Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 17 November 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.

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. 

We hope you can appreciate that in line with government guidance, we are not able to authorise absence for holidays or absence related to holiday during term time. If you do decide to take your daughter out of school, this will need to be recorded as an unauthorised absence. Further details can be found in our Attendance Policy linked above.

On Friday 21 November, 8.30am-9.00am, Miss Hamalis will be hosting a Reception Parents’ Tea Party with the Senior Team: a relaxed opportunity for us all to spend time together and get to know one another better. 

In the Spring Term, we will also host a tea party for parents of other year groups as part of our Open Classroom event on Tuesday 24 March 4.00pm – 5.00pm, so everyone will have the chance to come together. 

We cannot wait to share plenty of tea, cake and chatter with you all.

Occasionally, clubs need to be cancelled in advance, particularly when whole-school events are taking place. If this happens, you can sign your daughter up for Late Owls, or she can be collected at her usual dismissal time. You will also receive a reminder text the day before so that you can make the necessary arrangements.

Same-day cancellations are rare and we always try to avoid them. However, they can sometimes be unavoidable, whether the club is a free, a staff-run activity or an externally run, paid-for session. In these cases, your daughter can be collected at her usual dismissal time, be signed up for Late Owls or remain in Club Waiters free of charge until the club’s normal end time, at which point she will be brought to the door for dismissal.

Please note that if a paid-for club is cancelled, whether in advance or on the day, you will not be charged.

Please see below for the clubs that will be cancelled this term. This list will be updated weekly, so please check this section carefully:

• Wednesday 19 November: Y3&4 Netball cancelled
• Tuesday 25 November: Y2 String Group canclled (lunchtime)
• Wednesday 26 November: Y5&6 German cancelled
• Friday 28 November:KS1 Multisports cancelled
• Monday 1 – Friday 5 December: All Gymnastics cancelled
• Tuesday 2 December: Y1 String Group cancelled (lunchtime)
• Wednesday 3 December: Reception Mini Makers cancelled
• Friday 5 December: KS1 Multisports cancelled

The next KS2 Recital Evening is on Thursday 27 November at 4pm 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 20 November. Please note, slots will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

We are pleased to invite all parents and carers to a series of Curriculum Information Evenings, led by our Subject Leads and members of the Junior School Senior Team, in Fairseat Hall. These sessions will offer valuable insights into key areas of the school’s curriculum, including: Mathematics, English and Drama. They are designed to help you better understand what your daughter is learning and how you can support her progress at home. Each evening will provide practical advice and an opportunity to engage directly with the staff who lead these subjects. If you would like to attend one or more of these sessions, please sign up using the Google Form linked below.

Schedule of Talks

• Parent Workshop: Supporting with Mathematics from Home (Y1 – Y6): Tuesday 25 November, 6 – 7pm 
• Drama at Channing (Reception – Year 6): Tuesday 17 March, 6 – 7pm 

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 version of themselves.

This year, we will continue to contribute to the Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundation’s (AWTF) food bank. The AWTF aims to support families in need with emergency food parcels, and provides hot meals and fresh fruit and vegetables to over 200 hundred homeless people in the local area. 

The first collection of the academic year will be running from Monday 17 November – Friday 28 November. If your daughter is in Waterlow House, please ask her to place donations in one of the blue, labelled Food Bank collection bins in the courtyard. There will be three more collections running throughout the year, with girls in each House being asked to donate items. However, all members of the community are very welcome to donate at any time! 

This term, the AWTF are in desperate need of the following items: whole milk (long life), pasta, corned beef tins, pasta sauce, crisps, biscuits and toilet paper. However, they would also welcome any of the following suggested items: washing tablets, tinned/canned produce, rice, spices, olive oil, juices, stocks, cereals, sugar, salt, tea and coffee.

Please ensure all items are long-life produce, as regrettably, fresh items cannot be donated and that all donated items are within their sell by and use by date. Many thanks in advance to Waterlow for all your support!

Our annual Winter Celebration will take place on Friday 5 December from 2:15pm (doors open at 2:00pm) at St Michael’s Church, Highgate. The event will run until around 3:30pm. This is a ticketed event – please book your places using this link. 

Families are warmly invited to join us for this festive afternoon of music and singing. The girls have been working hard to prepare, and there will also be some congregational carols for everyone to join in!

All the music learning resources are available on Firefly here.

We have collaborated with Tooled Up 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 Tooled Up courses and events please click here. 

• Tuesday 18 November 12.30pm ~ Supporting Children and Young People Through Loss
• Tuesday 18 November 8pm ~ Is my Child Really Resilient?
• Monday 1 December 12.30pm ~ Everything Parents Need to Know About Fortnite

Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers are busy completing academic Autumn Term Reports for your daughters. The reports will include grades for 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 English and Mathematics grades will also be accompanied by three 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 in lessons, assessments and homework. 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) assessments taken at the start of the Autumn Term. 

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. You will be able to access your daughter’s Autumn Term Report from 3.00pm on Wednesday 10 December through the Firefly parent portal. 

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.

The Frozen themed Winter Fair is taking place after school on Friday 28 November. Buy your tickets for the girls and your families here (click on the link).

The girls are invited to wear Frozen or winter-themed clothes for the day. 

Please note:

• all girls must have a ticket.
• all after school clubs and wrap around provision will be cancelled due to the fair.
• all children must be accompanied by an adult to the fair.

The charity fundraising raffle for GOSH is live now – buy your tickets to be in with a chance to win a fantastic prize.

The CA are currently collecting items for the Winter Fair’s pre-loved stall and would be grateful for any donations of toys, stationery, accessories, puzzles, books, games or other items in good condition.  Please drop your donations off in the labelled bins located in the entrance courtyard. Thank you in advance for your generosity and support.

There will be a cafe selling hot drinks, cakes and snacks at the fair. If any of you are keen bakers and would like to contribute, please add your offerings to this spreadsheet. Please ensure all offerings are nut-free, and any gluten-free or dairy-free items are clearly labelled as such: Channing Winter Fair 2025 Bake Sale

• Friday 28 November 2.45pm-5.00pm – Winter Fair, Junior School
• Saturday 28 February – Swimathon
• Thursday 14 May – North London Laughs Comedy Night, Ally Pally