ℯNEWS June 12, 2023
What an action packed first week back from half term! As the weather becomes increasingly warmer we are anticipating a heatwave, so please ensure children are coming into school with their water bottles, slathered with sun cream and have their sun hats everyday.
Week in review
Virtual Coffee Morning - Eaton Square Senior School, Dr Rainbow
Mrs Hampton was delighted to welcome Dr Rainbow virtually on Tuesday morning for a relaxed and informative chat with our parents considering Eaton Square Senior as a potential Senior School for their children after leaving CHS. For further information please follow the link for meeting notes: https://www.connaughthouseschool.co.uk/enews/virtual-coffee-morning-with-dr-adrian-rainbow-eaton-square-senior-school
Kew Garden Trip
Wednesday saw our whole school heading out bright and early to Kew Gardens and we could not have asked for better weather for this trip. With specialist activities organised for each cohort, Kew Gardens was a sensational summer event. Best summed up by some of the children’s work this week including the illustrations below.
Form Four have been reading The Explorer by Katherine Rundell which is set in the Amazon rainforest so they were excited to experience and measure the hot, humid conditions of a tropical rainforest on their trip to Kew. They were looking at how some plants adapt to the conditions. Lili did some quick sketches as we went around. We loved watching her draw the lily pad and catfish in the pond. Please see attached for these sketches.
Mrs Hampton visits City of London School for Boys
Whilst the school community enjoyed Kew Gardens Mrs Hampton took the short trip on the central line to St Pauls to meet with Head of CLS Mr Alan Bird as well as his admissions team and one or two of the Sixth Form boys and we look forward to Mr Bird’s return visit to CHS early next term and his virtual presence at one of our upcoming coffee mornings, watch this space!
Virtual Coffee Morning - Maida Vale Head, Mr Bashaarat - Thursday 8th June
A busy week for our virtual meetings, Mr Bashaarat the new Head of Maida Vale school followed up his visit to CHS last month with a virtual meeting arranged by Mrs Hampton for our parents in Key Stage Two. Please see meeting notes for further information: https://www.connaughthouseschool.co.uk/enews/virtual-coffee-morning-with-mr-magnus-bashaarat-head-of-maida-vale-school
Sports Day Practice
All pupils were quickly whisked off to Hyde Park this morning for a sports day rehearsal. This important practice offered time for the children to rehearse their races, chants, and most importantly their sporting behaviour. Whilst winning is important, so is supporting great effort and points are available for being a good sport as well as for coming 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a race. As much as we would love to award medals to every competitor in each race, there are only bronze, silver and gold medals. We would be grateful if parents could talk to their children this week about the importance of winning and losing gracefully.
Tea with the Thirds - Francis Holland School North
Mrs Hampton is looking forward to Tea this afternoon with our former CHS pupils, Amara, Adeil and Hannah who all started their Senior School journey at Francis Holland North last September.
Play Preparations
In preparation for the play, Dr Ashworth has requested for ALL costumes to be brought into school before Friday 16th June in bags clearly labelled with each child’s name.
Special Mentions
Sumdog Trophy
A special mention to Jeremy for his wonderful Sumdog Competition trophy for CHS coming in 2nd place in the UK National competition. The trophy has been situated in the office where numerous students have seen and appreciated the kind gesture from Jeremy to celebrate his peers' hardwork. He will be called upon next week to present this to Form Six. Please see attached for the Trophy!
Doodle Learning - Top Doodlers!
A number of students have shown tremendous work on Doodle Learning, our top doodlers are; Ella with a 1541 day streak, Lili with a 365 days streak, Talia with 245 days streak and Alexander in Junior One with 240 days! We are rounding up the school year with a 30 day Doodle Learning Challenge! Let's see how many of our CHS students will take part in this school wide challenge! We look forward to seeing the outcome!
Upcoming week
Open Evening
For prospective parents, we will be hosting Open Evening on Thursday, 15 June at 5pm to 6pm when we will showcase CHS and offer the opportunity for new families to discover our wonderful school. This has proved to be a popular feature on the calendar and will be included, amongst other future Open Events, going forward as we continue to extend our reach to meet the increasing number of enquiries for places. Our presence on social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook, is highlighting the school perfectly so don't miss our regular updates and amazing photographs of CHS life - please follow/like our pages.
Additional Virtual Coffee Morning - By request
Reacting to parents requests, and following last year's transition meetings with the Head of Admissions from St Pauls, we were able to secure an additional Virtual Coffee Morning with Mrs Rait-Mcdonald, Head of Transition at Queen’s College to join us on Thursday 15th June at 10am - 11am. Last year parents communicated to us that these transition talks were very beneficial when preparing for Senior School and starting the transition process.
Sports Day Friday 16th June at 10.30am
Next Friday we will be heading to Paddington Recreation Centre bright and early, weather permitting for our annual Sports Day event. Mr Taiwo has been putting the children through their athletic paces all term culminating in this fun event to round up the sporting year. Parents are required to attend Paddington Recreation Centre to support their children. Younger siblings and extended family are very much welcomed. Children should arrive at school as normal in their summer PE kits, white shorts, white ankle socks, white logo polo shirt, white sun hat, green sweatshirt and clean white trainers/sports shoes. Hair should be tidy and long hair should be tied up, ponytail or plaits. All children should have sun cream applied and bring their named water bottles. Additional information will be circulated early next week. We anticipate the races to finish at noon and the grounds are a perfect picnic space. A reminder that there is no school in the afternoon.
Additional Play Rehearsal - After Sports Day
We would like to kindly remind parents that children from Forms Three, Four, Five & Six will need to return to school for a play rehearsal, promptly at 1.50pm. Children should then be collected from school at 3.30pm once rehearsal has finished. With our Key Stage Two play looming we appreciate all your assistance in facilitating this additional rehearsal. A reminder for pupils in Junior One, Forms One & Two, there will be NO SCHOOL in the afternoon.
Important Information
Absence reporting
If for any reason your child is going to be absent from school, please contact Miss Cho in the school office either on the phone: 02072628830 or email: secretary@connaughthouseschool.co.uk. The main reporting mechanism is via Miss Cho in the office.
Junior Choir Performance
We are very pleased to announce that our Junior Choir consisting of all pupils in Junior One, Form One and Form Two will be singing their pirate songs at the start of our Key Stage Two production of Peter Pan on Friday 30th June at the Steiner Hall. Although playing a support role on this occasion, the children will gain the experience of performing together on a full sized stage and of course enjoying the experience of the Play.
KS2 School Play Filming
Unfortunately, we have not received sufficient numbers of DVDs/USB orders to meet the minimum requirements for 2020 Filming to attend. I’m sure we will have a number of amateur videographers and photographers in the audience but we must remind all parents to please be mindful of sharing footage on social platforms.
Virtual Coffee Morning - CHS Counsellor, Mr McManus - 29th June 2023
Mr McManus has had to reschedule our upcoming mental health and wellbeing parents meeting, dates will be confirmed early in the Autumn term.
Artwork of the Week
Poppy in Form One, for a wonderful mixed media nest. A lovely composition and fantastic mark making to show texture. Well done Poppy!
Star of the week
Junior One - Alex for building a fantastic car model out of the magnets.
Form One - Klara for excellent descriptive writing during our history lesson on toys
Form Two - Mila for her excellent behaviour and politeness on our school trip to Kew Gardens
Form Three - Emeer for writing a great recount of our Kew Gardens trip
Form Four - Lili for her beautiful sketches from Kew
Form Five - Meera: for excellent analysis of the writer's use of language.
Form Six - Estella for a brilliant piece of biographical writing inspired by the Merchant of Venice.
Dates for your diary
15 June- Open Evening 5pm - 6pm (For Prospective Parents)
15 June - Additional Virtual Coffee Morning with Head of Transitions at Queen’s College 10am - 11am
16 June - Sports Day 10.30am - 12.30pm approx. (Parents Required, children leave with parents/guardian) Key stage two to return for play practice at 1.50pm
23 June - CHS 70th Birthday celebration, afternoon garden party at Connaught Square Gardens 1.30pm - 3.30pm (Parents Invited, children leave with parents)
27 June - School Photograph(s)
28 June - Junior One Open Dance in school 2pm - 2.30pm (Parents to arrive at 1.55pm)
30 June - Summer Production - Peter Pan 2.30pm - 3.30pm (J1 - F6 Parents invited, children leave with parents)
