Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Tuesday 2 September 2025

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.

You can find the Channing Promise on the school website. This is something the whole school community upholds and underlines our values of respect, tolerance and inclusivity. We know you will be nothing short of respectful in your communications with staff and you can expect the same in return.

We look forward to welcoming you to our annual Welcome Evening on Tuesday 9 September from 6.00 – 8.00pm. As part of the evening, Miss Hamalis (Head of the Junior School) will lead a talk with Mrs Brant (Deputy Head) and Mr Davies (Deputy Head Academic) and introduce the Form and Specialist Teachers, Teaching Assistants and some of the Support Staff. You will also visit your daughter’s new Form Room(s) to meet the year group Form/CoForm Teachers and Teaching Assistants to learn more about the expectations for the year ahead. 

Parents’ Evenings, with Form/CoForm Teachers and Specialist Teachers, take place throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms. At the end of this first half term, parents will be able to meet with your daughter’s Form/CoForm Teacher(s). 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. Specialist Teachers will then be available for Early Years & Key Stage 1 (EY & KS1) academic appointments in February. 

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

As per our Attendance Policy parents are requested to give advance notice to the school if they intend their daughter to be absent. Please write to Miss Hamalis (Head of the Junior School) 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. 

Our Early Birds and Late Owls provisions are 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.

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. 

The Autumn Term Club programme will begin on Monday 15 September and run until the morning of Friday 5 December 2025. All information, including the programme and how to register your daughter’s interest, will be sent to you via email today. Please look out for this email and register your daughter’s interest before 6.00pm on Friday 5 September.

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 16 September 7.00pm ~ How Can Tooled Up Support Me and My Family?
• Thursday 2 October 4.00pm ~ Making Sense of the Updated RSHE Guidance
• Thursday 9 October 4.00pm ~ Parenting a Child with Oppositional Defiance Disorder: Live Q&A with Adele Devine

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/CoForm 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 staff 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. Parents collecting pupils in Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 are invited to gather in the courtyard to pick up their daughters from the main iron gates, while collection from the side gate is for Reception, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6. 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/CoForm Teacher(s) in advance. Anybody regularly collecting your daughter(s) should be added via the Firefly Parent Portal as normal (more information regarding the portal can be found below). We do not release children to any other people unless we have had a message from a parent/carer informing us.

Last year we introduced the new Firefly Parent Portal as the way to access your daughter’s report. Following successful trials, the Firefly Parent Portal is now ready to be fully rolled out across both the Junior and Senior School. This will mean that moving forwards parents will only need to access one site. This change is designed to ensure that our communication with you is clearer and easier to navigate.

All information that was previously on SchoolBase and the relevant information from the pupils’ Firefly site will be available on the Firefly Parent Portal, and we will therefore be removing access to SchoolBase.

To access the Firefly Parent Portal, navigate to: https://channing.fireflycloud.net/

If it is your first time accessing the Firefly Parent Portal, please watch this short video which takes you through the steps to activate your account.

The school calendar can be accessed via the Firefly Parent Portal by logging in and scrolling down on the opening Dashboard page:

Please note: if you have a child at the Senior School too, you will also see the Senior School SOCS calendar which has a different appearance to the Junior School calendar. This is because the Junior School will be moving to the SOCS calendar later this year; we will provide more information about this change closer to the time.

Your daughter’s timetable will be visible on the Firefly Parent Portal from 8:00am on Tuesday 2 September.

If you wish to use the mobile app, please visit your app store and download the ‘Firefly for Parents’ app (please see the blue icon below for reference), and use the app code: CHANNING. For help with this, click here.

If you encounter any difficulties setting up your account or navigating the platform, please don’t hesitate to contact the dedicated IT Support Team at helpdesk_it@channing.co.uk. The team is available to assist you and ensure a smooth transition to the new platform. For more detailed instructions and a video walkthrough of how to use Firefly’s many features as a parent, please click here.

1) When you log into Firefly, you will see at the top of your dashboard your messages with a link to a Pupil Data Check Sheet:

2) Clicking on the blue ‘Channing School Pupil Data Check Sheet’ will take you to a download link to access the Pupil Data Check Sheet:

3) Click the link to download a PDF of the information we hold about you and your child:

4) Please check that all of the information on the Pupil Data Check Sheet is correct and complete. If you need to make any changes or provide any updates to the school, please click the ‘Resources’ icon in the menu bar, then ‘Parent Resources’, then ‘Consent Update Forms’:

5) Navigating here will allow you to complete different forms to inform us of changes or additions to the information we currently have:

6) If there are any additional updates you wish to provide that are not covered by these update forms, please email the details to Miss Bodell: jsoffice@channing.co.uk 

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 2 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 and PE lessons. All girls also need to bring an 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, white 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: Uniform List 2025/2026.

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:

• Mondays: 2C, 2A, 4MR, 4EW, 6KP, 6W

• Tuesdays: 1R, 1EM, RBM, RH

• Wednesdays: 3Ma, 3F, 4MR, 4EW, 5D, 5S, 6KP, 6W

• Thursdays: 3Ma, 3Me, 5D, 5S,

• Fridays: RBM, RH, 1R, 1EM, 2C, 2A, 3F, 3Me

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. 

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 (please see the list of items required below). All pupils should come to school dressed ready for Forest School, as this allows each session to start promptly. 

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, 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 benefits our youngest learners. It allows the girls valuable time in the Reception classrooms and outdoor areas, helping them to feel settled and secure. This approach also ensures they have time to adjust to routines before being asked to learn a new set of rules and supports them in making the best possible progress with their learning from the very start of the school year.

From the start of term, all girls in Reception – Year 4 should bring named wellies to be kept at school (children in Reception utilise these in their outdoor classrooms). 

On the day your daughter(s) have Forest School, please ensure she brings spare clean clothes (school uniform) and an extra named plastic bag for wet waterproofs or dirty over trousers: 

• Monday: 3MA, 3Me

• Tuesday: 2A 

• Wednesday: Rec H, 1EM

• Thursday:  Rec BM, 1R, 4EW, 4MR 

• Friday: 2C, 3F

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)

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/CoForm Teacher.

If you collected any egg boxes for Food Bank Aid over the summer holidays, please place them in the blue bin marked Egg Boxes in the courtyard. We will continue supporting this worthwhile cause by collecting egg boxes throughout the year. Thank you in advance for your help.

For the safety and comfort of everyone, please remember that dogs are not permitted on the school grounds. We have several pupils and staff with allergies, and some people are understandably nervous around dogs. In addition, we’ve had to clear up dog mess this morning, which we’d very much like to avoid in future.

Thank you for helping us keep our school grounds safe, clean and welcoming for all.

The CA is running a pre-loved uniform sale on Tuesday 16 September between 8.00am-8.45am in the courtyard. Please place any donations of unwanted, clean and unlabelled uniform items (especially PE kit) in the labelled blue bins in the courtyard. Thank you.

If you would like to help with sorting out and setting up, please contact jschanningassociation@gmail.com

The CA parent (and staff!) Quiz Night will be on Thursday 9 October. Come test your knowledge and have fun socialising! Further details including ticket information will be in next week’s Bulletin.

If you would like to get involved with the CA this year, either as a rep or as an ad hoc helper, please email jschanningassociation@gmail.com. It is a wonderful opportunity to get more involved with supporting the school – and it’s a lot of fun!

• Tuesday 16 September 8.00am – PreLoved Uniform Sale, Courtyard
• Thursday 9 October 7.30pm – Quiz Night, Fairseat Hall 
• Saturday 8 November – Fireworks, Stanhope Road Playing Field
• Friday 28 November 2.50pm-5.00pm –  Winter Fair, Junior School Grounds and Fairseat Hall