Dear Parents and Carers,

This will be the last Weekly Update you will receive by ParentMail as we will be changing to our new communications provider Arbor next week. Thank you to the 52% of parents who have already set up their Arbor accounts. We are aiming to have 100% of families registered by Monday 17th June. The instructions were emailed to you yesterday so please do activate your account over the weekend to ensure that you receive essential communications from school from next week.

As is the case with any new system, there can sometimes be ‘teething problems’ in the early stages. The school office are working with Arbor to make the change as smooth as possible and are also on hand to help if you need any support accessing your account.

This week in school

Science Fortnight

We have had a Science focus over the last two weeks in school with each class carrying out investigations to develop their skills of scientific enquiry. The children and staff loved having the ducklings with us for the two weeks and have been amazed at the speed at which they grow! There were also visits to Holly Lodge to learn about ‘Growing’ for Y2 and to Twickenham Beekeepers’ Association for Y3. Both of these are fantastic hands-on experiences for the children and we are so lucky to have these so close to us. Please do visit the Twickenham Beekeepers’ website at https://twickenhambeekeepers.apps-1and1.net/open-day/ for details of its annual open day tomorrow, Saturday 15th June.

Thank you to Mrs Sheridan for organising Science Fortnight and also to the parents who came in to school to talk to the classes about their careers in Science.

Reception Assembly

Our Reception children led the whole school in prayer wonderfully yesterday. With a focus on God’s gift of the world, they acted out the story of creation. They also explained that they are going to be raising money as a class to provide a well to bring running water to a community that needs this. They spoke and sang so beautifully – we were all very proud of them.

Next week in school

National School Sports Week

Next week is National School Sports Week, during which schools around the UK will be celebrating the sports and activities their children take part in. Our Y6 Sports Committee will be leading an assembly and introducing the week's challenge activities. If your child would like to send in a photograph of them participating in a sport taken recently to include in the assembly slideshow, these may be uploaded through Google Classroom. We are looking forward to a fun week of sports challenges to coincide with Euro 2024 and the T20 Cricket World Cup!

Paris Olympics Day

On Tuesday 18th June, children in Y3 to Y6 will be taking part in French workshops to learn about the upcoming Paris Olympics.

Y6 Shakespeare’s Hamlet Workshop

On Wednesday 19th June, our Y6 children will be taking part in a workshop on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, led by actors from the Orange Tree Theatre. This will be followed by them attending an interactive performance of Hamlet at the Orange Tree Theatre on Friday 28th June.

Upcoming Events

June

19th 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Y6 Orange Tree Theatre Shakespeare workshop

24th a.m. Y6 Choices workshop

28th 1:30 p.m. Y6 visit to Orange Tree for performance of Hamlet

July

1st School clubs last full week

4th St Elizabeth’s Feast Day Mass TBC

5th 9:30 a.m. KS2 Sports Day at Christ’s School playing fields

11th 9:30 a.m. KS1 Sports Day

11th Last swimming lesson for Y6 & Y3

12th 6:00 p.m. PTA Summer BBQ – all invited

17th 7:00 p.m. Y6 Production

18th 7:00 p.m. Y6 Production

22nd 9:15 a.m. Richmond Library Summer Reading Challenge

Date TBC Mass for Y6 Leavers’ intentions

24th 2:00 p.m. End of Term

Values Awards

Congratulations to the following children for living our school values this week.

Reception: Leo and Anna

Y1: Jimmy

Y2: Kabir

Y3: Freya

Y4: Maximus J

Y5: Freddy

Y6: Olivia

Million Word Readers

Congratulations to Jack and Kit in Y4, and Zeynep in Y6, who have read one million words!

Well done also to Zac, Freddy, Annabel and Zoe in Y5 and Wiktor, Callen, Elisa and Leyre in Y6 for participating in the SPARK Book Award. The SPARK Book Award involves panels of children from schools across Richmond and Kingston who read and share their opinions about a range of books before voting for their favourite. The winning books will be announced on 5th July and for more information about the recommended books please visit https://www.sparkbookawards.co.uk/the-awards

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week is 96.84%. Congratulations to Y2 for having the highest attendance this week with 98.12%. This is closely followed by Y1 which has 98% attendance.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Jane Hines