Newsletters

Dear parents and carers, 

Welcome back! I do hope you all had a lovely holiday and feel ready for whatever 2024 holds for us all. 

This week our new French teacher, Laura, joined us and will be working with children across the school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you see her, do give her a warm hello. 

Further to Jo leaving us to take on her new role as Senior Admin Officer, we have had a rethink of roles and upon arrival of our new staff members, they will be responsible for the following:  

• Jade is our Senior Administrative officer 
• Tammy is our Admissions & Communications Admin Assistant  
• Alesha from February will be Receptionist & Admin Assistant who will also be looking after school trips. 
• Minh will continue to be our part-time (Tues -Thurs) Finance Admin Assistant. 
• Imani is our part-time (Mon, Wed & Fri) Enrichment & WRAP Admin Assistant. We are recruiting a part-time extended services manager.  

Our teachers are busy preparing for parents’ evening, happening w/c 22nd January*. All meetings are in-person. Please ensure you have booked your appointment via Arbor. *The only exception is Conor’s class as he is currently on paternity leave, his parents’ evening will be scheduled upon his return.  

I do hope those of you who were able to join on Wednesday evening found the Breck Workshop useful. The children's workshops that followed on Thursday, were very supportive and generated lots of useful talk which teachers will follow up within the curriculum. As mentioned at the parent presentation, for those who couldn’t make it or for those who would like to listen to it again, it is available until the 18th January, and accessed by following this link. Passcode: Y3vs.^Ja 

You can find a suite of downloadable post-presentation packs that contain helpful information, such as the signs of grooming, conversation starters and more, by following this link. Please note, the link is only live until the 18th January. 

Communications with school: This week we have been reviewing failed email / SMS reports on Arbor. For safeguarding, it is essential that we hold the correct email address AND telephone contact information for all legal guardians listed on Arbor. If you have been contacted, this means our system is saying communication has failed to get to you. It is important that you contact the school office ASAP so that we can check the information we hold and update it to ensure you are getting all communication from us.  

Reminder to apply for a primary school place: For anyone who has a child who will be 4 years old by 31st August 2024, you need to apply for a primary school place, using the Lewisham application form, by 15th January 2024. Even if your child attends our nursery, you still need to make the application. You can do this online at: Home | eAdmissions Any applications received after this date will be classified as a late application and may mean you don’t get a place at your preferred school. 

Stage in the Playground: For those of you who have been onto the school grounds this week, you may have noticed our lovely new outdoor stage on the grass area. This has not only replaced the one that was rapidly becoming a health & safety risk, but has also made it a playground feature that I am sure will have lots of use. The work was kindly done at cost, by Toby (parent of Wren and Romy) from Unit Fabrications using discounted materials from Travis Perkins, Forest Hill. The work has been paid for by Friends of Kilmorie (FoK). As with the old stage, it is accessible to all children. However, we are looking to get a ramp to make it accessible from all sides. I am excited by the ideas that we have planned coming to life. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this happen. 

SEND coffee morning: Apologies but due to a timetable clash, the coffee morning (that was planned for the 18th January) has had to be postponed to 23rd January - the website calendar has been updated.  

Theme lunch: ‘Grab yourself a Pizza the Action’ on Thursday 18th January – all children who normally have school dinner will automatically have this lunch. However, if your child normally has a packed lunch, you can order them this special themed lunch by completing this form before 9am on Monday 15th. View the menu here. 

Keep warm and have a lovely weekend. 

Julie

Thank you to the companies listed below for the donations over Christmas:

• Beetroot & Beans for donations of fresh produce for families
• Nvlty for donations of winter jackets
• Juvenis for donations of food hampers and toys

Enrichment clubs start next week (w/c 15th January)

Please remember to use our dedicated email addresses. We have specific email addresses, some are listed below - all can be accessed on our website:

• attendance - for illness / change to pick up person from school.
• wrap - changes to bookings / change of pick up person from wrap.
• enrichment - any questions / queries
• music - any questions / queries

Primary School Applications - For anyone who has a child who will be 4years old by 31st August 2024, you need to apply for a primary school place using the Lewisham application form by 15th January 2024. You can do this online Home | eAdmissions. 

Never miss a school date! Subscribe to our website calendar.

All dates are automatically added to your personal calendar. Please remember to subscribe to your child/ren's year group from the categories list.

1. Visit the website page: https://www.kilmorieschool.co.uk/school-calendar
2. Click 'Categories' (above the grid box) – select your child/ren’s year group/s
3. Click the ‘Subscribe’ button (above the grid box).

With the possibility that children may have received new devices as presents over the Christmas period, we wanted to share these resources with you: how to set parental controls and how to manage screen time.

Lewisham Family Information Service is offering free training and workshop courses for parents and carers this Spring 2024. Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) offers a free parent-led positive parenting programme called Being A Parent (BAP), which consists of eight weekly 2-hour sessions of highly interactive engagement. More information is available here. 

Worried about a child?

Contact NSPCC Helpline by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing help@NSPCC.org.uk

Attendance was very low this week. We appreciate that at this time of year there are many bugs around. However, school attendance is important. Please can you only keep your child off if they are really not well enough to be in. There is a lot of evidence to show that every day of learning lost, impacts not only on their academic achievement but also their emotional wellbeing.

Dates for your diary.

More details to come, but please make a note of these dates.  

• School disco Friday 23rd February 
• Quiz & curry Friday 15th March 
• EYGP Saturday 11th May 
• Summer BBQ Friday 5th July  

Friends of Kilmorie are looking for a secretary to join our team.  

Please read the role description and if you are interested please get in touch with Becky or Lisa at friendsofkilmorie@gmail.com.

SECRETARY / CO-SECRETARY is a key role, required to work closely with the Chair and Deputy Chair.  

Would suit someone organised, efficient and approachable. Strong written communication skills are essential. The work is ongoing throughout the year, but increases in the run-up to events.  

The role could be split between two individuals. Responsibilities include:  

• Dealing with correspondence – including managing the FOK email account and responding to emails
•  Liaising with the Chair to prepare agendas for committee meetings  
• Writing attractive and informative newsletters
• Taking notes at committee meetings and recording attendance, ensuring enough members are present as per the constitution  
• Preparing minutes and circulating to committee members and school staff once finalised
• Building strong relationships with the Kilmorie School office staff
• Maintaining action logs of actions arising at meetings
• Supporting the advertising of events, for example, through the creation of posters/flyers, drafting emails to the FOK mailing list and preparation of newsletters
• Completing risk assessments for events where required
• Updating social media (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) to advertise events and share important information
• Completing Temporary Event Notices (TENs) for events where required

Parent Job Club this 6-week Parent Job Club will help parents to become job ready. More information here.  If you are interested please contact Nicola via info@.