Dear Parents and Carers 08/02/2024

I hope that you found it helpful to meet with the teachers yesterday – they were very positive about having the opportunity to meet and chat with you. If you have not managed to meet with your child’s teacher yet, please do see if something can be arranged directly with them.

Next week will be half-term so we hope you have a great week and look forward to seeing you again on Monday 19th February.

Nursery applications

Applications for nursery enrolment in September 2024 close on March 1st.  If your child was born between 01/09/2020 and 31/08/2021 and you are interested in them joining our nursery, please come to the office for an application form or download one from our website.  We also need to take a copy of your child’s birth certificate or passport.  Offers will be sent out in early May.

Lunar New Year 

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Lunar New Year (that takes place on Saturday 10th February). Children can wear something red for the day. It is not a mufti day or fund raiser so if you do not have something red then just wear school uniform as usual.   The catering staff will serve lunches linked to the celebration and the hall will be decorated for the occasion too. 

Help!

The Junior Library is very short of volunteers and needs your help! Ideally, we need people who can help from 9-9.45 Monday-Wednesday. Lizzie (who kindly looks after the library already and is an expert) will provide training so you know exactly what should be done. It involves sorting the books on the shelves, scanning back in books brought by the children and helping children to navigate the library and choose new books. Do please contact Mrs Brown hbrown@htprimary.com if you think you might be able to help in any way. Many thanks.

And more help……

Could you help with our artefact collection?

We are fortunate to have lots of historical artefacts in school to help children engage with their history lessons and really understand what life was like in a particular era. However, there are some units that we would like help with and would be very grateful for any donations. If you have any items from the list below then please deliver them to Mr Auton in Woodpecker Class or via your child’s class teacher.

Communication Then and Now – Typewriters, old mobile phones (not smartphones), dial telephones

My Local High Street – Old photographs of Richmond or Sheen – we can photocopy if they are not digital

How has transport changed over time? – Models of steam trains, old vehicles etc.

If you have any items or children’s books which you think would be of interest for our other history units then that would be great:

• Seaside then and Now
• Famous Queens
• Great Fire of London
• Stone Age to the Iron Age
• Romans in London and Britain
• The British Empire
• First in Flight (The Wright Brothers, Amy Johnson, Space Race)
• Anglo-Saxons, Scots and Vikings
• History of the River Thames
• Explorers
• Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
• Ancient Greece
• Kingdom of Benin
• Destruction of Pompeii
• The story of migration to Britain
• The Normans
• Medieval Times – Castles and Knights
• Tudors
• Stuarts – Gunpowder Plot, Fire of London, The Plague, English Civil War
• Victorians
• World War 2

Thank you. Mr Auton

Forest School 

Y3 enjoyed some outdoor learning in their Forest School session. They made organic and bird  feeders using oranges, explored biodiversity in the area and created log ‘skyscrapers’ for insects and squirrels to climb.

World Book Day

On Thursday 7th March 2024, we will be celebrating World Book Day! The children are encouraged to come into school dressed as one of their favourite book characters. As always, we are very conscious of our impact on the environment so please re-use costumes where possible or your child may wish to make their costume. 

If you have any old costumes that you no longer have any use for, then the school would be grateful for any costume donations. During this day, we will also be having a parade, if children would like to partake, and other fun World Book Day related activities. We look forward to what we hope will be a wonderful day! Miss Jobbins 

Eco Conference

Our Eco reps attended a conference at Tiffin Girls’ School on Tuesday, 6th February. They listened to speakers from GreenPeace and Born free and learnt what was being done to protect our oceans and biodiversity.  They also enjoyed workshops that included reusing plastic waste, taking part in a swap shop, and making seed bombs.  

Safer Internet Day

The 2024 edition of Safer Internet Day took place on Tuesday 6th February 2024. This special celebration, which takes place in February of each year, aims to raise awareness of a safer and better internet for all, and especially for children and young people. The UK theme for Safer Internet Day 2024 is “Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online.” Top tips for children and parents and carers to talk about internet safety are available here: https://saferinternet.org.uk/sid-parents

Safer Internet Day 2024 coincides with Children’s Mental Health Week, which is organised by Place2Be. To find out more about the week visit: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

Values Champions 

Last week: Bonnie, Alan, Agnes, Imad, Amir, Chloe, Emma, Ben, Ayen, Bulut, Isla, Matias, Abigale, Harry, Erin, Anna L, Ethan, Twyla, Kayson, Katarina, Gideon, Katie, Victor, Emily, Leo and Sophia.

This week: Iremide, Jack, Archie, Orla, Isabella, Clemente, Aahil, Sienna, Emily, Sammy, Ruby, Niam, Nehir, Fraser, Johnny, Elena, Dominic, Hazel, Tristan, Josh, Mia, Lucas, Sophia, Mohammed, Cian and Karis.

House Points: Last week – Attenborough; this week – Pankhurst

Attendance: Overall 95.86%; Leopard Class 99.00%

Birthday Books 

Thank you to Giselle Chan, Shin Yeap, Warren and Erin Tam for their birthday books – the school is very grateful. We hope you all had wonderful birthdays.

Learn to swim this half term holiday

Children can learn to swim this half term holiday with our wide range of crash courses and workshops available at Teddington Pools and Fitness Centre and Pools on the Park. Bookings can be made by calling us on 020 3772 2999 or in person at the centre reception. Please see the website for more information.

Helping children with……

The ‘Helping children with…’ series of webinars for parents from our Mental Health Support Team offer soon after half term includes a workshop on Sleep and Worries.

Sleep

The ‘Helping children with sleep’ webinar introduces a number of key concepts and strategies to support you in creating a healthy bedtime routine for your child. This webinar focuses on the importance of sleep due to its impact on child development and wellbeing, and explores key components in enhancing sleep quality. Please follow the link to book. 

Online event: 27th February 6pm-7.15pm

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeD9PZ-DDFPRfPnkn_9fVIRv361Bx1hwGr1IDnZnBoJuQr1XA/viewform

On line event: 28th February 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1JuaLvNUCnxm0N-CbmEoazkHC17lSwH3vYEK8GI_xrRUr7A/viewform

Worries

The ‘Helping children with worries’ webinar will help you learn ways to support your child in dealing with their big feelings, worries and fears. This webinar will give you practical ideas on how to help your child to think more positively and develop their self confidence. You will also be introduced to some helpful cognitive behavioural therapy concepts. Please follow the link to book.

Online event: 7th March at 6pm-7.15pm

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdrBl057IOF0O_xohu6vNV0Eji_A5PsMn7QzvUW8JsEsjJHvA/viewform

Online event: 8th March at 9am-10.15am

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfb1zfWQvzQQpxkgVkTkb4o-lXw0le_0W_ndxndO7JysfCPMw/viewform