Teddington School Newsletter
Friday 10 January 2025
Dear Families
Welcome Back and Happy New Year! I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break. As we kick off the new year, I’d like to thank you for your continued support and extend a warm welcome back to all our students and families.
Firstly, thank you to all the staff and students who made the Ski Trip to Val Di Fiemme, Italy in December such a success. Daily reels and photos can be found on our Instagram page and below in this newsletter. Students and staff have described another fantastic experience, and we’re already looking forward to planning this year’s trip!
You will have hopefully seen the letter sent earlier this week regarding our behaviour system, expectations and standards. As a reminder, we continue to reward students with Gold, Silver, or Bronze Learner Awards in lessons. Last term, we issued over 2,500 positive points per week, with 99% of our student cohort receiving recognition for their positive behaviour.
For the 1% of students who may not be making the right choices and disrupting the learning of others, we are reinforcing the 4R’s Behaviour Policy in classrooms:
- Remind – a verbal prompt.
- Relocate – move to another seat.
- Remove – leave the classroom.
- Restore – Tier 2 detention including a restorative conversations to repair relationships and refocus on learning.
Please note that missed Tier 2 (30 minutes) detentions will automatically escalate to Tier 3 (1 hour) the following school day with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
As the frosty weather continues, we’d like to remind everyone to stay safe on the way to and from school. Reports have been made of students playing near or on the iced-over pond in Langdon Park. If your child walks through the park, please speak to them about the dangers, it would be awful if we had an incident of someone entering the cold water.
From Monday 13 January, we are changing how families are asked to log absences. If your child is absent, you will need to complete an absence report form by 08:30 on each day of absence. The form can be accessed here. More information can also be found in the letter you received yesterday and is included below for reference.
Finally, we are also pleased to confirm that the 681 Friday afternoon bus will resume service outside the school gates from Friday 24 January. After working closely with TFL, the service will now mirror the Monday–Thursday schedule, departing at 15:05, 15:10, and 15:15 from our usual stop on Broom Road.
Have a lovely weekend, and we look forward to seeing all students on Monday for an 08:30 start.
Kind regards
Mr P Grills
Headteacher
Year 7 students created amazing models in Geography to show the layers of the Rain Forest as part of a homework project over the holidays.
They all look fantastic, well done Year 7!
To streamline our processes and ensure accurate attendance records, all absences must now be reported using our designated student absence form. Families need to report absence by 08:30 on each day of absence.
The form will go live on the school website from Monday 13 January and can be accessed via this link. The form can be found on our website in two places:
- ‘Parent Links’ on the top left corner
- On the ‘Parents’ section and under the subheading of ‘Attendance & Absence’
If you have any queries about our attendance procedures, please refer to our Attendance Policy.
We are consulting to amend our admissions arrangements with effect from the 2026/27 academic year to include more detail under the 'Admission of children outside their normal age group' section. Our consultation process began on Wednesday 13 November, and will conclude on Monday 13 January.
Please have a read via the button below. If you have any comments on this amendment, please contact our Admissions Officer, Mrs N Howarth, via howarthn@teddingtonschool.org.
The prospect of snow excites adults as well as students. Whether you like to make a snowman, go sledding, or just watch through the window, here are four books that would be ‘snow’ much fun to read.
- A Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood: A snow-dusted love story. In the Autumn of 1931, eighteen-year-old Freya Trevelyan runs away from her home in Cornwall to follow her dream of becoming an actress. Can reality ever live up to her expectations? What if her life - and falling in love - turn out to be nothing like she planned?
- An Eagle in the Snow by Michael Morpurgo: 1940. The train is under attacks from German fighters. In the darkness, sheltering in a railway tunnel, the stranger in the carriage with Barney and his mother tells them a story to pass the time. The story of a young man, a young soldier in the trenches of World War I who, on the spur of the moment, had done what he thought was the right thing.
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey: Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?
- The Winter Knights by Paul Stewart: Quint Verginix has enrolled as a squire in the Knight’s Academy. After his training, he will be able to pilot stormchaser sky-ships into the heart of Great Storms, and retrieve the solidified lightning – stormphrax – to weigh down the floating rock on which Sanctaphrax is built. But as a freezing winter takes hold, and the city strains to break free of its tether, ancient feuds threaten to tear its people apart. On his own, Quint can do nothing to help avert the impending doom. But with the help of a band of loyal friends he might just be able to avert disaster.