19th April 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
This Week in School
I am happy to report that the children have settled back into school nicely and we have all been enjoying the bright and sunny weather. Although the temperatures are still relatively cool now, leaving the air feeling quite fresh and the evenings a bit chilly, it is sure to warm up in the coming weeks. We would ask that you keep an eye on the temperatures, ensuring that your children continue to bring a coat on cooler days and considering suncream and a hat when things begin to warm up. We are grateful for your support with this.
Next week, we will have our St George’s Day Mass in Church. We warmly invite parents to attend along with the whole school. This will take place at 9.30am in St George’s Church. In line with tradition, we will also hold our annual St George’s Races next Friday for the pupils. We would ask that you send your child to school in PE kit on that day.
I have updated the ‘Upcoming Dates’ section at the end of the newsletter for the Summer Term. Please take a note of the relevant dates that may be of interest to you.
We are pleased to announce the arrival of the beautiful Miss Eliza Chidgey, the daughter of Mrs Chidgey (our wonderful Year 5 teacher) and Mr Chidgey (our fantastic Sports Coach). All three are happy and thriving, if a little tired! The staff and pupils would like to extend their warmest congratulations to the new parents (who are absolutely delighted) and their much-loved bundle of joy. They are entering into a new and exciting phase in their lives, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for them. We are sure you will join us in celebrating this wonderful news, and welcoming Eliza into our St George’s Community.
Wraparound Care – Breakfast Club and Afterschool Club
We are pleased to say we will soon be ‘going live’ with our new online booking and payment system for our Breakfast and Afterschool Clubs. This will be done through a company called ‘Tucasi’. Now that staff training has been completed, user accounts are in the process of being set up for every family, and we will send out an email soon with your account details, password, and instructions for how to log on. Please look out for this in your email inboxes.
Outstanding balances that remain unpaid are currently in the process of being added to the system. Therefore, please be aware that when you first log on, you may have an outstanding balance to clear. Bookings and payments will now be taken electronically, which will be more convenient and time efficient for all involved.
Reminder – Swimming and PE
We have made a small change to the Swimming timetable due to Mr Chidgey being on paternity leave.
Can we remind you that for the following two weeks, all children (both Stingrays and Seahorses) will swim on their swimming day. Therefore, all children should bring their swimming kit and wear their PE kit on their swimming day for the next two weeks. This would allow a PE lesson to take place should we experience problems with the pool. Normal service will resume on the week beginning 7th May, when it will be the turn of the Seahorses group to swim. Thank you for your assistance with this.
Family Mass – Sunday 12th May 2024
You are all warmly invited to our ‘family Mass’ on Sunday 12th May at St George’s Church, at 9.15am. This will be a Marian themed Mass in celebration of Our Lady, and the choir will lead the hymns. If your child would like to take part, there are a small number of reading parts available. Volunteers must commit to practicing their part so that they are confident to stand up in front of the congregation and read with confidence. Please do ask your child to let me know as soon as possible if they are interested. I will send letters home with the children who have expressed an interest, for parents to sign and agree that they are available to attend the Mass, arriving just before 9am so we can prepare.
Expectations at Drop Off
Please could we remind parents that children must not be left unsupervised before the start of the school day. The school provides supervision for pupils in several ways before school. Breakfast Club is available, at a cost, from 7.45am onwards. Wake and Shake Club is available for free from 8.40am onwards, and at 8.50am, classrooms are opened to all pupils.
If your child is not attending Breakfast Club or Wake and Shake, they remain under parental responsibility and must be supervised. As there are no staff or first aiders present on the playground at this time, it is part of our school risk assessment that equipment must not be used during this time. This is intended to keep children safe.
If you are unable to stay to supervise from 8.40am onwards, we encourage you to make use of our clubs, or to approach a parent you know on the playground who may be happy to ‘keep an eye’ on your child for a few minutes before classrooms open. We appreciate your support in ensuring your child is appropriately supervised in the mornings to ensure all children are kept safe and well.
A Message from Taunton Library
Interactive ‘magic’ projectors have over 100 games and activities which have been designed by professionals to support children and adults who may be living with autism or learning difficulties. Available at Taunton; Bridgwater; Yeovil; Chard and Frome Libraries, anyone can book a free session (depending on availability). Games, images, and activities can be projected onto a table or the floor to create an interactive activity which can stimulate emotion, memory, learning and, of course, they are great fun!
Contact the library in advance to book a session and to check staff availability, our staff will be able to show you the activities, but a carer or parent/guardian will need to stay with the child during the session. As well as the projectors, each library has a children’s area, regular events and a range of books which can support children and carers – to find/contact your local library visit the Our libraries webpage.
For more information, contact John Carter, john.carter@somerset.gov.uk
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 the following 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
The children will be bringing their class CAFOD boxes to our Celebration of the Word (Gospel) Assembly this Monday, 22nd April. Following this, we will count the change collected and announce the total raised for CAFOD in next week’s newsletter. If you wanted to donate and haven’t yet found time, the children can still place money in the boxes until Monday or donations could be sent directly to the school office. Thank you for your kindness and generosity, which is greatly appreciated.
Year 1 Assembly
Our Year 1 parents are invited to attend the Year 1 Assembly next week on Wednesday 24th April. It will start promptly at 3pm, so please arrive at 2.50pm to secure a seat. We look forward to seeing you there, and to sharing with you the wonderful work the children have been doing recently. It is not to be missed!
Best wishes,
Edwina McDonnell
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday 23rd April – St George’s Day Mass in Church at 9.30am – parents welcome
Wednesday 24th April – Year 1 – Class Assembly – please arrive at 2.50pm for a 3pm start.
Friday 26th April – St George’s Races – please send your child to school in PE kit.
Wednesday 1st May – Year 3 – Class Assembly – please arrive at 2.50pm for a 3pm start.
Friday 3rd May – French ‘Wow’ Day for pupils to celebrate all things French! Info to follow from Mrs Earp
Monday 6th May – Bank Holiday – SCHOOL CLOSED
Thursday 9th May – Ascension Day Mass in Church, 9.30am – parents welcome
Sunday 12th May – Family Mass at St George’s Church – 9.15am (Marian theme)
Week beginning Monday 13th May – Key Stage Two SATS Week
Thursday 16th May – Reception Class (EYFS) trip to Axe Valley Wildlife Park
Saturday 25th May – Start of Half-Term – SCHOOL CLOSED
Monday 3rd June – INSET DAY – SCHOOL CLOSED
Tuesday 4th June – SCHOOL REOPENS
Wednesday 5th – Friday 7th June – Year 6 Woodlands Residential Trip
Monday 10th June – KS2 Sports Day - 1.30 – 3.15pm. Parents welcome.
Thursday 13th June – KS1 Sports Day – 1.30 – 3.15pm. Parents welcome.
Thursday 13th June – Leavers’ Mass in Clifton for Year 6 pupils.
Thursday 4th and Friday 5th July – Year 4 Residential Trip to Pinkery
Wednesday 17th July – Year 6 Leavers’ Mass in St George’s Church – 9.30am. Parents welcome.
Friday 19th July – Year 6 Leaver’s Assembly – details to be confirmed.
Saturday 20th July – SCHOOL CLOSED for Summer Holidays
