Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Life skills is the topic of the week for Y5 Bikeability

  Mon 22 Jun 2026

  It's that time of the year again when year 5 pupils bring their bikes into school and attempt to achieve their Level 2 Bikeability Award, meaning they can confidently and safely ride their bikes on roads. 

   

  The week starts off with a test on the playground to ensure children are safe to ride on the road followed by 4 days of intense training with qualified instructors from Solihull Council's Bikeability team. 

   

  Well done to all the children who took part in this curriculum enhancement which helps to boost a pupil's confidence as well as keeping them safe.  

  

• Greswold narrowly edged out in Rounders Semi Final!

  Mon 22 Jun 2026

  Last week, Year 5 and Year 6 pupils took part in the annual South Solihull Borough Rounders competition held at Lode Heath school.

   

  As always, it was a difficult job for Mrs Foster to pick just 12 children considering how many pupils actually tried out for the team.  The chsen team then practised intensely during lunchtimes leading up to event which paid off as Greswold finished top of their group meaning they progressed to the semi-finals. 

   

  Unfortunately, they narrowly lost to Dickens Heath in the semi final by a solitary 1/2 a Rounder.  However, the children played amazingly well as a team, using all of the tactics and rules they had practised at lunchtime sessions and Mrs Foster was a very proud coach. 

   

  Well done to everyone involved. 

• Greswold pupils shine in front of a 5,000 strong crowd!

  Mon 22 Jun 2026

  On Sunday, the Theatretrain national production of 'The Best Day of my Life' took place at the Derngate Theatre in Northampton. 

   

  Theatretrain is a nationwide network of performing art schools for young people aged 4-18. It offers weekly classes that are split equally between acting, singing, and dancing, with a core focus on building confidence, making friends, and participating in large-scale group performances.

   

  The performance yesterday was a combined effort from six different Theatretrain companies from Solihull, Derby, Sudbury, Watford, Bury St Edmunds and Rugby, and what a show it was!

   

   Each company created a segment for the show based on a decade from the 1960's up to the 2010's with Solihull responsible for the 60's and included two of our very own pupils too, Ryan in Y2 and Seb in Y5 who were both wonderful. 

   

  It's great to hear about Greswold pupils and their exploits out of school but to see them on stage accompanied by 300 other performers in front of a 5,000 strong crowd is indeed amazing. 

   

  Well done boys. 

  

• A day of discovery for Nursery pupils at Attwell Farm

  Tue 16 Jun 2026

  Nursery enjoyed a wonderful visit to Attwell Farm last week.  The children were excited to handle the small animals and showed great care and confidence when feeding the larger animals, especially the cheeky goats. They were fascinated by the minibeasts, using their observation skills to spot tiny details and talk about different habitats.

   

  The playground and soft play gave them the chance to build physical skills, take turns and challenge themselves in new ways. Throughout the day, the children were developing their language, asking curious questions, making connections to our classroom learning and showing real enthusiasm for the natural world. It was a day full of discovery, teamwork and joyful learning.

  

• Informative visit helps to add more realism and context to Year 6 history learning

  Mon 15 Jun 2026

  Last week, Year 6 were delighted to welcome Peter Armitage MBE to school to share his knowledge and experiences of World War II with our children. Peter delivered a fascinating and engaging talk, bringing history to life through his stories and expertise. The children had the opportunity to ask thoughtful questions and learn more about what life was like on the homefront during World War II.  A particular highlight was being able to handle a range of replica artefacts, which helped deepen their understanding of this period of history.

   

  Thank you to Year 6 staff for sourcing such an emotive and immersive experience for the children. 

  

• Extra Home Learning showing extra support for World Cup teams!

  Mon 15 Jun 2026

  Billy, in Reception, has taken his support for his class's chosen World Cup teams a step further this week by creating a fact file about the countries of Switzerland and Ivory Coast.  

   

  I think you'll agree that both the facts and handwriting deserve our praise and appreciation.  Well done Billy. 

  

• Parent / Carer Forum minutes from Monday 18th May

  Fri 12 Jun 2026

  Parent / Carer Forum Monday 18th May 2026 at 7pm
  Attendees: Mr Hornsey (Deputy Headteacher) plus 6 parents from the following classes:   Nursery Butterflies, Reception Dragonflies, Y1 Owls, Y1 Hedgehogs, Y2 Otters, Y3 Wrens, Y5 Elms, Y5 Oaks
  Aims	Raise awareness amongst the parent community of matters relating to modern day education. Promote parental engagement through collaboration and communication to solidify partnerships
  Enquiry	Discussion and feedback
  Photograph permissions	Photograph permissions were discussed in relation to school’s recent approach to hosting year group performances.  We’ve recently stopped photographs or videos being taken of performances including EYFS Christmas plays, Y2 Spring Performance, Y3 drumming and Y5 Curriculum Performance.  This is to encourage parents to sit, relax and concentrate on watching their children who have worked hard for several weeks on their performance.    We realise it’s a shame if grandparents or any other family relatives who can’t attend, miss out on photographs or videos and that’s why we’ve rolled out the system of using password encrypted access more widely this year.  This entails school sending out a link to parents with a password so that photos and videos can be viewed by parents for a limited period of time. The images should, as always, be for personal use only and this system seems to have been successful.  The parents in the meeting all agreed that the system should continue.   The only event where this system won’t be used is Sports’ Day as it’s unmanageable to ‘police’ all attendees using their phones so please be aware of this.
  Covering class teacher absence	After recent emails detailing concerns about supply teachers, Mr Hornsey explained how this very important part of school is managed.   Class teachers may be absent for a range of reasons including illness, dependent leave (children are ill), compassionate leave, leading or receiving training, PPA, SEND meetings, statutory ECT time, etc.   Greswold’s aim has always been to cover class teacher absence with a professional who the children are familiar with, e.g. Part-time teacher, Supply staff employed by school or an Advanced teaching Assistant.  This approach enables consistency and continuity as the children move through school.  Some Greswold supply teachers (Mrs Lee) work right across school from Nursery to year 6 and may be asked to teach several classes in any one day.  This in turn means they maintain very high expectations, values and standards of teaching to ensure the children respond to them the same way as they would respond to their usual class teacher and that the work which is left for them is completed to a similarly high standard.     On occasion, we may need to contact one of two supply agencies if we can’t cover a class ‘internally’ but we usually stipulate which teachers we want especially if they’ve impressed us previously, e.g. Mr Andrews, Mrs Armanani, Mr Sidwell, Mrs Panesar, etc.    At such a large school with over 100 staff, the children are used to personnel changes but we don’t take this for granted and try to maintain continuity and quality at all times.
  Communication with class teachers, including transition between Y1 and Y2	Communication between parents and class teachers was discussed in general with Mr Hornsey detailing why school haven’t adopted an open communication system with teachers, similar to the app Class Dojo which some other schools use.  School leaders always aim to balance the amount of time teachers liaise with parents and their main responsibility of planning, preparing, teaching and assessing.  By allowing open access to teachers, similar to care diaries used in Nursery, Reception and Year 1, the concern is that teachers may not be able to carry out their main duties consistently, proficiently and efficiently.    However, a point was made by more than one parent about the transition from year 1 (Care Diary) to year 2 (same systems as KS2) so this is something SLT will discuss before the end of the year to see how the gap might bridged better.
  Greyhounds’ Holiday Club dates	The point was raised about the timing of dates for Holiday club being released to parents.  Some parents felt there should be more notice. This will be actioned to ensure dates are given earlier.
  Home Learning on the website	There was a concern raised by one parent that Home Learning hadn’t been updated on the website.  Although the year group was not mentioned, all staff have been reminded about website expectations.
  Parental awareness of Teaching Assistants	Some parents rightly mentioned that they don’t have any contact whatsoever with Teaching Assistants as our support team only work in the mornings.  Considering these professionals are such a vital part of Greswold and who work very closely with all the children, parents felt it was a shame that they didn’t know who they were. This has been discussed with SLT and we will actively look for more opportunities for parents to meet with Teaching Assistants and Class Teachers alike.
  Milk in Y1	A concern was raised about pupils, whose parents have purchased daily milk for them, not actually remembering to go and get it.  We will remind the children in assemblies next week whilst also asking class teachers to ensure these children have their milk.
  Receipt of office emails	Greswold is currently putting together some proposals for communicating receipt of office emails and response timescales.  These will be communicated before the end of the academic year.  Collection messages, appointments, return forms, general information that doesn’t require a response from SLT, parental concerns and queries which requires response from staff and formal complaints are all types of email which will have specific timescales.

• Father's Day Gift Shops - 15th and 19th June

  Fri 12 Jun 2026

  PTA Father’s Day Gift Shop

   

  After school on Monday 15th June - Junior Gate

   

  After school on Friday 19th June - Infant and Junior Gate

   

  We’ll be selling lovely Father’s Day gifts. All are £3.50 with a gift bag.

   

  Cash, leftover tokens or contactless payments are accepted.  

  

• Football success out of school

  Tue 09 Jun 2026

  Well done to year 5 pupils, Ellisen, Ellie-Mae and Zara who on Saturday won the annual Leafield Summer Football Tournament with their Team Solihull Moors U10s.  

   

  It's the largest tournament in the area with 12 teams taking part including Leafield themselves who have won the tournament for the past two years. After successfully negotiating five group stage matches and getting through the quarter-final and semi-final, She girls' team faced Leafield in a thrilling final and ended up victorious with a 1-0 win.

   

  Ellie-Mae is the goalkeeper and Sara is a central defender, and they both performed tremendously well, only conceding 1 goal in all 8 games. As captain of Solihull Moors, Ellisen put in a dominant performance and did a fantastic job of leading the team to victory. 

   

  What a brilliant achievement, well done girls. 

  

• High praise for Greswold from a recent visitor

  Wed 03 Jun 2026

  Below is an email we received this morning from a gentleman who undertook a day's work experience yesterday as a prelude to his upcoming teacher training degree in September and what lovely comments they were too!

   

  I just wanted to say thank you for helping to arrange my observation day at the school yesterday.

   

  I thought it was an excellent experience, and spending time with two different age groups was particularly eye-opening. The day has really solidified my desire to pursue a PGCE and a career in teaching.

   

  Please could you pass on my thanks to Miss Lowry, Mr Hornsey and everyone in the Otters and Elms classes. The teachers and students in both classes were incredibly welcoming, and I really appreciated the opportunity to observe and learn from them. It really is a wonderful school.

   

  Thank you again for your help in organising the visit.

   

  As a school, we maintain a desire and duty to offer these types of experiences as we are fully aware that the retention and recruitment of class teachers in both secondary and primary education is a nationwide concern at present.

   

  On the subject of work experience, next week we are hosting the first group of Y10 work experience students from Alderbrook and St Peter's School, some of whom are ex-pupils.  All in all, we’ll be hosting over 20 work experience pupils between now and the end of the academic year, an example of how Greswold eagerly engages with our local community.