunately unable to provide access inside the school building to use the toilet, unless in extreme circumstances, so please be aware of this. Children will then join you for their lunch – please feel free to bring a blanket and your own picnic lunch to eat with your child.

PHSE

At Millfield, we regularly teach the NSPCC PANTS lessons throughout the year to our children to help keep them safe from sexual abuse. From P through to S, each letter provides a simple but valuable message that can help children understand their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. To find out more about the PANTS rules and guidance on how to have supportive conversations with your child, please visit the following link to download a guide to support you as parents in having these important conversations. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/

2025-26 class lists / transition days

We will be having ‘move up days’ on Monday 30th June, Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 3rd July. Children will all move up to their September 2025 class for these 3 days to undertake activities with their new class and teacher. We are currently in the process of finalising class lists and staffing, and these will be shared with parents/carers before the move up days.

Summer Fete – Saturday 5th July

The Friends of Millfield have been working hard to put together a great day for the Summer Fete. If anyone is available to help on the day at all, even for a little while please email millfieldfriendsnw@gmail.com and someone will be in touch to discuss.

We are all very much looking forward to our Sport fundraising event next week on Tuesday 17th June, where children will be taking part in a sporting challenge – a reminder that all children need to wear PE Kit on this day please. Thank you for supporting your child with raising donations.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend enjoying the weather.

Mrs Gatward

Headteacher Newsletter 02.05.2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have had a fantastic first 2 weeks back at Millfield, with the highlight being children taking part in the Mini London Marathon and completing 4.5 laps of the field, just over 2 miles! We have a busy term ahead with lots of trips and other important events taking place.

VE Day Celebrations – Thursday 8^th May

We are excited to celebrate VE Day 80^th Anniversary on Thursday 8^th May. We encourage children to wear a red, white and/or blue outfit. This can be as amazing as a Spiderman outfit, red/white and/or blue trousers/top or dress, or as simple as wearing their blue uniform and just adding a red pair of socks, or a red bow in their hair! Please ensure what they wear is still appropriate for wearing to school, ie no crop tops or ‘hot pant’ shorts. We will be having a whole school picnic and children are welcome to bring a blanket to sit on with their friends. Only packed lunches will be available on the day, so please ensure you have booked your child’s preference on MCAS in advance or send them in with a packed lunch from home.

Safety around drop off and pick up

A polite reminder that as the school is in a residential area, please ensure you are only dropping off in appropriate spaces and not across residents’ driveways or on double yellow lines. We are in touch with the local town council regarding traffic in the area, and whilst Recreation Road is not currently a one-way street, we have been advised to share with parents that where possible it is best to approach the school from the Recreation Road direction and not Buxton Road/Morris Road direction. We thank you for your support in this.

Please also ensure that those on foot are always close to the children in your care for their safety crossing roads etc.

Relationships and Sex Education policy – parental feedback

Attached is our RSE policy, if you would like to give us feedback on this please complete this short form - https://forms.office.com/e/0WAfU9fPxD

Trading cards

Trading cards, such as Pokemon and football cards, are not allowed in school. We are looking at the possibility of running a trading card club in the last half term. Until we update you on this, please ensure your child is not bringing in their trading cards to school as these will be confiscated to be collected at the office.

Hot Weather

As the weather is now getting warmer, please ensure your child has a full water bottle, a hat, and sunscreen applied each morning (if needed).  There are lots of children's sunscreen which last at least 8 hours, but if you feel your child will need to reapply, they can bring their sunscreen to school with them (please ensure their name is clearly on the bottle), if they are able to apply it themselves.
 

Summer Half Term 1 Dates

We have also included with this newsletter a “for your fridge” list of important dates for this Half Term so please ensure you look at this.

One important date for Half Term 2 is Sports Day. We will be trialing a whole school sports day afternoon of events on Tuesday 15^th July, where parents will be invited in for a picnic lunch and to spectate the afternoon of track events. More information about this will be sent closer to the time, save the date!

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Finally, as our Year 6 children prepare for their SATs in the week commencing 12^th May, I want to take a moment to say how incredibly proud we already are of each and every one of them.

These tests are just a small snapshot of everything they have learned and achieved — they do not measure their creativity, their kindness, their determination, or the way they brighten up our school every single day. They have already accomplished so much simply by working hard, persevering, and growing into the wonderful young people they are.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend,

Mrs Gatward

Headteacher Newsletter 04.04.2025

Dear Parents/Carers, 

It is lovely to write to you this week whilst the sun is shining and we have had so many positive moments celebrating all of the children at Millfield.

We had two great parents evenings, where teachers were able to share with you the progress, effort and positives about your child. We aim to repeat these in the Summer term.

Our first celebration assemblies have run this week also, and it was wonderful to have see so many of you able to come in and celebrate with us. A particular highlight of mine was seeing all of the children who had been chosen to showcase their work, they were very brave to get up in front of the audience and share.

Today we began giving out Star Badges, and we will continue to do this every week through the Summer term in our Friday assemblies.

There have been lots of trips out recently to the Library, and in Middle Phase to the Nelson Room at Paston College. Photos of these trips will go out on our Facebook page so please keep an eye. Thank you to all staff and volunteers who make these trips a possibility.

Next term we hope to open our Uniform Swap Shop being run by the Friends of Millfield, and we will have another drop off day for any uniform donations. We are also hoping to run some Cafe mornings in our front mobile alongside North Walsham Family Hub, where parents/carers and young children are welcome.

Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable Easter break. See you on Wednesday 23rd April when the children return.

Kind regards,

Mrs Gatward

Headteacher Newsletter 21.03.2025

Good Afternoon,

We hope you have all been enjoying the sunshine as much as we have.

We have seen some excellent learning taking place at Millfield in the last 2 weeks. Beech and Maple class have learnt to sew and have made beautiful felt butterflies. Cherry and Apple have been making the most of the weather and continuing their learning outside a lot this week, digging, building and playing!

Library Visits:
We have had library visits taking place for Silver Birch, Hazel, Rowan and Willow, with Sycamore, Chestnut and Oak class visits still to come! The purpose of these library visits is to expose the children to the free access that they all have to the library in town, and to learn about what they can do and receive there. Reception, Y1 and 2 will have Mrs Whitwood, from the library, visit in April to read to them. In addition to this, we will arrange for Year 1 and 2 to go to also go to the library, which we will arrange after Easter. Thank you to all staff and volunteers for making these trips a success!

Awards Assemblies:
We are looking forward to celebrating this term at our Awards Assemblies in the last week before the Easter break. Please don’t forget to book your spot to come! Links were sent out to parents to book spaces and the deadline for this is TODAY!

Cake Sale:

On Thursday 27th March, we will be holding an after-school cake sale, which the school councillors will be running. We would love to have your donations, whether it's home baked or bought (please no nut products). Cakes, cookies etc can be brought to the school hall on the morning of Thursday 27th March. Please can you label your containers, so they can be returned to you. 

Mufti Day:
On the last day of term (Friday 4th April), we are hosting a Mufti Day. If you would like your child to take part, please bring in a £1 donation and hand it to your child's class teacher. 

Easter Egg Raffle:
This will take place on the last day of term, in a special Easter assembly in the afternoon. Thank you so much to those parents who have already donated. If you would like to donate an egg, please place it in the box in the reception area by the school office. Raffle tickets are available to buy until Wednesday 2nd April. These are on sale during break time for KS2 children, and during the afternoon in class, for KS1. Tickets are 50p each with a maximum of 4 tickets per child. Please ensure KS1 children’s money is in an envelope with their name, class and ‘Easter raffle tickets’ written on. All tickets purchased will be named and placed in the prize draw not given directly to the children.

Easter Colouring Design Competition:
Design sheets have been handed out to all children. The deadline for returning the entries is Friday 28th March, no more entries will be accepted after this date. Winners will be decided by the School Council and a prize will be awarded to the winning entry in each class. It is 50p to enter the competition. Please attach this to the sheet.

Leavers and New Appointments:

Mr Hurrell will be leaving Millfield Primary at the end of this term. We wish him all the best.
 

We have appointed an excellent and experienced teacher, Mrs Sabatino, who will begin after Easter in Beech class. Mrs Sabatino is well known to the Trust and we are very excited she is joining us. I am sure you will all join me in welcoming her.

We are very excited that before the Easter holidays we will have Headteacher interviews, and we look forward to sharing with parents and carers the outcome of that.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Gatward

Headteacher Newsletter 07.03.2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have had a lovely week at Millfield enjoying the sunshine and celebrating World Book Day.

We held assemblies by our Reading Champions, who showed off the new non-fiction books, bought by the Friends of Millfield, and read out interesting facts to their peers. The Reading Champions did a great job reading aloud to their audience, and picked some really interesting books. Well done to them all.

We launched our new library space on World Book Day too, with every class having a time slot to visit the new library and enjoy reading new books and relaxing on the new bean bags! Please head to our Facebook page to see the photos.

In the afternoon we mixed and matched classrooms and had children of different ages paired up to read books to each other, it was wonderful to see and hear so many children enjoying books with each other, and being so kind to one another whilst they read.

Finally, we must mention the 250+ costumes secured for us by The Friends of Millfield! These costumes have provided us with box after box of dressing up fun ahead.

I am sure you will all join me in saying a huge thank you to Mrs King for organising such a lovely World Book Day, and to The Friends of Millfield for their amazing efforts and support in securing new books for the library, and the costumes for the school. THANK YOU!

This week we also welcomed Mr Tubb from NWHS, who visited us to give a training session to the Y5-6 Girls Football Team, who came 12^th in the County today at the Norfolk School Games Girls Football Finals in Norwich! Well done girls, and thank you Mr Tubb and Mr Smith for taking them along.

Library Visits

We are looking for one additional adult helper per class to assist on the visit in walking the children to and from the library. If you are able to help, please speak to the office directly and it will be on a first come first served basis. Each visit will take place in the afternoon and the classes will leave the school at 1.15pm and return in good time for the end of the day. 

Spring Parents Evening

Information regarding Spring Parents Evening will be emailed out to you early next week, alongside appointments opening on the My Child at School App so please look out for this.

End of Term Awards Assemblies

We would like to extend an invitation to parents and carers to join us for our end of term Awards Assemblies. Information about these will be sent in a separate email next week. All families will need to “book” their tickets to attend on a link provided.

Finally, I attach some useful dates for the rest of this term, including the dates of Awards Assemblies which will be in the last week of term. I hope to see lots of you there!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Gatward

Headteacher Newsletter 14.02.2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a busy and wonderful half term at Millfield Primary school. The children have taken on the new Golden Rules in their stride, and are showing kindness, respect, enjoyment and striving for excellence every day. We’ve seen some excellent role modelling from our Y6 buddies who are on duty every break and lunch time to help all of the children and look after our new playground equipment.

Some dates for the next half term to be aware of:

· Book Fair Tuesday 25th February, after school

· World Book day Thursday 6th March, we would love your child/children to come to school dressed as a book character.

· Parents evenings will be in the week commencing 31st March

· 26th March Friends of Millfield disco, YR-2 15:15-16:15, Y3-6 16:30-17:30.

Please don’t forget to follow us on our Facebook page, where we are posting what we are up to more regularly.

We wish you a lovely half term break and we look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 24th February.

Kind regards,

Mrs Gatward