Newsletter
Friday 15th March 2024
DIARY DATES
SPRING TERM
Thursday 14th March to 16th May (every Thursday)
Year 4 Swimming
Friday 22nd March
Year 4 South Bank Trip
Year 2 Class Assembly - Brazil/Carnival Day
Tuesday 26th March
Year 4 attending High School Musical Production at Chessington School
Year 1 Castle Day
Thursday 28th March
Last day of term (early finish) - No Explorers
Friday 29th March to Friday 12th April
Easter break
Monday 15th April
Children Return
Friday 19th April
Reception Class Trip - Bocketts Farm
Friday 26th April
Year 4 Class Assembly
Reminders
Year 2 Carnival Day & Class Assembly
Friday 22nd March, Year 2 children can come to school dressed in carnival fancy dress or bright colours for a special day which includes an assembly to families (two members maximum). It will start at 9am. Tea and coffee available in the library after drop off.
ELLINGHAM SCHOOL NEWS
EASTER HOLIDAYS
BIKEABILITY 2024
Ellingham Primary School is hosting FREE Bikeability training for young cyclists in Year 5 and above who live or attend a school in Kingston or Sutton. This will take place during the Easter break. Please see the information below provided by the Bikeabilty team.
Bikeability Level 1 & 2 Courses:
Three sessions starting: 10.00 – 12.00, Tue 02/04/2022 or Mon 08/04/2023
Venues:
Ellingham School (Chessington)
Jubilee Square (New Malden)
This training has three sessions per rider:
■ The first session is an off road skills session
■ Sessions two and three introduce young cyclists to confident riding on residential roads
■ Riders must be able to attend all three sessions
Training includes:
■ Bike checks ■ Control skills ■ On-road cycling ■ Highway Code
■ ■ ■ Please click here to read Information to Parents ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ Click here to complete the Booking Form ■ ■ ■
Harlequins Easter Club at Ellingham
The Harlequins Foundation’s Healthy Holiday Programme offers young people, aged 6-14 and in receipt of benefit related free school meals access to a range of FREE activities delivered by our experienced team of staff and this will run in Ellingham Primary School for 10am-4pm, 8th-11th April in the Easter holidays. Book here: https://eequ.org/experience/5914
There is also an opportunity to pay to come along. https://eequ.org/experience/6010
Collection Reminder
If the person collecting your child is different from usual and not on our emergency contact list, please notify in advance or as asoon as possible.
FREE TICKETS TO ROSE THEATRE
On Sunday 24th March, Kingston Music Service is holding their very first Family Concert at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Oompah Brass, a high-octane brass quintet, will perform a one hour show designed to introduce young people to the joys of brass instruments.
100 tickets are available free of charge. If interested please follow this link to the Rose’s website and select the desired seats (the code works on all ticket types and all seats within the auditorium). The code SCHOFF should be entered on the ‘Basket’ page ahead of Checkout: please note, the reduction in price will not show until the very last stage of the process. Click through the following pages, and the tickets will show as free just before confirmation: once confirmed, you should receive an email with the ticket information.
Year 4 Sleepover
The very first sleepover took place in the school hall last Friday and the Year 4 children had such an exciting time. It is hard to describe how much fun it was so here is the time in pictures.
ARRIVAL and PLAYTIME
'I was delighted when I heard the news but I was even more delighted when I saw the activities... It was so much fun.' Liv
PIZZA TIME and SLEEPOVER
'I really enjoyed it, we made pizza and I loved the oobleck.' - Nuruddin
'It was very fun, way better than being at home!' - Lucas
BREAKFAST TIME AND EARLY MORNING PLAY
'The sleepover was amazing and I really enjoyed it. I would be glad to go again!' - Lexie
'It was the best thing I have ever, ever been to. It was so good.' - Aniaya
Dance Club Performance
The children attending dance club performed for their families this week and were so good that they repeated their performance in Celebration assembly. What an inspiration!


EAT THEM TO DEFEAT THEM
Children have been receiving stickers for clearing their plates of vegetables this week. It's been a very positive way of reinforcing just how good vegetables are for health and a fantastic link to science week.
LEARNING TOGETHER
Inspirational Scientists
We were very lucky to kick start Science Week early with a visit from the National Physical Laboratory. Each class took part in a time reaction investigation to find out whether their dominant or non-dominant hand had a quicker reaction time. After recording and analysing all classes data, we discovered that the dominant hand was the quickest.
On Monday we were immersed in a WOW morning of experiments. In our science assembly, we thought about the qualities needed to be a scientist and how science links with the world around us. The children had so many fantastic suggestions such as: determination, patience, curiosity and co-operation. They loved helping Miss Heath blow up a balloon using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, as well as making red cabbage juice change colour using lemon juice.
With the help of our wonderful year 6 children as science ambassadors, all classes moved up a year group to take part in an exciting WOW experiment. This included: rainbow bubbles, volcanoes, sweet rainbows, walking on oobleck and launching rockets! Many classes also took part in interactive live lessons during the week with other schools around the UK. Years 5 & 6 especially enjoyed meeting Hunter the snake and Brian, a giant African snail, over zoom.
It really has been an inspirational week; not only were there so many WOW moments but the children have really blown us away with their scientific knowledge and skills. We can't wait to do it all again next year.
A Week of Science
During the week WOW Experiments took place across the whole school with classes working with other year groups and teachers. Classes also joined in virtual live science lessons provided by the STEM ambassadors, science experts who volunteer and share their knowledge.
Visit from the National Physical Laboratory
Catching the ruler with the dominant hand came out as the winner for speed of reaction for Ellingham School children. It was great to be part of a whole school experiment demonstrating how individual measurements build a scientific picture.
Early Explorers - Nursery
In Nursery, with the help of some lovely year 6 children, we did a lemonade and salt experiment. We started by seeing what happened when we added some food colouring and then we added in some salt to see it explode! The year 6 children also helped the children to do some bubble painting.
During the rest of science week we have been doing different experiments. We started with trying to make a bouncy egg. We put an egg in some vinegar and waited a couple of days to see what happened. The egg shell disappeared and made the egg squishy. The egg did bounce from a low high. We also made some banana milkshake watching what happened when the milk and banana were blended together.
On our creative table we did some bubble painting and some magic painting using a candle and water colours. We have had a great week exploring and investigating different things
Reception Eruption
We added bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid, and vinegar to coloured water to make a volcano! We want to say thank you to our Year 6 helpers who made everything so exciting.
Year 1 & 2 Making rainbows
Year 5 Oobleck
Year 3 Making Rainbow Bubbles
Year 4 Launch Rockets
Best Year 3 Ukulele Troupe in Town
Year 3 are really getting to grips with their ukulele lessons and the performances are getting better and better. They are having so much fun with it.
Cooking at Chessington School
Year 4 rolled their sleeves up to get creative with carrot as part of our celebration of all things veg! They went over to Chessington School to use their kitchens.
SAFEGUARDING, HEALTH AND SUPPORT

Apply now for 15 or 30 hours childcare to start your place in April.
If your child turns two on or before 31st March and you are an eligible working parent in England, you can apply for up to 15 hours childcare or early education per week, over 38 weeks of the year. Read the Governments Education Hub blog to find out more about how to claim 15 hours childcare including how to get your code.
If your child turns three or four on or before 31st March and you are an eligible working parent in England, you can apply for up to 30 hours childcare or early education per week, over 38 weeks of the year.
The deadline to apply is 31st March. We recommend you do so by the end of February to get your childcare code in good time.
If you haven’t used a childcare provider before or want to change it, find the right one for you and check whether they offer 15 or 30 hours childcare.
This is the full safeguarding team in school. They are all trained to Level 3 and everyone in the school received the annual update of Safeguarding Level 2 training at INSET.
Contact details: 020 8397 3864 or email: office@elp.rbksch.org to request a safeguarding call back. For pupil support, contact 020 8397 3864 or email: pupilsupport@elp.rbksch.org
LOCAL EVENTS & COMMUNITY NEWS




Kingston Adult Education - Courses for parent and carers
Please click here for a brochure outlining some of the courses available at Kingston Adult Education, part of Kingston Council, during the Spring Term.
A number of these courses are free.
Courses take place at various times and locations across our borough, and include:
· Reducing anxiety and developing resilience in your child
· Help your child be a good friend
· Support your child through exam stress
· Assisting your child with their math's school work
They also offer a comprehensive range of vocational and creative courses to develop your skills, increase your earning potential and improve your wellbeing.
For further information, please contact Kingston Adult Education directly on 020 8547 6700 or at adult.education@kingston.gov.uk
