REST IN PEACE YOUR MAJESTY
Our thoughts, prayers and condolences are with the family of Her Majesty The Queen at this deeply sad time. She lived a life of exceptional public duty and service. An inspirational lady who always provided comfort.
“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.”
Wisdom 3:1
TURN TO PAGE THREE FOR ADS ON LOTS OF NEW ACTIVITIES TO TRY THIS AUTUMN
DATES AND REMINDERS
Monday 12th - Thursday 15th September - Year Six to Hooke Court
Wednesday 14th September - Curriculum Meetings - Year One 6.00pm, Year Three 6.30pm, Year Five 7.00pm
Tuesday 20th September - Year Four - Turner Huse (TBC)
Wednesday 21st September - Year Six - Swimming starts (further details to follow)
Wednesday 21st September - Curriculum Meetings - Reception 5.30pm, Year Two 6.00pm, Year Four 6.30pm, Year Six 7.00pm
Monday 26th - Friday 30th September - Scholastic Book Fair (further details to follow)
Tuesday 27th September - Year Two - Strawberry Hill House (TBC)
Wednesday 28th September - Year Two - Strawberry Hill House (TBC)
Wednesday 28th September - Year Five - British Museum (TBC)
Wednesday 28th September - Phonics Meeting for Parents (Reception, Year One and Year Two) 9.00am - School Hall
Monday 3rd - Friday 7th October - Year Six Bikeability (further details to follow)
Wednesday 12th October - Year One - Bockett's Farm (TBC)
Tuesday 18th October - Year Three - Bushy Park (TBC)
Monday 24th - Friday 28th October - Half Term
HOOKE COURT PAYMENTS
Please can families of children going to Hooke Court next week pay the outstanding balance asap, all new trips for this academic year will be processed on School Spider.
WELCOME BACK!
It's great to see everyone back in school. Before we welcomed back our children, staff enjoyed two days of training on our school vision, behaviour policy, safeguarding, our new CUSP spelling system and lots of subject planning. So, we're raring to go. You may also notice we've made some upgrades to our playground - we think our new, smart, artificial grass areas look fabulous and hope you agree! Here's to a successful new academic year. If you have any information for our newsletter email us at info@st-stephens.richmond.sch.uk and mark your email 'for the attention of Miss Rainey.'
DON'T FORGET TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW SPIDER APP
Crystal Taylor, our Business Manager, gives us the lowdown on our new school wide app which we hope will make our parent and carers life much easier when dealing with us. It's called School Spider. As Ms Taylor explains, we are experiencing some technical difficulties, but we are trying to iron these out as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.
"Huge thanks to all our families who have downloaded and started using our new App ‘School Spider’. We appreciate it’s been a bumpy start to say the least, so thank you for bearing with us whilst we and the people at Spider work through some technical issues. Please continue to send in your feedback and we can raise this with Spider. They are very open to receiving suggestions for improving parent interactions within the app.
"Currently, School Spider is having difficulty recognising our pupils with entitlement to Free School Meals, please could these families use the ‘Reception to Year Two’ option within the app whilst we work on this. There will be no charge at checkout.
"Additionally, under ‘my bookings’ in the parent's profile section, the app is not always recognising bookings that parents made last term. This is mainly due to the changeover of class names. When you made the booking your child was in ‘Ruby’ class, for example, and is now in ‘Thunberg’ class when the bookings are actually taking place. Please be assured your bookings are still valid and your child’s place is still secure. You can still view your bookings in ‘previous orders’ section of your profile within the app.
"Parent Pay - refunds are currently being processed where there is a credit balance on the account. These will take up to ten working days to process, thank you for your patience,"
WE'RE ON THE CUSP OF A SPELLING BREAKTHROUGH
We're introducing a new spelling system this year. After lots of research by Jess Morrison, our Deputy Head, we have decided to adopt the CUSP spelling system which we believe will offer our children the best chance of getting individualised, cumulative spelling teaching. The CUSP Spelling curriculum is organised into 2-week blocks, with each block covering a particular set of key concepts, including spelling patterns, etymology and morphology and reasoning about spelling. These blocks are made up of three lessons per week: 2 x 15 minute (minimum), discrete Spelling lessons and 1 x Spelling starter for the final Writing lesson of each week. We are very excited about this and will keep you posted about how our children are getting on with it and any homework involved.
Jess Morrison explains: "We are excited to be launching CUSP spelling from Y2-Y6. We have selected this programme as it is so rooted in the science of learning. CUSP Spelling has been purposefully built around the principles of evidence-led practice. This is to ensure that pupils acquire deep knowledge about the English spelling system and that this learning endures. The curriculum is written cumulatively to allow teachers to move backwards and forwards, depending on the starting points for their pupils. CUSP Spelling is a balanced approach, drawing together knowledge about phonics and vocabulary and pairing this with pattern seeking and reasoning.
We are moving away from a list of 5-10 spellings per week to learn by heart as we find that this is ineffective at helping the children to learn the words long-term. Instead, homework will focus on spelling concepts so children gain a deeper knowledge of the words. We will monitor each child's progress in spelling in their independent writing."
Mrs Morrison will run an online session for parents to give more detail and allow for questions on 12th October @ 9am. All welcome.
NO NUTS PLEASE
Just a little reminder that we are a 'nut free' school, so please ensure children do not bring nuts in any form for their break time snacks or packed lunches. If children are bringing in ready prepared sandwiches and salads, please check the ingredients before you pack for school. We have children in school who have serious nut allergies, so we need to protect them at all times.
Many thanks for your co-operation.