Key Dates
Monday 13th — Friday 17th February
HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Monday 20th February
CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL
Monday 20th - Friday 24th February
INTERNATIONAL WEEK
Monday 20th February
DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal collection at drop off and pick up
Wednesday 22nd February
International dress or colour of your home country flag dress up day - no football shirts
Parent Volunteer Introduction & Training at 9:00 am
International food sale at 3:00 pm
Thursday 23rd February
Yew class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Friday 24th February
PSA pre-loved uniform & costume sale at 3:00 pm
PSA Year 5 Cake Sale at 3:15 pm
Tuesday 28th February
E-safety parent workshop with Peter Cowley at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Thursday 2nd March
Proposed strike action - please refer to communications from ParentPay for updates
Friday 3rd March
World Book Day celebrations in school
PSA Bounce for Books & second-hand children's book sale
Year 5 Mayan civilisation workshop
Thursday 9th March
Rowan class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Friday 10th March
Chestnut class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
PSA Year 4 cake sale at 3:15 pm
Wednesday 15th March
Proposed strike action - please refer to communications from ParentPay for updates
Thursday 16th March
Proposed strike action - please refer to communications from ParentPay for updates
Friday 17th March
Comic Relief Red Nose Day - mufti (non-uniform) day
Reminders
Safety on the school site
Please do not use the car park as a pedestrian walk through. There have been a number of incidents recently where children have scootered or biked ahead of their accompanying adult and not been visible to cars pulling out of parking spaces. Families should only use the public footpath alongside the side of the school when walking to and from the KS2 playground.
Contact information
If you change home address or contact telephone number, please ensure that you inform the office in writing of the new details so that we can update your child's record.
Your year group weekly news is published every Friday at 5:00 pm on your child's Home Learning Google Classroom. You should sign in using your child's school Google Account - you can find their login details in the front of their Home School Diary.
Lunches for the second half of the spring term are now available to order on ParentPay. Lunches for Monday 20th - Friday 24th February must be ordered by midnight on Sunday 12th February; if you miss this cut-off time, please ensure that your child has a packed lunch from home. The full menu is published here and on the school website.
Next term's Home Learning Grids for children in Years 1 to 6 are being published on the Google Classroom today. Work should be completed in time for the next Home Learning Showcase on Friday 24th March.
International Week at Fern Hill
After the half-term break, the children will take part in International Week to explore and celebrate the
rich linguistic and cultural diversity of our school. We would like this to be a whole community event and, alongside teacher-led activities, would welcome parents and carers to join us to share their heritage and traditions. Please let us know if you can help with any of the activities outlined below by completing this form.
Classroom activities
Help us to explore other cultures by joining your child/ren's year group/s for a show and tell session to read a story or play music in your own language or share a significant artefact that represents your heritage.
Lunchtime activities
Run a lunchtime club to showcase a traditional art or craft activity which the children can learn e.g.,
origami, calligraphy, quilting, or paper cutting.
International food sale
On Wednesday 22nd February, we would like to run an international food sale after school for all our
families to enjoy. The funds raised will be used to purchase resources to support and encourage cultural awareness in school including books and inspiration boxes for the classrooms. If you can donate a traditional dish, please let us know. We would love for you to be at the sale, but this is not necessary. Food items can be sweet or savoury but must be vegetarian and nut-free and, ideally, easily portioned.
To bring our community together, on Wednesday 22nd February children and staff are invited to wear
their traditional dress, or the colours of their flag.
Parents' Evening will be held on Wednesday 29th from 4:00 - 7:00 pm and Thursday 30th March from 2:00 - 6:00 pm. Please note that appointments will be in person only. Further information and details of how to book an appointment will be sent after the half-term break.
School will close early on Thursday 30th March at 1:30 pm for children in Reception through to Year 6. Nursery will run as normal until 3:25 pm.
Arrangements for Tree Tops on Thursday 30th March
On Thursday 30th March, Tree Tops will run two sessions: an Early Half session from 1:30 – 4:30 pm and a Full session from 1:30 – 6:00 pm, with no additional charge for the extended provision. Nursery children may join the sessions as usual from 3:25 pm.
To ensure appropriate staffing, the usual Tree Tops deadline will not apply for Thursday 30th March. All bookings must be made and paid for through ParentPay by midnight on Sunday 12th March. This is the cut-off point for a place on Thursday 30th March. Thereafter, to make a booking, you should email Tree Tops to request a place on the waiting list. Bookings made through ParentPay after this deadline will be automatically cancelled.
Please note that on the last day of term, Friday 31st March, school will also close early at 1:30 pm for ALL children, including those in Nursery. Tree Tops will run just one session on that day, from 1:30 - 4:30 pm. The usual three-day booking deadline applies.
Times Tables Rock Stars
We celebrated Number Day last Friday with a competition on the Times Tables Rock Stars platform – well done to all the children who participated at home or school and answered a total of 28,321 questions correctly! The winning class was Chestnut, closely followed by Beech. Congratulations to the top 4 pupils: Marius in Chestnut, Zeynap in Yew, Riya in Chestnut and Rayya in Beech. The inter-year group competition will continue after half-term and every Friday a winning class will be awarded our new TTRS trophy in Celebration Assembly.
TCS London Mini Marathon
The London Marathon is taking place on Sunday 23rd April 2023, and this year, the organisers are again asking young runners to take part in their own mini-marathon to be held on Saturday 22nd April.
There are two course routes, both finishing on The Mall and both crossing the London Marathon finish line. For children in Reception to Year 6, there is a 1-mile route and for children in Years 5 and 6, you can choose to run a 2.6 km route. Start times are planned for 10:00 am for the 2.6 km route and 11:00 am for the 1-mile route although the exact times are still to be confirmed by the organisers.
If you are interested in entering your child, please complete this form by Monday 20th February. Parents will be required to take their children to the event, and will be responsible for them. There is a maximum number of 50 entries for each event so please only enter if you can commit to taking part on the day. Look out for details of our own Fern Hill mini marathon in April too!
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is COOMBE!
-
Kingston
194
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Coombe
238
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Richmond
207
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Hampton
234
PSA News & Events
PSA Bowling Night - Tuesday 28th Feb
We are organising a fundraising bowling night at Tenpin Kingston, at 8pm on Tuesday 28th February. Drinks will be half price. Places are limited so don't delay! Please contact Andre Paim on 07379944567 if you are interested. Thank you!
PSA Bounce 4 Books - Friday 3rd March
Letters and sponsorship forms for this year's Bounce 4 Books are coming home. This annual event 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.
As Friday 3rd March coincides with World Book Day, if your child will be dressing up as their favourite book character, remember that they need to be able to move freely on the bouncy castle!
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 £3,600! Sponsorship is entirely voluntary - all children will get to take part in Bounce 4 Books. All donations are very gratefully received.
Sponsorship forms plus your donations (either in cash or by using our dedicated JustGiving page) and gift aid forms (which enables us to collect an extra 25% on top of your donation at no extra cost) should be returned to your class teacher by Monday 13th 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 form and let your Class Rep know.
Thanks in advance for your support!
PSA Comedy Night - Friday 24th March
Our brilliant line up includes Jonny Awsum, Christian Reilly, Aideen McQueen, and Ninia Benjamin. Tickets will go on sale on 1st March, and cost £20 including your first drink. Spread the word and bring your friends along!
Dragon Boat Race - Sunday 16th July
If you are interested in joining a team for the Dragon Boat race this summer, please join the WhatsApp group to be matched up with a team!
Inspiration 