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Key Dates
Wednesday 16th October
Parent Consultations, 4.00 - 7.00 pm
Thursday 17th October
Volunteer Reader Introduction, 9.00 - 9.30 am in the Small Hall
Parent Consultations, 2.30 - 6.00 pm
SCHOOL CLOSES AT 2.00 PM
Friday 18th October
World Food Day donation points at the infants' & juniors' playground gates, 8.30 - 9.00 am
Year 4 visit to Butser Farm - please arrive at school at 8.15 am
Volunteer Reader Introduction, 9.00 - 9.30 am in the Small Hall
Monday 21st October
Inclusion Coffee Morning, 9.00 - 10.00 am in the Small Hall
Tuesday 22nd October
School tour for prospective Reception parents, 9.30 - 11.00 am
Thursday 24th October
Year 6 Hawthorn class assembly at 9.00 am in the Large Hall
Year 3 Cake Sale at 3.00 pm
Friday 25th October
INSET day - children are not in school
Monday 28th October - Friday 1st November
HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Monday 4th November
INSET day - children are not in school
Tuesday 5th November
INSET day - children are not in school
Wednesday 6th November
CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL
PSA Fireworks Night, 5.30 - 7.30 pm
Thursday 7th November
School tour for prospective Reception parents, 9.30 - 11.00 am
Friday 8th November
Zoolab visit for Nursery children
Monday 11th - Friday 15th November
Maths Week in school
Monday 11th November
School silence at 11.00 am to commemorate Armistice Day
Tuesday 12th November
Maths Mastery Workshops for Years 1 to 6
Thursday 14th November
Year 6 Oak class assembly at 9.00 am in the Large Hall
Phonics Workshop for Reception parents, 9.00 - 10.00 am in the Large Hall
School tour for prospective Reception parents, 9.30 - 11.00 am
Friday 15th November
BBC Children in Need Mufti (non-uniform) Day
Children in Need Cake Sale, 3.00 pm
Key dates for the 2019/2020 academic year are posted on the website here
Reminders
Flu Immunisations
Today is the last day to return your child's Flu immunisation consent form. The form should be returned to your class teacher whether or not you consent to your child having the nasal spray. If you haven't yet returned your form, we would be very grateful if you would do so by Monday 14th October. Spare forms are available from the school office. Thank you.
Attachments
Year Group Newsletters
SEN Coffee Morning Invitation
Volunteer Readers Reply Form
Parent Council Information Sheet
It's not too late to book onto one of the holiday activities we have running here at Fern Hill over the half term break and INSET days on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th November.
Pleiades are running a week long multi sport camp from Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November and are also here from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm on Monday 4th & Tuesday 5th November. Fantastic workshops from Masquerade and Mother Nature Science are also available.
You can find more information about these activities, including how to book, on our website here.
Inclusion Coffee Morning
Please join us for our first Inclusion Coffee Morning on Monday 21st October at 9.00 - 10.00 am in the Small Hall. This session will be an introduction to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Inclusion at Fern Hill. To confirm your attendance, or if you have any questions, please email us at: inclusion@fernhill.rbksch.org
Harvest Sale
A huge thank you to all the parents, carers and staff who visited our Harvest Sale and bought our home-grown potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and beans. With your donations, we raised £59.12 which we will use to buy gardening gloves, tools and seeds for the new growing season. The Gardening Club children have worked so hard throughout the year and learned many new skills along the way. I'm very proud of each member of the Fern Hill Garden Gang! Thank you again for your support.
- Mrs Dutra, Gardening Club Leader
After School Club Notices
Collection for children attending the Infant Football club on Monday 21st October will be from the infants' playground, not the Large Hall doors.
Hockey club is cancelled on Wednesday 23rd October. There will be a make up class on Wednesday 11th December.
Curriculum Evening
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came along to our Curriculum Evening on Tuesday. We hope you found the sessions informative and enjoyable. We'll let you know when the presentations are available to view on the school website.
Vacancy at Fern Hill
We are looking for a new member of our lovely Lunchtime Supervisor team!
The role of a lunchtime supervisor is an important one, looking after the children in school during their lunch break. It is one that calls for sensitivity, patience, a good sense of humour and above all, a genuine ability to relate to children. Please see the job description and specification attached below for further information. If you are looking for a role which involves working Monday to Friday, term time only, from 11.45 am to 1.35 pm with a rate of £10.74 per hour, please contact Mrs Nash in the school office on 020 8247 0300.
World Food Day
World Food Day is celebrated each year on 16th October to promote worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. Events are organised in up to 150 countries across the world, making it one of the most celebrated days of the United Nations calendar. You can find out more about World Food Day here.
At Fern Hill, we will join this day of action to broaden the children’s knowledge and understanding of diet in general, as well as providing them with an insight into dietary challenges not only globally, but also within our own local community.
On Friday 18th October we are working in collaboration with Sainsbury’s Sury Basin to support CREST, a local food bank, and would be very grateful for your donations of non-perishable food items. There will be a collection point at both the infants’ and juniors’ playground gates in the morning for you to leave donations. The children are welcome to bring donations directly to their classrooms too. We will be displaying the items in the Large Hall for the children to see before they are collected by the food bank.
Tree Tops - Important Reminder
Please may we remind you that the deadline for booking a session in Tree Tops for Thursday 17th October is midnight tonight, Friday 11th October. This is not the standard three day booking deadline (usually you would have until midnight on Monday 14th to book).
On Thursday 17th October, school will close at 2.00 pm to facilitate parent consultations which start at 2.30 pm. After school clubs will run as usual but at the revised time of 2.00 – 3.00 pm.
Tree Tops will run three sessions with extended times to accommodate the early closure of school:
Full session – 2.00 – 6.00 pm
Early half session – 2.00 – 4.30 pm
Late half session – 3.00 – 6.00 pm
If you have already booked a session, you do not need to do anything; your child will automatically be registered for the appropriate session. For example, if your child attends a club on Thursdays and is already booked onto the Tree Tops late afternoon session at 4.30 pm, they will automatically be registered to attend from 3.00 pm when their club ends.
To ensure the correct staff to pupil ratio, please be aware that we will not accept any bookings for Thursday 17th October which we receive after midnight on Friday 11th October.
Volunteer Readers in School
At Fern Hill we greatly value the strong home-school partnership we have with our parent and carer community and, in particular, the contribution many of you make by coming into school to hear the children read. This not only strengthens our relationship with you, but also significantly increases the rate of progress that the children can make with their reading. Reading is fundamental to a child’s academic success and to the growth of their life and learning skills.
This year we would like to grow our volunteer programme and invite parents and carers from all year groups to come into school to read with the children. We are particularly looking for your help to develop our younger children. If your child is in Years 3-6, you are of course welcome to read with their year group or class, but we would very much appreciate your support reading with Reception, Year 1 or Year 2.
Typically, you will work one-to-one with a child or small group of children, spending 10 minutes with each child talking about the book they’re reading, listening to them read and reading to them. You will work with the same children each week; getting to know them and watching them progress. You may also be asked to help the children change their books in the school library or get involved with a particular classroom activity.
If you would like to volunteer your time, please complete the attached reply form and return it to the school office as a paper copy or complete it online and return by email to office@fernhill.rbksch.org.
We are running two introduction sessions for Volunteer Readers: Thursday 17th October at 9.00 am for parents and carers who would like to read with children in Years 3-6 and Friday 18th October at 9.00 am for those of you who would like to read with the younger children. This meeting will last 30 minutes and cover responsibilities and expectations, confidentiality, how to support reading and phonics and DBS checks. We hope to see you there!
Parent Council
Thank you to all the parent representatives who attended the first Parent Council meeting of the school year this morning. Your support and contribution to the work of the Parent Council is greatly appreciated!
Every class should have one parent or carer representative on the Parent Council and at the moment Bluebell, Cornflower and Heather classes are still unrepresented. If you would like to be a member of the Parent Council and represent your child’s class or would like to find out more about the role, please contact the Parent Council by email at: parentcouncil@fernhill.rbksch.org
You can find out more about the work of the Parent Council on the school website here. There is also an information sheet attached below.
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is Hampton - well done!
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Kingston
277
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Coombe
422
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Richmond
399
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Hampton
540
Lots to read this week!
We've kicked off the new school year with a number of events - and these are just the start:
Early on in the term, we took a squad to the Swimming Gala at The Malden Centre. Competing in solo and relay races, the children from year 6 threw themselves (literally!) into the pool and showed their speed and skills. A couple of medals came back to school, and a huge well done to the team.
Then the Hockey players took to the field - in a new event for the younger Year 4's. Some hadn't played hockey before, which was in the spirit of the festival, but showed their enthusiasm and sporting attitude as they tried out this new-for-some sport. Great team work to the whole squad.
Girls football returned - with Year 4 being the first to compete this year. The weather was not particularly kind, but they all played well - representing the school for the first time in some cases. Smiles and cheers were the order of the day.
On Tuesday this week, we have had the Year 6 girls football team, hoping to follow in last year's success and represent Kingston at the London Youth Games. On a very damp afternoon, the girls played 6 games at Chessington School; close scores but losing the first three games, they then won their last three - not a bad result for their first outing this year. Lots more good matches to come, I'm sure.
A timely event considering the RWC2019 in Japan, the Year 5/6 took part in a tag rugby festival on Wednesday. Hosted by Old Emanuel Rugby Club, the mixed team entered the event with excitement. For some, it was their first time playing with the 'proper shaped ball' (a little biased, Mrs Lawn?) but this didn't stop them. As it was a festival, scores were not recorded, as the point was for enjoyment and a chance to try a new activity - with some asking about playing rugby at weekends as a result, which is great news. I look forward to being able to select those children for a future competition.
With cross country running, basketball and more football - this time for the Y4 boys - it's a busy half term at Fern Hill School. As always, a big thank you to the staff who take the children, and to the parents who are there to support. Thank you.
And let's not forget the start of the Daily Mile across the school. Every class is timetabled to participate at least 3 times per week as part of this national initiative. Research has shown that daily activity helps boost mood, increases the feel-good endorphins as well as helping the brain be more receptive to learning. Additional research by the Chief Medical Officer has also highlighted that children are not as active as they need to be to stay healthy, and that they should be doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Whilst this can include break times and walking to school, there are still a number of children who may not be reaching this goal. The Daily Mile will help with this - and hopefully encourage children to be more active. Jogging, or walking at a brisk pace for up to 15 minutes 3 times per week, the children are raising their heart rate, as well as being in the fresh air.
You can find out more about the Daily Mile here.
Getting changed into PE kit is not necessary. However, we are suggesting that some children may be more comfortable running in their trainers rather than their school shoes. Please be aware, however, that the children do need to change back into their school shoes when they return to class.
We will be trying to continue the Daily Mile throughout the winter months - by walking instead of running, and wearing a coat. However, there will be instances when it is not safe for the children to participate; on these days, they will be doing more physical activity in their classrooms, using music and online resources to ensure that they are still getting the benefits the outside mile would have brought them.
Finally, a couple of admin bits - if you child is interested in being part of a team, they need to keep an eye out for trials. They also need to then come to the trials - we have had a few instances recently where children have not turned up for the trials, and then got a little upset that they were not in the team.
We are always looking for help taking our squads to sporting events. If you can help, please indicate on the permission reply slip so that we can provide you with all the details.
More updates later in the term.
Thanks for all the support.
- Mrs Lawn, Sports Lead
PSA News & Events
Dads’ Breakfast this morning
It was wonderful to see so many Fern Hill dads enjoying breakfast with their children in the Large Hall this morning. It’s always a popular event and a great way to start Friday morning, despite the rain! Special thanks to all the parent volunteers who served breakfast and helped organise this event – we really appreciate your support. This is a free event, funded by the PSA, but the generous donations from the dads this morning mean we raised £62.62. Thank you very much and there will be another Dads’ Breakfast in the summer term.
Fern Hill PSA’s Fireworks Night – Wednesday 6th November
Our fabulous annual fireworks display will be on Wednesday 6th November from 5.30 to 7.30pm in the juniors' playground. As well as a stunning professional fireworks display, there will be stalls selling mulled wine, beer, hot dogs, popcorn, toffee apples and other refreshments, as well as a brilliant selection of glow sticks. This is always an extremely popular event so please remember to get your tickets in good time!
This year tickets will be sold online to ensure all families have an equal opportunity to purchase them. Tickets will go on sale on Sunday 20th October at 8pm. The booking link will be sent out in next week’s whole school newsletter and via your class reps so please look out for this.
Tickets are priced at £7 for adults (including over 12s) and £3.50 for children under 12. Children under 3 go free but do need their own ticket. Children under 12 with tickets will only be admitted when accompanied by an adult ticket holder. Please note there is a maximum allocation of six tickets per online order and a maximum of six tickets per family. This event is aimed at children who attend Fern Hill, their siblings, parents and primary carers only. All tickets are non-refundable.
Doors will open at 5.30pm with the firework display beginning at 6.45pm. The event will conclude at 7.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you for your support.
Fern Hill PSA
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 4 who have the best year group attendance for this week.
The Attendance Cup is awarded to both Lavender and Chestnut classes, both with 100% attendance - well done Chestnut, that's two weeks in a row!
Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
---|---|---|
Reception | 99% | |
Year 1 | 99% | |
Year 2 | 99% | |
Year 3 | 99% | |
Year 4 | 99% | ★ |
Year 5 | 99% | |
Year 6 | 99% |
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Nursery Newsletter 11.10.19
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Reception Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 1 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 2 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 3 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 4 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 5 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Year 6 Newsletter 11.10.19
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Inclusion Coffee Morning 21.10.19
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Parent Council Information Sheet
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Volunteer Reader Reply Form