Newsletter 2 - 1st May 2026

Key Dates

Monday 4th May
Bank Holiday - children return to school on Tuesday 5th May

Tuesday 5th May
Phonics Screening Check Parent Information Session at 8:50 am

Year 4 visit to the Kingston Mosque

Author visit from Janeen Hayat

Thursday 7th May
Larch class parent assembly at 9:00 am

Eco-Committee visit to the Ealing Beaver Project

Monday 11th - Thursday 14th May
Year 6 SATs

Tuesday 12th May
Nursery visit to Ham Parade

Thursday 14th May
Year 1 visit to Windsor Castle

Friday 15th May
Lavender class parent assembly at 9:00 am

PSA Uniform Sale at 3:00 pm

PSA Year 5 Cake Sale

Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th May
Year 6 School Journey to PGL Liddington

Year 2 Great Fire of London Workshop

Year 3 Child in Rome Workshop

Thursday 21st May
Elm class parent assembly at 9:00 am

Eco-Refill shop at 3:00 pm

Friday 22nd May
Home Learning Showcase for Years 1 - 6

Year 5 visit to Hampton Court Palace

Saturday 23rd May
Eco School Community Litterpick

Monday 25th - Friday 29th May 
HALF-TERM BREAK

Monday 1st June 
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

Year Group Weekly News
Don't forget to check your child's Google Classroom for your weekly year group news.

School Lunches
Please remember to order your child's school lunch by 8:00 am on the day required. Click here to view this term's full menu. If your child brings a packed lunch, please ensure it is healthy and strictly nut-free. Children should not bring sweets or chocolate as a snack.

Transfer to Secondary School
If your child is in Year 6 and intends to take up a place at an independent school for Year 7, please let the school office know. The transition process has begun and we are sharing the children's information with their secondary schools so it is very important that we know your child's correct destination.

Home Learning 2

Home Learning Grids for this half-term are posted on the Google Classroom. Work should be completed in time for our next Home Learning Showcase on Friday 22nd May. 

Reading for PleasureReading for Pleasure

Fern Hill has long been externally recognised as a school that prioritises developing reading for pleasure by the local authority and Ofsted, and this year, in National Year of Reading, we are delighted to be one of 25 school across the country who has been accepted into the UKLA/OU Quality Mark programme, which recognises and rewards schools that have developed, embedded and enriched their Reading for Pleasure (RfP) culture and ethos. As part of our evidence-gathering and to continue to strengthen our offer in the wider community, we would really appreciate it if you could fill in this a short survey to help us understand the extent to which we are engaging parents with 'Reading for Pleasure' at Fern Hill. Thanks very much for your support.

 

Children's CommissionerManaging children's digital lives 

The Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published a guide to help parents and carers navigate the challenge of managing children's everyday online habits. You can access the guide here. Written with direct input from children and young people, including teenagers consulted in schools and the Commissioner's Youth Ambassadors. The guide is designed to make difficult conversations easier and more regular.

The guide covers setting boundaries around phone use, talking about harmful content, and building ongoing communication that goes beyond a one-off conversation. An activity pack is also available, created with children and young people to do with parents or carers to help open up conversations around managing online habits.

Camera with HeartClass Photographs

Our school photographer will be taking photographs of the children all together in their classes on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd June. This will include the Year 6 Leavers’ year group photograph. All children should be wearing full school uniform. The photographs will be available to purchase and delivered to school before the end of the term. If you do not wish your child to be included in the photographs, please email the school office by Friday 22nd May to let us know.

School ClubsClubs

Summer term lunchtime and after-school clubs for children in Years 1 through to 6 have started and there are still a few places available for some clubs - please email clubs@fernhillprimary.org for details. You can find the schedule for clubs and the weeks that they are running on the website here. Club collection points are also published on this page.

We need your help!

Planning for the PSA's biggest event of the year, Fern Fest, is underway and we need your help to make it the best ever! If you can spare some time - to help with planning in the run up, or on the day itself - please let your Class Rep know. You can also email the PSA directly at fernhillpsa@gmail.com. Monday 22nd June will be a mufti/no uniform day when the children are invited to wear their own clothes to school in return for a donation for the tombola and lucky dip stalls. 

Fern Fest 2026

 

AFCParent and Family Childcare Survey

Achieving for Children is asking families in the Kingston and Richmond boroughs to complete their Parents and Family Childcare Survey to help them understand your childcare needs and how they can develop the local childcare provision. The survey is linked here. 

Parent CouncilThe Parent Council Needs You!

The Parent Council meets twice each term with Mr. Scott to discuss key topics and share ideas. It’s an opportunity for parents and carers to help shape and improve the school. These discussions lead to a parent survey and our Parental Voice newsletter, where we share feedback and actions taken.

We are currently looking for Parent Council reps for Bluebell, Sunflower, Cornflower, Clover, Heather, Elm, Yew, Lime, Sycamore, Oak and Willow classes. If you are interested in becoming a class representative, please email us at parentcouncil@fernhillprimary.org for more details. The next Parent Council meeting will be on Thursday 21st May. 

The Parent Council’s current Chair, Clare, and Secretary, Natalie, will be stepping down at the end of this academic year and our heartfelt thanks go to them both for the amazing work they have done over the past few years, establishing a new structure, format and newsletter for the Council. We are so very grateful for their time and effort. Clare and Natalie will be providing a comprehensive handover, and will both remain involved as their respective class representatives. Please get in touch if one of these roles would be of interest to you. 

 

Books of the Week

Make A Friend‘I’m Going to Make a Friend’ by Darren Chetty & Sandhya Prabhat

When you’re new, it seems to take forever for people to see you and to make friends. So this child decides to make their own friend from craft materials. And in the process they finally make a real friend, too. 

This is a gentle and thoughtful picture book about learning to understand other people and to put yourself in their shoes when making new friends - a beautifully-illustrated and empathy-inducing read.

Family Tree 2‘Evie and Maryam's Family Tree’ by Janeen Hayat

When London school girls, Evie and Maryam are assigned to work together on a family tree project they make an incredible discovery - they each have a folder of letters written in code belonging to their great-grandmothers. As they work together to decipher the letters they reveal a story of a friendship across barriers between Kathy and Safia, starting in 1929 in Delhi and following the lead up to the independence and partition of India.

This is a wonderfully warm, inclusive and captivating story of friendship and reconciliation that explores historical events not often covered in British children’s fiction - highly recommended! 

Team Points Update

The overall House winner this week is KINGSTON

KINGSTON

571

COOMBE

472

RICHMOND

541

HAMPTON

535

Attendance Update

Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 2 who had the highest year group attendance this week with 99.1%. 

Congratulations to Rowan class with 99.7% attendance!

 

 

 Year Attendance % Star Year ★
Reception 98.0%  
Year 1 97.9%  
Year 2 99.1% ★
Year 3 99.0%  
Year 4 97.6%  
Year 5 95.7%  
Year 6 97.2%  
     

 

PSA News & Events

Click here for Fern Hill PSA's latest newsletter.

Newsletter April 2026 1

Newsletter April 2026 2

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