DATES AND REMINDERS

Monday 23rd - Friday 27th October - Half-term

Thursday 2nd  November – Year Two - trip to Gilbert White’s House 

Thursday 2nd November - Year Four - Turner's House Project - workshop in school

Sunday 5th November - OPS Fireworks Night

Thursday 9th November – New parent tours 

Thursday 11th November - Governors' Vision Evening

Friday 10th November - Remembrance Day Assembly - two minutes silence

Monday 13th - Friday 17th November - Anti-Bullying Week

Monday 13th November - NSPCC 'Speak Out, Stay Safe' Assembly - whole school

Tuesday 14th November – Year One - trip to Strawberry Hill House (further details to follow)

Wednesday 15th November – New parent tours

Thursday 16th November - Thunberg class assembly (tbc)

Wednesday 21st November – New parent tours 

Thursday 23rd November - NSPCC 'Speak Out, Stay Safe' workshop/assembly - Years Two, Five, Six

Monday 27th November - Flu Immunisations - whole school

Wednesday 29th November - Year Five - Lau - trip to National Archives 

Saturday 2nd December - Christmas Fair 

Monday 4th December - Year Three - trip to Museum of Richmond (further details to follow)

Monday 11th December - FOSS Christmas Market 

Wednesday 13th December - Carol Service - St Stephen's Church - Year Two Nativity within the service 10am

Wednesday 13th December - Reception Nativity 2.30pm (tbc)

Thursday 14th December - Reception Nativity 9.30am (tbc)

Friday 15th December - Christmas lunch

Thursday 21st December - End of term. School closes 2.15pm

Monday 8th January - INSET day 

Tuesday 9th January - Spring Term - Children return

Our special focus weeks are highlights in our school calendar. We caught up with Miss Collins, our PHSE Co-ordinator, to talk us through  Anti-Prejudice Week.  She told us: "Although an anti-prejudice message is woven through our curriculum, our annual week on the subject gives our children and staff a chance to look closely at how discrimination and prejudice can have a negative impact on so many people's lives. Mrs Bachour inspired KS2 with an assembly featuring some of our staff members who described their experience of prejudice and outlined ways our children can help change the world for the better. Next up was a wonderful whole school worship, led by St Stephen's Church. In it the church staff highlighted Bible stories that teach us we are all neighbours and as such we need to spread the message of love for one another. Each year group has also studied texts, such as Racism by Anita Ganier, on the meaning of racism and children have been given opportunities to ask questions on the subject. With lots of exposure to stories and books on anti-prejudice, we hope we can encourage our children to think inclusively."  All in all it has been an inspiring and thought provoking week and our children have, as always, impressed us with their understanding. 

Our school mission statement encourages us all to 'build each other up in love and learning,' and anti-prejudice week is the perfect time to express this. This statement embodies our belief that we want to help our children be supportive upstanders; it provides a fabulous moral framework for our work in school and our bid to encourage our community to be actively anti-racist. We would like our children to build confidence to challenge and report any discriminatory behaviour and work towards justice and equality. It is our opinion this generation of children has the potential to be the next leaders who stand up against prejudice and discrimination.

When you start off with thirty two teams, and you reach the final two, it is fair to say you should be extremely proud of yourselves. That was just the case this week when our Year Five and Six tag rugby squad went to Richmond Rugby Club to compete in the borough competition. We caught up with our Sports Coach, Danny Cain, to get his report. "After progressing through the group stages, we made it to the final for the Cup. Their were two levels - the Cup and the Plate. After playing brillianty,  showing great desire, determination and self-belief throughout the tournament, we qualified for the highest level - the Cup. Winning the group got us into the semi-finals! We battled hard and showed some great resilience, despite going behind. This meant we progressed to the final.  The was one step too far and, despite the children's valiant efforts, we lost 2-0." 

Mr Cain also told us that the group's defensive play was fantastic and something other schools and referees commented on. "This made us so proud, as it is something we have worked hard on in training. This is such a great story for us. It was our very first competition and, with just seven weeks training, we we got ourselves to a final. We are immensely proud of all those who took part, in particular those who started on the sidelines. They showed great team spirit, urging on their team mates throughout. I am so excited to see how far we can progress this year. It is important that anyone who wants to be in the tag rugby team attends training every week. It was a great team performance from Seb, Theo, Sam, Lizzie, Eli, Freddie, Thomas, Sybil, Isla, Finley and Hettie." Thank you to all our wonderful players and Mr Cain for coaching and accompanying them to the tournament. Great teamwork!

GETTING TOGETHER