Key Dates
Tuesday 16th July
Year 1 visit Tudor Drive Library
Tuesday 16th July
Computing Open Afternoon for Years 3 & 4 at 3.30 pm
Wednesday 17th July
Year 3 Recorder & Year 5 Clarinet Showcase for parents at 2.30 pm in the Large Hall
Thursday 18th July
Year 6 Leavers' Assembly at 9.15 am in the Large Hall
Year 6 Leavers' Disco at 5.30 pm in the Large Hall
Thursday 18th July
Computing Open Afternoon for Years 5 & 6 at 3.30 pm
Friday 19th July - last day of term & mufti (non-uniform) day
School closes at 1.30 pm
Children return to school on Thursday 5th September
Reminders
Last day of term
The last day of term is next Friday 19th July and school will close at 1.30 pm. It’s a mufti (non-uniform) day so children may wear their own clothes to school. Tree Tops after school club will be open but will offer only one full session which will run from 1.30 – 4.30 pm. All bookings for this session must be made, via Parent Pay, by midnight on Monday 15th July. Please select the payment item which has been specifically set up for this session: Tree Tops After School Session - Friday 19th July.
Medication & lost property
Please remember to collect any medicines, including epi-pens and inhalers, which your child has stored in the school office before the end of term. Medications not collected by Friday 19th July will be disposed of. All lost property from the two bins in the playgrounds will be put outside school reception next week. Please do have a look and claim any items that are yours. Any lost property left after school closes on Friday will be sent for recycling over the summer holiday.
Attachments
Year Group Newsletters
Fern Hill Clubs Application Form
PSA Second Hand Uniform Sale
End of Year Reports
Yesterday the end of year reports were sent home. We hope you enjoy sharing it with your child. Please remember to sign the slip at the bottom of the covering letter to confirm you have received the report and return it to your class teacher on Monday. If you would like to make an appointment with your class teacher to discuss the report, please contact the school office by 12.00 pm on Monday 15th July.
Lunches for the Autumn
Lunches for the first half of the autumn term are now available to book online via ParentPay. You can find the menu and information on how to book on our website here. The deadline for booking lunches is always midnight on the Sunday before the previous school week but due to the summer holiday break and needing to order food items before the holiday, the last day for booking lunches for the first two weeks back next term is midnight on Monday 15th July. The first week back is a very short week as the children do not return to school until Thursday 5th September.
Deadline to book for Thursday 5th & Friday 6th September: midnight Monday 15th July
Deadline to book for Monday 9th – Friday 13th September: midnight Monday 15th July
Deadline to book for Monday 16th – Friday 20th September: midnight Sunday 8th September
Computing Open Afternoons
We hope to see you at one of the Computing Open Afternoons next week on Tuesday 16th (Year 3 & 4) and Thursday 18th July (Year 5 & 6). This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to share their Computing work with you. Both sessions will run from 3.30 – 4.30 pm in the Computing class room (ICT suite). Please use the doors in the juniors’ playground to come into school and not school reception.
Nursery Survey
This week you will have received a letter from Mr Scott with a link to a short online survey about Nursery. We are very keen to hear the views of all our families, not just those who currently attend Daisy class, and would be very grateful for your input even if you do not plan to use our Nursery in the future. Your views are invaluable in identifying how we can best serve the needs of our current and future families as part of a project to improve our Nursery provision. The survey will be open until Monday 15th July and you can access it by clicking here.
Orienteering Festival
On Tuesday 9th July, five of our Year 5 children took part in an orienteering festival held at Thames Young Mariners in Ham. Seven local schools took part in the competition to find card stampers hidden around the site. Each stamper had a different location code, challenging the children to use their map reading skills to discover them. Our two teams worked tremendously hard in the heat, resulting in a fabulous second and third place win for them against the others schools. Well done to all of you who took part!
It’s not too late to book one of the exciting activities happening at Fern Hill over the summer holiday break – there is something running most weeks. Pleiades, who run our outdoor PE provision, are running two, week-long camps, the first from Monday 5th - Friday 9th August and the second from Monday 19th - Friday 23rd August. These camps are for children aged 4 to 12 years old and are available to book now with a 20% discount for Fern Hill pupils. Masquerade and Mother Nature Science are also back at Fern Hill with their fantastic workshops. Masquerade are running two week-long performing arts workshops from Monday 22nd to Friday 26th July: The Little Mermaid for children aged 4 to 6 years old and the Lion King for children aged 7 and over. Mother Nature Science are running their Science Academy and Science Forces camps from Monday 22nd July all the way through to Friday 23rd August and offering a special discount of £10 off full-week places and £5 off day places. Please see our Holiday Activities at Fern Hill page for further information.
We are delighted to announce that Fern Hill has achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award again this year!
The School Games Mark is a Government led award scheme which launched in 2012 and is facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment, engagement and delivery of competitive school sport. We are extremely proud of all the children for their dedication to all aspects of sport this year and very grateful to all the staff who have accompanied them to the many competitions we have attended. Well done everyone!
Thank you to all our families for joining us at the Summer Concerts for Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. They were a lovely way to mark the end of the school year and celebrate all the children’s achievements.
The Year One and Two's sang brilliantly in their Summer Concert and made us all really proud. They sang songs they had learnt throughout the year in singing assembly and did a great job of learning all the words and actions. Mr Scott gave all the year two children a special certificate celebrating their strengths. Both teachers and children had a great time!
- Mrs Aurelius, class teacher
Year 5 Micro Society
A huge well done to our Year 5's too who showed great entrepreneurship at their very successful Micro Society assembly selling their products, and ideas, to the families who joined us. They sang brilliantly too! Well done.
Year 6 deliver A Five Star Performance!
On Tuesday evening, I sat down to enjoy the final Year 6 production of ‘What A Knight.’ Aware that the children have been working incredibly hard for their SATS assessments and preparing for their transition to secondary school, I was expecting a performance which had been hastily prepared and delivered with minimal resources. However, as the children opened the show, it was instantly evident that this was going to be a production that lived long in the memory. The auditorium / hall had been transformed with colourful backdrops. Costumes and props had been carefully selected (and created) and, for the first time, professional lights and microphones had been installed to ensure that the production had maximum impact on the audience. The cast were word perfect and delivered their roles with conviction and enthusiasm. They were actively supported by a team of technicians who would not have been out of place managing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Armed with Ipads and Chromebooks, they kept the show running smoothly at all times. It was no wonder that after the final number, the audience were on their feet with a standing ovation, demanding an encore from this talented cohort. As they took to the stage for the final time, it was evident that we had experienced something rather special – a year group working tirelessly together, showcasing the skills and expertise that they had gained whilst at Fern Hill. I was so proud of every one of them. What a night!
- Mr Waiting
After School Club & Lunchtime Club Notices
Next week is catch up week and some after school clubs will be running their last sessions.
All Monday clubs will run on Monday 15th July, to make up for the lost session on the May bank holiday and the following clubs will be making up for a missed session:
Rugby – Tuesday 16th July
Hockey – Wednesday 17th July
Computer club – Wednesday 17th July
Cricket – Thursday 18th July
Start to Sing – Thursday 18th July
Details of our after school and lunchtime clubs running in the autumn term are now available on the school website here. Sadly, Start to Sing for Years 1 & 2 will no longer be running but we’re pleased to be able to offer a new club especially for the younger children: Teddy Cricket on Mondays. We are also welcoming Spartans Basketball Academy to Fern Hill. They will be running a club for Years 4 – 6 after school on Fridays.
Bookings for our school run clubs (Junior Cricket, Infant & Junior Football, Rugby, Karate, Choir, Hockey, Gardening Club, Dance and Athletics) are now open on ParentPay. Please complete the application form attached below and also available to download from the school website here and return it to the school office by Friday 19th July. There are a small number of paper copies of the application form available in school reception.
To book a club run by an external provider, please contact the provider directly. Application forms and further information are available on the school website here.
The Summer Reading Challenge, which is organised by The Reading Agency together with public libraries, takes place every year during the summer holidays. You can sign up at your local library, then read six library books of your choice to complete the Challenge. There are exclusive rewards to collect along the way, and it’s FREE to take part! This year the theme is Space Chase!
The Summer Reading Challenge is the UK’s biggest free reading for pleasure event for children. It is run by the national charity The Reading Agency in partnership with the UK public library network. The aim of the Challenge is to encourage children to read any six books of their choice from their library during the summer holidays. It’s a great way to help with the ‘summer slide’ when reading skills and confidence can dip during the six week and it’s free to take part with special rewards for finishing each book and a certificate for everyone who completes the Challenge. This year the theme is Space Chase and it launches in your local library on Saturday 13th July!
You can find out more about the Summer Reading Challenge on The Reading Agency’s website here.
PSA News & Events
PSA Committee Meeting and AGM
Thanks very much to all those parents who joined us at last night’s final committee meeting of the year. It was lovely to see new faces there as we celebrated the end of a fantastic year’s fundraising. Remember, if you’re interested in getting involved with the PSA, please email us at fernhillpsa@gmail.com to find out more.
Summer Social Comedy Night
Our first ever comedy night was a huge success and a wonderful way to finish this year’s events! Thanks so much to all those parents and staff who came along to support the school and were treated to a fantastic evening of comedy. Together, as well as having a brilliant time, we raised over £1,000 for the school!
Donations needed for second-hand uniform sale
We will be holding a second-hand uniform sale in September in time for the start of the next school year. If you have any items you’d like to donate, then these can be left in a marked plastic crate outside school reception from Wednesday 17th July until the end of term. Please complete the donation form attached below and attach it to a bag with your items inside. Please ensure all items are washed and ready to sell. Thanks in advance for your donations.
Thanks for your support
Fern Hill PSA
Weekly Attendance
Well done to Year 2 who have the best year group attendance for this week.
The Attendance Cup is awarded Sycamore class this week with 100% attendance!
| Year | Attendance % | Star Year ★ |
|---|---|---|
| Reception | 95.7% | |
| Year 1 | 95.4% | |
| Year 2 | 97.1% | Well done! |
| Year 3 | 97.0% | |
| Year 4 | 96.7% | |
| Year 5 | 96.0% | |
| Year 6 | 94.6% |
Inspiration 