Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in school we have been learning about the beginning of Lent, the season of preparation for Easter.

Lent and Lenten Fundraiser

On Tuesday, the Pupil Chaplains led our assembly and presented three ways our school community can grow closer to God during Lent – Pray, Grow, Give.

For this year’s Lenten fundraiser, our Pupil Chaplains and Sports Committee have worked together to organise a whole school challenge to raise money to support those who have been affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The challenge is for each child to jog or run every day for 40 days! Each class will jog/run laps around their playground every day for 5 minutes during Lent, and we kindly ask family and friends to sponsor the children in this challenge. Children can even continue with this daily challenge on Saturdays and Sundays. Good luck everyone and we will share updates along the way!

We also held our annual pancake race on Tuesday with the whole school cheering on the house teams and staff. Congratulations to this year’s winners, Maximillian Kolbe House!

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. Thank you to the pupils in Y4, Miss McCrossan and the Y4 team for leading a beautiful Ash Wednesday Service, and for sharing with us the message that God loves us. Through reflections, drama and prayer, the children reminded us that Lent is a time when we can grow closer to God by reflecting on the times when we may not have made the right choice, and that we can make a change. It was lovely to welcome Georgia from St Elizabeth's Church to school who spoke to the children and helped distribute the ashes. We were also pleased to see so many parents and carers join us for the service.

This Week ..

As part of Y6’s History topic on Ancient Greece, Y6A and Y6T took part in an interactive workshop on Thursday with ‘Enrichment Through Archaeology’. This was a fantastic learning experience as the children handled real artefacts and excavated shards of pottery which they then put together to make a Grecian pot!

Sports News from Mr Sagar!

This week, the Sports Committee led an assembly with the Pupil Chaplains to launch the Lenten fundraiser. This is a great way to raise money for those in need in Turkey and Syria, and it helps encourage fitness at the same time! Children will test their own stamina at the start and end of Lent to see how much further they can run in 5 minutes. Good luck everyone!

On Wednesday, our Netball team took part in a Borough Netball tournament and they really did St Elizabeth’s proud! Our Netballers finished second in the morning league and finished third in the afternoon league, scoring some fantastic goals and showing great skill and teamwork. We were especially excited to find out that one of the umpires was Ky Lewis, an England Netball player. We got a great team photo with Ky!

‘Book and Arts Week 2023’ - 6th to 10th March

We are looking forward to celebrating our annual Book and Arts Week from 6th to 10th March. This year’s theme is “Books Bring Us Together” and there is a range of exciting activities planned for the children. Our visiting author is Smriti Halls who will run workshops with the children. Book Character Day will be on Thursday 9th March and children can come to school dressed as a book character of their choice or in their comfiest clothes for reading bedtime stories. To make it possible to provide such a fantastic range of activities, we do ask for a voluntary contribution of £5 per child to cover costs, thank you for your support.

Parents’ Meetings – Date change

We shared in the Spring Term Dates that the dates for the Parents’ Meetings were to be on 14th March and 16th March. Please note that the Parents’ Meetings will now take place on 13th March and 14th March. Information on booking your class teacher appointment will be sent next week.

Industrial action by members of the National Education Union (NEU)

This week we sent a ParentMail to remind parents and carers that the second of the four planned strike days by teachers is due to take place on Thursday 2nd March. Based on my understanding at this point of the number of teachers who will be taking strike action, it is likely that the school will need to be closed to pupils on Thursday 2nd March. It is possible that this situation may change and if this is the case we will write to update you.

Inspirational People

We are continuing our theme of Inspirational People across the whole school. The reading packets with examples of inspirational people are circulated around the classes. Please do share these with your child when they bring them home. We are also encouraging children to share an inspirational person of their choice to present in front of the school in assembly. Well done to Daisy in Y1 who introduced the school to Amelia Earhart in today’s assembly.

School Values Awards

Congratulations to the following children who have received Values Awards this week:

Reception – Lottie

Y1 – Elise

Y2 – Aidan

Y3 – Alianna

Y4 – Toby

Y5 – Olivia

Y6A - Gianna

Y6T – Eleri

Upcoming Dates

27th February at 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. Y6 Parents’ Meeting: Isle of Wight and Y6 National Curriculum Tests

27th February (all week) Y3 Safe Walking with London Borough of Richmond

1st March at 9:10 a.m. Assembly led by Y2 – Parents and carers invited to attend

2nd March Possible industrial action by members of the National Education Union (NEU)

6th March Y3 EV to Chiltern Open Air Museum

6th – 10th March Book & Arts Week for all classes

9th March Book Character Dress Up Day

9th March at 7:30pm PTA Quiz Night

14th March . Y6 Junior Citizen Safety Event at Holly Lodge

Notice of major road closure in Richmond starting Wednesday 1st March

The borough have posted this information about a major road closure in Richmond starting on Wednesday 1st March: https://www.richmond.gov.uk/news/february_2023/major_road_closure_in_richmond_starts_on_wednesday_1_march

Please plan your journey with plenty of time if this will affect your journey to and from school.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Jane Hines