Key Dates
Monday 11th - Friday 15th March
STEM Week
Monday 11th March
Engineering talks for Years 2 - 5
Tuesday 12th March
World Maths Day
Wednesday 13th March
Year 1 & 2 Singing Workshop
Wednesday 13th & Thursday 14th March
Science Days - Mother Nature Science workshops & assemblies
Friday 15th March
Comic Relief's Red Nose Day - children are invited to wear red (MUFTI day)
Friday 15th March
Parent Council meeting at 9.00 am in the Small Hall
Friday 15th March
Year 3 cake sale at 3.00 pm
Monday 18th March
Year 6 Oak class visit the Houses of Parliament - LATE RETURN
Wednesday 20th March
Parent Consultations, 4.00 - 7.00 pm
Thursday 21st March
Parent Consultations, 2.30 - 6.00 pm School closes at 2.00 pm
Thursday 21st March
PSA Committee meeting at 7.30 pm in the Small Hall
Friday 22nd March
Year 2 visit the KMS Infant Singing Festival at All Saints Church, Kingston
Friday 22nd March
PSA Second-hand Uniform Sale at 2.45 pm outside school reception
Monday 25th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Monday 25th March
PSA Easter event for Nursery & Reception children at 3.15 pm in the Large Hall
Tuesday 26th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Tuesday 26th March
Learning Street visit for Nursery & Reception children
Wednesday 27th March
Nursery Stay & Play for parents
Thursday 28th March
Year 4 production for parents at 9.15 am and 2.30 pm in the Large Hall
Friday 29th March
PSA Mother's Day Breakfast at 7.45 am in the Large Hall
Friday 29th March
Year 5 cake sale to raise funds for the school journey residential trip at 3.00 pm
Reminders
Comic Relief's Red Nose Day
Don’t forget that next Friday 15th March is a mufti day to raise money for Comic Relief. Children may come to school wearing their own clothes but no football kits please! Year 6 children will be at the playground gates on Friday morning to collect any donations you would like to make to the charity, which supports vulnerable people and communities in the UK and internationally.
Attachments
Year Group Newsletters
#lotsofsocks Day Poster
Maths at Home Information Sheet
PSA Second hand Uniform Sale
Book Fair
A travelling book fair from Book People will be outside reception after school until Tuesday 12th March. The books are available at up to 75% off publisher prices. Fern Hill will earn commission on everything sold and we will use this to buy new books to our libraries. Unfortunately, there is no facility to pay by card so please bring cash with you.
Road Safety Competition
On Monday 25th February, our Junior Travel Ambassadors announced the winners of their road safety poetry competition during assembly. Well done to all the children who entered! You can see the list of winners here.
At Fern Hill, we are very proud of our fundraising for local, national and international charities. One local charity very close to our hearts is 21 & Co, affiliated to the Down’s Syndrome Association, which works to enhance the lives of children with Down’s Syndrome and their families in South West London, Surrey and surrounding areas.
Hannah in Year 6 has written a beautiful letter to Mr Scott asking for our help to raise funds for 21 & Co and support their #lots of socks day on Thursday 21st March which is also World Down Syndrome Day. Hannah’s poster advertising #lots of socks day is attached below and you can see a copy of her letter to Mr Scott on the fundraising page of the school website here.
Next Thursday 21st March, Hannah would love all the children to come to school wearing ‘lots of socks’ with their school uniform – the more colourful and distinct the socks, the better! Hannah and her friends will be at the school gates in the morning to collect any donations you would like to give to the charity 21 & Co. You can find out more about the wonderful work of 21 & Co here.
World Book Day
We celebrated our love of reading yesterday, on World Book Day, with a whole school assembly led by Fantastic Mr Fox, Mr Scott! Teachers shared their favourite books with the children including those they read as a child and the memories that reading them still invoke. We also celebrated the first child in school to complete the 100 book challenge – well done Avika! You can find the 100 book challenge lists on our website here, together with some recommendations from the teachers, ‘Teachers’ Reads’. The children were very excited to see all the new books that have been bought, both reading scheme books and more copies of the top 20 books from the 100 book challenge (there is a waiting list for them in the junior library!).
To finish, Mr Scott announced the winners of the Book in a Box competition. Every single Book in a Box was amazing – the effort the children had made really shone through. Every child’s work will be on display in school from next week so please do take some time to admire them when you are in school for the parent consultations later this month. We’ll also be creating a gallery on the website. The winners will be taken on a trip to the Alligator’s Mouth Bookshop in Richmond to meet the owners, Margaret and Tony, take part in a workshop and, best of all, choose the books that will be bought with the funds raised though Bounce for Books!
Bounce for Books
The children had a fantastic time at Bounce for Books today and they all thoroughly enjoyed bouncing as many times as they could in one minute! A huge thank you to the PSA for organising this event and to all the parent and carer volunteers who helped to count the children’s bounces!
Please don’t forget to return your sponsorship forms plus any donations next week by Wednesday 13th March to your class teacher or the school office. All money raised will be used to buy new books for the school and all donations are very gratefully received. Thank you so much for your support.
To mark British Science Week, which begins today, a whole school focus on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) topics is planned for next week.
On Monday, the children will explore the world of engineering. Tuesday 12th March is World Maths Day so a perfect opportunity for Mathletics sessions. Alongside a maths focus in lessons on Tuesday, the children will spend their ICT lessons working on Mathletics and the ICT suite will be open at lunchtimes all week. If you would like to support your child’s learning at home, please have a look at the NSPCC’s Maths at Home sheet attached below. Mr Scott will also be announcing an exciting maths competition for all the children to get involved in next week too. On Wednesday and Thursday, we welcome Mother Nature Science into school and the children will take part in engaging and interactive activities around the British Science Week theme of ‘journeys’.
If you’re not quite ready to make the switch from the focus we’ve had this week on books and reading, have a look at this article on the British Science Week’s website which highlights STEMsational reading picks to spark scientific enquiry and build scientific knowledge and understanding.
Curriculum Evening
Please save the date for our 2019 Curriculum Evening which will be held on Tuesday 2nd April at 6.45 pm. Last year’s evening was a great success with very positive feedback from the parents who attended. Further details on how to reserve a place will be sent out next week. The evening will include workshops on Maths mastery, excellence in behaviour and home learning platforms. If you’d like to know more about the content of the Curriculum Evening held last year, please click here.
Year 2 meet Florence Nightingale
'This week, Year 2 enjoyed a drama workshop to support their topic work on Florence Nightingale. The children enjoyed 'meeting' Florence and stepping back in time to find out all about her life and her work. Did you know, in Florence’s day, heavy dresses, petticoats and silk gloves were considered appropriate lady’s day wear? And, that her rescue of an owl in Athens, set her on the path of nursing and caring for others? We had great fun using drama to bring alive the Crimean War and the role that both nurses and soldiers played. Thank you to the Rainbow Theatre and well done to all the Year 2 children who participated and contributed so fantastically.'
- Mrs Seal, Year 2 class teacher
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is Kingston
-
Kingston
419
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Coombe
376
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Richmond
404
-
Hampton
371
PSA News & Events
Fern Hill PSA Quiz Night
Huge thanks to everyone who attended last week’s event. It was a packed and fun evening with enough questions to challenge even the most seasoned quiz fanatic! Teachers were out in force and a winning team of Year 4 parents beat 12 other teams to secure the trophy!
A fantastic profit of £506 was raised for PSA funds with an additional £120 of prize money generously donated by the winners to Year 4.
Next year’s quiz will be run by the team who finished third – we’re looking forward to it!
Second hand uniform sale – Friday 22nd March
We will be holding a second hand uniform sale on Friday 22nd March from 2.45 to 3.30 pm outside school reception. If you have any school uniform items including shoes, PE kit, ties and book bags in good, reusable condition that you can donate, then we’d love to have them! Please complete the donation form attached to this newsletter and attach it to a bag with your items inside. Please ensure all items are washed and ready to sell. All donations can be left in a marked plastic crate outside school reception from Monday 18th March and all money raised with go to the PSA school funds. Thank you in advance for your donations.
Dates for your diary
Please make a note of these dates for your diary and there will be more information about these events coming soon.
- EYFS Easter Celebration – Monday 25th March from 3.15 to 4.00pm
- Mothers’ Day Breakfast – Friday 29th March from 8.00 to 8.45am
Thank you for your support
Fern Hill PSA
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 6 who have had the best year group attendance for this week.
This week the Attendance Cup goes to Oak class for the best attendance with 99.7%!
| Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 96.7% | |
| Year 1 | 94.2% | |
| Year 2 | 96.1% | |
| Year 3 | 95.4% | |
| Year 4 | 94.1% | |
| Year 5 | 96.6% | |
| Year 6 | 98.4% |
Inspiration 