Key Dates
Tuesday 28th February
Staying Safe Online parent workshop with Peter Cowley at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Year 5 visit to the Hindu Temple
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
Monday 20th March
Year 2 visit to the British Wildlife Centre
Year 6 SATs parent meeting at 8:50 am
Wednesday 22nd March
Year 3 visit to Kew Gardens
Thursday 23rd March
Beech class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Friday 24th March
HOME LEARNING SHOWCASE
Elm class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
PSA Year 3 cake sale at 3:15 pm
PSA Comedy Night from 7:00 pm in the Large Hall
Saturday 25th March
PSA Easter Egg Hunt for Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 at 1:30 pm
Reminders
Money in school
Please do not permit your child to bring coins or notes into school. Any cash brought in for fundraising activities should be handed to a teacher or the school office in the morning for safe-keeping. Thank you.
Your year group weekly news is published every Friday afternoon 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.
This week's Times Tables Rock Stars class winners are Beech, Yew, Lime and Oak. Well done!
Thank you to all our families who donated to the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. We raised £381.80.
Staying Safe Online
Peter Cowley - Lead Adviser for Online Services and Safety for Achieving for Children - is running a workshop on Tuesday 28th February at 9:00 am for parents and carers on how to keep children safe while they are online. The workshop will cover simple ways for children to avoid getting into difficulties while on the Internet; how to keep themselves and their friends safer while online; and what to do if something happens that they are not sure about or that worries or upsets them. While the content is suitable for all year groups, it is particularly relevant for children in Year 5 and 6 who are beginning the transition to secondary school and who are, as we know, already very active on social media platforms. If you plan to attend, please let us know by completing this short form - thank you.
Next week, we’ll be celebrating World Book Day with lots of fun book related activities including a competition to name all the book characters on the recently installed wall wrap opposite the junior's library. If you would like to celebrate World Book Day at home, we’d love the children to decorate a potato character to share with us on Friday. They can bring their creation into class on Friday for display, upload a photo to the Google Classroom, or both!
Three more special events on Friday 3rd March will round off the week.
Dress up day
On Friday, children and staff are invited to dress up as a book character. If you are stuck for ideas, or don’t already have a costume at home, please don’t worry. In the spirit of snuggling down with a good book, children are welcome to wear their pyjamas for the day too!
Bounce for Books
This annual fundraising event is run by our fantastic PSA and all year groups will take part. Sponsorship forms came home before half-term and the money we raise will be used to buy new books for both libraries. For details on how to pay in your donations, please see the PSA news and events section below.
Spark! School Book Awards
We’ll also be launching the Spark! School Book Awards. Now in its third year, the Spark book shortlists are selected by teachers, booksellers and librarians (including our own Mrs Rouillard) and the winners are voted for by school children all over the country. The four shortlisted books in the appropriate age category will be available for the children in their classroom and library. You can follow the Spark! School Book Awards on Facebook or Twitter for more information.
Look out for your World Book Day £1 Book Token which will be coming home next week. You can collect your free book from most bookshops and supermarkets, or use the voucher for a discount off another book. Find out more about the books here.
Just a reminder that there are some wonderful family reading resources available on the World Book Day website, including free audio books via the Yoto app. The Scholastic website also has a fantastic range of reading activities and videos.
International Week at Fern Hill
This week we celebrated the cultural and linguistic diversity of our school community with International Week. Thank you so much to all the parents and carers who shared their heritage, traditions, knowledge and experience either in person or via the Google Classroom. The children took part in activities spanning the globe. Learning numbers in Cantonese, Italian and Ukrainian, practising the Haka and Bollywood dance, exploring the culture of Gujarat and creating Maori art and origami were just some of the things they loved doing. Please drop in to the Google Classroom for photos and videos of your year group's activities.
We are also very grateful for all the dishes donated for the (very busy!) international food sale which raised over £100 to help us fund classroom resources.
Sports News
On Wednesday, our Year 4 boys took part in a football competition at Kew AFC.
"We arrived with hopes high and started well securing a 1-0 victory in our first match. The second and third games didn’t match our standards and we lost both, finishing 3rd in our group. We went in to the next part of the tournament challenging for the Plate. We started well again with a 1-0 win which put us into the Plate semi-final, but even though we tried our best we lost this game and ended our hopes of bringing home a prize."
~ By Josh H.
AF Steadman Author Visit
Just before half-term, our Year 5 and 6 pupils enjoyed a visit from AF Steadman, the Waterstones Prize-winning author of 'Skandar and the Unicorn Thief'.
AF Steadman spoke about how she was inspired to create a new type of unicorn that wasn't pink and sparkly, but wild and dangerous instead. As a group we voted for various characteristics and created our own unicorn to race in the Chaos Cup, and after a hard-fought race, we won!
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is RICHMOND
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Kingston
161
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Coombe
195
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Richmond
254
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Hampton
183
PSA News & Events
PSA Bowling Night - Tuesday 28th February
This is your last chance to get involved with our fundraising bowling night at Tenpin Kingston, at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 28th February. Drinks will be half price! Please contact Andre Paim on 07379944567 if you are interested.
Second-hand children’s book sale - Friday 3rd March
We will be holding a sale of second-hand children’s books to coincide with World Book Day. The sale will be held after school on Friday 3rd March from 2:30 pm. We would love your donations of any good quality children’s books - please drop them off on Friday morning and leave them on the trolley by school reception.
Volunteers needed! Can you help us to sort the books on Friday morning (there will be pastries!) or help out at the sale itself, from 1:45 pm? If you can, please let your Class Rep know or post a message on the PSA WhatsApp group. Thank you!
Bounce for Books - volunteers needed for the afternoon
We are still short of a few volunteers to count bounces in the afternoon (from 1:15 - 2:45 pm) on Friday 3rd March. If you can help, please let your Class Rep know or post a message on the PSA WhatsApp group. Thank you!
Sponsoring your children for this event is entirely voluntary but 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 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 13th March.
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!
Easter Egg Hunt - Saturday 25th March
Save the date for the PSA Easter Egg Hunt for children in Nursery up to Year 2. It will be held at school on Saturday 25th March from 1:30 - 3:30 pm. A local trail will be organised for the older children during the Easter holidays - details to follow over the next few weeks!
Inspiration 