Key Dates
Wednesday 29th September
Reception & Year 1 Phonics parent information meeting, 9:00 am in the Large Hall
PSA Teddy Bears' Picnic for Reception children, 3:15 – 4:00 pm in the Large Hall
Thursday 30th September
PSA Committee meeting, 7:30 – 8:30 pm in the Small Hall
Friday 1st October
Parent Council meeting, 9:00 am in school
Deadline to return Cauliflower Cards order form & artwork to class teacher and make payment online
Monday 4th — Wednesday 6th October
Pupil photographs in school
Tuesday 5th & Wednesday 6th October
Parent Volunteer Reader training, 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Thursday 7th October
Year 3 visit to Butser Farm
Year 1 Foxglove class visit to Gatton Park
Year 4 Chestnut class visit to Thames Explorers
Friday 8th October
Year 4 Larch & Yew class visit to Thames Explorers
Tuesday 12th October
Year 1 Cornflower & Lavender class visit to Gatton Park
Wednesday 13th & Thursday 14th October
Parents' Evening — details below
SCHOOL CLOSES EARLY AT 1:30 PM ON THURSDAY 14TH OCTOBER
Key dates for the 2021/2022 school year are noted in the year group Meet the Teacher welcome meeting presentations and autumn term dates are available to view on the school website calendar and here.
Reminders
Lunches
Please remember to order your child's school lunches before the ParentPay deadline. All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school meal as part of the Universal Free School Meal scheme but MUST place an order for a lunch using ParentPay and make a selection from the menu. Information about school lunch is available here.
COVID-19
Your child will have brought home a pack of COVID-19 Self Test kits, supplied by Public Health Kingston. Each pack contains seven tests, to be used by adults in your household. In line with public health guidance, we do encourage you to test for COVID-19 twice weekly even if you have no symptoms.
Attachments
Volunteer Reader Programme
Bike to School Week takes place next week, celebrating cycling or scooting to school and the promoting the benefits of travelling actively for children. Active travel reduces emissions from road transport and is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve local air quality. If you would like to find out more, click here. Families who register online will be entered into a free prize draw to win a Frog bike!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Infant Football for children in Year 1 and 2 is cancelled on Monday 27th September. There will be a catch-up session on Monday 13th December. If you have any queries please contact us at clubs@fernhill.rbksch.org
If your child is taking part in the Cauliflower Cards project, their design artwork and completed order form should be returned to their class teacher by Friday 1st October at the latest. Cauliflower Cards will be collecting our orders later that day.
Please ensure that you follow the instructions on the order form regarding placing and paying for your order — this can only be done online, directly with Cauliflower Cards, and must be done before you return your order form and child's artwork to school. Each order form has a unique code so please do not photocopy it to use for a second design. If you need another order form, just email the school office at: office@fernhill.rbksch.org
For some great design ideas using lots of different materials, have a look at the Cauliflower Cards gallery.
Volunteering in School
Now that we can welcome parents and carers back into school, we would like to restart our volunteer programme and invite parents and carers who can offer their time on a regular, weekly basis to support reading with the children. This might involve working one-to-one with a child or small group of children, listening to them read and reading to them, or helping them to choose books they will enjoy from the school library. You might also get involved in specific classroom activities.
If you are interested in volunteering, please refer to the letter from Mrs Davies attached below. You should complete the registration form and attend one of the two training sessions being held on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th October. You will need a DBS check before you can start working with the children and the process for this will be covered during the session.
Please note!
Wednesday 13th October, 4:00 – 7:00 pm & Thursday 14th October, 1:45 – 6:00 pm
School closes at 1:30 pm on 14th October
Thank you to all the families who responded to our survey regarding their preferred format for Parents' Evening — one third of you expressed a preference for a virtual meeting with your class teacher via video call.
In order to accommodate both virtual and in person appointments, school will close for children in Reception through to Year 6 at 1:30 pm on Thursday 14th October. This is 30 minutes earlier than we would usually close for Parents’ Evening. Nursery will run as normal until 3:25 pm.
After school clubs on Thursday 14th will run but at an earlier time. Tree Tops will also run from 1:30 pm to its usual finish of 6:00 pm. Please see the information below for further details.
You will be able to book a 10-minute appointment with your class teacher through our Parents’ Evening System that will be open from midday on Friday 1st October to midday on Friday 7th October. Virtual and in person appointments will be held on different days during the following times:
Wednesday 13th October, 4:00 – 7:00 pm — virtual appointments via video call
Thursday 14th October, 1:45 – 6:00 pm — in person appointments at school
Nursery will have a number of additional appointments available during the school day on Monday 11th October.
A link to the Parents’ Evening System and instructions on how to book will be sent to you next week.
Arrangements for after school clubs
Football, Tennis and Gymnastics clubs will run directly after school ends, from 1:30 – 2:30 pm. Unfortunately, our Chess club leader is not available until 2:00 pm so the children attending will be supervised by staff from 1:30 – 2:00 pm in the Chess room and the club will run from 2:00 – 3:00 pm.
Arrangements for Tree Tops
Tree Tops will run from 1:30 – 6:00 pm. Sessions will remain the same but take into account the early closure. There will be no additional charge for the extended provision.
Early Half session — 1:30 – 4:30 pm
Late Half session — 2:30 – 6:00 pm
Full session — 1:30 – 6:00 pm
Nursery children may join the Early Half session as usual.
In order to ensure appropriate staffing, the usual Tree Tops deadline does not apply for Thursday 14th October. All bookings must be made and paid for via ParentPay by midnight on Sunday 3rd October. This is the cut-off point for a guaranteed place. Thereafter, to make a booking, you should email treetops@fernhill.rbksch.org to request a place on the waiting list.
Ham Fair Art Exhibition
Fern Hill was brilliantly represented at the annual Ham Fair on Saturday 11th September with lots of entries for the art display!
“Thank you to all the children who entered the Ham Fair Art competition. We were thrilled with the artistic talent and well done to all the children who received 1st, 2nd, 3rd places and those who received commendations. We have displayed everyone's entries in our new Art & DT room at school so children, please make sure you visit and see your amazing creations!”
— Mrs Pettifer, Art Lead
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is KINGSTON
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Kingston
179
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Coombe
147
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Richmond
147
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Hampton
150
PSA News & Events
Welcome back to the new academic year and the start of a new chapter for Fernhill's PSA. Having not been able to run our usual range of events and activities and the loss of some key members of the committee in the last couple of years, the PSA is re-launching!
If you are keen to get involved and find out more about what the PSA does, please join us at our first official meeting of the school year on Thursday 30th September from 7.30 pm at school. There are some committee roles to fill but more importantly, we would love to hear your ideas on how we can raise funds for our school. You can get in touch with the PSA by email at: fernhillpsa@gmail.com
Inspiration 