No.6-28th November 2025

Headteacher Message! - 

 Good Afternoon,  

I am delighted to share some joyful news from our school family: Mrs Luxford and her wife are excited to announce the birth of their second daughter, Riley. She arrived a little early but both mum and baby are doing okay. We send our warmest congratulations and best wishes to Mrs Luxford and their family during this special time. 

As we edge closer to Christmas, the festive spirit is growing! The school hall and classrooms are alive with singing as we prepare for our upcoming celebrations. The FOA is gearing up for next Saturday’s Christmas Fair, and I hope to see many of you there to support the school and help raise funds for valuable resources.  

Thank you for your generosity and support of the Royal British Legion poppy collection, we raised nearly £300!  Brilliant! We have also received some lovely donations for the Smiles to Smiles Charity, you are a very generous, supportive community and we really want to thank you for your kindness.  

Congratulations to the Year 5&6 girls’ football team who have played a cup match and a football tournament this week. This is the first time that they had played together, and Miss Sen was incredibly impressed by how well they played together as a team.  

Just a little reminder that your child’s attendance really matters and any child whose attendance drops below 95% is judged to be requiring improvement (and anyone whose attendance is below 90% falls into the Persistently Absent category). You can check your child’s attendance percentage using the Arbor app. 

It is important that children do not come to school when they are really unwell. We ask that if they have had any diarrhoea or vomiting that they stay home for 48 hours following their last episode to try to control the germs spreading. If, however, your child is feeling a bit tired or under the weather please send them in – we will ring you if they deteriorate before the end of the school day.   

Lateness also impacts learning. Our learning begins as soon as the children come in to school and children who are regularly late miss the important start to the day – it’s not a great feeling to enter a classroom when all your friends have started their learning and you’ve missed the explanation and don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing. Thank you for your support with making sure you child/children arrive at school on time.  

Finally, can we please remind you all that children need to have a coat in school every day (and hats and gloves if possible). Please name everything – it is the only way we can return lost items to the correct child. Thank you.  

Enjoy your weekend! 

Mrs Ratcliff 

 Christmas - 

Reminders - 

PARKING -The staff car park is for staff use only. Parents are not permitted to park in the staff car park unless they have been given prior permission by the school. Please can we take this opportunity to remind you to be considerate of our neighbours and the local community when parking to access the school site at the start and end of the school day. For the safety of all of our children, please can we also request that you do not stop on the busy main road directly outside of the school to drop your children off.

SCHOOL LUNCHES - Please below the new school lunch menu which will start after half term. If your child/ren normally has a school meal, please can we remind you to order a school meal in advance. Ordering closes on the Friday before and meals cannot be ordered after this time.

 Arbor - Please can we ask you to log into  the Arbor app. We ask that you add/check the following information:

• 3 Emergency contacts
• Medical information (including GP surgery and any medical needs)
• Ethnicity
• Religion

Going forward you can change address/telephone or any information through the app directly, the school will receive a notification and your details will be updated accordingly.

No Dogs - 

Snow - We enjoyed the first snow flurry last week and we were all a bit sad that it didn’t settle. Should snow return again this winter, this is what you can expect to happen in school: 

• We will always try our best to be open – school will only close if adverse weather means that not enough staff can safely travel to work. 
• Should snow fall and we do open, please send your children in with a change of warm clothes (including footwear and socks) because we will let them enjoy some playtime in the snow with their friends and they will be wet when they come back inside! 
• Should we experience adverse weather conditions we aim to make a definite decision to close by 7.30am. Emergency text messages will be sent although I am aware that these do not always arrive as quickly as we would like and so please check the school website as well. 

As a rule of thumb, if you would struggle to make your journey into work it is likely that school staff will be in exactly the same position. We will only contact you and update the website if we are closed. 

The Past Fortnight - 

 Y6 - 

Year 6 have just finished their practice SATs week: well done for all your focus and hard work! Our art this term is based around the wonderful architecture of Gaudi. The children have been learning about form and are preparing clay tiles to practising impression-making and using slip and score techniques. We're looking forward to seeing the finished Gaudi- inspired towers- just in time for Christmas!

- Miss Bardel 

Y5- 

Year 5 have worked collaboratively to produce a wonderful collage wheel reflecting the creation story from the bible. Each segment represents a day of the creation story and is pulled together by 'God in his oasis' on the 7^th day of rest. It is now on display in the Year 5 corridor for people to admire. Well done for working so hard on it Year 5! 

- Miss May 

Y4 - 

We had a wonderful time on our Year 4 trip to Hampton Court! The students got to experience what life was like and the jobs that they could have had. We did some detailed sketches in the Great Hall, kitchens, and Clock Court. The students also worked together to complete quizzes in preparation for our Tudor Day.

-Miss Courtney 

Y3 - 

This week in year 3, the children have been tie dying their pillows in our D&T lessons. The children had great fun choosing the colours they wanted to use! We are very proud of the attitude the children have displayed during assessment week last week. 

- Mrs Whitby  

Y2 -  

To end off Remembrance Month, Year 2 visited the War Memorial in Walton. We spoke about the lives lost while bravely fighting for our country And why we remember.

- Mrs Van Der Schaff 

 Reception - 

As part of the theme this term 'People Who Help Us' we were very lucky to have a visit from a parent who is a police officer.  The children were very interested to hear first hand how the police help and protect us everyday.  A special thank you to our parent visitor. We had a successful sponsored walkabout/jog, raising lots of funds for our outdoor learning equipment, thank you very much to those who donated or sponsored the children.

- Mrs Lulham 

Sports -  

It has been a busy week for the Year 5 and 6 girls football team. On Tuesday, they played Burhill in a cup match. For a first match together, with only couple of short training sessions, they played brilliantly and came away with a 7-1 win. On to the next round! 

On Thursday, the girls played in a tournament at Royal Holloway school. It was an excellent day. They won 2 and drew 1 of their group matches (not conceding a goal and scoring 7!) In the quarter finals, they played Cardinal Newman. It was close game with both goal keepers making good saves. Unfortunately, we lost 2-0. Cardinal Newman went on to win the tournament. The girls showed all our Ashley Values and great sportsmanship - they stayed until the end cheering on all the teams. A great start to the football season - we look forward to rest of the season!

-Miss Sen

 School Council - 

 In the school council meetings we have been discussing different charities to support and we're been asking what the school council think their role for the school is? The main answer was to make Ashley School a better place. Recently the school council have been making suggestion boxes for the school, so if anyone had any ideas for the school, children could put their idea's in the boxes? 

- Dylan & Grace (School Ambassador's) 

Friends of Ashley - 

christmas fayre 2025 event guide 3 .pdf

 Community Notice Board - 

Last Year Mr Denman's Heron class organised a bake sale to raise money for the Shine Literacy Programme to help them purchase reading books for a school in South Africa. With the proceeds raised they were able to purchase 42 books! We received a lovely thank you from the children.

Ashley First School have done brilliantly again in raising money for the Poppy Appeal. We delighted to tell you that all the donations have now been counted and a total of £309.55p has most generously been donated to the Royal British Legion by the children, parents and staff.  This is a most welcome sum and on behalf of the Royal British Legion they would like to thank you for taking part in the Appeal with such willingness and enthusiasm to help make a meaningful difference to the lives of service members, veterans, and their families.

reverse advent 2025 003 .pdf

 Well Done - 

Over the half-term break, Jenna (Y3 ) and Margot (Y5 ) proudly represented their dance studio at the prestigious Kingston Festival of Dance — their very first elite competition! Performing as part of a small group, they entered two categories: lyrical and ballet. Their lyrical routine was beautifully executed, though it did not place this time. However, their ballet performance impressed the adjudicator and earned a silver medal! Jenna and her group also scooped up a gold medal for their acrobatic dance performance, what a half term for Jenna! We’re incredibly proud of the girls’ hard work, grace, and determination. Well done, Jenna and Margot — what a fantastic achievement! We cannot wait to see where you go next!👏✨

On Thursday 20th November, five Year 5 pupils from Ashley - Amelie, Ellie, Melisha, Nevi and Sophia - had the incredible opportunity to be mascots at the Chelsea FC Women vs. Barcelona Champions League match. The girls enjoyed an unforgettable evening at Stamford Bridge. They met the players as they stepped off the team buses, walked through the famous tunnel, and joined the official line-up on the pitch - all while being filmed live on the BBC! This exciting experience was made possible through the Inspire Her Club, a fantastic programme run at Ashley this term by the Chelsea Foundation for girls in Years 5 and 6.