Key Dates
Saturday 22nd April
Gardening Day from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm - all welcome!
Monday 24th April
Year 2 Great Fire of London workshop in school
Year 3 Roman Day workshop in school
Inclusion Coffee Morning at 9:00 am
Thursday 27th April
Proposed strike action - please refer to communications from ParentPay for updates
PSA meeting at 7:00 pm
Friday 28th April
Larch class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
PSA Year 2 cake sale at 3:15 pm
Monday 1st May - BANK HOLIDAY
Children are not in school
Tuesday 2nd May
Proposed strike action - please refer to communications from ParentPay for updates
Wednesday 3rd May
Year 4 visit Kingston Mosque
Thursday 4th May
Lavender class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Friday 5th May
King's coronation celebrations in school - red, white and blue or kings and queens dress up day & whole school picnic
Year 5 parents' meeting - School Journey 2024 at 9:00 am
Monday 8th May - BANK HOLIDAY
Children are not in school
Tuesday 9th May - Friday 12th May
Year 6 SATs in school
Friday 12th May
PSA Year 1 cake sale at 3:15 pm
Tuesday 16th May
Year 6 Circus Skills workshop
Wednesday 17th May
Year 6 magistrates visit in school
Thursday 18th May
Foxglove class parent assembly at 9:00 am in the Large Hall
Friday 19th May
Year 5 visit to Hampton Court Palace
PSA meeting at 9:00 am
PSA school uniform sale at 3:00 pm
Reminders
Kingston Music Service
If your child has lessons with a KMS tutor during the school day, their lessons will begin again next week. You can find out more about Kingston Music Service and the lessons they offer here.
Year group weekly news
Don't forget to check your year group weekly news which is published every Friday afternoon on your child's Home Learning Google Classroom. You should sign in using your child's school Google Account - you can find their login details in the front of their Home School Diary.
Home Learning Grids for this half-term are posted on your child's Home Learning Google Classroom. All work should be completed in time for our next Home Learning Showcase on Friday 26th May.
This week's Times Tables Rock Stars class winners are Beech, Yew, Ash and Oak. Well done!
This term's lunchtime and after school clubs for children in Years 1 through to 6 start next week. There are still a few places available for some clubs - email clubs@fernhillprimary.org for further information. You can find the schedule for clubs and the weeks that they are running on the website. If your child attends an after school club, please collect them promptly at 4:30 pm. Club collection points are also published on the website.
Welcome back to school; we hope all our families had a lovely Easter break. We have a busy summer term ahead - key dates are published here and on the website calendar. Inevitably, there will be changes to these dates and new ones added. We will always let you know of any changes as soon as we can, and they will be reflected in the key dates section of this weekly newsletter.
Monday 8th May is a bank holiday to mark the coronation of King Charles II and Queen Camilla. We’ll be celebrating the occasion in school on Friday 5th May with a mufti day and whole school picnic lunch. The children can dress up in red, white and blue clothes or as kings or queens for the day and we’ll be asking everyone to bring a party packed lunch. Vicky and her team in the kitchen will be providing pizza and special coronation brownies too.
Please save the date for Sports Day which will be held on Friday 9th June at the YMCA Hawker Centre again. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for better weather this year! The format will be the same with events for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 running in the morning from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm and events for children in Years 3 to 6 running in the afternoon from 12:00 – 3:00 pm. We hope you will join us to cheer on your children and enjoy a whole school picnic lunch from 12:00 - 12:30 pm.
Please join us on Saturday 22nd April from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm for our Gardening Day when we will be marking the start of our Social Action Challenge Bee Happy project. If you can spare an hour, or more, we would love to see you there. Everyone is welcome and refreshments are provided. Please bring your own gardening tools if you have them – gloves, trowels, forks, spades, hedge clippers etc. Thank you!
Inclusion Coffee Morning
Our first Inclusion Coffee Morning will be held on Monday 24th April from 9:00 – 10:30 am. The Mental Health Support team will be joining us to run a session called ‘Helping your child with worries’. There will be time for networking with other parents, general discussion and Q&A with the team. All parents and carers are welcome. To help us with planning, please let us know if you will join us by completing this registration form.
Sports News
Yesterday, Year 5 boys and girls took part in an inter school football tournament between Kingston and Richmond schools. Each team had a manager (thank you to Mr Maillet and Mr Davies) and the teams were in pools of 5 schools, all playing each other. The boys got through to the semi-final, but narrowly missed out on a place in the final. The girls had a really tough group, and didn't make it through to the next round. Both the boys and the girls teams had the opportunity to watch each other, and did a fantastic job of supporting their friends. "Unfortunately, neither the boys or the girls won a trophy, but we all tried our best," said Onat, Sycamore Class. "Everyone tried hard and gave their best effort, with great team work, passing and communication," said Timofei, Sycamore Class.
~ Mrs Lawn, PE Lead
Book of the Week
'My Life on Fire' by Cath Howe
One terrible night Ren’s house burns down. Within a few hours Ren loses all her clothes, her treasured possessions and her home. Her family moves in with her Gran while her parents try to sort out their insurance claim and keep their business going. But there is nothing to do at her Gran’s house, the food is awful and Ren has to share a room with her little brother.
Caspar is missing his older brother who has gone away to university, but he likes his new teacher, Miss Chatto, and he is looking forward to the new project their class is working on with a local artist, called ’My Life in a Box’. But when Ren comes back to school she has nothing left to put in her box and then things start to disappear in Miss Chatto’s class. Perhaps Caspar can help Ren to start afresh.
Cath Howe takes unusual situations and explores the emotional tensions surrounding them, without sensationalising them, and with great insight and sensitivity. ‘My Life on Fire’ is another gripping and engaging read. Highly recommended!
Cath Howe 'My Life on Fire' Book Launch
Cath Howe has also extended an invitation to her book launch at 6:00 pm on Thursday 4th of May at Waterstones Kingston. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to ellaontheoutside@gmail.com by 30th April.
(Cath Howe will also be visiting us at school in June - full details to follow!)
~ Mrs Rouillard, School Librarian
TEAM POINTS
The overall winner this week is RICHMOND
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Kingston
335
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Coombe
373
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Richmond
374
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Hampton
299
UK Emergency Alert
All schools have been asked to inform families that an emergency alert will be sent to mobile devices on Sunday 23rd April at 3:00 pm. A message will appear on the home screen of the device accompanied by a siren-like sound or vibration. The alert is a test for the UK wide emergency alert system and will go off on all devices, including children's phones and those belonging to elderly and other vulnerable people. Instructions for disabling the alerts are published here. A video for iphone and android devices is also available.
PSA News & Events
PSA Meeting - Thursday 27th April at 7:00 pm
Please come along and join us at our next PSA meeting in school at 7:00 pm. We hope you can make it and join our discussions about upcoming events for this term, including the Summer Fair!
Easter Trail - thank you!
Thank you to everyone who completed our Easter Trail, we hope you had fun! And congratulations to our lucky big egg and prize winners.
Special General Meeting - Friday 19th May at 9:00 am
A reminder that we will be holding a Special General Meeting to make changes to our governing constitution on Friday 19th May at 9:00 am in the Small Hall. This will be a short meeting - a maximum of 20 minutes - and we really need as many parents as possible to attend to ensure we have enough people to approve the new constitution! Further details to follow.
Inspiration 