St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 4th April 2025
Message from Mrs Evans
We have been very much enjoying the sunshine here and St Paul's and have had such a positive week to lead us into our Easter holiday. We heard this week that we have already raised £1400 (with a bit more still to come) to spend on new books for our libraries thanks to book sales and sponsored read - thank you to all who took part!
We had the fabulous iRock concert on Monday where the children got to showcase the songs that they have been working on this term and spent Tuesday talking to our class teachers about all of the progress that children across the school have made in the past term. It was wonderful to hear how supportive many of our parents/carers are being by completing some additional activities to support their children at home.
This morning we visited the church for our service led by our Faith Reps which is always such a special time and was a lovely way to close this term. Thank you for your continued support this term Have a wonderful Easter Holiday and we will look forward to seeing you back in school on Tuesday 22nd April.
New Wraparound Care - 'The Bridge'
This week we shared the new name and logo for our wraparound care with the school community. It is a fantastic design created by Dexter in Year 6! We had lots of entries from across the school - thank you to everyone who took part. We are looking forward to the full launch of the service on Tuesday 22nd April. It is exciting to see bookings coming in and we already have some new families signed up to make use of the service.
Fruit Snacks
We have noticed recently that there are a number of our children in KS2 who do not have a daily fruit or vegetable snack in school, or who are not eating these as they want to maximise their time on the playground. we are seeing an impact on concentration our classrooms and have decided to change our routines to encourage all pupils to be having a morning snack.
From now on, all classes will have a set time daily to enjoy their fruit or vegetable snack in their classroom rather than taking it out to breaktime. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue to be provided with this snack by the school. Children in Year 3 - Year 6 should bring a piece of fresh fruit (or small pot of fruit or fresh vegetables) to have during this time (no dried fruit, cereal/snack bars or other snacks please).
New Parent Governor
We are delighted to welcome Monica Jablonowska (Year 1 Parent) back on to our Governing Board as a Parent Governor. Monica was previously a member of our Governing Board prior to joining our community as a parent and we are very grateful that she has put herself forward for this role again.
PSA London to Brighton Cycle
On Sunday 15th June, a group of our parents/carers will be cycling from London to Brighton. This is a fantastic community event which will raise money for our school. Further details about the event can be found here: Go Fund Me: PSA Pedallers and you can also use the QR code below to donate:
A huge thank you to the parents/carers taking part!
| Parent/Carer | Year Group/s Represented |
| Mark Bottell | Reception and Year 3 |
| Mick Edwards | Reception and Year 3 |
| James Elvy | Year 3 and Year 4 |
| Ian Curd | Year 3 |
| Dave Holdaway | Year 3 and Year 5 |
| Antony Baxter | Year 1 and Year 4 |
| Aron Sibley | Year 3 and Year 6 |
| Bea Wlodarczyk | Year 2 and Year 4 |
| Alannah Sandham | Year 1 and Year 2 |
| Tom Harvey | Year 3 and Year 6 |
| Ed Sillars | Year 2 |
| Simon Erith | Year 4 and Year 6 |
| Mike Underwood | Reception and Year 1 |
Here are some photos of members of the team on their training rides:
PSA Cycle Challenge 2025 - Training Photos
Attendance Overview
Classes - since last newsletter
| Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
|
94.29% |
95.95% | 94.76% | 98.52% | 94.53% | 95.15% | 95.93% |
Whole School - since the start of the year
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 95.53% | 93.4% |
Holidays in Term Time
I would like to remind all parents that holidays during term time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. These cause disruption within the class due to children missing parts of the learning in topics which will later be built upon and can lead to children being unsettled on their return to school.
Holidays in term-time should only be taken for 'exceptional circumstances' which means that this would not be a regular (including annual) occurrence.
We are currently reviewing our attendance strategy and are closely monitoring the link between term-time absence and an increase in support needed for some of our pupils and families in school.
If you are considering a term-time holiday, I would really ask that you reflect on the confusion in the messaging to the children when they are taken out of school for a holiday having been told up to that point (and after) that they 'must' attend school.
Please look out for further updates about the changes to our strategy in the coming year.
Birthday Treats
A reminder that we do not allow cake or sweets to be given out on children's birthdays. If you are keen for your child to be able to share a treat with their class to mark the day, please provide a platter of fruit to be shared by the class or a new book to be added to the class library.
School Website
Please remember to make use of the school's website and calendar (which can be synched to your phone) for reminders and updates.
Support with Behaviour Concerns
A plea to parents/carers that if they have concerns about an incident that has taken place at school, that they avoid directly contacting other parents as this can lead to both misunderstandings and upset. We ask that any concerns are brought directly to school staff and that school are then left to deal with these. We will always follow up any concerns brought forward and would always prefer to find out more and resolve these within the school day (wherever possible) as this makes it easier for the children to accurately recall what has taken place. One of our key priorities is developing positive relationships across our community and this is something that our families can do to support us with this.
School Trips/Visits Policy
At St Paul's we have developed a rich programme of trips and visits to support our curriculum. Whilst parents/carers will always be asked for permission for their child to attend, these experiences have been carefully chosen and planned to enrich our pupils' learning and therefore we are always keen to enable as many pupils as possible to attend.
We are always keen to hear from parents/carers if they have any concerns about a trip or visit and will then invite them to come in and meet with us to discuss this concern further in the hope that together we can create a plan of support which will enable their child to take part.
Please do not be surprised to be asked to come in if you have not given permission for a trip/visit - we really value these opportunities to have conversations about concerns and to consider what can be done to support.
Developing Healthy Online Habits
We are aware that even our youngest pupils have regular access to devices such as iPads and phones to access activities online. We wanted to share some top tips with families to support them in helping their children to develop a healthy relationship with this technology. Parents and carers can do this by:
- Setting clear limits on the amount of time that these are being used daily
- Ensuring that devices are being used in an area that allows adult supervision at all times
- Discussing with children how to respond if they see something online that they do not like or if they are contacted by someone that they do not know
- Having regular conversations about what they are accessing
- Setting boundaries around online device use and bedtime – ensuring that there is a period of time when children are not using these before going to bed.
- Creating healthy habits, open discussion and clear boundaries early in children's lives is extremely important as it is much harder to put these in place once unhealthy habits have been formed. The following guide gives some suggestion
If you would like any further support with this please see the information on our school website here: Online Safety Advice for Parents
Alternatively, please contact Mrs Evans or Mrs Griffin to arrange a time to discuss this with them further.
With Me in Mind - Mental Health and Wellbeing Support for Families
This newsletter is a place where we can share with you: resources, strategies and thoughts to consider. We are keen to reach more families with messages and resources that we use with your children at school. We look forward to receiving feedback on this new venture for us.
- So what do you want to know more about?
- Are there challenges that you are facing that you would like to consider differently? Please let us know your thoughts on this Google Form
In this issue:
A Book: A book that helps our children consider how to remain calm when there are people who are trying to annoy us.
A Look: Hear how a teenager gives her perspective on parenting.
A Hook: What we want for our children we too need to model.
Book..
Look...
Hook...
Our Mental Health Team...
Sharon Griffin Lianne Cook Fahmida Wadud
Mental Health Lead Emotional Support Mental Health Support
PSA Updates
St Paul's PSA: ‘Bringing our school community together to create lifelong memories’
The PSA have done such a fantastic job in their fundraising over the last year which has made a visible difference to a variety of areas around the school. We are so excited that we will soon be having our new libraries fitted which we have been raising money for.
Upcoming PSA Events
- Summer Fair - 7th June
- London to Brighton Cycle Ride - 15th June (see details below)
- Picnic in the Playground - 4th July
Remember to check out our events guide on the PSA page which is a guide for families about what our different events involve and how you can help:
Look out for upcoming events
PSA Store
Don't forget to head over to our PSA store to get involved in the latest events using the link below:
Second Hand Uniform
We have a large amount of good quality second hand uniform available, please use the link below and follow these instructions:
- Once on the website click on the three lines to the right.
- Scroll down to ‘find your school’
- Select Kingston upon Thames as our Local authority.
- Select St Paul’s C of E KT9 1AJ
Please carefully read the instructions on when to collect your items.
Easyfundraising
Easyfundraising turns your daily shopping into every day magic!
Easyfundraising partners with over 7,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. It won't cost you any extra. The cost is covered by the brand.
Brands pay Easyfundraising a commission because when you start your shop from the Easyfundraising website or app, they can see we sent you to them. If you make a purchase, a commission is generated, and we turn that into a donation - magic!
Click the link above to register to use Easyfundraising - remember to search 'St Paul's Primary School, Chessington' when searching for your cause and turn on the donation reminder. Every little bit helps!
Class News
Reception
Last week in Reception we became astronauts. We learnt all about how astronauts have helped us and all things space! We wrote a list of 5 things we would take with us on a rocket, then we did some planet painting using balloons. We learnt about the solar system and what astronauts do. We have also officially completed our superhero training. We received our superhero certificates and did a superhero pose for the camera. This week in Reception, we have focused on the story 'Supertato'. We read the story together and discussed how we would describe either Supertato or Evil Pea. Carrying on with our potato theme, we have been doing potato printing with paint and have also looked at repeating patterns in maths making our own out of cubes.
Reception 2024 Newsletter
Year 1
Year 1 Newsletter 2024
Year 2
In Year 2 we have had a busy few weeks! We completed our aerial view models of an island - our finished islands are amazing and we are very proud! We have planted our seeds in the recycled plastic bottles that you all so kindly donated, thank you and we expect to have a mini allotment shortly. Finally, Freshwater Theatre came to re-enact recent history holidays. We were transported to 1970, 1950, 1940 and 1910. We met Punch and Judy and learned that they originated in Italy. It was great fun and we all joined in. Amongst all this activity, we have also learnt about halves, quarters and thirds in our Maths lessons. We definitely deserve our Easter Eggs Mums and Dads!
Year 2 Newsletter 2024
Year 3
Year 3 have been enjoying reading 'Stone Age Boy' in English, with a particular focus on describing settings. We have used the five senses to help us describe settings such as a forest and an archaeologist's work site. We have come to the end of the Stone Age topic and thought carefully about the importance of the changes that occurred between the old and new periods in the Stone Age. In Maths, we are becoming very confident with column addition and subtraction, including regrouping tens and ones and are very proud with our presentation in our books. Lots of us have worked incredibly hard on our forward rolls and teddy bear rolls in indoor PE and have shown lots of improvements in the last few weeks. We have also learned how shadows are formed in Science, and had a lot of fun drawing around each other's shadows in the playground.
Year 3 Newsletter 2024
Year 4
This week in English, Year 4 have been creating their own non-chronological reports based on a creature that they have created. We came up with some really interesting facts! In Science, we have been looking at living habitats and how we can help to protect the environment. We created posters and showed how the environment has changed over time. In Geography, we looked at rivers all over the world and looked in an atlas to see if we could find a river for every letter in the alphabet and what they were used for in the past. In DT we raced our slingshot cars which was very exciting! We looked at the design and how the air resistance would affect how fast our car was and we all got very competitive!
Year 4 Newsletter 2024
Year 5
We have had a wonderful two weeks in Year 5! In English, we have continued our writing on the Mayans and 'The Hero Twins' story. We have looked at ensuring that we are using a range of sentence starters to ensure that our writing is more exciting to read. We have also learnt about subordinate conjunctions and have started to use these in our writing pieces. In Maths, we have looked at the relationship between different parts of a multiplication sentence and we have noticed what happens to the product if you change one of the factors. In DT, we have enjoyed creating our Easter Egg stuffed toys and more recently we have evaluated our designs and the skills that we learnt. Finally, in Computing we have created our own websites celebrating our learning journey so far in Year 5. We have really enjoyed the creativity that we have been able to have in designing these.
Year 5 Newsletter 2024
Year 6
Over the last two weeks, Year 6 have really enjoyed diving deeper into our 'Are we damaging the earth?' Geography topic by looking specifically at sustainability in the school and creating surveys for our enquirers. We are also looking at Antarctica and the impact that humans have on the continent; we looked at how despite the threats and trigger points of climate change, we are actually seeing some positive changes in the oceans and the world too. In Science, we have continued to classify and look further at the importance of a streamlined classification system. We discussed that the Linnean system is fantastic, however, it is also has room for improvement. We looked at the blob fish and thought about which observable characteristics we may need to look at in order to accurately classify this strange organism.
Year 6 Newsletter 2024
Team Points
Congratulations to Year 3 and Rubies who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 24th March, to Year 4 and Diamonds who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 31st March and to Diamonds who were the Team Points winners overall for this half-term.
Wider Community News and Events
Junior Parkrun comes to Chessington
The Junior Parkrun is a 2k fun run which takes place weekly at many different locations across the country. We are excited to announce that they have launched a weekly event at Lovelace Primary School on Sundays at 9am. It is a free event, but you do need to register in advance using the link here:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/lovelaceprimaryschool-juniors/
It would brilliant to hear about some of our families taking part!
Family support Workshops
Achieving for Children’s Mental Health Support Teams are delivering a series of webinars for parents of primary-aged children. The ‘Helping Children with …’ series of webinars will cover a range of common difficulties experienced by children and will aim to share evidence-based strategies to help parents and carers support their children with these difficulties. Please use the link below to find further information.
Safeguarding Information
What if I have a Safeguarding Concern?
A reminder to parents and carers that if you have a safeguarding concern about a child this should be brought to Mrs Evans (Designated Safeguarding Lead) or Mrs Griffin (Deputy DSL).
There is lots of information on the school’s website to support parents in keeping their children safe (particularly linked to online safety) which can be found by clicking on the link below:
Road Safety Around Our School
We ask that parents and carers are considerate of the other members of both our school and local community when parking for drop off and collection. Please do not park on yellow lines or on the corners of local roads - markings have been placed on the road in spots where it will become dangerous if a vehicle stops. Parking in these places makes it very difficult for families to check that roads are safe for crossing and we are aware that this also applies to our Year 6 pupils who are walking home alone. Please leave time to find a suitable place to park safely and work with us to make the local roads as safe as possible for our pupils and families.
Key School Policies
Please take some time to familiarise yourself with our School Policies: 'Separated Parents Policy' and 'Communication and Conduct Policy'. These have been put together in consultation with the governing body who have now adopted these. Click on the links below to access them; they can also be accessed on the 'policies' page of the school's website.
Separated Parents Policy Communication and Conduct Policy
Key Dates for Your Diary
New or changes to dates shown in blue
- Tues 22nd April: Children Return
- Tues 22nd April: Launch of St Paul's Wraparound Care - 'The Bridge'
- Sat 26th April: London Schools Mini Marathon Event (children must be signed up through school to take part)
- Mon 28th April: Year 1 Chessington Trip
- Thurs 1st May: Year 3 Hindu Temple Trip
- Fri 2nd May: PSA Donation Day (Bottles) - 'Wear the Rainbow': Brightly coloured outfits - how many different colours can you wear?
- Mon 5th May: Bank Holiday Monday (school closed)
- Fri 9th May: PSA Donation Day (Sweets) - 'Show Your Style': Wear non-school shoes with your uniform.
- Fri 9th May: Reception Farm Trip
- Fri 9th May: Class Reps Meeting at 10am
- Mon 12th May: Year 6 SATs Week
- Fri 16th May: Class Photos
- Fri 16th May: Year 6 Bowling Trip
- Mon 19th May: Year 2 Mosque Trip
- Tues 20th May: Year 1 Synangogue Trip
- Thurs 22nd May: Year 5 Multi Skills Festival
- Fri 23rd May: Own clothes day for half-term team points winnners - team to be confirmed that week
- Fri 23rd May: End of half-term (finish at 3:15pm)
- Mon 2nd June: INSET DAY (school closed to children)
- Tues 3rd June: Children Return
- Sat 7th June: PSA Summer Fair
- Mon 9th June: Year 2 Rose Theatre for Barnes Literature Festival
- Mon 9th June: Year 5 Rose Theatre for Barnes Literature Festival
- Weds 18th June: Kingston Music Festival
- Thurs 19th June: KS2 Sports Day - 9:15am to 11:45am at Hollyfield Fields (Parents/Carers welcome as spectators)
- Thurs 19th June: Year 2 Races Event - 1:15pm - 2:15pm at Hollyfield Fields (Parents/Carers welcome as spectators)
- Monday 23rd June: Year 5 Bikeability all week
- Thursday 26th June: Year 5 at Southborough reading Conference
- Thursday 1st July: Year 5 Taster day at Chessington School
- Friday 4th July: PSA Picnic in the Playground at 3:15pm
- Thurs 10th July: Year 6 Leavers' Service at Southwark Cathedral
- Weds 16th July: Year 5 and Year 6 Production at 9:15am
- Thurs 17th July: KS1 Sports Festival at school - 9:15am to 10:00am Reception; 10:15am - 11:00am Year 1 (Parents/Carers welcome as spectators)
- Fri 18th July: Year 5 and Year 6 Production at 9:15am
- Tues 22nd July: Year 6 Leavers' Service at St Paul's at 9:15am (further dteasils to follow)
- Tues 22nd July: End of Term - 2pm finish
Remember to visit the calendar page using the link above and to link our school calendar to the calendar no your phone for automatic updates.
