Newsletter 1 - 23rd January 2026

Key Dates

Thursday 29th January
Elder class parent assembly at 9:00 am 

Eco-Refill Shop at 3:00 pm

Friday 30th January
PSA Reception Cake Sale at 3:00 pm

Saturday 31st January
Eco School Community Litterpick

Monday 2nd February
Nursery Phonics Workshop at 9:00 am 

Tuesday 3rd February
Year 6 Junior Citizenship visit

Thursday 5th February
Lime class parent assembly at 9:00 am

Friday 6th February
NSPCC Number Day

Year 1 Toys workshop

PSA Quiz Night

Monday 9th February
Chilldren's Mental Health Week starts

Thursday 12th February
Yew class parent assembly at 9:00 am

PSA Uniform Sale at 3:00 pm

Friday 13th February
Home Learning Showcase for Years 1 - 6

PSA Year 6 Cake Sale

Monday 16th - Friday 20th February 
HALF-TERM BREAK

Monday 23rd February 
Children return to school

 

Click here for term dates for the current and 2026/2027 school years, including INSET days.

Key dates for families for the spring and summer terms are published here. Some of these dates are provisional, and all dates are subject to change — please refer to this newsletter and communications via ParentPay for the latest information.

Reminders

Illness
If your child is unwell and will be absent from school, please inform us by 8:30 am on each day of absence. You can email the school office at office@fernhillprimary.org or call 020 8247 0300. If the office is busy, you may be put through to the answerphone. Please do leave a message and tell us the nature of your child's illness and the symptoms they have.

School Lunches
Please don't forget to place your child's order for lunch through ParentPay by 8:00 am on the day. To avoid missing the deadline, we recommend that you order your child’s lunches well in advance - you can cancel or amend your orders up until 8:00 am on the day too. 

Year Group Weekly News
Don't forget to check the Google Classroom for your year group's weekly update and any important reminders from your teachers for next week. 

Home Learning 3

 

Home Learning Grids for this half-term are posted on your child's Google Home Learning Classroom. Work should be completed in time for our Home Learning Showcase on Friday 13th February.

Welcome Back to SchoolWelcome back to the spring term! We are looking forward to the busy weeks ahead, including the NSPCC's Number Day on Friday 6th February and World Book Day on Thursday 5th March, with themed weeks for children’s mental health, careers and science too.

Parents’ Evening will be held on Wednesday 25th March from 4:00 - 7:00 pm and Thursday 26th March from 2:00 - 6:00 pm. As with Parents' Evening in October, school will close early on Thursday 26th March at 1:30 pm. School will close early at 1:30 pm on Friday 27th March too - the last day of the spring term. Parents' Evening appointments will be available to book from early March - further information will be sent home at the end of February.

Trim Trail ProgressKS1 Adventure Trail

It's been very exciting to watch the installtion of the new adventure trail in the infants' playground at the front of the school! Work will finish early next week with the wetpour surfacing and then the apparartus will be open for the children to enjoy. This has been funded by the PSA so a huge thank you to the whole community! A similar project is planned for the juniors' playground later this year.

Screenshot 2024 12 11 115839Eco-Committee Community Litter Pick

As part of our Eco Schools programme of events, Miss Evans runs a local litter pick on the last Saturday of every month. She meets families at the Nursery gates at around 9:50 am and sets off on the walk at 10:00 am to collect litter from around the local roads.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to teach your children about taking care of their environment, protecting wildlife from injury and reducing plastic pollution, and a lovely way to meet and engage with other families at school. There’s even tea and biscuits on arrival back to school! Our litter picks were very popular last year - and with the weather improving over the coming months, we hope many new families will join in. The next litterpick is on Saturday 31st January - we hope to see you there!

Screenshot 2024 12 11 120212Fern Hill Eco Refill Shop

Our Eco Refill Shop will be open after school next Thursday 29th January. Run by the children on our Eco-Committee, the shop sells a range of affordable, ethically sourced, cruelty-free and environmentally friendly cleaning and beauty products on a refill basis - don't forget to bring your ownbottles for refilling!

 

KET Annual ReportKET Logo

Fern Hill and The Kingston Academy next door are both part of the Kingston Educational Trust. You can read the Trust's 2024/2025 Annual Report here.

School Clubs

Clubs are now in full flow for the term, and will all run up to and including the week of 16th March - there are no clubs running in the final week of term. A few spaces are available for Year 5 & 6 Basketball and NFL Flag (both on Tuesdays) and also Keyboard for Years 3-6 (Thursday lunchtime). Please emails clubs@fernhillprimary.org if you would like to book a place for your child.    

ROARROAR

Following their very successful holiday camps over Christmas, ROAR Kids Academy will be back with us over the half-term break from 19th - 20th February. Their camp runs on the Fern Hill school site and is available for children aged 4 - 11 years. It's open from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, with an extended day from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm also available.

For further information and booking, please see their website or contact them directly on 07969 959754. Click here for their flyer.

Fern Hill Nursery

If your child was born between 1st September 2022 and 31st August 2023, they can start Fern Hill Nursery in September 2026. Our nursery has one intake per year in September only and your child must be three years old by 31st August 2026 to be considered.

Applications for a place in Fern Hill Nursery are made directly to us using this linked application form. The closing date for applications is 27th February 2026 and places will be offered by the end of April at the latest. School tours for families interested in applying for a place are also available to book. Click here to reserve your place.

Clare Harlow VisitClare Harlow Author Visit 

On Tuesday, KS2 enjoyed an inspiring visit from Clare Harlow, award-winning author of the 'Tidemagic' book series. Clare retold the exciting opening of her book, talked about how she created her magic system and then challenged us to come up with superpowers based on our hobbies and interests. Here's what some of our Year 5 and 6 students had to say about the visit:

‘I found the Clare Harlow visit fun, as she was very engaging and explained how to make your own story and I loved the taster of her book.'

‘I think that your assembly was great. The advice you gave us to become storytellers was good - it inspired me to become an author when I grow up.’

‘I really liked how she engaged with the audience, I also liked how she really explained what the story was about!’

‘I liked the author visit because it sounded mysterious and adventurous. I would really love to read the book.’

Book of the Week

Gina Kaminski‘Gina Kaminski Rescues the Giant’ by Craig Barr-Green & Francis Martin

Gina Kaminski is back to fix another fairytale, and this time she takes on the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Three magic beans in exchange for a cow is obviously not a good deal, so Gina negotiates some cake as well. And she doesn’t like the thought of the villagers stealing the giant’s special things so she climbs up the beanstalk to warn him.

Once again, Gina uses her chart to express how she’s feeling throughout the book. She is feeling worried about her school trip and about the mistakes in the story but once she has saved the giant’s special things and worked out where she’s going to eat her lunch, she feels great!

Gina Kaminski is an intrepid neurodivergent heroine who learns how to regulate her emotions while making sense of her world.

The Pandas‘The Pandas Who Promised’ by Rachel Bright, illustrated by Jim Field

Popo and Ketu are red panda cubs but they are very different - Popo is quiet and cautious but Ketu is wild and adventurous. The sisters promise their mum to always stay on the mountain, to stay close during daytime and to look after each other. When Ketu can’t resist exploring she tells Popo to stay behind where it is safe, but Popo remembers her promise, follows her sister and saves her from a dangerous encounter with a leopard.

Why aren’t there more picture books about red pandas? They’re adorable! This is a charming, gorgeously illustrated, rhyming story about growing up, about pushing boundaries, and about looking out for each other.

Team Points Update

The overall House winner this week is RICHMOND

KINGSTON

335

COOMBE

355

RICHMOND

379

HAMPTON

363

Attendance Update

Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 4 who had the highest year group attendance this week with 98.6% - the winners of our new weekly Attendance Award!

Congratulations to Chestnut class with 100% attendance this week!

 

 

 Year Attendance % Star Year ★
Reception 97.6%  
Year 1 98.4%  
Year 2 94.7%  
Year 3 97.3%  
Year 4 98.6% ★
Year 5 95.1%  
Year 6 95.8%  
     

 

PSA News & Events

Click here for Fern Hill PSA's latest newsletter.

Click here for Fern Hill PSA's Events Calender for the remainder of this school year. 

2026 Calendar

 

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