Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Wednesday 4 September 2024

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.

At drop-off, the main wooden gates will open at 8.00am (the smaller side gate will not be open in the mornings); all parents and girls can come into the courtyard. Miss Hamalis or another member of the Senior Team will open the metal gates from 8.00am – 8.20am so that the girls will be able to go down to the playground where there will be staff supervising them. Please note that parents are to remain in the courtyard and are not to follow their daughter through the iron gates. At 8.20am, all Form Teachers collect their Form from the playground. Any girls arriving after 8.20am will need to go through the main entrance and sign in via the Office. 

Please note that the school opens at 7.30am for Early Birds only. It is important that you remain outside of the school gates with your daughter until 7:30am when a member of the Office Team will buzz you into the courtyard. May we politely ask that you do not follow teachers into the courtyard or school before this time. 

Dismissal at the end of the day is staggered with Form Teachers dismissing the girls with the timings being the same every day including on Fridays. Parents collecting pupils in Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 are invited to gather in the courtyard to pick up their daughters, while collection from the side gate is for Reception, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5. Please queue at the smaller door further down the hill on the side of the building. 

Any changes in collection arrangements should be emailed to the Form Teacher in advance. Anybody regularly collecting your daughter(s) should be added onto SchoolBase via the Parent Portal as normal. For new Reception parents, a Google Form has been emailed directly to you to obtain this information. We do not release children to any other people unless we have had a message from a parent/carer informing us. Please ensure any changes to collection are emailed in advance to your daughter’s Form Teacher.

We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 11 September from 6.00 – 8.00pm for our Welcome Evening. We will share information about exciting changes and additions to the curriculum and will introduce our Form and Specialist Teachers, Teaching Assistants and some of our other support staff. You will also visit your daughter’s form room to get a chance to hear more from the year group Form Teachers and Teaching Assistants and to learn about the expectations for the year ahead. 

Collection arrangements will remain the same with wraparound care continuing as usual.

Parents’ Evenings, with Form and Specialist Teachers, take place throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms. At the end of this first half term, you will be able to meet with your daughter’s Form Teacher. This will provide a timely opportunity to discuss your daughter’s wellbeing, how she has settled into her form, her attitude to learning and engagement as well as her achievement in lessons. 

The girls are very lucky to have many Specialist Teachers; they will be available for Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6) academic appointments at the end of this half term and the beginning of next half term. Specialist Teachers will then be available for Early Years & Key Stage 1 (EY & KS1) academic appointments in January. 

You will be directed to secure your Parents’ Evening appointments with Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers via an intuitive and easy to use online appointment booking system: Schoolcloud. Instructions will be shared to help you to do this in advance.

Parents are requested to give advance notice to the school if they intend their daughter to be absent. Please write to Miss Hamalis via JSOffice@channing.co.uk with your request. Please complete this form outlining the days your daughter will be absent from school due to religious observance.

Autumn Term extracurricular clubs will begin on Monday 23 September, with the last club of this term being Thursday 5 December (with the exception of the Key Stage 2 Cheerleading Squad, which will take place the morning of Friday 6 December). All information about this term’s clubs and how to sign up will be in next week’s Bulletin.

In the Summer Term, we sent out a letter inviting all parents of daughters in Years 4 – 6 to the following talk hosted by Dr Weston of TooledUp: Smartphones: Weighing Up Benefits, Risks, and Access. The session consists of a 60-minute talk followed by 30 minutes of discussion and questions. Thank you to those of you who have confirmed your attendance. If you would like to attend and you have not already done so, please fill out this Google Form by Monday 9 September. Please contact Miss Kitsis (Head of Key Stage 2), for further information or for any queries.

Please see this academic year’s Staff List 2024/2025. You can read about the staff and find photos of them on Firefly (please use your daughter’s login details): Staff Bios on Firefly. 

We warmly welcome our new Form Teachers: Miss Humphreys (Reception), Miss McHard (Year 1), Ms Merritt (Year 2), Mr Janes (Year 3) and Mr Westerman (Year 6) and our new Teaching Assistants, Miss Crossdale (Year 1) and Miss Marshall (Year 2). Additionally, we are delighted to welcome Ms Jackson as our Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), while Mrs Gardiner has taken on the new role of Head of SEND across the whole school. Finally, as Miss Evans and Miss Baker prepare for their imminent maternity leave this term, and with Mrs Khan still on maternity leave, Miss Marshall will step into the role of a General/Cover Teacher.

Please find the email contact details of the staff: JS Key Contact information. Please could we ask that your specific query is directed to the appropriate individual and anything of a more serious nature is directed to a member of the Senior Team. Please note that Miss Hamalis needs to approve all requests for absences so please send them via the Junior School Office: jsoffice@channing.co.uk. 

In order to prevent unnecessary awkwardness and/or embarrassment, please remember to address members of staff by their title and surname. 

Please be mindful that staff may not pick up emails immediately (teachers will, of course, not be checking emails when they are teaching, running clubs or supervising pupils at break and lunchtimes) and may choose to take time to investigate the matter before responding. However, they will endeavour to answer your queries within 24 hours. Please do not think that a lack of instant response means a lack of interest on the part of the member of staff. 

Please note that staff are not expected to reply to emails outside normal school hours, weekends or during school holidays. If you have an emergency which needs to be dealt with before school next opens, please email: jsoffice@channing.co.uk. Please do not send communications or information to communication@channing.co.uk or info@channing.co.uk.

The girls (and staff) are very lucky to have a delicious and nutritious lunch every day. Please spend some time looking at the menu options for this term with your daughter on our website.

You are very welcome to send in nut-free cakes or treats for your daughter to celebrate her birthday with her form or year group. Please ensure that they are separate cakes or treats rather than a large cake that needs to be sliced. Additionally, please be mindful of the size of cakes; they should be no bigger than a child’s hand. Due to health and safety, please do not send in cake pops, lollipops or any other hard sweets. Furthermore, please do not send in treats for any other occasions without prior permission from your daughter’s Form Teacher.

With it being the start of a new academic year, please ensure that your daughter has returned to school in the correct uniform, either Summer as the sun is shining (up until half term) or Winter. This includes a House-coloured Book Bag in Reception – Year 3 or a Channing rucksack (or a dark-coloured rucksack) from Year 3 up. Your daughter should also have a black, brown or navy coat at school every day. She must also have  a waterproof jacket, which can be left at school, so that she remains dry during playtimes. All girls also need to bring a protective art apron to remain at school at the start of each term. 

It is essential that all items of clothing that your daughter brings/ wears to school are clearly labelled. 

To help prevent the spread of head lice, if your daughter’s hair sits below her shoulders, it must be fully tied back using brown, black or Channing blue hair ties, bands and/or clips. No nail varnish, or jewellery should be worn (unless for religious reasons) and only small plain stud earrings are permitted (small hoops or sleepers are not to be worn for safety reasons). Analogue and digital watches are permitted; whilst fitbits and smart watches are not.

All jewellery should be removed in PE and Forest School lessons to minimise the risk of injury. If your daughter is unable to remove her plain stud earrings because they are new and still healing, please provide surgical tape to temporarily cover them. Please support your daughter by demonstrating how to apply the tape before her first lesson. Pupils in Years 3 – 6 are welcome to bring roll on deodorant should they feel they need it.

We also ask that your daughter does not come into school with an AirTag in her bag, on any of her belongings or on any items of her clothing. These can cause disruption in lessons as staff receive numerous alerts on school devices. Additionally, they may cause you unnecessary distress as they aren’t always accurate.

For details of the full uniform list, please see our website: Channing Junior School |Uniform List 2024/2025. 

All girls need to bring in a named water bottle, sunhat and sunscreen in their school bag. 

For girls in Years 3 – 6, we will provide a House-coloured plastic folder in which to carry exercise books, printed homework resources and letters from school/home.

Please note that levelled reading books for children in Reception through to Year 3 will be sent home on Friday 13 September. This allows our teachers time to read with each child to ensure they receive the correct levelled book. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue reading other texts at home with your child.

All girls have two PE lessons each week. On the day your daughter has PE, she should wear: a house-coloured t-shirt (Reception – Year 2 only), or a Channing PE shirt with the school tracksuit bottoms, leggings, skort or shorts. Suitable trainers must also be worn:

• Monday: 2C, 2M, 4R, 4W, 6D, 6W

• Tuesday: 1A, 1M, RB, RH

• Wednesday: 3F, 3J,4R, 4W, 5K, 5S, 6D, 6W

• Thursday: 2C, 2R, 3F, 3J, 5K, 5S,

• Friday: RB, RH, 1A, 1M, 2M, 2R

On the days when your daughter has PE, we ask that she arrives at school in her PE kit. So not to miss lesson or break time, she will remain in her kit all day. It is important that your daughter has a complete change of uniform/kit (including underwear, socks and shoes) at school at all times in case of inclement weather. 

This term in PE, all pupils in Key Stage Two (Years 3 – 6) will participate in hockey lessons. Please ensure your daughter has the correct equipment to allow for a smooth start to the Autumn Term. Here is a list of suggested essential equipment, which can be bought in various shops or online: gum shield, shin pads, socks (black or sky blue) and hockey stick. A stick height guide can be useful; however, this item is not essential. 

A gumshield is essential for playing hockey. As such, pupils in Key Stage Two (Years 3 – 6) will be unable to participate in lessons without one. Should your daughter arrive to a hockey PE lesson without a gum shield, to ensure she is still able to take part, she will be provided with a new gumshield by the PE Team. The cost of this gum shield will be charged to your school account.

All girls in Reception – Year 4 will participate in weekly Forest School sessions in our dedicated area. As the girls will be outdoors in all weathers – rain, hail or shine – we need to ensure they are appropriately dressed. Layers are great for keeping warm under waterproofs. All clothing should be clearly named and brought to school in a named backpack. 

On the day when your daughter has Forest School, she will be required to change out of her own Forest School clothes and her school uniform (not PE kit) once in the day. 

Reception children will begin their Forest School sessions after half term, having utilised the time for independent learning and continuous provision across the first half of Autumn Term. On the day when Reception girls have Forest School this half term only, the girls are to arrive in their Forest School clothing (not PE kit) to remain in all day. 

Experience has shown that starting Forest School later in the Autumn Term for our youngest learners enables essential time in the Reception form rooms and outdoor areas for the girls to feel settled and content; to give the girls time to settle before requesting they change clothing; and to support the girls to make the greatest progress with their learning from the start of the school year.

From the start of term, girls in Reception – Year 2 should bring named wellies to be kept at school (children in Reception utilise these in their outdoor classrooms). Pupils in Year 3 and 4 will need to bring named wellies and their own clothing to school on their Forest School days and will return home with these on the same day. 

On the day your daughter(s) have Forest School, please provide an extra named plastic bag inside for wet waterproofs, or dusty over trousers and T-Shirts:

• Monday:
  2R (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing with uniform to change into).                                        3J (pupils to arrive in uniform with Forest School clothing to change into)
•  Tuesday:
  2M (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing with uniform to change into)
• Wednesday:
  RH (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing to remain in all day until half term)
  1M (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing with uniform to change into)

• Thursday:
  RB (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing to remain in all day until half term)
  1A (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing with uniform to change into)
  4W and 4R (pupils to arrive in uniform with Forest School clothing to change into)

• Friday:
  2C (pupils to arrive in Forest School clothing with uniform to change into)
  3F (pupils to arrive in uniform with Forest School clothing to change into)

To prepare for Forest School sessions, please see the list of items required below. Most can be purchased from our uniform supplier, Uniform4Kids.

• Waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers (separates are easier for getting dressed independently)
• Named wellies (which will be left in school)/ Fleece lined wellies or snow boots for the colder months
• Long sleeved top
• Sweater/ hoodie/ fleece
• Leggings or tracksuit bottoms 
• Warm socks 
• A thermal base layer, e.g. Merino wool
• Hat and scarf

Gloves (preferably waterproof, not mittens)

For parents of girls in Year 5 & Year 6, please indicate via SchoolBase if your daughter(s) has permission to walk home independently. This can be specified by day or as full consent. Girls in Year 5 and 6, who have permission to self-dismiss and/or come to school independently, can bring their personal device to school. Please also provide consent if you wish for your daughter(s) to bring a mobile phone into school via Schoolbase. These devices, including mobile phones and smart watches, must be handed to the Office at the start of each day (immediately upon arrival) and placed in the pupil’s named Yondr pouch. The device must remain there for the duration of the day. Pupils then collect their device when leaving school (this could be after normal collection, a club or Late Owls).

During your daughter’s time at Channing, we may wish to take photographs of activities that involve her. The photographs may be used for displays, publications and our website/social media by us, by the Local Education Authority or by local newspapers. We require all parents to inform us via SchoolBase whether or not they consent to such use of photography for their daughter(s). 

Families are respectfully advised that they DO NOT have permission to film or take photographs of other people’s children, nor of members of staff.

All photography is strictly forbidden in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

All visitors will be reminded of our policy at the beginning of each event.

Please help us to protect and respect pupils: performances may be stopped if unauthorised photography or filming takes place.

More information regarding photography consent is available in the appendix of the Parent Portal User Guide linked below.

We often publish photos and films or events such as Year Group Assemblies, performances and trips on Firefly, our password secure website. Additionally, we publish photos and films (depending on parental permissions) on our social media accounts. Follow us on: Channing Instagram Account, Miss_Dina_Hamalis Instagram Account, Channing X Account and Channing Facebook Account to see what the girls are getting up to at school.

Please find below separate sign up forms for Early Birds, Mini Owls and Late Owls. Parents must sign up in advance for the whole half term.

Early Birds (Before School)

Early Birds booking form

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

Reception/KS1 Mini Owls (After School)

Mini Owls booking form

This runs from the end of the school day until 3.35pm everyday. The girls will be taken to Mini Owls by their Form Teacher after their pick up time. Parents will only be able to collect their daughters from Mini Owls at 3.35pm, from the School Office, unless they are attending Late Owls. There is no charge for this. 

Late Owls (After School) 

Late Owls booking form

This runs from 3.35pm – 5.50pm. There will be structured activities for the girls to take part in and they will also be offered a more substantial snack such as fruit, soup and/or sandwich. When you are collecting your daughter, please ring the bell to enter the school via the main gates and go directly to the school office where the supervising staff will send your daughter up to be collected. Charges apply for Late Owls (you will only be charged up to a maximum of 2 hours per session attended, starting from 3.50pm)

Normal charges apply for Late Owls only, please see below:

• £6.50 for up to half an hour
• £11 for up to an hour
• £17.50 for up to an hour and a half 
• £22 for up to two hours

Please note, if your daughter is in Reception or KS1 and you have signed her up to Late Owls, please remember to sign her up to Mini Owls too if she does not have a club.

Reception/KS1 Late Collection (After School)

Girls in Reception and KS1, who are not signed up to Mini Owls, and who are not collected at their Year group’s dismissal time, are taken to our Late Collection provision located in the Library. You are able to collect your daughter directly from the Library’s external door at any point between 3.10pm and 3.35pm. Girls who are not collected at 3.35pm will attend Late Owls where normal dismissal procedures and charges will apply. 

Please note, you are only charged if your daughter attends; her time ‘in’ and ‘out’ is recorded and this is added to your termly bill. If you have signed your daughter up and then have changed your mind you will not be charged.

The CA is running a preloved uniform sale on Thursday 19 September from 7:45am until 8:30am. If you would like to help set up and/or run the sale, please email jschanningassociation@gmail.com 

For any donations of unwanted, clean and unlabeled uniform items (especially PE kit), please leave items in plastic bags in the blue bins in the courtyard! Thank you.

If you would like to get involved with the CA this year or have any questions, please get in touch. Our email is: jschanningassociation@gmail.com  

Being part of the CA – as a rep or just as an ad hoc volunteer – is a wonderful opportunity to get more involved with non-academic school activity, and there is so much fun to be had this year!

• Thursday 19 September, 7:45-8:30am ~  PreLoved Uniform Sale 
• Wednesday 9 October, 7:30pm ~ Quiz Night Parent Social, Senior School Dining Room
• Friday 29 November, 2:50-5:00pm – Winter Fair