Newsletter
Friday 26th January 2024
DIARY DATES
SPRING TERM
Wednesday 31st January
Year 3 Ancient Egyptian DT project
Thursday 8th February
ADHD parent coffee morning held by ADHD Embrace
Friday 9th February
Last day of half-term
Monday 12th to Friday 16th February
Half-Term
Monday 19th February
Children Return
Monday 19th to Friday 23rd February
Year 5 - Bikeability Course
Monday 19th to Thursday 29th February
Spring Term SEN Reviews
Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st February
Parent and Carer Teacher Consultations
Thursday 22nd February to Thursday 16th May
Year 4 - Swimming lessons (every Thursday)
Monday 4th to Friday 8th March
Year 5 - Bikeability Course
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
Reminders
Year 3 Ancient Egyptian DT project
Please could Year 3 children bring in cardboard or cereal boxes on Wednesday 31st January?
ADHD Parent Coffee Morning
Come along to our ADHD Parent Coffee Morning that will be held on Thursday, 8th February 2024 at 9am.
Year 4 Swimming
Year 4 Swimming lessons will be held every Thursday starting on 22nd February until 16th May.
Book Your Parent and Carer Consultations slot
Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st February
Spring Term SEN Reviews - February 2024
Monday 19th to Thursday 29th February
ELLINGHAM SCHOOL NEWS
Our Inspirational Ellingham Children
This week we have been celebrating the value of Inspiration, starting the week focusing on Mo Farah, Olympic medallist, taking on the role of National Sports Champion and promoting 60-minutes of physical activity for children. The children really took the message to heart and have been enjoying our breaktime activity box and active lunchtimes with the sports coaches. Coincidentally it was also an inspirational sporting week, with our lovely sports teams performing well against other local schools in tournaments. The link to physical activity and mental health is important, so it was good timing that the well-being team had the opportunity to visit Wellfest to bring back some new ideas into school. In assembly, to round the week off, we celebrated all of the children who have inspired our teachers and classmates with their lovely attitude and work.
Creatively, we had an assembly from Kingston Music Trust to inspire us all. They are offering lots of good value music lessons if your child is interested in learning an instrument. And finally, there is the opportunity to be inspired by art and enter the Walk to School Week badge design competition.
Year 5 Tag Rugby
Year 5 represented Ellingham this week at a tag rugby tournament and came third out of 12 schools. Well done to all of the children involved - you are an inspiration.
Year 3 & 4 Cross Country
Twelve pupils from Year 3 and Year 4 went to Surbiton Prep School playing field to compete in a borough event. Out of 12 schools they came 5th overall. A special mention for Ellie & Amelie who came in the top 10 for their age group out of 60 participants.
Building Well-being Expertise
Our wonderful Year 6 well-being ambassadors attended Wellfest at Southborough School. The children really engaged in the stalls promoting healthy emotional well-being and came away with some great ideas.
A visit from Kingston Music Service
This week our children were treated to a special music assembly with Mrs Pearman from the Kingston Music Service. As well as teaching a fun song, she talked to them about musical instruments and told them about some exciting music making groups and upcoming concerts.
Further information is available on their website https://www.kingston.gov.uk/music-service-1 or email musicservice@kingston.gov.uk
Click here for information about local music making groups and upcoming concerts
Are you ready to be creative? Enter the WOW Competition
As a school, we have previously taken part in the WOW- walk to school challenge run by Living Streets.
They are currently holding a competition for children to design a badge for their scheme. They will turn 11 winning entries into more than 300,000 badges to be awarded to WOW pupils who walk, wheel, scoot, cycle or Park and Stride to school across the UK next academic year.
It would be truly amazing if one of the badges picked for their schemes was from an Ellingham child. This year's theme for the badges is Walk with Imagination. We want pupils to imagine a different walk to school and draw where their imagination takes them!
Each child will be handed a design template by their class teacher over the next week. Please encourage your child to complete it at home and hand it back in to their teacher by Friday 9th February.
Good luck! We can’t wait to see the children’s entries.
Mrs Corps - Art Leader
Parent Survey Feedback
Thank you to those 73 parents or carers who responded to our Parent View survey. It is always great to try to understand what we do well and what areas need development. We always share your feedback to our Governing Body so that we can build any improvements into our strategy.
The feedback was positive, with parents overwhelmingly agreeing that their child is happy and safe at the school; that the children are well-behaved and when issues arise have been dealt with effectively. Parents and carers felt that their child does well at the school, including those with SEN, that there is with a good range of subjects and they have a clear understanding of how their child is doing.
The areas of development raised were that some parents felt they were not aware of what the children will learn across the year and disagreed that the school has high expectations for their child or supports their child's personal development.
We do take seriously the concerns raised as if just some parents and carers do not feel we are meeting either theirs or their child's needs, then we need to address this. We are planning some parent and carer forum groups for the second half of the spring term and would really like you to attend if you have ideas that would help the school improve or address any of these concerns.
In the meantime, we felt it would be helpful to share some of the things we do to hopefully point you in the direction of information that is available and also to reassure you that we are listening.
At the beginning of the year, we published our improved curriculum pages and introduced year group pages on our website (see links below), which hopefully will help parents and carers gain an understanding of what children are learning at school.
Every half-term, we review the performance of every child and plan interventions or support to drive attainment and progress of every child further.
We focus on a school value each week, have a schedule of trips for each year group and have consulted with children to introduce or refresh clubs.
Thank you to those who added more comments. These will also be built into any planning.
Collection Time Reminders
Please enter and leave the school playground for Year 1 to Year 6 through the playground gate and not the main entrance. The school reception area is a priority space for children to leave the premises and not a short cut. If you want to check lost property or speak to the office, please exit via the gate and use the main entrance.
Dogs are not permitted on the school grounds, except for assistance dogs. Please leave your dogs at home.
If you have collected your child and are waiting for other children, please ensure that the children stand with you and respect the rules of the school, which are there to keep children safe.
The trim trail and playground equipment should not be used.
Children should not stand on the top of the tables or the seats.
Scooters and bikes need to be walked out of the school grounds.
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.
Click here to apply for your childcare hours
LEARNING TOGETHER
Help your child to read
We use the Sound-Write phonics programme in Reception to teach children to read and spell. Soundswrite have a free course for parents to help you support your child at home.
The course will show you how to:
help your child take their first steps in reading and spelling
understand how to help your child build, write and read simple cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words
understand how to correct your child when they make a mistake in their reading or writing simple words
have a basic understanding of how phonics works
https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/
Reception Numbers and Patterns
Reception children have begun to use a tens grid to help them solve number problems. This week they had to look at a number or a pattern of dots and represent that number on their tens grid.
Year 2 Design Healthy Meals
In Science Year 2 have been learning about the Eatwell plate and the importance of a healthy, balanced diet. We thought about which foods are part of which food group and even designed our own healthy meal!
Year 2 Slideshow Skills
Year 2 explored Google Slides this week in preparation for creating their own slideshows. The children have planned a presentation and enjoyed working out how to change the background colour and insert pictures from the internet!
Year 3 Trip to British Museum
On Thursday, Year 3 went to the British Museum to explore the artefacts from Ancient Egypt. In our History lessons, we have learnt all about life 3000 years ago for Ancient Egyptians and had a fantastic day looking at mummies, jewellery, statues and canopic jars. According to the children, it was the BEST day ever!
Year 4 Mathematicians
Year 4 have been investigating 2 digit and 3 digit numbers and working out what numbers it can divide equally into (divisors).
Year 6 Battle of the beaks
Year 6 have been learning about Charles Darwin and the variations of finches he discovered on the Galapagos Islands. We investigated his theory of natural selection further by exploring and simulating different bird beaks using tweezers, pegs and spoons and a range of food sources. Long, sharp utensils were easier to pick food out of narrow bowls, just like long, sharp beaks are good for reaching nectar and insects. The short, wide wooden pegs were good for picking up peas and crushing them. These sized beaks are good for eating seeds and cracking open nuts. We learnt that the birds' beaks had adapted over time in order to suit their environment on the different islands in order to survive.
SAFEGUARDING, HEALTH AND SUPPORT
SAVE THE DATE – 8th February 2024
At Ellingham Primary School we are committed to supporting our children and parent’s emotional well-being and strive to promote a greater understanding of how best to support children with SEN at school and at home.
Sallie Crook from ADHD EMBRACE will be sharing her knowledge and strategies to best support children with ADHD/ traits of ADHD. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers.
We would like to invite parents to this workshop on supporting children with ADHD.
When: 8th February
Where: Ellingham Primary School
What time: 9am
What is the workshop about Supporting children with ADHD and will include an informal presentation as well as an opportunity for Q&A
The presentation covers:
· What is ADHD?
· How can schools support children with ADHD?
· Who are ADHD Embrace and what we do?
· ADHD Embrace Website and how to access our support
The aim is to provide parents with a better understanding of ADHD and the support available from ADHD Embrace and other organisations.
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
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
Calling all aspiring actors!
Thames Music Theatre is a new theatre company aimed at young people in SW London, Surrey and nearby areas. It has been founded by professionals in the world of music theatre, including the founder of the National Youth Music Theatre. Their first show will be this summer in the Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames, and will be a hilarious music comedy set in Roman-occupied Lancashire and will be huge fun! They are looking for aspiring actors aged 10-16 to audition for this, with preliminary audition slots in early February and main rehearsals outside of term-time. Please do go to their website for more information and to submit an application: https://www.thamesmt.org
