Dear Parents and Carers,
It’s been a great first week back after the break. The children all seem fully refreshed and ready to make the most out of school. Thank you for giving them time to relax last week; the rest has really done us all a lot of good. I so enjoy walking around the school and talking to the children about what they’ve been finding out. Sharing a quick conversation as they eat lunch is also one of my favourite parts of the day; their enthusiasm and zest for learning is so uplifting. They often talk about the topics that we use to provide connections in their learning, as well as being an exciting context for the primary curriculum - they love becoming experts and finding new nuggets of knowledge to impress me with.
Once or twice this week, I’ve been a bit concerned to hear quite how busy some children are. They sounded weary at the number of after-school activities that they take part in. Do make sure you think about the balance – of course, it’s so exciting to try out new pursuits, or learn something different outside of school, but do check that your child has some time off each week. Just the school day itself is stimulating and can be tiring. So, do make sure that you’re not planning too much in to their weekly schedule. One child said to me, “I just wish I had time just to be by myself and read my book, but I only get time for that on a Thursday evening; I’m busy every other minute.”
In our assemblies this week, we’ve been thinking about the qualities of great leaders. King David showed mercy and kindness, even to his enemies – he provided an inspiring role model for the children to consider. Then, we talked about Jesus himself, renowned for His servant leadership, stooping to wash his disciples’ feet and ultimately laying down His life for His friends. I asked the children to think about what top tips they’d give to me as their headteacher. What sort of headteacher would they most want to follow? Hopefully, they have been inspired too to think of themselves as leaders of the future. Finally, we’ve been praying for our world leaders at COP26 – we all thought about how they need to be wise leaders to work together to plan for the future success of our planet. Next week at the junior school, our eco-team has been putting together a series of prayer spaces which will help us to continue to pray for this important world event. It’s great that both our school councils and our eco-teams lead the rest of the school community to “learn to live”. It’s been a great start to November!
I look forward to seeing many of our HT families in person next week for our junior school parent consultations, and I know that lots of you are booked in on Zoom too. I hope it’s a useful approach that we’re taking, with an option for whatever suits you best. Please do make sure you’ve booked an appointment – and get in touch with us if you need any help in sorting this out.
With love,
Clare
Thought of the Week: Take the lead. What are the qualities of a good leader?
Whole School
Winter Fair – Saturday 4 December at Holy Trinity School 12-2.30pm
HTSC and FOPS would like to invite you to an afternoon of games, shopping and entertainment at our first ‘live’ school event in 2 years! We are so excited that we can finally meet lots of new families and for many, this will be their first HTPD Fair experience.
We will have tasty hot food, mulled wine, hot drinks and cakes, raffle with some great prizes along with crafts and games for everyone.
Please put the date in your diary and there will be more information to follow via Parentmail in the next week or so on how you can help us make this a fun afternoon of fundraising for our school.
If you know anyone who would like a stall, or a business who would like to donate any prizes to the raffle or support/sponsor towards the costs of running this event for please contact HTSC@htpd.surrey.sch.uk to discuss.
SCITT Information Session
Are you interested in finding out about training to be a teacher at HTPD? Take a look at this flyer for information about an event to be held at HTPD later this month.
INFANT
Teacher-led club cancellations
The following clubs are cancelled next Thursday 11 November due to the Year 2 trip to St Paul’s Cathedral:
- Choir with Lilja, Crafty Crafty with Jo and Football with Georgie.
All teacher-led clubs are cancelled in the week of 15 November owing to the parent consultations.
Parent consultations, Tuesday 16 and Thursday 18 November
The booking system for parent appointments will go live on ParentMail this evening at 6.00pm.
Poppy Appeal
We have poppies available in the school office for a donation to the Royal British Legion.
Menu: Week 1 beginning 8 November
JUNIOR
Dates for the Diary
Friday 12 November - HTSC Film Night for Year 3 and 4
Friday 19 November - HTSC Film Night for Year 5 and 6
Monday - Thursday 6-9 December - HT Christmas Production
We are hopeful that we will be able to host a live audience this year, but of course we will continue to be mindful of the current Covid safety advice. More details to follow.
Thursday 9 December - Christmas Dinner for Year 3 and 4 ( all of Year 5 and 6 to bring Packed lunch)
Friday 10 December - Christmas Dinner for Year 5 and 6 ( all of Year 3 and 4 to bring packed lunch)
Please see Parentmail and flyer for details.
Parents Evening
Login for the Zoom meetings will be sent out on Tuesday 9 November in the morning.
Tues 9th, Wed 10th and Thurs 11th – Year 3
Tues 9th and Thurs 11th - Year 4, 5 and 6
No Teacher Led Clubs Week Commencing 8 November
Please note due to Parents Evening Meetings, there will be no after school Teacher Led Clubs next week.
The only Clubs running are:
Monday - Netball for Year 4 ; Hockey for Year 5 and 6
Thursday - Dance Club for Year 3
The external clubs will be running as usual
Tempest Orders
Last call to return any Tempest Individual Photo orders to school – they will be collecting the orders on Monday 8 November.
Lunch - Week commencing 8 November Week 1
FOPS News
Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a good half term break. We are back with lots of preparation for the Winter Fair, as detailed above. As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are running a joint fair with Holy Trinity. We think this is a brilliant chance for the whole school community to be together. There will be lots of fun games and activities for children (and adults!) of all ages so hopefully many of you can make it.
So we can make this a fun afternoon of fundraising for the school, we will be needing donations of many different items. More information about what is needed will follow in the coming days.
In other news, unfortunately due to various reasons we are cancelling the pizza and movie afternoon on Saturday 13th November. We will try and do this again after Christmas.
Finally, our first Ground Force Day in a while is taking place on Sunday 21st November from 10am-12pm. We will help to transform the school grounds. We need volunteers and tools – please use this Sign Up link for information and to volunteer.
Dates for your diary
Friday 19th November: Year One Bake and Uniform Sale; school playground; 2.45pm
Friday 19th November: Year One drinks at Esmee’s house – details to follow
Sunday 21st November: Ground Force Day; school grounds; 10am – 12pm
Saturday 4th December: Winter Fair; Holy Trinity; 12pm – 2.30pm
Have a good weekend, Kate
HTSC News
Hello Everyone!
Thank you for scrolling down….hope you all had a great half term.
Bonfire Night Virtual Fundraiser
As per Clare’s newsletter before half term, please find a link to our virtual fundraiser in lieu of bonfire night. If you would have come along this evening and can afford to donate a few £ it would be much appreciated to help start us off with our fundraising this year.
Winter Festival – 4th December 12-2.30pm at Holy Trinity Site
We are really looking forward to getting the whole school back together again! We had a great planning meeting with parents from FOPS on Wednesday evening.
To keep our community as safe as possible, the Winter Fair will be held mostly outside in the lower playground for games and stallholders. Please email HTSC@htpd.surrey.sch.uk with any offers of donations from businesses or if you would like a stall.
More information will be coming via Parentmail in the next couple of weeks.
Easyfundraising
If you are shopping online, one way to support the school is through www.easyfundraising.co.uk and selecting HTSC Holy Trinity School Community as your cause. Over 4000 retailers are affiliated, and every purchase makes a difference.
Have a good weekend!
Helen
HTSC Chair
Parenting Smart (Place2Be)
The children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, has launched a new website aimed at helping parents with typical situations they can find themselves in with their children. Advice can be found on over forty topics including:
- Understanding sibling rivalry
- My child is lying, what does it means, what should I do?
- My child has trouble going to sleep
- My child says ‘I hate you!’
- Cultural identity: who am I?
The Parenting Smart website can be found here: https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/