St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 18th October 2024
Message from Mrs Evans
We have so much going on at st Paul's at the moment! We have begun our tours for Reception 2025 - we have got lots of families coming to visit us in the coming weeks! Our classes have been busy preparing the new corridor displays and I am so impressed by the quality of the work that has been produced! Please make sure that you go and have a look at them during our 'Work Share' next week.
Year 6 had a fantastic trip to Hindleap Warren last week where they took part in a variety of activities and were a real credit to the school in the way that they approached all of these! We are already planning for our Hindleap Trip next year and would like to invite our Year 5 parents and carers to an initial information meeting on Thursday 21st November at 2:30pm at school. The children will join the meeting and this will be a chance for parents and carers to hear more about the week and to ask any initial questions that they might have.
We have presented our Year 6 pupils with their brand new personalised prefect badges.
We hope that they will wear them with pride this year and treasure them in years to come.
It was brilliant to see some of our Year 3 and Year 4 boys heading out with Coach Ellis on Wednessday for a football tournament. They played brilliantly and we were so proud of how they represented the school! Thank you to all of the parents who joined too - I know they appreciated the support!
Shoe Box appeal
Thank you to all those people who have kindly filled boxes and donated items towards our Shoe Box appeal this year. We are asking for all boxes to be in by the end of next week. A special thank you to Ms Chapman for knitting these wonderful gifts...
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 about how breathing can help you in staying calm.
A Look: This week the Positive Relationship Mentors have shared the 5 grounding techniques approach to restoring calm when you are facing anxiety. please also see this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30VMIEmA114
A Hook: Where do we find the calm?
Book..
Look...
//www.youtube.com/embed/sG70JH_QisQ#t=0.5
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. Our current focus project is updating of the two libraries. We have had some initial designs completed for these spaces and will be looking at these with the staff and children before picking our final designs.
Along with the improvements outside, here are some other examples of the fabulous resources that have been purchased for the school through last year's fundraising:
PSA Purchases
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:
Events to look out for this term:
- Quiz Night (adults only): Friday 15th November
- Christmas Fair: Saturday 30th November
Donation days
Please bring donations of the items shown in red on the following days. Children should dress to match the theme:
Friday 25th October (donations of bottles of drink): Wild Hair and Funky Feet (socks or shoes) - worn with uniform.
Friday 15th November (donations of sweets): Wear Your Team Colours
Friday 29th November (donations of homemade cakes): Christmas Comes Early
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
In Reception we have been looking at the different types of emotions you may feel and we got to make our own 'emotion faces'. We discussed when you might feel these emotions and why. As a whole class we drew around one of us, then labelled the different body parts and what we use them for. Using our fine motor skills we used cotton buds to print paint on our names, we also made patterns with the pin boards. This week in Reception we went outside for an 'autumn walk'. We collected leaves so we can make leaf puppets at the end of the week. In Maths, we have been learning about subitising; we did an activity with cards with dots on and had to peg the right number.
Reception 2024 Newsletter
Year 1
In Year 1, we have been looking at writing instructions all about how to wash our hands. We've enjoyed learning about verbs and listening out for them in instructions in the classroom. In Maths we have been looking at our number bonds to 5, 6 and 10 - practising adding to make these numbers as well as taking away. In Geography, we have been working on our map reading skills; we followed a map of the playground to find hidden letters. We have been building our phonics skills, practicing reading and recognising our phase 3 sounds and have started learning some new phase 5 sounds!
Year 1 Newsletter 2024
Year 2
Year 2 have had an action-packed few weeks. Firstly, we made bird feeders which we were excited to take home. Next, we wrote a shopping list and a recipe to make a healthy wrap in class - we have been using time words and imperative or ‘bossy’ verbs, in our writing. We pushed our tables together in the style of a street party and took turns to cut, chop, sprinkle and spread our ingredients. Then, knives and bowls of food were shared and the atmosphere in class was delicious. We all ate our wraps together, which produced a chef’s kiss all round. This week we walked to the house Enid Blyton lived in from 1920 – 1924; it was here that Enid began to write. Afterwards, we visited Harry Hawker’s memorial in St. Paul’s Church. Our thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor for accompanying us. We are now getting very excited about our class trip next week!
Year 2 Newsletter 2024
Year 3
Year 3 have had an exciting few weeks with our Victorian teacher visit and a Victorian walk around the local area. We have continued to learn a lot about what life would have been like during the Victorian Era. In English, we acted out parts of the story in 'I was a Rat'. We have learned the rules of speech and are working very hard to put inverted commas in the correct place around speech. We are learning how to add and subtract bridging 100 and discussed our preferred strategies to do this. Using William Morris as inspiration, we enjoyed printing our repeating patterns in Art using the stamps we made and a roller for the paint.
Year 3 Newsletter 2024
Year 4
This week, Year 4 have been continuing our topic ‘Around the World’. We had Freshwater Theatre come in and do a workshop about the different continents and countries within them. We also held our International Food Fair this week and had an amazing time trying over 20 different foods from across 4 continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Thank you to all the parents who took time to cook and bake food for the class! It was a very special event! In English, we have been focused on explanation texts. We analysed texts about the states of matter and then wrote our own explanation text about the water cycle using our knowledge from what we’ve learnt in science. We also had art enrichment where we sewed poppies which we thoroughly enjoyed!
Year 4 Newsletter 2024
Year 5
Year 5 have had an excellent few weeks. In English, we have started writing non-fiction reports about the Tudors. In Maths, we have started work on money after having finished work on decimals. Children have been using pretend money to represent and compare different values. Year 5 also enjoyed Southborough coming in to lead us in a games session. Finally, in Music, we have been working on a project in groups to create our own cartoon style music. It has been great celebrate our own learning at home as part of these projects by bringing in our own instruments.
Year 5 Newsletter 2024
Year 6
Year 6 have been working hard this week building on the resilience we developed at Hindleap. We continued to explore the Footballer's Battalion, Pals Battalion and conscription laws. We talked about the racial bias and prejudice in some recorded history. We sketched portraits of Walter Tull and the Christmas Truce. Year 6 worked really hard on their arithmetic methods including multiplication, division and addition/subtraction (with decimals). We really enjoyed the using manipulatives such as numicon and dienes to understand what written methods meant.
Year 6 Newsletter 2024
Team Points
Congratulations to Rubies and Year 4 who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 7th October and to Sapphires and Year 2 who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 14th October.
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!
Local Dental Health Check 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.
Attendance Information
| Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
|
98.20% |
96.12% | 96.87% | 97.36% | 96.18% | 96.54% | 98.35% |
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 97.05% | 95.54% |
Holidays in Term Time
We would like to remind all parents that holidays during term time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. Families may be asked to meet with Mrs Evans before their form is signed and/or may receive a letter from the school outlining the impact of their absence in line with our attendance policy.
Please see further information on the school website by following this link:
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 Oct: Work Share - 3:15pm - 4:00pm
- Weds 23rd Oct: Year 2 Trip to The British Wildlife Centre
- Thurs 24th Oct: PSA Online Safety Event - 7:00pm at school
- Fri 25th Oct: PSA Donation (bottles) - Wild Hair and Funky Feet (with school uniform)
- Mon 28th Oct: Half-term
- Mon 4th Nov: Children Return
- Mon 4th Nov: Individual School Photos
- Fri 15th Nov: PSA Donation (sweets) - Wear Team Colours
- Fri 15th Nov: PSA Quiz Night
- Mon 18th Nov: INSET DAY (school closed to pupils)
- Thurs 21st Nov: Year 5 Hindleap Warren Information Meeting - 2:30pm
- Thurs 21st Nov: Parent/Carer Meetings - 4:00pm - 6:30pm
- Tues 26th Nov: Early Finish at 2:30pm
- Tues 26th Nov: Parent/Carer Meetings - 3:30pm - 6:00pm
- Weds 27th Nov: Year 2 Polka Theatre Trip
- Thurs 28th Nov: Class Reps Meeting - 10:00am
- Fri 29th Nov: PSA Donation (homemade cakes) - Christmas Comes Early
- Sat 30th Nov: PSA Christmas Fair - 12:00pm - 3:00pm
- Weds 4th Dec: Year 3 & Year 4 Polka Theatre Trip
- Mon 9th Dec: KS1 Nativity - 9:15am (siblings welcome)
- Tues 10th Dec: KS1 Nativity - 9:15am (adults only)
- Weds 11th Dec: PSA Children's Christmas Market
- Thurs 12th Dec: PSA Children's Christmas Market
- Thurs 12th Dec: Choir singing at John Lewis, Kingston
- Fri 13th Dec: PSA Children's Christmas Market
- Mon 16th Dec: KS2 Choir singing at Trafalgar Square
- Tues 17th Dec: Reception & Year 1 Christmas Movie Treat
- Weds 18th Dec: KS2 Christmas Concert - 9:15am
- Thurs 19th Dec: KS2 Christmas Concert - 9:15am
- Thurs 19th Dec: Christmas Jumper Day
- Thurs 19th Dec: Whole School Christmas Lunch
- Fri 20th Dec: End of Term - 2:00pm
- Mon 6th Jan: INSET DAY (school closed to pupils)
- Tues 7th Jan: Children Return
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.
