Key Dates
Children return to school on Thursday 5th September - school starts at the usual time
Monday 9th September
Year 6 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 8.45 - 9.45 am
Tuesday 10th September
Year 5 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.50 am
Wednesday 11th September
Year 4 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.30 am
Wednesday 11th September
Year 3 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 2.45 - 3.15 pm
Thursday 12th September
Year 2 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.30 am
Year 3 visit Thames Young Mariners
Friday 13th September
Year 1 Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.30 am
Year 6 Cake Sale
Thursday 19th September
Year 6 visit France (returning Friday 20th September)
Year 2 visit West Wittering beach
Thursday 26th September
Reception Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.30 am
Friday 27th September
PSA Macmillan Coffee Morning, 9.00 am
Monday 30th September
Nursery Parents' Welcome Meeting, 9.00 - 9.30 am & 2.30 - 3.00 pm
Thursday 3rd October
PSA Committee & Welcome Meeting, 7.30 pm
Friday 4th October
Year 5 Cake Sale
Key dates for the 2019/2020 academic year are posted on the website here
Reminders
Lunches
Please don't forget to order your lunches for the first half of next term. All weeks are now available on ParentPay up to and including week commencing 21st October. If your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, they are automatically entitled to a free school meal under the Government's Universal Free School Meal Initiative. Even though no charge applies, you must still order the lunches via ParentPay and make your choice from the menu. You can find further information about ordering school lunches here.
After School & Lunchtime Clubs
Details of our after school and lunchtime clubs running in the autumn term are now available on the school website here. Sadly, Start to Sing for Years 1 & 2 will no longer be running but we’re pleased to be able to offer a new club especially for the younger children: Teddy Cricket on Mondays. We are also welcoming Spartans Basketball Academy to Fern Hill. They will be running a club for Years 4 – 6 after school on Fridays.
Attachments
PSA Summer Newsletter
Goodbye & Good luck
We say goodbye today to the following members of staff: Mr Waiting, Miss Day, Mrs Ash, Mrs De and Miss Roberts and we wish them all the very best.
‘I would like to say a personal thank you to everyone at Fern Hill for a wonderful five years at this school. It has been a privilege to teach so many children throughout the years and I will truly miss everyone.’
- Miss Day, Beech class teacher
Congratulations to our other Miss Roberts, Nursery class teacher, who, we are very pleased to say, isn’t leaving us but will be coming back in September as Mrs Channing. We hope you have a lovely wedding day Miss Roberts!
We would like to say a big thank you for the support we receive from our parent helpers - you are very much appreciated! Please may we ask all parents and carers coming into school to help that, for safeguarding reasons, you sign in via the DBS option on the entry system screen. This will ensure that your visitor ID label, which should always be displayed clearly when you are in the building, reflects the fact that you have been appropriately checked.
Thank you to all the wonderful families who joined us every week this year at our English speaking group where they supported each other so brilliantly with their language skills.
Year 6 Photographs
Individual and group photographs of the children with their friends were taken at the Year 6 disco yesterday. All the images will be uploaded to a dedicated and secure Year 6 Disco gallery on our school photographer’s website, from where you will be able to select those you would like to buy.
A web link and password has been sent to you via ParentPay today. Please remember the gallery won’t go live until tomorrow, Saturday 20th July at 6pm,
The deadline for orders with free delivery is Monday 5th August 2019. After this date a £3 delivery charge will be applicable.
If you have any queries, please contact our school photographer, Kans Bahara, directly via email at info@inTime-Photography.com or telephone on 07931 593 169.
A message from Mr Scott
As we finish another very busy and successful year, I know the whole school community is looking forward to a well-earned rest over the coming summer break.
I hope each and every one of your children have had wonderful experiences throughout the year and hold memories that they will cherish.
I cannot possibly include all the fantastic learning opportunities the children have had, but some of the highlights include the many educational visits, sporting fixtures and curriculum themed days, a very active Wellbeing Week which combined fundraising with a lot of fun, our Year 5 School Journey and Year 6 Leavers’ celebrations and of course the fantastic events run so ably by our PSA.
I would like to say goodbye to all of our Year 6 children and their families who are leaving Fern Hill, some of whom have been here for many years. We wish everyone the best in their new secondary schools and hope they carry forward the values learnt and demonstrated at Fern Hill on to their exciting journeys ahead.
I would also like to say goodbye and good luck to the leaving staff members as they embark on exciting new career adventures. You will be dearly missed by the Fern Hill family; it has been a pleasure to work with you all.
Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful summer and the children feel re-energised and are bursting through the school gates on Thursday 5th September, excited to be back.
I really do believe that the whole Fern Hill community goes the extra mile and that makes me feel extremely proud to be Headteacher of a very special school.
I look forward to seeing you all in September.
- Mr Scott, Headteacher
Year 6 Leavers
Well done Year 6 for your amazing Leavers' assembly this week. Your singing was beautiful and we loved sharing your very funny and heartfelt memories of Fern Hill. We hope you have a wonderful summer break and wish you all the best at your new secondary schools!
Year 6 performed some of their favourite moments in sketches and sang their hearts out, during their special assembly yesterday. It was a great opportunity to reflect upon their time at Fern Hill. They ended the day smiling, singing and dancing at the Year 6 disco. They received their Yearbooks today and had their shirts signed by their friends and teachers. We wish them all well in their new schools.
- Mrs Howarth, Year 6 class teacher
Before the end of the academic year we wanted to provide a short overview on the outcomes of the Parent Survey. We were thrilled with the response rate this year and it shows a highly engaged and supportive school community. Measured against the 488 families at Fern Hill, the response rate was 94% (460 surveys completed). This is a significant increase on the number of responses in 2018 (258 surveys completed – 53%). Every year group returned more than 50%; the highest return was for Year 1 and Year 2 with strong responses also from EYFS and KS2. Satisfaction has improved (or is equal) on every measure and the results are positive.
The senior leadership team will work closely with the Parent Council to address specific aspects of the survey and we will share our updates with the whole school community throughout the academic year. Thank you again for all your support and involvement this year – it is really appreciated. Have a wonderful summer!
- Mr Waiting, Deputy Headteacher
Our school uniform supplier, PMG Schoolwear, will be open over the summer break for online or in store orders. The nearest shop is in Chessington at 393-395 Hook Road, KT9 1EL and is open Monday to Saturday from 9.00am - 5.00pm. You can contact them by telephone on 0208 786 2211 or via email at chessington@pmgretail.co.uk.
If you would like to place an online order, click here.
To make sure your child has their new uniform in time for September, please place your order by Friday 16th August.
Prepare for lift off!
Don’t forget to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge at your local library. There are prizes to collect along the way, a certificate at the end and it’s free to take part. The aim of the Challenge is to encourage children to read any six books of their choice from their library during the summer holidays - a great way to keep up reading skills and confidence during the six week break. You can find out more about the Summer Reading Challenge on The Reading Agency’s website here.
Competition!
At Fern Hill we place huge importance on the quality of our libraries, ensuring the children have access to high quality fiction and non-fiction books and we know that reading for pleasure is just as important as reading for learning. Please help us to encourage a lifelong love of reading by nominating us to win £5,000 of National Book Tokens - you could also win £100 for yourself! The more nominations we receive the higher our chances of winning so please spread the word.
Click here to enter the competition. The draw closes on Wednesday 31st July.
When you give the name of the school you’d like to nominate, please use ‘Fern Hill Primary School – KT2 5PE’. There’s another Fern Hill school in Hampshire!
Thank you for your support!
Team Points
At the end of term, the number of team points each House receives is allocated based on their position (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) each week of the term. It's a close one this term!
The overall winner for the summer term is RICHMOND!
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Kingston
20
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Coombe
21
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Richmond
22
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Hampton
19
PSA News & Events
The PSA would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us this year. To those who’ve attended meetings and given up their time to run events, to all the class reps who’ve worked so hard to promote the PSA, to all those who volunteered to help out during the year on cake stalls and at fairs, to everyone – parents, children and staff – who have come along to our events and supported our fundraising – thank you so much!
We’re delighted to announce that in 2018-19, the PSA has raised over £23,000 for school. This is a great achievement and would not have been possible without your help. Please see our summer term newsletter, attached to this newsletter, for more information.
Thank you for all your second-hand uniform donations. There will be a second-hand uniform sale, date to be confirmed, once we’re back at school in the autumn. Please note the following dates for your diaries for the first part of the autumn term:
- Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday27th September
- Dads’ Breakfast on Friday 11th October
- Fireworks’ Night on Wednesday 6th November
Thank you and have a wonderful summer!
Fern Hill PSA.
Inspiration 