Friday 9th January 2026

ELLINGHAM SCHOOL NEWS

DIARY DATES

Year 6 - Natural History Museum

Monday 12th January

Year 1 - History Theatre Workshop

Tuesday 13th January

Year 4 - Trip to the Hindu Temple

Wednesday 21st January

Year 4 - Geography field work trip

Tuesday 27th January

Year 3 Class Assembly

Friday 30th January

Year 5 Mayan Day

Tuesday 3rd February

Year 3 Trip to the British Museum

Thursday 5th February

Year 4 Design and Technology Day

Thursday 12th February

Last day of half term

FOE Love Ellingham Sale

Friday 13th February

February half term

Monday 16th to Friday 20th February

Children return

Monday 23rd February

Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2026. I hope you all had a wonderful break and feel rested and restored. I always love Fridays because I get to see the whole school at Celebration Assembly. All the children looked bright and happy and they were so engaged in our discussion. It was wonderful to see them.

It's been a busy first week back with everyone starting new units of learning in different subjects. The Learning pages below show all the wonderful activities the children have been participating in. We also continued to show prospective parents round looking for a new school in September. They, and I, are always heartened by the gorgeous welcome your children give to visitors. From 'Hello', to a wave, to a smile, everyone visiting Ellingham comments on the welcome and warmth they receive. I continue to be so proud to be headteacher.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend together. Take care.

Best wishes,

Margaret

Margaret Johonnett

Headteacher

Nursery places available

We have places available in our nursery for 2,3 and 4 year olds for morning sessions everyday from 8.35 to 11.35. Please contact the school office to arrange a tour or make an application.

Attendance

Congratulations to 6H!

You are the attendance winners this week.

Hot Chocolate Friday

We had our first Hot Chocolate Friday to celebrate good attendance, and to welcome our new pupils!

Why is attending school important?

A child's attendance has an enormous impact on their learning. The DfE tells us the children with the highest attainment at the end of KS2 have higher rates of attendance.

Being at school also improves children's social skills and and provides them with a sense of belonging.

Please ensure your children attend school and are on time as regularly as possible.

LEARNING TOGETHER

Reception

Reception have been learning about pets this week. We have discussed our own pets, counted scoops of food when feeding puppies and taken on the roles of vets, pet owners and veterinary nurses in our role play area.

Year 2

Year 2’s new Geography topic is ‘Frozen Planet’. To kick it off, we spent time looking at the world and identifying the 5 oceans and 7 continents. We used globes, atlases and our knowledge to help us with this task.

Year 1

Year 1 have enjoyed being back to school this week and quickly settled back into their routines with great learning!

Our new text in English is a book all about birds. To help us write our own informative piece about birds, Maple Class went on a bird hunt in the playground. We heard and spotted lots of different birds including blackbirds, robins, pigeons, magpies and even seagulls!

Year 3

This week Year 3 have started a new topic on the Ancient Egyptians. We started by sharing what we already know and thinking about what we want to find out. In history, we learnt about when they ruled. Then, we used the laptops to explore a game about mummification, which we will find out more about next week.

Year 4

This week in Year 4, we’ve been diving into the wonderful world of pourquoi tales! We explored what these stories are, why they were created, and how they explain the mysteries of the world. The children loved reading and discussing the tales, hunting for their hidden messages, and letting their imaginations run wild. They’re now feeling inspired and ready to create their own exciting and creative narratives!

Year 5

Year 5 have been looking at narrative poems this week. We started off the week by reading and performing them. The children thoroughly enjoyed being silly with them and trying to match the actions to the words.

Year 6

Year 6 have enjoyed being back at school this week and we have started our new topics in Geography and Science. We have begun to look at biomes as well as evolution and inheritance- focusing on Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species.

Celebration certificates

Congratulations to our pupils who were awarded the celebration certificate this week for achieving Excellence!

We refer to our school values every day. On Fridays, we talk about a value in more depth and what it means.

Today, we discussed how to achieve Excellence. Ralph Marston said, "Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude." Aristotle said, "Excellence is not an act, but a habit." Colin Powell said, "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters."

We reflected that excellence is not an accolade afforded to a lucky few, but a state achieved in small steps, in daily habits and with a can-do attitude. Excellence is absolutely available to us all!

Year 2 went even further and wrote acrostic poems on what Excellence means. They were so wonderful I have to share a couple with you.

Our next event:

FOE Love Ellingham Sale

Friday 13th February

Look out for more information later this term.

Safeguarding, Health & Wellbeing

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, has released a new guide titled What I wish my parents or carers knew: A guide for parents on managing children's digital lives This guide explores why children often struggle to talk about their online lives, and offers practical ways to help including an activity pack.

"Parenting today can feel overwhelming — especially when childhood looks so different from what we grew up with. There’s no manual, and it can be hard to keep up with the fast-changing digital world your child moves through every day. This guide aims to make those conversations easier and help you support your child with confidence" - Dame Rachel de Souza

Parents in conflict January 2026.pdf

Parenting puzzle OMFH 15 Jan 26.docx - Google Docs.pdf

4234 SEND registration poster (FINAL).pdf

Teen Life Moor Lane programme Feb 26 - Google Docs.pdf

The Safeguarding Team

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. If you are worried about a child, please let one of the team know.

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