Miss Hamalis’ Bulletin – Monday 8 December 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.

Mindful Chess is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to giving children greater opportunities to access high-quality chess education.

To broaden access in the lead-up to Christmas, Mindful Chess will be offering a free online group lesson each Saturday from 9.00 – 10.00am for pupils aged 6 – 12. A Mindful Chess coach will lead the session, providing an engaging and supportive introduction to key skills and strategies.

Those interested can sign up here: https://www.mindfulchess.org/chess-for-all

Alongside developing children’s chess skills, the Mindful Chess approach is designed to nurture confidence and encourage an open, creative mindset. Coaches guide pupils to explore possibilities, try different approaches, and feel comfortable generating their own ideas. This style of teaching supports creativity and has a positive impact on children’s broader learning.

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

• Thursday 11 December: 7.30am-8.30am & 2.50pm-5.30pm
• Friday 12 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).

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 9 December 12pm ~ Supporting Young People with Eco-Emotions
• Tuesday 9 December 7.30pm ~ Family Coping: Ways Families can Manage Stress, Disorganisation Conflict
• Friday 16 January 12.30pm ~ Parental Separation After Abuse: Helping Children Feel Safe and Supported

The Form Teachers and Specialist Teachers have been busy completing an academic Autumn Term Report for girls in Years 1 to 6. Teachers are reporting grades on all subjects in the curriculum (with the exception of 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 and will take into account their performance 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 only) 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, 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 via your individual child’s records in the ‘documents’ tab.

Standardised Scores

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 their lessons to ensure common misconceptions have been addressed.. 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 comprehensive understanding of your daughter’s academic performance, strengths and areas that may need additional support or focus.

As part of our continued commitment to nurturing a rich and joyful reading culture, we are delighted to launch this year’s Winter Reading Challenge for Reception/KS1 and KS2. The challenge invites girls to choose from a menu of meaningful, engaging activities designed to promote curiosity, independence and reading for pleasure.

Girls may complete the activities in any order they wish – the numbering simply provides structure, not sequence – allowing them to follow their interests naturally.

We hope the activities encourage warm, memorable reading moments throughout the festive break. All challenge options will be available through your daughter’s Firefly account or by pressing here.

A reminder that all artwork for the Young Art competition must be brought into school by Friday 9 January (if your daughter is in Reception, please send in entries by the end of this week). This year’s theme is ‘Here and Now’. Children can enter an A4-sized painting, drawing or print. The school will cover the entry fee of £3 (maximum of one entry per person) and proceeds go to the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital. Entries should have the artist’s name and year group clearly displayed in block capitals on the back. It is also a good idea to add a sentence explaining what is depicted in the artwork. 

Please note, all entries will be displayed in our library after school on Monday 12 January until 4.45pm. The entries will then be sent off for judging and some lucky pupils will have their artwork displayed at Christie’s London in the spring. Good luck to all entrants!

Please save any Pringles and Twiglets tubes for a Spring Term Design Technology project. Also, please send in packaging with hinged lids, such as tea bag boxes, to Mr Fellows (Art & DT Lead).

Head lice are not serious, but can be very annoying. Research has shown that infections of head lice occur just as often in school holidays as during term time. Despite young children being the most affected, it is a community problem rather than a school problem. As a school, we need to follow the advice as outlined by Public Health England:

• School nurses should not send out letters informing parents about any incidents of head lice.
• There is no need for a child who has head lice to stay away from school.
• Routine screenings/ head inspections should not be carried out at school. 
• Parents should be encouraged to check their children’s hair regularly using a nit comb on wet hair.
• Parents should be advised to only treat if live lice are found.

Click the link for further information.

Following this guidance, we do not share information to or regarding specific cases as this could result in bullying and unkindness towards individuals and/or groups or children and/or parents. We do; however, include half termly reminders in the Bulletin in order to remind you to check your daughter’s hair. If individual parents would like to share information with other parents in their daughter’s form, you are, of course, able to.

If you are at all worried about head lice, or feel you need more advice, then you should consult our school nurse, your health visitor, pharmacist, or family doctor.

We encourage everyone to check their daughter’s hair and treat it if any live lice are found. It is thought that if we all do this three times per year, once every school term, then we will eventually reduce the spread of lice.

All winners have been notified. To claim your prize, please email jschanningassociation@gmail.com

EY and KS1 girls will enjoy a pantomime on Tuesday 9 December during the school day. Whilst, KS2 girls will have a fun afternoon on Thursday 11 December with a Christmas Comedy 4 Kids show.

For the girls who participated in the 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/Co-Form Teachers during this week.  If you have any issues with your order or have not received it by the end of Tuesday 9 December, please contact jschanningassociaiton@gmail.com

The Channing puddings have arrived and will be distributed to the pupils via their Form/Co-Form Teachers today.  If you have any issues with your order or have not received it by the end of Tuesday 9 December, please contact sschanningassociation@gmail.com

We are looking for some parent volunteers to speak with prospective families in the Drama Studio during the 4+ assessment week. Prospective parents find this very beneficial, and I’m sure you all remember how useful this is. Please sign up to help here: https://www.slottr.com/sheets/18291855

• Wednesday 14 Jan – 8am Pre loved uniform sale, Courtyard
• Saturday 28 February – Charity Swimathon in Poolside Manor
• Thursday 14 May: North London Laughs Charity Comedy night, Ally Pally, with Channing parents offered first access to tickets. 
• Sunday 7 June – Summer fair ‘Chanfest’ held in the grounds of the Junior School