Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s been a rainy start to the new half term, but the downpours have not dampened our enthusiasm this week!

All Saints’ Day Mass

On Wednesday, our KS2 classes attended Mass for All Saints’ Day at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church. Once again, it felt very special to be part of the parish Mass. Thank you to Mgr Bill and the parishioners for welcoming us and to Y4 pupils for leading the prayers and readings.

Y4 Visit to ‘Orchestra Unwrapped’

On Thursday, our Y4 class were lucky enough to visit the Royal Festival Hall in London for a concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra. The purpose of the concert was to give the children an introduction to the orchestra and included pieces such as ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ and ‘How far I’ll go’ from Disney’s Moana. Dylan said, “I especially loved watching the percussion and the drums in the Orchestra. The best bit was the Star Wars theme at the end!”.

CAFOD Catholic Social Teaching

Today we had a visitor from CAFOD to talk to all classes about Catholic Social Teaching. The children learned about the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, which tell us how our faith guides our actions. They learnt that by living out Catholic Social Teaching we can work towards building a world of justice, love and peace where everyone has what they need. This is a very positive and powerful way to develop children’s understanding of social justice which we will be exploring further over the year. If you would like to find out more about Catholic Social Teaching, please visit: https://cafod.org.uk/pray/catholic-social-teaching

Remembering Friends in Heaven in November

November is the month when we remember and pray for those who have died. Children are invited to bring in photographs of family members who have died to place on our Table of Remembrance which our Pupil Chaplains have prepared. We share these photographs in assemblies in a sensitive way and we pray the ‘Eternal Rest’ together as a school community. Photographs in frames or printouts of photographs can be brought in during November and will be returned to children at the end of the month.

Black History Month Research

Well done to all the children who carried out research into an inspirational person as part of Black History Month. We will be presenting these in assemblies from next week.

Vaccination Update

All children, for whom consent was given, received their flu vaccination on Tuesday this week. If you missed consenting for the vaccination or your child was absent on Tuesday and missed their vaccination, please see the attached poster regarding catch-up clinics on 25th November and 9th December.

We have also received information below, for parents regarding the MMR vaccinations.

Primary-age children who have not received MMR vaccination are encouraged to book an appointment at the upcoming catch-up clinic
Measles is a highly infectious illness and can make your child seriously unwell. The free MMR vaccine is a safe and effective way of protecting against measles, as well as mumps and rubella. Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust are running two catch-up clinics to provide MMR vaccination to primary-age children in Richmond and Kingston who have not yet received their MMR vaccinations. If your child has missed their first or second dose of the MMR vaccine, book an appointment at the upcoming clinic.
Date: Friday 15 December 2023, 15:00 – 16:30
Location: Centre House, 68 Sheen Lane, Sheen, SW14 8LP
To book an appointment at the clinic, please phone the immunisation call centre on 0208 487 1730 or email: hrch.immunisationcallcentre@nhs.net

Message from NSSport after-school care

NSSport now takes place in the Food and Technology room every day and Jenny and her team are delighted with the new phone that has been installed there this week. This should make pick-ups much easier and quicker. When you come to collect your child from NSSport, please press the buzzer on the school gate and/or ring the school telephone number to speak with the NSSport team.

Upcoming Dates

Parents’ Meetings - Tuesday 7th November and Thursday 9th November from 3:30pm to 6:30pm

For Reception only, Tuesday 7th November and Wednesday 8th November from 3:30pm to 6:30pm

Vocal Concert – Wednesday 8th November at 6pm. All are welcome to attend.

Y6 Assembly on Remembrance - Friday 10th November at 9:10am – all parents and carers invited.

And finally, attendance in school for the past week was 97.58% - well done everyone! Congratulations go to Y4 for being the class with the highest attendance at 98.82%

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Jane Hines