CCI Newsletter 10th - 14th November 2025

Cheam Common Infants' Academy

Weekly Newsletter

Monday 10th - Friday 14th November 2025

Cheam Common Infants' Academy: Balmoral Road, Worcester Park, KT4 8SS

Email: ccioffice@leoacademytrust.co.uk https://www.cheamcommoninfants.com/

Message from the Principal

What a busy week it has been, starting off with Odd Sock Day. This marked the start of Anti-Bullying Week in the UK, encouraging people to wear mismatched socks to celebrate individuality and challenge bullying. This simple, fun event is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance to raise awareness and promote kindness and respect for everyone's differences. The children shared their socks with us and we shared the important message of kindness for all, with them. It was lovely to see so many of you at the parent consultation meetings - a huge thank you to everyone who purchased books from our book fair. Every book that you purchased will earn us rewards to spend at the scholastic book shop. I’m looking forward to supplementing our book corners and our library with new and exciting reads for the children

Last week was Nursery Rhyme week - the children in Nursery and Reception learnt nursery rhymes throughout the week. Nursery rhymes are more than just playful songs — they’re powerful tools for supporting young children’s development. Research has shown that they develop

Vocabulary and sound awareness: Familiar rhymes build phonological understanding and early literacy foundations.
Repetition and rhythm: Repeated patterns support memory, language development, and early maths skills.
Educator interaction: The impact of rhymes is amplified through meaningful adult–child engagement.

Nursery rhymes are timeless and many are steeped in history. Reciting nursery rhymes together is great opportunity to share learning that is not only useful for your child but might also help you answer a question in a general knowledge quiz!

I also have exciting news about changes in our leadership team in January 2025. As many of you may already know, Miss Gunner (Principal of Cheam Common Juniors Academy) is expecting her second child and will be going on maternity leave in January. To ensure the continued strong leadership of Cheam Common Junior Academy during her absence, I am delighted to share that Miss Kelly will become Interim Principal of the Junior school and will continue to be supported by Mr Strange as Vice Principal, Mrs Hart as Inclusion Lead and the LEO Academy Trust. Mr Strange and Mrs Hart will continue to work across both the Infant and Junior School. We are also delighted to welcome Mr Raney who will be based at Cheam Common Infants' as Interim Vice Principal. I am confident that the schools will continue to thrive under this strong and capable leadership team and look forward to this new adventure.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Mrs Hughes

Parent Workshops

Seesaw Workshop Slides

Phonics Workshop Slides

Phonics: Yellow Group and Beyond Slides

Reception Curriculum Meeting Slides

Coming Soon

Date TBC: English as an Additional Language - how to support your child

School Updates

🦙 Alpaca Visit 🦙

Friday 21st November

We are delighted to announce that we will be visited by alpacas later this month. Mortimer Alpacas will be bringing two alpacas to school for the morning, for our children to meet, stroke and take photos with. We hope that this will be a fun learning break for children!

A massive thank you goes to the Friends of Cheam Common, who are funding this opportunity for our children.

EYFS and KS1 will be visited on Friday 21st November, with KS2 being visited on Thursday 20th November.

🪁 Year 1: Victorian Toy Workshop 🪁

Thursday 20th November

Next half term for our history learning, the children will be learning all about the world of toys and the role that they play in entertaining us, educating us, and stimulating our imagination. As historians, they will be finding out about the ways in which toys have changed over time. To enhance their learning we would like the children to participate in an interactive Victorian drama workshop. After learning some well-known Victorian parlour games, the children will have the opportunity to handle and examine a large selection of wooden, tin and cloth replica toys, to discover how they work and how they are made. Thus bringing their learning to life! The cost of this workshop is £4.50 per child. We would be grateful if you could make this payment via your Arbor account by 6th November, under the trip section. Please note that refunds cannot be made if your child is absent on the day. If you have difficulty in affording the above amount, please come and see us privately.

👂Year 1: Routine Hearing Screening 👂

Please note that we will not be offering free routine hearing screenings in Year 1 this year.

If you are worried about your child's hearing, you can book a free hearing test at Boots. Click here for more information.

⚽ Sutton United vs Shrewsbury Town ⚽

Fixture Highlight: Sutton United vs Shrewsbury Town - Emirates FA Cup - Sat 6 Dec, 15:00

This is a huge game for the club as we look to progress to the next round of the FA Cup, where we could face some of the biggest names in football! This could be the start of our next historic FA cup run and we would love for you to be a part of it. Under 14s tickets are just £2 and an adult and a child can attend for only £20, so let's fill the stands with as many fans as possible.

Tickets can be purchased directly via this link: https://suttonunitedfc.ktckts.com/product/SUTFACUPROUND2

We hope to see you there cheering the team on, it promises to be a fantastic atmosphere and a great day out for young fans, teams, and community groups.

🧦 Odd Socks Day 🧦

Monday 10th November

On Monday 10th November 2025, we celebrated and took part in Odd Socks Day! Check out some of our odd socks below.

🧸 Children in Need 🧸

Friday 14th November

Thank you for supporting your child in allowing them to wear MUFTI for Children in Need on Friday. Check out some of our photos below!

.There is still time to donate to Children in Need by visiting our Just Giving Page to support this charity.

🏥 Christmas Pyjama Campaign 🏥

As we quickly approach the festive season, we have decided to run our pyjama fundraiser again, similarly to last year . Our chosen charity for the festive season is ‘Children’s Hospital Pyjamas’. This amazing charity donates brand new pairs of pyjamas to poorly children in hospital over the Christmas period. The charity’s vision is to ‘spread love through comfort during the Christmas season’ to children who unfortunately have to spend their Christmas holidays in hospital. In line with the LEO outcomes, we aim to encourage healthy and active learners who care about our world and we feel this would be a great way for our students to give back to our local community.

If you would like to help us support this charity, we are asking for either donations of brand new pyjamas or money that will go towards buying new pyjamas.

Due to the location of our school, we have decided that we will be donating our pyjamas to our local hospitals. We are donating to:

- St George’s Hospital (Tooting)

- Kingston Hospital (Kingston Upon Thames)

To confirm, we are only able to accept BRAND NEW pyjamas due to the vulnerability of the children who will be receiving the pyjamas. Unfortunately second hand pyjamas are not accepted. The pyjamas can be any size ranging from baby sizes - 10 years old. Alternatively, monetary donations are also welcomed and will be used to purchase new pyjamas to go towards our donations.

The deadline for all donations is Friday 5th December. Please hand pyjamas into the school office or to your child's classroom.

To raise more money for these causes, we invite all children to wear pyjamas or onesies to school on Friday 21st November.

Breakfast and After School Club: How to change, book or update

Please email cciwac@leoacademytrust.co.uk or phone 07739360621.

Email communication

If you are emailing in with a message about your child, please include their name and class (ideally in the subject line). Collectively, this will save our office staff a huge amount of time.

Sutton School Nurse details

School Nurse leaflet 5-11.pdf

Important Information: School Place Applications for September 2026

Crucial information for parents regarding applications for both Reception and Year 3 Junior school places for September 2026. If you have already submitted your application or this does not relate to you, please ignore.

It is imperative that you submit an application, as current Nursery and Year 2 children do not automatically receive a place.

Key Information & Resources:

Application Deadline: The national deadline for both Reception and Year 3 is 15th January 2026.

Where to Apply:

For both Reception and Year 3 Junior School Places: You must complete the application for the Local Authority (LA) you pay your council tax to, regardless of where your preferred schools are located. If your LA is not the London Borough of Sutton, please refer to your own LA's admissions section.

London Borough of Sutton Rec Guidance Booklet: Primary School guidance booklet (for reception applications).

London Borough of Sutton Junior Guidance Booklet: Junior school guidance booklet (for Year 3 applications).

Primary Reception Key Dates

Junior School Key Dates

Online Application System: https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/

Video Guide: A video with screenshots to walk you through the online application process is available on YouTube.

Upcoming School Open Days

Local schools will be holding open days throughout the autumn term.

CCI open day dates are advertised on our website: https://www.cheamcommoninfants.com/720/admissions.

Please sign up for a specific tour time using the Google Form link provided on that webpage.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Important Information: Nursery Applications

Academic Year 2026/2027

Crucial information for parents apply for the Nursery for September 2026, January and April 2027 intake. If you have already submitted your application or this does not relate to you, please ignore.

It is imperative that you submit an application, directly to the school.

Key Information & Resources:

Application Deadline: The deadline is 15th January 2026 (no later than 3.30pm)

Nursery Application Form 2026/2027

CCIA Starting Nursery Guidance 2026/2027

Nursery Admissions Policy 2026/2027

Labelled belongings

It would be appreciated if all children's belongings were labelled clearly with their name, especially jumpers, coats and water bottles.

Family Support Worker - referral form

If you would like to explore ways that our Family Support Worker could support your family, please complete this Google Form.

When should my child come back to school?

My child is unwell (1).pdf

Universal Breakfast Club

School lunches

Here are the lunch options for next week.

You can see Autumn Term options here.

Weekly School and Sporting News Stories

Early Years

Nursery

This week in Nursery we continued focusing on rhyme and we enjoyed reading "Shark in the Park" by Nick Sharratt. We learned all about shapes and we had fun identifying shapes in the environment. For Remembrance Day, we reflected on past events in history and we created pictures of poppies.

Reception

In Reception we have enjoyed learning about looks of different topics this week. First we talked about Odd Socks Day and how we were all different and all special. We enjoyed pairing odd socks together and pegging them to a washing line. Next we learnt about Remembrance Day and why people wear poppies. We did lots of poppy themed crafts and created beautiful pictures. Our book of the week is The Little Red Hen. We have been learning about the characters in the story and have created the Little Red Hen in various forms; painting, cut and stick shapes and drawing. We have also written words and sentences to describe her and the other characters.

Year 1

Year One have had an enjoyable week of learning. The children enjoyed wearing odd socks to show that everyone is different and unique. They loved dressing up for children in need and were very excited all day!

In English, the children enjoyed writing about old toys and were very proud of their sentences as they tried to join two ideas using ‘and’. We hope you enjoyed seeing their beautiful writing at parents evening and how well they are doing so far in Year One.

In Maths, the children partitioned numbers using the bar model and they confidently applied their knowledge of ways to make 5. In D.T the children investigated stable and unstable structures and made their own tower making sure it had a brace and was anchored.

Year 2

This week our Year 2 writing focused on nocturnal animals. The children revelled in the chance to use Thinglink to gather fascinating facts. They then applied their knowledge to produce excellent non-chronological reports, showcasing both their research skills and writing flair.

We developed our map skills in Geography by exploring different types of maps, including atlases, globes, and Google Earth. The children took on the role of 'map detectives', successfully identifying the essential features present in every map: a title, compass rose, and key.

In Maths, we built on our strong foundation of number bonds to ten. The children used these ‘known facts’ to master adding and subtracting a single-digit number to or from a two-digit number. They deepened their conceptual understanding by working practically with Dienes blocks and part-part-whole models.

Our science focus has been on developing enquiry skills. We began a week-long observation project by creating food diaries of our own diets. Next, we will use this data to determine if we are eating a balanced diet.

It is so wonderful to see the children so eager to learn in all areas! We are so proud of you Year 2!

Birthday celebrations

Polite reminder...

As you know, we are a healthy school and therefore ask if your child would like to celebrate their birthday, they donate a book to a library instead of bringing treats. This also ensures there are no concerns over allergies.

We will share any photos of children and their birthday books here every week!

Carter (Reception)

Thea (Year 1)

Aarav (Year 2)

⭐️ School Achievements ⭐️

🐝 Weekly 3 Bees Certificate 🐝

⭐️ Star of the Week ⭐️

This week's Explorer Value is 'Aspirational.

🐝 Nursery 🐝

Cygnets - Nikhil

Ducklings - Lucas

🐝 Reception 🐝

Badgers - Clementine

Foxes - Lottie Rose

Hedgehogs - Sachi

Squirrels - Maya

⭐️ Nursery ⭐️

Cygnets - Eliana

Ducklings - Diell

⭐️ Reception ⭐️

Badgers - William

Foxes - Wilf

Hedgehogs - Roman

Squirrels - Riley

🐝 Year 1 🐝

Finches - Matthew

Robins - Ellie

Sparrows - Adam

Wrens - Ruyi

🐝 Year 2 🐝

Eagles - Sienna

Falcons - Jack

Kestrels - Aarvi

Owls - Kristen

⭐️ Year 1 ⭐️

Finches - Cristiano

Robins - Ching Yu

Sparrows - Thea

Wrens - Rex

⭐️ Year 2 ⭐️

Eagles - Alexie

Falcons - Leo

Kestrels - Molly-Jo

Owls - Niva

Out of school achievements

If you would like to share your child's achievements outside of school with us, we'd love to hear them! Please complete this short form to tell us all about it!

Harry (Year 2)

Harry has been working really hard on his football skills and is super proud to have won an award for player of the match this week

Juliet (Reception)

We would like to share the news that Juliet has achieved a gold medal award from her gymnastics progress assessment.

Lily (Year 2)

Lily Walsh (Owls) achieved her Cheam Gymnastics Proficiency Award level 6 at the weekend.

Neve (Year 1)

Neve decided to go the Children in Need '25 Challenge' a go - she ran 2,500m in one go and managed to raise an amazing £25.

What an amazing gesture!

Autumn 2 Curriculum Newsletters and Home Learning

Click on the links below to read our curriculum newsletters. On these, you can find out the topics that your children will be learning about, as well as information about home learning, PE days and general reminders for their year group.

Reception Year 1 Year 2

Important information

Communication

To help us assist you more efficiently when you email the school office, we kindly request that you include your child's class along with their name in your correspondence.

While we know all our students very well, having the class information readily available helps us to quickly identify your child and address your queries without any delay or guesswork.

For example, please consider writing: "Regarding [Child's Full Name], [Class, e.g., Year R - Squirrels]" in the subject line or at the beginning of your email.

Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated and will help us continue to provide the best possible support to you and your children.

Thank you for your understanding.

Moving address

If you have moved address, it is imperative that you inform the school office as soon as you have moved. It is a requirement that the school has up to date details particularly in case of an emergency.

Please email the school office ccioffice@leoacademytrust.co.uk if your details need updating. Alternatively you can update them using the Arbor App.

Reporting Attendance

We ask that you use one of the google forms below to report absence.

Request for Exceptional Absence form in advance for future appointments and exception absence.

Cheam Common Infants' Absence Form for sickness and same day medical appointments.

They are also available to complete on our website using the parent tab.

We do not authorise holidays during term time. If your child is going to be off school due to an exceptional circumstance, then please complete this form:

You can also log same-day absences for your children directly through the Parent Portal or Arbor App. Simply navigate to the Attendance section, click "Log Absence," and fill in the details. You can adjust the start and end times if it is not a full-day absence. Once submitted, school staff will review and either approve or reject the request. You will see approved absences in the Attendance tab.

Please note, this feature is only for same-day absences; for any extended or future absences, please continue to complete and submit the request for exceptional absence. We will also continue to use the same day absence google form. If you need to change an unapproved absence request, you will need to delete it and create a new one, as editing is not possible. Once an absence is approved, it cannot be deleted through the app, so you will need to contact the school for any further modifications

Autumn Term Dates

Please find below all the key dates and times for the Autumn Term.

PTA events are shown in this colour. Please see below for more details.

New dates

2025 - 2026 Term dates

Thursday 20th November: Year 1 Victorian Toy Workshop

Friday 21st November: Alpaca Visit

Friday 21st November: Pyjama Day

Friday 21st November: Bingo Night

Monday 8th December: Badgers and Foxes Christmas Performance (2pm)

Tuesday 9th December: Squirrels and Hedgehogs Christmas Performance (2pm)

Wednesday 10th December: Nursery Christmas Performance (9:15am)

Thursday 11th December: Rocksteady Concert (9:30am)

Thursday 11th December: Christmas Jumper Day

Thursday 11th December: Christmas Lunch

Friday 12th December: SEND Coffee Morning

Friday 12th December: Elf Run

Tuesday 16th December: Year 1 Christmas Performance

Wednesday 17th December: Year 2 Christmas Performance

Friends of Cheam Common - Updates

The Friends of Cheam Common now has Facebook group, where you can follow any updates on upcoming events or how you can get involved.

Fencing

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported the Friends of Cheam Common events over the last year or so. We are delighted to announce that we have been able to fund the brand-new fencing across our Reception outdoor area and around the Year 6 garden, ensuring better privacy for our children.

Secondhand Uniform

A gentle reminder, please only donate the items listed below.

Logo jumper

Logo cardigan

Logo fleece

Logo waterproof jacket

Logo PE tshirt

Logo polo shirts

Junior PE black quarter zip top

Ties

Red PE shorts

Please do not donate, shirts, or grey uniform items; we have very limited storage space and we can’t store those items currently. We will let you know when we are able to accept these items again.

Thank you so much for supporting the second hand uniform sale on Friday. We are delighted that good quality school uniform can be reused and help families.

Going forward, we need to reduce the uniform service that we offer unfortunately. We will no longer be taking uniform email requests for the foreseeable future. The uniform service has expanded immensely with donations and requests over the past year. Whilst it has been absolutely wonderful to offer this service to the school community; sadly, we don't have the volunteers to sustain the huge amount of time this service requires.

However, we are very happy to still offer a termly uniform sale, where we'll have plenty of uniform on offer to stock up for the term ahead.

Please leave donations at either the Infants’ or Junior’s office.

We hope you understand the decision we've had to take, and we thank you, as always, for your continued support.

SEND & Inclusion Updates

Click the image above for further information!

Sutton Dyslexia Association

The next meeting of Sutton Dyslexia Association will be via zoom. It is a 2 Part course for parents, entitled "How to help your child with Dyslexia"

Monday 1st December 2025, 8-9 pm

Monday 26th January 2026, 8-9 pm.

The first session deals with the experience of dyslexia for child and parent and how to give support.

The second session is looking at reading, spelling, and writing, and how to help. It also looks at the school structure and the exam process.

The course will be led by Louise Selby, who is a teacher with a level 7 specialist qualification in teaching and assessing learners with specific learning difficulties and dyslexia. She has written a program called Morph Mastery.

If you would like to join the meeting, please send your first name, surname and email address to

admin@suttondyslexia.org

You will be sent access details the morning of the meeting , so that you can join the talk from 7.45 pm.

Keeping Safe Online

DIGI Safe - Keeping Children Safe Online

LGFL have launched a wonderfully informative and practical website full of resources to help keep children safe online. With videos, informative guides and top tips, there is lots to explore to help keep your child safe whilst online. To visit, click here.

Family Support