Dear Parents and Carers

Well what a term it has been!

You will see from all the many reviews below that the children really hit the ground running at the start of 2024 and there have been so many lovely examples of special workshops, assemblies and trips throughout the 11 weeks of the term.

Do please read this through to the end of this newsletter because there is so much to digest.

I was especially delighted with the beautiful Easter service that took place at the church on Tuesday and want to thank everyone who was involved in making it so.  See all the pictures below for a flavour (!) of what took place!

Well done to everyone who took part in the Talent Show today - pupils and staff!  What a talented bunch we all are!

We have lots planned for the summer term but in the meantime, I wish you all a joyful Easter holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and back safely on the first day of term, Monday 15th April.

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. John 6:33

Best wishes for the weekend

Angela Harris

Headteacher

PS It was super to welcome back some of the Year 7 pupils to come and talk to our Year 6 children about transition to Secondary School.  Thanks boys!

The theme of this year's Lent Appeal is 'Step In To Help....' and this year the charities we are supporting are: 

Wandsworth Foodbank

Red Tribe Masaai Academy (Our Global Partnership School)

Red Nose Comic Relief and 

Magic Breakfast (as nominated by our Pupil Voice)  

The final amount raised from your generous Parentmail contributions is:

£1,040.10

Thank you so much for your generosity to all these great causes.

With Easter just around the corner, we are all looking forward to the upcoming holidays and the family and relaxation time that hopefully comes with them. From Easter eggs and bunnies to beautiful flowers, there is so much to enjoy during this time of year.

Before we head off on our Easter break, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been a fantastic term for our PTA. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, we have been able to organize a variety of exciting events and activities for the children and grown ups alike.

From cake sales to uniform sales, a disco for the children and more cake sales, we have had plenty of opportunities to come together and have some fun. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful our community is when it comes to pulling together and helping out.

We have been able to raise some significant funds for our school, which will be put towards improving the learning experience for the children.

We have also introduced our new ink cartridge recycling bin so please do keep bringing in for recycling and money raising!

Looking ahead to next term, we are excited to launch a new event - our Sportathon! We have decided to change things up this year in response to some of the feedback we received from our survey. This showed a definite enthusiasm for active, child and family focussed events, and less (actually zero) enthusiasm for auctions. We hope everyone is able to rise to the challenge and get involved, taking part, encouraging, sponsoring or cheering for your house in the parent inter-house football!

Some key dates for early in the term:

19th April - Sportathon

19th April - Uniform sale (early opening @2.45pm in the main playground)

23rd April - PTA meeting 7pm on Zoom.

10th May - Bag2School recycle and reuse clothes collection

And if that is not enough, we are already gearing up for our biggest event of the year: St. Michael's Olympic Village Fete on Saturday, 22nd June. More details will follow in our start of term newsletter but there are so many ways to help and be involved that we would love to hear from you.

Once again, I would like to thank all of our volunteers for their hard work and dedication this term. It is your efforts that make our PTA so successful, and we are grateful for all that you do.

Have a wonderful Easter break, and we look forward to seeing you all next term!

PTA Co-chair(s)

on behalf of the PTA Committee

PTA Website 

Flute and Piano Recital:

Saturday 27th April at 7pm

This lovely fundraising concert is being held in aid of the St Barnabas Church and features a very talented ex pupil, Charlotte Holmes

Not to be missed!

EYFS and Nursery:

It is nearly the end of another busy term at St. Michael’s for our Early Years Children. It has been full of new learning, new experiences and exciting events! We have been so impressed with how well the children have continued to grow and take everything in their stride. There have been many celebration days, visitors and fun activities for our youngest children to join in with.

The children in the nursery have been super busy taking care of cress seeds that were planted at the beginning of the term. They have had to be very patiently waiting for them to grow and making sure to water them daily and using their magnifying glasses to check their progress. We have had some tall plants and some short ones and they have loved spotting their own. We were also very excited by the arrival of the chicks! They learnt all about the life cycle, what they need in order to grow and survive and how to make sure they showed great gentleness when holding the young chicks. Before the chicks went to their new home, the children were able to work collaboratively to build an enclosure for th chicks to have an exploration in. 

This term the children have been developing their sense of number; nursery children have been exploring the composition of numbers 1 to 5 and have been using various maths equipment such as numicon and natural objects such as bean seeds to support their exploration in provision. 

At the beginning of this half-term, Reception children enjoyed being explorers for the day. It was so much fun finding fossils, like the palaeontologists and we have learnt so much. It was a great way to start our 'Explorers' topic work! We now feel quite confident that we know more about the extinct 'dangerous lizards' or dinosaurs!

We have explored the seasonal climate in the UK, making season wheels, and even compared our climate with Australia's vast climates. Additionally, we enjoyed finding out how rain clouds form and even learnt three different types of clouds to look out for! This week we have explored Kenya, finding out about the Maasai people who live there and searching the different landscapes on Google Earth. This helped us to become very creative when painting our African sunset silhouette pictures.

In Maths, the children have been learning all about the doubles and odd and even numbers. They have worked half this term, building a secure understanding of numbers and the composition of numbers to 5. We have used quick strategies such as using our fingers to make numbers and number sentences. We have learnt what double means and how they have to be equal amounts and numbers. We have finished our half term by looking at 3D shapes - I wonder if the children can find any as they go exploring during their Eastering holidays.  

We have seen some super sentences in Reception this term with finger spaces, full stops and capital letters. The children’s literacy books show their own development and just how well they are getting on. It has been great to see them chunking longer multi-syllabic words and spelling them in our phonics lessons too. We are so proud of all of them.  

The EYFS team and I wish you a lovely Easter break and thank you all for your on-going support.

Chloe Fryer

EYFS and Nursery Phase Lead

Lower Phase:

What a fantastic term it has been for us all! The children have shown persistence and collaboration in a variety of different ways and are continuing to develop themselves as individuals within St Michael’s. 

Our Spring term has been one filled with performances, trips and opportunities to develop our learning! The children fully immersed themselves in their learning in Year 1. They have been captivated by The Great Fire of London and have enjoyed learning about Smauela Pepys. They have looked closely at his diary entries and wrote a diary themselves using their key sentence skills and adding in descriptive language; thinking carefully about Samuel’s senses to engage the reader. They finally got the chance to visit the Tower of London and finish their unit with a tip to remember. 

They have also been working on their artistic flare. Focusing on the primary colours. The children got the chance to mix their colours and look at which colours mix together to make secondary colours. It has been lovely to see their knowledge of art grow! 

In Year 2 the children have been immersed with their learning about explorers. They learnt about the different types of exploration they can go on and learnt about all the different explorers who have made an impact on Earth. They then got the chance to build on their knowledge with a trip to the Science museum where they learnt more about space and how astronauts can survive using the ISS and technology. The children also got the chance to  investigate Beatriz Milhazes and her style of work. They took the time to create their own piece of work looking at 4 of the elements of art- line, shape, form and space and created some spectacular pieces they were extremely proud of! In English the children have looked at diary entries, poetry and fantasy narratives. The children have been working hard to embed their key skills and use descriptive language in an engaging way. 

As a phase we have really enjoyed our Dance lessons this term! Louise has been working hard to teach us all about breakdancing and how to imbed our new dance movies into our routines! 

As always at St Michael’s we have had a number of amazing events taking place, these included an outing for Year 1, Year 2 assembly; where the children got to demonstrate their knowledge  and of course parents evening where we got to celebrate each and every child and the amazing journey they are on with their learning!

Charlotte Weller

Lower Phase Lead

Middle Phase:

What a busy (but wonderful) Spring term Middle Phase have had! Both year groups have had an array of activities to enjoy and support their learning. As we come to the end of this term, we reflect on all we have done and accomplished, and look forward to a well-earned break.

As a Phase, we have enjoyed different opportunities for all to engage in enriching activities. World Book Day celebrated the joy of reading and literature, encouraging children to immerse themselves in the magic of storytelling through an incredible workshop, creating our own books, producing Art inspired by a text, and Reading for Pleasure buddy reading with younger children. In February, Wellbeing Week promoted mental and physical health through a variety of activities organised by the Wellbeing ambassadors and Mrs Stewart. The recent house Talent Show auditions (Middle Phase definitely do have talent!) provided a platform for individuals to showcase their unique skills and talents. 

At the beginning of March, Year 3 celebrated their learning about Prehistory by performing an assembly which took us on a 'museum tour' through the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Through the acting, singing, props and costumes, they brought Ancient Britain to life and explained how archaeologists can discover clues to tell us what life was like thousands of years ago. Year 3 also enjoyed a fascinating, full day Prehistory workshop to thoroughly embed their history learning so far. There is a cross curricular aspect to this as, in Art lessons, they have recently had fun modelling clay pinch pots and referred to the pottery beakers of the Bronze Age as well as learning about more contemporary ceramic designers today.

Year 3 has had a wonderful term with lots of exciting learning to be celebrated. In English, they wrote their own narrative fairy tales based on 'The true story of the three little pigs' and other alternative fairy tales. Following this we read 'The Tear thief' whose unique and interesting character inspired their poetry writing. In Maths the focus for the term was measurement and fractions. They have worked hard to read scales and apply their knowledge to a variety of contexts and questions. The year group have continued to work hard on their times tables, improving with confidence each day.

In February, the Year 4 children also showcased their History learning in their assembly, where they taught the school, and parents, all about life in Britain from the Roman times up to 1066. It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic they were, with brilliant acting, singing and dancing by all! We also enjoyed a visit to the Science museum, where the children were in equal parts entranced and disgusted by the ‘It takes Guts’ workshop, taking us on a tour through the human digestive system.

This term, 4B and 4S have embarked on an enriching journey of discovery and creativity across various subjects. Through Design and Technology, they've honed their skills in sewing, mastering the art of creation with fabric and thread. Immersed in the vibrant world of Kandinsky art, they have explored colours, shapes, and abstraction, creating some wonderful pieces. Through Science investigations, the children have developed their understanding of states of matter, applying their scientific knowledge to real-life problems like drying socks! In English, inspired by the epic tale of Beowulf and heartwarming narrative ‘The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane’, their writing has flourished, weaving captivating narratives, non-chronological reports and even job applications. In mathematics, they've tackled concepts of multiplication, division, fractions, length, perimeter, and area, developing strong problem-solving skills that will serve them well in the future. 

The children have enjoyed all the Lent activities (and Mufti days) to help raise money and ‘Step in to help’ our chosen charities. This week, we have concluded our preparations for Easter with a whole-school Church Service, where it was lovely to come together and also a chance to hear some of the lovely music prepared by children from various clubs. 

I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our pupils, parents, and staff for their unwavering dedication and hard work. Your commitment to learning, support, and collaboration has truly made this term a success. As we enter the Easter holidays, I wish each and every one of you a time of rest, rejuvenation, and joy. May this break be filled with precious moments spent with loved ones, and may you return refreshed and ready for the new term ahead. Thank you for your continued partnership and may the spirit of Easter bring blessings of hope and renewal to you all.

Lucy Barter

Middle Phase Lead

Upper Phase:

As we bid farewell to another term at St. Michael's Primary School, it fills us with great joy to reflect on the incredible spring learning journey. Together, we've witnessed remarkable growth and development in every aspect - socially, emotionally, and academically. The Upper Phase, in particular, has shone brightly, showcasing a collective spirit of persistence and enthusiasm for learning. Throughout the term, our students have engaged in many enriching experiences that have left a lasting impression on their young minds. From captivating workshops to thought-provoking discussions, here are some highlights worth celebrating:

We were honoured to host representatives from the Metropolitan Police, who imparted invaluable lessons on safety and community awareness. The Science and Art Display Competition showcased the creative talents of our students, blending science knowledge with artistic expression. Maths Day provided an immersive experience in financial literacy, equipping our children with essential life skills for the future. World Book Day celebrated diversity in literature, encouraging a love for reading among our students. During Mental Health and Wellbeing Week, we focus on empowering our children to find their voice and embrace their emotions. The Talent Show and auditions were a testament to the abundance of talent within the Upper Phase.

In Year 5, students delved into the world of literature with the Big Foot 'Rapspeare' workshop, exploring poetry and the dynamic nature of language. They also immersed themselves in the rich history of the ancient Greeks through the novel "Who Let the Gods Out". In Maths, Year 5 students made significant progress, mastering concepts such as area, perimeter, and statistics, exemplified by their fantastic performance in the NFER test. A trip to the Science Museum further enriched their understanding of Earth and Space.

In Year 6, students showcased their academic prowess with remarkable progress in mock SATs. Sporting achievements were also celebrated, with victories in netball and football, demonstrating teamwork and determination on the field. World Book Day saw Year 6 students engage in a captivating Macbeth workshop, igniting their passion for literature and drama. Artistic endeavours continued with printing projects, while creative writing assignments explored narratives, letter writing and advertisements. 

In the midst of our busy lives, let us not forget the true meaning of Easter - a time of renewal, rebirth, and the promise of everlasting life. The scripture from John reminds us of the profound message of hope and faith that underpins this season. Just as Jesus declared, "I am the resurrection and the life," may we too find strength and inspiration in His words as we navigate the challenges and joys of life.

As you embark on the break ahead, I encourage you to take time for rest, reflection, and rejuvenation. Cherish moments of togetherness with loved ones, embrace the beauty of nature, and nourish your soul with the things that bring you joy and peace.

Mrs Stewart

Upper Phase Lead

Parent Prayer Group:

Meeting in school straight after drop off from 8.30/40am to about 9:15am

Future Dates:

April 15th

June 3rd 

1 July

Come through the front office to collect a Visitor pass and then meet in the Oasis room through to KS1 and on the left hand side.

We are looking forward to the Month of the Military Child in April and all the special activities related to this, thanks to the charity Little Troopers who provides us with so many lovely mterials.

We look forward to sharing some of our craft and poetry with you later in the term.

And we are really hoping for some good weather soon to have some of our weekly meetings OUTSIDE!

Caroline Jopp

All Stars Tennis Camps: £25 off!

LINK

Dear Families,

What a splendid term we've had, with the highlight undoubtedly being our Wellbeing Week. 

As we arrive at the Easter holidays, I encourage you to reflect with your precious children. 

Amidst the flurry of clubs, holidays, and playdates this Easter break, let's not forget to connect emotionally and mentally with our little ones. 

Ask them how they feel about their achievements this term and listen to their hopes for the next. It's these moments of heartfelt dialogue that truly nurture their well-being.

Warm wishes,

Adele Stewart

Deputy Mental Health Lead

Prayer Box:

Please feel free to come and post your prayer requests in the box at the front desk of the office in advance of each Parent Prayer Group meeting.