Dear Parents and Carers,
This week our Senior Leadership assembly was led by Dennis and was about World Afro Day, which is celebrated worldwide today. World Afro Day started in 2017 through the work of Michelle De Leon. Dennis spoke about her work and looked into the experiences of Kyla a 12-year-old girl, who struggled when she was 3 years old, as her hair was not like Elsa or Anna's. He showed a clip of the singer Jamelia, reflecting on her experiences, wanting to have straight hair, like her idols. She then embraced her natural hair and wanted her daughters to choose the hairstyle that they want, rather than one that others expect.
This week has been a busy one in classes. It has been Art Week for years 1-6 and the whole school has been off timetable and taking part in the Kilmorie Art Project! Each class has looked at two paintings:
'The Parting Cheer' by Henry Nelson O'Neil and 'The Ship of Fools' by Kehinde Wiley. Using these paintings as starting points, and focusing on the theme of 'journeys', every class has produced some incredible artwork. The artwork will be on display ready for the parents' evening meetings in October. We are very excited to share it with you.
We have also had our reception children in for half days. I popped into the classrooms and saw the children during lunch, and am super impressed at how well they have begun to settle. The children have all been amazing and made full use of all the opportunities to explore and make new friends. Next week, we will continue to focus on settling into the areas inside and just outside the classroom before venturing further afield. Full days, here we come!
As part of Year 5’s Early Islamic Civilisation topic, Jumana, an inspirational storyteller, visited the school on Monday. She inspired us with her folktales and stories from Islamic traditions. This tied in brilliantly with our ‘Ancient Islamic Civilisation’ topic and ‘Arabian Nights’ English text. There were lots of opportunities to discuss the stories, gaining insights into another culture’s values, beliefs, histories and traditions. Jumana brought a selection of artefacts into her storytelling workshop and discussed their symbolic importance, which will again support our Religious Education learning of Islam.
Health & Wellbeing: As we move in to the term and children are mixing both in and out of the classroom, there will be illnesses. Whilst I understand wanting to keep children home when they have a cold, most of the time, the children are able to be in school and continuing to learn. It is important we support children not to miss out on any learning where possible, but also, we need to support children’s mental health. Research has shown that children missing school can cause anxiety. We do also understand that there will be times that it is best the child stays at home to recover. To remind, if the child has a temperature, sickness or diarrhoea, they must stay at home.
To help us, please can you remind children of good hand hygiene as this is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of illnesses. I will do a reminder in assembly too, but the more we say it, the more they will remember, we hope!
Scooters in playground reminder: To keep everyone safe, scooters must be walked through the playground – thank you for your support.
Safeguarding: It is important that we all work together to keep our community as safe as possible, therefore I thought it may be helpful to remind you of a few things:
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Medicine at school: We are unable to administer medicines unless they have been prescribed by a doctor. You will need to complete a medicine form (available from the school office) if medicines have been prescribed. Please speak to Michaela or Steph, who are trained to administer medicine.
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School Streets is a brilliant scheme to help keep our children safe on their journey to and from school. However, this is not the case when people are parking just outside school street blocking access to pavements and visibility for crossing. If you are driving, please can you make sure you are parking safely to ensure our community is kept as safe as possible – thank you for your support.
I am meeting with the Chair and Treasurer of Friends of Kilmorie next week in preparation for the Annual General Meeting Monday 25th 7pm. This meeting is very important when planning for the forthcoming year and to help support our school run as effectively as possible. There are a number of things that FoK have to report on, which is important, as it helps people to understand how the charity works and all that they do. It would be lovely to see a mix of old and new faces! It's a great chance to hear from both the committee and me about fundraising and all the plans for this academic year. There will also be an opportunity to ask us questions and share feedback. Refreshments will be provided.
Universal Free School Meals: with the Mayor of London extending funding of Free School Meals to all children in KS2 for the academic year 2023/24. It presents an opportunity for more children to have a healthy hot meal daily at school, and saving valuable disposable income to parents who might be struggling during the current cost of living crisis. We are aware that a number of you have indicated last term that your child will continue with packed lunch but would like to share that I am working with a core group of children and Chartwells on how we can develop the menu. This is in support of creating a menu that appeals to a broader selection of children.
Parents' Evening: this year we are moving our Parents' Evenings to the first half of the term. The autumn term meetings will now take place during the week beginning 2nd October. This is to support the link between home and school and to ensure all information is communicated in a timely manner. This also aligns with feedback from parents and carers. We will be covering how the children have settled in socially and academically; things you can do at home to support your child and to raise any concerns we or you may have so that they can be looked into sooner rather than later. Information of how you can book will be available next week, and we will be offering both in-person, virtual or a telephone call as we did last year. Wednesday will continue to be the late day and reserved for in-person meetings only.
Newsletter in paper form: we understand that for a few parents you may need to have the parent newsletter in paper form and ask that you inform the office or class teacher should this be the case. However, please can I ask that these requests are only made where necessary (the website has a translate button, if English is the barrier). It is important we all do our bit to support climate change and not print things unnecessarily.
Book sale next week: Rina and Kirstie are organising a book sale after school next Friday (22nd). All proceeds will be used to buy more books for school, cash and cards accepted.
Have a lovely weekend.
Kind regards
Julie
Book Sale after school on Friday 22nd September 