Autumn Term Newsletter #3
18th September 2026
Autumn Term Newsletter #3
18th September 2026
Dear Parents and Carers,
All systems are go: routines are in place, lessons are purposeful and the enrichment opportunities have begun. This week we were joined by the entertaining and engaging author Olaf Falafel to share his experiences and sign copies of his latest book. Mrs Ansell and I have been busy securing new opportunities: we have entered a team into the Watford FC half-time penalty shootout competition, Herts Catering will deliver cooking workshops for several year groups this term and next week sees the return of singing assemblies, djembe drumming in Year 2 and the launch of our new school choir! We have also broadened the range of clubs available to children with further lunchtime activities coming soon, led by the teaching team. As a staff team, we continue to share our knowledge with our colleagues: Mr Bristow hosted all Year 5 teachers from across the Trust sharing his expertise in the use of data to inform our teaching.
Values: This week, we considered the last of our core values: resilience and the words of Nelson Mandela 'It always seems impossible until it's done.' Our Values Champions were recognised for their determination to persevere through tricky learning challenges. Next week, our value is kindness and we take inspiration from Roald Dahl - 'If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.'
Votes for Schools: Our question 'Do you feel hopeful about your future?' coupled with some serious media headlines about AI this week led to some deep and considered discussions across school. Thankfully the optimism of youth shone through with 66% of pupils saying 'yes' they feel hopeful. Next week, our question is 'Do school dinners need to change?'
Meet the Teacher: We open our doors to all parents on Wednesday at the end of the school day. Please take this opportunity to visit your child's classroom, meet the teacher and take a look at some of the great learning already under way. School will be open to parents from 3.15 until 4.00pm.
Harvest Celebration: The Friends of Lanchester have joined forces with Miss Hayes to widen our Harvest efforts. Alongside the usual collection for the foodbank, there will be a chance to enjoy a range of seasonal activities after school. More information can be found below.
Apologies to anyone who took up my suggestion to watch Watford last weekend. Fortunately they are away this evening! On Sunday, Wheels on the Parade celebrates links between Watford and Mainz, displaying classic cars free for families to view. There is also the junior park run that takes place every Sunday in Cassiobury Park. However you spend your weekend, have a great time.
Best wishes,
Mr. Matt Morey - Headteacher
Mr Sanderson would like to invite the parents of children with SEN into school for an information afternoon in the School Hall on Friday 25th September from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, following up on the email sent from the office earlier this week. The session will explore the Universal, Targeted, and Specialist levels of school support and share helpful resources from local charities.
Additionally, we are delighted to welcome guest speaker Lisa Sillitoe, a Specialist Transition Outreach Worker, who will be available to answer questions and offer valuable guidance to Year 6 parents navigating the secondary school transition.
Wed 23rd Sept - Meet the Teacher, 3.15-4.00pm
Classrooms will be open for parents to pop in, see some learning and meet the class teacher.
Thu 24th Sept - School Nurse Visits
Flu vaccinations and Y6 wellbeing visits.
Fri 25th Sept - SEN Parent Coffee Club, 1.00-3.00pm
A chance for SEN parents to meet with Mr Sanderson and professionals from county.
Thu 1st Oct - National Poetry Day
Children will immerse themselves in a range of poetic styles.
Wed 7th Oct - Parent Workshop: Teaching of Writing, 8.45-9.30am
Parents are invited to join sessions in the classrooms before hearing from Mrs Ansell in the hall.
Tue 20th & Thu 22nd Oct - Parents' Evenings
Further details to be released nearer the time.
Attendance this week is 94.6%. Excellent attendance is vital for successful learning. Our curriculum is sequenced and builds knowledge cumulatively, so any absence can hinder their learning journey. Be sure to get your child into school every day. Another strong performance from Mumbai who have taken the top spot this week with an excellent 99.0%.
Class Attendance Summary:
1. Mumbai 99.0%
2. Oslo 97.6%
3. New York 97.0%
4. Kingston 96.6%
5. Cusco 95.6%
6. Beijing 94.6%
7. London 93.3%
8. Rome 92.2%
9. Nairobi 89.1%
10. Rio 88.8%
This week has been full of children making excellent choices and working on our school values. The children listed below have been chosen for their outstanding efforts! They were ready to learn, respectful of the environment and their peers and they were resilient and worked hard throughout. Well done, everyone!
Year R:
London - Taqwa
Year 1:
Rome - Jacob
Year 2:
Beijing - Hani
Year 3/4:
Mumbai - Ya Nenneh
Nairobi - Harvey
Oslo - Harriet
Year 5:
Cusco - Kallan
Rio - Hafsa
Year 6:
Kingston - Anaya
New York - Ismail
Children’s attitude to learning has been recognised through the collection of dojo points, which are then totalled as house points across the school. Every child continues to show their commitment to being Ready, Respectful and Resilient, earning points for their house. Each half term the points are reset and a new competition begins. Well done to Carver who retain the top spot this week.
Here’s how the points stand:
1st: Carver with 1500 points (+647 points)
2nd: Curie with 1463 points (+636 points)
3rd: Alhazen with 1430 points (+617 points)
4th: Sharman with 1378 points (+609 points)
Let’s keep up the great work and continue to support each other as we aim for the top!
Class News
This week in Reception, we have looked at the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children came in after lunch to find a big mess in the classroom and 3 bowls of porridge. They had fun discussing who they thought made such a mess. In phonics, we have started learning the set 1 single sounds and the children have shown great recall of the sounds taught. In maths, we have continued sorting and grouping where the children have come up with their own sorting rules.
The children carefully painted their own colour wheels, following the journey from primary to secondary colours and watching the magic happen as colours were mixed together. They have been developing their painting skills while learning that artists can create lots of different colours by experimenting with just a few.
We have loved seeing the children’s curiosity as they mixed, explored and discovered new colours!
This week, Year 2 has been diving into the world of science to discover what living things need to survive and thrive. This sparked huge curiosity, especially when we looked at the fascinating Venus flytrap! The children were amazed to learn how this unique plant gets the nutrients it needs. Inspired by these carnivorous plants, the children designed their own "friendly-monster" plants. Next week, they will turn these ideas into fun, fictional reports—we can't wait to see what Year 2 creates!
This week in Year 3/4, we became scientific detectives as we explored how classification keys can help us group and identify objects and living things! The children discovered that a classification key uses a series of yes/no questions to sort and identify things based on their features. Working collaboratively in groups, they used Mr Men characters to create their own classification keys. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to develop their observation, reasoning and teamwork skills while having lots of fun!
Our Year 5 pupils have shown incredible curiosity across the curriculum this week. In Science, we explored Aristotle’s early observations about how ships disappear hull-first over the sea, discovering how this proves the Earth is a sphere. In History, we investigated the first Viking raid on Lindisfarne, while over in Maths, we got creative designing board games based on the powers of 10. We wrapped up the week in PSHE with a fantastic discussion on rights and responsibilities, where the students shared some truly insightful ideas on how to be responsible citizens.
Year 6 showed fantastic resilience in Art this week as they sketched endangered species using the grid method to match their subject box-for-box. Both classes applied a variety of sophisticated shading techniques to bring their drawings to life, including hatching, cross-hatching, blending, short dashes, contouring and stippling.
Harvest Festival
Join us for our first Harvest Festival on Friday 16th October in the playground after school. Come along for a hot chocolate, an autumn themed bake sale, games and fun!
AGM
Keep an eye out for our AGM date coming soon. We'd love to see as many of you there as possible.
Elfridges
We're excited that Eflridges will return again this year! It will be the same as last year with each class being able to take their turn in our pop-up Christmas shop and buy gifts for friends and family.
We're also hoping to keep it open for the Christmas Fair (volunteer dependent) so everyone has a chance to take part.
Dates for your diary
Friday 16th October - Harvest Festival
Friday 13th November - Non-uniform day for Christmas Hamper Raffle
W/C 7th December - Elfridges
Saturday 12th December - Christmas Fair
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoflanchester or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsoflanchester/ or contact us by email: friendsoflanchester@gmail.com
Thanks for your support!
Friends of Lanchester committee - Tracey Bravo, Lawrence Brown, Louise Brown, Helen Gibson, Chloé Harper and Laura Robson
On Behalf of 'Friends of Lanchester CFS'
Registered Charity 1161580
Lanchester Primary School, Hempstead Road, Watford, WD17 3HD
Tel: 01923 224160 Email: office@lanchester.herts.sch.uk
Website: www.lanchester.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher: Mr Matt Morey