Dear Parents and Carers,

The half-term holiday is here and the children and staff have a week to relax and refresh before the last half-term of the school year.

Please note that school will re-open on Tuesday 3rd June.   School is closed on Monday 2nd June for staff training.  NSSport holiday club will be open from Tuesday 27th May until Monday 2nd June so please do visit their website to book a place for your child.

This week in school

We have had an extremely busy week with a number of educational visits taking place.  This Weekly Update is a celebration of all these activities which enrich the school experience for our pupils.  Thank you for your contributions which enable these to take place.

What a fantastic May Fair!

To begin with, we would like to share some photographs of the May Fair.  It was a fantastic day for our school community and these are just a few memories of the day …

We are immensely grateful and appreciative of all the hard work, dedication and training that our cyclists have put in over the past months to raise funds for our school.  It is such an amazing achievement! 

There is still time to show your support by making a donation on the JustGiving webpage:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/r2g2025

Y6 Residential Visit to Dorset

Y6 have had an amazing few days at Osmington Bay PGL Centre near Weymouth this week.  They have jumped off trapeze towers, swung in a giant swing and paddled on giant paddle boards amongst other activities.

The resilience, energy, perseverance and resourcefulness that they have shown has made all of us staff who accompanied them immensely proud.

 Residential visits cannot take place without the willingness of our staff members who give their own time to accompany the children and give them such wonderful, lasting memories.  Thank you to the staff and to the children for being brilliant - they will all sleep well tonight!

Y5 visit to the BFI IMAX Cinema for French Day

On Thursday, our Y5 children spent the day at the BFI IMAX Cinema in Waterloo for a French language workshop which they described as “amazing” and “great fun”. 

The ‘Bonjour les Amis!’ event involved enhancing their language learning through short animated films in the morning, followed by a French animated film in the afternoon. 

The children said the event was “very inclusive and helped grow our confidence” and the short films were “useful for French, but also for learning about Autism”. They said they “weren’t bored for a minute” and highly recommended it for the next Year 5 class.  

Y1 and Y2 visit to London Zoo

On Tuesday this week Y1 and Y2 went to London Zoo as part of their topics on animals and their habitats.

The children had an unforgettable time at the zoo — there were plenty of excited shouts like, "Wow, I saw a tiger!" and "This is the best trip ever!" The most popular part was being surrounded by butterflies, which brought smiles and laughter all around.

ZooLab Experience for Y4

We welcomed ‘ZooLab’ into school this week which was a fantastic experience for our Y4 children.  Linked to their Science topic on Classification and Habitats, the children learnt how animals adapt to where they live.  These hands-on experiences are an important way to make learning memorable and exciting for the children. 

May Procession

On Monday the whole school took part in a May Procession.  This traditional honouring of Mary began with ‘Celebrations of the Word’ in each class.  These were led by Pupil Chaplains and focussed on apparitions of Mary from around the world. 

We then gathered as a whole school to process around the school site, singing the ‘Hail Mary’ while making our way to the Mary Grotto.  There, the children all laid flowers in front of the statue of Mary and then Ava in Y6 and Ian in Reception crowned the statue of Mary with flowers.  We asked Mary to pray for us and to pray for peace in the world.

Y4 Assembly

Thank you to Y4 who led a beautiful assembly on Thursday.  The children told us the story of Pentecost and showed us the importance of spreading good news. 

Information for parents

St Elizabeth’s Nursery – last few spaces remaining for September 2025

There are a small number of spaces available in St Elizabeth’s Nursery for next year. St Elizabeth’s Nursery is an independent, not for profit, pre-school, situated on our school site.  The nursery offers 30 free hours for eligible families and has close links with our school.  

If you know of a family with a child who will be three years old by 1^st September 2025, who would be interested in a place at the nursery, please do ask them to contact Delia Garitta at email: nurseryadmin@st-elizabeths.richmond.sch.uk or visit the website: www.stelizabethsnursery.com

Upcoming Events

JUNE

2nd  All day  INSET Day – school closed for staff training

3rd  8:45 a.m.  School returns

4th  All day  Borough Sports for the school athletics team

4th  a.m.  Y3 visit to Museum of Richmond

5th  All day  Reception visit to Bocketts Farm

6th  9:00 a.m.  Parents’ Coffee morning

6th  a.m.  Individual Photographs of children being taken

10th  9:00 a.m.  Y6 ‘Choices’ workshop

11th  All day  Y6 Retreat Day at St Elizabeth’s Church

12th  8:30 a.m.  Second hand bike market at school

18th  a.m.  Pilgrims of Hope Pledge Day in school

19th  9:10 a.m.  Class assembly led by Y1

19th  a.m.  Y4 and Y5 visit to the Sikh Gurdwara, Hounslow

20th  All day  Inset: School closed for staff training

Values Awards

Congratulations to the following children who have earned a School Values Award this week:

Reception – Chloe

Y1 - Byron

Y2 – Lewis and Lia

Y3 - Lois

Y4 - Charles

Y5 - Mateo

Million Word Readers

Congratulations to Paloma and Peter in Y3 for reading 1 million words!  Such a fantastic achievement!

Attendance and Punctuality

Congratulations to Y3 for having the highest attendance this week with 98.1%. 

Wishing you a lovely half-term holiday.

Jane Hines and the staff of St Elizabeth’s