May 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back after the Coronation Bank Holiday weekend. It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Coronation picnic and despite the weather it did not dampen our spirits. The afternoon was filled with amazing singing from the children and staff and lots of smiling faces. Thank you to all parents and family members for your understanding and cooperation whilst we moved the picnic indoors. I would like to give special thanks to Mrs Paros for organising the singing and to Mrs Duffin for her fabulous cakes - we raised £177! Amazing and thank you for all your parent donations.

To ensure the ongoing safety of all children and also the younger siblings who come during end of day collections can I please remind all parents/ carers to ensure your child/ren are not climbing on any play equipment, including the Early Years equipment, fencing, accessing the field or playing ball games during end of day collection times. Thank you.

Supporting and signposting parents to advice and support is very important to us. Please click on the links below to read more about getting support:

The Sandbox is an NHS-funded service to support children and young people in South Staffordshire and Hertfordshire with their mental health and well-being. There is a great section for parents and carers as well. Click here to view the website - Sandbox

Please click here to read Herts for Learning summer term newsletter - HFL Online Safety Newsletter

Finally, I would like to send a message to all Year 6 pupils who are taking their SATs exams this week. Best of luck, you can do this!

Karen Armstrong
Headteacher, Jupiter Primary School

Latest news

Event Dates

Book Fair: From Friday 28th April to Wednesday 10th May please remember to come and look at the books to purchase at our book fair.

Year 6 SATs week: All Year 6 children are welcome to join us every morning from 8.15am for SATs breakfast. The cost is being covered by school.

Walk to School Week is from Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May. Come and join us one day on the 'walking bus'.

Mindfulness and Dacorum Coffee morning

Thank you to Dacorum Family Support Service and Lucy Mortimer for holding our mindfulness coffee morning.

Some parents have asked if we can hold more coffee mornings or during a different time in the day and a parent workshop. I will seek to provide further opportunities and hopefully a parent workshop in the near future.

One parent commented, "It was great to chat to Lucy, the Mindfulness coach, and learn about various strategies that are being taught to the children. I think all parents would benefit from a short training session, if anything, to be able to reinforce the skills that children learn at school".

Herts Catering Taster session

Thank you to the Herts Catering team for providing an opportunity for parents to see and taste the food served by the school kitchen.

I hope that you as parents also found the session useful and that it gave you an insight into the school meals on offer.

One parent commented: "It was so lovely to chat to kitchen staff and learn more about the ingredients and the preparation process. The food looked and tasted fantastic. I was most impressed when I learned that the meals are cooked on site from scratch every day. I am really pleased with such high quality food on offer. Overall, a very positive experience".

If you would like to know more about school meals then please contact the school office.

PTA Meeting

Thank you to the couple of parents who met with myself and school staff to discuss how we could re-ignite a parent and teacher association. Many areas were discussed including looking at the roles within a PTA and the huge benefits a PTA brings to all the children at Jupiter, not just fundraising but also being able to offer wider experiences and fun events for all of the children at Jupiter.

"After attending the PTA meeting on Monday 24th April, I was really surprised to see that only 2 parents joined this initial meeting. I have previously been worried about joining the PTAs at previous schools as I imagined it will take a lot of time and effort and as a full time working mum with 2 children. But I soon learned that was not the case and I could support the PTA in so many ways. Joining the PTA can help the school raise additional funds for our children, for trips, events, equipment and so much more. And you will not be expected to spend a specific amount of time regularly to support the PTA. Every little helps, if you can help out for an hour or two at some events, or help on a more regular basis, everything adds up and means we are helping the school offer more to our children".

We really need at least 6 parents to take up some of the roles and many more parents to help with running events. Whether you can give just one hour or more please do get in touch by emailing the school office. Thank you.

Upcoming Event - Walk to School Week

This year to promote walk to school week, encourage healthy life styles and do our bit for the environment we will be encouraging everyone to take part by walking, scooting, biking to school everyday during the week of 15th May to 19th May.

Staff will be running a 'Walking Bus' from Highfield Community Centre - meeting at 8.15am every day from Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May.

Each year group has a different day allocated when pupils (and of course parents if you wish) can join the walking bus. Please see your child's day below:

Mon: Year 5 pupils, Year 5 staff and Mrs Crute-Mussell

Tues: Year 3 pupils, Year 3 staff and Mrs Waggeh

Wed: Year 4 & Reception pupils and Year 4 and Reception staff and Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham

Thurs: Year 2 pupils, Year 2 staff and Mrs Armstrong

Fri: Year 1 pupils, Year 1 staff and Miss Wadmore