St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 16th May 2025
Message from Mrs Evans
It has been another busy couple of weeks for staff and pupils at St Paul's. This week we have been so incredibly proud of our Year 6 pupils who have demonstrated each of our school values during SATs week. It was clear to each of us that every member of the class tried their best each day and this is all that we wanted to see from them.
I was delighted to join them today for bowling - a well deserved treat - and enjoyed presenting them with their 'Leavers' Hoodies' which you will see them proudly wearing next week. This has become a tradition at St Paul's where our Year 6 pupils transition into their navy blue hoodies in recognition of the fact that they will soon be moving on to secondary school.
Mr B and I had an exciting trip to the Chelsea Flower Show this week as we have been invited to take a small group of pupils to visit one of the gardens next week. The 'Avanade Intelligent Garden' has been created to explore how AI can play a role in supporting the health and survival of urban trees. Along with the opportunity to visit the garden we are also being gifted some of the plants which are currently in the Chelsea garden to plant in our school grounds and are looking forward to welcoming the garden's designer - Tom Massey - to our school to help us to plant these after half-term. You can find out more about the garden here: Avanade Intelligent Garden
We may be almost halfway through the summer term already, but there are still many exciting trips, visits and experiences planned for each of our classes - keep an eye on the diary for more information about these.
New Wraparound Care - 'The Bridge' Update
We have continued to see some increase in numbers across the last two weeks at 'The Bridge'. Last week we had some sixth form pupils from Southborough in doing trial sessions and we are looking forward to some of them joining 'The Bridge' as Wraparound Care Assistants after half-term.
Mrs Momp continues to introduce the children to some new breakfast combinations - bananas with hot cross buns were a big hit this week - and James continues to work hard to make the daily games and activities exciting for the children. Last week he even managed to encourage some of the children in KS2 to do some spelling practice at the club! Keep an eye out for special days, such as 'Pizza Friday' next week.
It was lovely to hear such positive feedback from parents/carers about our new service at the Class Reps meeting - thank you. We continue to be grateful for the support being shown by our families.
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 |
|
96.46% |
97.50% | 96.67% | 95.47% | 96.34% | 98.44% | 98.56% |
Whole School - since the start of the year
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 95.68% | 93.0% |
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 with practical ways to support with worries. A book that makes complex ideas of anxiety manageable and practical for young people.
A Look: How we help one another with worries.
A Hook: What we do with our worries determines how we move on.
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. This year they have funded brand new libraries for both KS1 and KS2 which have made significant difference for our children. They have also provided author visits and science workshops for the whole school to enrich our curriculum offer further.
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 looked at zoo animals, using the story 'Dear Zoo' to write about why we would send that animal back to the zoo and used our fine motor skills to create a lion's face using pom poms and pegs. Miss Weedon went to the beach last week and found some seashells and crabs to show the class. We had so many questions about crabs that we had to do research about them. Mrs Saddington did some gardening with us in our herb garden - this included putting new soil down and then some planting. We also enjoyed dressing up and creating our own stories the sunshine. We had a very successful trip to Bocketts Farm where we even got to feed the animals! This week in Reception we have been learning about all things dinosaur from the names of them to what fossils are. We have really liked learning about dinosaurs and we have even built our dinosaurs a home in the outdoor area using our building blocks and other materials. In maths, we have been exploring the different ways to make 10 and have been using Numicon to show this. In our creative corner, we have made dinosaur fossils using different types of pasta.
Reception 2024 Newsletter
Year 1
Year 1 Newsletter 2024
Year 2
We have some exciting events to look forward to in Year 2! Next week we are visiting Kingston Mosque. In preparation, we have thought of questions we would like to ask and how we can be respectful of other people. In our Maths, we have been busy with multiplication, division, halving and doubling. In English we have been sequencing events and discussing Captain Cook and you can see some of our great ideas for vocabulary to use in our writing about these topics in the photos. We have been enjoying the warmer weather and have been making he most of it by working on our developing garden. We are really excited to watch our plants grow!
Year 2 Newsletter 2024
Year 3
Year 3 have thought about the problems in our local area and wrote formal letters in English to Ed Davey to outline our concerns and suggest solutions. We have included lots of features, including: paragraphs, fronted adverbials and some advanced formal vocabulary too. We are growing in confidence in representing unit fractions in different ways and can create a whole when we know a fraction of the whole. We are learning more about the functions of parts of a plants in science and can describe some of the main climates in our world. In French, we can recall the names of colours and some parts of the body. We are looking forward to learning the names of some animals in French next week.
Year 3 Newsletter 2024
Year 4
This week, Year 4 have been writing play scripts about our story 'Oliver and the Sea Wigs'. We looked at setting the scene and using stage directions. We acted out a few of the play scripts that we wrote using our loud voices and brilliant acting skills! In Geography, we have been continuing our learning focused on coasts. We learnt about the different types of erosion and how caves, arches, bays and spits are formed. We drew diagrams to show the different stages of erosion on the coast. In Science, we are looking at invertebrates and how they are classified and we even went on an invertebrate hunt.
Year 4 Newsletter 2024
Year 5
In Maths, we’ve started learning all about fractions. We’ve been comparing and ordering them and we’ve even begun adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. It’s been tricky at times, but we’ve really enjoyed the challenge! In English, we’ve started writing persuasive letters to Ben and Charlie, and we’ve been focusing on using emotive language to help make our arguments more convincing. We’ve also been learning how to structure our letters properly and make sure our ideas are clear and powerful. In Art, we’ve continued exploring impressionist artwork. We’ve used both watercolours and oil pastels to recreate pieces inspired by famous artists like Monet. It’s been so much fun experimenting with different colours and textures. In RE, we’ve been learning about Buddhism. We’ve looked closely at the Eightfold Path and thought about how following it would affect a Buddhist’s daily life. We had some really interesting discussions and shared lots of thoughtful ideas.
Year 5 Newsletter 2024
Year 6
This week, Year 6 have been working really hard on showing off our skills in our Reading, GPS, Maths Reasoning and Arithmetic assessments. We've focused on how we can apply problem solving skills and articulating specific areas for support. We have also been looking at transition lessons and how we present the best of ourselves when faced with a challenge. In English, we have worked hard on developing our descriptive writing skills where we thought about how to create peaceful moods and how to contrast these with chaotic images. We particularly enjoyed playing with the idea of personification and how we could give human attributes to nature's elements. We worked on adding emotions to nature to convey a particular mood too. In our History, we looked at the idea of journeys and have started to explore the significance of historical journeys such as the kindertransport; we considered how refugees were treated during the war and how they are treated now. We used a range of primary sources to make inferences too.
Year 6 Newsletter 2024
Team Points
Congratulations to Year 4 and Rubies who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 5th May.
Wider Community News and Events
Surbiton Literary Festival - InvestiGATORS Event
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
- Mon 19th May: Year 2 Mosque Trip
- Tues 20th May: Year 1 Synagogue Trip
- Tues 20th May: 'Book Look' - 3:15pm - 4:00pm
- Thurs 22nd May: Year 5 Multi Skills Festival
- Thurs 22nd May: Year 2 Freshwater Workshop
- Fri 23rd May: Own clothes day for half-term team points winners - team to be confirmed that week
- Fri 23rd May: Fun Run Event (afternoon)
- 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
- Tues 3rd June: Year 4 Gurdwara Trip
- Fri 6th June: PSA Donation Day (homemade cakes) - 'Festival Theme'
- 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
- Tues 17th June: Year 6 'Moving on Up' Event
- Weds 18th June: Kingston Music Festival - Year 3 & Year 4
- 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)
- Fri 20th June: Macmillan Afternoon Tea at 2pm
- 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
- Monday 7th July: Year 5 Albany Reach Trip
- Thurs 10th July: Year 6 Leavers' Service at Southwark Cathedral
- Fri 11th July: Reception Ugly Bug Ball
- 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 details 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.
