Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 3 March 2025

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.

World Book Day promises a fantastic lineup of activities to celebrate the joy of reading. The day will begin with an assembly highlighting the importance of books, followed by our much-anticipated costume parade on the MUGA, where pupils and staff can showcase their favourite book character outfits. PE and Forest School lessons will be adapted to fit the theme, so the girls should come dressed in their costumes even if they have these sessions.

As part of the celebrations, Year 1 – 4 pupils will join an online workshop with renowned poet Joseph Coelho on Wednesday 5 March. Meanwhile, on Thursday 6 March, Years 5 and 6 will take part in the Great Big Footy and Booky Quiz, hosted by the National Literacy Trust. The day will also feature a Drop Everything And Read session, giving everyone a chance to enjoy some quiet reading time. Reception girls will have a special storytime with Library Leaders, who will be sharing Colour Monster: The Feelings Doctor. Additionally, Library Leaders will run a Guess the Number of Pages competition for KS2, with mystery books awarded to those with the closest guesses.

This year’s theme, Read Your Own Way, encourages children to choose books that interest them and read at their own pace, in their own time. All our activities are designed to inspire a love of reading and make books a central part of the day’s excitement.

Each pupil has received a £1 World Book Day token, which can be used to claim a special World Book Day book or go towards another book of their choice. These tokens are valid in most bookshops until 23 March 2025.

We are excited to be participating in the Biggest Ever Football Session 2025 on Friday 7 March. This is an opportunity for girls to engage in a fun-filled day aimed at inspiring and empowering the next generation of female footballers. The goal is to get as many girls as possible playing football on the same day!

To support their participation in break time or lunchtime activities, the girls are encouraged to wear their PE kit along with a football shirt of their choice. This could be an international jersey, a Premier League team shirt or their own club’s football top. However, if your daughter does not own a football shirt, there is no need to purchase one, simply wearing their PE kit is absolutely fine.

We are thrilled to announce that Science Week is coming to the Junior School! We will be kicking off an exciting week of discovery with Mother Nature Science, who are visiting to deliver an engaging assembly all about Science challenges, before launching into age appropriate work in our classrooms. 

Our KS2 pupils will take part in a Forces Workshop, designed to bring science to life through hands-on experiments and interactive activities. The girls will explore how forces are used by athletes in sporting events, deepening their understanding of movement and motion in a fun and practical way. Meanwhile, Reception and KS1 will step away from their usual timetable to enjoy a series of lessons exploring the theme of Change and Adaptation, sparking curiosity about the world around them.

Science Week is a fantastic opportunity to spark curiosity, encourage critical thinking and make learning fun! We can’t wait for the girls to discover the wonders of forces in action.

The next KS2 Recital Evening is on Thursday 20 March at 4.00pm in the Music Room. This is a chance for our pupils to develop their performance skills in front of a supportive audience. If your daughter has a polished piece ready to show off, please apply here by Thursday 13 March. Please note, slots will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

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. 

• Tuesday 18 March 12.30pm  ~ Empowering Girls to Live well with ADHD
• Monday 2 June 7.00pm  ~ Starting Nursery or Pre-Prep School: a parent’s guide to starting on the right foot

The sessions are designed to be fun, inclusive and empowering, helping the girls to develop their football skills in a supportive environment. Whether they’re beginners or already love the game, this is a fantastic opportunity to get involved.

Tuesday 4 March: 

• Years 5&6 Cross Country to be held onsite 

Wednesday 5 March: 

• Years 5&6 Hockey

Thursday 6 March: 

• KS1 Mini Hockey

This week, you’ll receive an email with instructions for signing your daughter up for Summer Term clubs via Google Forms. The email will include all necessary details.

Please review the Summer Term Club Programme with your daughter and complete the sign-up before the deadline to ensure club allocations are confirmed before the end of term. Keep an eye out for the email this week.

Our Early Birds and Late Owls provisions are now supervised by Let’s Leap, who also oversee the booking process. Please book sessions through the ‘Magic Booking’ online system, accessible via the Let’s Leap website. This system allows you to book sessions up to 3.00pm on the same day and offers easy options for adjusting or cancelling bookings.

Please note that while Early Birds remains free of charge during the Spring 2 half term, it is still necessary to sign your daughter up for each day she wishes to attend. All pupils will need to be signed up in advance to attend.

Let’s Leap encourages all parents to register their daughter’s details on the Let’s Leap system, even if you do not normally make use of wraparound care, just in case your daughter needs to attend a session at the last minute. When registering your daughter’s details on the Magic Booking system, there will be options to add any relevant information about allergies or additional needs. This ensures that all necessary care and support can be provided during wraparound care.

You can easily amend or cancel bookings via the ‘Magic Booking’ system up to 12.00pm on the same day. If you need any assistance, you can call Let’s Leap’s friendly Customer Service Team on 020 3797 6386 or email them at milo@letsleap.co.uk. Please note, you are no longer able to sign up for Early Birds or Late Owls by contacting Miss Radford and Miss Bodell in the office.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Birds and Owls launch event with Let’s Leap this morning. It was great to see so many of you there. We hope you found the session informative. We’d also like to extend our gratitude to Mr Reece Elbourn and Mr Chris Kelly from Let’s Leap for their insightful and engaging presentation. During the session, the Let’s Leap team shared information about the provision and activities available to the girls during Early Birds and Late Owls and answered parents’ questions, giving a clear idea of what to expect for the girls. Milo, Let’s Leap’s amphibious mascot also made an appearance to welcome the girls on the gate this morning. We appreciate your interest and support. 

If you have any further queries or feedback, Let’s Leap welcomes your input and encourages you to email them at milo@letsleap.co.uk They are committed to carefully considering all responses. Additionally, feel free to contact Miss Kitsis (Head of KS2) and Mrs Brant (Head of EY and KS1), who oversee the provision.

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. 

Pupils are invited to create a masterpiece fit for the prestigious Royal Academy as part of the Young Artists’ Summer Show 2025. This competition is open to people aged between 4 and 18 years old. Submission is done online by parents (for free) and closes at 5pm on 5 March. 

Things you need to know:

• Pupils can submit one artwork of any type and there is no theme. 
• The artwork can be made using any medium. It can be a painting (including digital), sculpture, photograph, installation, video, drawing, or a combination. 
• Parents submit their own child’s work on the Royal Academy website. Simply:
• Register for an account
• Select ‘Channing School: The Bank, London, N6 5HF’ in the school finder
• Share the necessary details and submit jpeg photos of the artwork
• The artwork will be seen by a panel of judges and selected pieces will be shown in an online exhibition. Some of the artworks will also be displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in July and August.

Good luck to all entrants!

The CA is delighted to invite your girls and their families to ChanFest 2.0 this May! Buy tickets now: https://buytickets.at/channingjuniorschool/1596217

The Junior School will again be transformed into a festival, hosting: a dance challenge party with Sharkey & George (KS1), a theatre show from The Rubbish Shakespeare Company (KS2), hair braiding, nail painting, glitter tattoos, a tombola, flower planting, badge and bunting decorating, mask making, a bouncy castle, an inflatable obstacle course, bumper cars, a surf simulator, a bucking bronco and of course, games and prizes to be won. They will also have food and drink stalls.

We look forward to welcoming you to ChanFest!

The CA is running a preloved uniform sale on Wednesday 30 April from 7.45am until 8.30am in the courtyard. If you would like to help set up and/or help with the sale, please email jschanningassociation@gmail.com 

Please leave donations of unwanted, clean and unlabelled uniform items (especially PE kit) in plastic bags in the blue bins in the courtyard!

The 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 for safety reasons it is recommended for those who can swim at least one length (18m).

We’re raising funds for the charity 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 Sponsorship Form
Charity: Magic Breakfast

• Saturday 15 March, 4.30 – 7.30pm: Charity Swimathon in Poolside Manor Classlist.com
• Wednesday 30 April, 7.45 – 8.30am: Preloved Uniform Sale held in the courtyard
• Sunday 18 May, 1.00 – 5.00pm: Summer Fair ‘Chanfest’, held in the Junior School grounds, tickets now available to buy: https://buytickets.at/channingjuniorschool/1596217