Newsletter 1 - 2nd October 2026

Parents' Evenings

Parents' Evenings will be held over the last week of this half-term from Monday 19th to Wednesday 21st October. You will be able to book a 10-minute in-person appointment with your class teacher through our Parents’ Evening System from next week and further information will be sent out via ParentPay shortly. 

SEND reviews will be held either during Parents' Evening or after the half-term break. If your child has SEND, you will be informed of the date and time by the Inclusion team directly. 

On Wednesday 21st October, school will close for children in Reception through to Year 6 at 1:30 pm. Tree Tops will run from this time until its usual finish. There are no after school clubs running during the week of 19th October.

Punctuality & Planned Absence

Please may we remind you of the importance of children being on time and settled in their classrooms before the start of the school day. The first 10–15 minutes of the morning are used for revisiting key skills such as handwriting, spelling, reading, times tables and arithmetic, which pupils start before the registers are taken.

Children may go straight to class once their playground gates are opened at 8:40 am; class registers are taken at 8:50 am when the playground gates are locked. Children arriving after the gates are locked should go directly to school reception to be signed in. Arrivals after 8:55 am are marked as late. Further information on the timing of the school day can be found here.

All planned absences, including those for religious observance, examinations and term-time holidays, should be requested in advance using the relevant request for absence form. These forms are online and are linked on the school website here. 

If your child has a dental or medical appointment, you do not need to complete a form but please do inform us in advance by emailing the school office and attaching evidence of the appointment, for example a screenshot of the confirmation text.

Consent for Local Educational Visits

At Fern Hill we aim to provide regular opportunities for the children to enjoy outdoor and off-site learning, including curriculum linked educational visits.

To streamline the organisation of educational visits and reduce the administration for our families, we ask that you complete a general consent form at the start of the school year. General consent is for the whole school year and covers local visits only – visits within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames or those where the children will travel by foot to their destination, walking for a maximum duration of 45 minutes. Such visits will of course have the appropriate staff supervision and risk assessment.

We will continue to notify you in advance of the details of visits covered by general consent including anything your child will need, e.g. a packed lunch, but you will not be required to complete a separate consent form. Separate consent will still be required for visits that are not local, or for which we are asking for a voluntary monetary contribution.

Please click on the link below to complete and submit the general consent form. If you have more than one child at Fern Hill, you should complete a separate consent form for each child.

Parental Consent for Local Educational Visits 2026/2027

Parent Volunteers

We are holding two briefing sessions for parents and carers interested in volunteering in school on a regular basis, on Monday 19th October at 2:30 pm and Tuesday 20th October at 9:00 am. The briefing will cover the DBS check process and the safeguarding training required. Please look out for a letter coming home next week with more information.