Key Dates
Monday 3rd February
Year 6 Oak class visit the Houses of Parliament
Tuesday 4th February
Year 3 Beech & Elm classes visit the Natural History Museum
Thursday 6th February
Year 2 Bracken class assembly at 9.00 am in the Large Hall
Maths Workshop for Reception parents at 9.00 - 10.00 am in the Small Hall
Arts Week Exhibition - school open from 3.30 - 5.00 pm
Friday 7th February
Arts Week Exhibition - school open from 3.30 - 5.00 pm
PSA Cinema Night at 5.25 pm in the Large Hall (for children in Years 3 - 6)
Tuesday 11th February
Year 5 visit the British Museum
Wednesday 12th February
Year 6 attend the Junior Citizenship Programme at Chessington
Thursday 13th February
Year 3 Beech class assembly at 9.00 am in the Large Hall
School tour for prospective Nursery parents, 9.30 - 11.00 am
Year 3 Rowan class visit the Natural History Museum
Friday 14th February
Last day of the half term - school closes at the usual time
Year 6 Cake Sale at 3.00 pm
Monday 17th February - Friday 21st February
HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Monday 24th February
Children return to school
Wednesday 26th February
Year 6 Hawthorn class visit the Houses of Parliament
PSA Second-hand Dressing-up & Costume Sale at 3.00 pm
Key dates for the 2019/2020 academic year are posted on the website here.
Reminders
Arts Week Exhibition
You are warmly invited to our Arts Week Exhibition on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th February from 3.30 pm when all the children's work from Arts Week will be on display around the school. Have a look at the Arts Week gallery for a taster of some of the amazing pieces you will see.
Lunch Orders
Lunches for the second half of the spring term are now available to order via ParentPay. The deadline for ordering lunches for the first week back after the half term break (week commencing 24th February) is midnight on Sunday 9th February. All orders must be placed on ParentPay by this time. The lunch menu is available on ParentPay, on the website here and attached below. For the reminder of the term, the usual order deadline applies – midnight of the Sunday on the previous school week. The deadline for ordering lunches for week of 2nd March is midnight on Sunday 23rd February.
Attachments
Year Group Newsletters
Lunch Menu for Spring Term 2
Governors' Bulletin Spring 2020
Young Artists Summer Show Consent Form
Governors' Bulletin
Yesterday we sent out a letter from our Chair of Governors updating families on the work of the Governing Body over the past year. In case you missed it, a copy of the letter is attached below. You can also read it on the Governors' Bulletin page of the website.
Royal Academy of Arts
We’re taking part in The Young Artists’ Summer Show – an open submission exhibition run by the Royal Academy of Arts for young people aged 5 - 19 years. Taking inspiration from the annual Summer Exhibition, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is an opportunity for talented young artists to exhibit their work online and on-site at the Royal Academy. You can see last year’s online exhibition here.
If your child has a piece of work they would like to submit, we’ll need a photo (jpeg image) of it with a short summary written by them that includes the title of their piece, a description of it and the material they have used. We also need a consent form, attached below, completed by their parent or carer. Please email your submissions to office@fernhill.rbksch.org. The closing date for entries to the Royal Academy is 24th April but please ensure your submission is with us before the end of term, by Friday 3rd April.
A panel of award-winning artists and arts professionals will judge the artworks and the public will also be able to vote for their favourite artwork in the People’s Choice Awards. All prize winners will receive vouchers for art materials plus a free practical workshop for their school!
Please keep an eye on the Community page of the school website for information about local events and activities that may be of interest to Fern Hill families. Recent posts include details of a free session for girls with Spartans Basketball Academy which is being held tomorrow afternoon at The Kingston Academy. If you would like an item included on the Community page, please email the school office at office@fernhill.rbksch.org with details.
Help us become Koala Protectors!
Next week, the School Council are supporting the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia Bushfire Emergency appeal and raising funds to become Koala Protectors. The children will be at the gates every morning and afternoon to collect donations to help fund the care of injured koalas and restore their habitats which have been devastated by the bushfires. More than 10 million hectares have been burnt - the equivalent of 40% of the entire UK – and over 1.25 billion animals are estimated to have been killed either directly or indirectly by the fires.
The children are very passionate about this cause and have also decided to run a special cake sale after school on Friday 7th February. They would love donations of cakes, cupcakes and biscuits, perhaps animal themed treats too! Donations can be dropped off in school reception during the morning, or children can bring them into school.
You can find out more about becoming a Koala Protector and supporting the work of the WWF here.
Year 4 visit to Steve McQueen Year 3 at Tate Britain
In November 2018, our then Year 3 children were specially photographed in their classes by a team of Tate Photgraphers as part of a huge project by Steve McQueen, the Turner Prize-winning artist and Oscar-winning filmmaker. The photographs have become part of an epic installation of tens of thousands of Year 3 pupils from across London now lining the walls of Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries. Over 1,500 schools took part, 28 in the Kingston borough alone, resulting in over 3,000 class photographs depicting two-third’s of London’s population of seven-to-eight year olds!
This week, our now Year 4 children visited Tate Britain to see their photographs.
'Year 4 visited Tate Britain on Tuesday to see the Steve McQueen Year 3 exhibition. A unique chance to both see their artwork and to be the audience.
A presentation by Tate staff explained to pupils the significance of the art installation and they were asked how they felt being part of an art project that involves 76,000 Year 3 pupils from London schools. The sheer scale mesmerised them.
Having the scale of the project explained was however little preparation for walking into the exhibition space. There was wild excitement as they located the three class photographs among an installation of 3,128 photographs!
The photographs are located next to other Kingston schools and there were lots of friends recognised from outside school.
Our pupils had a chance to explore the themes of the project: where we have come from and where we are going. A really useful worksheet allowed everyone to think about things that have stayed the same and the things that have changed between Year 3 and Year 4, from favourite food to best things about weekends, encouraging them to think more widely about how we are all different and different even to our younger selves or future selves. Tate staff asked our Year 4s what they wanted to be when they grew up - chef, rugby player, tennis player, architect, doctor, and eye doctor were some of the replies; replies as exciting and diverse as London itself.'
- by Marcus Stanton, Subject-lead Governor for Arts & Music
Visiting the Exhibition
It’s free to visit Tate Britain; families are warmly welcomed. The installation will be on display until 3rd May and every afternoon from 2.15 – 5.45 pm during school holidays and at weekends there are large magnifiers operating in the gallery, allowing photos at any height to be seen in greater detail. You can find out more about the exhibition and what else is on at Tate Britain on their website here. To safeguard the thousands of children in the exhibition, individual photographs are not named. There is no map and Tate Britain staff will not be able to identify individual classes or tell you where our school is in the display so you’ll need to know that Fern Hill’s photograph location is in Section 21!
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is COOMBE
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Kingston
234
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Coombe
252
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Richmond
247
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Hampton
240
PSA News & Events
Volunteers still needed for Cinema Night on Friday 7th February
To help our upcoming Cinema Night run smoothly, we still need more parent volunteers. You don’t need to volunteer for the whole evening: volunteers are especially needed to help set up the event from 4.30pm to 5.15pm, to help sign children in from 5.25pm to 5.45pm and to help sign children out and clear up from 8.00pm to 8.35pm. If you can help at any of those slots, or for the whole evening, then please email fernhillpsa@gmail.com All volunteers are very much appreciated and we really do need your help.
KS2 Cinema Night – Friday 7th February
Cinema Night is next week – please remember there’s a pyjama party theme to the evening so children are welcome to come in their onesies or PJs, although this is optional. Children will need to bring a printed copy of their ticket with them on the night. Tickets will be exchanged for a hotdog (meat or vegetarian) and a drink of squash. Additional drinks, popcorn and vegan-friendly sweets will be available for purchase on the night at £1 per item. Please send your child in with some cash if you would like them to be able to buy anything extra. Water will be available and can be topped up for free. Please can children also bring their own refillable drinks bottle to cut down on plastic waste.
Event Timings
5.25 pm Doors open
5.45 pm Doors close
6.00 pm Film starts
8.00 pm Pick up
Please be aware that a responsible adult will need to bring your child, sign them in and collect them from the Large Hall. Tree Tops staff cannot sign children in. Any child arriving without a parent/carer/adult responsible for signing them in will necessitate a phone call for permission. Please bear with us while we check the children in and out – it is for their safety and security.
We understand that some of the older children may want to bring their mobile phones. However, we strongly recommend that they leave them at home – any phone seen being used during the film will be looked after until the child is collected. Children will be supervised throughout the event by parent helpers and teachers. All tickets are now sold out – please note we will not be selling any tickets on the door.
Cameras – donate at Cinema Night
Do you have a spare digital camera at home? As so many parents now use smartphones to take photos, you may well have a camera you no longer use. If so, the PSA would love your donations of digital cameras, plus chargers, please. Any cameras can be handed in to the volunteers signing children in for Cinema Night in the Large Hall. These will then be used in to record work in class and on school trips. Thank you!
Second-hand costume and dressing-up clothes sale – Wednesday 26th February
The PSA are putting on a new type of second-hand sale after half term. Instead of school uniform, we’ll be selling any dressing-up clothes or costumes that your children may have grown out of. We’re holding this sale in the run-up to World Book Day in March to allow parents to buy reasonably priced outfits and to ensure any costumes no longer needed can go to new homes. The second-hand sale will take place after school on Wednesday 26th February. Donated items can be left in school reception on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th February. All donations should be washed and ready to sell please.
PSA roles open for September
Several roles on the PSA committee will become open in the next academic year (September 2020 – July 2021). To enable Fern Hill PSA to run smoothly and put on a great selection of events, it’s important that new parents step forward to take on the following three roles: treasurer, communications officer, class rep co-ordinator. None of the roles require any training or qualifications, simply a willingness to help out and get involved. Anyone taking these roles on would have full handover notes and the help and support of the wider PSA committee. We’re actively seeking parents who’d be keen to get involved now, as the earlier these roles are filled, then the more opportunity those new parents have to shadow the existing committee members.
If you’re interested and would like to volunteer, or you’d simply like to find out more about any of the roles, please email us at fernhillpsa@gmail.com Any of the current team would be happy to meet you and have a chat about what the roles involve.
Thank you for your support.
Fern Hill PSA
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 3 who have the best year group attendance again this week.
The Attendance Cup is awarded to Elm class this week with 98.7% attendance - well done!
| Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 97.0% | |
| Year 1 | 95.3% | |
| Year 2 | 95.6% | |
| Year 3 | 98.2% | ★ Star Year ★ |
| Year 4 | 96.3% | |
| Year 5 | 91.5% | |
| Year 6 | 95.3% |
Inspiration 