St Paul's Newsletter
Friday 28th November 2025
Message from Mrs Evans
It has been an incredibly busy few weeks. It has been a pleasure to continue to show prospective parents around our wonderful school and it has been lovely to hear all of the singing that is taking place in preparation for the Nativity and Carol Concert. Our Christmas trips have begun with our first group making their way to the theatre last week and more to come next week. A huge thank you once again to the PSA for providing this opportunity for our children. Our choir also made their way to John Lewis to entertain shoppers - they were brilliant! Thank you to all of the family members and wider community who came along to support them.
We have had the first of our parent/carer meetings which were incredibly successful. It was lovely to see so many parents and carers and to hear about the positive conversations that had taken place.
We ended this week with Christmas coming early to St Paul's. It was fantastic to see so many of our children dressed up in festive outfits and we are looking forward to the Christmas Fair tomorrow.
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. Please can we also remind parent helpers that mobile phones must not be used during school trips. A reminder will also be given to parent helpers before leaving school. A huge thank you to the community for your positive support in this change of policy.
Parking on the Road
We ask that our parents/carers are considerate when parking in the roads local to school. We have been receiving complaints again about cars parked on double yellow lines and across drives which has made these inaccessible to local residents. Please remember that double yellow lines have been put in place for safety reasons - in order to keep all of our pupils safe we ask that you do not park on these.
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 |
|
97.96% |
92.83% | 94.44% | 95.74% | 93.15% | 96.36% | 95.98% |
Whole School - since the start of the year
| Our Target | Current Attendance | National |
| 97% | 96.62% | 95.24% |
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 synced 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.
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.
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 had a very exciting week - we celebrated Paddington's birthday! We had to guess what was in his present box and then got to open it on Friday. We did some baking ready for Paddington's party on Friday, discussing what we needed for a cake and weighing the ingredients. On Friday, we went into the hall for a party and played party games with Paddington. This week in Reception we have been writing our list for Father Christmas ready to post our letters to him next week. We have also been using magazines to cut out things we'd like and made a wish list. Thank you to everyone who made some playdoh for us to use this week at school, we have been making different Christmas decorations and answering maths questions using it.
Reception Newsletter 2025-26
Year 1
In Year 1 we have enjoyed learning about wholes and parts in Maths. We used a pear to show a whole and then cut it up to see how it can be split into two parts or even lots of parts! In English, we’ve been writing letters to Beegu. We talked about the questions we wanted to ask and practised putting question marks at the end. In Art, we explored different kinds of lines and listened to different types of music to see how it changed the way we moved our pencils and the lines we drew. We looked at trying out different pressures to see how it changed the way the lines looked. We also learnt how to log into the Chromebooks with our special logins and passwords which we were all very excited about!
Year 1 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 2
Year 2 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 3
Year 3 are really enjoying writing our final poem this week, ensuring that we include a variety of the techniques that we have learned. We have started our Christmas topic in RE where we discussed what peace means to us and the meaning behind the words 'Prince of Peace'. In Science, we have enjoyed experimenting with magnets to see which materials they attract and also noticed how magnets can create a non-contact force. We are becoming more confident with some sewing and applique skills in preparation for making cushions in DT and are looking forward to creating them. We have continued to use atlases to support our learning about the Americas, where we have particularly been focusing on South America and how it compares to North America.
Year 3 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 4
Year 4 have continued reading Varjak Paw in English. We have been focusing on writing speech, working hard on editing our work and making sure our inverted commas are included in the correct places. In History, we have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Romans and how they conquered Britain. We looked at Hadrian's Wall and considered the feelings of both the Celts and the Romans at this point. In Maths, we have been looking at perimeter and using our times table facts to help us to find the perimeter of regular polygons. In Computing, we have been making tessellations on scratch thinking about how we can programme it to form different shapes. In RE, we have been looking at the meaning of advent candles and enjoying our count down to Christmas!
Year 4 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 5
Year 5 Newsletter 2025-26
Year 6
This week in Year 6 we have continued to work very hard and enjoy our learning across the curriculum. In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of long division focusing on following the steps carefully and using our multiplication facts to support our accuracy. We’ve also enjoyed taking part in the whole-school Maths Week activities, including making Möbius strips and exploring how one piece of paper can transform into a one-sided shape! In Science, we have continued our work on electricity by building and drawing parallel and series circuits. We were very lucky to learn from Mrs Velzeboer, a science teacher from a local secondary school, who guided us through practical circuit investigations. We worked carefully and sensibly when constructing our parallel and series circuits and took our time to draw accurate scientific diagrams to show our understanding. In English, we finished editing and publishing our informative non-chronological reports about the animals that served in World War 1. Our final reports are clear, interesting and full of the facts that we researched ourselves.
Year 6 Newsletter 2025-26
Team Points
Congratulations to Year 3 and Rubies who were the Team Points winners for the week beginning 17th November and to Year 4 and Rubies who were the team points winners for the week beginning 24th November.
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!
Miss C's Half-Marathon
Miss C is running the London Landmarks half-marathon on 12th April She is raising money for 'Hope and Homes for Children' who work to get children from orphanages back to their families. She is raising money through a just giving page - the link is here if you would like to support her:
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
- Sat 29th Nov: PSA Christmas Fair 12pm - 3pm
- Tues 2nd Dec: Early Finish at 2:30pm
- Tues 2nd Dec: Parent/Carer Meetings 3pm - 6pm
- Weds 3rd Dec: Class Reps at 10am
- Weds 3rd Dec: Year 1 Workshop
- Weds 3rd Dec: Year 5 Rose Theatre Trip
- Fri 5th Dec: Reception Postbox and Library Trip
- Fri 5th Dec: Parent Prayer Meeting at 9am
- Fri 5th Dec: Year 3 and Year 4 Polka Theatre Trip
- Mon 8th Dec: iRock Parents/Carers Concert at 2:30pm
- Tues 9th Dec: KS1 Nativity at 9:15am (adults only)
- Tues 9th Dec: Year 6 Rose Theatre Trip
- Weds 10th Dec: PSA Children's Christmas Market
- Thurs 11th Dec: KS1 Nativity at 9:15am (siblings welcome)
- Thurs 11th Dec: Year 5 Hindleap Warren Parent/Carer Meeting at 2:30pm
- Fri 12th Dec: PSA Children's Christmas Market
- Mon 15th Dec: KS2 Christmas Concert at 9:15am (adults only)
- Mon 15th Dec: KS2 Choir singing at Trafalgar Square
- Tues 16th Dec: KS2 Christmas Concert at 9:15am (siblings welcome)
- Tues 16th Dec: Whole School Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day
- Thurs 18th Dec: Reception and Year 1 Christmas Film
- Fri 19th Dec: Christmas Service at St Paul's Church at 9:15am - parents and carers welcome
- Fri 19th Dec: End of Term (2pm finish)
- Mon 5th Jan: INSET DAY (school closed to children)
- Tues 6th 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.
