The Buzz

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach October half term, I would like to say a big thank you for all your support in ensuring that my first half term at HISN has been welcoming; I have very much enjoyed meeting the children, parents and local community. I look forward to sharing with you what our children have been doing and how they continuously strive to, “be the best they can be.”

On Monday 20th October, Year 1 and Year 2 very much enjoyed listening to a talk from Miss Savita and Ariya regarding what Diwali is and how they celebrate this within their culture. Our children had an opportunity to ask questions about what mehndi is and how long it takes too! We would also like to thank Nabhi Navhinandan Das for taking the time to share his information regarding his culture.

Next half term is our Christmas half term and I cannot wait to see the Christmas shows, the staff panto (which is just to the children!) and all the activities and festivities surrounding what is Christmas and the associated traditions. We look forward to sharing all our news related to this.

HPPA did a fantastic job of organising the ‘Twists & Turns’ event with ‘The Little Gym’. All our children took part in this ranging from nursery to Year 2. This was a sponsored event - thank you for all your generous donations.

This half term, Miss Davis, Mrs Maxted and Mrs Hughes have worked incredibly hard to set up ‘Busy Bees’ – our daily lunchtime club- for a maximum of 20 children across Year 1-2. This initially has been an invite only and as it expands and becomes more established, we hope to have a greater capacity for our pupils. It has been fantastic to see it so well utilised with opportunities for drawing, lego and crafts. Thank you to the parents involved so far in supporting us with this and I look forward to sharing more information with you next half term as we continue to develop this.

Unfortunately, we have had several neighbours of the school contacting us to once again raise concerns about inconsiderate parental behaviour around parking. Please be considerate when dropping off and picking up your child and do not park over driveways or leave your car idling. We have advised the neighbours to contact the parking enforcement team in Richmond.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your ongoing support throughout this term. I hope that you, your families, and all members of our school community—including our staff, governors and local community—enjoy a restful and rejuvenating half-term break. We very much look forward to welcoming you and your children back to school on Monday 3rd November.

Anna Gale

Head of School

The voting is now open for the Parent Governor Elections. There are three candidates and you are invited to vote for one candidate only.

Voting is via an email link from Choice voting, which was sent together with instructions on how to place your vote, at 12pm on Wednesday 22 October.

Voting will remain open until 5pm on Friday 7 November.

If you have any queries or would like further information on the election, please contact Beth Hemphill, Clerk to the Governing Body: bhemphill@hpp.school.

We are in real need of more whiteboard pens. Children use these daily and the pens that were kindly provided by you at the beginning of term have run out. We do have a small supply in school but these are also close to running out.

Please can we ask that you provide your child with a new black whiteboard pen on the first day back after each half term. The pens we use in school can be found here. Similar pens can also be used.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

If your child needs to use the toilet after school, they can use the toilets in RK, these are well known to the children. All children are given the opportunity to visit the toilet before leaving for the day so please speak to your child about this if this is happening frequently. Children and parents must not enter the school building to find toilets. There is a toilet at HJS in the Music room which children are able to use.

Tickets for the Fireworks Night are on sale now !

HPPA are still looking for a team of volunteers to help make this evening possible so if you can spare some time please sign up via the attached link : Fireworks volunteer rota.xlsx - Google Sheets

Thank you so much for your generous gifts so far, staff and children are enjoying them so much.

Please remember to put which year group the gift is for on your gift message.

If your child is moving up to Year 3 in September 2026 and you would like to book a tour of HJS please book via our website HPP website

Tours are running on the following dates:-

• Thursday 6th November 9am
• Thursday 11th December 9am

The tours will last approximately 1 hour and are for parent/carers of current Year 2 children only.

RDC Nell

RH Rudeen

RK Annie

RP Evie

1B Izzy

1C Kacey

1D Ayra

1T Elise

2B Amelie

2CB Tommy

2L Arthur

2M Franca

2B had the best attendance last week

RP had no late students last week

The children have enjoyed learning about Lewis Hamilton, Floella Benjamin, Simone Biles and Laurie Cunningham as part of Black History Month. They identified the HPP principles of pride, resilience, inclusivity, aspiration and challenge amongst others as they discussed the lives of these inspirational figures.

In nursery we like to explore outside as often as we can and have been working on our gross motor skills by completing some obstacle courses in the nursery garden.

As we delve deeper into Autumn we have been exploring all of the natural treasures autumn brings using conkers, acorns and different coloured leaves to create autumn crowns, make autumnal mud pies in the mud kitchen and build imaginary forest fires.

The children have really enjoyed looking at one of our focus books, Room on the Broom and were thrilled to experience Miss Dowden turning Mrs Newman into a frog, then a cow, before their very eyes!

As the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, we have been learning about animals who hibernate and making sleeping dens for them at Forest School. There are still lots of conkers, pine cones and acorns around for “Squabbling Squirrels” to hoard!

In maths, number 4 can be made in lots of different ways; we learned how to count quickly in our heads and decide whether we could see “4” or “Not 4”.

The teddy bear was on the chair, underneath the chair and behind and in front of it, enabling us to learn positional language. We are so good at identifying our 8 sounds (s, a, t, n, i, p, m and o) and building simple words that have started our reading books, as well as borrowing a story book every week.

We celebrated Diwali by learning all about this important Hindu festival and making our own colourful Diwa lamps.

A great time was had by all the children at The Little Gym's Twists & Turns workshops. Thank you once again to HPPA for organising and to all the families who sponsored their child for this event.

After half term, the children will each be making a poppy for our Remembrance Day display at HISN. The children will be making their poppy during the first week back after half term.

If you have an old plastic bottle, if possible please can you cut the bottom off it and send it to school with your child on Monday 3rd November. If you have any spare, please feel free to send those in too.

Thank you in advance

Mrs Connolly - Art Lead

We are still looking for children who would like to accompany Mrs Gale on Sunday 9th November to take part in the annual remembrance day parade from the Methodist Church on Percy Road to the Oldfield Road Memorial Garden. If your child is in Year 1 or Year 2, and they would like to accompany Mrs Gale on this day, please do email the school office. The children will need to meet Mrs Gale at 11.50am at the church on the Sunday for a 12pm start. The parade finishes at approximately 1.15pm and children will need to wear full school uniform.

The annual Mayor's & Leaders Christmas Card Competition is now open for budding young artists aged 5-11 who live or go to school in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The winner will have their design made into a Christmas card that the Mayor and Leader will send out to their official mailing list. Entries should be A5, your child's own original image and in colour. Please remember to write your child's name, age and school or home address on the back. Please note that designs cannot be returned due to the volume received. Your entry must be submitted by 10am on Monday 17th November 2025 (by post): Mayor’s Christmas Card Competition, Mayor’s Office, York House, Richmond Road, Twickenham, TW1 3AA or (by email): mayors.office@richmond.gov.uk .

This competition is organised by the Mayor so please ensure all entries are submitted to the email above.

Please read the email sent to all Year 2 parents on 16th October regarding Y2's visit to Kew Gardens in March next year. Payment for this visit is due by Friday 30th January. There is an option to pay in instalments if you wish. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact the school office.

Richmond Borough Air Quality Team is currently undertaking a survey to gauge views on reducing vehicle idling and public health protection, click on the link below for more information.

The NHS Pharmacy First Service is an England-only service, which allows you to access advice and treatment for seven common conditions from your community pharmacy, without the need to see a GP.

It's easy, just walk into a participating Boots Pharmacy and ask for help.

The seven common conditions are :

🤒Sinusitus 🤒Impetigo🤒Sore Throat 🤒Shingles🤒Earache 🤒Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women🤒Infected insect bites and stings

Please make sure that your child's water bottle, sweatshirt or cardigan is named; lost property will be put in the box outside the office reception area. Please communicate to other parents via Classlist if you have trouble locating lost cardigans/sweatshirts.

Parents should end their phone calls before they enter the school site so that you can greet your children without any distractions and with a smile.

A reminder to all parents to be considerate to our neighbours when dropping off in the morning and collecting at the end of the day. We do have parking enforcement officers regularly in attendance so please do not park on zigzags, double lines, corners of roads, across neighbours driveways. Ripley Road is a School Street zone and is closed to traffic Monday-Friday 8.30am-9.00am and 2.45pm-3.15pm.

If your child has a medical condition, please make sure that you update their Arbor record. This information is very important and will be used by our Welfare Medical Officer, Miss Bissett.

Click on above tab to view HISN's virtual school tour

Email: office.hisn@hpp.school
Website: hpp.school
Location: Hampton Infant School and Nursery, Ripley Road, Hampton, UK
Phone: 0208 979 1815