March 2025 Whole School Newsletter
March 2025
This month, ask your child:
- What have you learnt about in assemblies, including Ramadan, Shakespeare Week and International Women’s Week?
- Which costumes did you recognise on World Book Day? What’s your favourite book of all time? In Years 2-6, which parts of your class reading challenge can you tick off?
- Which careers have you learnt about in Careers Week?
- What can you spot nature this March? Things to look out for include: the golden blooms of primroses giving nectar to bumblebees and butterflies (Red Admirals, Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells) emerging from hibernation, and blackbirds in full song, heralding warmer days and evenings.
Message from the Heads
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been a busy few weeks with so much to celebrate, not least the Girls Football Team topping the Camden league and going on to win the finals as the best team in the borough. This is an EP first and means we are now in need of an additional trophy cabinet! 
Changemakers at Downing Street
A group of Year 6 pupils visited 10 Downing Street on a very special assignment – to interview PM Keir Starmer for Junior PMQs during the half term holiday! 
After an amazing backstage tour of No. 10, the children took their seats in the briefing room to quiz the PM on various issues including housing, antisocial behaviour, the NHS and of course – football. What a wonderful opportunity and a demonstration of how engaged our pupils are with their world.
Parent Progress Meetings - Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th March
Booking links will be sent out early next week for these meetings. We’ll share your child’s school progress report at this meeting, so please come 10 minutes early so that there’s time to read through the report. These meetings are really important for you to see how your child has progressed so far this year and what their next steps will be, both in school and at home with your support. One of the most vital things to support is reading - both ensuring your child reads their reading book independently or aloud and shared reading such as a bedtime story, which develops vocabulary, comprehension, knowledge of the world and empathy. Please know that if you read to and with your child at home each day, this is worth its weight in gold and will enable them to make progress not just academically but as a person!
National Engineering Competition
Every year EP entrants are finalists in The Primary Engineering Award and children from age 3 upwards have one more week to enter the competition we launched in school. To enter, children need to respond to the question: If you were an engineer, what would you do? We know that our children are full of creativity and innovation so are sure they will have more brilliant ideas this year. To enter they need to draw and annotate their invention and write a separate pitch letter to the judges to accompany it. All inventions should be submitted to Craig Cairns (Year 5 teacher) by Friday 21st March.
Egg Race!
With thoughts on engineering, the annual EP Great Egg Race will be 23 years old this year! For those new to EP, this is an end of Spring Term tradition where children build a vehicle to carry a hard-boiled egg to race the length of the hall. It is a definite highlight of the EP year! Full rules of the race at the end of the newsletter.
Families are welcome to come along - race times are as follows:
Nursery, Years 1, 3 and 5 race at 9.15am and Reception, 2, 4 and 6 at approximately 10.45am; however, we can’t be exact!
There is an adult race in the afternoon so you can get involved too
Home Zone
Eleanor Palmer is at the centre of our local community and we expect the area around the Home Zone to be safe for our children. If you are dropping children in cars, please be very vigilant and mindful of children and local residents using footpaths that they expect to be safe. Stopping at double yellow lines, particularly on corners, can make it hard for children to see whether they are safe to cross roads such as Raveley Street. If it is necessary to drive your child to school, please find a designated parking space outside of the Home Zone and turn off your engine.
Fundraising and Community Events
Thank you to everyone who joined our Bingo evening, such a lovely community event. You raised £663! Special thanks to our PTA for arranging the evening.
Save the date - Run Kids Run fun run - Sunday 18 May 2025
So many of you took part in this last year - brilliant fun and a fantastic fundraiser. We’ve signed up again and it takes place this year on Sunday 18th May. Please save this date and we’ll share more information as plans are finalised.
The week after the fun-run, we will come together again for our celebration of Black culture at CBC Night on Thursday 22 May. There is a planning meeting this Friday 14th after drop-off in the Lab - do come along and get involved. More details will be shared as plans come together!
A summer term highlight is the Summer Fair on Saturday 28th June 12-3pm. This event really does take a whole team to pull together and is a key fundraiser for EP, as well as a lovely social event. Please step-up to lend a hand as we move closer to the date.
We are always looking for new fundraising ideas, as well as your input on how this money is spent. You are all part of our PTA and invited the PTA AGM on 3rd April at 4pm.
Thank you. In times of reduced budgets and rising costs, we are reliant on your support and fundraising at all these events. Of course they are also wonderful community occasions and help support one of our core values of belonging at EP.
World Book Day
Thank you for some amazing World Book Day costumes, we loved seeing such a range of book characters! Well done to the following children who were selected by their teachers for impressing them with their dedication to and progress in reading: Ronnie in Reception, Liana Year 1, Aya Year 2, Harper Year 3, Callie Year 4, Nuriya Year 5 and Gabriella Year 6.
The celebration of books and reading continues as we host the Scholastic Book Fair next week. From next Monday 17th until Monday 24th, the fair will be open from 3:15pm in the upper playground. There will be books for all ages to browse and card payment is accepted.
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Young Music Makers
We love Young Music Makers who recently hosted assemblies at EP. They’ve asked us to share details of their bursary scheme
Applications are open to children of working families with an annual income of below £25,000 per household and who attend a Camden school.
YMM offer:
- 50% bursary for an individual lesson or 50% bursary for a group lesson.
- If an individual lesson is taken, the child is required to join one other group (at no extra cost
Apply by 29th March by emailing YMM manager, Richard manager@youngmusicmakers.co.uk copy in muscialdirector@youngmusicmakers.co.uk
Thank you for your continued support in making our school a place where children feel ready, respectful and safe, allowing them to thrive in their learning.
Best wishes,
Natalie Stevenson and Sally Hill
Key Information and dates for your diary
CBC Planning Meetings
A brilliant group of parents have begun to plan our Celebrating Black Culture (CBC) Party on Thursday 22 May. There are plenty of ways that all parents and carers can get involved. The next planning meeting will be this Friday 14th after drop off in the lab. Please come along!
Sports Clubs
A reminder that the fee for attending these clubs is £10 for each half term (regardless of how many sessions or how many clubs attended). Please make payment for this second half of term if your child is attending any sports clubs through Scopay https://www.scopay.com/login (or cash to the office). There is no cost for children eligible for Free School Meals.
Spring Term
- Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 March - Parent Progress Meetings
- Friday 28th March - Stay and Play
- Thursday 4 April 4pm – PTA AGM – all invited!
- Friday 4 April - Egg Race and last day of term ending 3:30pm
- Spring Holiday - Monday 7 - 18 April plus Bank Holiday Monday 21 April
Summer Term
- Monday 5 May - Bank Holiday
- May 12-15 Year 6 SATs tests
- Sunday 18th May Run Kids Run
- Thursday May 22nd CBC Night 6-8pm
- Half term Monday 26 May - Friday 30 May
- Monday 2 June - INSET day
- Wednesday 4 June - school photos
- Friday 20 June - no Club EP due to staff event
- Saturday 28 June - Summer Fair
- Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 July Parent Progress Meetings
- Friday 4 July - Nursery Sports Day
- Tuesday 8 July Sports Day Rec -Year 6
- Friday 18 July - Last day of term ending 1:30pm
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