Headteacher's Letters
Dear Families, Parents & Carers
Welcome back
I am sorry I have taken so long to write to you all. It is such a pleasure to have our children and young people back in school. A great start to the new school year and thank you for your support from home.
Swimming Sessions
My apologies to all for the lack of swimming. Last Friday a complete light fitting fell from the ceiling and I made the decision I didn’t want the pool to be used by school until it was completely safe. An electrician is changing all the light fittings in the pool. I hope the pool will be back in action next week.
School Fund and Dinner Money
As mentioned in the July letter, many parents have been affected by the rise in costs of dinner money. However, if you would still like to send in money for ‘school fund’ towards snacks in school, you are able to do so. Classes will continue to provide snacks, drinks and fruit where needed.
Parents and carers of new students
I would really like to meet all new parents. I will send a letter out but can you just confirm which day and time is best for yourselves if you are new to Hilltop school?
The meetings are 10am, 1:30pm Fri 27th Sept or 5pm Mon 30th Sept. Please come along.
Aldi’s Kit for Schools
This September, to help support Get Set to Eat Fresh and its aims, Aldi are running a Kit for Schools promotion. If you spend £30 in any Aldi store, you’ll receive a sticker which we would love for you to donate to us.
If Hilltop collects 300 stickers we will receive a school sports kit and enter into a draw to win £20,000.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Welcome back
I am sorry I have taken so long to write to you all. It is such a pleasure to have our children and young people back in school. A great start to the new school year and thank you for your support from home.
Swimming Sessions
My apologies to all for the lack of swimming. Last Friday a complete light fitting fell from the ceiling and I made the decision I didn’t want the pool to be used by school until it was completely safe. An electrician is changing all the light fittings in the pool. I hope the pool will be back in action next week.
School Fund and Dinner Money
As mentioned in the July letter, many parents have been affected by the rise in costs of dinner money. However, if you would still like to send in money for ‘school fund’ towards snacks in school, you are able to do so. Classes will continue to provide snacks, drinks and fruit where needed.
Parents and carers of new students
I would really like to meet all new parents. I will send a letter out but can you just confirm which day and time is best for yourselves if you are new to Hilltop school?
The meetings are 10am, 1:30pm Fri 27th Sept or 5pm Mon 30th Sept. Please come along.
Aldi’s Kit for Schools
This September, to help support Get Set to Eat Fresh and its aims, Aldi are running a Kit for Schools promotion. If you spend £30 in any Aldi store, you’ll receive a sticker which we would love for you to donate to us.
If Hilltop collects 300 stickers we will receive a school sports kit and enter into a draw to win £20,000.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter Sept 19.pdf |
Dear Families, Parents & Carers
School Fund and Dinner Money
Many parents have been affected by the rise in costs of dinner money in September and as a result we are suggesting families no longer pay ‘school fund’ toward snacks at school. We are suggesting this may save families a considerable amount per year and we are trying to offset the rise in school dinners. As a school we will continue to provide class snacks, drinks and fruit as needed. We will begin to look at purchasing some of this as a whole school rather than class by class and look for support from outside school from local organisations.
End of Term Proud Assembly
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school. For so many reasons it has been a very positive and eventful year. We would like to say goodbye to staff who have been with us and helped us on our journey to being a good school.
Parents and Carers
We want to say a huge well done to all of those of you at home who have done such a brilliant job to support your child and the school to really make a difference to the learning and progress of each and every student.
I do hope you all have a good break and see you all back in September.
Leavers
It was such a pleasure to see our 19 year olds leaving Hilltop and going out into the big wide world.
It was so good to hear from families and students about what a difference we have all made to their lives.
We wish them all every success.
Staff leaving
We also need to congratulate Gary Gillespie on his new appointment in September to a training role and
Sarah Lawery in the office has accepted a L3 TA post at Redwood. We wish them both well.
Soul & Motown night with Pie and Peas
From 7:30 onward on Friday 23rd August there is a Soul & Motown evening with Tru2soul at the Union Club in Rotherham. Tickets are £10 and money raised will go to Hilltop school. Can I urge you to get some tickets
as we have sold very few.
David Burdett
Headteacher
School Fund and Dinner Money
Many parents have been affected by the rise in costs of dinner money in September and as a result we are suggesting families no longer pay ‘school fund’ toward snacks at school. We are suggesting this may save families a considerable amount per year and we are trying to offset the rise in school dinners. As a school we will continue to provide class snacks, drinks and fruit as needed. We will begin to look at purchasing some of this as a whole school rather than class by class and look for support from outside school from local organisations.
End of Term Proud Assembly
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school. For so many reasons it has been a very positive and eventful year. We would like to say goodbye to staff who have been with us and helped us on our journey to being a good school.
Parents and Carers
We want to say a huge well done to all of those of you at home who have done such a brilliant job to support your child and the school to really make a difference to the learning and progress of each and every student.
I do hope you all have a good break and see you all back in September.
Leavers
It was such a pleasure to see our 19 year olds leaving Hilltop and going out into the big wide world.
It was so good to hear from families and students about what a difference we have all made to their lives.
We wish them all every success.
Staff leaving
We also need to congratulate Gary Gillespie on his new appointment in September to a training role and
Sarah Lawery in the office has accepted a L3 TA post at Redwood. We wish them both well.
Soul & Motown night with Pie and Peas
From 7:30 onward on Friday 23rd August there is a Soul & Motown evening with Tru2soul at the Union Club in Rotherham. Tickets are £10 and money raised will go to Hilltop school. Can I urge you to get some tickets
as we have sold very few.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter 24.7.19.pdf |
Dear Families, Parents & Carers
Ray Matthews Assembly
On Friday 5th July at 2pm Ray Matthews will be leading an assembly to encourage our more physically able pupils to work toward ‘a mile a day’ exercise for fitness and mental well-being. The assembly will last up to half an hour and has a video of Ray and is designed to encourage our learners. Parents are very welcome and Ray is keen to start supporting parents and students at Hilltop. Ray is famous for running 75 marathons at aged 75 see www.raymatthews.co.uk
Proud Assembly
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school.
New Classes for September 2019
We will be sharing with parents this week the new classes and staff. You should be getting a letter and if your child is transitioning into a new class you will have opportunity to talk to the new teacher
New Teachers for September 2019
We have appointed the greatest number of teachers Hilltop school have ever had this year. We are very fortunate to have the quality of teachers and Teaching Assistants we have in school and it is so positive when we have been to external advert that our teachers are consistently skilled in so many areas.
We have appointed Eilish O’Neill and Janey Lloyd as teachers for our next year.
6th Form and EYFS (Early years)
Just to confirm that, as usual, we will be closing our EYFS provision (Yellow class and Blossom at Redwood) and our 6th Form classes on Friday 19th July. This gives us time and opportunity to carry out our statutory training and to prepare for our next school year.
Quiz Night with Pie and Peas at school
6:30pm Tues 9th July tickets £5 for the quiz with raffle and prizes taking place at Hilltop school. You can bring you own bottles if you wish. There will also be entertainment from Bekki Ross (1940s style singer). Up to 5-6 in a team. Funds to go toward school creative literacy projects. Details here
Soul & Motown night with Pie and Peas
From 7:30pm onward on Friday 23rd August there is a Soul & Motown evening with Tru2soul at the Union Club in Rotherham. Tickets are £10 and money raised will go to Hilltop school.
Mayday Bank holiday
Next year this is being changed to celebrate VE day and will move from Monday to Friday 8th May 2020
David Burdett
Headteacher
Ray Matthews Assembly
On Friday 5th July at 2pm Ray Matthews will be leading an assembly to encourage our more physically able pupils to work toward ‘a mile a day’ exercise for fitness and mental well-being. The assembly will last up to half an hour and has a video of Ray and is designed to encourage our learners. Parents are very welcome and Ray is keen to start supporting parents and students at Hilltop. Ray is famous for running 75 marathons at aged 75 see www.raymatthews.co.uk
Proud Assembly
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school.
New Classes for September 2019
We will be sharing with parents this week the new classes and staff. You should be getting a letter and if your child is transitioning into a new class you will have opportunity to talk to the new teacher
New Teachers for September 2019
We have appointed the greatest number of teachers Hilltop school have ever had this year. We are very fortunate to have the quality of teachers and Teaching Assistants we have in school and it is so positive when we have been to external advert that our teachers are consistently skilled in so many areas.
We have appointed Eilish O’Neill and Janey Lloyd as teachers for our next year.
6th Form and EYFS (Early years)
Just to confirm that, as usual, we will be closing our EYFS provision (Yellow class and Blossom at Redwood) and our 6th Form classes on Friday 19th July. This gives us time and opportunity to carry out our statutory training and to prepare for our next school year.
Quiz Night with Pie and Peas at school
6:30pm Tues 9th July tickets £5 for the quiz with raffle and prizes taking place at Hilltop school. You can bring you own bottles if you wish. There will also be entertainment from Bekki Ross (1940s style singer). Up to 5-6 in a team. Funds to go toward school creative literacy projects. Details here
Soul & Motown night with Pie and Peas
From 7:30pm onward on Friday 23rd August there is a Soul & Motown evening with Tru2soul at the Union Club in Rotherham. Tickets are £10 and money raised will go to Hilltop school.
Mayday Bank holiday
Next year this is being changed to celebrate VE day and will move from Monday to Friday 8th May 2020
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter 21.6.2019.pdf |
Monday, 20th May
Dear Families, Parents & Carers
Ofsted Report
We have not had an inspection since January 2013, and we have been working hard to ensure the school is at least good.
We are so thrilled with just how positive the report reads and I wanted to thank all the parents who filled in the parent views on the Ofsted website or came into school to talk to the inspectors. They were clear we are easily a good school and commended us for trying to ‘get it right’ for every child. There was praise for our ‘interventions’ or family support team for ‘going over and above’ in their support for families. They felt Hilltop was a good place to be for our students and they are well supported to make good progress. I feel so proud of our achievements as a school and this is confirmation of the progress we have made and will continue to make.
I would like to thank our staff, parents and carers along with our fantastic learners who work so hard to learn new things daily. Please remember, if you personally have any worries or concerns or even just disagree with this report, do come and talk things through with me.
Departure Of Staff
We are sorry to be saying goodbye to Andrea Slack who has been carrying out Numeracy interventions for our students for 24 years. Janet Fells who is superbly skilled with young students with complex needs retires this summer after 29 successful years with the school. Lastly, Robert Mulvey who has been at the school for 8 years will be taking on a headship from September in another school. We will be sorry to see them all go and we wish them well.
We are also saying goodbye to two teachers. Alex Stark who has been with us a couple of years will finish at the end of May to start working at Landmarks with students who are post 19. Jenny Stafford-Curtis has also secured a post nearer her home in Sheffield. We wish all of our ‘leavers’ well.
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school.
We would also like to shut the school as a ‘one off’ early on that Friday to say a thanks to all the staff for our successful Ofsted and to say goodbye to them. We would like transport to begin collecting pupils from 2pm so they would be home early on the last day. Please can you let us know if this is particularly difficult for you?
School Dinners
We have met with Riverside Catering who make our school dinners and they have agreed to provide Halal and Quorn sausages at least once a week as an alternative for our pupils who are Halal or vegetarian. We have started to trial this in some classes. We look carefully at the menu options for the week and try to ensure each child with a vegetarian or halal has a range of foods that they enjoy. If you want more information do contact myself or Jayne Spalding.
We are also in negotiation with Riverside Catering who need to put up the cost of school meals for September 2019 for all special schools in Rotherham but we are unsure as yet of the exact costs. As soon as we have confirmed the exact costs I will let you know.
New Teachers for September 2019
We have appointed Claire Rose as the new Deputy Headteacher for the school from September 2019. It was a very thorough and challenging process which confirmed she was the best candidate. We are so pleased both for Claire and the school.
We have appointed 3 new ‘external’ teachers
Claire Saddington who has already done a lot of work with us on Shakespeare projects over the last few years and knows some of our children well. Katie Wademan and Amy Coxhill who are both external candidates have both accepted permanent part time teaching posts.
Bev Cotterill and Vicky Proctor have been appointed as part time permanent members of staff and Ellie Hill continues with us 4 days a week next year.
6th Form and EYFS (Early Years)
Just to confirm that, as usual, we will be closing our EYFS provision (Yellow class and Blossom at Redwood) and our 6th Form classes on Friday 19th July. This gives us time and opportunity to carry out our statutory training and to prepare for our next school year. If it causes you significant difficulties, please contact myself or Jayne Spalding to discuss this.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Families, Parents & Carers
Ofsted Report
We have not had an inspection since January 2013, and we have been working hard to ensure the school is at least good.
We are so thrilled with just how positive the report reads and I wanted to thank all the parents who filled in the parent views on the Ofsted website or came into school to talk to the inspectors. They were clear we are easily a good school and commended us for trying to ‘get it right’ for every child. There was praise for our ‘interventions’ or family support team for ‘going over and above’ in their support for families. They felt Hilltop was a good place to be for our students and they are well supported to make good progress. I feel so proud of our achievements as a school and this is confirmation of the progress we have made and will continue to make.
I would like to thank our staff, parents and carers along with our fantastic learners who work so hard to learn new things daily. Please remember, if you personally have any worries or concerns or even just disagree with this report, do come and talk things through with me.
Departure Of Staff
We are sorry to be saying goodbye to Andrea Slack who has been carrying out Numeracy interventions for our students for 24 years. Janet Fells who is superbly skilled with young students with complex needs retires this summer after 29 successful years with the school. Lastly, Robert Mulvey who has been at the school for 8 years will be taking on a headship from September in another school. We will be sorry to see them all go and we wish them well.
We are also saying goodbye to two teachers. Alex Stark who has been with us a couple of years will finish at the end of May to start working at Landmarks with students who are post 19. Jenny Stafford-Curtis has also secured a post nearer her home in Sheffield. We wish all of our ‘leavers’ well.
I would invite you all to a proud assembly on our last day on Friday 26th July both to say goodbye and celebrate our year at school.
We would also like to shut the school as a ‘one off’ early on that Friday to say a thanks to all the staff for our successful Ofsted and to say goodbye to them. We would like transport to begin collecting pupils from 2pm so they would be home early on the last day. Please can you let us know if this is particularly difficult for you?
School Dinners
We have met with Riverside Catering who make our school dinners and they have agreed to provide Halal and Quorn sausages at least once a week as an alternative for our pupils who are Halal or vegetarian. We have started to trial this in some classes. We look carefully at the menu options for the week and try to ensure each child with a vegetarian or halal has a range of foods that they enjoy. If you want more information do contact myself or Jayne Spalding.
We are also in negotiation with Riverside Catering who need to put up the cost of school meals for September 2019 for all special schools in Rotherham but we are unsure as yet of the exact costs. As soon as we have confirmed the exact costs I will let you know.
New Teachers for September 2019
We have appointed Claire Rose as the new Deputy Headteacher for the school from September 2019. It was a very thorough and challenging process which confirmed she was the best candidate. We are so pleased both for Claire and the school.
We have appointed 3 new ‘external’ teachers
Claire Saddington who has already done a lot of work with us on Shakespeare projects over the last few years and knows some of our children well. Katie Wademan and Amy Coxhill who are both external candidates have both accepted permanent part time teaching posts.
Bev Cotterill and Vicky Proctor have been appointed as part time permanent members of staff and Ellie Hill continues with us 4 days a week next year.
6th Form and EYFS (Early Years)
Just to confirm that, as usual, we will be closing our EYFS provision (Yellow class and Blossom at Redwood) and our 6th Form classes on Friday 19th July. This gives us time and opportunity to carry out our statutory training and to prepare for our next school year. If it causes you significant difficulties, please contact myself or Jayne Spalding to discuss this.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter 20.5.19.pdf |
Archive
| Headteachers Letter 8.4.19.pdf |
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