Message from Exec. Headteacher
We have almost reached half term and it feels like we have only just come back! A reminder that when we come back after the break, the children will be staying until 3.30pm every day, they will no longer finish at 2.30pm on a Friday.
I have seen some of the early work that is in the children’s books, I can see that the children are working hard and their achievements so far will be discussed at parents’ evenings next week. This is a chance for you to find out about your child’s learning and share with them their achievements. I hope that you have all made an appointment to talk about the progress your child has made and what they will be working towards in the next term. Parents’ evening is always an evening that you should look forward to, it is a time to be proud of your child/children.
We have amazing clubs starting up after the break and hopefully many of our children will attend the extra opportunities that our staff are offering at a small cost.
Starting next week and until after half term, there will be building works happening in the area at the front of the school where our old Nursery building is. Can I ask parents to please be aware and keep children away from this area.
Message from Head of School
I can’t believe we are nearly at the end of the first half term of school! It only feels like yesterday that we were opening our gates again after the summer holiday. It is harder to believe we are nearing the end of October as the weather remains so nice!
I would like to open by saying huge congratulations to Mr Braganza and his partner Ms Edwards who are proud parents once more, Ms Edwards had a baby boy. Baby Braganza was born on Friday 6th October, all the family are safe and well at home, congratulations Mr B!
Our Year 1 class have made good use of the warm weather and took part in their first local visit today. The children and adults all returned enthused to tell me what they had seen, roads, signs and a post box but no sign of any treasure, we will have to keep looking… School photos came and went on Monday with all the children looking very dapper in their purple uniform and snazzy hair dos.
Around the school the children have all been working really hard and it is clear to see that improvements are being made in all age groups, which is always lovely to see.
As we are now nearing the end of the term a few housekeeping messages from me, our Autumn Term Parents evenings are next Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th October, please keep an eye out for letters re. times etc. Please be aware that some classes have had a change of date due to staffing.
As this is our last Newsletter, I wish everyone an enjoyable half term break when it comes, the last day of school is Friday 20th October and children will return on Monday 6th November!
Dates for your diaries
Click on the calendar icon to the right to view all upcoming events and dates at Forster Park. Dates to remember for the next two weeks are as follows:
Term Dates 2024-2026
We have uploaded the term dates for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 to our school website. You can also download them here:
At the bottom of this newsletter there is a link to the current and future term dates.
Harvest Festival
If you have been to the school office over the past couple of weeks you will have seen the harvest donations piling up for the Whitefoot and Downham Foodbank. Each year, to celebrate harvest, we collect packets and tins of food to help people in our community who need it. In assembly this week, the children have been thinking about the things we are grateful for and how we can help others as part of the Forster Park team. Thank you to all those who have donated already, there is still time to drop an extra packet or tin at the office if you can!
Parents’ Evenings
Our Parents’ Evenings take place next Wednesday and Thursday – 18th and 19th October. Please make sure you have booked your child’s slot through our online booking system, an email has been sent to contact 1. You can read the Parents’ Evening letter here. Dove, Starling and Parakeet classes have different arrangements, if you have not seen their letters, you can read them here: Letters
Achievements
Ra’Isa in Swan Class completed a reading challenge at her local library! She absolutely loves to read and felt very proud for this achievement.
At Forster Park we love to celebrate each and every achievement! This could be anything that children do as part of a club or by participating in a competition or event. If your child has received a certificate, medal, badge or trophy then please let their class teacher and the office staff know.
After School Club Booking System
Should you wish your child to attend After School Club, after comple and return the application form (available from the school office or HERE). The deadline is Thursday (midnight) for bookings for the following week. Please follow the steps below: –
This process will enable you to log in to your parent pay account and book the days that you need, this ensures that you are only paying for what you book.
The booking system allows you to book a week in advance and closes on Thursday at 11.30am. Any bookings must be confirmed and paid for within two hours of selecting them. Failure to do so will result in the bookings being automatically cancelled.
To make a booking, go to www.parentpay.com and log in, then:
School Photographs
School photos were taken on Monday. Proofs will be sent home as soon as we receive them from Braiswick, the school photographers.
Children and Family Centre Consultation
Lewisham Council are in the process of reviewing and developing services that support children and their families. This includes the current Children and Family Centres offer and our emerging Family Hubs offer.
We want to make sure we co-produce services that reflect the needs of all children and families in Lewisham. Your experiences and views are crucial to this process and we are really keen to hear from you. This will help us to develop and deliver the services our families deserve.
Lewisham parents – Your views matter!
Tell us what you think about services in Children and Family Centres
Eco Council
Congratulations to all our class representatives on the Eco Council.
We met today as a group and the children introduced themselves and spoke about why they had been nominated to be on the eco council. It was great to hear their responses and passion for caring about our planet. We discussed what our role was as part of the eco council and began to think about how we look after our planet at Forster Park and how we could lead our classes to make a difference.
We began thinking about ideas around waste and how we can improve what we waste in school. We discovered that some classes have recycling bins and that others do not, food waste in the dinner hall could be recycled, water and taps could be reminded to be turned off.
Look at our ideas! We are going to make some posters to remind children to turn off taps and meet with Mr Bond to talk about buying more recycling bins and find a way to recycle or cut down the waste of food.
Thanks to the Eco Council for some great work.
Secondary Transfer
If your child is in year 6, please remember that the secondary school admissions deadline is: 31st October 2023.
Lost Property
Please remember to label your children’s clothes, we can then easily return them to you. All un-labelled items will be on display outside the After School Club building regularly. Lost property will next be on display on: Thursday 19th October 2023. Unclaimed items will be washed and recycled.
The children at Oakbridge Nursery have LOVED exploring our sensory areas. The lights, textures, sounds and sparkles have made it such a wonderful sensory experience. It has been magical to watch their play and curiosity develop. Check out our Cosy
The children in Puffin Class have been incredibly busy researching budgies this week! The children want to care for our new class pets as best they can so have been visiting the school library, looking through non-fiction books and looking
In maths the children, in Dove class @FP, have really enjoyed learning about ‘greater than’ ‘less than’ and are enjoying looking at the whole number and splitting it into parts. In English we have been looking at the story ‘The
We have had a fantastic term so far In Nightingale class @FP doing lots of great learning and creative activities together. We have been using colourful semantics to form sentences about the ‘Snail on a mission’ animation in preparation for
This week in Eagle class @FP, on the run up to the National Poetry Day (5th October 2023), we have been reading several poems with the class. We decided what we wanted our poems to be about and determined the best format
October is Black History Month and we have included a great poet in our English lessons, Karl Nova, whose first collection of poems, Rhythm and Poetry, is the basis for our own poems about the seasons. Karl Nova uses a
Do you need support into employment or training? Read more here:
Sharing REAL with Parents (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) is a fun, 4-week course with crèche available. Would you like
Are your children aged 0-25 years and enrolled at a Lewisham school or education setting OR register with a Lewisham GP? Have you/your children worked with an Educational Psychologist in
Halloween Pumpkin Trail takes place over the half term holiday. Entry is just £3 and all participants win a spooky prize. The farm is open from 1.30pm – 4.30pm
Kids classes At LCB, we cater for virtually all ages and offer a range of non-contact sessions for the under 18s, all costing just £1, making these classes affordable to
Looking for a holiday camp for October – look no further, Buzzers will be at Forster Park School from Monday 23rd October to Friday 27th October. Buzzers Academies provide active,
LJO is suitable for young musicians in Years 5 to 8 (inclusive) who play strings, woodwind, brass and percussion (tuned and untuned percussion) at Grade 1 standard and above (no
We are excited to announce that we are running a TECH CAMP in your town this October half-term and, for a LIMITED TIME only, we are offering 5 DAYS AND ONLY PAY FOR 4! The camp will be taking
We would like to share our October half term camps with you. We have attached our two flyers, one for Lions centre which is a Multi Skills/ football camp and then our St Pauls camps is football
Do you love baking to the batter end? We knead you! Apply now for Bake off Series 15 http://www.applyforbakeoff.co.uk Applications close on Tuesday 2nd January 2024 at 1pm. More information:
Stories and songs for Under 5’s and families/carers
