St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 24th April 2026
Message from Mrs Evans
It has been wonderful to see our corridors buzzing with energy again as the children settle back into their daily routines and school expectations following the Easter break. Transitioning back to learning can sometimes take a moment, but our pupils have hit the ground running with impressive focus. A huge well done to Year 3 and Year 4 for a fantastic return to their swimming lessons. Their confidence in the water is growing by the week! We also want to extend a massive thank you to our parent and carer helpers—without your time and support, this just wouldn't be possible. Our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils had a brilliant time at the recent PSA Disco. It was great to see them letting off steam and enjoying a well-deserved social evening with their peers. We are thrilled to announce that our recent Book Fair raised a fantastic £800. This geerous sum will go directly toward supplementing the collections in both of our libraries, ensuring our children have access to the very best new titles and diverse stories.
Our Inclusive Approach
Following our recent Parent/Carer Survey, we thought it would be helpful to give parents/carers details of some of the techniques that support our inclusive approach as a school.
At the heart of our inclusive approach is adaptive teaching, a method where we constantly adjust our instruction to ensure every child can access the curriculum and find success. To support this, we use a variety of high-impact strategies tailored to individual needs:
Scaffolding Literacy and Thinking
To help children structure their ideas, we provide sentence opener examples, word banks, and modelled texts that serve as a blueprint for high-quality work. For those developing fine motor skills, we offer specialized handwriting scaffolds, such as highlighted lines to guide letter height or bubble sheets to assist with spatial awareness.
Targeted Interaction and Task Design
Our teachers use careful task design to reduce barriers to learning while maintaining high expectations. This is supported by:
- Targeted Questioning: Posing specific questions to probe understanding or bridge gaps in knowledge and targeting identified pupils regularly to check on understanding.
- Targeted Group Work: Providing focused teacher or TA support to specific clusters of pupils during a lesson.
Concrete and Visual Tools
We believe in the power of physical learning. In both writing and maths, we utilise physical resources to make abstract concepts tangible.
- Mathematics: Pupils use Cubes and Numicon to visualise number relationships and operations.
- General Support: Pictures and visual prompts are used across the curriculum to spark vocabulary and provide a concrete reference point for new ideas.
To ensure no child is left behind and that every pupil has the opportunity to excel, we make strategic use of small group support outside of our core lesson times. Many children benefit from our early morning work sessions, where they tackle specific "fix-it" tasks or pre-learning activities the moment they arrive, helping them feel confident and prepared for the day ahead.
In addition to this, we run targeted booster groups both before and after school. These sessions are designed with precision; they allow teachers and teaching assistants to revisit key concepts in a low-pressure environment, providing the extra "boost" needed to master complex topics in Phonics, Reading, or Maths. By utilising these quiet windows of the day, we can offer high-quality, intensive intervention that makes a significant difference in pupil progress and self-esteem.
By blending these supports seamlessly into our daily practice, we ensure that every pupil receives the right level of challenge and support to flourish.
Attendance Overview
Attendance Overview
Next week you will be receiving an overview of your child's attendance. Please come and see the school office team if you have any queries about this.
Classes - since last newsletter
| Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
|
96.25% |
96.65% | 95.71% | 95.40% | 95.77% | 95.97% | 95.78% |
Whole School - since the start of the year
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 95.94% | 94.44% |
Regular Reminders
Mobile Phone Policy
A polite reminder that mobile phones are not allowed to be used on the school site - we ask that they are away in a bag or pocket during drop off and pick up times.
Holidays in Term Time
I would like to remind all parents that holidays during term time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. These absences cause disruption not only to children's learning, but can also have an impact on their social interactions within the class.
Absences in term-time should only be taken for 'exceptional circumstances' which are 'unavoidable and unplanned'. The Educational Welfare Service recommends to schools that any absences that do not meet this criteria must be marked as 'unauthorised'.
Where families do apply for an absence during term-time, they may be invited in for a meeting and will receive a letter to confirm how the absence will be marked on the register.
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.
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.
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 provided author visits, science and maths workshops and we are looking forward to having our astro turf repaired thanks to their fundraising efforts too.
Big Target: A new music room - look out for further information about this to come soon.
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 started our new topic 'Minibeasts'. We discussed what minibeasts we might find around us and then made a tally chart to do our minibeast hunt. In our writing we were looking at describing ants, using our phonics knowledge to sound out adjectives. In maths we were looking at how to make 6 or 7 in different ways using counters and tens frames. This week in Reception we have been looking at the different body parts of an insect and how minibeasts move around. In our art area we have been making fingerprint bug jars and also making minibeasts out of playdoh.
Reception Newsletter 2025-26
Year 1
Year 1 has had an exciting start to the term, and we are so proud of how well the children have settled back into their learning. In English, we have been using our new book, ‘Leo and the Octopus,’ to gather facts about marine life while practising our fabulous handwriting and using conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘so’ to build brilliant sentences. In Maths, we have been busy mastering addition and subtraction within 20, as well as exploring odds, evens, doubling, and halving. In Science, we headed outside for a plant search around the school and have planted our own seeds, which we are now waiting patiently to see grow. In Computing, we took our first steps into coding using ScratchJr. It is truly wonderful to see the children’s enthusiasm for all our new topics!
Year 1 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 2
It has been an exciting start to the Summer term, and Year 2 have returned in great spirits. In science, the we have already got our hands dirty planting vegetables and setting up classroom experiments to discover exactly what plants need to thrive. In History and English, we are following the trails of famous explorers while mastering verbs, adverbs, and using commas in a list. Meanwhile, in Maths, we are adding and subtracting two-digit numbers by using the partitioning method to break down tens and ones. Year 2 have clearly returned from their break refreshed and eager to learn, and we are so grateful for your ongoing support at home in making this such a successful start to the term!
Year 2 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 3
In Year 3, we have enjoyed the start start to our weekly swimming lessons. In Science, we have begun a new unit on plants, we have labelled the parts of a plant and their functions and have set up an experiment to observe how they grow without air. Our English lessons are focused on formal language as we will begin writing formal letters next week. In Maths, we are exploring fractions and learning how they are made up of equal parts of a whole. We have started to revisit Hinduism in RE and learnt about Brahman as a calm presence everywhere for Hindus.
Year 3 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 4
Last week in Year 4, we started looking at fractions in Maths. We reviewed what we already knew about fractions and then began to look at mixed numbers. We learnt a mixed number is when there is a whole number and a fraction together. In English, we have started our new text 'The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish' and began by writing about places we want to visit. In Science, we have started our new topic of Animals including humans. We were most intrigued by how our digestive system works, learning about how acid dissolves food in our stomachs. In Geography we have started learning about coasts, considering how coastlines are different from each other.
Year 4 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 5
Year 5 have been working hard to create their own fairy tales based on the Grimm fairy tales. This week we focused on using fronted adverbials, relative clauses and creating effective descriptions using carefully chosen language. We've worked really hard on varying our sentence starters to show what our character or our setting is really like. In our maths we have been finding factors using fun methods like factor bugs and then thinking about how we can find related facts using our 10 times tables or our five times tables or even our number knowledge like prime numbers or odd and even numbers. We've been diving deeper into our ocean topic and thinking about how the ocean and the environment are linked together. We have been thinking about how Buddhists and Christians use their life experiences and their faith to make decisions. We have been thinking about how they are similar and how they are different, particularly in how they view challenges that they face. Inno indoor PE. We are having a lot of fun looking at Bollywood dancing and even choreographing our own routines using some of the signature moves we have been taught. Finally, we're working really hard on taking pride in our presentation and our handwriting across all subjects.
Year 5 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 6
In Year 6 we have been developing our understanding of coordinates in Maths by learning how to plot points and draw shapes on a four-quadrant grid. We have also explored how to transform shapes by translating and reflecting them, thinking carefully about position and direction to ensure accuracy.
In Science, we have been learning about the Linnaean classification system and how living things can be grouped based on their characteristics. We have practised classifying different organisms and have begun to understand how scientists organise the natural world.
In History, we have started a new topic on the Sikh Empire by creating a timeline of key events that led to its formation. This has helped us to use our chronology skills to understand how historical events are connected and how they build over time.
In English, we have been using the book Varmints to develop our descriptive writing skills. We have focused on using ‘show not tell’ techniques, carefully choosing language that allows the reader to infer feelings and atmosphere rather than stating them directly.
Year 6 Newsletter 2025-26
Team Points
Congratulations to Year 3 and Diamonds who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 13th April, to Year 4 and Sapphires who were the team points winners for the week beginning 20th April.
News from St Paul's Church
St Paul’s Church hold an all-age service every first Sunday of the month. It is a great introduction to Church with an interactive service lasting around 50 minutes with refreshments afterwards. Our children’s group (from age 3+) is run on the other Sundays of the month with an experienced team of leaders; babies and younger children are very welcome to stay in Church with their parents.
We will be holding our Church Welcome Sunday for new Reception starters (and other St Paul’s pupils and their families) at 10am on Sunday 5th July. This will be an opportunity to meet your new classmates and have an introduction to the Church.
Wider Community News and Events
Mental Heath Support Team at a Glance
Further information about the services provided by the Mental Health Support Team to support families can be found here: MHST Information
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.
New Swimming Company at our Pool!
Aqua Babies & Kiddies Surrey are excited to share that swimming lessons are returning to St Paul’s C of E Primary School! We are a 5.0 star swim school that has proudly served families across Surrey for over 8 years, and we’re excited to now welcome families back to our newly opened and refurbished pool!
For primary school-aged children, our lessons focus on building confidence and water safety, whilst also progressing swimmers through structured stages that build strong technique across all strokes. Children develop the confidence and competency expected at each level while fostering a lifelong love of swimming.
Aqua Babies & Kiddies lessons are supportive and conducted in a small-group environment - helping children feel calm, capable and happy in the water.
For further details, or to enrol in our March launch lessons, please visit: www.aquababiessurrey.com/swimming-lessons-chessington or send us a WhatsApp on 07766 242 572.
We can’t wait to welcome St Paul’s families back to the pool and see it thriving again at the heart of the school community.
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 27th April: Mock SATs Week
- Fri 1st May: PSA Donation Day - Own clothes wear team colours
- Mon 4th May: Bank Holiday (School Closed)
- Tues 5th May: Parent Workshop at 6.30pm - 'Becoming the Calm Centre: How Parental Regulation Shapes Behaviour'
- Thurs 7th May: Reception Ugly Bug Ball
- Thurs 7th May: Choir at Star and Garter
- Fri 8th May: Class Photos
- Mon 11th May: Year 6 SATs week
- Mon 11th May: Learn to Ride Course all week
- Fri 15th May: PSA Donation Day
- Fri 15th May: Year 6 Bowling Trip
- Sat 16th May: PSA Summer Fair 12pm - 3pm
- Mon 18th May: Walk to School Week
- Mon 18th May: Year 2 Mosque Trip
- Mon 18th May: Parent Workshop at 6.30pm - 'Connection Before Correction: Building Trust-Based Relationships'
- Tues 19th May: Class Reps Meeting at 10am
- Thurs 21st May: Year 5 Multi-skills Festival at Surbiton
- Fri 22nd May: Year 6 Skipping Workshop
- Fri 22nd May: End of Half-Term 3:15pm Finish
- Mon 1st June: INSET DAY (school closed to children)
- Tues 2nd June: Children Return
- Tues 2nd June: Swimming begins for Year 6
- Weds 3rd June: Parent Workshop at 6.30pm - 'Predictable Routines and Consistent Boundaries'
- Fri 5th June: Reception Bockett's Farm Trip
- Mon 8th June: Year 1 Phonics Screening Week
- Mon 8th June: Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check
- Mon 8th June: Swimming begins for Year 5
- Mon 8th June: Parent Workshop at 6.30pm - 'Reframing Bahviour. Seeing the Need Behind the Action'
- Tues 16th June: Year 4 River Trip
- Fri 19th June: Reception and Year 1 Online Postal Museum Workshops
- Thurs 25th June: KS2 Sports Day at Hollyfield Fields 9:15am - 11:45am
- Thurs 25th June: Year 2 Races Event Hollyfield Field 1:15pm - 2:15pm
- Fri 26th June: KS1 Sports Festival (Rec: 9:15am-10:00am; Year 1: 10:15am-11:00am)
- Tues 30th June: Year 1 Trip to Chessington
- Tues 30th June: Year 2 Forest School Trip
- Weds 1st July: Whole School 'Move Up' Morning
- Fri 3rd July: Year 5 Taster Day at Chessington School
- Fri 3rd July: Year 6 Leavers' Service at Southwark Cathedral
- Fri 3rd July: PSA Picnic in the Playground at 3:15pm
- Sun 5th July: New Reception Parents/Carers welcome Church Service at 10am
- Thurs 9th July: Y5/Y6 Production (adults only) at 9:15am
- Fri 10th July: Y5/Y6 Production at 9:15am
- Monday 13th July: Year 6 Dough Shack Pizza Treat
- Friday 17th July: End of Term at 2pm
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.
