Key Dates
Monday 11th November
Year 4 Ancient Greece workshop in school
Tuesday 12th November
Anti-Bullying Week - Odd Socks Day
Wednesday 13th November
Foundations in Phonics workshop for Nursery parents 9:00–9:45 am
Thursday 14th November
Oak class parent assembly 9:00–9:30 am
Friday 15th November
Year 5 visit to the Science Museum
BBC Children in Need fundraising day!
Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th November
Year 6 visits to The Poppy Factory in Richmond
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
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 sale 3:00 pm
PSA Festive Magic Show for Year 1 & 2 5:30–6:30 pm
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 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.
Absent or late for school?
If your child is ill or absent from school for any other reason, or if they are going to be late, please let the school office know by 8:30 am at the latest. The easiest way of doing this is by email to office@fernhillprimary.org or telephone on 020 8247 0300. Please leave a message on the answerphone if no one answers your call – staff are there, but busy, and your message will be picked up.
Don't forget to check the year group weekly news published on your child's Home Learning Google Classroom. Home Learning Grids for children in Years 1-6 are published here, and work should be completed in time for the Home Learning Showcase in school on Friday 13th December.
If your child plays an orchestral instrument and would be keen to join the Kingston Educational Trust Orchestra, please let us know. We will be holding auditions after the half-term break. Please email the school office with the name and class of your child, the instrument they play and their playing proficiency. The orchestra is not for complete beginners, but a basic skill level is very welcome.
Well done to all the children who handed in their application form to join this year's Eco-Committee - Miss Evans was delighted to receive so many! You can watch her announce the winners here.
Term dates for the 2025/2026 school year are published on the website here.
Anti-Bullying Week 2024: Choose Respect
Next week is Anti-Bullying Week, and we will be promoting this in school with Odd Socks Day on Tuesday 12th November.
Children and staff are invited to wear mismatched socks, to celebrate what makes us all unique. Odd Socks Day is an opportunity to have fun, be yourself, and spread awareness of the core values that Anti-Bullying Week promotes: acceptance, understanding and respect. Odd Socks Day is not a mufti day, so children should wear their uniform and school shoes as usual, but we hope to see lots of colourful, and odd, socks!
In addition to wearing odd socks, we are launching a competition for the children to design their own odd socks. We’d like them to decorate a pair of socks they already have in whatever way they wish (for example, with sharpies, sequins, pom-poms or stickers/patches) to showcase their own individuality. Socks should be handed in to your class teacher by Tuesday 12th November, and they will be displayed for everyone to admire. There will be a winner in each year group with prizes too!
The theme of this year’s Anti-Bullying Week is ‘Choose Respect’. Respect is one of our six learning behaviours at Fern Hill, and the children will be talking in class next week about embracing it. All children are continually learning how to conduct themselves, and it can be difficult for them to know how to act when faced with someone who disagrees with them, or otherwise find themselves in conflict with another person. It can also be tricky for parents and educators to teach them how to resolve disputes in a mature and healthy manner. This linked poster brings together research and advice to help us encourage children to choose to be respectful.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance has also produced a free Parent and Carer Tool Kit to support you in starting a conversation at home about bullying, no matter the age of your child. You can download the pack here.
Poppies
Thank you to all our families who donated to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal this week and bought a poppy or two; and to the Year 6 children who came into school early and stayed late to sell them! We'll let you know how much we raised soon.
BBC Children in Need
Next Friday 15th November, we'll be supporting the BBC Children in Need Appeal with a fundraising mufti day - the children don't need to wear school uniform, but we do hope they will take inspiration from Pudsey and go for yellow and spotty outfits, or superhero style! In return, we'll be asking for a donation to the Children in Need charity to help support vulnerable children in the UK and around the world.
This year, you can make a donation directly to Children in Need through ParentPay. A dedicated payment item has been set up and your donation will go directly to the charity with no fees. On Thursday next week, a limited number of Pudsey pin badges and wristbands will be available to buy in the morning and after school and, on Friday, the PSA will be holding a special cake sale at the end of the day.
Online Parenting Courses - Family Lives
Being a parent has never been easy. There are no manuals for it, and previous generations may not be able to provide the insight you're looking for. The family unit is more dispersed than ever, with some families existing hundreds of miles from what may be called a 'core unit'. The pace of societal change in the UK rapidly outstrips the knowledge of the immediate past. The result is that many parents may find themselves lost in a maelstrom of contradictory advice. For adults, time has never been more compacted. Family Lives has produced a series of online parenting courses, to make this challenge a little easier.
Family Lives (previously known as Parentline) offer a confidential and free helpline service for families in England and Wales. They can be contacted on 0808 800 2222 for emotional support, information, advice and guidance on any aspect of parenting and family life.
Book of the Week
‘Black Hole Cinema Club’ by Christopher Edge
When Lucas meets his friends for an all-day movie marathon at the Black Hole Cinema, he doesn’t realise they’re all about to be swept away in an immersive 4Di experience. But every time they save the world there seems to be a common thread, and even as Lucas keeps telling himself not to worry, it’s just a movie, he starts to wonder if there’s actually more at stake.
‘Black Hole Cinema Club’ is a fast-paced MG sci-fi adventure packed with scientific, mind-bending plot twists and a dazzlingly clever ending.
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.
Inclusion Community Coffee Mornings
Thank you to the families who came to our first Inclusion Community Coffee Morning today; we hope you found it informative. Our next one is on Wednesday 27th November, and we'll be sending out further information shortly. On Friday 29th November, we are hosting a Kingston Beats Coffee Morning specifically for our families from Hong Kong.
Team Points
The overall winner this week is RICHMOND
-
Kingston
850
-
Coombe
711
-
Richmond
863
-
Hampton
850
Fern Hill PSA News & Events
Click here for Fern Hill PSA's weekly newsletter.
Inspiration 