Dear Parents and Carers,

We are very much looking forward to the visit of Archbishop John Wilson to school on Tuesday.  Archbishop John will be blessing our new school chapel.  He will also meet with some of our Pupil Chaplains and he will visit all the children in their classrooms. 

This is a very special event for our school and we would like to give Archbishop John a warm St Elizabeth’s welcome.  Parents and carers are invited to join us for a whole school Celebration of the Word from 1:45pm and refreshments afterwards. 

We would like all children to wear smart school uniform for the Archbishop’s visit.  If your child has a club or a PE lesson on Tuesday, please can they bring their school uniform to change into? Please be reminded that children should wear school shoes, not trainers with school uniform.

This week in school

We reflected on Pope Leo's monthly intention for June.

Welcome Ducklings!

Great excitement yesterday when the eggs that have been keeping warm in the incubator hatched! Now we have four beautiful ducklings who are being well cared for by our Reception children.

Y5 Celebration of the Word Assembly

Yesterday our Y5 children led a whole school Celebration of the Word on the theme of ‘Caring for Creation’.  The children encouraged us to be stewards of our environment, looking after the world’s resources and playing a role in our communities. 

Deacon Quentin Celebration of the Word

Deacon Quentin joined our Y2 and Y4 classes this week for their Celebrations of the Word in the chapel.  We would like to thank Deacon Quentin for his support this year and we wish him all the very best as he prepares to be ordained at the end of this month. 

Sports Update from Mr Sagar and Mrs Knowles

It has been a busy week of sport at school, with rugby, football and a World Cup Assembly.

On Tuesday, a group of children from Y4 and Y5 represented St Elizabeth's at the Harlequins Supporters Association tag rugby festival. The children visited The Stoop, home of Harlequins rugby, where they took part in a number of rugby activities. At the beginning of the day, all the schools were cheered onto the main playing pitch, entering through the players' tunnel, just like the professional men's and women's teams. The team played some tag games against a number of others schools, took part in rugby skills obstacle relay courses and even got to meet Harley the Mascot!

At the same time as the rugby, a group of Y4 boys represented St Elizabeth's in a mini football tournament. The 6-a-side tournament consisted of 5 action-packed games, culminating in a final. The boys worked hard and put together some creative passes, strong tackles and acrobatic saves. They finished second in their group only losing one game and therefore qualified for the final.  In an initially tense game, the boys persisted and finished the game 2-0 winners. Well done, boys! Many thanks to our parent volunteers for helping with transport for both these events.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Sports Committee led an assembly to welcome the start of the Men's Football World Cup. Our Sports Committee shared the values that sport brings - respect, friendship, dignity and solidarity. They announced which teams each class will be following during the tournament and that during the coming weeks they plan to share key moments, analysing the results, good team work, fair play and respect.

PTA Meeting

This morning the PTA held their last meeting of the school year.  It has been an extremely successful year of fundraising and the PTA and the St Elizabeth’s Cyclists have raised an incredible £31,000. This money has already allowed us to buy the following in school: 

• iPads for use in each class from the Cake Sale money raised
• A new large CTouch screen for Y4
• New toys for the playground

PTA funds also provide essential teaching resources in the classrooms each term.  These are impossible to fund from the school budget.

Over the summer holiday the PTA funds will also be used to repair and replace some of the large wooden play equipment in the KS2 Gym Area which are currently out of use.  We also have plans to replace CTouch screens in other classes and Chromebooks for use by the children in the near future.

Huge thanks go to Solange Ronfini, our PTA Chair, the members of the PTA Committee and our class reps for all their hard work and dedication. Thank you too, to all of our parents and carers for supporting our school events. 

The PTA are currently looking for parents to fill roles for September so if you have some availability to help, I know that Solange and the team would love to hear from you.  We’d also love to hear any new fundraising ideas that you may have, please contact: stelizabethsrichmondpta@gmail.com

A Celebration of Reading – a message from Mrs Briggs, our librarian

2026 is the National Year of Reading, a UK wide initiative to inspire more people to make reading a regular part of their lives. At St Elizabeth's, we aim to foster a whole school culture where reading is visible and valued as part of everyday life so as to build curious and confident readers. 

In conjunction with the National Year of Reading, we had a celebration of Reading during the Cream Tea last Friday. Children were encouraged to take a free book home and there was also a five minute interval dedicated olely to reading, where everyone read at the same time. 

We would also encourage parents to visit the National Year of Reading Go-All-In and Words for Life websites for useful tips and activities on how to make reading a regular part of your lives. 

https://goallin.org.uk/  and  https://wordsforlife.org.uk/

National Year of Reading Go-All-In campaign

On 9 June, as part of the National Year of Reading Go-All-In campaign, Y3, Y4 and Y5 joined in a nationwide online celebration of reading "Super Sub: Building your vocabulary dream team". Hosted by Shanequa Paris and Susie Dent, the event featured references to their favourite football teams as well as other sports. Pupils discovered why words matter on the pitch, the track and the court and explored new vocabulary, learning strategies to remember words and discover effective word substitutions to improve their communication.

Millionaire Readers

Well done to Sara in Y2, and Zac, Sophie, Georgy and Valentina in Y3 for reading a million words.

And congratulations to Ximena in Y4 for reading 5 million words.  Keep up the great reading!

Upcoming Dates

JUNE

16^th   p.m.   Archbishop’s Visit to school

17^th   All day   Y1 visit to Kew Gardens

19^th   All day   INSET: School closed for staff training

22^nd   a.m.   Y4 and Y5 visit to Morden Baitul Futuh Mosque

22^nd to 26^th   Catholic Social Teaching Week in school – theme of Dignity

23^rd   a.m.   Individual school photos

24^th   All day   Schola and Music Ambassadors’ visit to Opera at Holland Park

25^th   All day   Chaplaincy Retreat day at Aylesford Priory

25^th   All day   Battle of the Books competition at St James’s School for Y4 team

26^th   All day   Chaplaincy Retreat day at Marymount                   

29^th – 3rd   All week   Other Faiths Week in school - Islam                                         

25^th   All day   Chaplaincy Retreat day at Aylesford Priory

25^th   All day   Battle of the Books competition at St James’s School for Y4 team

26^th   All day   Chaplaincy Retreat day at Marymount                   

29^th – 3rd   All week   Other Faiths Week in school - Islam                                             

JULY

1st   9:30 a.m.   KS1 Sports Day in school

2^nd   9:10 a.m.   Reception Celebration of the Word Assembly – all invited

3rd   9:30 a.m.   KS2 Sports Day at Christ’s School field

3rd   6:00 p.m.   PTA Summer BBQ – do come along!

6^th   10:00 a.m.   St Elizabeth’s Feast Day Mass prepared by Y3 - all invited.  St Elizabeth’s Feast Day Concert – parents and carers invited.  First Holy Communion and Y3 class photograph being taken.

6^th   School clubs last full week

9^th     6 p.m.   Vocal Concert in the school hall

15^th     7:00 p.m.   Y6 Production

16^th     7:00 p.m.   Y6 Production

22^nd     TBC   Mass for Y6 Leavers’ intentions and Y6 Governors’ Awards presentation – parents and carers invited

22^nd     2:00 p.m.   End of Term                                       

Information for Parents

Save the Date

The PTA BBQ is taking place on 3^rd July.  The evening promises delicious BBQ food and entertainment from DJ Stewart.  Do come along and join in the fun! 

(Please note that the school has received a dispensation from Friday abstinence for the BBQ.)

Safety in the sun

The weather is due to warm up next week.  Children should bring a hat with them to wear outside on sunny days and they should also have sunscreen applied before they come to school.  If you would like to buy a school cap, these are available to buy from the school office. Please make sure that hats are labelled with your child’s name.

St Elizabeth’s Instagram

You can follow the school on Instagram for more photographs of our activities and please do share the link with family and friends, past parents, past pupils and future parents at: https://www.instagram.com/stelizabeths_richmond?igsh=b3p6NWJhaGViaWtw&utm_source=qr

Values Awards

Congratulations to the following children for living our values this week.

Reception: Marcos and Dexter

Y1: Max

Y2: Sara

Y3: Max

Y4: Daisy and Bernard

Y5: Sophie

Y6: Kate and Teddy

Attendance and Punctuality

This has been a great week for attendance – well done!  Congratulations to Y2 for having 100% attendance this week!

Currently, the average attendance for our whole school this year is 96.4%.  This is above the national average and close to our target of 97%.  Please help us to achieve this by ensuring your child is in school right up until the very last day of term. Every day counts!

Well done to Y5 for having the best punctuality this week.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Jane Hines and the staff of St Elizabeth’s