At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon
We hope that our families have spotted our lovely new stained glass window that has been installed at the school office. If you have not seen it, please do stop by!
Our thanks and appreciation to our extended families for their donations to the cost of the window. The design was inspired by our children’s ideas of what symbolises our school. It is a wonderful piece that will bring us such joy throughout the year!
You might have noticed in Friday collective worship that we have a new whole-school routine for getting everyone’s attention – ‘team stop!’ All staff are using the ‘team stop’ signal across the school: in classrooms; the lunch hall; the playground; and during whole-school events. Classes are having fun with the routine, seeing how quickly they can work as a team to respond to the signal. Whole-school visible consistencies like this support children to understand expectations across the school and to be ready for learning. See ‘team stop’ in action in collective worship on Fridays or ask your children to show you how it is done at home!
Remembrance
Our thanks to Year 6 today for leading collective worship on the theme of Remembrance. We wish all our community a peaceful Remembrance Sunday this weekend, as we are mindful in our thoughts and prayers of all those who have lost their lives in war. There will be an Act of Remembrance at 10.50am on Sunday at St Silas Church, followed by a requiem mass. We will be marking Remembrance Day itself at school on Monday with a minute of silence.
Parents Evenings
We look forward to seeing parents and carers in the coming week at parents’ evenings. Please ensure that you arrive promptly in order to make the most of your 15 minute slot! All parents/carers are expected to attend so if there is anything that arises last minute that might impact your appointment, please contact the school office as a priority.
Attendance and Punctuality
This week our school attendance was 95.3%. Let’s aim to improve on this next week!
The attendance bears this week go to Reception with 98.7% and Year 6 with 98.3%.
The early birds went to Reception and Y6.
Christian Vision
Strong in our faith in God, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, by encouraging one another.
Hebrews 10:23-25
The beginning of November marks two special Christian holy days – All Saints on 1st and All Souls on 2nd, when we remember all those we have lost. This week the children learnt about how saints were ordinary people like us, who loved God and tried to show that love by helping other people. One of the saints they learnt from was St Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who persecuted Christians but one night took pity on a poor man, shivering with cold, by giving him half his cloak. This man later revealed himself to be Jesus.
This story teaches us two things. Firstly, it reminds us that saints are not perfect people. For much of his life, Martin was not a good man, he was scornful, uncaring and cruel. We all get things wrong, make mistakes and sometimes fail to show care, but we learn, we love, we give to others, we receive forgiveness and we develop. Secondly, this story teaches us that turning our lives around towards love and good deeds is entirely our decision, not God’s. God didn’t get inside Martin’s mind and make him change. The poor man didn’t reveal himself as Jesus first, and promise Martin a big reward if he shared his cloak. Instead, Martin made up his own mind and chose to show care to the stranger simply as a fellow human being, and it changed Martin’s life forever.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Our class-led collective worship will take place every Friday at 2.55pm in the church hall. Parents/carers are warmly invited to attend their child’s class-led collective worship; the dates for these are shown below.
| Friday 15th November | Reception |
| Friday 22nd November | Y1 |
| Friday 29th November | Awards |
| Friday 6th December | Awards |
| Friday 13th December | Awards |
Our LabTech Sponsors
Please click here for a link to the Camden Market Events.
We are delighted to have a new partner onboard this year, LabTech. Through their Community Grants Programme, LabTech support a wide range of local initiatives to improve our neighbourhood and enhance Camden residents’ quality of life. LabTech’s funding helped to financially support the 2024 Shakespeare Project, Julius Caesar. LabTech is a local organisation in the heart of Camden Market; find out more about LabTech by clicking the link below.
Free Counselling Service for Parents
Place2Be is a children’s mental health charity with many years of experience working with UK schools to improve children’s wellbeing and behaviour. The charity also supports parents and families and has a wealth of practical tips and advice on many areas of parenting, all of which can be accessed online, including: dealing with changes and endings; building resilience; separation anxiety; de-escalation techniques; positive body image; friendship issues; perfectionism; sleep; gaming habits; and many more. Click on the link here to access and explore the support
We highly recommend the free counselling service for parents through Camden. You can find out more and register your interest via this leaflet.
New Emotional Wellbeing Website for Young People and Families
A new NHS website, packed with emotional wellbeing and mental health information and resources, has been launched to help young people and families, as well as professionals working with them, to navigate support options.
NCL Waiting Room was produced with the help and input of young people, families and professionals. It aims to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for information on specialist mental health services, community groups, emotional wellbeing and self-care resources.
It allows young people and their parents or carers to search for, filter and share resources based on their needs and preferences.
NCL Waiting Room will continue to grow and develop, so watch this space for more details. You can visit the website here and try out the Support Hub resource navigation feature here.
If you have any feedback on the website, you can do this on the relevant pages of the site, or email rtown@tavi-port.nhs.uk
Camden Music Service
From Y1 onwards, you can sign your child up to learn an instrument in school. For more information and to download the Camden Music Service application form, please click here.
Other Community Initiatives
Mary’s Meals
As part of our commitment to showing care not just in our local community but around the world our parish has in the past supported the work of Mart’s Meals. This year the appeal is taking a different format and we hope that as many people as possible will try to help this vital work. Mary’s Meals would like to invite you to collect all your foreign currency (including UK coins/notes that aren’t legal tender) no matter how old or obscure. Clear out your drawers and have a look under the sofa. Currently the charity feeds over 2.4 million young children one good
meal every day in their place of education – by giving Mary’s Meals your foreign coins and notes you can help feed the next hungry child. Mary’s Meals feeds in over 18 countries. Because of our low costs we can do this for as little as £19.15 per child per year! We will collect up until the 24th November and there will be a collection box in school and in each of the churches, or anything you are able to give can be left in an envelope marked ‘Mary’s Meals’ for Fr Philip to collect. Thank you for your support. You can learn more about Mary’s Meals at: www.marysmeals.org.uk
Click here to join Catriona G on a Cyanotype walk by the canal:
Quad Kids
Camden Library Activities
We highly recommend these. Click here for the catalogue.
Term dates for 2024 – 2025
| First day of autumn term 1 | Wednesday 4th September |
| Half term | Monday 28th – Friday 1st November 2025 |
| First day of autumn term 2 | Monday 4th November |
| Last day of autumn term 2 | Friday 20th December |
| INSET DAY | Monday 6th January 2025 |
| First day of spring term 1 | Tuesday 7th January |
| Half term | Monday 17th – Friday 21st February |
| First day of spring term 2 | Monday 24th February |
| Last day of spring term 2 | Friday 4th April |
| First day of summer term 1 | Tuesday 22nd April |
| Half term | Monday 26th May – Friday 30th May 2025 |
| First day of summer term 2 | Monday 2nd June |
| Last day of summer term 2 | Friday 18th July |
