Newsletter - Friday 12th December 2025
- lfoster51
- 4 hours ago
- 11 min read
Issue 7 - Autumn 2025
Proud to be ELSTON! Empowered, Listeners, Successful, Together, Open-Minded, Nurturing
Dear families,
The end of Autumn term is upon us! We've had a wonderful couple of Christmassy weeks in school with one left to go.
We enjoyed Christmas jumper day and a delicious Christmas lunch on Wednesday! Photos can be found here: Christmas Lunch!
Staff have decorated their doors in a variety of Christmas themes: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Our House Captains/Head Boy and Girl chose a winner - well done Class 9!
Thank you to Key Stage One families who supported our Christmas fayre! Children and adults enjoyed games, raffles and a bounce on the snowglobe. We raised £800 for school funds to spend on the children!
Our Early Years and Key Stage 1 pupils have been fabulous in their Christmas performances! We are so proud of their wonderful acting, singing and dancing! We are looking forward to seeing Key Stage Two performances next week.
Next week also brings our House Point reward afternoon. The house which earned the most points this term was Boscobel! All Boscobel children are invited to wear pyjamas that day and will watch a Christmas film in the hall. Look out for a message from Mrs Hocknull. Well done Boscobel! Which house will win next term?
On Friday 19th December - our last day before the Christmas break - children are invited to wear their own clothes to school. Please make sure that clothes are sensible for school, including shoes which are flat and suitable for break and lunchtimes.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas - enjoy the time with your families.
Thank you for all your support this term. We are very proud of how hard children have worked and all they have achieved!
We will see all children back on the first day of Spring term - Monday 5th January 2026.
Miss E Foster
Headteacher
Attendance
We track attendance weekly and monitor any pupils falling below 96%. From time to time you might receive letters regarding your child's attendance. These letters are sent to many families and are sent regardless of whether you have contacted school or not to inform us of the absence.
Winter bugs are going around. If you aren't sure whether to send your child into school, this information may be useful: Is my child too ill for school? - NHS
Please could we remind families to inform school of any absences before 9am. There are several ways you can do this:
By calling the school office on 01902 558866. If you are calling before 8am, please leave a voicemail and this will be picked up and reasons for absence recorded on Arbor.
By adding reasons for the day's absence on Arbor's Parent Portal
By emailing attendance@elston.org.uk explaining the reasons for absence
If your child has a medical appointment, please bring them to school before and after wherever possible.
This week, attendance is 95.0% - this is below the current national average of 95.3%. This is mostly due to sickness absence and some holidays. Year 1 continue to have the highest attendance so far - well done! Year 2 improved this week - great!
Year group | Up to 8.12.25 |
Whole School (Without Reception children) | 95.0% |
Reception | 92.3% |
Year 1 | 95.9% |
Year 2 | 94.4% |
Year 3 | 95.3% |
Year 4 | 94.4% |
Year 5 | 95.0% |
Year 6 | 95.1% |
Punctuality is vital to ensure that pupils have a calm and organised start to the day, and can make the most of every minute in school! Our doors open from 8:45 until 9am. Anyone arriving after this time should enter through the dining room doors where a Late mark will be recorded. Please note that any pupils arriving after 9:30am will receive a 'U' mark which affects their attendance.
Personal Development
Our Reception children stepped into a world of festive wonder at Statfold Barn Railway. They visited Mrs Claus’ bakery, where they decorated gingerbread with care and creativity. Laughter and giggles filled the air as the children enjoyed the old-fashioned fairground rides, even getting caught in the snow! The adventure included a delightful ride on a steam train, the excitement of posting their very own letters to Santa, and some fun time in the soft play area. The highlight of the day was a special visit to Father Christmas himself, bringing smiles and sparkling eyes all around. The children behaved wonderfully throughout the day, making it a truly magical experience full of joy, laughter, and festive memories. Click the link above for more photos.
On Friday 5th December Miss Foster and Mr Green accompanied six children to the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s Christmas Party — and what an afternoon it was!The children represented our school brilliantly and enjoyed a festive celebration packed with fun and excitement. The event began with a Christmas quiz followed by a lively game of pass the parcel. The festivities continued as the children had the wonderful opportunity to meet members of the Sleeping Beauty cast from The Grand Theatre — Deborah Stephenson, who plays the Queen, and Zak Douglas, a former Elston Hall pupil, who plays the Herald. To top it all off, they were treated to a very special surprise visit from Santa and Rudolph!
The Mayor warmly welcomed everyone and, alongside Santa, presented the children with gifts. What a wonderful afternoon!
This week, children from Nursery all the way up to Year 6 enjoyed a festive treat — a chance to step inside the incredible inflatable snowglobe! Classes took turns throughout the week to bounce and play.
It was a fantastic way to bring some seasonal sparkle to school life.
We were delighted to invite families in for our second Rocksteady concert. The children have made so much progress and performed brilliantly to an audience of families and Year 4 children. Well done everyone!
Teaching and Learning Opportunities
Year 5 had a lovely morning at Aldersley High School for an exciting art taster session. The children put their sewing skills to great use, creating some fantastic Christmas cards.
Winning Writing!
Following on from the writing day at Ormiston NEW Academy, we were very proud and pleased to learn that Ella had won the writing competition. Mrs Smedley and Mr Cooling from Ormiston came to Elston Hall to present Ella with her prize - a great supply of books for the classroom! She was able to choose her favourite to take home. Well done Ella!
We’d love to celebrate our young readers!
If you capture a special moment of your child enjoying a book at home, please feel free to share a photo with us. With your permission, we’ll feature these lovely reading moments on our school website to inspire other families and highlight the joy of literacy. Thank you for supporting a love of reading!
School Notices
Spare Clothes
If you have any spare uniform at home which your children have grown out of, we would really appreciate any donations for our spare clothes boxes. We have plenty of jumpers and cardigans, but would appreciate:
Pants
Tights
Socks
Skirts
Trousers
Thank you in advance for your support with this!
Risk Assessments
If your child has an injury which may mean that they cannot take part in normal school activities (e.g. PE), please contact school to complete a risk assessment. Thank you.
School site
We have noticed some of our older pupils arriving around the school site very early. Please note that the gates do not open until 8:45am so pupils would be unsupervised until this time.
Reception Admissions September 2026
Parents can now apply for Reception school places for September 2026. Please see more information here: Apply for primary school places | City Of Wolverhampton Council. The deadline for applications is 15th January 2026.
Sports News
Our Sports Ambassadors did a fantastic job organising our whole-school Festive Fun Run. Children arrived with festive accessories and took part at their own pace, making the event both inclusive and fun. Pupils completed laps of the course and joined in a series of additional exercises and activity stations designed and led by the ambassadors. Well done to all participants and a big thank-you to our Sports Ambassadors for making the event such a success! Thank you to all families for donations - we raised £220 for school funds!
Six Year 6 children travelled to Aldersley Leisure Village to take part in a boccia competition alongside 24 other schools. It was fantastic to see the children learning and playing a new sport against pupils from a range of primary and secondary schools. Despite never having played boccia before, both Elston teams shone throughout the event, demonstrating excellent teamwork and impressive tactical awareness. Together, they achieved an amazing 15 wins out of 23 matches. We are super proud of them all — well done!
A team of 12 children attended the Sportshall Primary Athletics finals after qualifying last month. The children participated in a range of events including both track and field events. The team did amazingly with the boys team winning all of their races whilst the girls team placed 1st in 3 races, 2nd in one race and 3rd in their last race. On the field, the children did amazingly well in events including chest push, standing long jump, vertical jump, javelin and speed bounce. The event saw Elston Hall crowned as champions with a score of 334 points! This means they will move on to represent Wolverhampton at the Black Country Games! An incredible achievement!
Lunches
Our school menus can be found here: Lunches | Elston Hall.
For parents who pay for school meals, please could payment be made the week before meals are taken to prevent debts accruing. Please be aware that, should your child's debt reach £30, then school will no longer provide school dinners until the debt is cleared.
Please can we remind families to cut up grapes if they are sent into school for lunch or snack time.
Arbor
99% of our families use our Arbor Parent Portal! This enables payments to be made, messages to be received and key information to be updated.
Please could we request that families review the information to ensure that contact numbers and medical information are up to date. Please also ensure that all consents are complete so that staff know what permissions your child has. These include the publication of photographs and food tasting.
We require at least two emergency contacts per child. Please add on any contacts who you have given permission to collect your child and add this onto their information e.g. grandparents.
School will use email to send letters and in-app messages to send shorter reminders. Please enable notifications and check 'junk' to ensure emails are received. A reminder of our communication methods can be found here: Communication | Elston Hall
If you are having any issues accessing the Arbor app, please contact the school office.
Key Dates
Please note, all dates are subject to change.
Inset days:
Monday 23rd February
Friday 19th June
Monday 20th July
School will be closed to all pupils on these days
Date | Event |
Wednesday 3rd December | Snow Globe in school |
Monday 15th December | Y3 Christmas Performance 9.15am & 1.30pm Y4 Christmas Performance 10.15am & 2.30pm |
Tuesday 16th December | Y5 Christmas Performance 9.15am & 1.30pm Y6 Christmas Performance 10.15am & 2.30pm |
Thursday 18th December | House point reward afternoon |
Friday 19th December | End of term - Children can wear own clothes |
Monday 5th January | School reopens to all pupils |
Monday 5th January | Swimming Y5 resumes (Class 17) |
WC Monday 12th January | After School clubs / Y6 Boosters Start |
Thursday 22nd January | Year 3 History workshops |
Friday 23rd January | Year 3 History workshops |
TBC | Reception Phonic parent workshops |
TBC | Year 1 care home visit |
TBC | Year 1 Community Day |
Tuesday 3rd February | Year 4 DT workshops |
Friday 6th February | Number Day |
Monday 9th February | Children’s Mental Health Week |
Tuesday 10th February | Safer Internet Day |
TBC | Reception Mother’s day assembly |
TBC | Year 1 Phonics workshops |
Friday 13th February | Dress to Express day (to celebrate children’s mental health week). Red Nose Day. |
Monday 16th February – Friday 20th February | Half term – School closed to all pupils |
Monday 23rd February | Inset Day – School closed to all pupils |
WC Monday 23rd February | After school clubs resume |
Monday 2nd March | Y5 Swimming for Class 18 starts |
Friday 6th March | World Book Day – fancy dress Year 4 Reading workshop |
WC 9th March | Last week for extra-curricular clubs (due to parents evening & Laches Wood) British Science Week |
TBC | Year 3 Mother’s Day workshop |
TBC | Reception Mother’s Day assembly |
TBC | Year 1 Dinosaur Day |
Friday 13th March | |
Tuesday 17th March | Rocksteady Concert |
Wednesday 18th March | Parents Evening (4.00pm - 6.00pm) |
Thursday 19th March | Parents Evening (3.30pm - 5.00pm) |
TBC | Nursery/Reception Easter bonnet parade Nursery parent Easter singalong |
TBC | Year 2 trip |
Monday 23rd March | Year 6 Mock SATs |
Wednesday 25th – Friday 27th March | Y6 Residential Visit to Laches Wood |
Friday 27th March | End of term |
Monday 13th April | School reopens to all pupils |
Monday 13th April | Swimming resumes (Class 18) |
WC Monday 20th April | Extra-Curricular After School clubs begin |
TBC | Year 4 Rainforest workshops |
Monday 4th May | Bank Holiday – School closed to all pupils |
WC Monday 11th May | Y6 SATs Week |
Monday 18th May | Y6 Top up swimming sessions start (selected pupils) |
Monday 18th May – Wed 20th May | Y4 Conwy residential – no extra curricular clubs this week |
Monday 25th May – Friday 29th May | Half term – school closed to all pupils |
WC Monday 1st June | After School clubs continue |
Monday 1st June | Y4 MTC window Reception trip Year 6 Bikeability |
Tuesday 2nd June | Year 6 Bikeability |
Wednesday 3rd June | Year 4 Bikeability |
WC Monday 8th June | Y1 Phonics Screening window |
Monday 8th June | Sports Day – Y4 – 9.15am, Y5 – 10.45am, Y6 – 1.45pm |
Friday 12th June | Sports Day – Y1 – 9.15am, Y2 - 10.45am, Y3 - 1.45pm |
Monday 15th June | Sports Day – Reception – 9.15am, Nursery am – 10.45am, Nursery pm – 1.45pm |
| Nursery trip |
Thursday 18th June | Year 1 Father’s day events |
Friday 19th June | Inset Day – School closed to all pupils |
Monday 22nd June | Year 4 Father’s Day events |
TBC | Year 1 trip |
Monday 29th June – Wednesday 1st July | Transition sessions (am only) Reception – Y6
|
WC Monday 29th June | Last week for After school clubs Transition week |
Tuesday 30th June | Rocksteady Concert |
Monday 6th July | Last Y6 top up swimming session |
Monday 6th July – Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th - Thursday 9th July | Y2 residential |
Thursday 9th / Friday 10th July | Y6 Summer Fete |
Friday 10th July | End of Year Reports sent home Reception colour festival |
Monday 13th July | Nursery graduation |
Wednesday 15th July | Y6 Leaver’s Performances |
Thursday 16th July | Y6 Leaver’s events (during school day & BBQ after school) |
Friday 17th July | End of academic year |
Monday 20th July | Inset Day – School closed to all pupils |
Community Links
Free city centre parking this Christmas
City of Wolverhampton Council is offering free festive city centre parking all day Saturdays-Sundays and weekdays after 3pm until December 23 to encourage shoppers and support local businesses. The offer applies to:
Temple Street
Tempest Street
Peel Street
School Street
St George’s Parade
PLUS: The council’s Fold Street car park is free to park (weekdays) only after 3pm. Broad Street car park is free to use from 5pm to 5am every day.
Think twice before gifting off-road vehicles or e-scooters
The City of Wolverhampton Council, working with West Midlands Police and partners, is warning parents and guardians to think carefully before buying off-road vehicles or e-scooters as Christmas presents.
People can report the anti-social use of off-road vehicles to the Wolverhampton Anti-Social Behaviour Unit via asbu@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk, online at www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk/help-support/anti-social-behaviour/report-anti-social-behaviour/ or by calling 01902 556789. Reports can also be made to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org, or to West Midlands Police via Live Chat at www.westmidlands.police.uk or by calling 101. In an emergency, always dial 999.
Yo! Wolves HAF programme is all set for the Christmas school holidays
The Yo! Wolves HAF Christmas programme is open for booking from 28th November. Offering hundreds of activities, events and food for the city’s children and young people and their families during the Christmas school holidays.
Running from Friday 19th December to Monday 5th January 2026, all activities are fully funded and will include a meal.
The holiday activities are free for all children and young people of school age receiving benefit related school meals, and with SEND or EHCP (are working with a Social or Family worker). The activities include arts, crafts, fun days out, dance and drama workshops, photography and much more. Booking places is easy at www.yowolves.co.uk
