Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 2 December 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.

This year, our school community will come together to enjoy Christmas Lunch on Tuesday 3 December. Surrounded by festive decorations and cheerful tunes, the girls will be treated to a delicious meal with all the trimmings and a few extra treats. To add to the festive spirit, the girls are invited to wear their favourite Christmas jumpers and accessories over their school uniform, which might include reindeer hats, snowman glasses, or even a fun pair of Christmas socks.

We will also be marking the official Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 12 December, to raise funds for Save the Children. We encourage all the girls to come to school in their festive jumpers over their school uniform – whether it’s the same one from our Christmas Lunch or a new choice altogether! More details on how donations will be collected for this wonderful cause will follow soon.

We very much look forward to spreading the festive spirit throughout the school in the lead up to the holidays!

The Winter Celebration at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, will be taking place on Friday 6 December at 2.15-3.15pm. Please see below for final logistical details:

• All girls from Reception – Year 6 are attending.
• Please note that the church can be quite cold, so we kindly ask that your daughter comes to school wearing a warm vest underneath her uniform, along with her cardigan and coat.
• Pupils do not need to bring in their bags to school. This will make for an easier time of dismissal and ease crowding in the church.
• There will be no Late Owls or after school provision; all pupils are to be collected from St Michael’s Church.
• This is a ticketed event. Please ensure you have your tickets on your device or printed out to show the member of staff on the door. Tickets can be booked here. 
• All parents will be seated upstairs. Staff will be on hand to guide you.
• There is no parking available at the church. The car park will be cordoned off to allow safe dismissal of pupils. 
• The concert will start at 2.15pm promptly.  Please note that the doors will not open until 2pm. 
• Please note that drinks or food are not allowed in the church. 
• Reception and KS1 pupils will be dismissed inside the church.
• KS2 pupils will be dismissed at the side of the church. Mrs Munro (Head of Music) will let you know inside the church when forms are ready to be collected outside.
• Be sure to let Form Teachers know that you have collected your daughter, so they can be marked off the register.

We are delighted that author Piers Torday will be visiting us on Tuesday 3 December to introduce the Year 5 and Year 6 girls to his gripping stories. The girls will take part in a workshop about his new book, ‘Midnight Treasure’, which is a thrilling fantasy adventure inspired by the folklore of his Transylvanian heritage. 

There will also be a book signing event in the Library for girls whose parents have pre-ordered books. If girls are inspired to purchase a copy of Midnight Treasure after the author visit, the Library will have copies of the book to sell. Parents can pay via a card machine in the library 8.00am-8.20am or 3.35pm-4.00pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until the end of term.

This week is the final week of Autumn Term Clubs. Please note that the following clubs are cancelled this week. This is in addition to any that, unfortunately, may need to be cancelled on the day: 

• Monday 2 December: Year 1 Gymnastics 
• Monday 2 December: Year 2 Bee Netball 
• Monday 2 December: Year 2 Gymnastics 
• Tuesday 3 December: Years 3&4 Gymnastics 
• Wednesday 4 December: KS2 Gymnastics Squad
• Thursday 5 December: KS2 Gymnastics Training Squad
• Thursday 5 December:Years 4-6 Gymnastics (Senior School)
• Friday 6 December: Key Stage 1 Multisports
• Friday 6 December: Years 3&4 Football 
• Friday 6 December: Key Stage 2 Karate

A Japanese drumming event is taking place this Saturday in the Arundel Centre. This is a rare opportunity to see some electrifying taiko drumming, in addition to flute, shamisen (a form of guitar) and singing. All proceeds are going to Women for Women International, the Senior School’s nominated charity this year.

Any unclaimed and unnamed lost property (both uniform and non-uniform) will be out in the courtyard on the days and times below:

• Thursday 12 December: 7.30am-8.30am & 2.50pm-5.30pm
• Friday 13 December: 7.30am-8.30am & 11.30am-12.30pm

Any unclaimed items still remaining will be donated to charity (non-uniform) or the pre-loved uniform sale (uniform).

Thank you to all of our Year 3 – 6 (Key Stage 2) parents who joined us for the Mathematics and English talk last week. We hope you found it informative and gained some helpful tips on supporting your daughters at home. Please click on the links for the Mathematics and English presentation slides if you would like to learn more about how our Key Stage 2 girls learn. For further information regarding Spelling as requested, please see below under the Teaching & Learning section. 

Our series of curriculum talks, led by our Subject Leads, continue next term. These in-person sessions, open to all parents and carers, will provide an overview of the curriculum in the key areas as outlined below. You will gain insights into what and how your daughters will be learning throughout this academic year and beyond. As this is a valuable opportunity to engage directly with our Subject Leads and to ask questions about the curriculum, teaching approaches and how to best support your daughter’s learning journey at home, the sessions will not be recorded. If you would like to attend one of more of these in-person evening talks, please sign up below using the linked Google Forms.  Schedule of Talks:

• Reception – Year 6 Music: 14 January, 6.00pm – 7.00pm in Fairseat Hall
• Reception – Year 6 PSHE and Emotional Management: 23 January, 6.00pm – 7.00pm in Fairseat Hall

We look forward to welcoming you and appreciate your ongoing support in helping your daughter achieve educational success, as we strive for all of the girls to be ambitious, realise their full potential and become the very best versions of themselves.

We have collaborated with TooledUp Education: an invaluable digital library of evidence-based resources on all aspects of parenting, education and family life. Founder, Dr Kathy Weston, has collated the best and most up-to-date research from around the world and distilled it into usable, easy to understand resources which can be instantly applied to daily life. Channing Pin: cha0706

For more information about this resource, see the dedicated section below. 

For upcoming TooledUp courses and events please click here. 

• Wednesday 4 December 7.30pm ~ When Parenting Styles Conflict
• Thursday 5 December 12.00pm ~ Menopause and Neurodiversity

Channing will celebrate its 140th birthday in January, and we’re thrilled to mark this milestone with a special event. Taking place on Tuesday 14 January from 7- 9pm, the evening will include a celebration of this remarkable anniversary (complete with cake!) and the unveiling of our vision for Channing 2035 as we launch our strategic objectives for the next decade. A formal invitation with an RSVP link will be sent out next week – please note that spaces are limited, so early booking is essential. For parents unable to attend, a recorded version of the presentation will be made available.

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. 

Thank you to all of our Year 3 – 6 (Key Stage 2) parents who joined us for the Mathematics and English talk last week. We hope you found it informative and gained some helpful tips on supporting your daughters at home. Please click on the links for the Mathematics and English presentation slides if you would like to learn more about how our Key Stage 2 girls learn. 

Spelling ~ Many of the attending parents asked about how we use Read Write Inc. Spelling to teach different spelling rules for groups of words rather than discrete spelling lists. It is a teacher-directed programme for children in Year 2 and above who have completed the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme. The consistent approach gives the girls confidence when approaching new spellings. Please click here for a useful introduction to Read Write Inc. Spelling. 

The girls are introduced to spelling rules and patterns from the start of the programme. These are reviewed and practised through each unit until all of the pupils can apply the rules in their own writing. The girls are assessed during the programme through deployment of practice tests in school. The results from these are entered into tracking spreadsheets that enable teachers to record and track individual children’s progress and identify units or concepts they may need to re-teach. The trackers list every word from the test and which unit the word is taken from, so that teachers can see which units they might need to revisit or which consolidation session could be deployed in each form. Assessment is built into the activities for every unit; the tests are presented as fun games and activities so children are motivated rather than intimidated:

• ‘Speed Spell’ tests children’s knowledge of words from previous units; 
• ‘Team Teach’ and ‘Four-in-a-row’ help children assess their own progress; 
• ‘Jumping Red/Orange Words’ tests children’s knowledge of red and orange words (words from the word lists in the National Curriculum in England).

In several activities used across a unit (‘Words to Log and Learn’, ‘Four-in-a-row’, ‘Jumping Red/Orange Words’), the girls focus on the words they personally need to practise so teachers encourage them to choose words appropriate to their learning needs. These words are logged by each of the girls, in their A5 RWI Log Book. Please support your daughter to regularly review the words she has logged at home; please encourage her to continue to develop her organisation skills and bring her RWI Log Book home and back to school each day. 

We also use SpellingShed, diagnostic software, to ensure pupils continue to practise and make targeted progress with learning the taught spelling rules both in school and as consolidation work at home. Please support your daughter to log in to her SpellingShed account at home, using her username and password (fixed inside her Year 3 Reading Record or Year 4 – 6 Log Book). Once logged in, your daughter can show you the pink notification boxes indicating how many assignments have been set by the teacher and on which game. 

When your daughter clicks on the assignments box at the top of the menu, she can see all of the assignments together. This screen shows the assignments that have been set by the teacher. The assignments link to games that include words from taught spelling rules that need to be learnt or practised. The icons or badges on the assignments show different achievement levels and are an incentive for the children to play more and aim for the top level. They are also a quick way for teachers to see how well they can spell the words in the lists.

When your daughter clicks ‘Play’, four difficulty options will appear for her:

• Easy – She will be shown the word as well as hearing it and she will only see the letters she needs to spell it. 
• Medium – She can listen to the word and she will only have the letters she needs. 
• Hard – She can listen to the word but she will have a few extra letters added. 
• Extreme – She will hear the word and she will have a full keyboard of letters.

Games completed on easier levels will give the player a lower score and lower ranking; however, all play is encouraged because practise makes permanent. The teacher will be able to see which levels have been chosen for each game.

On ‘extreme’ level games, the word can be typed using a keyboard or clicked with a mouse and your daughter can use the ‘enter’ key or the green tick to submit the word. If she is playing the game on a tablet, the letters can be tapped and the green tick used to submit the word.

When playing any of the SpellingShed games, a score and honey pots will be awarded depending on how well your daughter has performed. The score she builds will add to different SpellingShed leagues: each child can compete with pupils within their form; across different forms; and with others in the school. Each school competes against other schools in the world leagues. Honey pots can be used to buy clothes, accessories and backgrounds for your daughter’s avatar. Teachers are able to add or remove honey pots for each user. For excellent effort and accuracy with using SpellingShed, teachers award Girls Enjoying Success certificates and can also choose to use honey pots as an added reward.

Year 1 – Year 6 Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers are busy completing an academic Autumn Term Report for your daughter. Teachers are reporting grades on all subjects in the Year 1 – 6 curriculum (excluding PSHE which will be reported on in Summer Term). Grades will be given for Academic Achievement as well as Attitude and Engagement. The core subject grades (English and Mathematics) will also be accompanied by three concise targets for your daughter to work towards throughout Spring Term. 

The grades are:

• Above Expectations

• Meeting Expectations Securely

• Meeting Expectations With Support

• Working Towards Expectations 

The grades will 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. If one of your daughter’s subjects is missing a grade entry, this will be due to the fact that she has been attending internal counselling or intervention support sessions, as agreed, during a scheduled lesson throughout this term. 

The reports will show your daughter’s standardised score from English and Mathematics (as well as Science for Years 4 – 6 only) assessments taken at the start of the Autumn Term. 

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 national expectations in this assessment. A score of significantly above 100 means your daughter scored above national expectations in this assessment. A score of below 100 means your daughter scored below the national 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:

Below 70: Significantly below expectation

70 – 84: Below expectation

85 – 94: Low average

95 – 104: Average

105 – 114: High average

115 – 129: Above expectation

Above 129: Significantly above expectation

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. 

You may observe a discrepancy between school-assigned grades and the standardised scores from assessments taken at the start of the Autumn Term. This can occur due to several factors:

• The standardised scores are based on a single assessment at the start of the Autumn Term. They provide a snapshot of your daughter’s performance relative to national averages at that particular time. Whereas, the Channing teacher-judged grades reflect your daughter’s ongoing performance relative to her peers throughout the term, including lessons, assessments, homework and response to feedback. They are a cumulative measure of your daughter’s progress and effort over a more extended period.
• The standardised assessments focus primarily on specific knowledge and skills tested. They may not cover the entire curriculum or all areas of a subject. Whereas, the Channing grades take into account a broader range of activities and skills, including lesson participation, practical work and project assignments, providing a more holistic view of your daughter’s attainment.
• The standardised scores do not account for improvements made after the assessment. If your daughter received a lower score at the start of the year, but has since worked hard and improved, this will not be reflected in the initial standardised score. Whereas, the Channing grades reflect ongoing improvement and the ability to respond to feedback. A pupil who has shown significant progress and effort during the term may receive higher grades despite an initial low standardised score.
• The standardised scores are objective and based purely on the number of correct answers in the summative assessment. Some pupils perform particularly well in these types of assessments, whereas they may also continue to require support in lessons in order to continue to make progress. The Channing grades include subjective elements such as teacher observations and judgments about a pupil’s participation, effort and attitude, which impacts the final grade given.

By considering both the standardised scores and the school-assigned grades, you can gain a more comprehensive understanding of your daughter’s academic performance, strengths and areas that may need additional support or focus.

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. You will be able to access your daughter’s Autumn Term Report from 3.00pm on the last day of term, Friday 13 December, on the Firefly parent portal. 

In preparation for accessing your daughter’s report on the Firefly parent portal, please see the relevant Firefly guidance below:

• Guidance for parents joining Firefly for the first time, click here.
• Parents who already have an account can access Firefly from the link in the guidance above and ‘log in’ using the details they used to create their account.

Once you have logged in to Firefly parent portal, you will be able to locate your daughter’s report, on Friday 13 December, either via ‘messages’ and looking for the published month, or via your individual child’s records in the ‘documents’ tab.

With support from Inner Drive, we continue to use the most up to date educational research to help pupils, teachers and parents understand the attitudes and behaviours of Fearless Learners and pupils who show bravery like Bravery Mole. Researchers reviewed 36 studies on the effect of parental behaviours and attitudes on childrens’ grades. They then made suggestions about what does and doesn’t work. You can read a simple summary of some of that research here. 

Tip: Starting simple and small, such as regular conversations with your daughter about her learning and setting clear boundaries about homework and screen time, seems to be a good launchpad for success. Children often learn from what their parents do and not just what they say, so it stands to reason that if we model the desired behaviours (i.e. good reading habits), they are more likely to replicate it themselves.

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Channing Website. 

Welcome to the latest episode of Chatting with Channing, where we dive into the heart of Channing School through the voices of its community. In this delightful episode, we sit down with Suhanna and Matilda, the Year 6 Head Girls, to hear about their incredible journey through the Junior School.

Join us as Suhanna and Matilda share their favourite memories, from science experiments to the camaraderie of sports and music clubs. They reflect on the friendships they’ve built, their excitement for the transition to Senior School, and what makes Channing’s nurturing environment so unique.

They discuss Channing’s traditions, like Skipping Out at the end of term and the much-anticipated Easter Bonnet Parade. They also highlight the impact of inspiring teachers, the Channing Character traits and the importance of empathy and resilience.

Thank you to everyone who supported the CA Winter Fair last week, from organising stalls, to running games, making treats and much more. We hope you and your families enjoyed it. 

The charity raffle for Great Ormond Street raised a fantastic £2240.

If your daughter had a ticket and did not get a Father Christmas Gift, or to arrange a collection of a raffle prize, please email jschanningassociation@gmail.com 

For the girls who participated in Cauliflower Cards this year and created festive cards/ gifts, please note that all items will be delivered to school and given to the girls via their Form Teacher during the final week of term. Thanks to all those who took part and helped to raise £253 for charity.

• Tuesday 28 January 2025, 7.45am-8:30am ~ PreLoved Uniform Sale, courtyard 
• Sunday 9 February 2025, evening ~ North London Laughs Charity Comedy Night, with Channing parent offered first-access to tickets
• Saturday 15 March 2025, 4.30pm-7:30pm ~ Charity Swimathon in Poolside Manor
• Sunday 18 May 2025 ~Summer Fair ‘Chanfest’, held in the Junior School grounds