Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

It was such a joy to see the school community come together last Saturday to enjoy our Christmas Fair. Thank you so much to our PTA and all volunteers who helped make this wonderful event happen. Thank you too for the generosity of all our parents who came. The fair raised lots of money and we will share a final figure soon!

Because of all this hard work and commitment, the PTA are able to fund so many things for the school and for the education of all our children. Even this week, our new infant gazebo has been going up in our infant playground, which has been very exciting. The PTA funds are also allowing us to purchase many more reading books in the infants to support our phonics teaching and we are also able to put funds towards two new welcome ‘reflective areas’ in the entrance to each of our school sites, which will be appearing soon. We have plenty more plans for the classrooms and the outdoor areas of both of our school sites, so thank you again for all the hard work and generous giving that goes into events like the Christmas Fair to make all this happen.

Thank you as well to our ‘class reps’; myself and Mr Burkinshaw were able to host our first class reps meeting of the year yesterday, which was really well attended, and it was great to share ideas and plan ahead, as well as ensure we are hearing all your feedback on the term so far. 

We are now fully in the swing of Christmas, which was definitely kicked off well with the sound of the choir in our fair on Saturday. The choir have begun their ‘Christmas tour’ and some were also out and about singing at John Lewis in Kingston on Monday, and were in good voice. All our year groups have been busy practising their different parts for various Christmas events coming up over the next two weeks. A big special mention to Antelope class as well, who were busy entertaining their parents this week with their class worship performance, and did a grand job - especially the Planets song!

We know that Christmas is not an easy time for everybody, and that times are tight particularly this year. With this in mind, we want to encourage the spirit of giving in our school community at this time and so will be supporting three charities as a school over the next couple of weeks, and all the money raised from our Christmas Jumper and Christmas dinner day will go towards these charities. The three charities are:

• Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness Winter Warmer Campaign - Helping people facing homelessness keep warm this winter.
• Compassion UK - Christmas Begins with a Child - Help children around the world to celebrate Christmas despite the challenges faced in their country, whether due to war, famine or poverty. 
• Crisis at Christmas - Every year Crisis at Christmas opens its doors to people who are homeless. 

We will be talking to the children about these charities at the beginning of next week. In the morning and afternoon of Christmas Jumper day, our Pupil Leaders will also have collection buckets at the gates, so that we can support those who may not get a Christmas dinner this year or need some support over this season. There will be other opportunities as well to give at some of our Christmas events. Additionally, as you know, each class is starting a ‘reverse advent calendar’ either this week or next, with a view to donating food for Christmas to the local Kingston Food bank. More details of how you can get involved in this will be in the curriculum emails.

Key Updates for Parents

November Newsletter

Please see our November newsletter to see some of the activities that children have been involved in this month. 

Bells Ring Out - Whole School Junior Production - Wednesday 14th December

The children have been rehearsing hard for the Junior Christmas performance 'Bells Ring Out'. There will be two performances on Wednesday 14th December; at 2:00 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m. In the event that England are playing in the World Cup on the 14th, we will move the evening performance to 5:00 p.m. Tickets will be available to book via ParentMail from midday on Monday 5th December and will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Initially you will be able to book up to two tickets per family for one performance only and, if available, further tickets will be made available later - please only book the tickets that you need. Tickets are free but there will be a retiring collection for our chosen charities this year (details above).

Christmas Dinner - Friday 9th December

Nourish will be providing a Christmas lunch on Friday 9th December. If you would like your child to have this lunch, for Junior children, please book and pay via ParentMail in the usual way. For infants, if your child does not come to school with a packed lunch they will be given the Christmas dinner. Please see the attached menu for your information.

Reminder: PTA Christmas Hamper Raffle

Thanks to the generosity of our parent community, we have a fabulous and unique selection of 18 prizes to win, including 16 hampers thoughtfully assembled by classes up and down the school, as well as £50 Nando's and Korea Foods vouchers. Take a look through the attached brochure to see the full prize line-up. Please note this raffle is for over 18s only and winners must be willing to collect their prizes from the school office. Remember to buy your tickets via this link https://christ-church-new-malden-pta.square.site/ by midnight on Thursday 8th December and the raffle will be drawn by Mr Meehan outside the Juniors on Friday 9th December at midday. Please feel free to share the ticket sales link with family, friends, neighbours and the local community.

Clerk to the Governors Vacancy

We are looking for someone to provide administrative support to the governing board and its committees: four meetings per term in term time plus preparing and circulating documents, checking information for governors, maintaining records and attending Local Authority briefings. For more details see our website.

Kingstonian CC - 2023 Winter Cricket Sessions

Please see the attached which we have received from Kingstonian CC, for details of their winter cricket sessions.

Kingston Adult Education Courses Available

Please see the attached flyers for courses that Kingston Adult Education are running in January that are all very relevant to teaching and learning and supporting children's and adults welfare.

Level 3 Early Years Educator

Level 2 Early Years Practitioner

Generic Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools Level 3

Working with Children Level 1

Understanding Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace

NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties

NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Autism

Principles of Special Educational Needs Level 3 Certificate

NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills

Key Dates - Autumn 2022

• Monday 5th December - Y3 Greek Workshop (pm)
• Tuesday 6th December - Y6 Trip to Imperial War Museum
• Tuesday 6th December - Y4 & 5 Choir Members and Hand Bells - Singing for Widow's Group at Christ Church
• Wednesday 7th December - Reception to Y6 Nasal Flu Vaccination
• Thursday 8th December - Turtle Class Nativity @ 9:00 a.m.
• Thursday 8th December - Seahorse Class Nativity @ 9:45 a.m.
• Friday 9th December - Charity Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas dinner
• Tuesday 13th December - Y2 and 3 Choirs - Singing at the Methodist Church, New Malden at 10:30 a.m.
• Tuesday 13th December - Y4 Trip to Rose Theatre for "A Christmas Carol"
• Wednesday 14th December - Y2 to “The Christmas Journey” at Baptist Church, New Malden @ 9.30am
• Wednesday 14th December - Junior Christmas Production @ 2:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.
• Thursday 15th December - Christmas Party Day
• Friday 16th December - Christmas Service at the church led by Years 1 and 2 - 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
• Friday 16th December - Last day of term - School closes 1 hour early:
  • Infants @ 2:15 p.m.
  • Nursery @ 2:20 p.m.
  • Juniors @ 2:30 p.m.
  • Connect will start at 2:15 p.m. and run until 5:15 p.m.