Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

It’s been a great week, seeing children getting settled in their new classes and already seeing some evidence of great work and new learning, and the children taking pride in this. It was a pleasure to host our first ‘Pupils of the Week’ tea parties over the last week, and I have already been giving out some gold ‘headteacher award’ stickers, for things such as excellent writing and phonics work. We’ve been learning about ‘belonging together’ and part of this is knowing the value that each person brings to our community. On that note, it has been so lovely to give a good Christ Church welcome to a wonderful handful of new children to our school, and all of our junior classes are now full.

We continue to focus on our ‘seven norms’ as we get started this year, and we will be extending this to other aspects of school life as we go through the year. Thank you for your support with these! Part of the ‘belonging together’ theme is knowing how we do things, how we speak, act and treat each other, and seeing this in practice on a day-to-day basis.

Of course, the most important thing in setting the norm of ensuring high achievement and happiness at school, and that sense of belonging, is to be present. At Christ Church, we have a good record of pupil attendance compared to national averages, which is great to see. Please be reminded that we do not authorise absence except in exceptional circumstances. Family holidays or trips away are not authorised. Times away for unavoidable emergencies or for specific educational reasons may sometimes, in exceptional circumstances, be authorised, sometimes for just part of the time frame. Following all government guidance and recent updates to legislation, we will be reviewing our attendance policy further later this term. Please note that we do closely track patterns of attendance from year to year and, along with government guidance, this includes using fixed penalty notices in some circumstances for unauthorised absence. More on this later in the term, when we share our reviewed attendance policy with you.

It’s definitely feeling a bit Autumnal out there, but I hope you have a good weekend, whether you are out and about or staying in by the fire!

Our School Updates for Parents

A shout out for old uniform!

Hi from the Early Years! If anyone has the old white PE t-shirts going spare, Turtle Class and Rainbow Nursery would love to have them for their Mud Kitchen! You can give the spare t-shirts to your class teacher and then I will collect them every Wednesday for the rest of the term! Many thanks, Miss Crooke (Turtle and Rainbow Teacher).

Year 4 /5 /6 - Soloist Concert - Friday 18th October in the Junior Hall (exact times to be confirmed)

If your child plays an instrument or sings and they would like to take part, they can send in an audition video to Mrs Bond (lucy.bond@ccnm.uk) by Monday 23rd September (but sooner if possible). This will then give the teachers time to look through all of the auditions to choose a variety of performances for the concert, and allow time for rehearsing at school with the piano if needed. Parents will be invited to watch the concert as will the children's classmates.Timings: The last few soloist concerts have been quite long so please aim to keep the pieces short - it may be possible to do an extract of a very long piece or cut out repeats. If your child is choosing a song, maybe stick to one or two verses and a chorus. Also please make sure the lyrics are appropriate and the song can be sung easily by a child (some pop songs are not suitable for young voices). The children may sing in a group with friends if they can arrange a video audition together. We will be available to accompany instrumental pieces and songs if needed, but music will need to be provided (or a backing track found). Please note - this concert is for children in Years 4, 5 and 6 only. The Year 3 children will have an opportunity to perform later in the year.

Parent Musicians Needed

We are looking for parents who may be current musicians or ex instrumentalists to come in and show different instruments to the children. As part of the musical journey at Christ Church, there are several topics that involve listening to or finding out about orchestral instruments. If you play now and would be able to do a demonstration at some point that would be fantastic - or if you have an instrument from your childhood that you could show to the children and demonstrate even a couple of notes that would also be really helpful. The children are always delighted to see different instruments and a very friendly audience! We are especially always looking out for slightly rarer instruments such as the bassoon / tuba etc, however all very welcome. If you are able to help at some point, please email Mrs Bond at lucy.bond@ccnm.uk.

Secondary School Application Deadline

Please can we remind Year 6 parents/carers that the deadline for secondary school applications is Thursday, 31st October.  Please remember to complete your on-line application if you haven't already done so. Please go to eAdmissions to apply.

Clubs this term

Clubs start w/c 16th September. Most clubs still have spaces including:

• EDA Dance - both Infants and Juniors
• Drama - Year 1 and Juniors
• Chess
• Judo
• Cooking club
• Pop and Rock 
• Junior girls’ football
• Junior choir
• Year 2 choir
• Year 6 Handbells
• Good News Club
• Year 5 and 6 Football
• Year 3 and 4 Football
• Year 5 and 6 Netball

Medication at School

Please note that we are unable to administer medicine to pupils without a completed medication form from a parent. Any medication should be handed directly to the office where a form can be obtained.

Wider Community Updates

Christmas Card Competition

Kingston Council are again running their annual Christmas card competition for 2024 for all pupils to enter. Entries should be on A4 plain paper, with the entrant’s name, age, school and class written on the back and sent directly to the Guildhall in Kingston. The deadline for entries is 25th October. Please see the attached poster for more details.

Sound Steps - Free Piano/Keyboard Taster Sessions 

Please see the attached poster for details of free piano/keyboard taster sessions being run locally in the area.

Kingston Adult Education - September Courses

As part of Kingston Council, Kingston Adult Education provides a diverse range of courses to people aged 19 or over.  A lot of their courses take place in school hours and are term time only. Furthermore a number of their courses are government funded, therefore free or offered at reduced rates to eligible learners. Places are still available on courses starting this month. See their latest prospectus for a full listing of available courses. To enrol, click on the relevant link in the prospectus or contact them directly on 020 8547 6700 or at adult.education@kingston.gov.uk.

Rose Youth Theatre Academy Classes

The Rose Theatre run ensemble, skills-based classes that teach acting technique, working with text, being part of an ensemble and most of all are centered around having fun! Their ACT 1 course runs from reception to Year 6. Please see the attached autumn term handbook for more information on the course as a whole, as well as the term dates etc. If you would like to sign up for Act 1 or any of our courses, please email participate@rosetheatre.org.

HENRY Parent Newsletter

Please find attached the first HENRY newsletter of the academic year which includes details of two HENRY programmes running for parents this term.

Key School Dates 

• Monday 23rd - Wednesday 25th September - Y5 Trip to Carroty Wood
• Tuesday 24th September - Y2 Fox Class Trip to Pizza Express (new)
• Tuesday 24th September - Y4 Trip to the French Institute (new)
• Tuesday 1st October - Y2 Hedgehog Trip to Pizza Express (new) 
• Friday 4th October - Harvest Service @ 9:30am
• Tuesday 8th October - Reception Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Friday 11th October - PTA Break the Rules Day 
• Monday 14th - Friday 18th October - Chums Week
• Tuesday 15th October - Nursery Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Thursday 17th - Friday 18th October - Y5 Junior Roadwatch
• Monday 21st - Friday 25th October - Art Week
• Wednesday 23rd October - Parents’ Evening @ 3:45-6:45pm
• Thursday 24th October - Parents’ Evening @ 2:45-5:45pm
• Monday 28th October - Friday 1st November - Half Term
• Thursday 7th November - Leopard Class Worship @ 2:40pm
• Monday 11th - Friday 15th November - Anti-Bullying Week
• Tuesday 12th November - Nursery Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Wednesday 13th November - Reception to Y6 Individual & Sibling Photographs
• Friday 15th November - Reception Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Monday 18th - Friday 22nd November - Y4 Learn to Ride Bikeability
• Monday 18th November - Nasal Flu Immunisations
• Wednesday 20th November - Reception Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Thursday 21st November - Learning Look @ 3:30-4:30pm (Updated time)
• Thursday 28th November - Antelope Class Worship @ 2:40pm
• Saturday 30th November - Christmas Fair
• Monday 9th - Friday 13th December - Chums Week
• Tuesday 10th December - Junior Christmas Production @ 4:00pm
• Wednesday 11th December - Junior Christmas Production @ 6:00pm
• Thursday 12th December - Reception Nativity @ 9:00am
• Thursday 19th December - Church Service @ 9:30am
• Thursday 19th December - Term finishes early at 1.05pm (infants) and 1.20pm (juniors). Connect will finish at 5:15pm
• Friday 20th December - INSET Day (School closed to pupils)
• Monday 23rd December - Friday 3rd January - Christmas Holidays
• Monday 6th January - INSET Day (School closed to pupils)
• Tuesday 7th January - Spring Term starts