Dear Parents and Carers,
Wow what a week we have had!
Monday’s whole school assembly was around New Beginnings and Dennis spoke about how it is important, as we get to the end of the year, that we reflect on what we have achieved this year. With this information we can think about how we would like to approach the new academic year, which may include new teachers, classrooms and schools. Dennis spoke about how we all start from the same place but have different challenges that we need to face. Dennis also referenced the General Election and spoke about how the new Prime Minister and his cabinet were feeling on their first days in office. Dennis also celebrated the appointment of the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Then we had our two AMAZING performances of 'Finding Nemo' at Catford Broadway. I can’t tell you how upset I was at missing both of them due to us getting the Ofsted call. The feedback from staff was that they were amazing. The children truly exceeded all expectations, everyone gave it their all - our Kilmorie Child Qualities really shone through. The children have been buzzing from it – thank you to everyone, for making it such an incredible and memorable experience for all. Photos were taken during the show and both performances were filmed. As soon as these are ready, we will share them with you.
Message from Rebecca and Eleni: What a triumph our production of Finding Nemo the Musical was! Thank you so much to the cast, you were truly incredible, and we were blown away by not just your performance but by the effort that you put in during rehearsals! Thank you so much to everyone who helped and supported us and to everyone who attended, we hope you had a fabulous time! We all certainly did!
We are so proud of all of the children who took part! You were FIN-tastic!
Despite Ofsted, it has been business as usual and this week we have had a number of enrichment visits:
Year 1 had a fantastic trip to the Transport Museum where they looked around the museum at all the different modes of transport in London and how they have changed over time. They had a great workshop where they learnt about transport in London from the 1800s and sat in the oldest electric underground train in the world!
Sarah's Class had a brilliant time at Mudchute Farm on Thursday. They walked through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and when they arrived at the farm, met lots of animals who loved to eat! It was a great day out!
Year 5&6 went to Dulwich Picture Gallery. The students had a wonderful time exploring different materials in the art studio, where they creatively responded to various sounds. They also had the opportunity to study a portrait in the gallery, which sparked engaging discussions and artistic inspiration. It was a day full of creativity, learning and fun for everyone involved!
Today we had Reception Sports Day which was fantastic. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was lovely to see so many parents able to attend. It was great to see the children supporting each other, showing great sports-person-ship. We could hear lots of cheering and clapping throughout!
Reports and staffing next year: As per the text that went out this morning, we are delayed in getting your child(ren)’s academic report to you and will be with you on Tuesday 16th July. Apologies for this but Ofsted took away the time we allocated to getting them through the system. On Tuesday we have our transition activity where the children will spend time with their new teacher, getting to know them and seeing their new classroom. We do have a few staffing changes for next year:
We will therefore be welcoming Tom, who will be taking a year 5 class and Amy who will be Bears teacher. Details of who will be taking which class and who is taking over when Isla goes on maternity leave, will be in the letter that will accompany your child(ren)’s report.
Don’t forget, Wednesday 17th July we are holding an open parent’s evening between 3:45pm-6pm. There will be no appointments as the evening is designed as an opportunity for you to ‘drop in’ if there is something specific you may wish to discuss about the report.
Exciting News! The school has been selected to take part in a project to promote the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS).
To create a starting point, we need to understand the views of all the parents at school. Please help Philippa, by completing the online questionnaire using the attached link or scanning the QR code. The broader the range of families that respond, the clearer our starting point will be. (Insert Flyer)
Looking forward to next year - Further to discussions with OFSTED this week, we are delighted that our plans to create a dedicated space for SEN have developed more fully. Over the summer we will be preparing a space to allow KS1 and a few KS2 children, to learn in a neuro-friendly environment, accessing high quality teaching and learning opportunities, guided and supported by staff with focused SEN skills.
Children accessing the hub will continue to be firmly attached to their class and will only access the hub for sufficient time to meet their learning needs. Within the whole school there will be more shared support for children with similar needs. Children with EHCPs will continue to receive the support they are entitled to by law.
The school is setting up a crowd funding page hoping to raise funds to help make our new SEN space special. Please look out for a link to this in next week’s newsletter. Your support is always very much appreciated, and especially so in the current economic climate.
Congratulations to all the children who took their ABRSM Exams. Not only did they all pass but with Merit or Distinction too – this is incredible, we are super proud of them.
Next Week we will be holding our International Week to celebrate the many languages, religions and cultures that come together at our school and across the world. Each year group will take part in different activities linked to a particular country before sharing their learning with the rest of the school at the end of the week. On Friday 19th July, children are invited to come in wearing clothing linked to their heritage, or another country of their choice!
Ofsted: thank you to all the parents who responded in the survey / met with the inspector, it was a very large response which gave the inspectors a clear view of how you feel about the school. I cannot share the inspection's precise outcomes with you until the report is published in September but would like to say we are pleased with their findings, which both governors and the leadership team feel is a fair representation of our school at this current time.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I look forward to welcoming you back on Monday.
Kind regards
Julie
