Key Dates
Monday 12th February - Friday 16th February
HALF-TERM BREAK
Monday 19th February
CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL
Thursday 22nd February
Year 3 Rowan class parent assembly at 9:00 am
Friday 23rd February
PSA Year 6 cake sale & second-hand uniform sale
Tuesday 27th February
Author visit from Robert Tregoning for Year 1 & 2
Wednesday 28th February
Inclusion Coffee Morning at 9:00 am
Thursday 29th February
Year 2 Bracken class parent assembly at 9:00 am
Monday 4th March
Year 6 SATs parent meeting at 8:50 am in the Large Hall
Tuesday 5th March
Year 2 visit to the British Wildlife Centre
Wednesday 6th March
Year 4 visit to the Polka Theatre
Careers Fair in school for Year 5 & 6
Thursday 7th March
World Book Day celebrations in school
Friday 8th March
PSA Bounce for Books event in school
PSA Year 5 cake sale
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
Please don't forget to order your child's lunches for next half-term. You must place an order by 8:00 am on the day and can order for the full term in advance.
Lunctime & after school clubs
All clubs resume week commencing 19th February. Gardening club starts on Tuesday 20th February.
Contact information
If you change your home address or contact telephone numbers, please ensure that you inform the office in writing of the new details so that we can update your child's records.
Year group weekly news
Don't forget to read your year group weekly news, published every Friday afternoon on Google Classroom. You'll also find next half-term's Home Learning Grids if you want to get ahead with the work for the final Home Learning Showcase of the spring term, on Friday 22nd March.
Phonics Results
We are proud to have received a letter from Damian Hinds MP, the Minister for Schools, recognising our outstanding achievement in the 2023 Phonics Screening Check. Our results place Fern Hill in the top 4% of all primary schools in the country. You can read the letter here. Further information on the results of the statutory assessment test the children sit, including the Phonics Screening, are published on our website here.
Online Safety Workshop
Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us on Wednesday for the Online Safety Workshop. We hope you found the briefing with Naomi Gale informative and enjoyed spending time with your children in the their classrooms. The slides Naomi used are available here.
Bird Feeder Competition
Our Eco Schools Committee has launched a competition for the children to enjoy over the half-term break: to create an eco-friendly bird feeder. The feeders will be hung around the school to encourage more birds on the school grounds. If your child would like to take part, they should bring their bird feeder into school by Tuesday 20th February. Click here for some lovely ideas!
Sports Update
Despite the short half-term, we’ve taken part in as many inter-school sporting tournaments as possible! Unfortunately, the girls’ football fixture at Richmond and Kew FC in January was cancelled due to poor weather; we look forward to that competition later this month.
The Tag Rugby competition did go ahead on 25th January, at Kings Rugby Club. Congratulations to the team!
"We attended a Tag Rugby tournament and we enjoyed every minute! We played 5 games in total and won 4 of them, beating Latchmere, Green Lane and Christ Church. The game we lost was very competitive but we definitely developed our skills! We came 1st in the Plate but sadly not in the Cup which went to St Agatha’s as the overall winners. We can't wait to do it again!"
~ by Zahraa & Sara
Last week, we competed in a Swimming Gala at the New Malden Leisure Centre. We did extremely well! Congratulations to the following children who swam in individual races: Ludwick - 3rd place in front crawl final; Monty - 3rd place in backstroke final; Emily - 3rd place in breaststroke final; Mazhar - 1st in breaststroke final and Ka Yeung - 1st place in butterfly final. In the relay races, Emmy, Maysa, Emily and Nell won 3rd place in the final of the medley relay and Ka Yeung, Monty, Mazhar, Ludwick won 1st place in finals of both the medley relay and front crawl relay.
Next half-term, we’re planning further fixtures and hope to compete in curling, football, netball, basketball, scatterball and table tennis tournaments. Look out of a round-up at the end of term.
Art Competitions
This week, we announced two different art competitions for the children to take part in, one in school and one at home.
Rotary Art Competition - The Life of Bugs
This competition is run by the Rotary Clubs of Kingston, New Malden and Surbiton and is open to all primary school aged children. This year, the theme is ‘The Life of Bugs’. Judging will take place before the end of the spring term and a prize giving ceremony at the Rose Theatre will follow. We are asking the children to create their artwork entries for this competition at school and are running two drop ins for them over lunchtimes on Tuesday 20th and Tuesday 27th February to support their work.
Royal Academy of Arts Young Artists' Summer Show
Now in its sixth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–19 studying in the UK.
Submitting artwork is completely free and is done online. Just follow this link and select Fern Hill Primary as your school. For children 12 or under, entry must be completed by a parent or guardian. Registration and submission is open until 27th March 2024.
Each student can submit one artwork and there is no theme. When you enter, you’ll be asked for an image of your child’s artwork plus some information about the piece such as title, size, and a little text about it. It will be seen by a panel of judges and arts professionals and the selected pieces will be displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts when the exhibition opens in July.
Last year, 478 artworks were chosen for exhibition (out of more than 21,000 students participating in the competition) and two of those were Fern Hill pupils: Mazhar for ‘Wonders of Nature’ and Tianmo for ‘A Lion with Friends’.
Book of the Week
‘Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls’ by Phil Hickes
Lilian’s first night at her new boarding school is interrupted by a sinister tapping on the walls and her roommates tell her the story of ‘Cold Mary’ - the ghost of a former student who haunts their dormitory. But this is not the only strange thing going on at Shadowhall Academy. With the help of her new friends, Angela, Marian and Serena, Lilian must investigate the mysterious happenings and solve a centuries-old curse.
This is a fantastically fun and creepy ghost story, from the author of the ‘Haunting of Aveline Jones’ series, perfect for those who love scary books.
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is KINGSTON
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Kingston
281
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Coombe
255
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Richmond
278
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Hampton
183
PSA News & Events
Our School Lottery - you have to be in it, to win it!
A reminder that you can sign up to our school lottery here. You could win a weekly cash prize (the amount depends on how many people sign up), as well as a £25,000 jackpot, and you will be raising money for our school! Tickets cost £1 per week, and the first draw will take place on 9th March.
We need as many people as possible to sign up so we can raise lots of money for the school - and increase the weekly prize pot!
Next Uniform Sale - Friday 23rd February
We will be holding a second hand uniform sale after school on Friday 23rd February. If you are having a clear out over the half-term break, please put aside any items of uniform you can donate (Fern Hill branded items, ties and PE kit only). We will be including fancy dress too in this sale in preparation for World Book Day. You can drop your donations off at school on We’ll be collecting donations on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd February.
Bounce for Books! Friday 8th March
Letters and sponsorship forms for this year's Bounce for Books have been sent home with the children - please check your child's school bag! This annual event, run by the PSA, is a great fundraiser for our school and a day that the children really enjoy! Bouncy castles will be set up in the Large Hall and, class by class, each child will see how many bounces they can do in one minute.
Please do encourage your friends and family to get involved in sponsoring your child - all money raised will be used to buy new books for the school libraries. Last year, thanks to the generosity of Fern Hill families, we raised over £2,500! Sponsorship is entirely voluntary and all children will get to take part in Bounce for Books. All donations and sponsorship are very gratefully received.
Sponsorship forms plus your donations (either in cash or through JustGiving) and gift aid forms (which enable us to collect an extra 25% on top of your donation at no extra cost) should be returned to your class teacher by Monday 18th March.
If you would like to be a parent helper on the day (morning, afternoon or both) and help with counting the children’s bounces, please fill in this linked form and also let your class rep know.
Thanks in advance for your support!
EYFS and KS1 Easter Egg Hunt - 23rd March - Save the date!
Save the date for our EYFS and KS1 Easter Egg hunt for children in Nursery through to Year 2 on Saturday 23rd March. This is a lovely event for the youngest children in the school and Jen is looking for lots of ideas and volunteers to make it eggstra special this year! Please join our friendly WhatsApp group if you can help out!
Inspiration 