Taking Stock: October 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

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the end of our first half term of the year! It has been lovely to see the children settling into their new classes, building relationships with their teachers and getting stuck into their learning. As I walk around the school, I am always proud to see the classrooms full of learning and the children making the most of the opportunities available to them. The school is looking fantastic, and I would like to thank our staff for all the work they have put into creating such welcoming and engaging learning environments.

Our teachers have been working incredibly hard to ensure that the children are receiving the highest quality education at every stage. School leaders regularly walk around the school to look at learning, speak to children and see the curriculum in action. These visits give us the opportunity to celebrate what is going well and ensure that we are continuing to provide the very best for our children.

This month, our EYFS provision was visited by teachers from Jessop and Henry Cavendish. They were really impressed by the learning behaviours of our Pre-School, Nursery and Reception children. It was lovely to hear such positive feedback about how well our youngest children are engaging with their learning, and this is a real credit to the hard work and dedication of the staff who work with them every day.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all our staff for their continued hard work and commitment. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to make sure our children have the best possible experiences and opportunities, and I am very proud of the work taking place across the school.

At Stockwell Primary School, we prioritise reading. It is one of our key areas of focus. With this in mind, we are pleased to be working with Chapter One, a charity that helps children develop their reading skills and confidence. Through the Chapter One Online Reading Volunteers Programme, selected children in Years 1, 2 and 3 receive weekly 30-minute, one-to-one reading sessions with a trained volunteer using a secure online platform. The programme provides additional reading support throughout the year, helping children become more confident, independent readers and develop a love of reading.

To find out more, visit www.chapterone.org.

We have received lots of positive comments from the volunteers:

• What a super reader Abner is! Looking forward to reading with him next week.
• Alana was absolutely flying through her books and flashcards as well as the games.
• Ryc-Kai is lovely and very engaged. I am sure we will be flying through the flashcards and books!
• Alice read beautifully today. She seems so confident in her reading so I wanted to move her up as quickly as possible to challenge her on trickier words, sounds and more interesting stories .I hope she is enjoying it. I get the feeling she is.

And now a word from the children:

• Alana 3S: At first, I felt a little nervous because I was going to read with someone I didn't know. But as soon as we started, I wasn't scared anymore! I really enjoyed reading with my volunteer and I felt so happy and excited. I even won two virtual stickers! I can't wait for my next reading session!
• Lara 3S: I played a game with flashcards and then I read two stories. I got to choose which stories I wanted to read and they were really funny! I really liked it!

We were delighted to host our first Father Figure Friday event of the school year in our Forest School area. Organised by Mr Serra, Father Nature and the Father Figure Family, the event was open to all our EYFS children and their families, and it was lovely to see so many people come along to join in.

Everyone made the most of the last of the warmer weather, spending time outdoors, getting involved in gardening and trying out our school's new pizza oven! There was plenty of opportunity for children and their families to spend time together, enjoy our Forest School and, of course, tuck into some delicious pizza.

It was fantastic to see so many families there enjoying themselves, and the pizza certainly went down well! It was also wonderful to have so many male members of our school community onsite, spending time with their children and being part of school life. Events like these are a great way to bring our community together and make the most of the spaces and opportunities we have in school.

A huge thank you to Mr Serra, Father Nature and the Father Figure Family for making the event such a success. We look forward to welcoming everyone back for our next Father Figure Friday!

Every year, we celebrate World Mental Health Day at the end of our annual Wellbeing Week. This is always a lovely opportunity to bring the school community together and remind our children how important it is to look after ourselves and each other.

We #WearItYellow to brighten up the day and show our support for mental health awareness. More importantly, it gives us the chance to talk to the children about their feelings, remind them that it is okay not to feel okay all the time, and help them understand that talking to someone they trust can make a real difference.

Our Pupil Wellbeing Ambassadors have had their first meeting of the year, joining children from across the cluster to talk about wellbeing. They spent time thinking about their own emotional and mental health and sharing ideas about the different things they can do to look after themselves and stay healthy.

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors will be helping to lead on wellbeing across the school throughout the year. They have an important role to play in helping other children understand the importance of looking after themselves and each other, and making sure everyone feels happy, safe and supported.

Their next focus will be Anti-Bullying Week, where they will be helping us to spread the message about being kind, treating others with respect and making sure that everyone feels included. I look forward to seeing what they get up to over the coming year!

I hope everyone has a lovely half-term break and enjoys some well-deserved time to rest and recharge. We look forward to welcoming everyone back for another busy and exciting half term!

We are incredibly proud of our boys’ and girls’ football teams, who represented Stockwell Primary School brilliantly in this year’s Lambeth Cup.

The boys reached the final after an impressive run of four wins, two draws and one loss in their first seven games. Maher and Elijah were standout performers, and the whole team deserves huge credit for adapting so well as a new squad. Although they finished runners-up after a 6–0 defeat to Walnut Tree Walk, reaching the final was a fantastic achievement!

The girls reached the quarter-finals after two 1–0 victories against Henry Cavendish B and Hitherfield Primary, plus a 0–0 draw against St Bede’s. They narrowly lost 1–0 to a strong Henry Cavendish A side, but played brilliantly throughout the tournament. Ava (6M) and Qendel (4B) shone, while a special mention goes to Medina (4B), who excelled in her first-ever tournament and scored a last-minute winner against Hitherfield!

A huge well done to all our players for their teamwork, determination and sportsmanship. Thank you to our parents and families for your fantastic support.

You have made Stockwell proud! We look forward to seeing our football teams continue to grow, develop and achieve great things.

Mr Osman - Sports Coach

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.

• Even though Amira found the maths problem difficult, she showed self-belief and kept trying until she solved it.

• With self-belief, Jack put his hand up to share his ideas with the class.

• I showed self-belief when I tried a new activity, even though I was worried I might get it wrong.

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.

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

This free guide from the National College provides some useful strategies for healthy conversations to help support a child who is experiencing bullying.

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.