Taking Stock: September 2026

• To ensure our children are happy and we explain things well
• To ensure no child leaves our school unable to read
• To ensure children learn a broad vocabulary to access the world around them
• To enhance the educational experiences of diagnosed and undiagnosed children with SEND

As a teacher in the UK, I get two opportunities a year to say 'Happy New Year', so I think I also get two opportunities to ask when it's too late to say 'Happy New Year' or 'Welcome Back'! Regardless, 'welcome back', and what a return to school it has been. Staff have been working incredibly hard to ensure that the children have had the best possible start to the school year. The classrooms are full of the children's work, walking around the school shows that children's learning behaviours are excellent. It has been an excellent September and I feel incredibly privileged to be the Head of School at Stockwell. Here's to our best year yet.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us for our International Evening. It was a joy to see so many families come together to share food from around the world, listen to the children singing so beautifully, and relax together over a picnic. International Evening is one of the most important celebrations in our school calendar. It brings our whole school community together at the start of the year, giving new and returning families the chance to meet, connect and feel part of Stockwell. Above all, it is a celebration of the rich diversity within our school. The many cultures, languages and traditions our families bring are something we treasure, and they make our school the vibrant, welcoming place it is. A huge thank you to everyone who cooked, contributed dishes, helped set up and clear away, and came along to support the children. Your generosity and warmth made the evening truly special, and set the tone for the year ahead.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended our Meet the Teacher sessions, hosted by the class teachers. These sessions are a valuable opportunity to gain a clear overview of the year ahead, including what your child will be learning, key dates and routines. They also allow you to get to know your child's teacher and to understand their expectations, helping us to work together in partnership to support every child. All families should now have received a copy of the slides from their child's session. If you have not received these, or have any questions, please speak to your child's class teacher or contact the school office.

Please ensure that your child had their PE kit in school on PE days. For hygiene and independence reasons, it is vitally important that the children change into their kits before their lessons. They must also wear appropriate footwear. PE lessons are as follows:

• Reception: Tuesdays and Fridays
• Year 1: Tuesdays and Fridays
• 2S: Mondays and Thursdays
• 2H: Tuesdays and Thursdays
• 3S: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
• 3N: Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Year 4: Mondays + swimming
• Year 5: Double PE on a Friday
• Year 6: Mondays and Wednesdays

Please ensure that your child has a full PE kit in school throughout the week as days and times may change.

We are excited to share that our Year 4 and Year 6 children have residential trips coming up this term. Year 4 will be visiting Ufton Court, and Year 6 will be heading to PGL. Residential trips are a highlight of school life, offering children the chance to try new activities, build independence and confidence, and create lasting memories with their friends and teachers. We are keen for every child to take part in these experiences. We understand that the cost of trips can be a concern for some families, and we are able to offer discounts to those in need. Please do not let cost be a barrier; any conversations will be treated sensitively and in confidence.

For more information about either trip, including dates, costs and support available, please speak to the Year 4 or Year 6 teams.

Our Year 6 children have had a fantastic start to the year working with IntoUniversity, an educational charity that helps young people to raise their aspirations and see university as a real and achievable option for their future. Through their FOCUS programme, children take part in fun, hands-on workshops that build key skills such as teamwork, communication and confidence, while encouraging them to think about the world of further education and work. Each Year 6 class spent a week taking part in a range of university-based activities, exploring what it is like to study a subject at university and discovering what they are capable of. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and came away inspired and full of ambition.

We are looking forward to welcoming the IntoUniversity team back to Stockwell to work with Year 5, and we are delighted to be expanding the programme this year to include Years 3 and 4, so that even more of our children can benefit from this inspiring opportunity.

Earlier this term, we held our annual Secondary Transfer meeting, which was hosted by Ms Kelleher. Choosing a secondary school is an important decision, and the meeting offered a helpful overview of the application process along with the chance to hear directly from local schools.

We were delighted to be joined by representatives from La Retraite, Harris Academy, Elms Academy, EGA and Pimlico Academy, who each gave a presentation about their school, sharing their ethos, curriculum and the opportunities available to students. We are very grateful to them for giving their time to speak with our families.

The slides from the meeting are attached to this newsletter. We are happy to help with applications, so please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like support.

As a reminder, the national closing date for secondary school applications is 31st October.

We are incredibly proud of our Federation's celebration of World Afro Hair Day through our Crowning Glory Exhibition. Children from across all three of our schools, Bonneville, Jessop and Stockwell, came together to create a stunning collection of pieces honouring the beauty, history and significance of Afro hair. We were delighted to Welcome the Mayor of Lambeth to Stockwell to open the exhibition. The hall was full of children and families, enjoying the carefully curated pieces.

World Afro Hair Day is celebrated every year on 15th September to honour the history, culture and identity of Afro hair. It was founded in 2017 by British entrepreneur and hairstylist Michelle De Leon. Michelle De Leon's vision was to promote self-acceptance, challenge stereotypes and encourage positive conversations and understanding around Afro-textured hair. The children's work beautifully reflected these values. Through their art, they celebrated identity, heritage and pride, and the exhibition sparked thoughtful conversations among pupils, staff and families alike. Thank you to everyone who contributed to and visited the exhibition, and congratulations to all the children whose work made it such a powerful and joyful celebration.

We are thrilled to share that one of our former pupils, has recently won a Jack Petchey Achievement Award. The Jack Petchey Achievement Award recognises outstanding young people across London and Essex who have gone above and beyond. The awards are not only for academic success; they celebrate effort, determination and positive contribution, whether that is overcoming a personal challenge, stepping outside of one's comfort zone or being an exceptional team player. Winners are nominated by their peers, which makes the award an especially meaningful recognition of the respect and admiration of those around them.

We are so proud and this is a wonderful achievement. It is a joy to see our former pupils continuing to flourish, and to know that the values they developed at Stockwell, such as hard work, kindness and perseverance, continue to shine through. Congratulations. Everyone at Stockwell is cheering you on!

There are a number of issues affecting our school community and safety in the local neighbourhood is one of the most pressing. The TRA of Fenwick Estate will be having a Safer Neighbourhood Event on Saturday 10th October between 2-5pm, at Fenwick Hall. Please join if you can to ensure that the community's voice is heard. Please see the flyer below, in the Community Events section of the newsletter to find out more.

I cannot wait to see what this year has in store. It has been a fantastic start to the year and I look forward to seeing what comes next.

Have a great week everyone.

After some well-attended and fiercely competitive trials, I am delighted to announce this year's football teams. I cannot wait to hear about their progress in the league.

Matches are on Wednesdays as follows:

• November 4-11-18-25
• December 2
• January 13-20-27
• February 3-10-24
• March 3-10-17-24
• April 14-21

Please contact Mr Osman and Ms Ruiz if you can accompany the team to their matches.

With community at the heart of everything we do spend time thinking about the issues that affect those around us. We have already raised money for Jeans 4 Genes and MacMillan, making donations that will go towards genetic and cancer research. We are still totalling the MacMillan contributions, but we rasied £98 for Jeans 4 Genes. Every little helps, so we are thankful for every contribution.

Don't forget to drop off your old, unwanted clothes. The donations will go to new homes that need them and we will raise money for the school. We have already filled the bank once, so keep your items coming please. Every time we fill the bank it raises money for the school.

Fill up a bag and pop it in.

Have a look at the poster below for more information.

The clothes bank is located outside the Main Hall.

To learn more about the curriculum for your year group/s next term, visit the school's website to access the knowledge organisers.

Homework is issued on a Friday and is due back in on a Wednesday. Please make time to help your child with their homework. All tasks are based on what the children have been learning in school. While the children can learn independently, they might need your help to get started.

All children should be reading at home daily. Please remember to make a comment in your child's reading record after you have listened to them read.

October

• 7th - LKS2 Phonics and Spelling Drop-In
• 8th - Google Classroom/ Homework Parent Workshop
• 8th - Reception Local Area Walk
• 9th - World Mental Health Day (Wear It Yellow)
• UKS2 Phonics/ Spelling Workshop
• 12th - Flu Vaccinations
• 14th - Open Morning
• 14th - Year 3 and 4 boys' football tournament
• 16th - Year 5/6 Girls' Football tournament
• 19th - Year 2 Trip to Natural History Museum
• 20th/ 21st - Parent/ Teacher Consultations
• 22nd - Year 6 Residential Final Meeting
• 5A Christmas Window Workshop
• 23rd - PTA Own clothes Day
• End of Term

26th - 30th October

Half Term Break

School Closed for all pupils

November

• 3rd - INSET DAY: School Closed for all pupils
• 4th - Domestos Germbusters Workshops (Years R-2)
• 6th - Open Morning
• 9th - 13th - Year 6 Residential
• 11th - PTA Movie Night
• 5A Class Assembly
• 12th - 5E Class Assembly
• 13th - Children in Need (Wear it Spotty)
• KS1 and EYFS Parent Drop-In
• 16th - 20th - Anti-Bullying Week
• 16th - Odd Socks Day
• Federation Spelling Bee
• Individual and Sibling Photos
• 17th - SEND/ Inclusion Coffee Morning
• 18th - 4B Class Assembly
• 19th - 4T Class Assembly
• Federation Spanish Workshop
• 20th - Father Figure Friday (KS1 Focus)
• 25th - 6M Class Assembly
• 26th - 6K Class Assembly
• 30th - ASAs end

December

• 1st - Reading Parent Drop-In
• No ASA - All children MUST be collected at 3:30
• 2nd - 4th - Year 4 Residential
• 2nd - 3N Class Assembly
• 3rd - 3S Class Assembly
• Year 6 Trip to British Museum
• 4th - Pre-School Craft Morning
• Topic Dress-Up Day
• 7th - Open Morning'
• 8th - EYFS Winter Production
• 9th - Pre-School Singalong
• 10th - Parent Forum
• Christmas Jumper Day/ Christmas Lunch
• 11th - PTA Winter Fair
• KS1 Winter Performance
• 14th - Open Morning
• 15th - NO Breakfast Club or ASC. School open - 8:50 - 3:30
• 16th - End of term 1:30pm

Wednesday 17th December - Friday 1st January

School Holidays

School closed for all pupils

We have an active PTA, called Friends of Stockwell, who do a brilliant job of fundraising for the school and bringing the community together. It is great to see new faces taking part. Every parent is a Friend of Stockwell. I ask that everyone gets involved. If you can spare an hour per term (that's three hours per year), your contribution would make a huge difference.

Please email friendsofstockwell@gmail.com to get involved.

We are often asked how parents and carers can support the school. We have worked with the school to create an Amazon Wish List to enable parents, carers, friends and family members to buy items that the school really needs.

If you are in a position to support the school in this way, please have a look through, and if you see something you would like to buy, just follow the same process as you would if you were ordering something for yourself. Items will be delivered directly to the school, marked for the attention of the relevant teacher.

Can you help out around the school? Are you a keen gardener? Do you have skills or knowledge that the children would benefit from? Visit our Call to Action page to let us know how you can help.

Central to raising standards in all schools and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential is the need for children to attend school regularly to benefit from their education.

There is a strong link between good learning, high achievement, rapid progress and developing good social skills with excellent attendance.

We want to take this opportunity to outline our expectations for school attendance this academic year.

If your child arrives at school from 9am they will be marked as LATE, if they arrive after 9.30am, they will be classed as “late after the register is closed” and their attendance is classed as absent for the morning session. As the registers would have already been returned to the Department for Education.

Regular poor punctuality can also have a negative effect on your child’s attendance as well as their academic learning. Being 6 minutes late each day equals 30 minutes of missed learning every week.

If your child’s attendance drops below 90%, we will need to share our concerns with the Local Authority Education Welfare Officer at Lambeth Council.

Holidays in Term Time

Education Law states that it is not a parent’s right to take a child out of school during term time to go on holiday. Families must seek permission from the school and your school’s Headteacher is limited in what they can authorise. We can authorise leave if a child is in a performance and a performance license has been granted by the local authority. For any other authorised holiday, there must be extenuating circumstances therefore we cannot authorise a holiday because it is cheaper outside of term time.

We have started the year well, with our attendance at 94.4%, which is incredibly close to the National Expectation of 95%. It is wonderful to see the vast majority of our children back and ready to learn. Let's see if we can improve this further next month.

School uniform should be worn throughout the school day. While we do not enforce that all school uniform should be branded, children should be wearing the correct colours (white t-shirt tops, navy trousers/ skirts/ pinafore dresses, sensible black shoes). Football boots/ coloured trainers are not school uniform and should not be worn.

Children should be changing into their PE kits for PE lessons (blue or black tracksuit bottoms, plain white t-shirt, trainers). We have made arrangements for girls and boys to be able to change separately, so the expectation is that all children change for PE.

While our supplier of school uniform is WearAbouts, we do have some items available for sale from the school office. Please check with us to see if we have what you need in stock.

If you have a concern, please see your child's class teacher in the first instance.

If they are unable to resolve the problem, please speak to your child's phase leader.

If they are unable to help, please see one of the school's Assistant Headteachers.

If you are still dissatisfied, please see the Head of School.

We let space around the school.

You can hire the school hall, and grounds, on a regular basis or as a one off.

Need a space for a party?

Looking for a pitch for your team?

Contact the school office on:

clericalofficer2@stockwell-pri.lambeth.sch.uk

to make an enquiry.

What are Pre-School, Nursery and Reception learning about? Find out below.

Years 1 and 2 are incredibly busy with their learning. Find out more on our website.

Are you keen to find out more about the learning in Years 3 and 4? If so, have a look by clicking the button below.

Please check our website, to find out what the children in Years 5 and 6 are learning about.

We are delighted to to have on site our Children Centre where the team works with families at Stockwell and our local community. The Children Centre is open every week day and during the holidays. All of the team will be happy to meet parents and carers to give help, advice and support relating to the following issues:

• Citizens Advice
• Parenting Support and Advice
• ESOL classes
• Vaccination clinics
• Access to Midwives and Health Visitors practitioners
• Take Your Pick sessions
• Baby and Toddler session
• Benefits advice
• Food Bank Vouchers
• Disability Living Allowance applications
• Cost of Living information
• Training and employment advice
• Activities for children during half-term breaks
• Advice on support available within Lambeth

In these difficult times any of us can find ourselves in challenging situations. Should you need support, please contact Mrs Fraga, or the staff at the Children's Centre, who can support with food vouchers discreetly.

Our Children Centre team have a great deal of knowledge and expertise and are a fantastic asset to have working with us at Stockwell. Please feel welcome to pop in and find out more during their opening times.

Check out the Autumn Timetables below:

Dominique Gordon, the Children's Centre Deputy Manager, has signed up to run in the London Marathon in April 2027. She is raising money for Little Village as they support so many of our families in Lambeth.

Every little helps, so if you can sponsor her, we would all greatly appreciate the support.

Please scan the QR code on the posters around the school, or use this link to sponsor.

The Gaia Centre provides support for Lambeth residents affected by gender-based violence, including domestic abuse. It’s closed on 29th March and April 1st, 2024, but has an out-of-hours on-call service: 07725245779. Normal hours are 8am-6pm Monday – Friday. It also offers services for young people and advice for practitioners. Tel: 020 7733 8724, E: lambethvawg@refuge.org.uk.

Helpline support is available:

• National Domestic Abuse Helpline, 24/7
• Women’s Aid live chat, daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Men’s Advice Line, weekdays, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Samaritans Helpline, 24/7
• Childline 24/7
• In emergencies, call 999

Support online:

Kooth is a free online mental health and wellbeing service available to all young people in Lambeth aged 10-25. It is a self-referral service, where young people have access to fully-qualified online counsellors until 10pm every single day of the year. There is also a range of other support including: an online interactive magazine, discussion boards, self-help tools, and wellbeing activities.

The new Lambeth microsite to accompany the ‘It’s Not That Deep’ campaign is aimed specifically at young people and contains information for those experiencing harassment, those wanting to become allies, and those who are doing the harmful behaviour.

You can view useful resources on emotional wellbeing and mental health support services for children in Lambeth.

For the latest Lambeth VAWG news and campaigns please go to: https://linktr.ee/lambethvawg

We have an engagement hub with a specific page focused on what we can do to improve public safety for women and girls which asks residents and visitors to tell us where in Lambeth they feel safe and unsafe by placing a pin on the Map. Please sign up for email updates about the project using the ‘follow’ button on the new site.

If you have a safeguarding concern about a child during the holidays, please make use of the following contacts:

• Lambeth Integrated Referral Hub (Education & Children's Social Care): Office Hours: 020 7926 3100 | Out-of-Hours: 020 7926 5555
• Emergency Duty Team: Out-of-Hours: 020 7926 5555
• Police (Immediate Danger): 999
• Lambeth CAMHS (Mental Health Crisis Support): 020 3228 7370

A new child comes into care every day in Lambeth. Many of these children will need the love and stability that a foster carer can provide.

What is fostering?

Being a foster parent means caring for someone else’s child as part of your family. Foster carers look after children who are unable to live with their parents, through no fault of their own. You'll be given lots of training and support, as well as allowances to cover living costs, the costs of food, travel and for the time you'll need to invest in supporting any child in your care.

Who can foster?

Lambeth Fostering welcome applications from everyone with a passion for caring. You just need to be over 21, have a spare room, good written and spoken English, and permanent UK residency.

Find out how you can be the difference: www.lambeth.gov.uk/be-the-difference

Have you downloaded the BJS Federation parent app?

Stay abreast of school events, book trips, clubs and give permission.

If you are finding it difficult to find your way around the app, check out our guide below.