Keeping you informed

Emails 
To minimise paper correspondence, we send the majority of information to parents and carers by email. It is therefore essential that you provide school with an up-to-date email address. All email correspondence is sent via Arbor. 

Website (www.lyppardgrange.worcs.sch.uk)
The school calendar is updated regularly, as are the class pages in the children’s section, sharing news, events and photographs - we will be populating the 2026-27 pages towards the end of this half term. Other information relevant to parents is housed within the Parents’ section of the website. The home page of the website also provides important information including recent news and upcoming events. 
Text Messaging Service
Parents are asked to provide a mobile number that can be used by school for the text messaging service. This service is used in cases of school closure due to adverse weather or emergencies where quick communication with parents is necessary. It may also be used from time to time to send other relevant messages to parents, e.g. keeping parents informed regarding children on educational visits. Text messages are often only sent to one person per household as we are charged per text. Sending a school wide text message of 150 characters costs approximately £25 which is why we keep them brief and tend to use email as our main means of communication. We are looking to move to Arbor messaging to alleviate some of these costs - further details will follow regarding this.

Dates for the Year Ahead

We have been busy compiling our list of dates for the year ahead which I am delighted to attach. Apologies for the slight delay in getting these to you - as you can imagine, every event has a huge amount of organisation going on behind it and we were waiting for confirmation of some of these events prior to publishing the list. The events listed are correct at the time of publication, but inevitably additional events will be added throughout the year and dates may be subject to change. We will notify you of any additional dates or amendments to published dates via email; up-to-date dates will also be published on the calendar on the school website. The Year 6 residential visit to London is not yet on the calendar as we are still negotiating the best rate for this visit.

Events happening soon are:

• Harvest Festivals - Friday 16th October 2026
• Christmas Card Workshop - Wednesday 21st October 2026
• Parent Consultation Meetings - Tuesday 10th and Thursday 12th November 2026. Please note, these have now been scheduled to take place after the half term break.

Further information regarding each of these events will be sent out by email in the coming days.

Some events, such as visits and showcases, are linked to curriculum themes - please try not to disclose these to your children until you receive further information so as not to spoil the excitement as each new theme is introduced. 

Year Group Communication

Year group teams have all sent out their own newsletters by e-mail. These detail specific information and dates for each year group. Each year group also run their own parent workshops - thank you to those of you who have already attended and we look forward to seeing more of you at those still to be held. These are a great opportunity for you to find out more about the curriculum your child will be taught this year and how they will be taught it, enabling you to be better equipped to support them at home using the same vocabulary and methods they are using at school. It is also an opportunity for you to find out more about the content being delivered in your child’s Relationships, Sex and Health Education lessons this year. We will soon be populating our year group pages on the website with this information as well.

Congratulations Assemblies

Another way of finding out what's going on in school is through our weekly ‘Congratulations Assemblies’. These take place at 9am on a Friday morning for Key Stage 2 children (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) and 3pm for Key Stage 1 children (Years 1 and 2) unless there is another event taking place in school - please see the website calendar. Our Early Years children will join our Key Stage 1 assembly before October half term with their first assembly taking place on Friday 23rd October. Children involved in school swimming lessons on a Friday morning (Years 3, 4 & 5) will attend Congratulations Assemblies every other week. As a reminder, here is a brief guide to how they operate. When children are awarded a ‘gold’ award in class for academic achievement or demonstrating our learning values well, you will be sent a slip home informing you of this; the children then receive their gold sticker in our Congratulations Assembly on the following Friday. Your child may also be selected to be the ‘Pupil of the Week’. You will be notified of this via e-mail. It is our aim to inform you of this before hometime on a Wednesday but we ask you to keep this a ‘secret’ from your child because they get called out to the front to receive their certificate and prize in ‘award ceremony’ style. All parents are invited to attend these assemblies, regardless of whether your child is receiving an award. Please queue along the fence by the EYFS outdoor classroom and we will let you in through the gate a couple of minutes before the assembly starts. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis, with standing room for everyone else. Pre-school siblings are also welcome to attend but we ask that they remain with their own parent/carer throughout the assembly. If they become restless during the assembly please take them into the EYFS outdoor classroom or the library so that it does not disturb the assembly for the children in school – both of these spaces enable you to view the assembly through a window. Please can I remind you that you are not permitted to take photographs or video during the assembly, but we will provide an opportunity for you to do this if your child is the ‘Pupil of the Week’ at the end of the assembly. Also, children are asked to enter and sit in silence unless asked to do otherwise, so to help us with this, please can you refrain from having conversations in the hall as the children are arriving, departing, and during the assemblies, so as to model the behaviour we want from the children. Thank you. We hope to see lots of you there.

As a reminder, during all school events:

• please use the adult toilets in school which can be accessed via the school office during school hours when children are in the building, or via the library during evening events; please do not access the children's toilets, even if taking a child to the toilet as this is in breach of our safeguarding policy;
• unless told you can do so, photography or recording on any type of device is not permitted at any school events, including performances and sports days, as we have children in school without media consent for their own safety;
• if the fire alarm goes off during an event, please follow our instructions; do not take your child with you - allow staff to manage the children so that we can account for every child as swiftly as possible;
• when babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers become restless, please feel free to take them into our EYFS outdoor classroom or library area where you can continue to view the event in the hall through the windows.

Please can we ask that you follow our very simple requests to ensure the safety of and enjoyment for all and we thank you for your cooperation with all of these matters.

Getting Involved

Homework

There are two key areas of the curriculum where children really benefit from daily practice, so we ask that parents and carers focus on these at home. Each week we would like every child to complete the following:

• Reading. Your child should read for 10 minutes or more every day. This reading activity needs to be recorded in your child’s reading journal, as this will ensure we can work together to track progress.
• Times tables. From Year 2, children begin to focus on their times tables. This comes in two parts: firstly, your child needs to spend time learning the times table that we have set them - each child will have a different times table and their learning will be checked through the use of a weekly maths challenge; secondly, your child is expected to complete a minimum of 10 minutes of TTRockstars activity over the course of the week (although 5-10 minutes daily is the most effective way of embedding this knowledge) - this will be in the form of Garage sessions which will be set on Friday evenings and need to be completed by the following Wednesday morning. Further details will follow soon.

In Year 6, children will also be set revision homework, to support them in their preparation for the Key Stage 2 SATs.
We thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation.

'Aspire to be...' and 'My Life...' Assemblies

Following the success of our 'Aspire to be...' Assemblies, which promoted a range of vocations for children to aspire to in the future, we are also inviting people from a range of faiths and cultures into school to talk to the children about their lives. We already have visitors from Woodgreen Evangelical Church and St Nicholas Church to lead assemblies on a regular basis but are looking to widen the breadth of visitors to better reflect our school and wider community and broaden the children's knowledge of faiths and cultures, including those different to their own. The purpose of these visits is to develop the children's tolerance of different faiths and beliefs and their mutual respect, where individuals are treated with dignity, regardless of their personal differences or backgrounds (two of our key British Values). If you, or someone you know, would like to support us in this area by sharing their culture or faith with us as part of a Monday assembly, please contact Mrs Rupi Johnson via the school office. We'd love to be learning more about each other, something we believe to be incredibly important in our multicultural world. Thank you.

Parents Communication with School
Lyppard Grange Primary School is a welcoming place, where relationships between staff and visitors, especially parents and carers, demonstrates mutual respect and recognition of a shared responsibility for children’s welfare and educational progress. Parental involvement is such an important factor in educational success and in dealing with emerging problems at an early stage and we wholeheartedly welcome parents and carers into our school. Our School Office staff are a useful source of advice and guidance and are happy to help you with your queries. School staff are available to receive short messages/updates each morning at the classroom doors. If you have a concern about your child or another school issue, parents should speak to the class teacher in the first instance. On rare occasions, the matter may then need to be brought to the attention of the SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator), Mrs Claire Edwards, the Deputy Head Teacher, Mr Dave Groves, or the Head Teacher, Mrs Becky Thorp. For longer, more detailed discussions please contact the school office to make an appointment to meet with the relevant staff. It is, however, important to recognise that staff cannot always respond to emails, phone calls or meeting requests immediately. All staff, leaders and teaching staff, have demanding schedules and are usually fully timetabled to be working with children, but will get back to you within a reasonable timeframe when it is practical and safe for them to do so. We value your opinions and know that working in partnership ensures your child’s ultimate success. School does not respond to social media postings; please come and talk to us directly.

‘Courtesy Costs Nothing But Buys Everything’
On occasion, unfortunately, the way some concerns are raised by some parents is done so in an abusive or aggressive way towards staff members; we stress that this is the minority (and we thank the majority of parents who are always courteous and respectful). No member of staff should feel intimidated at any time, so we ask you to be respectful and courteous when discussing concerns with members of staff; we all want the best for your children and in our experience, approaching a problem calmly and politely results in a much swifter and more positive outcome. We all expect the children to show respect and we are all the role models to demonstrate this.

Parent Governor Vacancy

We have two vacancies for parents to join our Academy Standards Committee (formerly know as the Governing Body) in the role of Parent Governor. Joining the Academy Standards Committee is an exciting and rewarding role. Training and support are provided, therefore experience is not essential, however, passionate parents who share our vision to ‘empower children to be secure, engaged and equipped for life’ are welcome to apply. Further details will be sent in a separate email next week.

The Den 

Regular sessions

At Lyppard Grange, we offer wrap-around care five mornings and five afternoons a week during term time as well as providing holiday clubs during the school breaks. A morning session runs from 7:30am to 8:45am and includes breakfast; an afternoon session runs from 3:30pm to 6pm and includes a light snack. There are lots of activities on offer during these sessions, including physical games, arts and craft activities, and plenty of toys. They are currently creating a tea towel with all of the children’s self-portraits on, in order to raise funds for extra outdoor play equipment.

Ad-hoc sessions

In addition to making regular bookings, one-off, ad-hoc bookings are also available to all parents for children currently enrolled at Lyppard Grange Primary School. These are limited based on capacity, as priority will be given to Den registered children, but all available spaces are available to book via Arbor; spaces are released on a half-termly basis once all registered Den users have signed up for their regular slots. These prove to be particularly popular if you ever need a couple of extra hours to do some Christmas shopping or wrapping, or to pack to go away for a weekend etc. without your children being around.

How to book:

1. Open your Arbor app, The Den is listed under the club section. Breakfast Club and After School Club are listed separately.
2. You will need to top-up your account before booking as Arbor will not allow you to sign up for the wrap-around provision unless your account is topped up to the correct amount for the sessions you are selecting. Currently, a morning session costs £5 and an afternoon session costs £10.
3. Select the session you require. If you would like your child to attend both AM and PM, you need to select these in both Breakfast and After School Clubs.

Please note: Your child needs to be booked into The Den on Arbor 30 minutes before the session starts for them to be added to the register for that day. The Den staff will not be able to accept children who have not been booked in and are therefore not on the register. For afternoon sessions, we also ask that you inform school that your child will be attending to enable your child's class teacher to send them directly to The Den at the end of the school day. Once sessions are booked, they cannot be cancelled, and refunds cannot be given as per the terms and conditions. Terms and Conditions for The Den are available to view on the school website.

Holiday Clubs

The next holiday club is running from Monday 26th October to Friday 3oth October. Children can attend for just one day, a few days or the whole week. The week will end with a 'Halloween Party' themed Friday with optional fancy dress. Booking is now open on Arbor.

 

A few reminders

School Uniform, Hair and Jewellery

We believe that wearing a school uniform puts children into a working frame of mind at the beginning of each school day. Not only does it provide a smart set of clothes, it also cuts down on the problems of what to wear. We expect every child to wear the basic school colours as detailed in the school brochure and on the school website. Shoes should be sensible black school shoes (no trainers or heeled shoes please) and socks/tights should be green if worn with a green skirt or pinafore, grey if worn with grey trousers or shorts, or white if worn with a summer dress. We usually have a good selection of free, nearly-new items of school uniform which children have outgrown. This will be available during our Autumn Parent Consultations. If you need something sooner, please ask at the school office.

Hair should be in a style which is smart, safe and suitable for school. Long hair for both girls and boys must be tied back with appropriate bobbles or hair bands.

Jewellery is not suitable for school. Children who have pierced ears are permitted to wear a single set of studs. Multiple earrings, hoops or earrings that dangle are not permitted. Earrings need to be removed or taped during PE sessions and swimming. Children are not permitted to wear nail varnish or make-up. Children may wear a watch, however smart watches are not permitted - see below.

Personal Belongings 

Please do not allow your child to bring valuable or treasured items into school as these can easily be lost or damaged.Toys are not permitted in school unless specifically requested/approved by class teachers. We understand that children in Years 5 and 6 who walk to and from school unsupervised may bring a mobile phone to school (further details below). These must be turned off at the school gates and handed directly to the teacher at the start of the school day. They will be returned at the end of the child’s day in school, and can be turned on as the child reaches the main site gates.

Lost Property 

Please make sure that every item of clothing is clearly marked with your child’s name, even shoes, socks, vests and pants - especially important when swimming! Lost property is always a problem and can prove very expensive. Like you, we encourage the children to look after their own belongings but things go astray from time to time. Most lost items will either be found in the cloakrooms or classroom drawers so please ask your child’s class teacher if something is missing. We do not hold a central store of lost property.

Punctuality

Our gates to the site open at 8:35am but, in the interests of safety, we ask parents/carers to ensure that children are supervised until the doors open at 8.45am. For children walking to school unsupervised, we ask that they do not arrive on the school site until 8:45am when they can access the classrooms directly. The first school bell rings at 8.53am in readiness for a prompt start to the teaching day at 8.55am. It is our expectation that children arrive at school before the 8:55am bell each day; after this a late mark is given. Missing the start of the school day can be particularly unsettling for children as this is when teachers outline the day ahead.

 

	EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE	Y1	Y2	LOWER KS2 Y3 and Y4	UPPER KS2 Y5 and Y6
Morning Session   Afternoon Session	8.55-12.00   13.00-15.30	08.55-12.15   13.15-15.30	8.55-12.30   13.30-15.30	8.55-12.30   13.15-15.30	8.55-12.45   13.30-15.30

 

At the end of the school day, we ask parents/carers to be ready to collect children as soon as the bell rings at 3:30pm. If your child is being collected by someone else on any occasion, it is vital that you send a note or phone to inform us of these arrangements. We will not release your child unless we are in receipt of this information. Also, please contact us if you are unavoidably delayed. 

Attendance

Thank you to the vast majority of you who work hard to maintain strong attendance and punctuality for your child/ren. Our website features weekly attendance by year group. Our aim is to work with parents to ensure that all our pupils receive the most from their education and reach their full potential. Excellent attendance contributes significantly to children achieving better outcomes at school. At Lyppard Grange Primary School, the minimum expected attendance for all pupils is 97%. We do not authorise absences from school during term time for anything other than illness or religious observance (e.g. Eid – limited to a single day). 

The example below illustrates the implications of absence from school and how absence can accumulate:
You might consider an attendance rate of 90% to be ‘good enough’. However, 90% equates to a child having one morning or one afternoon away from school every week. Over the course of the academic year (190 days) this adds up to 19 days’ absence – nearly four weeks away from school. Were this pattern to be consistent across a child’s entire school career, from Reception to Year 6, the child would miss 28 weeks of school, more than half a calendar year, over two thirds of an academic year (38 weeks). For this reason, any child whose attendance falls below 90% is deemed to be a ‘persistent absentee’ and will be deemed a cause for concern.

The law requires parents to ensure that their child attends school regularly. The Government is clear that no child should miss school apart from in exceptional circumstances and schools must take steps to reduce absence to support children’s attainment. On August 19th 2024 the Government introduced a single national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered by all schools in England. This threshold is 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence. The period of 10 school weeks can span different terms or school years. School will be considering asking the Local Authority (LA) to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) on every occasion the national threshold of unauthorised absence is met. 

‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ advises all schools that they should only grant a leave of absence during term time in exceptional circumstances, considering each request on a case-by-case basis. If a leave of absence is granted, it is for the Head Teacher to determine the length of time the pupil can be away from school. Although we recognise the value and benefits of family holidays, it is highly unlikely a leave of absence will be granted for a family holiday as the Government ‘does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.’ Requests for occasional absences to pursue elite sporting activity or for examination purposes (ballet, musical instruments etc.) are considered on merit. 

If you require any support with ensuring your child’s attendance at Lyppard Grange Primary School, please contact Lisa Thomas, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant, via the school office.

Safety in and out of school

Here are a few reminders to ensure we keep everyone as safe as we can in and out of school:

• No nuts or nut-based products and kiwi-fruit. We have a number of children and staff with severe allergies to nuts and kiwi-fruit in school so please avoid sending in any nuts, nut-based products or kiwi-fruit; this includes peanut butter and nut-based chocolate spreads. Thank you for your cooperation. 
• Wheels. It is lovely to see so many of the children walking, scooting and cycling to school and making good use of our bike storage and scooter park. Please can we ask that all wheeled toys are dismounted and pushed by hand once inside the main green gates to avoid accidents and not ridden again until outside the green gates at hometime; this includes parents and pre-schoolers. We have also been asked by a couple of parents that caution be applied when riding on the cycle paths on the way to and from school. Thank you.
• Vehicular Access. At the beginning and end of the day we request that parents who drop and collect their children by car, be mindful of children when approaching or leaving the local area, be considerate of pedestrians, other road users and our neighbours, and do not park on double yellow lines or zigzags. Parents should not drive down the slip road to school and drop children off at the main entrance as this is an unnecessary danger to other children who cross the access road. Parents are not permitted to use the staff car park at any time of the day, including for Den drop-off and pick-up. The main school vehicular gates are closed to all vehicles for safety between 8.30am and 3.45pm, and open only for staff access, coaches and deliveries between 7:15am and 6:15pm (or later if school events are taking place). Should exceptional circumstances arise that require you to access the school site by vehicle, such as a disability requirement, please contact the school office as this needs to be agreed in advance by a member of the Senior Leadership Team. The school site is regularly visited by parking enforcement to ensure the Highway Code is being followed and Blue Badges used in accordance with the law.
• Dogs. Dogs are not permitted on the school grounds even if they are being carried. Please also avoid tying dogs to the school gates and fences whilst collecting/dropping children off; a number of children are fearful of dogs and having to walk past dogs, however calm and peaceful they appear, can be distressing for them. The only dog with permission to be onsite is 'Oswin', who has been trained and verified to work with children. If you have a specific need which requires you to be accompanied by an assistance dog, please contact the office to discuss this further. Thank you.
• Smoking. We are a non-smoking school and ask that you refrain from smoking on the school site, both indoors and outside, even during events such as our Sports Days. This includes the use of e-cigarettes. Thank you.
• Supervision. It is our preference that children are brought to and collected from school by a responsible adult each day, particularly after an after-school club as the nights are drawing in, but understand that you may wish your children in Years 5 and 6 to begin developing their independence when walking to and from school. If this is the case it is imperative that you have informed their class teacher of this arrangement in writing. Thank you.
• Online-safety. Our children are growing up in a digital world and are likely to be spending increasing amounts of time online as they get older. In order to help them remain safe online and understand both the benefits and potential risks of the internet, we do lots of age-appropriate work around online-safety as part of our computing lessons and within PSHCE. In addition, we send out an online-safety newsletter to parents/carers each month to keep you up-to-date with online safety risks, issues, advice and guidance related to keeping children safe online. There are constantly new apps and trends being accessed by children so this newsletter is a really valuable source of staying on top of the current trends. Please take time to read this and where necessary, have any conversations with your children about the content to ensure they are able to enjoy technology safely and age-appropriately and know what to do if they experience something which worries them online. Please follow this link to see any past newsletters and other useful online-safety information - https://www.lyppardgrange.worcs.sch.uk/online-safety/
• Mobile phone and smart watch policy. At Lyppard Grange Primary School, children in Year 5 and Year 6 are permitted to bring a mobile phone or Smart Watch to school, where parents/carers are in agreement, where possession of a mobile phone or Smart Watch would be of significant and demonstrable benefit to the child because they walk to and/or without an adult from school, and on submission of the request for permission form. Children in classes from Reception to Year 4 are not permitted to bring a mobile phone or Smart Watch to school, unless there are exceptional circumstances which must be discussed with a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Mobile phones or Smart Watches must be switched off at the main gates and handed to the class teacher on entry into school and will not be allowed to be used during the school day. These will be stored in a specialist box in the main school office for the duration the child is in school. 
• Operation Encompass. Our school is signed up to Operation Encompass.

• Evacuation and Invacuation. The safety of your child and all children in our school, as well as the safety of the school staff and visitors, is of high priority to us. In order to maintain a safe environment for our children to study and learn, it is necessary that we practise our emergency and crisis response plans. In the same way that we hold practice evacuation drills, we also hold invacuation drills. An invacuation would be used in response to an external or internal incident which could be a threat to the safety of children and staff in the school. During an invacuation, children remain in the room they are in and staff ensure that windows and doors are closed/locked with children positioned away from possible sightlines with blinds closed; this is to restrict movement in and out of the building and minimise views into the school building. We understand that emergency drills could be a cause of some anxiety. Before the drill, children are all informed of what to do - teachers talk to their classes and walk them through the procedure. Unlike evacuation drills, invacuation drills are always announced in order to prepare children for the event. You will be informed via email or text, before the end of the school day, if an emergency drill has been carried out. To reassure you, in the event of a real lockdown event we will notify you as soon as practicable via the school’s text service or website. To ensure everyone’s safety, we ask that, in the event of a real lockdown, parents and carers refrain from coming onto site as this may hinder any emergency services action that needs to take place. We will not release students during an invacuation and we would ask that parents and carers not to ring school as this could tie up emergency lines. Information will be shared at the earliest opportunity following a real evacuation or invacuation informing you of the context of the situation and any other pertinent information. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Healthy snacks and lunch boxes

As a school we aim to promote healthy lifestyles. Hot lunches are available 5 days per week and are provided by Aspens.We offer universal free school meals to all children in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2. Fresh fruit is available for all Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2 children daily with a selection also available in Key Stage 2, but all children are also welcome to bring a healthy snack to eat during their mid-morning break. In addition to this we ask that every child bring a refillable sports bottle of water to school daily. They have access to this throughout the day. Milk is also available by order for children in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2. This is free until the day before their 5th birthday.

 

Packed Lunches

Children are welcome to bring a packed lunch to school, however, in order for you to monitor what your child has eaten from their lunch box, children are directed to bring home anything not eaten at school and not to use the bins in the hall.

 

Free School Meals

Free School Meals are changing. There are now three types of Free School Meals:

1. Expanded Free School Meals - this provides term time meals only. You may qualify if you receive Universal Credit with a household income over £7,400 per year or over £616 per month for the last 3 months, after tax (excluding benefits) 
2. Targeted Free School Meals - this provides term time meals, Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme support, possible travel assistance (if additional criteria are met), Pupil Premium funding for the school to support your child. You may qualify if you receive Universal Credit with household income under £7,400 per year or under £616 per month for the last 3 months after tax (excluding benefits), support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Guaranteed Pension Credit, Income-based Employment and Support Allowance, Immigration-based eligibility. You may also qualify under certain immigration conditions. 

3. Universal Infant Free School Meals - this applies to families who don’t meet the criteria above and children in year groups: Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. This provides term time meals only. However, if your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 and is eligible for targeted free school meals according to the criteria above, you should still register because we’ll receive the extra Pupil Premium funding, which can be used to subsidise visits, clubs etc. 

 

For more information and to apply please visit this website - https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/council-services/schools-education-and-learning/free-school-meals/apply-free-school-meals

And finally…

We look forward to working in partnership with you and seeing you at lots of the events we have scheduled for the academic year ahead.

 

Becky Thorp

Head Teacher