Dear Parents and Carers,

This half-term seems to have flown by and the half-term holiday is here! We hope you all have a restful week and we look forward to seeing the children back in school on Monday 24th February.

This week in school

Y5 Class Liturgy

Thank you to the Y5 children who led a liturgy on the theme of ‘Freedom and Responsibility’ yesterday. The children explored how with freedom, we have the responsibility to make choices which help the ‘common good’. They also showed us how we can live Jesus’ commandment which is also our school mission, to ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ The children spoke and sang beautifully and we all enjoyed the ‘liturgical band’.

Y2 Great Fire of London Day

On Tuesday Y2 had a drama workshop where they explored what it felt like to be living in London at the time of the Great Fire of 1666. The children then created a scaled down version of the Great Fire, burning the half-timbered houses they had created for their half-term projects to see how the fire spread from building to building.

The Explorer Dome in school

The Explorer Dome was with us in school today delivering science workshops on Space for Reception and Y5, Sound for Y4 and Light for Y6. The Explorer Dome is a unique immersive experience which involves the children exploring science through sound and visual projections within a large blow up dome!

Sports update from Mr Sagar and Mrs Knowles

It has been another busy week of sport at St Elizabeth's.

Yesterday, the swimming team impressed at the annual borough gala at Pools in the Park. There were fantastic performances across the team with plenty of medals being won. Individually, there were wins for Layla in backstroke and second places for Jack and Beatrice in freestyle. We are particularly proud that St Elizabeth's won the mixed relay race - a special well done to Patrick, Colton, Jack, Beatrice and Esme.  Well done to all the swimming squad for their hard work and thank you to our parent coordinators Mrs Andrews and Mrs Kelly.

On Monday, both football teams were in action against Deer Park school. The weather started off poorly and as the games progressed it grew colder and wetter. The children worked hard and battled with the opposition and the conditions, with Oliver and Ola being voted players of the matches by the opposition.

Safer Internet Day

It was Safer Internet Day on Tuesday when schools across the country have a focus on learning how to stay safe online. This year’s theme was protecting yourself from scams. You and your KS2 child can test your ability to spot and respond to scams in this safer internet quiz: https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2025/quiz-for-7-11-year-olds

Bollywood Night

Last Friday’s Bollywood Night was a great success! Thank you to Sandia Furtado for leading the dancing and to the Y6 team of parents for the wonderful food, decorations and atmosphere. All money raised will go to the Y6 production and end of year activities.

Cake Sales

The PTA would like to thank all the parents and carers who have supported the cake sales this term helping us to buy resources for the classes. This term the cakes sales have raised:

Y3 £234.41
Y4 £269.97
Y5 £262.79

Thank you!

Next week in school

Y5 Sayers Croft Meeting 27th February at 9am

All Y5 parents are invited to come to a meeting to hear about the upcoming visit to Sayers Croft.

Orchestra Concert

The instrumental concert will be taking place in the school hall at 5:30pm on 27th February. All children who play an instrument other than the piano are encouraged to take part. Children should speak to Mrs FitzGerald to let her know they would like to play and look out for the separate email with more details.

Advanced notice:

Cycling Proficiency for Y6

Y6 children will be taking part in cycling proficiency in the week of 3rd March. Half-term would be a good time for children to practise cycling and check that their bikes are in good working order in readiness for this. We can arrange for your child to borrow a bike for the cycling sessions if needed.

Upcoming Events

FEBRUARY
14th 3:15pm Half-term holiday begins
24th a.m. School returns after half-term holiday
27th 9:00 a.m. Y5 Parents’ Meeting: Sayers Croft residential visit
27th 10:30 a.m. Y4 & Y3 swimming sessions begin
27th 5:30 p.m. Orchestra concert

MARCH
3rd a.m. all week Y6 Cycling Proficiency
3rd p.m. Y3 Safe Walking with Richmond Safety Team
4th 9:00 a.m. Y6 Parents’ Meeting: SATs & PGL residential visit
5th 1:30pm Ash Wednesday Liturgy prepared by Y6 – parents invited
6th 9:00 a.m. Y1 Phonics workshop and Class Concert
6th 9:30 – 10:15 a.m. World Book Day: Y5 and Y6 Quiz online
6th 2:30 p.m. Y2 Class Concert – parents invited
7th 9:00 a.m. Reception Class Concert – parents invited
10th – 14th Book & Arts Week for all classes
11th All day Author visit: Zoe Antoniades
14th a.m. Book Character Day – children come to school dressed as a book character

Attendance and Punctuality this week

Congratulations to Y1 for having the highest attendance this week with 98.67%!

This week has been challenging at times due to the road works in Richmond and problems with public transport, but well done to Y2 for having the best punctuality this week!

Wishing you a lovely half-term holiday,

Jane Hines and the staff of St Elizabeth’s