School Newsletter – 9th January 2026

NEXT WEEK

Next week is STEM week with a focus on human biology. On Monday (Year 3 and 4) and Tuesday (Year 5 and 6), Upper School will be visiting the Centre of the Cell at Queen Mary University. The children will take part in a workshop on the digestive system where they will learn about how our body processes food — in an engaging, hands-on way. They will also enjoy the “pod experience” in the Centre of the Cell: this is an immersive and interactive exhibit where children can explore a life-sized model of the human body at the cellular level — giving them a vivid, close-up look at cells and how organs work.

Meanwhile, Lower School will be participating in a workshop in school on Monday afternoon run by the Centre of the Cell and also looking at gut processes in the human body. Just the icky kind of things children love but very educational! The children will also participate in some hands-on experiments in their classrooms.

Also, next week we have our first parent talk of the term from Psychotherapist and Parent Coach, Morwenna Lewis on ‘How smart parents navigate parenting in the digital age’. Wednesday 14th January 8.50-9.20am on Zoom at the usual link (see separate email). Morwenna is a psychotherapist who specialises in supporting parents and children to have a healthier balance in relation to screen time. This is such an important topic so I do hope you can join us.

On Friday, we welcome friends who may be considering The Roche School for their child to visit for a school tour and to meet me. Bookings can be made at The Roche School – Visit Us

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION REPORT

Last term ended with our first EDI coffee-morning of the academic year which was a great opportunity to discuss our current provision, look at some examples of how EDI is embedded in our lessons, assemblies and many events and celebrations across each term. The Autumn Term was indeed bustling with opportunities to celebrate diversity, from Parliament Week to assemblies on inclusiveness in football and how to protect our planet; from Black History Month to Anti-bullying week; we discussed the importance of different religious festivals such as Diwali, Hannukah and Christmas to name but a few!

This term, we have lots of exciting events and celebrations coming up – please let us know if you are keen to come into school to talk about your culture, traditions or faith or if there is a particular topic you would like to share your expertise on.

These are a few of our key highlights:

9th January: Buddhism Assembly

23rd January: Judaism Assembly / Year 5 visit to church

6th February: Year 5 Humanist Assembly

W/C 9th February: Languages Week, assembly, French and Spanish cafes, Year 3 Spanish trip to BFI

March: Lunar New Year Celebrations

5th March: Holi Festival – EYFS

6th March: World Book Day

16th March: Eid assembly

W/C 16th March: Neurodiversity Celebration Week

27th March: Easter and Passover assembly

Our next EDI coffee morning is before school on Thursday 26th March.

AOB

The Roche School Talent Show auditions will be taking place next week and the week after. Miss Lydia has sent out a separate email with the audition schedule, but children can just turn up for their year group slot to perform in any shape or form. We look forward to seeing the finalists on Tuesday 27th January (Lower School) and Friday 30th January (Upper School). Although parents are not able to come in person, the show will be filmed and the recording available to purchase in aid of our house charity, Regenerate.

A gentle reminder to please label all your child’s uniform so that it can be easily returned to you if it goes missing.

Last term’s house competition winners, Red House will have their mufti day on the day before half-term, Friday 13th February.

On Tuesday 27th January, we will be running a Spanish Taster for 4s and under at 9.30am in the Nursery. Bookable at this link The Roche School – Visit Us

Finally, congratulations to all the children who passed their RAD ballet exams. There was one distinction, eight high merits and a merit. Fab-u-lous! Thank you, Miss Lucilla, for supporting the girls through their gradings and all your efforts with our dance lessons and clubs.

Have a lovely weekend,

Charlotte