Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a fantastic start to the new school year! The children returned to school on Tuesday with smiles on their faces and have settled into their new classes and routines extremely well. The staff are full of praise for their new classes!

Cookery Room

Over the holidays we were busy in school with our annual programme of school maintenance and improvement. We are delighted that our new Cookery Room has been completed and will be in use very soon for whole class cookery lessons. It will also be used for Breakfast Club and NSSport as well as other activities throughout the year. We would like to thank all of your support of our PTA events last year which enabled the cookery room to be built.

8:45am start

Thank you for helping your children to come into school at the new time of 8:45am. Both attendance and punctuality have been excellent this week. The register is taken at 8:55am and children arriving after this point are recorded as late. Please continue to give your child the best start to the day, arriving on time and ready to learn.

Swimming Lessons

Children in Y3 to Y6 have swimming lessons as part of the PE curriculum. The swimming schedule for this year is as follows:

Autumn first-half: Y4 and Y6

Autumn second-half: Y3 and Y5

Spring first-half: Y4 and Y6

Spring second-half: Y3 and Y5

Summer first-half: Y4 and Y6

Summer second-half: Y3 and Y5

Swimming lessons will begin on Thursday 14th September for Y4 and Y6. More details will be sent by ParentMail to these classes on Monday.

Pupil Voice

In school we regularly ask the children for their opinions about the school and suggestions about how we can improve. Last year the children told us the following:

They wanted to see the return of Headteacher’s Tea as a reward for getting the Values Award which was stopped during the pandemic. I am happy to say that we had our first Headteacher’s Breakfast this morning with our Values Award winners - see below for the children’s names.

The children wanted a whole school Talent Show. The School Council organised this at the end of the Summer Term and it was great fun!

We had many requests for a Chess Club and we are delighted that a brand new chess club will be starting this term!

We have a ‘Have Your Say’ board in the school hall where children can make suggestions. Please do talk with your child at home about their ideas and encourage them to write these on the board.

Termly Dates

We are currently finalising the calendar of events for this term and these will be sent out by ParentMail shortly.

Pupil Premium Grant

If your circumstances have changed and you think that your child may now be eligible for the Pupil Premium Grant, please contact the school office and ask to speak to Mrs Diver the Pupil Premium Lead in confidence. More information about the Pupil Premium Grant is available on our school website: https://www.st-elizabeths.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Pupil+Premium&pid=27

School Meals

Please check your child’s reading packet for a blue letter regarding school meals which requires a response. Please would you kindly return this to school on Monday. The Caterlink menu for the first half of the Autumn term is attached.

Upcoming Events

Thursday 14th September 3:30pm: Piano concert in the school hall. All children are welcome to perform and parents are invited to attend. Please see the Parentmail from Mrs FitzGerald for more details.

School clubs will start on Monday 18th September.

Thursday 21st September 9:30am: Mass for the new school year prepared by Y5.

Values Awards

Congratulations to the following children who have received a Values Award and Headteacher’s Breakfast today:

Y1 - Javier

Y2 - Rita

Y3 - James

Y4 - Emilia

Y5 - Annabel

Y6 - Alex B

Summer Reading Challenge

We know that many of our pupils have taken part in the local libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge over the holiday. If your child has received a certificate please could they bring this into school on Monday and we will show these in the Friday Values assembly.

Wishing you a lovely, sunny weekend,

Jane Hines and the school staff