Key Dates
Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th November
Year 6 visits to The Poppy Factory in Richmond
Monday 18th November
Parent Volunteer Briefing 8:45–9:30 am
Thursday 21st November
Ash class parent assembly 9:00–9:30 am
Friday 22nd November
PSA Year 2 cake sale after school
Tuesday 26th - Thursday 28th November
Scholastic Book Fair in school 3:30–4:30 pm
Wednesday 27th November
Inclusion Community Coffee Morning 9:00 - 10:00 am
Thursday 28th November
Chestnut class parent assembly 9:00–9:30 am
Year 3 visit to London Southbank & the London Eye
Friday 29th November
Kingston BEATS Coffee Morning for Hong Kong families in school 9:00 am
PSA second-hand uniform & Christmas jumper sale 3:00 pm
PSA Festive Magic Show for Year 1 & 2 5:30–6:30 pm
Tuesday 3rd December
Year 5 Science Dome in school
Wednesday 4th December
Maths workshop for KS1 parents 9:00–9:45 am
Friday 6th December
Mufti day for PSA Festive Hamper Raffle
Reception local walk to Canbury Gardens
PSA Festive Discos for Years 3-6
Key dates for this school year are published here. Some of these dates are provisional, and all dates are subject to change — please refer to this newsletter and communications via ParentPay for the latest information.
Click here for term dates for the current and 2025/2026 school years, including INSET days.
Reminders
School lunches
Please don't forget to place your child's order for lunch through ParentPay by 8:00 am on the day. To avoid missing the deadline, we recommend that you order your child’s lunches well in advance - you can cancel or amend your orders up until 8:00 am on the day too.
Don't forget your coat!
With the colder weather, please ensure that your child brings a warm, waterproof coat to school every day. Unless it is very wet, children spend their breaktime and lunchtime play outside.
Year group weekly news
Year group weekly news is published every Friday afternoon on the Home Learning Google Classroom. You will also find this half-term's Home Learning Grids on the Classroom. All work should be completed in time for our next Home Learning Showcase Day on Friday 13th December.
If you would like to volunteer in school on a regular basis, or are already doing so, please come along to one of the Parent Volunteer briefing sessions we are holding on Monday 18th and Monday 25th November. The sessions will be delivered by Mrs Stephenson and Mrs Davies and cover responsibilities and expectations including safeguarding and confidentiality. Please register using this linked form.
Thank you to Oak class for their fabulous assembly this week. Don't forget to check the date of your child's assembly here. Assemblies are held in the Large Hall and start at 9:00 am.
Maths Workshops
In December, Mrs Lawn, our maths subject lead, will be running key stage specific workshops for parents and carers to learn the different calculation methods used in school for the four main operations. She will also cover how these methods change as the children move up through school.
There will be two workshops: Wednesday 4th December from 9:00–9:45 am for KS1 and Wednesday 11th December from 9:00–9:45 for KS2.
Please save the dates if they are of interest to you. Further information and a registration form will be sent out closer to the time.
BBC Children in Need
Thank you so much to all the children who bought a pin badge or wristband or gave £1 (or more) to our Children in Need appeal today and to the families who have donated through ParentPay. It’s not too late to donate! We'll keep the ParentPay page open for a few more days, and we'll let you know how much we have raised together next week.
A big thank you too for all your generous donations to our special Children In Need cake sale this afternoon - and to the PSA who ran it.
Book of the Week
‘There’s a Tiger on the Train’ by Mariesa Dulak, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb
A little boy is looking forward to going to the seaside, but when he gets on the train a tiger in a top hat sits down next to him. An increasingly disruptive menagerie of animals joins them, including crocodiles with buckets and spades, pugs in hats, and hippos with pots of tea, but his dad is missing all the action because he is looking at his phone. Eventually, they get to the coast and have a lovely day swimming in the sea together…after the tiger eats Dad’s phone.
‘There’s a Tiger on the Train’ is an engaging and entertaining picture book and a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of parental distraction that your child will probably find highly amusing!
Inclusion Coffee Mornings
This school year we are running a series of Inclusion Community Coffee Mornings. Although primarily for our SEND, PPG and EAL families, everyone is very welcome. The purpose of these events is to encourage an inclusive community and offer support from outside professionals and Fern Hill staff who will share research-based strategies and school practice.
Our next coffee morning will be held on Wednesday 27th November from 9:00–10:00 am. We'll be focusing on ADHD and ADHD Embrace will be presenting and sharing expertise on supporting children with ADHD. If you would like to join us, please let us know via this linked form. We hope to see many of you there.
Save the date for our school Book Fair!
We will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair during the last week of November, just in time for your Christmas shopping! And, as usual, all purchases will earn rewards towards buying new books for our school. The fair will be open each day from Tuesday 26th November to Thursday 28th November from 3:30–4:30 pm in the Junior Library.
Gift vouchers for the Book Fair are available for pre-purchase here.
Book Fair Poster Competition
Children are invited to create a poster to advertise the Fair, with the theme of 'My Favourite Book'. Designs should be given to the class teachers, or left on Mrs Rouillard's desk in the Junior Library, and must be handed in by 9:00 am on Tuesday 19th November. There are vouchers for the Book Fair to be won by the illustrators of the best ones! Please remind your children to put their name and class on their poster.
Festive Concerts
Please make a note of the dates of our year group Festive Concerts in December. Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children will perform their concerts at school in the Large Hall; children in Years 3–6 will perform at The Kingston Academy. Further information about all our end of term festive celebrations will be sent out shortly.
Nursery and Reception: Friday 13th December, 9:00–9:45 am
Year 1: Monday 16th December, 9:00–9:45 am
Year 2: Monday 16th December, 2:30–3:15 pm
Years 3 & 4: Wednesday 18th December, 10:15–11:00 am
Years 5 & 6: Wednesday 18th December, 2:15–3:00 pm
Team Points
The overall winner this week is KINGSTON
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Kingston
380
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Coombe
233
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Richmond
293
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Hampton
344
PSA News & Events
Click here for Fern Hill PSA's weekly newsletter.
Inspiration 