Dear Parents and Carers,
As I put pen to paper for the last time as Headteacher of Kilmorie school, I would like to say a few words. It has been an honour to lead such a wonderful school. Arriving during the pandemic was not an easy start, but the strong school community helped us to evaluate what changes were needed and build the right foundations for the landscape now facing us. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here; the children have been a real joy - thank you everyone for sending your child(ren) to our incredible school. I know Dennis will continue to build on these foundations bringing depth to our fantastic school.
We started the week with our whole school assembly themed around the Olympic Games, led by Maria and Martha. The focus was on resilience and determination, and we looked at the stories of Zharnel Hughes and Daryll Neita, British sprinters who came last in the finals of the 100m in Tokyo. Children were inspired by the stories of what these athletes did next; being motivated to improve and achieving great success. They will be looking out for them both at the Paris games! They also heard about the determination needed by Sarah Storey to achieve such great things at the Paralympics.
We had a series of events for year 6’s final few days. On Tuesday morning, the children in Year 6 performed their Leavers' Assembly showcasing their talents for dancing, singing, acting and comedy. We were all amazed by their wonderful performances and were very happy that so many families were able to join us to enjoy the show. Thank you to all the staff who supported the children in their preparations.
Afterwards, the children celebrated their success with a picnic in the playground where they enjoyed the generous donations provided for the disco on Monday night and spent time collecting signatures for their T-shirts. What a wonderful last week at Kilmorie for our fantastic Year 6s! We wish all of them lots of success in the next chapter of their lives and look forward to hearing about their accomplishments in the future.
Celebration Assembly: Today we celebrated a number of people:
Rina for her devotion to supporting the school: lunchtime art clubs, displays and of course the amazing library that she created.
Emma and Kirsty for their support with the library.
Nadine for her support to FOK and the amazing decorations she does for our events.
The FOK team for the incredible job they do supporting the school. Many of our projects and events would not be possible without their hard work and dedication to the school community.
Eva for her dedication to educating the children, her support in helping us keep our grounds looking lovely and full of trees and shrubs.
The Year 6 girls, who raised money for making sure girls and sport could be enriched. A new permanent goal is being purchased for the second cage and will be with us in September.
Simone & Sophie for coming back after leaving to be part of the teaching team once again!
Donell for the skills teaching, support and guidance he has given the children this year during PE.
Sharee for the support she has given to children across the early phase.
Conor for the number of years of teaching and guiding the children of Kilmorie.
Sonia for the amazing 20 years supporting our children.
For those leaving, you will be missed, and we wish you every success in your next steps.
School Budget: As you will be aware, finances are tight in the education sector and, over the last year, the school has experienced some areas of financial pressure which were higher than we expected. As we approach the end of the academic year, I am reaching out to ask that all our parents and carers to review your ParentPay accounts and make sure any outstanding items such as music, school trips or clubs are up to date.
We appreciate the significant fundraising that the Friends of Kilmorie do for the school to enrich our school community and fund specific additional projects and items, but to ensure we can continue to deliver a rich educational experience for your children, next year, we will be asking for an upfront cost towards educational visits and a termly £30 voluntary contribution, these will of course be less for children in receipt of pupil premium. If you are able to support further there will also be a means for you to make any additional voluntary contributions, should you feel able to do so.
Just Giving, can you help make a difference to our SEN provision Over the summer we will be preparing a dedicated support space to allow KS1 and a few KS2 children to learn in a neurofriendly environment. This new hub will enable children to access high quality teaching and learning opportunities, guided and supported by staff with focused SEN skills, while remaining firmly attached to their class.
We would like to raise money for a fence (please note, the fence will now be erected outside Shona's old yr2 classroom due to plumbing and other issues, not as pictured) that will provide an outside area for the children that access the hub and hope that you might be able to support us by clicking the link below and donating. www.justgiving.com/campaign/kilmoriesenhub
Last week Dream & Dazzle enrichment club performed. Reception and KS1 performed their show 'Around the World' which was a huge success. The KS2 group performed "Detective Dilemmas: Mystery Munchies and Trophy Troubles". Janelle was so impressed with how committed they were to learning all of their lines and bringing this show to life and is really looking forward to the next Dream and Dazzle show at Kilmorie!
The school Grounds look lovely: On the weekend of the 13th/14th July we had a big Gardening Weekend to plant the Climate-Forward Garden created by our school parent Melanie Hick for RHS Hampton Court. Parents and children worked hard over the two sessions, digging out old plants, digging big holes, pruning and planting. The plants were integrated into the different areas of our gardens, some in the Physic Garden, some in the Time Garden and some in the Year 1 flower beds. The main digging was holes for two amazing hedges which were put into the Wild Garden, these now form part of the Living Boundaries border along our blue fence.
On the Sunday, there was a special gathering in memory of Jeena where her Monkey Puzzle tree was planted.
A big thank you to everyone who came over the two days, your work is really appreciated.
Attendance: There are a number of changes being put in place by the DfE for September and I have outlined these in this letter. Please do have a read as it affects morning registration and the authorisation of term-time holidays.
Finding Nemo: We have exciting news –we now have the recording and photos of Finding Nemo for both days. These will be uploaded to our school website within the next few weeks.
Class Photographs: If you missed ordering, don’t forget you can do this online here: www.pictureboxschools.com . Please note the deadline for no additional postage is the 12th August 2024.
Today we had the Parent workshop around anxiety with Daniel our school Educational Psychologist – This was very well received and had over 60 parents in attendance. In brief summary, we learnt that anxiety is a normal part of life. Constructive support centres around helping children understand their perceived or real anxieties and develop strategies to cope.
An enormous thank you for all your support this year. I wish you all a wonderful summer holiday and every success in the years to follow.
Kind regards
Julie
Headteacher
