Newsletter - Friday 30th January 2026
- lfoster51
- 1 day ago
- 13 min read
Issue 9 - Spring 2026
Proud to be ELSTON! Empowered, Listeners, Successful, Together, Open-Minded, Nurturing
Dear families,
The past fortnight has flown and we've two weeks to go until half term. The weather has been pretty cold and miserable so we're looking forward to seeing some signs of Spring next half term!
We've had a challenging couple of weeks with lots of children and staff suffering from winter colds and bugs. I'd like to say a big thank you to staff who've been very flexible and covered classes across school to ensure children receive the best teaching despite staff absences!
Despite this, we've seen some fantastic learning across school in our core subjects as well as the wider curriculum. Well done children - we're very proud!
Just a reminder that Monday 23rd February is an INSET day and so school will be closed to pupils while staff receive training. We will welcome pupils back on Tuesday 24th February.
Thank you, as always, for your continuing support.
Have a great weekend,
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.
For more information, see our latest attendance newsletter here: Attendance Newsletter Spring 2026
This week, attendance remains at 94.5% - this is below the current national average of 94.8%. We'd love to see attendance improve and thank you in advance for your support with this. Year 1 continue to have the highest attendance so far - well done! Reception, Year 2 and Year 5 have all improved attendance since the last newsletter - brilliant!
Year group | Up to 23.1.26 |
Whole School (Without Reception children) | 94.5% |
Reception | 90.9% |
Year 1 | 95.0% |
Year 2 | 94.3% |
Year 3 | 94.6% |
Year 4 | 94.1% |
Year 5 | 94.4% |
Year 6 | 94.5% |
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
Crossing the road safely is an essential skill and Year 1 have learned how to cross the road safely with our 'School Crossing Patrol' Officer. They were taught how to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN and how to find a safe place to cross. The children learnt through fun role play and even learnt a song to help them remember the rules of crossing the road safely! They can't wait to put their skills into practise on their next community walk.
We’re proud to see our Year 3 children growing as musicians and having fun along the way!
Our local PCSO visited Year 4 to talk about staying safe online, including how to use social media responsibly and how to recognise and respond to cyberbullying.
Teaching and Learning Opportunities
Year 1 have been learning about their community. This week, Year 1 welcomed a visit from Dogs Trust. The children were taught how to stay safe around dogs and how to be responsible and kind when interacting with animals. As well as this, Year 1 also enjoyed a fun and informative visit from Veolia, a company that works to improve and protect the environment. The visit supported the children’s Geography learning by helping them understand how our environment can be cared for, improved and sustained.
Year 3 welcomed Steve from Humph’s Histories to enhance their history learning as part of their topic Athens v Sparta. During the day, the children learned all about Ancient Greece and Greek culture, and even had a go at solving the oldest puzzle in the world. They designed their own battle shields, using traditional Ancient Greek patterns and symbols, before learning that the Greeks loved their wine! Pupils stepped back in time by acting as slaves and crushing grapes with their bare feet, just as they would have done in Ancient Greece. To finish the day, the children took part in an exciting shield battle, learning about different defensive techniques used by Greek soldiers. Everyone had an amazing time and learned so much while having fun! Click on the link above for a fantastic video of the day.
Developing our pupils into fluent readers is a key priority and the key to ensure pupils become independent, life-long learners! Join us as we take part in the National Year of Reading. Any reading you can do at home will support your children.
Next week is National Story Telling week. With this in mind, Mrs Handley has asked 5 staff members and one of our pupils to record themselves reading a story. Each will read a story in a different language. Look out for the videos on our website!
A well done from the Education Secretary
We were delighted to receive a letter from congratulating us on our excellent outcomes for our disadvantaged pupils last year. Pupils, staff and families worked so hard, leading to excellent end of KS2 results for our pupils. Well done everyone - we are very proud!
As a school we will be taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week 9th – 14th February.
This year’s theme is ‘This Is My Place’ and during the week, we will explore the importance of belonging for our mental health and wellbeing. When we feel that we belong, it empowers us to contribute to the world and make a real difference.
Through the week children will take part in assemblies, in class activities that will support their understanding of emotions and explore what they mean. There will be wake up, shake up sessions and many more activities that support our mental health and well-being.
Alongside our Trust Schools the week will culminate in a day where children can ‘Dress to Express’ themselves. Showing we all belong in our own unique way. Children can wear their favourite colour, a range of colours or a whole unique outfit to express themselves (please come in shoes sensible for outdoor play). A £1 donation for Place 2 Be will be accessible to pay on your child’s Arbor account (under school shop).
Bridge Building Competition
A reminder that our STEM Ambassadors are excited to see entries for their 'Bridge Building Competition' that they launched in assembly a few weeks ago. A letter has been sent via email with further details of this. Children can use any materials to build their bridge that must 'cross the pond'. Winners will be chosen by our STEM ambassadors, who hope to raise funds to purchase science equipment in school from this competition. All entries (along with a £1 donation) need to be brought into school ready for judging on Friday 6th February.
Walk to School
Our Sports Ambassadors have relaunched our 'Walk to School' campaign this week, which will start from Monday 2nd February. They are asking children to 'actively travel' to school at least once per week. This will be logged in class daily and children who walk actively at least once per week will be awarded with a Wow badge each month in Y1 - Y6. Further information for parents can be found here: WOW - the walk to school challenge
Wow Badge Design Competition
Our Sports Ambassadors have also launched an exciting 'Wow Badge design' competition that can be done by all pupils. Children can bring their designs into school for submission (our top three designs will be submitted as chosen by the Sports Ambassadors). Please bring all entries in by Tuesday 24th February.
You may have seen the above campaign in the news. Amelia's family are aiming to break a UK record for the most birthday cards received. If your child would like to make a birthday card for Amelia, these can be sent into school and we will send them on. Click the link above to read more.
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!
Respectful parking
We understand that drop off and collection times can be busy but ask that families endeavour to park safely and respectfully so as not to inconvenience our local residents. Please do not park on the pavement or in residents bays on Stafford Road, and avoid blocking drives at the rear of school.
Parentkind
Parentkind have published a helpful guide to support parents understanding of how to raise concerns with school, ensuring they can be resolved quickly, easily and positively.
Sports News
Our girls’ footballers were back in action this week, taking on Fieldview Primary School, and they delivered another outstanding performance. Elston got off to the perfect start, scoring inside the opening 25 seconds with a calm, composed finish from Jess. The momentum didn’t stop there, and by half-time Elston had raced into a 5–0 lead, with goals from Alba (2), Jess (2) and Daniella.
The goals kept coming in the second half, as Heidi and Jess added to the scoreline to round off a fantastic TEAM display from start to finish.
A special shout-out must go to our defence, who have now conceded just one goal all season! Their attitude, determination and willingness to learn have been exceptional, and we couldn’t be prouder of them.
Well done, Elston!
Our girls proudly represented us at the Wolves Foundation 6-a-side competition. They were drawn into an extremely competitive group, with only a few points separating 2nd from 5th place.
Although the girls were unfortunately knocked out in the group stages, they showed incredible resilience, determination, and teamwork throughout the tournament. As always, we are immensely proud of them — especially considering many of the team are only in Years 4 and 5, competing against Year 6 players. Well done, girls!
A group of Year 2 students traveled to Aldersley Leisure Village to participate in the 'All Aboard Festival.' The children had a fantastic time engaging in various activities, including serving in volleyball, keeping time in dance, improving accuracy in golf, and developing coordination in tennis. They worked diligently and received numerous compliments for their excellent listening skills and effort. Well done, everyone!
Lunches
Our school menus can be found here: Lunches | Elston Hall.
Next Friday - 6th February - we will celebrate Number Day with a special menu.
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
Monday 2nd February - Friday 8th February | National Storytelling Week |
Tuesday 3rd February | Year 4 DT workshops |
Wednesday 4th February | Y6 DT workshops |
Friday 6th February | Number Day |
Monday 9th February | Children’s Mental Health Week |
Tuesday 10th February | Safer Internet Day |
TBC | Year 1 Phonics workshops |
Friday 13th February | Dress to Express day (to celebrate children’s mental health week). |
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 |
Friday 27th February | EYFS Dino Discovery Day – Inspiration Day |
Monday 2nd March | Y5 Swimming for Class 18 starts |
Friday 6th March | World Book Day – dress as a book character Year 4 Reading workshop Author Visit Day 1 – Pep the Poet |
Monday 9th March | Author Visit Day 2 - Pep the Poet Reflexions: Year 6 Children’s workshops – Preparation for SAT’s |
WC 9th March | Last week for extra-curricular clubs (due to parents evening & Laches Wood) British Science Week |
Wednesday 11th March | Year 3 Mother’s Day workshops - afternoon |
Thursday 12th March | Reception Mother’s Day assembly (KS2 Hall 2.30pm) |
TBC | Year 1 Dinosaur Day |
Monday 16th March | Reflexions: Preparation for SAT’s - Parent workshop 2-3pm |
Tuesday 17th March | Rocksteady Concert |
Wednesday 18th March | Parents Evening (4.00pm - 6.00pm) |
Thursday 19th March | Year 5 PCSO visit Parents Evening (3.30pm - 5.00pm) |
Friday 20th March | Red Nose Day |
Monday 23rd March | Year 6 Mock SATs |
Wednesday 25th March | Year 2 trip - West Midlands Safari Park |
Thursday 26th March | EYFS Easter Bonnets Parade (in school) |
Thursday 26th March | Nursery Easter Sing Song (KS1 Hall 11am &2.30pm) |
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 |
TBC | Reception Trip |
WC Monday 8th June | Y1 Phonics Screening window |
Monday 8th June | Sports Day – Y4 – 9.15am, Y5 – 10.45am, Y6 – 1.45pm Reflexions: Transition - Year 6 Children’s workshops |
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 Reflexions: Transition – Parent workshop 2-3pm |
TBC | 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 |
Thursday 2nd July | Yr 5 trip to Safeside |
Monday 6th July | Last Y6 top up swimming session |
Monday 6th July – Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th - Thursday 9th July | Y2 residential |
Friday 3rd July | EYFS Colour Festival |
Thursday 9th / Friday 10th July | Y6 Summer Fete |
Friday 10th July | End of Year Reports sent home |
Thursday 16th 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
Yo! Wolves HAF February programme is now open for bookings (from 27th January). Offering hundreds of activities, events and food for the city’s children and young people and their families during the half term break.
Running from Friday 16th – 20th February, 4 hours of activities or more 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 an 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 yowolves.co.uk
Standon Bowers Outdoor Education Centre are running a series of Adventure Days during February Half Term to get young people outdoors, active, and inspired.Packed with an array of thrilling activities such as high ropes, BMX, bushcraft, climbing, and more, Adventure Days offer an unforgettable experience. Drop-off is at 9:00 AM and pick-up is at 3:00 PM. For those requiring a later pick-up, we provide an option until 5:00 PM. Ideal for children aged 5–16, these Adventure Days will take place at the Standon Bowers Outdoor Education Centre, Weston Lane, Stafford, ST21 6RD.
To book, please visit: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/eventlist?aid=14998
Tickets are currently 20% off until 30th January - no code needed!
Junior Parkrun offers a free, fun, and friendly weekly 2k event for juniors (4 to 14 year olds) every Sunday at 9am. The event takes place in Wednesfield Park, Wolverhampton, WV11 1TH. It is free to join but please register with parkrun before showing up to the event and don't forget to bring a scannable copy of your barcode. You can walk or run, it's all about taking part. Click the link above for more information.
