Dear Parents and Carers,

What an exciting and busy week we have had, celebrating Book & Arts Week!

Book Week and Arts Week

This year's theme was Dreams, inspired by the incredible wordless picture book Free Fall by David Wiesner. Each class explored the book's detailed and captivating illustrations, sparking wonderful discussions about what our own dreams might look like.

Artist Workshops

On Monday and Wednesday, we were lucky to welcome a talented artist, Lucy, who led collage workshops inspired by Free Fall and the children’s dreamscapes. Each class spent an hour experimenting with a range of materials to create some absolutely fantastic artworks, filled with imagination and creativity. These beautiful pieces are now proudly displayed in the corridors for everyone to enjoy.

Visit by author Zoe Antoniades

On Tuesday, local author Zoe Antoniades spoke to all the children about her exciting series of books featuring twins Cally and Jimmy. KS1 enjoyed an engaging story with her and Zoe spoke to Year 3 and 4 about her journey to becoming an author and its challenges and rewards. Year 5 and Year 6 had creative writing workshops exploring planning and writing a story using a story mountain.

Book Swap

Thursday brought our exciting Book Swap event. A huge thank you to everyone who kindly donated books for others to choose from. The children thoroughly enjoyed browsing the fantastic selection of titles and picking out a new book to take home.

Librarian assemblies

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Year 6 Librarians celebrated the different countries that we all come from by reading stories in their home languages during assembly. The children enjoyed listening to fairy tales in German, Polish and English.

Book Character Day

Today was the much-anticipated Book Character Day, and what a spectacular sight it was! The children looked fantastic in their creative costumes, proudly sharing their favourite characters with friends. Our staff also got in on the fun, showcasing their brilliant dress-up skills too!

A special thank you goes to Mrs Mottram and Mrs Briggs for their incredible effort in organising such a memorable week. Thanks also to all the staff who supported the activities and ensured the children had a fantastic experience from start to finish.

Thank you to all our parents for your support in making Book & Arts Week such a special event — we can't wait to do it all again next year!

Congratulations to budding writers in Y5!

Congratulations to the following children in Y5 who are going to have their poems published in a poetry anthology as part of the Young Writers’ Poetry competition.

Jack, Ben, Emily, Ujaan, Kate, Dylan, Kai, Maxim, Audrey, Dearbhla, Kit, Alianna, Mia, Honor and Alice.

We look forward to seeing their work in print soon!

Our Journey through Lent

Sponsored Spell for the Catholic Children’s Society

Your child will have received their spelling list for the Sponsored Spell taking place on 26^th March.  Please help them to practise the words and collect sponsors.  All monies collected will be going to the Catholic Children’s Society.

CAFOD Lent Fast Day

CAFOD Family Fast Day is taking place in parishes today.  We are encouraging children to bring a donation of £1 into school on Monday which will support CAFODs work improving the lives of people in need overseas. 

For more information about our activities throughout Lent, please read the separate RE and Catholic Life newsletter.

Next week in school

Y5 to Sayers Croft

Our Y5 children will be heading off to Sayers Croft in the Surrey Hills for two nights next Wednesday.  We hope they all have a wonderful time, have fun together and make memories!

St Patrick’s Day

All those who are celebrating St Patrick’s Day on Monday are invited to wear something green to school.

Information for Parents

Parent – Teacher meetings

Parent - Teacher meetings are taking place on Tuesday 25^th March and Thursday 27^th March from 3:30pm to 6:30pm.  An email with details of how to book appointments was sent to parents on Thursday this week and the booking system will close on Tuesday 18^th March.  Please contact the school office if you would like assistance in booking your appointment.

Reception Cake Sale

Thank you for your support of the Reception Cake Sale which raised an amazing £275.25.  Thank you too to the Reception parents and children for their fabulous baking!

Upcoming Events

MARCH

17th  Other Faiths - Judaism Week

18th  9:30 a.m.  Y6 Junior Citizen Safety Event at Holly Lodge

19th  All day  Y3 visit to Chiltern Open Air Museum

19th – 21st  Y5 School Journey to Sayers Croft

24th  Last full week of clubs

25th  3:30 – 6:30 p.m.  Parents’ Meetings

26th  Sponsored Spell for Catholic Children’s Society

27th  pm  Richmond Borough Orchestral Concert

27th  3:30 – 6:30 p.m.  Parents’ Meetings

28th  9:30 a.m.  Y4 Passion Play – parents invited

APRIL

2nd  p.m.  Richmond Music Trust Singing Festival

3rd  a.m.  Stations of the Cross

                  Individual Confessions for Y5 and Y6

3rd  10:30 a.m.  Y4 & Y3 last swimming session

4th  Non-uniform day for Catholic Children’s Society

4th  2:00 p.m.  Term ends. Children to be collected at 2pm

Attendance and Punctuality this week

Congratulations to Y1 for having the highest attendance this week with 100%! This is closely followed by Y2 with 98.3%.

Well done to Y5 again for having highest punctuality this week with 100% of children coming to school on time this week!

For more information about the importance of attendance and the impact that persistent absence has on a child’s education, please read this government report, published today. https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/why-school-attendance-matters-and-what-were-doing-to-improve-it/

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Jane Hines and the staff of St Elizabeth’s