St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 27th June 2025
Message from Mrs Evans
We have had another incredibly busy fortnight. We have celebrated 'Fieldwork Fortnight' and 'Maths Week', we have welcomed our governors and school improvement partner for their monitoring mornings and have been writing our 'Reviews of the Year' for our end of year reports.
Our Year 6 children will be visiting their secondary schools in the coming week adn our other classes are getting ready to spend the morning with theri new teachers on Tuesday 8th July. We are looking forward to our first transition event for our new Reception class - open classroom after school on Tuesday 1st July - and to our first ever 'welcome service' a St Paul's church on Sunday 6th July which we hope to see some of our current families at too.
Parent/Carer Survey 2025
This is the word cloud created from the comments and feedback on the parent/carer survey - so much to be proud of! The full feedback can be viewed here: Parent/Carer Survey 2025 - Feedback
Statutory Assessments
Year 1 Phonics
This week we received confirmation of the pass mark for Year 1 phonics which remained at 32 (out of 40). Year 1 pupils took home letters today with their individual results. We are incredibly proud of the children. Overall 87% of our Year 1 class met the pass mark which is a wonderful result. A huge well done to Mr Fleming and the Year 1 class!
Year 4 MTC
This week we also received the results of the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check. Unlike phonics, there is no 'pass' mark for this assessments. The children are given a score out of 25 and schools must report on the percentage of their year group that scored 25 and the mean score for the group too.
- 36% of our Year 4 pupils scored 25 out of 25 (2024 national average was 34%)
- 71% of our Year 4 pupils scored 23 out of 25 or above
- Our mean score for this year is 22.6 (2024 national average was 20.6)
Our Year 4 class have worked incredibly hard to prepare for this assessment and should be proud of their results. Year 4 pupils took home letters today with their individual results.
Can You Help?
A plea from Reception to any families who have a small bike in good working condition that they no longer need as we would love these for use by our Reception children. If you do have a bike that you would be willing to donate, please contact the school office or Miss Weedon directly.
Chelsea Flower Show Comes to St Paul's
For the last couple of weeks, Mrs Griffin, Mrs Momp and Mr B (with some help from gardening club) have been working hard to plant all of the plants donated to the school from the Avanade Intelligent Garden at Chelsea Flower Show. The plants have breathed new life into a number of different flowerbeds around the school site and the children have been enjoying looking at the new plants. We are waiting to see if they attract some new wildlife into our playground too. A huge thank you to Mrs Griffin, Mrs Momp and Mr B - you are fabulous!
Governor Monitoring Morning
Our governors came to spend the morning with us this week to find out more about some of the things that we have been working on this year. They spent time observing whole class reading sessions, phonics sessions, playtime and talking tot the children about some of the changes that have been made in the playground this year to promote 'active play'.
They were incredibly impressed by the learning behaviour of our pupils - they commented on their focus and the way that they work together. They noted thst the children give one another time to answer in lessons to ensure that everyone is included and they saw examples of children providing support for their peers when they were unsure. They saw all of these actions as examples of our children demonstrating a clear understanding of the values of our school and felt that these also demonstrated a clear sense of 'belonging'.
The children enjoyed interacting with our governors and were confident to show and tell them what they were most enjoying about our playground and to share ideas of things that they would have on their 'wish list'.
Following the morning, I have been reflecting on next steps and the key objectives that will be on our school development plan for next year which we will be sharing with pupils and parents/carers in the autumn term.
I would like to say a huge thank you to our staff for their hard work on these key areas this year and also to our governors for their support and engagement with their roles.
Changes to Sports Day Reminder
A reminder that we have moved KS2 Sports Day and the Year 2 Races Event to Thursday 17th July (as this is the only date that we could secure the field for) and KS1 Sports Festival will now be on Monday 14th July. We appreciate that a change to the KS1 date is not ideal, however, this was the only way in which we could still ensure a sports day for all children.
PSA London to Brighton Cycle Ride - Update
The PSA Cycle Ride was a huge success. It has raised over £7000 which is an incredible outcome! We are delighted to announce that this will allow us to do the repairs to the astro turf that are very much needed to enhance the children's experience in this area of the playground, and the rest will go into the pot that we are building with the hope of having a new music room built.
| 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 |
New Wraparound Care - 'The Bridge' Update
Numbers at 'The Bridge' continue to be relatively stable, although the hot weather appeared to lead to a slight dip in demand. Our Southborough sixth formers are settling into their new roles and James and Tasmin continue to come up wth some very creative themes and activities to engage the children.
James and Mrs Momp continue to look out for new things for the children to try -this week it was muffins at breakfast club! We continue to be grateful for the support being shown by our families and hope to continue to see new families making use of the service in these last few weeks of term.
Attendance Overview
Classes - since last newsletter
| Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
|
96.15% |
94.83% | 95.80% | 96.29% | 95.40% | 95.74% | 96.05% |
Whole School - since the start of the year
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 95.74% | 93.5% |
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 considers the relationship between two friends and how they overcome adversity. This story encourages us to consider how we say sorry.
A Look: Take a watch of the animated boom A boy, a Mole, a fox and a Horse.
A Hook: What is friendship to you?
Book..
Hook...
Look...
|
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001gn7t/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse
|
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 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 infomration about this to come soon.
Upcoming PSA Events
- 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
Reception have loved learning about minibeasts and have enjoyed making our own habitats for the minibeasts on our school grounds. We have been on many minibeast hunts, and have been taking good care of them when we find them by being gentle and returning them to where we found them. Keeping with the minibeast theme, we have been making minibeasts out of playdoh. We have also been using our phonics knowledge to read CVC words and match them to the right picture. In Maths, we have been practising our doubles, using ladybug's spots to help us with them. This week we have been learning about minibeasts that flutter and fly. We have been observing our own caterpillars and now they have gone into their chrysalis. We have looked at the life cycle of a butterfly and then had a go at writing the different steps. We have loved playing outside and have been building different car tracks as a team. We also had a really fun maths workshop for our Maths Week which included learning about 2D and 3D shapes - we even got to build our own rocket as a team!
Reception 2024 Newsletter
Year 1
Year 1 Newsletter 2024
Year 2
We have had a very busy few weeks! In Geography we are studying the 7 wonders of the world. Having learnt about the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, we decided to lay out metre rulers to measure its height - 30m! Then we measured the arm span of 28m. This gave us another chance to practise measuring in metres. In English, we are beginning a new leaflet about Brazil and we would love to learn more interesting facts at home with you. This week, we attended a maths workshop. We learnt how to measure a perimeter, build a cube and double the size of the cube! It was great fun and we remembered our shape vocabulary of vertices and edges in 3D shapes.
Year 2 Newsletter 2024
Year 3
Year 3 have been recapping our knowledge of 2D shapes and have learned about parallel and perpendicular lines. We have learned to identify some common polygons and quadrilaterals. In Science, we have learned how water is transported in the stems of a plant and used scientific equipment to observe the stems in celery. In PE, we have been improving our skipping skills, running skipping, partner skipping and skipping with the long rope. We have really enjoyed the geography fortnight and have been considering the question, 'Is traffic a problem in our area?'. We have worked as a class to collect data to answer this question, including observing the Hook Road to count the traffic.
Year 3 Newsletter 2024
Year 4
It's been another exciting week in Year 4! In Science, we've been exploring sound. We investigated whether sound travels better through a gas or solid by making our own cup-and-string telephones. We discovered that sound travels more clearly through the string than the air! We also used elastic bands to explore how we can change the pitch of a sound. In English, we had the exciting opportunity to take part in a live writing workshop for National Writing Day. Everyone created incredibly imaginative and creative stories with amazing endings! In indoor PE, we've been learning the Jerusalema dance, and we are really starting to master the moves - it has been so much fun! This week we celebrated 'Fieldwork Fortnight' and carried out some fieldwork by sorting rubbish we brought in from home. We wanted to investigate if most household waste is recyclable and we found that it is! We also celebrated 'Maths Week' which included a brilliant workshop all about shapes and perimeter. Finally, we are SO excited for our beach trip to Littlehampton - we can't wait!
Year 4 Newsletter 2024
Year 5
In English, we’ve been busy writing our own 'Just So Stories' inspired by Rudyard Kipling. We’ve tried to use some of his clever language and playful style in our own tales, and it’s been so much fun coming up with creative ideas for how animals got their features! In Maths, we’ve been continuing our work on fractions. We’ve been thinking carefully about how to find the size of a unit fraction, even when we’re only given a non-unit fraction – it’s made us really think about the relationships between numbers. In DT, we had a go at building bridges using just spaghetti and masking tape! It was a challenge, but we learned a lot about structure and stability. Afterwards, we used what we’d discovered to design our own bridges. We also took part in a brilliant Maths workshop where we explored tetrahedrons and looked for patterns in their shapes. We were amazed by how Maths can help us spot designs in 3D shapes. As part of our Geography Fieldwork, we have spent time thinking about how we could encourage more wildlife in our local environment – we had lots of great ideas and really enjoyed being outside and observing nature closely.
Year 5 Newsletter 2024
Year 6
Year 6 have been working hard on their production this week and we've worked on choreographing the dances to some of our songs. In English, we've been pushing ourselves to find the best vocabulary possible to develop atmosphere and tension in our independent writing based on the film "Catch - a - Lot". We've loved exploring how to use pathetic fallacy and to develop the use of personification too. We've focused on how to characterise the speech we use for each protagonist to help our reader's understand their motives and feelings rather than just telling our reader. This is another strategy to use show not tell. In our Art, we've enjoyed creating artwork that can make changes; we've looked at global warming and even using a geometric style for endangered animals. In our Geography, we designed surveys for staff and parents to find out more on the views about electric cars. We have really enjoyed debating the advantages and disadvantages of electric cars and how realistic it is to expect every household to own a vehicle like this. Finally, we've focused on problem solving in 'Maths Week' by looking at creating sequences in algebra too!
Year 6 Newsletter 2024
Team Points
Congratulations to Year 4 and Sapphires who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 16th June and to Year 2 and Rubies who were the team points winner for the week beginning 23rd June.
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 1st July: Year 5 Taster day at Chessington School
- Thurs 3rd July: Year 4 Keyboard Showcase at 2:40pm
- Fri 4th July: Year 1 Freshwater Workshop
- Fri 4th July: Year 6 Buddhist Temple Trip
- Fri 4th July: PSA Picnic in the Playground at 3:15pm
- Sun 6th July: Welcome Service at St Paul's Church - 10am
- Mon 7th July: Year 5 Albany Reach Trip
- Weds 9th July: Year 3 Kew Gardens Trip
- Thurs 10th July: Year 6 Leavers' Service at Southwark Cathedral
- Thurs 10th July: Reception, KS1 Choir and Violin Group Performance to parents/carers - 9:15am
- Fri 11th July: Year 2 Bushy Park Trip
- Fri 11th July: Reception Ugly Bug Ball
- Mon 14th July: KS1 Sports Festival at school - 9:15am to 10:00am Reception; 10:15am - 11:00am Year 1 (Parents/Carers welcome as spectators)
- Weds 16th July: Year 5 and Year 6 Production at 9:15am
- Thurs 17th July: KS2 Sports Day - 9:15am - 11:45am (Hollyfield Field - Parents/Carers welcome)
- Thurs 17th July: Year 2 'Races' Event - 1:00pm - 2:00pm (Hollyfield Field - Parents/Carers welcome)
- Fri 18th July: Year 5 and Year 6 Production at 9:15am
- Mon 21st July: Celebration Worship for Mrs Saddington and Mrs Walker at 2:30pm
- 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
- Weds 3rd Sept: 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.
