22nd March 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
This Week in School
We were delighted to be joined by Father Rajesh this morning for our End of Term Mass, which took place a little early due to the school being closed for Good Friday next week. The Mass was confidently led by our Year 6 pupils, and we were accompanied on the grand piano by our wonderful volunteer and School Governor, Mrs Tighe. The children sang beautifully, and the staff were so proud of their participation and excellent behaviour. Father Rajesh gave an inspiring homily, encouraging the children to grow in their faith this Lent by praying, fasting, and giving. He compared their faith to the tiniest seeds, which when watered and cared for with love, can grow and grow until they become closer to God. Father Rajesh shared that he remembered sitting as a young child listening to his priest talking about such things, and in him the seed of faith grew until he knew he wanted to become a priest to serve God and grow closer to Him every day of his life. It was so special to hear this memory being shared, and it reminded me how blessed we are to have such an inspiring man of faith supporting our school children and our school community.
Year 1 Parent’s Evening
Mrs Crocker will hold parent’s evening appointments on Monday 25th March from 5pm to 7.30pm and on Tuesday 26th March from 2pm to 4.30pm.
The Swimming Pool
Next week, each class will do a whole-class swim on their usual swimming day. Please ensure that children come to school with their swimming kits on this day. An email has been sent to parents confirming this. Thank you for your support with this.
Attendance and Lateness
As a parent or carer, you always want the best for your children growing up. Having a good education is a great head start in life and crucial in creating more opportunities in adult life. Regular absences from school can cause many issues, such as:
- Pupils falling behind in their work.
- A loss of motivation
- An impact on pupils’ enjoyment of learning
- Poor or declining behaviour
- Loss of desire to attend school regularly.
- Lower confidence in school
- Missing out on the social life of school, extra-curricular opportunities, and experiences
- affecting pupils’ ability to have or keep friendships.
Good school attendance habits are best started early. Children learn from those around them and we as parents/carers set the standards and expectations for them. Showing our children the importance of attending school on time every day not only helps them to settle quickly when starting school but to enjoy the school environment and maintain friendships. We appreciate your support and understanding with this. We have attached a copy of our Attendance Policy for your perusal and provided an extract below.
Effects of Late Arrival at School – extract from our Attendance Policy
The table below indicates how frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of learning being lost. This can seriously disadvantage children and disrupt the learning of others.
|
Minutes late per Day |
Equates to Days of Teaching Lost in one Year |
Which means this number of lessons missed |
|
5 mins |
3 days |
15 lessons |
|
10 mins |
6 days |
30 lessons |
|
15 mins |
9 days |
45 lessons |
CAFOD Lenten Campaign
I popped around the classes today to see the children and remind them about the challenge to fill up their class CAFOD Box with spare change and pocket money this Lent. There are only 4 days left as the school will be closed for Good Friday next week. Any class that successfully manages to fill their box will, as a treat, receive an extra playtime! Good luck and thank you for your generous support in helping our brothers and sisters around the world who are less fortunate.
Remember:
- Just 1p and 2p can vaccinate 10 children against life-threatening diseases.
- Your 20p and 50p can buy a treated mosquito net that keeps children safe from malaria.
- £1 and £2 will be used to provide clean water for 3 families.
This Lent, if we put our small change together, we can make a BIG difference!
Best wishes,
Edwina McDonnell
Upcoming Dates:
Wednesday 27th March – Stations of the Cross – 9.30am in the School Hall – parents welcome
Friday 29th March – Good Friday – SCHOOL CLOSED for EASTER BREAK
Monday 15th April – SCHOOL OPEN
Tuesday 23rd April – St George’s Day Mass in Church – parents welcome
Monday 6th May – Bank Holiday – SCHOOL CLOSED
Thursday 9th May – Ascension Day Mass in Church, 9.30am – parents welcome
Week beginning Monday 13th May – Key Stage Two SATS Week
