Welcome to our weekly newsletter!

Comic Relief

Thank you to all those who participated in our red mufti and/ crazy hair.  All the children looked fabulous and I am pleased to inform you we raised £350 for Comic Relief.   

 The Nursery children have had another busy week.  They have been continuing learning about bears and this week have been preparing for their teddy bears picnic.  They have made bear biscuits as well as iced 'polar bear' biscuits - yummy!  

Fawns enjoyed a visit from Audrey as they had the highest attendance last week.  

The children have also talked about how to protect their hands from germs.  They completed an experiment to see how soap works to help protect them from germs and keep our hands clean and our environment germ free.

As spring has finally arrived they have also been creating their own 'spring inspired' art work and of course having lots of fun outside as well!

Great job.

 This week Reception have been learning all about 'People who help us' in our local area. We used google maps street view to explore different shops in Worcester Park High Street.  We wrote shopping lists and learnt that in the past there were no supermarkets. The children enjoyed trying to work out which shops sold different products in the past. Later in the week we compared photos of how the high street looks now with old photos from the past. The children noticed, ''In the past there were no traffic lights because there weren't many cars.'' They also used their phonics to help them write healthy and unhealthy menus.

In maths we learnt all about money, we practised reading prices and counting out the correct number of coins.

In art we drew ourselves with funny haircuts and drew observational drawings of fruit.

What a wonderful week of learning Reception! Well done! 

Year 1 ended the week on a real high with our visit from Tom's Talking Reptiles. The children really enjoyed touching, stroking and holding different reptiles. They were all incredibly brave and even when they were apprehensive they tried to touch the animals, we were very proud. What a wonderful experience they had!

Can you ask your child how the skin of the snake felt and what reptiles they stroked? 

How do they know if they are carnivores, omnivores and herbivores? 

In English, the children have begun their new book 'One day on the blue planet, in the Savannah'. They have been enjoying learning about Africa and all the variety of animals that live in the Savannah. They wrote some lovely descriptions of lions.

As mathematicians, the children have been learning to solve word problems using part, part whole. They have solved both addition and subtraction problems, finding the whole and the parts before solving the equation.  

As scientists, the children explored reptiles and wrote simple sentences about the characteristics of a reptile. 

Acting like a historian, the children created their own stamp of one of the explorers they have been learning about. They had to think carefully about how they travelled and to make sure their stamp represented the explorer. 

In Design Technology, the children really enjoyed creating their own moving picture using sliders. They all thought of some lovely ideas. They found it difficult to cut a line through the card and make the bridge the correct place but persevered. 

Year 2 have been enjoying their broad wider curriculum and have enjoyed lots of different learning experiences this week.  They particularly enjoyed the visit from Sutton SchoolsWork and solving the mystery of the Easter story.  

It was their last week of coding with the Lego Spike kits and the children were very proud of themselves when they managed to build and program their cave cars.  They were very pleased that they even lit up and changed colour.  

Well done Year Two!

Working as geographers, the children have been finding out about continents in more detail.  They used their chrome books and the atlases to find extra information and then worked collaboratively to present their findings.

In maths, the children have been working with 2D shapes.

Can they explain to you what the word 'vertices' means?

As artists, the children were working on the tricky skill of continuous line painting.  They created still life paintings of everyday classroom objects.  It was very challenging to keep the paintbrush on the paper for two whole minutes.  

Ask your child whether or not they managed it?

Well done to Jessica in Falcons who after growing her hair for three years, had it chopped off to donate to the 'Little Princess Trust'.  What an absolute superstar! 

You look fabulous with your new shorter hair cut, too.  

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

The London Borough of Sutton is in the process of developing a new SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) strategy for the borough and is really keen to hear the views of children and young people with SEND/additional needs in the Borough. Barnardos are helping with this work. If you are a young person with SEND or additional needs, or a parent/carer of a child with SEND, please do contribute to this review by completing the survey by following the steps below:

1. Read about the survey here, what is being asked and how your privacy will be protected

2. Complete a short consent form here (upon completion you will be emailed a copy of the survey using the email address you provide) 

3. Complete the survey that is emailed to you prior to the 12 April 2024

What children and young people tell us will influence the SEND/AP review and will inform decision makers about what children and young people’s lived experiences are in Sutton and how we can improve them. 

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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