Welcome to our weekly newsletter!

Next week is Walking to School Week.  During this week, we encourage ALL our pupils to walk, cycle or scoot to school EVERY DAY.

This week's theme is 'The Magic of Walking'.  We will be learning about the important reasons to walk or wheel and its benefits for individuals, communities and the planet!

What are the benefits of walking to school?

• Children feel happier and healthier

• They arrive to school refreshed and ready to learn

• Helps reduce congestion and pollution at the school gates

If you are unable to walk to school

You can park or hop off public transport at least five minutes away from the school and walk the remaining journey.

After half term, we will be launching the WOW challenge, where children will need to record daily how they come to school.  Those children who walk, cycle, scooter or park and walk at least 5 minutes will be rewarded with a WOW badge.  

There is growing evidence to suggest that exposure to natural environments can be associated with mental health benefits.  The London Wildlife Trust wants to help you get outside.  Click on the images below to find out how you can get a free tree ID kit or participate in a nature challenge.

Click on the image above to find a range of different apps to support your child's mental well being.

On Tuesday some of our Year 1 and 2 pupils attended the Sutton Sports multi skills event.  They had a great time developing a range of skills including using a hockey stick, cricket bat and tennis racket as well as some athletic skills.  They showed great determination and sportsmanship skills.  

Thank you to Mr Sanders and Mrs Perschky for organising the event.

Thank you ever so much for all your donations and support.  We are so pleased that we have been able to raise £1,355 by completing the 15 mile Marsden March.   

  If you are in a position and would still like to sponsor us the link is here: https://march.royalmarsden.org/fundraisers/leoladies 

Thank you.

Also a HUGE thank you to all the volunteers, including Mrs Meaney and Miss Niamh who supported us on the day.  

 This week Nursery continued looking at fruit and vegetables when enjoying the story 'Oliver's fruit salad'.  They had great fun in the water tray making their own orange juice which they said smelt "Amazing!"  They also enjoyed developing their fine motor skills by practising to chop up different fruit and vegetables.  

 Acting as artists they painted their own colourful fruit pictures.  

In their maths they looked at using different pieces of fruit to create a repeating pattern.  

They have also enjoyed developing their listening skills by listening carefully to a rhythm and then copying it on the drums!  They also had great fun practising forming different shapes with their mouths while 'blowing paint' in order to make colourful pictures.   They finished the week by demonstrating their chopping skills by making their own delicious fruit kebabs    

Great job Nursery!

This week our creative Reception children have been exploring the story, 'The Bog Baby'.  After reading the character description of Bog baby, the children drew and painted what they imagined Bog babies might look like. Then they wrote their own descriptions.

Can your children tell you any of the words they used to describe their bog baby?

The children examined the beautiful illustrations and reflected on how they made us feel before they created their own feelings painting in muted colours. 

In science they learnt about the life cycle of frogs. They have been carefully watching our tadpoles grow and change and they drew observational drawings of them. 

On Tuesday, some of our Reception children worked with Miss Birkett, our forest school teacher, to plant some lovely plants in our Reception area as well as care for the plants which are already growing.  

Our number of the week was 15 and we have been learning our number bonds to 10 using part-part-whole models. We recorded them using number sentence. 

Challenge your child: how many different ways can they make ten?

Year 1 have had a lovely week of learning. In English, the children have started a new book called 'Little Red and the very hungry lion'. They made some wonderful predictions using their imagination like "The lion ate the goat", "Red played tricks on the lion".  They are really enjoying the story.  They were taught instructional writing and then wrote about the lion's cunning plan, making sure to use time adverbials and verbs.

Can you ask your child - what are verbs? Can they use the correct suffix 'ing' and 'ed' when writing them? E.g walking, walked.  

As mathematicians, the children have continued their learning about fractions. They have been practically finding quarters of shapes.  They were confident knowing they needed to find four equal groups for finding quarters. They were also finding quarters of a number  e.g.1/4 of 16 =___ and 1/4 of 24 = ___

 Can you ask your child - what does a quarter mean? Can they show you how to find a quarter and half of 8? 

As scientists, the children have been on a walk around the school grounds and forest school looking for deciduous and evergreen trees. They made up actions to help them distinguish between them.  Evergreen trees have thick, waxy leaves. Deciduous trees have thin leaves. They enjoyed learning about different trees and trying to name some common trees.  

As geographers, the children have continued to learn about the United Kingdom. We recapped the four countries and their capital cities. Then we moved on to learning the seas of the UK and plotting the names of the seas.  They also enjoyed using Now Press Play to reinforce their learning of facts about Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. 

In P.E the children continued to explore throwing and catching using a variety of ball sizes. They are becoming more accurate with their throwing making sure they throw it with the correct force to enable their partner to catch it.   

This week, Year 2 continued to read Roald Dahl's 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. They have been identifying the features of a diary entry and writing in first person

In Geography, the children have been identifying the different physical and human features and landmarks in China and comparing these to the UK.  

Acting like mathematicians, they have been revising their knowledge about place value, using digit cards to make the largest or smallest number as well as odd or even numbers.  

Can they tell you a two digit odd number with 5 tens?

Acting as artists and after looking at different orchestral instruments, they worked collaboratively to create their own mythical instruments.  

Please remember to pay and give permission for your child to attend the Year 1 trip to Hampton Court and Year 2 trip to The Tower of London via Arbor.  Thank you 

Please check the dates section regularly as dates may change and new dates will be added.

Friends Update

There are many different views about physical chastisement, but it is widely accepted there are much more effective ways to teach children right from wrong. 

As a local authority, Sutton has seen a number of children coming to the attention of police and social care due to the use of physical chastisement and as such has worked with other local authorities on an initiative to reduce this number. 

In line with this initiative, we agree that anything that causes harm to a child is unacceptable.

As a school, we have a duty to report incidents of suspected or confirmed physical chastisement to social care and the police and this can be with ot without visible bruising, grazes, scratches, minor swelling, cuts as well as stress injuries from prolonged standing, position holding as these are banned by law in the United Kingdom.

Smacking or chastising that does not leave a mark is now illegal in Wales and Scotland, and there is currently pressure being placed on the Government to make it illegal in England and Northern Ireland too. It is therefore important to understand that even if a child has been smacked but no injuries are visible, social care or the police may still choose to take further action.

If you would like support on how to manage your child’s behaviour at home, please do not hesitate to contact us, we are here to help. 

Safeguarding Team

Sutton Community Uniform 

As some of you will be aware the Council runs a Community School Uniform shop to support families with the costs of living and as an effective way of recycling clothes that children quickly grow out of. 

It was originally established as a response to Covid but has since grown and has proved to be something that families really appreciate and value.

The service is provided through LBS Family Information Service and runs out of Tweedale Family Hub. 

If you are able to donate old uniform through to the community shop please use the contact details here

This is a free service and they do not charge parents for anything. 

More information can be found here

Sutton Dyslexia Association

The next meeting of Sutton Dyslexia Association is on

 Tuesday 11th June 2024 at 7.30pm at

The Friends Meeting House, 10, Cedar Road, Sutton, SM2 5DA

The talk will be on "Spelling". There will be tea and coffee afterwards and the opportunity for parents to meet each other and committee members. Entry is free.

Surrey County Council encourages residents to foster

Fostering is an incredibly rewarding experience that can transform the lives of both the children being fostered and the foster carers themselves. Children who enter the care system have often experienced trauma and instability in their lives, and a caring, stable foster family can make a significant difference in their wellbeing and development.

Nationally, there are currently over 70,000 children living with foster families in the UK. However, there is still a significant shortage of foster carers, with around 9,265 new foster families needed in the next year alone. In Surrey, there are over 1,000 children in care and Surrey County Council have just under 400 foster families.

Foster carers come from all walks of life and backgrounds, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to fostering. Whether you are single or married, young or old, own your own home or rent, you can still become a foster carer. The most important thing is a willingness to provide a safe and loving home for a child in need.

This is the message that Surrey County Council is promoting in national recruitment film ‘Any of Us’. The short film has been jointly funded by over 80 councils across England and aims to raise awareness about fostering, particularly among those people who may not have previously considered themselves suited to fostering. The film looks at the potential of three people from different backgrounds to become foster carers, and the potential of children they care for to grow and thrive. ‘Any of Us’ will be available to watch from 26 September.

If you have ever thought about fostering, now is the time to take that first step and find out more. The more people who consider fostering, the greater the chance of finding loving, stable homes for children in Surrey who desperately need them.

You can contact Surrey County Council Fostering Service on 0800 096 9626, via email at fostering.recruitment@surreycc.gov.uk or by visiting the website; www.surreycc.gov.uk/fostering

You can watch ‘Any of Us’ via Any of Us - YouTube and connect with the Fostering Service on social media via @surreyfostering

Dads' Football

Some Cheam Common School Dads get together on a weekly basis to play football and have a good chat. 

Join us in our WhatsApp group! ( https://chat.whatsapp.com/FwN7SksNXnBIxanYRJ9TEc) 

See you on the pitch!

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