Key Dates
Tuesday 3rd October
Parent Volunteer training session at 2:30 pm in school
Wednesday 4th October
Parent Volunteer training session at 9:00 am in school
Thursday 5th October
Phonics Workshop for Reception parents at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
PSA meeting at 7:00 pm in school
Friday 6th October
Year 4 Chestnut class visit to the Thames Explorer Trust
Tuesday 10th October
Flu immunisations in school
Friday 13th October
Year 1 visit to London Zoo
PSA Year 5 cake sale
Saturday 14th October
PSA Pumpkin Hunt for Nursery to Year 2 children from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Monday 16th October
Author visit from Jack Meggit-Phillips
Tuesday 17th October
Year 5 Vikings workshop in school
Wednesday 18th October
Parents' Evening from 4:00 to 7:00 pm
Thursday 19th October
Parents' Evening from 2:00 to 6:00 pm
SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1:30 PM ON THURSDAY 19TH OCTOBER
Friday 20th October
Home Learning Showcase
Year 3 visit to Butser Ancient Farm
Year 4 Larch & Yew classes visit to the Thames Explorer Trust
Key dates for this school year are published here. Some of these dates are provisional, and all dates are subject to change — please refer to this newsletter and communications via ParentPay for the latest information.
Click here for term dates including INSET days.
Reminders
School lunches
If your child is having a school lunch, please don’t forget to place an order through ParentPay by 8:00 am on the day. To avoid missing the deadline, we recommend that you order your child’s lunches for the full half-term in advance - you can cancel or amend those orders at any time up until 8:00 am on the day if anything changes. Please also remember to cancel any lunches you have ordered on days when your child is absent from school or on a school trip - cancellations will not be done by the school.
Flu Immunisations
The deadline for providing consent for your child to have the flu vaccine is Sunday 8th October. Please see this letter for further information and a link to the consent form. The immunisation is available to all children from Reception to Year 6 as a nasal spray or an injectable porcine free vaccine.
Year group weekly news
Year group weekly news is published every Friday afternoon on the Home Learning Google Classroom. Click here for information about how we use the Classroom. Reception and Nursery will be sending their news through ParentPay for the next few weeks as they transition to the Classroom.
Wellbeing
The Parent Champions Network offer drop-in Parent Support Cafés in Kingston, for free refreshments and confidential signposting for specialist advice and support on all matters involved in parenting. For café dates, address and timings, please click here.
Consent for Local Visits
Please remember to complete the consent form to give permission for your child to take part in local visits out of school this academic year. If you have more than one child at Fern Hill, you should complete a separate consent form for each.
Volunteering in school
If you can offer your time on a regular basis to help support in school, we'd love to hear from you! You might be working one-to-one with a child or small group of children, listening to them read and reading to them, or helping them to choose books they will enjoy from one of the school libraries. You may also get involved in specific classroom activities.
Please refer to the letter that we sent you this week from Mrs Davies to get started. You should complete the registration form and attend one of the two training sessions being held on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th October. You will need to complete safeguarding training online and have an enhanced DBS check before you can start working with the children - the process for this will be covered during the training session.
Parents' Evening
Parents’ Evening will be held on Wednesday 18th October and Thursday 19th October. School will close for children in Reception through to Year 6 at 1:30 pm on Thursday 19th October. Nursery will run as normal until 3:25 pm.
After school clubs on Thursday 19th will run but at an earlier time, between 1:30 – 2:30 pm. Tree Tops will also run from 1:30 pm to its usual finish of 6:00 pm.
You will be able to book a 10-minute in-person appointment with your class teacher through our Parents’ Evening System; a link to the Parents’ Evening System and instructions on how to book will be sent to you next week.
Cressida Cowell Author Visit
The children were very excited to receive a visit from the author Cressida Cowell on Wednesday afternoon. Cressida talked about her childhood holidays on a remote island that inspired the Island of Berk, and they also learnt some Dragonese and thought about what magic power they would like to have. If you missed out on the book orders, Cressida's books are all available in the school library, and at all good bookshops - her latest series is called 'Which Way to Anywhere'.
Book of the Week
‘The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm’ by Karen Foxlee and illustrated by Freda Chiu
Mary-Kate likes facts, the shopping channel and her sparkly red shoes. She dislikes brown colouring pencils and sudden changes. When she has to accompany her archaeologist mother on a dig, their trip seems bound to include lots of things that will make Mary-Kate uncomfortable. But when they arrive in Woolington it seems that there is a mystery to be solved – Mary-Kate gets out her notebook and starts collecting evidence. Does the Woolington Wyrm really exist? And if so, what does it want?
Mary-Kate is an anxious but conscientious detective and this is a wonderfully empathetic and engaging story that encourages resilience and trying new things…like monster hunting! The illustrations are absolutely delightful too. ‘The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm’ is the start of a thrilling new monster mystery series. It is ideal for the lower KS2 age group (Years 3 & 4) and perfect for fans of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’, ‘The Beast and the Bethany’, and Sylvia Bishop’s mystery stories.
Team Points
The overall winner this week is Hampton
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Kingston
251
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Coombe
202
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Richmond
271
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Hampton
290
PSA News & Events
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Thank you to everyone who came to our Coffee Morning today in support of Macmillan Cancer Support - a fantastic charity that does so much to help those living with cancer. Thank you too to all those who baked and brought the delicious cakes! We'll let you know how much we raised soon!
A bumper uniform sale!
Thank you so much to everyone who bought and donated uniform for our sale last Friday - we raised an incredible £366.05! Huge thanks also to Jen, Alison and their team of volunteers for their hard work sorting uniform and manning the sale, and ensuring outgrown uniforms get a new lease of life.
The next sale will take place on Friday 24th November.
Cauliflower Cards - final deadline Monday
The absolute final deadline for submitting your child's artwork is Monday 2nd October. Please hand your pack to the school office on Monday, and not your class teacher. Thank you.
Teddy Bears' Picnic
Thank you to the Reception children and parents and carers who attended our Teddy Bears' Picnic on Wednesday - it was lovely to see everyone getting to know each other better. A big thank you to Mrs Pratelli and Mrs West, who brought everyone together for some brilliant songs (with actions!) at the end, and to Becky and our team of volunteers for making this event happen.
PSA Meeting next Thursday
Our first meeting of the year will be held at school on Thursday 5th October at 7:00 pm. Please come along to meet our friendly committee and hear about what we have planned for the year!
Save the date! Pumpkin Hunt for children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & 2 - Saturday 14th October
We will be holding a pumpkin hunt in the infants' (KS1) playground on Saturday 14th October from 1:30 - 3:30 pm for our younger children. The event will include a hunt with prizes, a café, and other activities. Tickets will be available next week! Children in Years 3 - 6 will have the opportunity to take part in a hunt in the local area over the half-term break - details to follow.
Inspiration 