Dear Parents and Carers,
This week started with Maria leading the senior leadership assembly to mark European Day of Languages, which takes place on September 26th every year. The children learnt about the origins of the European Day of Languages, and the importance of celebrating it today. The children learnt that it was first set up by the European Council in 2001 and it’s a day that celebrates and promotes language learning and linguistic diversity. We explored and discussed the benefits of learning other languages. The children shared that learning different languages can help you to make new friends, study and travel abroad, and understand different cultures.
The assembly was then led by the children who volunteered to speak in their own language, sharing some common phrases such as: ‘hello’; ‘my name is…’, and; ‘How are you?’. Everyone really enjoyed practising these phrases, and the children were proud to present and speak in their own language, which helped their peers appreciate and embrace the diverse range of languages spoken by the children in our school.
To support our children explore different ways of using creative approaches to express ideas, this week, 2 of our year 3 classes (Jo & Elis) visited Dulwich Gallery. The children attended an artist-led workshop based on one of the paintings from the Collection. Then they experimented with a variety of processes working around the workshop theme - nature. Crystal’s class will go later in the year. You can see photos here.
The children thoroughly enjoyed it; here are a few quotes:
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Alana: "I enjoyed the art when we did the collage because it was fun getting to stick the stuff together and make it unique."
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Levi: "At the art gallery I enjoyed looking at all the art and especially the big art."
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Arianne: "I loved the paintings on the wall because they looked so good."
David & Justin have been in school this week, taking individual school photos. As you know, they have also offered after school photo shoot for parents / carers to bring children in after school for sibling / family photos. If you pick up this newsletter and are interested (this was very popular last year), please don’t be put off by the queue, it moves quickly!
Next week:
Parents evening: Due to the expansion of enrichment clubs and a number of them running in classrooms this year, we will be holding the in-person meetings in the following classrooms. Names will be on doors. Please make your way to the named classroom for your year group:
- Year 1: Naomi’s classroom (Butterflies)
- Year 2: Shona’s classroom
- Year 3: Elis’ classroom
- Year 4: Sarah R’s classroom
- Year 5: Rachel’s classroom
- Year 6: Vicky’s classroom
Parents’ evening is a time for you to be informed of how your child is doing at school and it will cover:
- How your child has settled into their new class/year including routines and friendships;
- How they are doing in the core subjects - English and maths - and our expectations for their learning this year;
- Any additional support they may be receiving, including what you can do at home to support learning at school.
You will, of course, be able to browse through their books and look at the work children produced in Art week which will be displayed around the school.
Please remember that nursery and reception run parent meetings weekly and are not listed here.
On Thursday 5th October it is schools’ Census Day. The school census is an electronic collection of pupil data that helps education authorities determine what kinds of support a school needs and makes sure the right funding goes to the correct places.
Chartwells will be serving up an ‘out of this world’ space themed lunch that day. You can view the menu here, if you child normally has a packed lunch, but would like a school lunch that day, please complete this form before Monday (2nd October). You do not need to complete this form if your child normally has a school dinner. Every child that takes a dinner supports the school with funding.
Friend of Kilmorie (FoK) AGM – this week I attended the Friends of Kilmorie AGM. Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting on Monday and helped vote in the new FOK committee.
We heard about their projects they have financed in the last academic year, including the re-surfacing of Susan’s corner and buying new outdoor musical instruments. They also funded the sound proofing in the main hall, as reported in my first newsletter this academic year. If you'd like to know more about what we discussed at the AGM - including funding priorities for this coming academic year - the meeting minutes and Chair and Treasurer's report can be found on the website here.
Our 2023/24 team is made up of seven returning committee members: Becky, Lisa, Stefan, Monika, T, Luke and Lliam, and one member - welcome Libero! The team are keen to recruit a new Secretary. It's an important administrative role so it is vital we find someone! Please get in touch if you're interested in joining - either as Secretary or in a general role.
Key FoK Dates for 2023/24 - the team has been busy working on the dates of our big events for the 2023-24 school year, including the Christmas fair, school disco for years 3-6 and the summer barbecue. The dates can be found here - or you can subscribe to the FOK calendar, so all the dates are automatically added to your diary!
They are already working on exciting plans for the festive season, so watch this space for updates!
Snacks: Please can I remind that children who bring in their own snack, should only be bringing in fruit. If a child is attending after school club till 4:30 only, no snacks are allowed. This is for health and safety reasons as we have children across the school with different allergies. Thank you for your continued support.
Donations to school – Early years classes especially need donations so if you are having a sort out of old games / toys (not soft toys) please do consider donating to school.
I hear a lovely autumnal weekend is on the cards – I hope all our families get time to enjoy it.
See you all Monday.
Kind regards
Julie
On Thursday, some of our year 5/6 girls and boys had their first football festival of the year, and what a night it was!! The boys went to the final and won 5-0 against St Bart's. The girls ended as runners-up after a tough final game and brought home silver medals. The players showed many of the Kilmorie qualities and I am incredibly proud of the boys' team for their reaction to their opponents who were upset they didn't win. 
Book Sale after school on Friday 6th October