Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

It certainly has been a busy week at Christ Church, with some great learning going on, including our Year 1 trip to the Sealife Centre today and a visit from Rainbow Theatre company today for our Year 2 children as part of their Great Fire of London topic, which I know they have been enjoying - and doing some great writing about! It was also a delight to see the first of our infant class worships yesterday, as Hedgehog class ‘took to the stage’ to share about some of their learning over this term.

We are looking forward to our next author visit: Ellie Irving is visiting us on Mon 6th Feb and next week we will send out information on how you can purchase her books to be signed by Ellie on her visit. We will also purchase a couple of her books as well for our school library too, so nobody has to miss out. 

It was also a pleasure this morning to work with the junior Pupil Leadership Team (PLT), who were doing some classroom visit research in our junior classrooms, looking at how children are learning in each class; their insights and feedback was really helpful and will inform our ongoing focus on improving teaching and learning even more. Some comments included “the children were very focused in their learning”, "the children were confident to get on with their work”, “the teacher used diagrams and pictures to help the children to understand” and “the teacher made sure she gave children time to think”. We also had a good discussion on the merits of “hands up” in class and when this is a good thing, or not such a good thing. The PLT will be doing a similar exercise at the infants later in the term.

In other news, as mentioned in my email to you earlier in the week, the NEU has announced dates for teacher strikes during this term. Be assured that we will write to you again next week with further detail on what the implication of this is for our school on the first announced strike day of 1st February, but please be prepared for there to be disruption on this day.

Key Updates for Parents

Respectful Parking

We respectfully ask that parents, for the safety of ALL our children,  do not park on the yellow zig zag lines on either site at drop off or pick up time and understand that it is the same rule for all. Please do not be surprised if your number plate is taken and then shared in this bulletin if you park in this illegal place. Thank you everyone for your cooperation with this. 

SCL Holiday Club

Please see the attached flyer for details of SCL’s February Half Term Holiday Club.

Pop and Rock club

Our new Pop and Rock club still has places available for their Wednesday afterschool club. Details for booking are on the club page of our website.

Half Term Cookery Workshop

For details of a Valentines Day Cookery workshop on 14th February, please see the local events page of our website.

The Old Kingstonian Hockey Club - Free Trial Session

The Old Kingstonian HC is a local hockey club focusing on community hockey to inspire a life long love of the game across all abilities and ages. On 22nd January they are offering a free trial session to Kingston school children interested in playing hockey. All ages and abilities welcome. Please see the attached flyer to register.
 

Key Dates - Spring 2023

• Tuesday 24th January - Y4 A Child in Roman Britain Workshop (PM)
• Tuesday 24th January - Y6 SATs Talk @ 6pm
• Thursday 26th January - Kipling Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Friday 27th January - Y3/4 Choir - Cluster Concert at Rose Theatre
• Thursday 2nd February - Y5 Viking Workshop (PM)
• Friday 3rd February - PTA Disco - Reception - Y2: 3.30pm - 5pm & Y3 - Y6: 5.30pm - 7pm
• Monday 6th - Friday 10th February - Writing to Change the World Week
• Monday 6th - Friday 10th February - Chums Week
• Monday 6th February - Whole School - Visiting Author Ellie Irving
• Tuesday 7th February - Y2 Choir - Singing for Widow's Group at Christ Church @ 1:30pm
• Wednesday 8th February - Y6 Kingston Junior Citizen 2023 @ Chessington (pm)
• Thursday 9th February - Macaw Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Monday 13th - Friday 17th February - Half Term
• Thursday 23rd February - Fox Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Thursday 2nd March - World Book Day
• Thursday 2nd March - Tiger Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Tuesday 7th March - Parents’ Evening - 4:00 - 7:00pm
• Wednesday 8th March - Parents’ Evening - 3:00 - 6:00pm (School closes 1 hour early)
• Thursday 9th March - Owl Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Friday 10th March - Junior Soloists Concert - 9:15 - 11:45am
• Thursday 16th March - Lion Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Tuesday 21st March - School Concert (Evening)
• Thursday 30th March - Learning Look - 4:30 - 5:30pm
• Friday 31st March - Easter Service @ 9:45am