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Keeping Our Walkways Clear

It is wonderful to see so many children scooting and cycling to school! To help keep our school grounds safe and accessible for everyone, we kindly ask for your help in supervising morning parking of scooters and bikes.

Lately, several scooters and bikes have been left in a way that makes it difficult to navigate the alleyway beside the school building. Most importantly, some are being left directly in front of the fire exit door.

How you can help:

Keep Fire Exits Clear: Please ensure no scooters or bikes are parked in front of any doors, even for a short time.
Tidy Parking: Encourage your child to park their scooter neatly, leaving plenty of room for others to walk past safely.

Clear access is vital for our emergency procedures. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our school community safe.

A Special Lunar New Year Lunch!

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, our wonderful school kitchen team will be serving a special themed menu on Tuesday 24th February.

It’s a fantastic opportunity for the children to try some delicious traditional flavors as we mark the Year of the Horse. The kitchen will be swapping our usual rotation for a celebratory feast - see the menu below.

We love seeing the children get excited about trying new foods and learning about different cultural celebrations through their school lunches. Please note that the vegetarian and dietary-requirement options will be adjusted to match the theme so that everyone can join in the celebration!

What is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year is a huge, colorful celebration that marks the start of a new year based on the cycles of the moon. While our usual New Year always starts on January 1st, the Lunar New Year changes date every year to match the first new moon of the lunar calendar.

It is a time for families to come together, share delicious feasts, and wish each other good luck and prosperity. Many people celebrate by:

Wearing Red: Red is a lucky color that represents happiness and strength.
Giving Red Envelopes: Children often receive "Hongbao" (red envelopes) containing lucky money from older relatives.
Watching Lion & Dragon Dances: These loud, energetic dances are performed to scare away bad luck and welcome in the good!

Every year is also linked to one of twelve special animals. This year is the Year of the Horse, an animal known for being energetic, kind, and full of life!

Update: Changes to Ofsted Inspections

We are sharing this helpful overview from the LDBS regarding the new Ofsted inspection framework and the move toward a detailed school "report card" instead of single-word grades.

STARS Spring 2 Update:

NEXT TERM SESSIONS - Block booked STARS sessions have now been loaded for Spring 2 up to Thursday 26th March, a letter was emailed to appropriate families this afternoon
PAYMENTS – Please make payment in ParentPay, or transfer Childcare Vouchers ahead of the new term by Sunday 22nd February.
CHILDCARE VOUCHERS - Please email finance@st-stephens.richmond.sch.uk with confirmation of childcare payments and the allocation required for each child/club
STARS CLOSED - Please note we will not be running our afterschool session on Thursday 26th March due to school finishing at 2:15pm
AD HOC SESSIONS – Bookings will go live in ParentPay from Monday 23rd February. We will have spaces across the week for after school, and Breakfast Club
CHANGES - If you wish to make changes to any block bookings for after EASTER please email stars@st-stephens.richmond.sch.uk by Friday 27th February

Quick access to consent forms

Do you need to update your child's permission to walk home? Or request permission for your child to bring a phone to school? You can do these things as well as give your child permission to have medicine and update the list of other adults who can collect your child from school by selecting 'quick links' from the menu on the school website home page. From there you can find these forms as well as other frequently accessed information like term dates and the school lunch menu.

Trip Payments

Please check ParentPay for upcoming trip payments due, if you haven't already made your payments please do log into ParentPay online today:

- Year 4 – PGL Marchant's Hill - outstanding payments are now overdue
- Year 6 – Black Cultural Archives - outstanding payments are now overdue
- Year 2 - NEW - Great Fire of London Online Workshop with virtual tour of St Paul's Cathedral

ARE YOU FOLLOWING US?

For regular updates on all the exciting things we are getting up to in school, you'll need to follow us on Instagram @ststephens.cofe

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