RAF Newsletter - Autumn Week 8

Dates for your diary

Here are details of important events in the next few weeks.

Year Group	Date	Timings	Event details
All year groups	Monday 27th October - Friday 31st October	All day	Half term holiday
All Year groups	Monday 3rd November	Daytime	Back to school
Parents of children starting reception in Sept 26	Tuesday 4th November	9am and 1pm	Open Event
Reception	Tuesday 4th November	5pm - 6pm	Bonfire Night and Diwali celebrations
Year 7 and 8	Thursday 6th November	8.30am – 3.30pm	Royal Holloway Trip
Year 13	Monday 10th November	Daytime	Start of Mini Mocks week
Parents of children starting reception in Sept 26	Tuesday 11th November	9am and 1pm	Open Event
Nursery and Reception	Thursday 13th November	3.45pm - 7pm	Parents' Evening
Nursery and Reception	Monday 17th November	3.45pm - 7pm	Parents' Evening
Year 6	Tuesday 18th November	Daytime	Trip to Saatchi Gallery
Year 13	Thursday 20th November	5pm - 6pm	Parent Information Evening
Reception	Tuesday 25th November	2.30pm - 3.30pm	Phonics Workshop
Reception	Tuesday 25th November	5pm - 6pm	Phonics Workshop
Year 11	Tuesday 25th November	5pm - 6pm	Mock Results Parent Event
Year 11	Wednesday 26th November	5pm to 7pm	Feltham College Open Event
Year 12 and 13	Wednesday 3rd December	8.30am - 3.30pm	Trip to Hampton Court Palace
Reception	Thursday 4th December	Daytime	Trip to Lyric Theatre
All Year Groups	Thursday 4th December	Daytime	Team Reach Day
All Year Groups except Nursery	Friday 5th December	Daytime	INSET Day
Year 11	Tuesday 9th December	Daytime	French Institute Trip
Year 12 and 13 Maths students	Wednesday 10th December	9am - 5pm	Maths in Action, Emmanuel Centre, London
Reception and Year 1	Tuesday 16th December	Performances at 10am and 2pm	Nativity
Nursery morning children	Wednesday 17th December	10.30am - 11.20am	Christmas Event (morning children)
Nursery afternoon children	Wednesday 17th December	2.30pm - 3.20pm	Christmas Event (afternoon children)
All Year Groups except Nursery	Friday 19th December	Daytime	INSET day
All Year Groups	Friday 19th December - 5th January 2026	Daytime	Christmas holiday
Nursery	Monday 5th January	Usual timings	Back to nursery
All Year Groups except Nursery	Monday 5th January	Daytime	INSET day
All Year Groups	Tuesday 6th January	Usual timings	Beginning of Spring term

At Reach Academy Feltham, we are proud to have Black history and culture woven throughout our curriculum all year round. We believe it is vital that every pupil sees themselves reflected in what they learn, and that all pupils appreciate the diverse contributions that have shaped our world. October, as Black History Month, gives us a special opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the achievements, heritage and influence of Black people, past and present, that are too often overlooked.

This year’s celebrations were designed with input from a group of student leaders from Year 5 to Year 12, who shared their ideas for how they wanted Black History Month to be recognised here. Their creativity and leadership helped shape a varied and meaningful programme of activities for pupils across the school.

Throughout the month, pupils enjoyed weekly form-time quizzes, learning more about inspiring figures and moments in Black history and celebrating Black culture in science, music, sport and the arts. A poster competition encouraged creativity and reflection, while Kelechi and Semilore in Year 5 delivered an impressive presentation in the Primary assembly, sharing thoughtful messages about pride, identity and respect. Year 9 won the poster competition Amelia P (9 Tyne) and Joelle (9 Don) created this excellent collage of Black historical figures and Asil (9 Don) who made this creative poster the encapsulates the theme of pride.

Our catering team treated everyone to a special Afro-Caribbean themed lunch, celebrating the vibrant flavours and traditions of the region. Pupils also had the chance to take part in a body butter workshop, learning about natural ingredients and their cultural significance.

We concluded the month with a video project featuring pupils across the school sharing what they are proud of; whether their heritage, their families, or their personal achievements. It was a powerful and joyful way to close the celebrations, reminding us that inclusion, representation, and pride in who we are remain at the heart of our school community all year round. Watch our celebration video here.

We've reached the end of term, and we couldn't be prouder of how well the children have settled in and begun their wonderful learning journey in Nursery!

Every Friday, we participate in a dance party that promotes the development of motor skills, balance, coordination, and muscle strength. The repetitive movements and patterns in dance also help children gain better control of their bodies and enhance their spatial awareness. During the dance parties, we foster self-confidence and promote positive self-image.

As the weather gets colder, please ensure your children are dressed appropriately for the season. Please label all hats, scarves, and gloves. We also encourage you to help your child practise putting on their own gloves —fingered gloves are preferable to mittens, as they support the development of fine motor skills and dexterity.

Dates to Remember – Nursery Parents' Evening:

Thursday, 13th November: 3:45 – 7:00pm
Tuesday, 18th November: 3:45 – 7:00pm

Next term, we will place sign-up sheets in the nursery for you to choose a 10-minute time slot to discuss your child’s progress.

This week, we have been exploring the traditional tale of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. The children have been using their imaginations to recreate the story, changing the giant to a goblin, troll or ogre and thinking of what else could have grown from the magic beans instead of the beanstalk. Maybe ask your child to tell you their story and what their new character and setting would be?

We have also been exploring counting to four and five, making sure that when we are counting we are reliable by touching the objects that we count.

The children have been developing their oral blending skills, which supports them to be able to read as they are learning new sounds. Please take a look at the video linked here, this will give you some information on how to say the sounds that the children are learning in school.

At Reach we use a knife and a fork to eat our food at lunchtime. The children have been working hard on developing their skills of using their cutlery. We explain to the children that they can use their fork to poke into the food and their knife to saw it in order to create smaller pieces of food to put into their mouths.

Please support your child to use a knife and fork at home where possible and ensure that your child is now feeding themselves.

PE Kit

When we return from the half term break the children in Reception will no longer need to bring their PE kit into school on a Wednesday. Please send your child to school wearing their full PE kit on a Wednesday.

Diwali and Bonfire Night Celebrations

We would like to invite you to a Diwali and Bonfire celebration event that will be taking place on Tuesday 4th November. Please see the invitation below.

As we come to the end of our first half term of the year, we wanted to say a huge thank you for all the continued support you have shown. The children have managed their transition to Key Stage 1 incredibly well and we are so proud of all their progress. We are so pleased to have enjoyed the first trip of the year to Kew Gardens, and to have seen so many of you at the Getting To Know You Event.

Their first piece of story writing is complete: 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea' and 'The Tiger Who Came To Lunch!' They have worked so hard to learn new grammatical knowledge such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. We are looking forward to starting our next unit on instructions.

In Maths the children have been exploring 2D and 3D shapes and looking for shapes in the environment. We learnt about vertices, faces and sides and we compared shapes. The children have made some pictures using 2D shapes.

In the foundation subjects children have enjoyed putting new knowledge into practice in their Learning Explorer sessions. They have dug for fossils, made rain gauges and wind vanes, and mixed new colours to paint in the style of Henri Matisee. They have also explored how algorithms work and used Beebots to follow instructions to reach destinations on a map.

We have come to the end of our first half term in Year 2 and what a wonderful start it has been! We have truly kick-started the year, making progress in both our learning and our behaviour, and have begun to grow strong routines that will carry us through the year.

A huge thank you for all your support with homework. The consistency you are helping your children build at home is already showing in their confidence and independence in class. We look at homework and reading logs every morning and we are so grateful for the support from home with this. It really makes a difference.

As a reminder, each night please support your child to complete the following:

Reading (please complete the reading log each night)
Handwriting sheets (each day is labelled)
Times tables (one column per day)

Book Club

This week, the children finished reading 'The Day the Crayons Quit' by Drew Daywalt. This is an hilarious and thoughtful story about crayons who each write letters to their owner, Duncan, explaining why they’re unhappy!

Here are some questions you could ask at home and some ideas for the answers:

Why did the blue crayon feel tired?

Because Duncan used it too much for colouring big skies and oceans!

Why was the pink crayon cross?

Because Duncan never used it and thought it was only for girls.

What did the green crayon say?

Green was happy; it just wanted peace between yellow and orange!

Writing

The children have been working hard on their innovative stories based on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. In their version, Little Red wasn’t frightened at all! She needed to fetch something from the shop and managed to defeat the wolf all by herself!

We focused on:

Writing in the past tense consistently
Avoiding repetition of pronouns (so not always saying “she” or “her”)
Adding variety to their sentences to make the stories exciting and powerful

We’re so proud of how imaginative and independent their writing has become!

Half Term Homework

Over half term, the children will have some homework to complete. It will be identical to their usual daily homework (reading, writing and maths) to help them stay in the habit of practising regularly.

Please continue to support your child by reading every day, even during the holidays. Reading a little each day builds fluency, vocabulary and understanding, and is one of the most powerful ways to help your child succeed in all subjects.

Maths

In maths this week we have continued our unit on addition and subtraction. Last week we looked at adding and subtracting 10s by partitioning.

For example: 45 + 20

Step 1: Partition 45 into 40 and 5.

Step 2: Add the tens and use number facts you already know - “If I know that 4 + 2 = 6 then I know that 40 + 20 = 60.

Step 3: Add the ones 5 + 0

Step 4: 60 + 5 = 65.

This week we concentrated on addition and subtraction where we partition both numbers and use number bonds to help us.

For example: 45 + 23

Step 1: Partition 45 into 40 and 5. Partition 23 into 20 and 3.

Step 2: Add the tens: 4 + 2 = 6

Step 3: Add the ones: 5 + 3 = 8

Step 4: 45 + 23 = 68

We also learned how to add three 1-digit numbers using near doubles and number bonds.

Next Half Term

We have an exciting half-term ahead including:

Judaism Speaker (in school): To help build on our Religious Studies unit on the religion of Judaism.
Pantomime Trip (December): We’ll be heading out to see Robin Hood! (oh yes, we will!) A highlight of the term!

We will also be running our first round of assessments in maths, reading, spelling and grammar. These will help us understand how much progress the children have made so far and how we can support them next.

Please remember that good attendance makes a huge difference. Every lesson builds on the one before, and consistent attendance helps your child feel confident, secure, and ready to learn. We are so grateful for all your support thus far with attendance and look forward to continuing to work together.

As we head towards the end of this half term the children are still working incredibly hard. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch them adapt to life in Phase 2 and we cannot wait to see the progress they will continue to make throughout this year.

Writing

In Writing, the children have been creating their own poem called 'Autumn is Here', an extended metaphor in which Autumn is described as a woman.

They have focused on using metaphors, similes and personification to bring their poems to life. Some examples include “Her hair is a rust breeze drifting through the trees” and “Juicy apples shine like rubies in the orchard.” The children’s final pieces are wonderfully poetic and full of vivid imagery.

Here are examples of Mayra and Ana’s first stanzas:

Music

We have had so much fun in our music lessons this term. We have been learning the song ‘Lean On Me’ by Bill Withers. In our last few lessons we have also been able to learn some simple chords on the keyboard and begin to play them in time to our song. It has been a lot of fun and the children have loved singing along!

Half Term Homework

We are seeing lots more fully completed pieces of homework each week and are very grateful for all the support you are showing at home. A reminder that students should complete their reading log and Times Tables Rockstars every evening for a minimum of 10 minutes. Students should then complete their assigned Century tasks once a week which are set and checked every Monday.

Message from Kajal

It has been such a joy to teach the delightful Year 3 children this term, their warmth, humour and love of learning have made each day so special. I know they’ll continue to go from strength to strength and make everyone proud. I will carry so many happy memories of this class and the wonderful spirit they bring to everything they do.

Year 4

Dear parents and carers,

What a wonderful first half term it has been in Year 4! The children have shown great enthusiasm, curiosity and perseverance in all areas of their learning, and we are incredibly proud of the progress they have made so far.

Writing and Humanities

It has been a busy and exciting writing week to finish the half term! The children have been crafting balanced arguments all about whether we should visit a national park, one that they have designed and named themselves. You might like to ask your child about their national park. What is it called? Where is it located? What makes it worth visiting?

We also had our half-termly essay writing morning, where pupils explored the question: to what extent is the UK’s weather predictable? Year 4 impressed us with their thoughtful paragraphs explaining why we have seasons, how different air masses affect the UK, and the ways in which climate change is impacting our weather.

Their growing ability to write in clear, well-structured paragraphs and use evidence to support their ideas is truly impressive. Well done, Year 4!

Science

In Science this week, we carried out an exciting hands on experiment to create oobleck — a non-Newtonian fluid that behaves as both a solid and a liquid. The children were fascinated to see how its properties changed depending on how much force was applied.

Here are some questions you could ask your child to revisit their learning this term:

How do the particles in a solid, liquid and gas behave?
What happens to particles when they are heated or cooled?
What is a non-Newtonian fluid?
What are the melting and boiling points of water?

Key Notices

Over the half term, please ensure your child’s pencil case is fully stocked so they can begin next term prepared and ready to learn.

Equipment list:

2 pencils
2 handwriting pens
Green pen
Red pen
Glue stick
2 whiteboard pens
Whiteboard
30cm ruler

It has been an absolute pleasure teaching Year 4 this half term. They have approached every lesson with enthusiasm, kindness and determination. We hope you all have a restful and enjoyable break, and we look forward to another fantastic half term of learning ahead.

Warm regards,

Alex, Jason, Jade and Yaran

Dear parents and carers,

I am pleased to share that this half term in Year 5 has been an absolute joy, a sentiment which we were fortunate enough to be able to share with you all at our ‘Get To Know You’ event last week. Many thanks to those who could make it.

We here at Reach Academy Feltham have had the pleasure of witnessing pupil excellence across the year group in a wide range of endeavours, be they academic, sporting or extracurricular. In the spirit of collaborative navigation, allow us to share a handful of examples:

Humanities and Book Club

Our curriculum for this first half term in Humanities and Book Club has been unified by a broad, mature theme: the transatlantic slave trade. Year 5 have grappled with many tricky concepts, such as slavery and freedom, with a shared mindset of respect, understanding and openness.

Kelechi and Semilore exemplified the above values (as well as the Reach value of Show Courage) on Friday last week, delivering an engaging presentation during assembly to the entire primary school on Black History Month. They touched on central Civil Rights figures and shared, with great delight, aspects of their own heritage and background. We are all so proud of the pair of them, and of the fact that our students so actively listen to and appreciate the perspectives of their peers.

A second shoutout goes out to Ryder. He crafted a marvellous poster on the transatlantic slave trade, which densely and beautifully detailed all that Year 5 have learnt so far in Humanities. More than this, additional individual research was evident, a true embodiment of our Reach value of Aspire!

Writing

Over the past eight weeks in writing, the year group have stretched and challenged themselves in their ability to compose fantastic prose across two distinct styles: creative and persuasive. The former saw exceptional work written on an imagined zoo trip, while the latter we are currently in the process of finishing, as Aspen and Tulip prepare for their final independent piece of the half term: ‘should homework be done online?’

Year 5’s collective, continued effort to improve is best represented by the two following pupils:

Tanu has demonstrated the value of ‘Endeavour’ in every single Writing lesson over the past eight weeks. She is always eager for feedback, which she receives graciously, and strives for unrelenting excellence.

In a similar vein, Hateem consistently displays an oblique confidence and self assuredness in her writing, using a broad range of techniques cohesively and with a clinical deftness.

All of us here at Reach hope that you and your children have a restful holiday, and we look forward to next term’s learning with eager anticipation. Onwards and upwards!

Well done!

Our incredible pupils have now completed their first half-term as Year 6 pupils. We have been absolutely delighted with how well they have transitioned into Phase 3 and we are excited to see them continue to develop both personally and academically after the half-term break.

Trip to the Imperial War Museum

On Monday, 13th of October, we made our trip to the Imperial War Museum. After a very calm commute to Waterloo Station, we walked through the Graffiti Tunnel, taking in the incredible artwork on display!

Then, at the Museum, we saw the World War 1 and World War 2 exhibitions where we studied a variety of primary and secondary sources. Our pupils really impressed the museum staff with their extensive knowledge, and our visit to the museum really allowed pupils to build on their learning in the classroom.

TFL Workshop

On Tuesday, 14th of October, we were visited by the Transport For London education team, as well as two transport police officers. During their presentation, they explained to our pupils how they can stay safe while travelling on public transport, as well as outlining what their responsibilities are as young commuters.

Our pupils were exceptionally well behaved throughout the presentation, and as a result, they were called “exceptionally polite” by our visitors, a wonderful compliment to receive from anybody!

Saatchi Gallery Trip

We will be visiting the Saatchi Gallery in Central London on Tuesday, 18th of November. As always, we would be delighted if any parents would like to volunteer to come with us. If you are interested and available, please do get in touch!

Merit/value certificate winners

A massive congratulations to these pupils, our merit and value certificate winners over the last two weeks!

Date	Merit Winners		Value Certificate Winners
Date	Y6 Esk	Y6 Medway	Y6 Esk	Y6 Medway
10.10.25	Aradhya	Eesa	Aarush	Samruddh
17.10.25	Aarush	Vidit	Aaradhya	Ahlaam

Book Club

In Book Club, we have continued to read ‘Letters From the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. We have followed the protagonist, Olive, as she uncovered that her mother, Rachel Bradshaw, actually worked to save Jewish refugees from Europe!

Maths

We have moved onto exploring factors and multiples. We learnt that multiples are numbers that can be divided by another number without leaving a remainder. Factors, which we can find by using factor bugs, are numbers that divide into another number exactly, without leaving a remainder.

Attendance

We were delighted to have enjoyed 100% for ALL year groups across Primary on Monday, 13th of October. This was such a momentous occasion that we celebrated by having extra playtime!

Homework

Please continue to support your child to complete their homework on time, in their homework book. If your child is unable to access the work, or is having difficulty completing it, then please do let us know as soon as possible so that we can support them.

Class invite link

Class code: raxmo2xd

Playground update

We have now added skipping ropes to the primary playground! Pupils have enjoyed using them in order to improve their general fitness.

Permission to go home

If you would like your child to go home by themselves, please make sure you complete this form. Here is the letter containing the relevant information.

Well done Year 7!

Year 7 have had an amazing week - accessing so much choice and opportunity! Many of our students have prepared for and performed 'A Midsummer’s Night Dream' this week - we are so proud of all their endeavour!

SO to Alice, Mahathi, Manjot, Deetya, and Ethan T who got 100% in their Science HW quiz! #aspire

SO to Aidan who missed the first half of the lesson but has come in and started straight away, catching up on what he has missed and focusing so hard to get the most of out what is left of his science lesson!

SO to Anas for obvious kindness! He offered straight away to help me hand out Chromebooks which was really helpful!!!

SO to Madi for making sure that Mersey’s form room was tidy and books were sorted ! #cleanqueen #aspire

Huge SO to everyone involved in A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Tonight’s rehearsal has been an utter joy - I’m so looking forward to the show now. Special mention to Alice who has learnt her lines already (main character energy) and Madi who has created a gorgeous poster to go alongside the production!

SO to 7B drama today. They are SO fantastic at drama, it was so lovely to see them shine in their performances today. So many of them had learnt their lines and really went into their characters which was so fun to watch. SO to Vihaan's group as Aari said: 'I could watch that over and over again'! Some future performers in this group for sure

Huge SO to 7 Wensum today! I was amazed by how many volunteers there were to read out whole sentences in Spanish with new vocabulary, and the whole class was doing silent praise while they were reading. They were all so obviously kind to one another! Extra shout out to Zuhaib, who read out a whole paragraph in Spanish!🥳🤩

SO to Wensum for yet another fantastic lesson. Special SO to Zuhaib and Amara who have really impressed me with the start they have made with us in history. Also a shout out to Davina for constantly endeavouring. Finally, SO to Pharrell for a stellar performance today and for receiving HotR

SO to Biraj, he went the extra mile and found out facts about computing history to add to his presentation #aspire #goldenticket

SO to Shiv who has been working on his presentation in his own time and it is looking amazing!

SO to Madi, Javeria and Imaan for making Amara feel welcome during lunch time! 👏👏

SO to Wensum who take their HW so seriously and truly understand why it is important to revise. They show so much endeavour and aspire with their learning

SO to Manjot- aspiring throughout the lesson and was almost telepathic in knowing what my exact answer was going to be !!! #goldenticket

Also SOs to Javeria, Nevaeh, Zuheib, Amara, and Luke who were absolute superstars at knowing the functions of network components

SO to Pharell who is reflecting a lot in his Spanish lesson, showing great endeavour and work! Wensum are such a joy learning their Spanish phonics and beating MPE with beat the teacher showing how they are all attentive!

Huge SO to 7C in drama so far - possibly the best improvisation I've seen with their 'yes and' leading them to exploring Mars after following a monkey flying a spaceship. They are SO kind to each other, and fully accept everyone's ideas, no matter how creative and give it a go. All the values being shown here

SO to team Wensum for huge levels of aspire in RS this morning completing an extended writing piece. HOTR was Shivam, he is so great at RS! Also, sat in the back of Joel's English lesson was a delight! They were all reading so excellently!

SO to Mersey who were so reflective of their last lesson and showed so much endeavour in their lesson they worked so hard. Massive SO to Mason who worked so hard to get the adjectives right in Spanish and HOTR was Bella, her work this lesson was so great and she gave so many answers putting her hand up showing courage!

As our final week of the half-term draws to a close we have so much to celebrate from the fantastic work the Year 8s have been doing.

Art

In Art this week Year 8 have been looking at insect paintings from the 17th Century by Jan Van Kessel the Elder. They then made mixed media responses to his dragonfly painting using watercolour and fine liner.

They drew the wings on tracing paper to highlight the transparency and then worked hard to record the muted tertiary colours by layering and mixing their paints.

Shoutouts

Eve: SO from RS yesterday to Cherwell - such inquisitive questioning and contributions! We had so much fun! #havefun 😀

Chloé V: Cherwell were fantastic with the negative sandwich in French! I was so impressed with their work. Saher’s book is so beautifully presented and Rediet always shows courage during all tasks! So so proud of them

Rachael: Also Rowan and Ruby, golden tickets for their focus and dedication. Their science posters look amazing!

Kit: SO to Zaynab- such a serious scholar in science today!!! Golden ticket heading her way 👀

SO to Hasan, Fizan, Nihal, Rhea, Avni who have got 100% two quizzes in a row!

SO to Chidera who worked so hard on her consolidation questions and quiz!

SO to Sakinah who has her hand up to answer every question!!!! Merit queen !!

SO to Pele- she shared such a balanced argument as to why she is neutral in her opinion of AI #goldenticket

Megan: Huge SO to Ouse who are writing so hard on a Monday afternoon - they are completing 40 minutes of independent writing in silence and are SMASHING it!!

Sophie: SO to Cien and JoJo as golden ticket winners for their extended writing and to Rowan who showed reflect for a much more positive second half helping him be successful.

SO to Cherwell for such a brilliant and focused lesson. Agamya, Imaan, Mohamed, Saman for endeavouring during their extended writing.

Faduma: SO to Millie for always showing so much obvious kindness even when she is being the grammar police and ensuring we enunciate all of our "t"s

What a great first half-term!

As we reach the end of the first half term, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate what has been a very positive and productive start to the year for Year 9.

The pupils have settled back into school life brilliantly and have shown real maturity as they take on greater responsibility for their learning and behaviour. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm in lessons.

A special well done to all the Year 9s that have taken part in activities outside of the classroom this half-term. From football fixtures, Black History Month activities or performing in a 'Midsummer Night’s Dream' it has been fantastic to see the children Show Courage and Have Fun!

This half term has also been an important step as students begin to think about their futures and the choices they will make later in the year. We will continue to support them through this process to ensure they feel confident and well-prepared.

Finally, please see below some incredible shout outs demonstrating year 9’s Endeavour over the last two weeks - have a wonderful half-term break!

Shout Outs

Sophie: SO to Lilah,Suvan, Riley and Amir who were so focused during English lesson today. Endeavouring from beginning to end.

Chloe V: SO to team Tyne who were so reflective of their previous lesson, they showed amazing endeavour, in particular Amelia who participated so much! SO to Team Don who completed a GCSE Foundation listening task and were so successful scoring between 6points to 8/8! I was particularly impressed with Riley-James' endeavour and Kenzie's participation!

Faduma: SO to Tyne who really enjoyed learning about compound interest and can’t wait to have Saving Accounts in the future!

Sarah R: SO to Riley, Kenzie, Joelle, Waaqas, Hajerah, Amima, Myah, Fiyin and Neelab for some outstanding pastel drawing in art, they mixed some delicious looking ice cream flavours!

Tom: SO to Tyne, really good lesson on some tricky content - SO to Asma for consistently answering every possible question!

Alice: SO to Don for lots of interest and enthusiasm on calculate interest. Particularly for Hanan who is just such a star at doing things right first time every time. Also to some brilliant work from Amaar, Qayam, Fiyin, Aarav, Krish, Ayyan and Klaudia.

Art

As part of their cycle 1 topic - ‘Pop Art and Sweet Tooth’ Year 9 have made some fantastic oil pastel studies inspired by American artist Wayne Thiebaud’s nostalgic ice cream cones.

They layered and mixed their pastels to produce some delicious colours and experimented with adding purple tones and shadows to exaggerate the forms.

Form Tutor Awards:

C1W7:

Leam: Eliza (Have Fun): Eliza always treats pupils and staff with obvious kindness. She says hello and asks how we are every morning, which starts the day off on such a positive note!

Thames: Tyler (Show Courage): Tyler is always making sure that he is showing courage in every lesson that he is in, he is consistently putting his hand up and trying his best to stretch his learning!

C1W8:

Leam: Halle (Aspire): Halle has been showing great leadership skills especially when telling students to stay for their detention or HWCU, ensuring that they are successful and don’t get Step 1 the following day. She has been aspiring to get her peers to be very successful! Well done!

Thames: Fatima (Aspire): Fatima has been working so hard this cycle to improve her quiz scores in every subject and is now achieving over 80% in the majority of them. This is a huge achievement and shows your endeavour and reflect over the course of this cycle - well done!

Head of Year Award

The Head of Year award is for the highest payslip earner in each class. Congratulations to:

C1W7:

Leam: Susam (Endeavour - 122)

Thames: Esther (Endeavour - 134)

C1W8:

Leam: DJ and Lilly (135)

Thames: Brandon (151)

Thames: Hannah - (All the REACH values!): An additional Head of Year award this week goes to Hannah. She applied for a 7 year-long Early Birds Pathway into Law. Over 500 applications were sent in for this very competitive opportunity. She invested a lot of time and effort in completing the application. She was one of 12 students successfully selected! In Year 10, Early Bird Pioneers gain an insight into the legal sector and the full range of careers available within the professional services industry, as well as exposure to the developmental skills needed for a successful career.

Spotlight - Budding Physicists!

Last week, our Year 10 students rolled up their sleeves in the science lab for an exciting required practical on specific heat capacity; an essential concept in physics that helps us understand how materials respond to heating and cooling.

Art

As part of their GCSE Art coursework Willow, Miley and Eliza have produced outstanding mixed media interpretations of ceramic aquatic themed vases by artist Mary O’Malley. They have combined skills in both pencil recording and acrylic painting to produce these stunning pieces of textured work!

They are also now experimenting with paint, pen and coffee to produce aquatic art inspired by scientific artist Ernst Haeckel. This artist will be the inspiration for ceramic tiles linked to symmetry that they will make in the upcoming weeks.

Shout Outs!

Sophie: So to Jayda who showed great endeavour in geography today and received a golden ticket!
Chloe.V: SO to Miley, Logan and George B who stayed after school to complete HW showing independence and aspire!
Chloe.V: SO to Susam and Halle for being the Golden Ticket winners and getting to have their reward on Friday lunch! Looking forward to seeing them at the main table!
Izzy: SO to Caderyn, Nihanya, Sharun, Esther and Christine for 4/4 in their first history GCSE practice question ✨ Especially proud of Christine and Caderyn who have made excellent progress in a short time
Chloe.S: SO to Varunan for a lovely Spanish accent!
Chloe.S: Also Iqra BLOWING ME AWAY having never done Spanish before and putting her hand up in Phoebe's Spanish lesson 100% of the time! 🧠
Anastasia: SO to Fatima Y who, even though has missed 3 weeks of Chemistry content, is smashing it in lessons and showing so much courage with her MWBs and answers! #aspire🧪
Chloe.V: SO to Anvita for asking interesting questions that helps everyone understand concept in a different way, SO to Tyler for just being so joyous in French, he is always keen to learn and to show his knowledge. And finally, SO to Alan who has been a STAR this lesson, looooved his endeavour! So many of them deserve a SO every lesson as they are all such amazing linguists!
Chloe.V: Team Leam is so engaged with the Team Teach Reach lesson on 'Rule of Law' and creating their own laws on their island. Some very different ideas in each but all thought through!
Megan.T: SO to Thames for their endeavour to create their own island this afternoon. Especially to Anvita, Austas, RJay, Kayla, Hannah and Avneet for taking inspiration from this mornings assembly and saying how their society needed to act more like ants 🐜🐜🐜🐜
Leah: Shout out to 10 Turing who were very kind in our lessons this morning when I had a coughing fit that made me cry 😂😭 they were very concerned that I had access to water!!
Kit: SO to Team Comp Sci, I look forward to teaching them every week because they are so delightful!!! They have now dubbed themselves ‘10 Megabytes’ as they wanted a class name. In particular- Ezaan and Elias were on it today, and I was really impressed with their knowledge of old school storage #cassettetapes
Ben: Shout out to 10 Leam, absolutely superb lesson today working on flexibility and whole body strength. Honestly all the groups deserve shout outs for how well they all engaged and supported each other to be successful
Phoebe: I have just marked Y10 Spanish writing and they are INCREDIBLE. Special SO to Logan for endeavour who has made so much progress and clearly put in so much endeavour, to Zulaykha for Aspire who's writing is brilliant and Lilly who's writing is so accurate! I am so impressed 🙂
Ruksar: Logan and Susam for Head Teachers lunch today! 🥳💯 Please congratulate them!
Chloe.S: LOVED teaching Year 10 today - they are such wonderful linguists and a pure joy to be around! Very excited for our new topic of music! They already listen to so many Spanish artists 🤩
Chloe.V: SO to Y10 French who have such amazing recall of all the grammar concepts of the last 5 weeks! We have just revised ahead of an end of topic test and they were all so great with it! Looking forward to seeing what they achieve!
Izzy: SO to the Y10 artists for a lovely productive and calm cover lesson. Their books look amazing! Can’t wait to see what they produce by the end of Y10!
Megan.T: SO to Thames this morning for some lovely focused essay writing - so much hard work and effort in the room 📝📝📝
Anastasia: SO to Rachael's Y10 maths group! Their lesson is so purposeful, students are listening and following instructions so well when solving their quadratic equations (I think 🥴) and there is so much enthusiasm in showing they can solve them - all thanks to Rachael's exposition of course! #aspire #WeloveY10
Chloe.V: SO to Y10 French for their hard work during the end of module test. I was so impressed with the quality and recall and their results show how hard they have worked in and out of the classroom. They also want to call their class either Baguette or Lafayette which shows their love for the language.

Year 11

As we enter this crucial year ahead of the GCSEs, I wanted to share some exciting news and important expectations about how we are supporting your children’s revision, and how you can help at home.

What We’ve Provided

To bolster your child’s success in English, Maths and Science, we have purchased revision guides for each pupil in those subjects. These guides are aligned with the GCSE specifications and are packed with key content summaries, worked examples, practice questions, and exam tips.

In addition, each student has been given a pack of flashcards. These flashcards need to cover essential vocabulary, formulae, key facts and concepts. We know from educational research and experience that regular use of flashcards can significantly improve recall and retention, particularly in cumulative, knowledge dense subjects.

How Students Should Use Them

To get maximum benefit, here’s how we expect students to engage with the materials:

Expectation	Details
Bring one guide a day	Pupils should come to school with their revision guide and one set of flashcards (for example, Maths or Science) on a daily basis.
Use them at home	Short, regular sessions at home (e.g. 10–20 minutes) reviewing flashcards, working through revision guide sections, or answering practice questions.
Use them in school time (detention / IS / study periods)	Where pupils are given direct study time, detention or independent study (IS), they should be actively using the revision materials, not browsing phones or doing unrelated work.
Engage seriously and consistently	It’s not enough to have the materials, they must be used. We will monitor that students are engaging with them, and we will intervene (with support) if they are not.

We are firm believers that these tools work, if used faithfully. Flashcards help with spaced recall, building strong memory foundations; revision guides help consolidate understanding and provide scaffolded practice, all of which support exam success.

How You Can Support at Home

You as parents and carers play a vital role. Here are some suggestions:

Ask them to show you: pick a day in the week and ask your child to take you through one flashcard set or a section from the revision guide.
Encourage short, frequent sessions: even 10 minutes of flashcard review daily is better than one long cram.
Create a quiet revision space: a little area with minimal distractions goes a long way.
Praise consistency: acknowledging the effort, and small improvements, supports their motivation.

Check compliance: you might gently check that they have their revision pack in their bag or remind them to use it.

Our Expectations & Monitoring

We will check regularly in class, in study periods, and in any detention/IS settings that pupils are using the guides and cards appropriately. If we see a pupil consistently failing to bring or use their materials, we will follow up with them and you to understand and solve any barriers (logistics, motivation, understanding).

We hope that, through this partnership between school, students, and home, we will help every Year 11 pupil increase their confidence, deepen their understanding, and perform to the very best in their GCSE exams.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Together, we can make this year a strong, successful one.

UCAS Applications

We are also in the midst of sending UCAS applications, and it’s been fantastic to see so many students working hard on their personal statements. Each student has been assigned a dedicated mentor to provide one-to-one guidance and feedback. Parents can continue to support at home by encouraging students to refine their statements and keep track of deadlines.

Year 12

A huge well done to all Year 12 students on completing a successful first half term! They have settled in brilliantly to college life and shown great enthusiasm for their studies.

Looking ahead, we have an exciting programme of opportunities planned, including a careers fair and several day trips designed to help students explore future pathways and develop wider skills. More details will be shared soon.

Attendance Matters

We would like to remind all students and parents that excellent attendance is vital for success. There is a clear link between attendance and outcomes. S tudents who attend regularly achieve better results and make stronger progress. We understand that challenges can arise and we are here to support you. Please contact the college if you need any help or advice around attendance or wellbeing.

Shout outs

Chloe S - Massive SO to Mia who has emailed all of her teachers in an obviously kind way to ask for guidance on revision over the half term as she is determined to be successful! #Aspire 🎓Currently stars of the shows in Model UN are Kadijah, Kasia, Jagoda, Kristian & Zoe! Zoe is chairing the debate and is HILARIOUS 😂🥹🤩 SO to Team languages (both Y12 & 13) who were the shining stars at our Languages For All day at Royal Holloway!
Kit - SO to Kush for staying for an optional programming masterclass! SO to the Y12 computers- excellent start on their first ever A-Level programming lesson ! Andy is debugging his code, Aqil is making sure his comments are solid, Yusei is checking his data types, Faris is being creative with his user inputs #aspire!!
Izzy - SO to Y12 historians for a fantastic first debate of A-Level History, I was so so impressed with them. Caitlyn and Zoe had some excellent sophisticated points and many rebuttals. Adline, Riley, Iman and Eli actively contribute to their groups win by listening carefully and always having a response. MoAmar #showedcourage by debating despite only joining history last week!
Tom - SO to the Y12 economists - particular shout out to Bradley, Abdi, and Avni who were all very alert and on it throughout
Sarah C - SO to the Y12 historians - I'm blown away by the depth of knowledge they have demonstrated in their first timed essay. They have been such a joy to read - in particular Caitlyn who took on board all the feedback from their homework essay to write a really in depth and fully analytical response.
Anastascia - SO to Hashim, Moujitha, Zoe, Bill and Aaliyah who are always super focused and work so hard during my Y12 Biology lessons... they get on with the work, putting so much detail in their answers and every single question they answer is 100% correct 100% of the time. Well done!🧪
Alice - SO to Jess, Nathan, Zoya and Rhyz (and loads of others) who are always so on it in Mechanics and produce some exceptional work! SO to Riley and Adam in Maths today who could not stop trying to prove the quadratic formula. exception passion and attention to detail! Also SO to Moujitha and Varshana who were able to spot mistakes in textbooks which got the whole class thinking hard (including me!)
Meg - SO to Y12 Lit - such focused discussion as always and some real endeavour with some high-level concepts!
Anna - SO to Mohamed and Sara who both made HUGE progress in the Bio quizzes from HWCU causing scores to 10/10 this week 🌟
Lily - Shout out to Nafeesa and Aaliyah 12 Zambezi for some great contributions in Team Reach 🥳

Attendance

As we reach the end of the first half term, we’d like to thank all our families for supporting good attendance and punctuality. Regular attendance makes a huge difference to children’s learning, confidence, and progress. Please remember that every day counts - even a few missed days can add up over time.

We appreciate your continued efforts to ensure your child is in school, on time, every day after the break. Below is our leader board for the year to date. A huge well done to our Year 2's and 4's who are our current winners!

Hounslow Repair Café - youth repair workshop

Hounslow Repair Café is running a programme of events, including the community repair café and new youth repair workshops focusing on developing electrical, bike and sewing repair skills.

The workshops offer free electrical repair courses for 12-24 year olds. These take place one Sunday a month throughout October, November, January and February at St. Leonard’s Church Hall, Heston Road, Heston, TW5 0RD. Run by Team Repair, participants earn a certificate and develop Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mechanics (STEM) skills, problem-solving, resilience, and sustainability awareness to reduce waste and promote a circular economy. Book now at https://e-voice.org.uk/hrc/book

Community repair cafés also run every third Sunday of the month from 1:30pm-4:30pm at St. Leonard’s Church Hall (address above), where people can bring bikes, small appliances, clothing and digital equipment to be fixed. Book your visit here: http://bit.ly/46njvd4

For any questions, feel free to email hestonrepaircafe@gmail.com

Oral Health Pack for parents

Halloween is just around the corner, and kids everywhere are gearing up for spooky costumes and bags full of sweets from trick-or-treating. While it’s a fun night for children, it can turn into a nightmare for their teeth. Click here to access helpful tips to avoid dental disaster this Halloween. The pack also has some fun games, quizzes and recipes for you to enjoy with your child(ren).

Turning visitors into leads.

Wellbeing Hub

We encourage all of our families to join the Wellbeing Hub. Our school is signed up to this fantastic resource which gives families and their children free access to great content on everything including starting school for the first time, puberty, smartphones and anxiety. There are really helpful resources for all ages.

If you haven’t joined the Hub yet, we urge you to do so through using the QR code opposite.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Kay Stone. kay.stone@reachacademy.org.uk

The Wool Shop Closure

Some of you might be aware that Anne and Paul's Feltham Wool Shop next to Reach Academy Feltham is due to close down on Saturday 8th November. They have been trying to find someone to take over the shop, but so far have not found the right fit. If anyone is interested they're urging people to drop in or give them a call on 02088937779.

As closing date becomes closer there will be some bulk discounts at the shop. The owners would like to say a heartfelt thank you to staff and customers over the years for their unwavering support.

NEWSLETTER

AUTUMN 2025

Dates for your diary

Here are details of important events in the next few weeks.

Spotlight on... Celebrating Black History Month

Find your way around

Primary

Congratulations!

Nursery

Getting to Know You Event

Dates to Remember – Nursery Parents' Evening:

Reception

PE Kit

Diwali and Bonfire Night Celebrations

Year 1

Next Term

Year 2

Book Club

Next Term: The Magic Finger

Writing

Half Term Homework

Maths

Next Half Term

Year 3

Writing

Maths

Book Club

Music

Half Term Homework

Message from Kajal

Year 4

Writing and Humanities

Science

Key Notices

Year 5

Humanities and Book Club

Writing

Year 6

Well done!

Trip to the Imperial War Museum

TFL Workshop

Saatchi Gallery Trip

Merit/value certificate winners

Book Club

Maths

Humanities

PE

Attendance

Homework

Playground update

Permission to go home

Art

Cat Club: Years 6, 7 and 8

Secondary

Year 7

Well done Year 7!

Art

Year 8

Art

Shoutouts

Year 9

What a great first half-term!

Shout Outs

Art

Year 10

Form Tutor Awards:

Head of Year Award

Spotlight - Budding Physicists!

Art

Shout Outs!

Year 11

What We’ve Provided

How Students Should Use Them

How You Can Support at Home

Our Expectations & Monitoring

Year 13

Mini Mocks

UCAS Applications

Year 12

Attendance Matters