St Mary's Catholic Primary Schools Trust

Headteacher

Newsletter no. 22

Friday 6th March

Dear Parents and Carers

What a week we have had. Spring has finally arrived and we have seen sunshine every day. We have celebrated World Book day with Reception having the opportunity to visit Waterstones on Monday and Year 1 and year 2 next week. They will meet a local author and choose a book. On Thursday we celebrated our favourite books -Thank you for the huge effort you went to, to make all the ‘Books in a Jar’ to represent your child’s favourite book. It is something we have only done once before but it was wonderful to see how creative all our families can be. We have asked if we can keep the books in a jar until the end of this term so that we can display them all for visitors and our school community to see.

Parents Evening

Parents evening is fast approaching, please ensure you have booked an appointment either for the face to face meetings OR for the virtual meetings

You will have received a letter via email regarding this.

Please make sure you only book for one meeting either for the face to face meeting on Tuesday 17^th March OR for the virtual meeting online on Thursday 19^th March.

Please DO NOT BOOK FOR BOTH, ensure you choose only one of the days.

Thank you

I wanted to say a huge thank you to Kai and Kwanza’s parents who gave up their time to help Mr Bob this week to help in our Gardens. It is getting to that time of year when we will be tidying up our gardens and pots to make sure they look beautiful for the summer – if you are able to help or enjoy gardening then we would be very grateful.

Waterstones

As part of our World Book Day celebrations each of the classes are visiting Waterstones in the Whitgift Centre to meet an Author and hear a story. The dates for these visits are as follows:

Year 1 will be visiting Waterstones on Monday 9^th March at 1.45pm

Year 2 will be visiting Waterstones on Thursday 12^th March at 11.30am.

Mother’s Day Liturgy

On Friday 13^th March we will be having our Mother’s Day Liturgy.

It will be held in the school hall at 9.15am

It usually lasts about 20 minutes and everyone is invited.

The Big Lent Walk

This year our school will be taking part in the CAFOD Big Lent Walk.

As part of this initiative, each year group will be going on a walk to help raise money for CAFOD. CAFOD is a Catholic charity that supports people in need across the world, regardless of their religion.

Through our Big Lent Walks, we will live out our Lenten journey by showing solidarity with others and helping those less fortunate.

Walking plans:

Nursery and Reception: Walk around the school grounds
Year 2: Walk to Park Hill Park on Wednesday 25th March
Year 1: Walk to Park Hill Park on Thursday 26th March

Instead of asking for sponsorship this year, we will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 27th March.

Children are invited to come to school wearing their own clothes and bring in a £2 donation.

If every child brings £2, we will be able to donate £400 to CAFOD, helping to support our brothers and sisters around the world who are most in need.

Thank you for your continued support.

Wednesday Word

Loved

A word from the Saints

“God’s love is a spring of living water which flows constantly into the hearts of those who pray”

St Louis de Montfort

Dear Lord Jesus

Please help our family to grow in Your love and to share Your love with others through the way we live our lives

Amen

Golden Table

Today I had the absolute pleasure of sitting on the Golden Table with six of our children at lunchtime. It was such an enjoyable experience. The children demonstrated impeccable manners throughout – saying “please” and “thank you,” using their cutlery beautifully and engaging in such polite, thoughtful conversation.

The children who joined me this week were:

Lyra – in St Andrew

Aurora – in St George

Lotus – in St Bernadette

Bree – in St Therese

Raul – in St Martin

Serena – in St Francis

They were a credit to themselves and to our school. It was lovely to spend time with them and see first-hand the kindness, respect and consideration they show every day. Well done to each of them for setting such a wonderful example

Healthy Start NHS Scheme

Healthy Start is an NHS scheme that helps families to buy healthy food and milk. The scheme provides support for those more than 10 weeks pregnant or those who have a child under four and receive certain benefits. If you are under the age of 18 and over 10 weeks pregnant, you can apply even if you don’t receive any benefits.

The scheme is worth over £1,000 per child if claimed from early pregnancy until the child’s fourth birthday.

Once approved, you receive a prepaid card that is topped up with payments every four weeks. You can buy fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and infant formula with the card, which is accepted in most places that accept Mastercard payments. You can also get free Healthy Start vitamins.

Applying only takes about five minutes, and you receive an instant decision. Apply at www.healthystart.nhs.uk.

If you can’t apply online, call the National Healthy Start Team on 0300 330 7010 (phone lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, except public holidays)