Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 20 January 2025

Posted: 20th January 2025

Miss Hamalis, Head Of Channing Junior School

Dear Parents 

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you who so kindly supported us during the recent 4+ assessments. Your presence in the waiting room and willingness to share your experiences with prospective parents were truly invaluable. Many visiting families commented on how much they appreciated hearing directly from current parents and your warm and welcoming approach left a lasting impression.

One of our supportive parents shared, “It meant a lot to me to give back to the prospective parents today, as it was such a key part of our decision-making process last year. We were so grateful to have the chance to see the premises, meet the team and talk to current parents but most importantly, to meet the Year 6 girls giving the tours, as it allowed us to picture our little one in the future.”

The atmosphere you helped to create in the waiting room was described as positive, inclusive and supportive – qualities that are at the heart of our Channing community. Comments like these are a wonderful reminder of how special and collaborative our school truly is.

The feedback from prospective families has been overwhelmingly positive. They spoke so highly of the warmth and care evident throughout the process, from the thoughtful organisation of the day to the small but meaningful touches such as tea and biscuits and the little gifts like drawing kits for the children. One family said, “We are continually impressed by how exceptional Channing is. The Year 6 girls who showed me around were true ambassadors for the school. They were confident, friendly, warm and intelligent. It was also lovely to meet other prospective parents and current parents who provided invaluable insights.”

Our Year 6 girls were simply outstanding as tour guides. Their poise, eloquence and enthusiasm for school life shone through, and I could not be prouder of them. They truly exemplify the very best of our Channing spirit. One parent commented, “The Year 6 girls giving the tours were so impressive – friendly, articulate and such wonderful ambassadors for the school. It was easy to picture my daughter thriving here because of their example.”

The overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received has been uplifting and affirming. It highlights the exceptional community we have built together at the Junior School – a community where warmth, inclusivity and care are at the forefront. I am extremely grateful for your support, which played such a key role in making the 4+ assessments a success.

Now comes the most challenging part: choosing who to offer places to! It’s incredible to think that the girls joining Reception in September 2025 will graduate as the Class of 2039!

This morning in assembly, Mrs Hughes unveiled our new strategic objectives and vision for Channing 2035 to your daughters, the Classes of 2031 to 2038. For those who attended our special evening event last week, it was a pleasure to see you. I hope you found it insightful to learn about the journey we’ve undertaken and our plans for the next decade.

If you were unable to join us, I encourage you to watch Mrs Hughes’ 15-minute film that beautifully captures the vision: Watch the film here or visit the dedicated page on our website: Strategic Objectives

Thank you once again for your ongoing support and commitment to our community.

With warm wishes

Miss Dina Hamalis
Head of the Junior School 

Calendar & Events

School Calendar

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.

Brew Monday: Tuesday 21 January

Tomorrow, during House Buddy Form Time, House Buddies will enjoy a hot chocolate and a natter with their buddy. It’s the perfect chance to catch up after the holidays and talk about the exciting year ahead. For this special treat, please ensure your daughter brings a mug of her choice to school tomorrow (if she has not brought one to school already).

Cancelled Clubs

Due to Specialist Parents’ Evening for pupils in Reception and Key Stage 1, the following clubs will be cancelled: 

Wednesday 22 January: 

  • Years 3&4 Lights, Camera, Act! 
  • Years 3&4 Netball 
  • Years 4&5 Samba
  • Years 5&6 Design & Technology 
  • Years 5&6 Hockey 

Wednesday 29 January: 

  • Years 3&4 Lights, Camera, Act! 
  • Years 4&5 Samba
  • Years 5&6 Design & Technology 

Additionally the following clubs will also be cancelled:

Thursday 30 January: 

  • Years 3&4 Junior Choir 
  • KS2 Spears String Orchestra 

Friday 31 January: 

  • Years 4-6 Folk Band 

Please liaise with Miss Radford to sign your daughter(s) up to Mini or Late Owls, should you require this: jsreceptionist@channing.co.uk  

NSPCC Number Day: Friday 24 January

We are excited to announce that on Friday 24 January, we will be celebrating NSPCC Number Day! To mark the occasion, the girls are invited to dress as a number, shape, line or anything else inspired by Mathematics! Alternatively, they can dress as a penguin to tie in with the educational workshop that the girls participated in, based around the book ‘365 Penguins’ by Jean-Luc Fromental.

There is a suggested donation of £2 in support of the NSPCC’s vital work. Our Head Girls will be collecting donations at the school gates. We look forward to seeing all the creative outfits!

Curriculum Talks Programme

Thank you to all of our Reception to Year 6 parents who attended the Music Curriculum Evening last week. We hope you found the session insightful and enjoyed learning more about how music is taught across the school. At the heart of Mrs Munro’s Music Curriculum Evening was a simple yet powerful message: we learn music by doing music. She shared her holistic approach to teaching the elements of music, ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive in the Music Room. Attendees experienced a taster of her teaching methods, including: “Mini-beasts” rhythms, Drum sequencing and using Soundtrap and Noteflight notation software.

Mrs Munro also highlighted the extensive range of music clubs available, the amazing VMS teachers and provided valuable advice on practising, such as: Taking on Kathy Blackwell’s 40 Piece Challenge, modeling practice at home, rethinking performance opportunities to include impromptu sharing in the home and creating “Music Zones” in your house.

She emphasised why music is such a vital subject, with links to resources like TooledUp (accessible to all parents), a book recommendation (Of Sound Mind by Nina Kraus), and a fantastic organisation called Bigger Better Brains, which shares groundbreaking research on music and the brain. For those interested in her approach to fostering creativity in the classroom, Mrs Munro is featured in the latest IAPS podcast, where she speaks in her role as National Music Advisor for IAPS.

Our series of curriculum talks, led by our Subject Leads, continue this term with the last one taking place this Thursday.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 the last one of these in-person evening talks, please sign up below using the linked Google Form. 

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

TooledUp Courses for Parents

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

  • Thursday 23 January 1.30pm ~ An Introduction to Endometriosis
  • Monday 27 January 10.00am ~ Everything Parents Need to Know about Roblox
  • Thursday 30 January 7.30pm ~ Parental Engagement in Learning – Small Things, Big Impact

Active Day Camps: February & Easter Multi-Activity Camps

Southgate Hockey Club

We hope all the girls enjoyed Hockey Week and feel inspired to play or watch more! If so, why not explore what Southgate Hockey Club has to offer?

Communication

Staff Contact Information

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

 

Competitions & Challenges for the Girls

Young Art Competition Update

On Monday, all 72 entries to the Young Art ‘Faces and Places’ competition were exhibited in our school library. It was a pleasure to see the girls so excited to view their work on display! Now the artwork will be sent to the official judging panel and we hope they will select some of our submissions to appear in April’s Young Art exhibition in a prestigious gallery on London’s South Bank. As soon as we hear news from the judges, we will let you know. In the meantime, you can view some photos and a video from Monday’s event here: Young Art Firefly page.

Channing Character Books for Sale: New Stock has Arrived

Information & Purchasing

Since publishing our series of storybooks based on the Channing Characters, we’ve been delighted by the many requests from families to purchase a set. We have received a restock and the books are now available to order if you missed out the first time. 

The complete set is available for £30 which will be added to your termly bill. Any profits will support partnerships and bursaries at Channing, helping to extend the gift of a Channing education to more young people.

If you would like to order a set, simply complete the Google Form. And if it’s meant to be a surprise, let us know, and we’ll keep it secret so your daughters don’t find out!

You can also listen to the stories being read aloud here: Character Education stories.

Channing Association News

CA Charity Swimathon in Aid of Magic Breakfast - Saturday 15 March - Sign Up Now!

The 2025 CA Charity Swimathon will take place on Saturday 15 March and is now open for all Junior School girls who would like to participate. You can find details of the event, including a sign-up sheet and a sponsorship form, below. All girls are welcome to take part, although it is recommended for those who can swim at least one length (18m) for safety.

This year, we’re raising funds for Magic Breakfast that provides breakfast for children across the UK to tackle morning hunger in schools. Please download a sponsorship form from Classlist.com.

Venue: Poolside Manor Swimming Pool, Lyndhurst Gardens N3 1TD

Time: Saturday 15 March, 4.30pm – 6.30pm

Sign Up Form: 2025 Channing Swimathon Sign Up 

Event details (including sponsorship form): Classlist.com

Charity: Magic Breakfast

North London Laughs Charity Comedy Night: Buy Tickets Now

There are still tickets available for North London Laughs, the now annual charity comedy evening in Alexandra Palace Theatre, where Channing parents get exclusive first-access to the best seats. Acts include: Ed Gamble, Emmanuel Sonubi, Viggo Venn, Bella Hull, Josh Weller and Mark Maier. 100% of funds raised will be donated to the Squirrel Ward (Gastroenterology Dept) at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Buy tickets: North London Laughs < Alexandra Palace

Preloved Uniform Sale - Tuesday 28 January

The CA is running a preloved uniform sale next Tuesday 28 January from 7.45am until 8.30am in the school courtyard. They are still taking donations, so please leave any unwanted, clean and unlabelled uniform (especially PE kit) in plastic bags in the blue bins in the courtyard! Thank you.

CA Diary Dates

  • Tuesday 28 January, 7.45am – 8.30am: PreLoved Uniform Sale
  • Sunday 9 February, evening: North London Laughs Charity Comedy Night, buy tickets now: https://www.alexandrapalace.com/whats-on/north-london-laughs-25/
  • Saturday 15 March, 4.30pm  – 6.30pm – Charity Swimathon in Poolside Manor, see Classlist.com
  • Sunday 18 May,  Summer Fair ‘Chanfest’, held in the Junior School grounds