Dear Parents/ Carers,

What a busy week! Year 6 has enjoyed the most amazing week at PGL– an adventure centre in Surrey. Apart from all the challenging activities such as abseiling, archery, the giant swing, raft building, Jacobs’s ladder, rock climbing (the list goes on), it is the children’s support of each other and camaraderie that make it such a special week.

FOSS AGM

Thank you to all those parents who attended our FOSS AGM meeting – there was an amazing turn out! FOSS had a spectacular year and raised a stupendous £131,000 for our school – please take a look at the enclosed PowerPoint and video https://we.tl/t-KYKUmcCvVX . Thank you to all our new volunteers and to our former committee members who have done a sterling job!

Please welcome on board our new team for the autumn.

If you would like to volunteer for an event (Summer Fair, Christmas Fair, Quiz Night, The Auction), please email me and I will point you in the right direction!

Thank you to Sylvia and her team who have had an amazing two years and worked tirelessly for the good of the school. A huge thank you in advance for your contributions to FOSS in the year ahead, whether that be through attending events, providing donations or for the invaluable gift of setting up, washing up and clearing up!

I know some of you will have been unable to attend the meeting but would love to help with an event so please email me at: head@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Harvest Festival Church Service

Our Harvest Festival Service is on Thursday, 29^th September at 9am in St Stephen’s Church and all parents / carers are welcome to join us for our celebration.

All harvest gifts will be donated to The Upper Room charity which has close links with our church St Stephen’s and the wider community. We welcome and will gratefully receive any of the following donations:

• Tinned Food: Meat, fish, poultry, tomatoes, sausages, baked beans, vegetables, fruit, custard, rice pudding
• Dry Goods: Sugar, pulses, rice, coffee, tea, gravy mix, stock cubes, cereals, biscuits, pasta
• Jars: Peanut butter, marmalade, jam, honey, tomato and brown sauce, pasta sauce
• Beverages: Long life milk, squash
• Toiletries: Toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable razors, soap, shampoo (travel size), stick deodorants

Family Supper

One of my favourite events of the year is The Family Supper where parents bring a favourite dish and we all share in a feast of magnificent cuisine from the countries and cultures which make up our school community. It’s a great opportunity to meet new parents and for the children to run around the playground in the dark! Think Lord of the Flies with delicious food and a glass of wine!

This year’s Family Supper is on Thursday, 29^th September at 6pm in the main hall and playground. FOSS will be running a cash bar and when you see the array of delicious dishes, your mouth will be watering! In line with the school’s new Eco Code, please minimise plastic wrapped food.

Eco Tips of the Week

Our first sustainability meeting took place this week and we will be flagging some key messages to be considered across our school community.

• Turn down your heating thermostat by one degree. You will barely notice a difference in temperature but it will be make a noticeable difference to those energy bills.
• Switch things off at the plug when they aren’t being used. These items account for almost 1/4 of Britain’s total electricity use. If it’s got a light, the chances are it’s sucking out power!

Second Hand Uniform Sale

It is time for another second-hand uniform sale.

Date/time: Thursday 29 September, one at 3.30pm and one at 5pm before the Family Supper. Come early as items sell fast!

Location: Outside of the main school reception area

Donations: If you have any uniform items to donate, please bring them into school today or Monday so we can resell them. Currently, we do not need white shirts or grey trousers/grey shorts, but PE kit, dresses/skirts, backpacks and cardigans are in demand!

Volunteers: Anyone who wants to help with the second hand uniform sale this year can contact Gehaan at 07931306237 or Sanne at 07741030038

As always, all proceeds go to FOSS.

Diversity Meeting

We had this year’s first Diversity and Inclusion meeting with parents and staff last week. Mr Faith is putting together an action plan with lots of exciting ideas from the group which we will share with parents. As always, we are keen for parents to be involved so look out for the action plan and letter from Mr Faith.

HM Queen Elizabeth

Miss Quartermaine and all of our children have compiled the most amazing book of condolences following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth. Many are very touching and a few are (quite unintentionally) very amusing – ask me for details! The book will be winging its way to Buckingham Palace next week.

Admissions

Denis and I are holding an admissions meeting at St Stephen’s Church at 7.30pm on Monday evening. I will talk through the admissions procedure for our school and Denis will talk about secondary school applications and references.

Don’t forget to check out the school website to read the teachers’ class blogs and for news and events at https://www.ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk/ or follow us on Twitter at @StStephensLBHF.

Have a great weekend.

Mr Schumm