Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 11 December 2023

You can view all events for the year in the school calendar via our Parent Portal: SchoolBase login. Your calendar view should already be filtered to display the Junior School events and events which are specific to your daughter’s year group. 

The ‘School Calendar Parent View’ button shows the complete calendar, which can be viewed by each month, week or day. Events also appear on the right-hand side of the home page under ‘Forthcoming Events’ and the monthly view of the calendar also appears at the bottom of the home page.

Please see below for all the clubs running this week: 

Please see here (or scan the QR Code below) for the details of Active Day Camp’s Holiday Camp, which is running at Channing Junior School from Monday 18 – Wednesday 20 December. Spaces are still available!

Please remind your daughter to take home her musical instrument(s) before the end of term. We will, of course, at school too. 

Over the holidays would be a perfect time to ensure your daughter has the correct school shoes for the term ahead (she should not be wearing DMs or biker boots, or trainers unless it is their PE day). In addition, it is an excellent opportunity to restock pencil cases (KS2) with scissors, a glue stick, writing pencils, blue pens and ink cartridges (if using an ink pen), a 30cm ruler, as well as a scientific calculator and protractor (Years 5 – 6 only).

Congratulations to Mr Carvalho for being appointed as our permanent PE Assistant! He will continue supporting Miss Bolton (Head of Sport) and Mrs Castle (PE Teacher) in lessons and co-curricular activities.

During Sustainability Week, we raised £430.10 for Just One Tree. With your generosity, we have been able to help plant 430 trees and help kelp regeneration in the oceans. Thank you all for your donations to this worthwhile cause.

Year 1 – Year 6 Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers have completed an academic Autumn Term Report for your daughter, reporting on all subjects in the Year 1 – 6 curriculum (excluding PSHE which will be reported on in Summer Term). Separate report grades will be given for: Academic Achievement as well as Attitude and Engagement. The grades reflect your daughter’s performance at the end of this term – a third of the way through the academic year – in lessons, assessments, homework and her response to feedback. The reports will show your daughter’s standardised score from English and Mathematics assessments taken at the start of the Autumn Term. 

The grades are:

• Above Expectations
• Meeting Expectations Securely
• Meeting Expectations With Support
• Working Towards Expectations

What are Standardised Scores?
Standardised Scoring is a method used in education to allow pupils, parents and schools to directly and easily compare performance in different subjects. Standardised Scoring converts each pupil’s score into a consistent scoring system, taking into account the number of marks available, and the average score. The average score for each assessment is awarded a score of 100. Performance above the average therefore results in a Standardised Score higher than 100.

How do I interpret Standardised Scores?
A score of around 100 means your daughter scored in line with the expectations for this cohort in this assessment. A score of significantly above 100 means your daughter scored above expectations in this assessment. A score of below 100 means your daughter scored below the expectation in this assessment.

The below brackets give you a more detailed view of how your daughter performed in each of their assessments at the start of the Autumn Term, relative to expectations:

Following the standardised assessments earlier in the term, Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers have been able to provide adaptive teaching in the classrooms to ensure common misconceptions have been addressed in lessons. Your daughters will have gained targeted advice from their teachers throughout this term in response to these standardised assessments, as well as continuous assessment for learning opportunities built into their lessons. 

We hope the academic Autumn Term Reports will provide an overall picture of what your daughter has achieved at the end of her first full term in Year 1 – 6. Each grade will be accompanied by a concise target for your daughter to work towards throughout Spring Term. These are short, clear next steps so your daughter knows how to improve further. You will be able to access your daughter’s Autumn Term Report from 3pm on the last day of term, Friday 15 December, via the SchoolBase Student Portal. Please email helpdesk_it@channing.co.uk if you are unable to log in to the Student Portal.

Winter is the perfect time for snuggling under a blanket with a cup of cocoa and a great book! OurLibrary Leaders have set the girls a special challenge to read four or more books over the holidays. The girls can find the Library Leaders’ awesome book lists here. They suggest the girls read two books from the recommendations on Firefly and two books of their own choice. Pupils who take part will receive a small prize and House points. The challenge runs until 15 January 2024 for all year groups. Happy reading!

A reminder that the Young Art competition deadline for entries is Friday 12 January. Artwork must be an A4-sized drawing or painting on the theme ‘Our Living World’. Please ensure your daughter’s name, year group, DOB and a title are written on the reverse before sending them to Mr Fellows (Art and DT Lead). All entries will be exhibited in the Library after school on Monday 15 January before they are sent off for the judging process. Selected entries will be displayed at the Royal College of Art in April.

Sign up forms for Spring Term Early Birds, Reception/KS1 Mini Owls and Late Owls will be sent to parents by email. Once received, please sign up in advance for the whole half term.

Early Birds (Before School)
The girls can be dropped off at the office door between 7.30am and 7.55am. They will then make their way down to Fairseat Hall, (staff will be available to help the younger girls) where they will be given a healthy breakfast and there are a choice of activities. There is no charge for this. Please note that we are not able to give girls breakfast if they arrive later than 7.50am.

Reception/ KS1 Mini Owls (After School)
This runs from the end of the school day until – 3.35pm (3.20pm on Fridays). The girls will be taken by their Form Teacher after their pick up time. Parents will only be able to collect their daughters from Mini Owls at 3.35pm (3.20pm on a Friday) at the School Office, unless they are attending Late Owls. There is no charge for this. 

Late Owls (After School)
This runs from 3.35pm – 5.50pm (from 3.20pm on Fridays). There will be structured activities for the girls to take part in and they will also be offered a snack of fruit, soup and a sandwich. Please collect your daughter from the School Office. Charges apply for Late Owls. Please note you are only charged if your daughter attends Late Owls; her time ‘in’ and ‘out’ is recorded and this is added to your termly bill.  

In the new year, the girls in Forest School lessons will be practising using loppers and bow saws and creating some more wooden items by recycling Christmas trees. If you have a cut tree that you would like to donate from Monday 8 January, Mr Rich and Miss Baker (Sustainability & Forest School Leads) would be very grateful. Ideally they are seeking 10 trees of about 7 – 12 feet. If you can offer a tree and are happy to bring it to the school, email jsforestschool@channing.co.uk to receive instructions about where to bring it. Thank you, as always, for your support.

Please save any Pringles and Twiglets tubes for a Spring Term Design Technology project. Also, please send in packaging with hinged lids, such as tea bag boxes, to Mr Fellows (Art & DT Lead).

A huge thank you to Mrs Agnes Colmer (Y1 mum), who has been the CA Secretary since September 2022, and stands down at the end of this calendar year. The CA are looking to fill the role; if you are interested please contact Mrs Sarah Graham (Y2 and Reception mum) and Mrs Imogen Taylor (Y2 mum), who can share further details.

Call for parent volunteers to support the 4+ assessments in January for prospective Reception girls, to answer questions from prospective parents and to help showcase our wonderful Junior School. If you would like to volunteer, please pick a 1-hour slot. You will receive all the info you need ahead of time.

• CA Charity Comedy Night, North London Laughs: Wednesday 20 March 2024/ Exclusive first-access tickets to parents will go live in January. The venue is Alexandra Palace.
• Channing Association Charity Swimathon: Friday Saturday 23 March 2024
• Summer Fair “ChanFest 2024” – Sunday 9 June 2024

Our next preloved uniform sale will take place in the main entrance courtyard /Drama Studio (weather dependent). Please donate any unwanted uniform ahead of Thursday 25 January, placing washed, bagged donations in the blue bins in the courtyard. Thank you!