Key Dates
Tuesday 19th March
Year 5 visit to the Easter Experience
Wednesday 20th March
Year 3 visit to Kew Gardens
Nursery local walk
Thursday 21st March
Year 5 Sycamore class parent assembly at 9:00 am
Friday 22nd March
HOME LEARNING SHOWCASE for Years 1 - 6
PSA Year 4 cake sale
Saturday 23rd March
Fern Hill Community Litter Pick - meet at school at 9:45 am
PSA Easter Egg Hunt at school from 12:30 - 2:30 pm
Monday 25th March
Parents' Evening for Heather, Chestnut & Lime classes only
Tuesday 26th March
Parents' Evening from 4:00 to 7:00 pm
Wednesday 27th March
Parents' Evening from 2:00 to 6:00 pm
SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1:30 PM ON WEDNESDAY 27TH MARCH
Thursday 28th March - last day of term & mufti (non-uniform) day
SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1:30 PM ON THURSDAY 28TH MARCH
Friday 29th March - Friday 12th April
EASTER BREAK
Monday 15th April
Children return to school
Wednesday 17th April
Reception visit to Painshill
Friday 19th April
PSA Year 3 cake sale
Thursday 25th April
Year 4 Larch class parent assembly at 9:00 am
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
Tree Tops
If you plan to use Childcare Vouchers or Tax-free Childcare (TFC) payments to pay for Tree Tops sessions next term, please ensure you arrange for their transfer by Monday 18th March. The school is closed over the Easter break and any vouchers or payments received after this date may not be processed until school reopens.
Parents' Evening
The booking window for Parents' Evening has now closed. If you haven't made an appointment, please contact the school office as soon as possible. The dates and times of SEN reviews are currently being sent out.
Don't forget to read your year group weekly news, published every Friday afternoon on Google Classroom. Home learning should be completed in time for the Home Learning Showcase on Friday 22nd March.
Please remember to order your child's school lunch by 8:00 am on the day, particularly for Mondays! We'll let you know when the menu is available on ParentPay for the summer term. Our school meals provider, Culinera, will have a pop-up stand in school during Parents' Evening for you to meet the team, and sample the food.
On Monday, we'll be saying goodbye to Mrs Freeman in the school office. We'll also be saying farewell to Mrs Vincer and Mr Amin at the end of term. We would like to wish them all the very best in their exciting new ventures! They will be very much missed.
Community Litter Pick
Our third community litter pick of the year will take place on Saturday 23rd March and if you plan to join Miss Evans and the Eco-Schools Committee, please let them know here. The litter pick will take place from 10:00 - 11:15 am (meet at school at 9:45 am) and all are welcome! You can read more about Fern Hill's Eco-Schools programme and this initiative here.
Thank you for your donations to Comic Relief today. Our JustGiving page will be open for a few more days if you would still like to make one and we'll let you know what we've raised together next week. Thank you to the children, and staff, for wearing red today, and to our Year 6 prefects for collecting donations at pick-up.
Next week is the last week of clubs this term, except for Technokids Monday clubs, which will run on Monday 25th March. Booking for lunchtime and after-school clubs for the summer term is now open through ParentPay. The schedule of clubs and information on how to book is available here and also on the school website.
Putting an end to plastic pollution!
If you're taking part in The Big Plastic Count, don't forget to bring your tally sheet back to school on Monday, so we can enter all the information on the database. Our data, along with data from over 100,000 other schools, households, community groups and businesses will be used to convince the Government to lead the way for the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty - an international legal agreement to prevent the harmful impacts of plastic - which is being negotiated right now. We will find out how much of our plastic waste would, on average, be collected for recycling, what’s then likely to happen to it, and what that means for Fern Hill's plastic footprint.
The Royal Academy of Arts' Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–19. If your child would like to submit an artwork, just follow this link and select Fern Hill Primary as your school. Registration and submission is open until 27th March. 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 its title, size, and a short 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.
Books of the Week
Year 5 Book Club - 'Countdown to Yesterday' by Shirley Marr
James is stuck in the present and that's the last place he wants to be. His parents have separated, and he must get used to living two completely different lives. James wishes he could go back to the past, to his Top Six memories with Mum and Dad. Then, James meets Yan, a girl who looks at the world differently, and he discovers that travelling back in time might be possible after all. But are his memories as perfect as he remembers? A stunning story about family love, friendship and hope.
Here's what the pupils had to say about the book:
‘My favourite character was Yan because she is an interesting, smart and secretive person.’ Lea
‘I think that Tiger was my favourite because he helps to calm people down from worries.’ Francesca
‘Empathetic, exciting and a bit sad!’ Lyla
‘It made me feel bad for James, but it also made me really imagine I was in some of the scenes because of the description.’ Mila B
‘I liked that someone (Yan) randomly is like, “Look, I have a working time machine!”’ Naci
Year 4 Book Club - 'Stitch' by Padraig Kenny
Stitch and his friend Henry Oaf were brought to life by the genius Professor Hardacre. But when his wicked nephew takes over the laboratory, they soon discover that his sights are set on Henry as his next experiment. Can Stitch and Henry escape his clutches and make their way in a world they were never built for – and may only ever see them as monsters? A compelling, atmospheric Frankenstein-inspired adventure.
Here's what the pupils had to say about the book:
‘I loved this book as the cover of the book just made me so interested. It just made me feel so sad and excited and happy in every part. It’s really emotional.’ Katniss
‘A story with suspense - a real page turner!’ William
‘Mind-blowing, amazing, spine-chilling! I liked Alice because everyone else found Stitch weird and treated him badly but Alice was kind.’ Ananya
‘This book made me feel emotional, overwhelmed, inspired. I loved clumsy Henry.’ Rosa
‘Amazing, brilliant, funny, sad and inspiring. Maybe there should be a second book where the professor is still alive but Stitch and Gregor don’t know.’ Felix
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is HAMPTON
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Kingston
188
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Coombe
158
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Richmond
194
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Hampton
198
PSA News & Events
Mother's Day Breakfast - thank you!
Huge thanks to everyone who came along to this morning's Mother's Day Breakfast! It was a packed event, and lovely to see so many of our mums and carers enjoying breakfast with their children. A special thanks to Nina for doing such a brilliant job organising this event for the first time (very ably assisted by Caroline) and to our brilliant team of dads!
This is a community event and is free to attend, but if you would like to make a donation to the PSA JustGiving page to help us cover costs, we would be very grateful. Thank you very much to everyone who kindly donated this morning!
Bounce4Books - last chance to donate!
A reminder that you can still donate your child's sponsorship money for Bounce4Books via this link, until Monday 18th March.
PSA Easter Egg Hunt - tickets are now on sale!
The PSA are delighted to announce that tickets are now on sale for the Easter Egg Hunt!
Join us on Saturday 23rd March from 12:30 - 2:30 pm for lots of fun: trails, prizes, face painting, balloon animals, tombola and Science Adventures Magazines on sale!
Tickets are £3 for children and £1 for adults. This event is for our younger Fern Hill children, in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
Cake sale update
Well done to our Year 5 parents who raised a brilliant £310.39 at their sale last week! Many thanks to Jodie and her team of parents who provided a huge number of delicious pineapple buns! The next cake sale is on 22nd March when our Year 4 parents will be baking and buying for you, so please come along and support them!
School Lottery - be in it to win it!
You can still buy tickets for the next draw which will take place on Saturday 30th March. Sign up here.
Inspiration 