Key Dates
Saturday 13th October
Gardening Day 10.00 am - 2.00 pm
Tuesday 16th October
Healthy Hedge mufti day - children may come to school dressed in green
Wednesday 17th October
Parent Consultations, 4.00 - 7.00 pm
Thursday 18th October
Willow class assembly, 9.00 am
Thursday 18th October
Parent Consultations, 2.30 - 6.00 pm School closes at 2.00 pm
Friday 19th October
PSA Dads' Breakfast, 7.45 - 8.45 am in the Large Hall. This event is now full!
Friday 19th October
Year 4 cake sale, 3.00 - 3.30 pm
Friday 19th October
School closes for the half term holiday at the usual time
Monday 22nd - Friday 26th October
Half term holiday
Monday 29th October
INSET day - children not in school
Friday 2nd November
Year 3 cake sale, 3.00 - 3.30 pm
Wednesday 7th November
PSA Fireworks Night, 5.45 - 7.30 pm
Thursday 8th November
Year 1 trip to Tudor Drive Library Year 5 trip to the Film Festival
Key dates for the Autumn term are available on the website here.
Reminders
Gardening Day
Please join us tomorrow, Saturday 13th October, to help ready the school gardens for Autumn. We'd be very grateful if you could bring your own gardening tools. Thank you to the PSA for providing the refreshments.
Healthy Hedge mufti day
On Tuesday 16th October, children may come to school dressed in green to celebrate the planting of our new Healthy Hedge along the length of the playground fencing on the Richmond Road. No football kits though please! Parents and carers are very welcome to come along and watch the 'class' plants being dug in by the children between 9.00 - 11.00 am.
Bikeability
A reminder for the Year 6 children following the Bikeability programme next week: don’t forget your bike and helmet, you’ll need them every day! You can leave your bike in the one of the bike racks when you get to school but make sure you lock it and keep the key safe. You will be outside all morning so do bring a coat. Finally, an important message for parents and carers: if you haven’t already completed the on-line registration, you MUST do it before Monday.
Nuts!
Just a reminder that we are a nut-free school. Please do not send any products containing nuts into school with your child including cereal bars and chocolate spreads.
Parent Consultations
The booking system for Parent Consultations on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th October has now closed. If you haven't yet booked an appointment, please contact your class teacher.
Illness
If your child is unwell and has vomiting or diarrhoea, they should not return to school for 24 hours after their symptoms have gone. This will help stop the spread of bugs across the school. Please support us with reminding your children how important it is to wash their hands with soap regularly throughout the day and not just rely on the hand sanitisers available around the school.
PSA Dads' Breakfast on Friday 19th October
Please be aware that this event is now full and we cannot take any further bookings. Thanks to all those who have booked - we look forward to seeing you next week and hope you have a wonderful morning! If you can't come along this time, please remember that we'll be holding another Dads' Breakfast in the summer term.
Attachments
Year group Newsletters
PSA Fireworks Night poster
Gardening Day poster
Equalities Week
Across the school this week, the children have explored a range of topics around what makes us unique and differences in culture, families and religion. Classes discussed equality and what it means to them. In Rowan class, some of the children gave a mini presentation on people who they feel are inspirational in promoting equality. In groups, the class discussed statements of 'inequality' and offered their strong views about why each statement did not apply at Fern Hill. They quickly came to the conclusion that they wanted to include girls in football matches wherever possible! Children in Year 4 reflected on what equality meant in different situations and agreed that, although they are all unique in the class, they should all be treated equally. Linking the discussion to their Maths work, they collected data about their beliefs, abilities, likes and dislikes, and pet ownership and calculated percentages to show what the world would look like if it was made up of just their classes.
Parent Governor Election
This week, every parent or carer who has a child at the school will have received a letter with a ballot paper listing the candidates who are standing for election as a parent governor. Please remember to post your completed ballot paper in the ballot box in the school reception area by 9.00 am on Wednesday 17th October 2018. Full instructions on how to vote are on the reverse of the ballot paper. If you did not receive a letter with a ballot paper, please contact the school office.
Lunches now available to order!
Lunches for the second half of the Autumn term are now available to book online via ParentPay. You can find the menu and information on how to book on our website here.
Don't forget the deadline for booking lunches is always midnight on the Sunday before the previous school week. Don't miss the deadline for the first week back after half term, week commencing 29th October, which is midnight on Sunday 14th October.
Tree Tops & After School Clubs News
On Thursday 18th October, school closes early at 2.00 pm to allow for the start of Parent Consultations at 2.30 pm. Tree Tops will start at 2.00 pm on this day and will continue through to the normal finish time of 6.00 pm. After school clubs will start at 2.10 pm and run until 3.10 pm. If your child is booked on a Tree Tops session, either at 3.15 pm or 4.30 pm, you do not need to change your booking to reflect this change in timings.
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is KINGSTON
-
Kingston
293
-
Coombe
283
-
Richmond
254
-
Hampton
277
Fern Hill PSA proudly present Fireworks Night!
Tickets for our annual Fireworks Night which will be held on Wednesday 7th November will go on sale next week. They will be sold outside the school office on the following dates:
Tuesday 16th October at 8.00am
Wednesday 17th October at 8.00am
Friday 19th October at 2.45pm
Tickets cost £6 for adults and £3 for children. Children under 3 are free but must have their own ticket.
There is a maximum allocation of six tickets per family. To support families who find it difficult to buy tickets in person, one person can buy up to eight tickets for two families. In this instance, there must be at least two adults in the group.
Doors will open at 5.30pm with the firework display beginning at 6.45pm. The event will conclude at 7.30pm.
Refreshments include toffee apples, popcorn, hotdogs (meat and vegetarian option available), hot chocolate, juice, mulled wine, beer, tea and coffee. If you do buy tea or coffee, please bring your own reusable lidded mug to reduce waste and avoid accidents with hot drinks in the playground. There will also be a fabulous selection of glowsticks to buy! No sparklers at this event please.
Fern Hill PSA would like to thank Curchods for sponsoring the cost of the tickets.
Sports News
This week has been a busy one for sport at Fern Hill!
Tuesday was an opportunity for the Year 6 girls to demonstrate their football skills. Goals, saves, passes, teamwork, positive attitude: all of these saw them achieve a place in the finals which take place in December. Well done to the team, and good luck in the finals.
Thursday was time for rugby. Year 5 and 6 girls and boys attended a Tag Rugby Festival, hosted by Kew AFC, Ham. Up against some well-drilled schools, the children tried their best and, although not getting through to the finals, went on to play some 'friendlies' against other schools while they were there. Big smiles in the sunshine!
Finally, Year 1 had great fun this morning being taught gymnastics by St Mary's University sports students. Collaborative teaching like this provides a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved: the children, Fern Hill teachers and university students. The children enjoy being taught by someone different, it allows the teachers to observe their children whilst someone else is taking the lesson and it gives upcoming trainee teachers the chance to try out lessons and activities in a safe and supportive environment. St Mary's students will be back later this term to teach Year 2 and 3 children.
I would like to thank the staff who accompanied the children to the sporting events this week, sometimes at very short notice, as well as the Year 1 teachers for supporting the university students - thank you.
Lots more sport after half term, so watch this space!
- Mrs Lawn, Year 6 class teacher and PE Lead
FernSpeak
Children in Years 4, 5 and 6 are busy preparing for FernSpeak. If your child would like to take part, please encourage them to practice their piece over the half term break. If they would like to read a poem and need some help choosing one, Mrs Howe will be on hand to help them on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th in the school library. Mrs Howe will be seeing the children writing their own poems after half term; remember that you can compose one with a friend too! Actors, please learn your script and public speakers, please work on your speech and timings!
Kingston Children's Literary Festival
This half term, the Kingston Children's Literary Festival is back for its second year with storytelling events for children aged 3-11. Our very own Mrs Howe will be at Waterstones on Thursday 25th October, reading from Ella on the Outside, her book about secrets, lies and friendships, and discussing the importance of friendship with the children. Children attending will also have the chance to enter a competition to win a prize! Find out more about the Festival here.
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 6 who had the best year group attendance for this week.
The Attendance Cup is awarded to Bracken class who had the best class attendance with 100%!
| Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 93.58% | |
| Year 1 | 94.56% | |
| Year 2 | 97.58% | |
| Year 3 | 97.44% | |
| Year 4 | 95.75% | |
| Year 5 | 95.13% | |
| Year 6 | 97.61% | WELL DONE! |
Inspiration 