Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

We can be very thankful, as we begin this new term; this is the focus of our new iShare Learning theme this half-term, ‘Count Your Blessings’. To this end, each class has a ‘blessings basket’ in their class to collect things to give thanks for each day and our focus Bible verse for this theme is ‘Praise the Lord, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not his benefits.’ Psalm 103 vv1-2. You may want to include some family talk-time over these next few weeks to focus on thankfulness, for example:

• remembering to let other people know when you are thankful
• not taking things for granted
• practical ways of showing gratitude
• how it feels when someone thanks you!

Christmas may now seem quite a distant memory, but I hope you and your families had some great times over the Christmas break. We have so much coming up over this term at Christ Church, especially later on in the term, when we'll let you know more about World Week, World Book Day and visits from a paralympic athlete and one or two authors!

Already this week, we have got started with some great learning, and it’s been great this week getting round some classes to see the children engaging in their learning, and, in many cases, how they’ve been supporting each other in their learning. I know every year group has an exciting curriculum ahead for this term, so do look out each Friday for the curriculum emails.

Have a great weekend!

MRS ROBERTS RECOMMENDS

'The Detective Dog' written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. 

This is a wonderful rhyming story suitable for all infant children with beautiful illustrations and a great message about the joy of reading! 

Our School Updates for Parents

Please Pray for our School 

This term’s prayer meeting for staff, parents, governors and friends of the school is on Wednesday 24th January at the church between 8-9pm. Please join us if you can!

Thank You

All our non-class based teachers and support staff would like to say a huge thank you to the parents/carers for their very generous Christmas gifts at the end of last term. It was a lovely surprise and greatly appreciated.

“Opening the Book”

One of the collective worships which we have every week at school is run by our 'Open the Book' team; these are a team of volunteers from local churches who bring a Bible story to life with acting, costumes and story telling, often including the children acting as characters in the story. The children usually tell us that this is the collective worship that they enjoy the most over the week.

The 'Open the Book' team are looking for new volunteers to take part in these collective worships. The commitment would be on a Thursday morning, from 8.30am at infants until about 10.45am at the juniors, most (though not necessarily all) school term-time weeks. All the script and costumes are provided and the whole team are very welcoming and friendly. Ideally, you’d belong to a local church and have some familiarity with Bible stories. The Thursday mornings include doing the ‘Open the Book’ presentations at the infants and then juniors, with planning time in between for the following week. If you'd like to know more, we could put you in contact with Diana Elsdon, who leads the team, or you would be very welcome to come along and see 'Open the Book' in action. 

Special Lunch Menu - Thursday 18th January

Please see the attached menu for details of a special ‘Numbers Festival’ menu on Thursday 18th January. There is also a Sudoku puzzle for the children to complete correctly and take to the counter at lunchtime to be entered into a draw for a prize.

Connect Bookings

Connect contract bookings are now all set up for the term, but there is still availability across most of the days. If you would like to set something up or would like to book dates on an adhoc basis, please feel free to talk to Mrs Parkes in the office or email at connect@ccnm.uk.

Wider Community Updates

Universal Free School Meals Programme Update

Please see the attached letter from the Mayor of London, confirming that the funding for Universal Free School Meals is being extended for another academic year.   

Action Theatre Club - Free Trials

Action Theatre club are offering free trials for children aged 4-16 years. Please see the attached poster for details.

Old Kingstonian Hockey Trials

Is your child interested in joining a local hockey team? If so, Old Kingstonian Hockey Club are running a number of free trial sessions in January 2024 for all ages and abilities. Please see the attached flyer.

Old Rutlishians' Rugby Club

Please see attached a flyer for an upcoming girls rugby trial event at Old Rutlishians' Rugby Club in Merton Park.  They have sections for all primary school aged children (girls and boys) from 3 up to 11 years old and beyond and have asked us to also distribute the attached flyer. Old Rutlishians' Rugby Club is a family-friendly and inclusive sports club in Merton Park, Wimbledon. They have a strong history of providing sporting opportunities for local children. As a charity, they are dedicated to making rugby accessible to every child who wishes to participate. 

Soundsteps Music School

Soundsteps are supporting a campaign to help more students in primary school from reception year up take an interest in learning a Musical instrument and will be holding a number of Free Music lessons across the local area and online in January and would like to invite students and parents to attend a session and learn more about options for learning a Musical instrument and Music theory. Please see the attached for details.

ESOL Courses

Please see attached information about an ESOL course being run by Castle Hill Primary School in Chessington. Course registration will take place on 19th January and the course will run for two terms.

Key School Dates 

• Monday 15th January - Y2 Great Fire of London Workshop
• Tuesday 16th January - Y1 Trip to Sea Life London Aquarium
• Thursday 18th January - Lynx Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Monday 22nd January - Y1 and 2 - Drama4All Workshops
• Tuesday 23rd January - Y4 ‘A Child in Roman Britain’ Workshop 
• Tuesday 23rd January - Y6 SATs meeting for parents @ 6pm 
• Thursday 25th January - Fox Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Thursday 1st February - Gazelle Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Monday 5th - Friday 9th February - Chums Week
• Tuesday 6th February - Safer Internet Day
• Tuesday 6th February - Y6 Junior Citizen 2024 @ Chessington WOA
• Tuesday 6th February - Y5 Viking Workshop (pm)
• Wednesday 7th February - Parents’ Evening @ 3:45pm - 6:45pm
• Thursday 8th February - Parents’ Evening @ 2:45pm - 5:45pm (School closes 1 hour early) 
• Monday 12th - Friday 16th February - Half term
• Tuesday 20th February - Nursery Tour for Prospective Parents @ 9:30am
• Thursday 22nd February - Y2 Brightsparks Concert @ Royal Festival Hall
• Thursday 22nd February - Y6 Trip to Kew Gardens
• Monday 26th February - Y4 Trip to Natural History Museum
• Thursday 29th February - Lion Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Thursday 7th March - World Book Day
• Thursday 7th March - Tiger Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Monday 11th - Friday 15th March - World Week & Wellbeing Week
• Tuesday 12th March - Paralympic Athlete Visit
• Wednesday 13th March - Y1 Zoolabs Workshop
• Wednesday 13th March - Y5 Easter Experience at the Baptist Church
• Thursday 14th March - Owl Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Thursday 14th  March - Earthsong Workshops (Juniors)
• Friday 15th March - Earthsong Workshops (Junior site for Infants)
• Monday 18th - Friday 22nd March - Chums Week
• Tuesday 19th March - Reception & Y6 - National Child Measurement Programme
• Thursday 21st March - Y3 Trip to Butser Farm
• Thursday 21st March - Hedgehog Class Worship @ 2:45pm
• Thursday 21st March - Learning Look @ 4:30-5:30pm
• Wednesday 27th March - Infant Easter Bonnet Parade
• Thursday 28th March - Church Service @ 9:45am
• Thursday 28th March - Term finishes early at 1.05pm (infants) and 1.20pm (juniors). Connect will finish at 5:15pm
• Monday 15th April - Summer term starts