Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

Our week started with a very successful result in our participation in the Kingston Bee Netball competition, in which Christ Church came 7th out of 14 schools taking part in this tournament. Many thanks to Mr Brown, who stepped in at the last minute to lead this trip and for the help from Mrs Fardon and Mrs Brown who supported the trip and whose netball knowledge proved invaluable.

A big well done to Tiger class, who were next in line to lead us in their class worship on Wednesday and what a production they put on! This was a wonderful display of all their learning so far this year, including their ukulele playing!

Today and yesterday, we have enjoyed celebrating World Book Day, through creating wooden spoon characters lower down the school and our ‘decorate the door’ book competition for the older classes. The doors will be judged next week by our Pupil Leadership Team. 

Earlier in the week, a panel of governor judges also assembled to judge the ‘Writing to Change the World’ competition, including the adult competition, and news of the winners will follow within the next couple of weeks. 

Today, we also want to share with you our February newsletter which outlines beautifully the whole range of lovely learning that has been going on in recent weeks, so do have a look to see all that has been going on around the school.

We know that one of the most essential skills for children to learn early on at school is that of reading, and what a joy it is to see children reading and enjoying books. We are launching today a new initiative to enlist an army of new reading volunteers to support our children on a weekly basis, even if just for an hour, to hear children read. Please see the attached flyer advertising this. Please do email our school office if you are interested and we will then be in touch soon to let you know more as to how to get involved. Let’s get reading!

Please also look today at our new informative flyer regarding our Governors’ Fund. The flyer gives you more detail about how this fund has the power to transform our school further and details of how you could be part of it. We know these are challenging times for many of us, but in order to ensure we can make our school the best that it can be, then please do consider carefully what and how you could contribute. As you will know from the current series of teacher strikes and new coverage, these are clearly difficult financial times for all school budgets, including our own one at Christ Church, so every little (and large) helps! 

I hope our parents evenings next week and ‘learning look’ later in the term will be a good opportunity to touch base with your child’s class teacher and celebrate their learning. Thank you for all your on-going support for the school.

Key Updates for Parents

Teacher Vacancy

We are currently advertising for a class teacher. The deadline to apply is 20th March. Please see the eteach website for more information.

Cake for the Quake - Message from Helen Cleaves

A huge thank you for all the help in supporting the cake sale at New Malden Methodist Church last Saturday. All proceeds are being donated to the UNHCR. The Macaw contingent was delighted to see Miss Park (and her gorgeous dog) buying cakes with her mum. We've now raised over £2,000, with thanks to Harding Chartered Surveyors for donating £500 to the cause. The children did the school proud. They were absolutely brilliant ambassadors. They sold cakes, chatted to customers, cleaned tables, cleared away empty cups, made labels, took charge of the marketing and promotion, and more. Many of them had baked beforehand too. All were superstars: 

• Jago Jones
• Erin Syrus
• Alice and Oli Walker
• Emily and Ted Copley
• Emma Woolacott
• Ted and Finn Seymour

The parents were pretty amazing too – so many baked beforehand or came along on the day or both! It was a great reflection of the school community and our values.

Perform Drama - Easter Holiday Courses

Please see the attached for details of the three day courses being run by Perform Drama this Easter holiday.

Church/School Prayer group

Jointly between our school and Christ Church, we are beginning a new prayer group this term, which will be an opportunity to meet to pray for our school. The prayer meeting will be at the church and be jointly hosted by myself and Rev Stephen, and will meet about three or four times a year. The first one is Wednesday 15th March at 8pm-9pm. It is open to any parents, church members or friends of the school who would like to take a bit of time to offer up the school in prayer.

Learning Look 

Like last term, as well as next week’s parents evening, we are also providing an ‘in-person’ opportunity for the children to show off their learning, when you are invited into their classrooms and to look at work in their books. This will be on Thurs March 30th between 4.30pm - 5.30pm. Please note that this begins strictly at 4.30pm and we cannot accommodate entrance into classrooms before this time. We know the children will enjoy showing you their learning!

Key Dates - Spring 2023

• Monday 6th March - Junior Orienteering Morning
• 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 - SEN Parents Evening appointments - 3:00 - 6:00pm
• Thursday 9th March - Owl Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Friday 10th March - Junior Soloists Concert @ 9:00 a.m. - Years 4 and 6 / @ 10:30 a.m. - Years 3 and 5
• Monday 13th March - Infant Orienteering Morning
• Monday 13th March - Y6 Trip to Kew Gardens
• Wednesday 15th March - Church/School Prayer Group - 8pm-9pm
• Thursday 16th March - Y1 ZooLab African Safari Workshop
• Thursday 16th March - Lion Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Friday 17th March - PTA Quiz Night @ 7:30pm
• Tuesday 21st March - School Concert (Evening)
• Thursday 23rd March - Fox Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Saturday 25th March - Easter Egg Hunt
• Tuesday 28th March - Y3 Trip to Butser Ancient Farm
• Thursday 30th March - Learning Look - 4:30pm - 5:30pm
• Friday 31st March - Easter Service @ 9:45am
• Friday 31st March - Term finishes at 1.15pm (infants) and 1.30pm (juniors)