Dear Parents and Carers,
I led this week’s senior leader assembly, we looked at two very important words: peace and gratitude. We started with the word gratitude and unpicked what it meant through a story about a solider in World War II who found a dog that saved his life. We discussed the importance of setting ourselves goals and planning next steps, but also the importance of supporting our mental health and ways we could do that by focusing on what we are grateful for. We shared things we were grateful for and found some common themes – feeling safe, our family, our teachers. We then unpicked the meaning of peace and found we all recognised it as not fighting. We then looked at how peace could also be felt as an emotion – being peaceful and the importance of making time to find peace. The ways we can do that were decided as sitting quietly in nature, reading a book or doing exercise.
It’s that time of year again – individual school photos! David and Justin, our school photographers will be in school next Wednesday (27th) Thursday (28th) and Friday (29th). We plan to work our way through school starting with Nursery to Year 1 on Wednesday. Year 2 – Year 4 on Thursday and Friday Year 5 & 6. Once again, David and Justin will be offering after school family photoshoots on Thursday and Friday. Parents and carers are welcome to bring their children (as well as older and younger siblings) to the community room after school.
Parents' evening is as outlined in last week’s newsletter will take place w/c 2nd October. You will have received an email and text reminder earlier this week that the timetables to book your parents’ evening appointment would be loaded today and that should you need help with your login to contact us. Year 1 should have received their login details via letter earlier this week. Your child’s Teams login will remain the same throughout your child’s time at Kilmorie. Timetables have all been loaded to your class teams today and a text was sent just ahead to let you know it is now live.
All meetings are in-person, unless a parent/carer specifically requests a Teams call. Wednesday will continue to be the late day and reserved for in-person meetings only – Teams calls will not be offered. If anyone is having problems booking a slot, Jo will be available to support Tuesday and Wednesday next week before or after school.
Head Lice – I am aware that these pesky creatures are already making homes with many of our children. Not only are they horrible to have as they are irritating, but they are also very difficult to getting rid of. It is with this in mind that I am reviewing our hair policy and am looking at ways to minimise the risk of becoming infected with them. However, in the meantime can I ask that all children with long hair come to school with it tied back? Whilst we will not be able to reinforce this in school, it is a way to slow the spread of these pesky insects.
Playground gate between Early years and the main playground. To further safeguard our youngest children, the gate between the main playground and the Early Years’ playgrounds will remain locked in the morning and parents will not be able to cross between the two playgrounds. It will remain locked all day to further secure the reception play space and only opened at 3.25pm. Anyone dropping off a reception child and a child to the main playground will need to use the alleyway to drop the older sibling(s).
Parents can however, cross between the Early Years' playground and the main playground after the gate is opened at 3:25pm, which is the same time the main gates are opened and learning in the playground is finished. Please can I ask that everyone supports us to use this system and keep our children safe – thank you.
Well done and thank you to the six Kilmorie mums who took part in an 18 mile walk last Saturday, to raise money for the Toni & Guy Ward at Kings College Hospital. This ward specialises in caring for children with breathing, blood and cancerous conditions. The ward is currently providing outstanding care to a Kilmorie child in Year 2 undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumour.
The money raised will be used to improve the play spaces and provide equipment that makes it feel a little more like home for the children who have to be there.
The team (South London Strollers) walked just over 18 miles, which is around 42k steps and they have raised over £3.4k! All walkers managed to finish with smiles on their faces! Well done all!
It is still possible to make a donation to support this worthwhile cause, please use the link: Justgiving- South London Stroller
Year 6 Bake Sale: a group of year 6 children have come to me to ask if they could raise money for sports equipment, and to support looking at ways we can broaden opportunities for girls to be involved in sports. We will be meeting with the staff who lead on sport to unpick any ideas they have and how we might make their ideas a reality. To support with this, they are planning on doing a bake sale next Friday 29th September. If anyone would like to help and donate, you can do this by dropping off cakes to the office on Friday morning. There will be a minimum donation of 50p for a cake but anything more is up to you. A reminder will be sent next week.
Reminders:
- The book sale has been rescheduled due to illness and will now take place on Friday 6th October in the community room.
- Don't forget, the FoK AGM is next Monday (25th) from 7pm until 8.30/9pm at school. Everyone is welcome to come along and there is no pressure to sign up or get involved. It is a good way to hear what the team have be up to, share ideas and ways to help. We hope to see lots of you there!
Kind regards
Julie
