Key Dates
Monday 18th March
Year 6 Oak class visit the Houses of Parliament - LATE RETURN
Monday 18th March
Nursery only parent consultations
Wednesday 20th March
Parent consultations, 4.00 - 7.00 pm
Thursday 21st March
#lots of socks Day - children are invited to wear bright/distinctive socks with their school uniform
Thursday 21st March
Parent consultations, 2.30 - 6.00 pm
SCHOOL CLOSES AT 2.00 PM
Thursday 21st March
PSA Committee meeting at 7.30 pm in the Small Hall
Friday 22nd March
Year 2 visit the KMS Infant Singing Festival at All Saints Church, Kingston
Friday 22nd March
PSA Second-hand uniform sale at 2.45 pm outside school reception
Monday 25th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Monday 25th March
PSA Easter event for Nursery & Reception children at 3.15 pm in the Large Hall
Tuesday 26th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Tuesday 26th March
Year 6 Willow class visit the Houses of Parliament
Tuesday 26th March
Learning Street visit for Nursery & Reception children
Wednesday 27th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Thursday 28th March
Year 4 production for parents at 9.15 am and 2.30 pm in the Large Hall
Friday 29th March
PSA Mother's Day Breakfast at 7.45 am in the Large Hall
Friday 29th March
Year 5 cake sale to raise funds for the school journey residential trip at 3.00 pm
Tuesday 2nd April
Curriculum Evening at 6.45 pm in the Large Hall
Wednesday 3rd April
Year 4 drama workshop in school
Friday 5th April - last day of term
Easter bonnet parade in school
School closes at 1.30 pm
Tuesday 23rd April
Children return to school for the summer term
Reminders
Tree Tops
If you would like your child to attend a Tree Tops session on Thursday 21st March, please remember that you must book on ParentPay by midnight on Monday 18th March. Bookings will NOT be accepted after this time. Tree Tops is extremely busy on this day and it is very important we know the numbers of children attending to ensure we comply with the appropriate staff to pupil ratio. If a child arrives at Tree Tops and there is no booking for them, a call will be made home to request the child is collected from school immediately.
When you are making your booking, please be careful to choose the correct session. On the Thursday 21st March ONLY, the session times will be as follows:
The EARLY afternoon session will run from 2.00 – 4.30 pm (this session will start at the earlier time of 2.00 pm, rather than 3.15 pm, because school will close at 2.00 pm).
The LATE afternoon session will run from 3.00 – 6.00 pm ((this session will start at the earlier time of 3.00 pm, rather than 4.30 pm, because after school clubs will finish at 3.00 pm).
The FULL afternoon session will run from 2.00 – 6.00 pm.
Attachments
Year Group Newsletters
#lotsofsocks Day Poster
Maths at Home Information Sheet
PSA Second hand Uniform Sale
#lots of socks!
On Thursday 21st March the children are invited to come to school wearing colourful odd socks with their school uniform to celebrate their differences and show their support for World Down’s Syndrome Day, helping to raise awareness and funds for 21 & Co, a charity which works to enhance the lives of children with Down’s Syndrome and their families in South West London, Surrey and surrounding areas. Some of our Year 6 children will be on the gates in the morning to collect any donation you would like to make to 21 & Co. Thank you to Hannah in Year 6 who wrote to Mr Scott about 21 & Co and came up with this brilliant fundraising idea, along with the fantastic poster attached below.
Red Nose Day
Today we showed our support for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day by wearing red and the children looked fantastic! Thank you so much for all your donations this morning – we raised £263!
Stagecoach coming to Fern Hill next term!
A warm welcome to Stagecoach who are opening a new school at Fern Hill next term. The school will be run by Ali and Paul Manuel, who opened the doors of Stagecoach Performing Arts Kingston and Surbiton in 2008 for children aged 4-18 in the local community.
Weekly classes will be held on a Saturday morning during term time: Early Stage classes for children aged 4 to 6 and Main Stage classes for 6 to 18 year olds. Classes will start on Saturday 27th April and run through to 13th July.
To launch the new school, Stagecoach are holding a Discovery Day on Saturday 6th April from 10.00 – 11.00 am – all are welcome!
To find out more about Stagecoach Kingston and Surbiton or to book onto their Discovery Day or summer term classes, please visit their website here or you can call them on 020 8873 7140.
We've been immersed in science, technology, engineering and maths this week and would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Cook and Mrs Crocker who spent Monday with Years 2, 3, 4 & 5 exploring what an engineer is and how important they are to our everyday life. They shared a very informative, and very funny, video with the children called ‘Engine Ears’ which you can find on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HoHGChziqeE
The ICT has been packed with budding mathematicians over lunchtimes as the Mathletics competition announced on Monday to support World Maths Day gathered pace! The competition runs until Sunday evening and the three classes who achieve the most points from Years 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 will be announced during assembly on Monday. If you would like to support your child’s learning at home, please have a look at the NSPCC’s Maths at Home sheet attached below or log onto Mathletics with them via this link: https://community.mathletics.com/signin#/student.
We hope the children enjoyed their workshops with Mother Nature Science too, exploring energy forces by making jumping frogs and wind up cars!
Parent Consultations Next Week
On Wednesday 20th, school will finish at the normal time and consultations with class teachers will run from 4.00 to 7.00 pm. After school clubs and Tree Tops will run as usual, at the usual times. Please note that Tree Tops will be moving from the Small Hall to the Nursery on this day and you should collect your child from the Nursery gates.
On Thursday 21st March, school will finish at 2.00 pm and consultations with class teachers will run from 2.30 – 6.00 pm. Please collect your child promptly at 2.00 pm so that teachers can be ready for their first meetings at 2.30 pm. After school clubs will start at the earlier time of 2.00 pm and Tree Tops will run from 2.00 to 6.00 pm. If you would like your child to attend Tree Tops on Thursday 21st March, from 2.00 pm when school ends or from 3.00 pm when their after school club finishes, you must book their place by midnight on Monday 18th March. Tree Tops will not accept any bookings after this deadline. Once again, Tree Tops will moving from the Small Hall to the Nursery so please collect your child from the Nursery gates.
Fern Hill Curriculum Evening
We are delighted to confirm the final details for this year’s Curriculum Evening which will be held on Tuesday 2nd April 2019. This is an opportunity for parents and carers across all year groups to gain a greater insight into aspects of teaching and learning at Fern Hill. The evening will begin at 6.45 pm with refreshments in the Large Hall, followed by four workshops which will run consecutively and cover a wide range of topics: teaching ‘maths for mastery’, the learning platforms available for you to use at home, encouraging excellence in behaviour, and how we design our curriculum to inspire a love of learning. A summary of the content of each workshop is available on our website here. If you would like to find out more about the Curriculum Evening we ran last year, the workshop presentations are posted on our website here.
To register for the Curriculum Evening, please click on the link below. The closing date for registration is Friday 29th March. Please note that this event is for parents and carers only, not children.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Sports News & Fixtures
A round-up of recent matches from our sports correspondents...!
Year 6 Mixed Football
“On Thursday 14th March, the Year 6 mixed football team went to Chessington School for a football tournament. Unfortunately, they didn’t get through but they had a great time. They played four ten-minute matches with five-minute halves.”
- Lily & Pallav
Year 6 Girls’ Football – the road to success!
“During the autumn term, the Year 6 girls played their first football match together at Chessington School. After winning this match, we played another in the same location. Once again we won and were told our team would be representing Kingston in the London Youth Games! Around the beginning of this year, we played a friendly against St. Paul’s Church of England primary School which allowed us to play in the semi-finals of the Kingston District Cup on 14th march. Sadly, we lost to Latchmere School 5-1 but we came back smiling as we were happy to have participated. We are really looking forward to playing in the London Youth Games and reporting back to you on how we get on!”
- Catrin & Myrah
The Kingston Quiksticks Hockey Tournament
“The hockey tournament had twenty-three teams participating. Fern Hill played four games; we won three and lost one. Unfortunately, the team didn’t make the semi-final. We all played amazingly and we all thoroughly enjoyed it!”
- Max B
Year 6 Netball – bring home the trophy!
“The netball tournament was a fun but competitive way to show off our netball skills – which resulted in us winning the plate competition. We had great fun in sunny weather at the spacious, clean Ditton Fields. We scored some amazing goals during our six matches (which we won five of) in our mixed team that consisted of two boys and five girls. We proudly brought back to school a precious trophy!”
- Catriona & Max
Holiday activities at Fern Hill
There are a number of exciting activities taking place at school during the coming holiday.
Following the success of their holiday camp over February half term (we've had some fantastic feedback from both children and parents!), Pleiades are running two more camps at Fern Hill: one during the first week of the Easter holiday from Monday 8th to Friday 12th April and another in May over the half term break from Tuesday 28th to Friday 31st May. The camps are for children aged 4-12 years old and are available to book now on the Pleiades website here. They are offering a 20% discount for Fern Hill pupils - please quote FERNHILL – and also accept childcare vouchers.
Both Masquerade and Mother Nature Science are also back at school this Easter.
Masquerade are running two fantastic performing arts workshops, one based on the classic Roald Dahl story, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory for children aged 7 years and over, and the other on the much loved children's story Peter Rabbit for children aged 4-6 years. The workshops run over two days on Wednesday 10th to Thursday 11th April.
Mother Nature Science are running a 'Science Blast' activity camp over the first week of the Easter holiday from Monday 8th April to Thursday 12th April. Every day is a science expedition into the unknown and over the week your child will take part in over 40 science activities, including exciting demonstrations, hands-on experiments, team games and fun quizzes.
For more information and details on how to book, please visit our website here.
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is Kingston
-
Kingston
449
-
Coombe
193
-
Richmond
304
-
Hampton
370
Year 1 & 2 Music Workshop
The children enjoyed learning songs from around the world in their music workshop this week. They sang songs in different languages and performed some as rounds - we were very impressed! The Year 2s will be performing the songs alongside other schools from the borough, next week at All Saints Church. Don't forget to book your tickets!
- Mrs Aurelius, Year 1 class teacher
PSA News & Events
Bounce For Books
Thank you to all the parents and carers who have handed in their sponsorship forms and donations for Bounce For Books. We really appreciate your generosity. There have been quite a number of sponsorship forms received with donations pledged but no money included. We’re very keen to receive all donations, so if you’ve forgotten to include yours, or simply haven’t got round to it, please hand them in to the office next week. Many thanks and we will let you know the total amount raised soon!
Second hand uniform sale – Friday 22nd March
We will be holding a second hand uniform sale on Friday 22nd March from 2.45 to 3.30 pm outside school reception. If you have any school uniform items including shoes, PE kit, ties and book bags in good, reusable condition that you can donate, then we’d love to have them! Please complete the donation form attached to this newsletter and attach it to a bag with your items inside. Please ensure all items are washed and ready to sell. All donations can be left in a marked plastic crate inside main school reception next week from Monday 18th March to Wednesday 20th March and all money raised with go to the PSA school funds. Thank you in advance for your donations.
Mothers’ Day Breakfast – Friday 29th March
To celebrate Mothers’ Day, we are holding a Mothers’ Day Breakfast at school on Friday 29th March from 8.00 to 8.45am. This is a lovely opportunity for mums, grandmothers and other significant women to share a delicious breakfast with their Fern Hill children. Please put the date in your diary and information about booking will be in next week’s newsletter.
PSA Committee Meeting – Thursday 21st March
Finally, we’re holding our next PSA committee meeting on Thursday 21st March in the Small Hall from 7.30pm onwards. This is a great chance to find out more about what the PSA does and to get involved. Please do come along and we’ll look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you for your support
Fern Hill PSA
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 1 who have had the best year group attendance for this week.
This week the Attendance Cup goes to Foxglove class for the best attendance with 100%!
| Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 98.6% | Well done! |
| Year 1 | 95.0% | |
| Year 2 | 96.1% | |
| Year 3 | 95.6% | |
| Year 4 | 94.4% | |
| Year 5 | 94.4% | |
| Year 6 | 98.3% |
Inspiration 