FOMPS have arranged a "YES Day" for the children on Friday 24th May. 

The suggested donation is £1.00 to go towards raising money for the school.

POLLING DAY - 2nd MAY 2024:

On this date it will be necessary for us to close a significant proportion of the lower school and offer a ‘home learning’ alternative for affected children – those in Year 1 and Year 2.

 

Year 1 and 2 will be impacted because there is no way to accommodate them on site securely (ie without public access to their space or breaking fire safety regulations) while using the Lower School Hall as a polling venue – all other school spaces have been explored with electoral services and deemed unsuitable (due to size, facilities or access). Use of the Upper School Hall would necessitate the closure of Years 3-6, affecting a larger number of children and families and, in the case of Year 6, disrupt final preparations for their SATs.

 

We are fortunate that we were able to plan and book the Reception Year school trip to ‘Call of the Wild’ on this date to avoid closure of their classrooms too – full details of the schedule and arrangement for the Reception children will be sent out prior to this excursion.

 

Post-covid guidance requires that any school using ‘Home learning’ as an alternative to school closure, set a mandatory amount of 3 hours per day for children in Key Stage 1 (ie. Year 1 and 2). We will set appropriate tasks for the children to attempt that will support learning that has taken place in the classroom that week and will definitely include some reading and maths activities – however, we are also aware that parents may not be able to accommodate education supervision owing to their own commitments and therefore we will not be overly concerned if a child is unable to complete all of the work set. A ‘Home-Learning’ day will not impact your child’s attendance record.

 

As I am sure you can imagine, I am frustrated and concerned by the need for any partial closure of the school and have communicated regularly with the returning officer and electoral services over recent years to try and have the venue for local polling changed. However, the law (Representation of the People Act - 1983) gives the Returning Officer the legal right to use school rooms for the polling stations and for election counts. The law applies to all schools funded by public money including foundation schools and academies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In December 2023, I submitted a response to the Chelmsford City Council “Polling District and Polling Places” consultation, petitioning the council to consider alternative venues for elections and was provided with the following review outcomes:

 

“[The] polling district review, including all responses received during the consultation, was considered by Chelmsford City Council’s Governance Committee on 17th January and they have determined that Mildmay Primary School should remain the allocated polling station for this area. This will be reviewed again in 2029/30 at the latest.”

 

I appreciate that this is far from ideal for all parents and carers, especially those needing to make special childcare arrangements for election dates, but we will always try to operate a ‘least- disruptive' approach when these events occur.

 

Thank you for your understanding of this matter and recognition that this is an issue that is outside of the school’s control.

 

Kind regards,

Dominic Mulholland                             

Headteacher                                                                     

As part of our celebration of the national week of drawing (The Big Draw) and referencing one of my new favourite books, I’m launching a creative competition for the children over the Easter Holidays.

 

I would like to invite children from all years to submit one drawing on the theme:

‘I Gotta Draw…’

 

Your child can draw anything that inspires them to be creative – if she loves dinosaurs, that’s great – if he wants to design theatre costumes, that’s perfect. Architectural to abstract, doodles or diagrams, graffiti and graphic novels, real or imaginary. Anything goes…

 

Competition rules:

• Drawings will need to be either no bigger than A3 and can be either portrait or landscape format – or another shape entirely.
• Can be completed with any drawing material (eg. pencils, crayons, chalk, pastels, pen and ink, biro, etc.) or a mixture of media.
• Drawing to be made direct from imagination or observation (avoid copying characters or cartoons) – Make it your own!
• Full colour or monochrome, line drawing or sketch – all styles of drawing are accepted.

 

To enter, simply complete a drawing, carefully write your child’s name and class on the reverse and bring your drawing to school on Monday 15^th April. Please carry flat or carefully rolled – Folded paper detracts from stunning impact of the work.

 

I’ll be awarding prizes for each year group in Celebration Assembly the following Friday.

I am delighted to start Children’s Mental Health week with the fabulous news that Mildmay Primary School has been accredited as a Carnegie Mentally Healthy School and achieved the prestigious SILVER standard.

 

A great deal of work goes into ensuring that we promote positive mental health for all our staff and children and support those to overcome their difficulties when they experience negative mental health.

 

Particular thanks go to Mrs Bird and Mrs Foley for leading our wellbeing and mental health programme and compiling the successful accreditation, but this achievement is genuinely a whole team success with every member of staff and every child playing their part to receive this recognition.

 

Whether it is through pastoral support, PSHE, Forest School, Votes for Schools, sporting opportunity & achievement, charity contribution, Mental Health First Aid, the Community Award, extra-curricular participation, Zones of Regulation, music and performance, effective safeguarding practice, e-safety, celebration or high quality learning and classroom experiences, we endeavour to ensure that your child’s mental health and wellbeing is at the forefront of our planning and teaching each and every day.

 

I would, therefore, like you to join with me in saying well done and thank you to Team Mildmay and also to accept my personal thanks to you all for the continued and unwavering support that helps to make Mildmay Primary School such a positive place for us all to be.

 

Dominic Mulholland - Headteacher

Our Upper School Panathlon Bowling Team won GOLD - Congratulations to everyone involved !!

Please be advised that we will be starting the new term on WEEK 2 of our school menu. Please visit https://www.mildmayprimary.org/dinner-menu/ for more information.

We are delighted to work in partnership with CMXSC to provide high quality, affordable, 'Wraparound Care' and School Clubs exclusively for Mildmay Primary School children.

In order for parents to access the booking page, they will need to first create an account with CMXSC (part of the Ofsted recommendations for effective provision) providing the necessary information about the parents and the child(ren) attending the provision.

 

Please follow the below link for more information. 

Wraparound Care by CMXSC | Mildmay Primary School

 

 

 

As usual, we'll be supporting the national Children in Need event next Friday 17th November.

 

The School Council have dcided that we'll all be wearing 'Bright and Spotty' clothes for the day (Bright or Spotty if you don't have both) - please don't buy anything special for the occasion.

 

Voluntary direct donations can be made via the link in the letter to all parents - please not this is entirely optional and all children can feel free to join in the non-uniform event.

The first of our OPEN MORNINGS for the September 2024 Intake takes place this Thursday.

Please visit our 'New Intake' page for more information and call the Lower School office to reserve a place.

New Intake Page

The Secondary School Admissions portal for Year 7 places in September 2024 is now OPEN. Use the link below to make you application no later than 31st October 2023.

 

https://www.essex.gov.uk/news/2023/apply-now-your-childs-secondary-school-place