From the Headmaster:
I am not quite sure how I feel about the return of clear blue skies and sunshine for the start of term and whether I would have preferred the grey skies to have parted even for a short time during the holidays. I will accept, however, that I wasn't complaining on Wednesday afternoon when triathlon training with our team took us to Richmond Park....
I do hope that you enjoyed your holidays and, judging by the enthusiastic conversations throughout this week, the children have come back thoroughly refreshed and ready for a very busy term ahead.
It has been a pleasure to visit all of the classrooms this week and to hear of adventures had over the break. It was also a pleasure to welcome new families to our school and to see their children settle so quickly into their new environment.
It is a very busy term, one that will inevitably fly by. I am keen to draw your attention to a number of key dates for this half term. Please read through this edition of the Deerstalker, as usual, the dates can be accessed and downloaded to your personal device or phone through our website, which I promise is very close to being updated!
We did receive a request from the residents of Cherrywood Close, just off Alexandra Road regarding parking. Do please consider where you park and avoid parking so that driveways are blocked. We do work very hard on maintaining good relationships with our neighbours and are keen to avoid causing any unnecessary distress.
Linda Garnett - Celebration
Safe in the knowledge that Linda won't read this edition of the Deerstalker I would like to invite you all to join us for a dual celebration on Wednesday 9th May at 2.30pm.
We shall be hosting a surprise party for Linda to celebrate her fortieth year working at Park Hill and to celebrate a rather auspicious birthday (a clue: she joined the school when she was thirty years old) taking place on 9th May. Chef Leon has already started the cake, the children will be leading the chorus and there will be plenty of refreshments to toast her dual celebration. It will start at 2.30pm and is planned to be a surprise, so don't say anything!
I hope you are looking forward to the numerous events and activities taking place this term and that this perfect weather remains for as long as possible!
Yours sincerely,
Alistair
Art Exhibition
We held our first Art Exhibition last academic year which enabled all of our children to exhibit their work. You may recall how vibrant and colourful the school looked with various artists acting as an inspiration.
In a slight twist this year, the exhibition can be viewed from Tuesday 8th May through to Friday 11th May. The final day of the exhibition will be celebrated with a number of interactive activities and workshops which we very much hope you will be able to join us for. I am also delighted to inform you that in addition to a number of Heads of Art Departments joining us from local independent and state secondary schools we are also going to be joined by the Mayor of Kingston.
The activities will be available from 9am on the Friday morning and we would be delighted if you could join us in celebrating the wonderful artwork that is produced by our children on a daily basis and to also take home some of your own artwork.
Triathlon Team - National Triathlon Championship
Our team of six triathletes had a series of training sessions this week. Monday afternoon saw them in the pool refining technique and ensuring that they can cover the distance in the specified time. For team members aged 8 and under they must swim 50m in less than two minutes, bike 1.2km and then run 800m. For those aged 9-10 years they must swim 150m within five minutes, bike 2.4km and then run 1.2km.
The team then made their way on Wednesday afternoon to Richmond Park to prepare for the potential ‘jelly legs’ when transitioning between the bike and run. I am pleased to report that the team managed the distances very comfortably and have every reason to look forward to the event taking place on May 2nd at Lucton School in Herefordshire. We have a second event to look forward to on 3rd June at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School.
Inter House Maths
I may have taken a little time to make the link, but I have often thought that we have some highly competitive individuals here at Park Hill; judging by the enthusiasm (bordering on being slightly scary intensity) shown by those of you who joined us for the inter house Maths challenge it is clearly in the genes!
I would hope that it was enjoyed by all. It is also worth noting just how impressed we were with the knowledge shown by the children (and some parents..)
With questions ranging from time, 2-D shapes through to probability and ratio, the assembly was a perfect way to start the term.
The ultimate winners? - St. Davids! Very well done to all of the teams who worked hard to solve the tricky questions and my thanks to Mr. Stevenson for once again setting such tricky but accessible questions.
The ultimate winners? - St. Davids! Very well done to all of the teams who worked hard to solve the tricky questions and my thanks to Mr. Stevenson for once again setting such tricky but accessible questions.
Key Dates for the Diary - Half Term
23rd April - Reception Curriculum Meeting (8.40am)
24th April - Year 1 Curriculum Meeting (8.40am)
25th April - Year 2 Curriculum Meeting (8.40am)
26th April - Year 3 Curriculum Meeting (8.40am)
27th April - Digital Leaders Trip to Heathrow Airport
2nd May - ISA National Triathlon
4th May - Reception Class to Legoland
8th - 11th May - Art Exhibition
9th May - Linda Garnett Surprise Party (2.30pm)
11th May - Art Exhibition and Interactive Workshops - Visit by Mayor of Kingston (9am)
11th May - ILG Athletics Championships - Sir Mo Farah Stadium, Twickenham (2pm)
12th May - Open Morning
17th-18th May - Year 2, 3 & 4 Camp Out
23rd - 25th May - Year 3 and Year 4 Residential Trip - Lulworth Cove, Jurassic Coast
25th May - 3rd June - Half Term
Information from the Year Groups
Year 3 and Year 4
Year 3/4 have hit the ground running this week in preparation for the action packed term ahead of us.
In English we have started working on Stig of the Dump as well as adventure stories. Mathematics this week has been revising our four rules if number, along with an Capacity investigation, to take advantage of the great weather. We looked at both imperial and metric measures, using cups, litres and millilitres. Please challenge your child at home with containers and estimate and check how many ml of water will they hold.
In History we have started looking at how the House of Tudor took over the throne and the significance of The Tudor Rose. Using our artistic and sewing skills we are making a felt wall hanging to remind us of the facts.
In preparation for the camp out this term, we have been practising making up our tents and the importance of teamwork. We certainly have a lot to look forward to!
Year 2 -
This week, year 2 have started many new topics. In English, we have been learning how to write instructions, record instructions, and create an instruction booklet for the younger years. In mathematics, the children started this week revisiting place value, and then moving to capacity. Making use of the lovely weather this week, we used water to measure the capacity of different objects. Much fun was had transferring water, and accurately measuring the amount.
Science has seen the creation of the children’s first full investigation. They created predictions, an apparatus, and a method for our work next week. Our work on the Stone Age has begun and pre history is proving to be an interesting topic.
A rather exciting part of this week has been the introduction of the Bloxels builder. The children have begun to create their characters for their game, and have experimented with world design. This has linked to their work on instructions, as they have been devising instruction to explain this program to other children in the school.
Year 1 -
A huge well done to all of Year 1 for demonstrating their Maths knowledge with confidence in our Inter house challenge on Thursday. They made me very proud!
In our Literacy work this half term we will be reading a selection of Mairi Hedderwick’s stories about Katie Morag and her family. We will be using these stories as a stimulus for our writing activities. This week we identified the key characters, buildings and transport on the island in preparation for a dynamic collage activity recreating the Struay map. The children looked closely at the character of Grannie Island and wrote character profiles using the text and pictures as evidence.
In Maths, we have mastered symmetry and moved onto column addition which the children really enjoy.
The children have been studying the human and physical geography of the Island of Coll in the Inner Hebrides and enjoy using maps and atlases to further our research. We have begun to talk about the similarities and differences between our locality and the Isle of Coll. When thinking about how to travel to and around the island and Kingston the children are practising compass direction and directional language.
In Science, our focus is Space and we have learnt the names of the planets in our solar system as well as the dwarf planet Pluto.
Cricket, lovely cricket
As you can from the images, the weather was good for us at KGS Ditton Field as we started our summer sports of cricket and athletics.
Building on their skills from last year, the children were reminded of the correct grip, stance and back lift and worked on their underarm throw and retrieving skills.
Information from the Year Groups
Reception -
What beautiful weather we have had this week. It’s meant we have been able to take our Maths and Phonics sessions outside and bask in the delightful spring weather. Reception started their new topic ‘Construction’ were we have been looking at different buildings, vehicles and materials used while something is being built. For our Science challenge we had to use straws and masking tape to create a structure of our chose these are now up on our display boards ready for you to see.
In our computing session we had the children using Keynote to create their own buildings that they then made using wooden blocks, it was brilliant to see them so confidently changing between different shapes and colours.
It’s been a very creative week and with lots of creative construction activities planned we are sure the children will be eager to show you their work.
Second Steps -
Welcome back Second Steps! What a busy week we have had full of fun activities. We used our fine motor skills to mould and create different shapes using the play dough (it smelt like banana cake). This week we have been learning about Africa, we created our own passports and flew to Africa for a holiday. There we learnt about different wild life as well as different cultures. We also went on a safari where we saw many different animals! Second Steps then made some create African Art work. The story of the week was Handa’s Surprise, we then made some yummy fruit salad using the fruits in the book. Yoga was great and we learnt different poses this week. This week in Georgies Gym, we worked on our gross motor skills, hopping, and using the sound h/H. For cooking this week, we made Island Mango Bread!
First Steps -
Welcome back. Hope you had a great Easter holiday.
Spring certainly seems like it’s sprung.
With our sudden heat wave can you please provide your child with a named sunhat and suncream. Thank you.
We would like to welcome Amber and May to First Steps, they are settling in and making friends already.
This term we are exploring traditional fairly tales.
This week we have been reading and learning all about Jack and the Beanstalk.
Stomping round like giants, making Jack using rectangles and circles. We drew around Alfie to make a giant and had great fun painting him.
We have planted magic beans (runner beans) so we can grow our own beanstalks. They are hung up at the window so we can see them grow and will measure them and hope the reach up to the clouds so we can go to the giants castle.
We have sent home a picture of a castle for your child to colour in, please return this next week to add to their magic beans.
School Money - Update
School Money has been updated. We hope these step by step instructions will help.
Login in to schoolmoney.co.uk > Sign In (blue button) > schoolmoney parent login
You will then be presented with the login information page requesting your mobile, email, password and child’s first name.
Drop off and Collection Arrangements
The side gate is open each day from 8.00am - 8.05am for early bird drop off. It will then be opened again from 8.15am - 8.30am for drop off, and 3.30pm - 3.40pm for collection. Early bird drop off is for children only and you should leave your children with the member of staff on duty.
If you are running late, please inform Mrs Blower so we can make the necessary arrangements.
Breakfast Club
In order to ensure we can obtain accurate numbers for Breakfast Club each day we have adapted the form currently used to book a place for the after school club. If you wish to apply for a place for breakfast club for the next day or coming week, these requests can be accommodated up to 2pm each day, with the form being taken off line at 2pm to ensure we can make the necessary arrangements. These bookings will need to be made each week and will be 'online' from 3pm each Friday afternoon for the consecutive week.
Second Hand Uniform
For your information, we are no longer hosting sales. If you wish to request some second hand uniform please complete the Google Form:
Website
We are in the process of developing a new website. We are hoping to reveal our new site very shortly.
The grid calendar is back up and running, although we are still trying to publish 2018-2019 term dates and remove the 2016-2017, however they are in the grid calendar.
Parking
Please help us maintain the very best relationships with our neighbours by not blocking or parking in their drives when dropping off or collecting your children.
Please do not park on the yellow chevrons directly in front of the school or across driveways for the safety of all of our children.
Woodland School
Could I ask that you ensure that waterproof trousers, Wellington boots and coats are brought into school on the relevant day (regardless of the forecast) so that we maximise our use of Richmond Park.
Credits:
Alistair Bond