School Newsletter : 03 October 2025

| Issue 5 | Autumn 1 | Week 5 |

Harvest

Thank you to all those who have already kindly donated to our Harvest Festival table.  Your donations are very much appreciated and will go along way to helping those in need of extra support and assistance.

Please join us for our Harvest Service on Wednesday 8th October at 10:00 in St. Stephens Church.

Parents & carers, if you’re attending, please be seated by 09:55. A kind remember to please switch your phones off during the service.

We are collecting items of non-perishable food items, sanitary and toiletry products and infant care products for our Harvest Collection this year.

Please bring any contributions to school by 09:00 on Tuesday 7th October and place it on our Harvest table just by the Ground Floor Hall doors (internal doors).

Thank you in advance.

Reminders:

  • All donations will be given to a local charity to assist those requiring additional support at this time.

Autumn Term Parent Teacher Meetings

Our Autumn term Parent Teacher Meetings will take place on Thursday 23rd October 2025.

Parents can book their meeting slots from 09:30 on Monday 6th October via the Arbor App.

Each appointment slot is 15 minutes long. The first 5 mins are set aside for you to look at, discuss with and comment on your child’s work before meeting with the class teacher.

Please remember to complete the feedback slip provided, before you meet with your child’s class teacher.

If you experience any problems signing up on the Arbor App, please contact a member of the school office team, who will be happy to assist you.

Early Years Parent Workshop

We’re excited to invite all Early Years parents and carers to a special workshop on Thursday 9th October at 9am.

This workshop will focus on supporting Early Reading and Writing, and explaining how we use Google Classroom in Nursery and Reception as a digital floorbook.

This is a great opportunity to learn practical strategies to encourage a love of reading at home, mark-making skills, and what this looks like for us in school.

We look forward to seeing you there and working together to support your child’s learning and development!

Westminster Archives: Not Forgotten Project with Peter Daniel

This week Year 6 had their first Not Forgotten project session with Peter Daniel. He spent a whole day with us, beginning with how the First World War started and the role of the suffragettes before introducing the story of Private Ernest Richard Boots.

Using original sources from the Westminster Archives, the children became real historians as they pieced together Ernest’s life – from growing up in Belgravia, to working as a road sweeper for Westminster Council, to joining the King’s Royal Rifles and dying on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

They also discovered the impact of his death on his wife Sarah and their six children, and how his name was later remembered on Westminster Council’s WWI staff memorial. Alongside this, they had the chance to dress up in army jackets, hats, and suffragette badges and to handle real artefacts including medals and the original tins given to soldiers.

It was an engaging and powerful day that brought history to life and gave the children the chance to experience the past as true historians.

Biscuits Bytes

Woof…

Hi everyone, can you believe it’s Friday again? The weeks just go way too fast at school.

It’s been a lovely sunny Autumn week in school ☀️🍁 which has meant lots of fun playing outside and no interruptions to PE lessons. However, some wet 🍂🍁 Autumn weather is on its way.

This is not something to be sad about though, because it means LOTS of puddles! If you’re already aware, one of the things I love to do the most is splash about in puddles. Well actually any water – it’s sooo much fun.

Last weekend I met up with my best friend Koda who I hadn’t seen for a few months – we had so much fun! We went on some lovely autumnal walks in the forest, running and chasing in the fields and strolling along a canal path. With plenty of swimming opportunities 🐶

I wonder what I will do this weekend? Anyway, I am really looking forward to the Animal Service next Tuesday and am super excited that the chickens are coming also. It will be there first time, but don’t worry, I will show them what to do.

I look forward to seeing you and others from our wider community at this pawsome event 🐶 Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week.

Love Biscuit x  🐶

Animal Blessing Service

Annual Blessing of the Animals Service at St. Stephens Church: Tuesday 6th October @ 18:30 – 19:15

Reminders:

  • All families and pets are warmly welcomed to attend this wonderful service
  • Biscuit and the chickens look forward to seeing you there 🐶🐣

Google Classroom and IXL Access

Reception* to Year 6 parents & carers will have all received their child(ren)’s Reading Record Book, which contains their login details for Google Classroom. This can be found on the inside of the front cover.

Your child(ren)’s Google Classroom are where all updates are posted, where homework is published, and where weekly floor book updates (for the Early Years) are shared.

Additionally for pupils in Years 1 – 6, also stuck inside the cover of their Reading Record Book, are their IXL login details which they will require to access their Maths and SPAG homework tasks.

When logging in to your child’s Google Classroom, please ensure any other Gmail accounts are signed out of. Alternatively please open in a new browser.

* Please note that Reception IXL will not be activated until after the October half term.

Reminders:

  • Please ensure you have logged in so you can receive this information.
  • Please email or contact the school office if you have any issues.

School & PE Uniform:

Please ensure that your children are wearing the correct school uniform to school each day. It is important that all pupils are also wearing the correct school shoes – which are black shoes, and not trainers.

The Autumn/Winter term uniform options for pupils in Nursery to Year 6 are:

Girls:

  • Dark grey trousers, skirt or skort
  • Long-sleeve white shirt (Years 3 – 6)
  • White school logo polo shirt (Nursery – Year 2)
  • Tie (Years 3 – 6)
  • V-neck navy school logo jumper (Years 3 – 6)
  • Navy logo school sweatshirt (Nursery to Year 2)
  • Blazer (Year 6 only)
  • Plain black shoes (not trainers)

Boys:

  • Dark grey shorts or trousers
  • Long-sleeve white shirt (Years 3 – 6)
  • White school logo polo shirt (Nursery – Year 2)
  • Tie (Yers 3 -6)
  • V-neck navy school logo jumper (Years 3 – 6)
  • Navy school logo sweatshirt (Nursery to Year 2)
  • Blazer (Year 6 only)
  • Plain black shoes (not trainers)

On PE days, pupils must wear the school PE kit only.

This is especially important for safety.  Having the correct shoes for physical activities, and clothing that is not restrictive, for completing physical activity are essential for helping us to ensure pupils complete all PE lessons safely.

The Autumn/Winter term PE kit for all pupils from Year Reception to Year 6 consists of:

  • A school navy logo t-shirt
  • Navy  leggings, tracksuit bottoms or skort (no logos etc)
  • Plain black trainers
  • A school logo sweatshirt (not the v-neck jerseys for KS2 pupils. Sweatshirts are available from the school office in KS2 sizes).

Please note that pupils who do not have the correct PE kit will not be able to participate in their PE lesson. They will be given alternate work to do, and a note will be sent home highlighting why they were not able to complete their lesson that day.

We thank you in advance in supporting our school’s uniform policies.

Reading Books & Book Bags

Thank you to all pupils and parents who have ensured that they have book bags organised for the school year.

Looking after our school books:

1. Please do not put water bottles, clothing etc in your child’s book bag.

  • The purpose of the book bag is to protect the book from damage, keeping it flat and not allowing the pages to become damaged (ripped/torn or bent)
  • This ensures the book has a long life and is in good condition for all users across the years.

2. Please note that book bags need to come to school everyday.

  • The books taken home to read are also those used in either their daily reading or writing lessons (or both) in school.
  • If they do not bring their book bag (and book) into school each day, pupils will struggle in their daily lesson as there is only one book per pupil with no additional copies.

When do books come home?

1. Library Books: 

  • Monday 15th September: All classes will begin their class library sessions, so pupils will begin bringing home a library book each week.
  • These books are selected by the pupils and for younger pupils these are books to be shared and read with an adult.

2. Class Reading Books:

  • Monday 15th September: Pupils in Years 3 – 6 will bring home a reading book. This will be linked to the first of their writing genres this term.
  • Monday 22nd September: Pupils in KS1 will begin to bring their reading (Read Write Inc) books home
  • Reception pupils will bring home books linked to their reading programme (Read Write Inc), once they have met their assessment targets. This is usually after the October Half Term, and a letter will accompany this.

Reminders:

  • Thursday 9th October: An Early Reading Workshop for Reception parents & carers will be held from 09:00 – 10:00, ahead of Reception pupils starting their home reading.
  • Please note that books will not be sent home if your child does not have their book bag.
  • Please only use book bags for books and newsletters.

Winter Wonderland Art Competition

Winter Wonderland School Competition Canvas A4 (PDF) >

Our PTA: The Friends of Burdett-Coutts

If you are a parent, carer or a guardian of a child that attends our school, then you are automatically a member of our Parent Staff Association, Friends of Burdett-Coutts.

Being part of our PSA offers an exciting opportunity for you to meet other parents, whilst supporting our school, through organising fundraising events, volunteering and much more.

Even if you can only give a small amount of time, you will be making a difference to the school experience for your child and other pupils in our school.

Our first meeting for the new school year will take place on Wednesday 17th September from 09:00 – 10:00 in the Ground Floor Hall, with refreshments. Everyone is welcome!

Upcoming Events:

  • Thanks Giving Celebration: Wednesday 26th November 16:30 – 18:00 (more information to follow)
  • KS2 (Years 3 – 6) School Disco: 10th December 17:00 – 19:00(more information to follow)
  • Christmas Fair: Wednesday 17th December 15:30 – 18:00 (more information to follow)

Meeting dates:

  • Wednesday 15th October
  • Wednesday 12th November
  • Wednesday 26th November
  • Wednesday 03rd December
  • Wednesday 17th December

Upcoming Events

October:

  • Monday 6th: Children Christmas Card Deadline – please return all orders to the school office by 09:30.
  • Tuesday 7th: Blessing of the Animals Service at St. Stephens Church from 18:30 – 19:15, all families and pets warmly welcomed to attend this wonderful service.
  • Wednesday 8th: School Harvest Service starting at 10:00 at St. Stephens Church,
  • Thursday 9th: Early Reading Workshop for Years Nursery & Reception (EYFS). Ground Floor Hall from 09:00 – 10:00 all EYFS parents welcome.
  • Friday 10th: Pupils Flu Vaccinations @ 09:30 – 10:30.
  • Tuesday 21st: Whole school Africa Drumming Workshops.
  • Thursday 23rd: Parents Evening – see blurb above for more information.
  • Friday 24th: INSET Day. School CLOSED to pupils.
  • Monday 27th – Friday 31st: October Half Term Holiday

November:

  • Friday 7th: Year 3 Tip to Fulham Palace: 10:30 – 15:30
  • Monday 10th: Odd Socks Day – more information to follow.
  • Tuesday 11th: Remembrance Day Service 10:45 in Main Playground (or church if raining). Parents and carers are warmly welcomed to join us for this service.
  • Tuesday 11th: Year 6 Trip to Westminster Abbey 12:30 – 15:30
  • Tuesday 18th: Year 6 rehearsal for “Not Forgotten Project” show.
  • Thursday 20th: Year 6 Trip to Kensington Town Hall to perform ‘Not Forgotten Project’ show.
  • Wednesday 26th: Christmas Display Day (Yes it’s coming!)
  • Wednesday 26th: Whole school Thanksgiving Event 16:30 – 18:00, in the Ground Floor Hall and Playground (if weather permits)
  • Friday 28th: INSET Day. School closed to all pupils.

December:

  • Wednesday 3rd: A Lesson in 9 Carols at St. John Smith Square from 10:30. All parents and carers are welcome to join us, kindly be seated by 10:20am.
  • Wednesday 3rd: Choir performing at St Gabriels Church as part of Pimlico Music Foundation performance.
  • Friday 5th: KS2 (Years 3 – 6) Nativity Performance. 14:30 – 15:15 in St. Stephens Church. All parents and carers are warmly welcomed.
  • Monday 8th: Choir to perform Christmas Carols at the Abbey Centre, from 14:00 – 15:00.
  • Wednesday 10th: KS2 Winter Disco (Years 3 – 6) from 17:00 – 19:00 (more information to follow)
  • Thursday 11th: Christmas Jumper Day. Gold coin donation please.
  • Thursday 11th: Choir to perform Christmas carols at the Norton House  from 11:00 – 12:00.
  • Friday 12th: Last day for Enrichment Clubs and Boosters (15:30 – 16:30)
  • Friday 12th: EYFS and KS1 Nativity, 10:00 – 11:00 in St. Stephens Church. All parents and carers are warmly welcomed.
  • Wednesday 17th: School PTA Christmas Fair  – more information to follow.
  • Thursday 18th: Reception Trip to the Postal Museum – more information to follow.
  • Friday 19th: Christingle Service 10:30 – 11;30 in St. Stephens Church.
  • Friday 19th: Last Day of Term. School finishes at 13:30.

Term Dates 2025-2026

Please find here the agreed term dates set by our school’s Governing Body for the upcoming academic year, starting September 2025.

Please remember that holidays will not be authorised during the school term, and that all children should be in school (on time) every day.

Alternatively, you can click on the image thumbnail on the right to view the PDF (please note this will open in a new window) or you can click on the link below:

Preschool, Nursery & Reception Admissions

We currently have the following availability for places in our Early Years provision from September 2025:

  • Reception class: We have 2 places available.
  • Nursery Class (3-year olds): 4 full-time places and 2 part-time (afternoon) places available
  • Preschool (2-year olds): 2 full-time places and 2 part-time (afternoon) places available

If you are looking for a Preschool, Nursery or Reception place for your child, please come along for a 30-minute bespoke EYFS tour. Here, you’ll have the chance explore our Early Years setting, speak to key staff and ask any questions regarding admissions, and your child starting with us at Burdett-Coutts.

Contact us to register for our tours which take place every Thursday, with times available from 09:15 – 14:30 during term time.

Online Safety

Did you know that not all apps are safe for children, with many popular ones having certain age restrictions. For example, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook operate a minimum age of 13+ years, and therefore primary school children should not have their own, nor access to, such apps or accounts.

As parents, you can help safeguard your children online by researching these apps and their purposes, as well as their age restrictions, BEFORE agreeing to download them. If you do choose to download them, remember that parental controls such as password protection, can be set up so that in-app downloads or purchases, cannot be completed by the children themselves.

For example, to prevent iTunes, Apple App Store purchases or downloads, all you need to do is:

  1. Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
  2. Tap Content & App Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
  3. Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases.
  4. Select a setting and set to Don’t Allow.

Tips on how to install parental controls on other apps and devices (Android or Apple) can easily be found online, or even from the app developers themselves.

Funding eligibility letter for Pupil Premium, Early Years Funding & Free School Meals

Due to changes in the eligibility criteria for Pupil Premium, Free School Meals and qualifying for 30 hours of funding for Nursery provision, many pupils currently enrolled at our school may now be entitled to one of these funding allocations.

We will be issuing letters to families who are currently not in receipt of the above, asking you to complete the registration for the identified funding option your child/ren maybe eligible for. Thank you so much in advance for your help in completing this.

This funding allows us to increase additional staffing hours to run booster groups, and an exciting range of extended day activities, that benefit our school and your child, and your cooperation is greatly appreciated at this difficult time for school budgets.

  • If you should have any queries with regards to the letter sent to you, please contact Mrs Deary or the school office.

Preschool:

This week, Preschool continued exploring their class book Handa’s Surprise. After reading the book, we explored all the different fruits from the story. The children had so much fun looking, smelling, feeling, and tasting the fruits. We talked about the different textures, colours, and flavours, and everyone enjoyed sharing their thoughts. It was a delicious way to bring our story to life!

Nursery:

This season, Nursery have been fully immersed in the wonders of Autumn. We’ve been learning all about the changes that happen during this time of year. The children were especially fascinated by the falling leaves and quickly understood that it’s one of the key signs that autumn has arrived. During our outdoor adventures, we collected a variety of colourful leaves from the playground and used them to create beautiful leaf paintings. It’s been a lovely way to connect with nature and get creative!

Reception:

This week, Reception have been on the hunt for patterns everywhere; on buildings, on the playground, and even in our own actions and movements! The children have been busy spotting, continuing, and creating their own repeating patterns using all sorts of materials. It’s been wonderful to see their excitement grow as they became confident pattern-makers, ready to find patterns wherever they go.

Year 1:

This week, Year 1 put on their scientist hats to test a hypothesis – if you build a house out of sticks, will it be blown down? Inspired by The Three Little Pigs, the children designed and built their own stick houses before putting them to the test with a strong fan. To everyone’s surprise – and delight – not a single house was blown away! Our young scientists proved themselves to be not only excellent investigators, but also brilliant architects and engineers. It turns out the Big Bad Wolf might have met his match – perhaps he could learn a thing or two from Year 1!

Year 2:

Year 2 explored growth mindset this week. We talked about why it’s important to keep trying, even when something feels difficult, and how mistakes help us learn. The children made lists of things they can already do and things they can’t do… yet! It was brilliant to hear them encouraging each other and realising that if we keep practicing and don’t give up, we can get better at the things that feel tricky right now.

Year 3:

Halfway through Autumn 1 and Year 3 are thoroughly enjoying their topics. We have started a new unit for maths and are now focused on addition and subtraction. In Writing, we are continuing to use adjectives, verbs, adverbs and similes for our descriptive writing. We are currently writing about a robot’s adventure. In Science, we completed our investigation question, “does having a longer femur affect how far you can jump?” We were quite surprised by the results. The children did a great job of keeping the investigation a fair test to ensure their results were accurate.

Year 4:

Year 4 have been working hard in History, and adding to theirdisplay on Roman Britain. Make sure to ask them about Hadrian’s Wall because they’ve been writing diary entries all about the soldiers that lived there! In Writing they’re building on knowledge of persuasive techniques for their circus leaflets. In Maths, the pupils are powering through place value, finishing off with some work on rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.

A big well done to the amazing artwork completed for their robin themed Christmas cards! Everyone’s worked really hard on them, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll look like when they’re printed and ready to be sent home.

Year 5:

Year 5 has had a great week with lots of exciting learning! In Maths, they have begun a new unit on addition and subtraction, working on different strategies to solve problems and refining the column method. In Writing, they have been busy planning their own stories, creating imaginative heroes and villains as they prepare to write their adventures. Science has been hands-on and fun, with an experiment testing friction by dragging shoes across different surfaces and measuring the force with Newton metres.

In History, the pupils explored the Anglo-Saxons, learning about their pagan beliefs and the important conversion to Christianity. Finally, in Art, they focused on drawing specific sections of houses, paying close attention to fine details to make their work look extra realistic and detailed.

Year 6:

As writers, Year 6 have been exploring character perspective and emotional depth through diary writing, inspired by the book Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Writing from Charlie’s point of view, the children described the playground fight that began when Tommo bravely stood up for Big Joe and was attacked by Jimmy Parsons. Charlie’s diary entries retold how he rushed in to defend his younger brother, and how the fight ended with him being dragged into Mr Munnings’ office to face the cane.

To capture Charlie’s voice, pupils analysed a model diary entry, identifying features such as first-person, informal tone and emotive vocabulary. They worked hard to bring these features into their own writing – using complex sentences with subordinate and relative clauses for depth, alongside short, dramatic sentences in the style of Michael Morpurgo. Many also experimented with rhetorical questions, powerful verbs, onomatopoeia and colloquial expressions to make their diary entries sound authentic and true to Charlie’s character.