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Weekly Update - Friday 6th January

Welcome back after the Christmas and new year break!

Weekly Update from Mr Meehan

Welcome back after the Christmas and new year break. I hope you had some great times with family and friends, whether you were at home or away. If I haven’t seen you yet at the school gate, may I also wish you a very happy, healthy and peaceful new year. 

We can look forward to a very exciting term ahead, so please do note down all forthcoming dates below that are relevant to your child. Events include our forthcoming ‘Writing to Change the World’ week coming up later in this term, which will include another special author visit; more details about this in the coming weeks.

Our new iShare Learning theme for this half term is ‘No Fear’, centred around the Bible verse ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4v13). As we start out in a new year, we have been talking with the children about what it means to have an ‘I can’ attitude, and encouraging them to make their own ‘I can’ pledges.

Please also see below for this term ahead links to our new attendance and punctuality policy and our now finalised behaviour policy, following further feedback over last term. Additionally, you will see below we are publishing this week our INSET days for next academic year 2023/24, to help you in future planning.

Finally, a massive well done to Seb in Year 5, who was our own little TV star over Christmas, getting through to the final four on TV’s “The Voice Kids”. His performance of ‘Rainbow Connection’ was faultless and we are all really proud of his success!

Key Updates for Parents

Term Dates and Times 2023/24

Our term dates, with INSET days below added, are now available to view on our website here.

  • Mon 4th September 2023
  • Thurs 21st December 2023
  • Mon 8th January 2024
  • Fri 21st June 2024
  • Wed 24th July 2024

Please also note our last day of term end time is changing from this term. Please note that the end of day times for Fri 31st March and Fri 21st July will be 1:15pm at the infants (including nursery) and 1:30pm at the juniors. Connect will run on these days until 5.15pm. 

Attendance and Punctuality Policy

You can also find on our school website and here our updated Attendance and Punctuality Policy. Please be reminded that we are not permitted to authorise family holidays, and any absences authorised are only exceptional cases. Please also be reminded that you need to inform us of pupil absences via the ParentMail app, not by phone call to the office or email to class teacher.

Back to school advice amid the high levels of COVID-19, flu and scarlet fever from Iona Lidington, Director of Public Health

Yesterday, the UKHSA issued a press release with back to school advice amid the high levels of COVID-19, flu and scarlet fever that are currently circulating. It is important to minimise the spread of infection in schools and other education and childcare settings as much as possible so parents should be advised that if their child is unwell and has a fever, they should stay home from school or nursery until they feel better and the fever has gone. Is my child too ill for school? - NHS

Parents can also support in helping children to learn about the importance of good hand hygiene with regular hand washing at home with soap and warm water, and encouraging catching coughs and sneezes in tissues then binning them and washing hands, which is another simple way to help stop illness from spreading.

Flu vaccination uptake among young children remains low. Flu can be very unpleasant and in some cases can lead to more serious illness. Getting your child vaccinated protects them, and others they come into contact with, and it’s still not too late to take up the offer:

Has your child missed their flu vaccination? - NHS South West London Integrated Care Board

Friday 6th January 14.30 -16.00 and Friday 13th January 14.30 -16.00

Teddington Health and Social Care, Queens Road, Teddington TW11 0LR

For any queries, please call us on 020-3691-1027 or 020-3691-1042

Behaviour Policy

As you will be aware, we launched our new draft behaviour policy during last term, which is now finalised and can be found here and on our school website.

Pret-a-Portrait Photos

Pret-a-Portrait’s early bird discount for the photos taken last term was due to expire yesterday, however they have extended this until 31/01/2023 so you can take advantage of the discount for longer! Head to their website https://www.pret-a-portrait.net/ and enter your sitting ID, the discount will automatically be applied. If you’ve misplaced your sitting ID, please contact Pret-a-Portrait directly on 0800 021 7626 or customerservice@pret-a-portrait.net

Reminder: PE Days 

PE days this half term are as follows:

  • Reception - Monday (outdoor)/Wednesday (indoor)
  • Year 1 - Monday (indoor)/Tuesday (outdoor)
  • Year 2 - Wednesday (outdoor)/Friday (indoor)
  • Year 3 - Tuesday (indoor)/Thursday (outdoor)
  • Year 4 
    • Eagle Tuesday (indoor)/Thursday (outdoor)
    • Macaw Tuesday (outdoor)/Wednesday (indoor)
  • Year 5 - Monday (indoor)/Friday (outdoor)
  • Year 6 - Thursday (outdoor)/Friday (indoor)

Reminder: Spring Term Writing Competition: Call out for help

In the Spring term, we will be holding a school-wide writing competition on the theme of ‘writing to change the world’; this competition will be open to all ages, including adults (so get your pens at the ready!). Our lovely PTA will be sponsoring the competition and some of our governors will form the judging panel. 

To showcase some of the best entries in our competition, we would love to publish a collection of Christ Church’s ‘writing to change the world’ in our own book in some shape of form. With this in mind, this is a call out to any parents who may be involved in publishing or printing, who might like to get involved in this in some way or help us. If you would like to know more, please speak to Mr Meehan or Mr Burkinshaw. 

Reminder – Primary School Applications 

For any parents making primary school applications for September 2023 entry, you can apply online here. The closing date for applications is 15 January 2023. You must submit your application and any supplementary information forms by this date. 

Kingstonian Cricket Club - Free cricket coaching session

Kingstonian Cricket Club is offering one free cricket coaching session for girls and boys, aged from Reception to Year 3, 4.15-5.15pm on Saturday 14 January at Richard Challoner School. No prior cricket experience required. See the attached flyer for details.

Key Dates - Spring 2023

  • Monday 9th January - Y6 National Child Measurement Programme
  • Thursday 12th January - Potter Class Worship @ 2:45pm
  • Monday 16th - Friday 27th January - Y5 Bikeability sessions
  • Thursday 19th January - Hedgehog Class Worship @ 2:45pm
  • Friday 20th January - Y1 Trip to the Sea Life London Aquarium 
  • Friday 20th January - Y2 Great Fire of London Workshop
  • Tuesday 24th January - Y4 A Child in Roman Britain Workshop (PM)
  • Thursday 26th January - Kipling Class Worship @ 2:45pm
  • Friday 27th January - Y3/4 Choir - Cluster Concert at Rose Theatre
  • 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
  • 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