Headteacher

Newsletter no. 4

25th September

Dear Parents / Carers, 

Thank you to everyone who attended our curriculum meetings this week. We hope you found them helpful and that they provided a clear picture of the exciting learning journey your child will experience this year. Each year is filled with so much to discover, and our dedicated teachers are always finding creative and engaging ways to inspire the children.

If you’d like ideas on how to support learning at home, please refer to your child’s year group half termly newsletter. Each half term, teachers will give you an overview of the learning for that half term and share practical suggestions for extending learning beyond the classroom.

At St Mary’s, we place a strong emphasis on developing a love of reading. We want every child to enjoy reading for pleasure, both at home and at school. To make this possible, children need secure phonics and comprehension skills, and our aim is for every pupil to be reading fluently by the end of Year 2.

Did you know that in England, 25% of children aged 10–11 do not meet the expected reading standard by the end of primary school?

This highlights just how vital it is to focus on literacy early. Reading ability plays a huge role in shaping future opportunities, and we want every child at St Mary’s to be fully equipped for success.

As we shared in the curriculum meetings, our only homework request is reading. We encourage families to read together for at least 20 minutes a day. Just this small daily habit can expose children to as many as 1.8 million words a year, making an enormous difference to their vocabulary and literacy skills.

To put it into perspective:

• 20 minutes daily = 1.8 million words per year
• 10 minutes daily = 700,000 words per year
• 5 minutes daily = 282,000 words per year

This daily reading practice has a powerful impact on vocabulary, reading fluency, and writing ability.

Reading truly is the key that unlocks the whole curriculum - it strengthens learning in every subject, from Maths and RE to History and Art. That is why it is our one and only homework focus for this term.

Sports Clubs for Reception children

We still have spaces in our after-school clubs Gymnastics on a Monday, Zumba on a Tuesday and our Multi Sports on Thursday. If you would like your child to take part in any of these clubs please go to the school office.

 

Price of the clubs are £6 per session, if your child is entitled to Pupil Premium Grant funding, they are able to access one of these clubs for free.

 

Gymnastics is from 3.30pm-4.30pm every Monday – Pick up from St Martin Class (Year 2)

Zumba is from 3.30pm-4.15pm every Tuesday- pick up from St Francis Class (Year 2)

Multi-Sports is from 3.30pm-4.30pm every Thursday pick up from St Martin Class (Year 2)

 

If you are interested in your child attending any of our clubs please come to the school office or email us at office@st-mary-inf.croydon.sch.uk to enquire.

Year 2 Parents

You will now be beginning to think about the next stage of your child’s education as they will be starting Key Stage 2 from September 2027.

The Junior school are having a Year 2 – 3 transition meeting on Thursday 26^th November at 9am.

Please ensure you attend as you are required to complete application forms in order for your child to get a place in the junior school. You will also receive all relevant information you may need.

Open Mornings

We have open mornings coming up in November for perspective parents.

If you know anyone that is looking for a school, for the children aged between 3 and 7 years olds please tell them about our open mornings:

Monday 9^th November

Tuesday 10^th November

Monday 16^th November

Tuesday 17^th November

St Francis Class Assembly

St Francis class have their assembly for the school and their parents on Wednesday 7^th October.

 We are inviting parents from St Francis class to join in our collective worship.

It will be at 9.15am in the school hall.

Food Guidance for young Children

As you are aware all the children’s safety is of the upmost importance to us here a St Mary’s Infant School. We follow the guidance set by the government, and recently there has been an update on food safety for Early Years settings (Early Years is under 5s). The guidance applies to ALL children under 5 to minimise the risk of choking.

I am asking you please to follow this guidance if you are sending your child in with a packed lunch.

 

• Cut all grapes/ strawberries and cherry tomatoes in half or quarters.
• Cut melon, apples and carrots into slices rather than chunks.
• Do not give nuts or seeds to under 5s -we are a nut free and nut aware school so no nuts should be in school AT ALL
• Give your child wholemeal bread or toast as white bread can become doughy in the throat
• Do not give popcorn as a snack.
• Do not give them chicken on the bone.

  We want to keep your child as safe as we can while they are at school, so we ask you to please follow the above. If we find any of the above in ANY child’s lunchbox we may have to give them an alternative lunch, in order for us to follow the guidelines set.

  We would really appreciate your cooperation with this.

Allergies

Following new guidance from the Department for Education, schools are required to take extra care around food and allergies.

We would therefore like to remind everyone that we are a nut-aware school. Nuts and products containing nuts must not be brought onto the school premises. We have both children and staff with nut allergies, and it is essential that we do everything we can to keep everyone safe.

 

With this in mind, pupils will no longer be able to bring cakes, chocolates, sweets or other food products into school to celebrate their birthdays. Many of these products may contain nuts or have been produced in an environment where nuts are present, and we are unable to check every item and its packaging to ensure it is safe.

We understand that bringing in birthday treats has been a lovely tradition for many families, and we really appreciate your understanding and cooperation in helping us keep our school community safe.

I Rock

A number of children had their first iRock lesson this week, and it was wonderful to see how much they enjoyed it! They have already started learning to play the guitar, drums or keyboard and came out of their lessons with huge smiles on their faces.

There are still a few places available. If you think your child would be interested in taking part, please see the attached poster for information on how to contact iRock directly.

Coffee Morning – Croydon Mental Health Support Team

We are pleased to welcome the Croydon Mental Health Support Team back this year to continue supporting our children and families.

We would like to invite parents and carers to a coffee morning on Wednesday 30th September, where you can find out more about the support and services they can offer.

Last year, the team supported families through an eight-week behaviour course and ran workshops to help parents understand how they can support their children with emotional regulation. They also worked directly with our Year 2 pupils on the topic of Caring Friendships.

We hope you can join us to meet the team, ask questions and find out more about the support available.

Our stars of the week are:

                                        

                           

                                        Regina in St Bernadette Class

                                        Hazel  in St Therese Class

                                        Justin in St Francis Class

                                        Terry in St Martin Class

Living and learning in the St Mary’s Way are:

                                        

                                       

                                       Hannah in St Bernadette Class

                                       Sanghamitra  in St Therese Class

                                       Saimon in St Francis Class

                                       Saatvik  in St Martin Class

On the Golden Table this week for having impactable table manners are:

                                       

                                          Jesse in St Andrew Class

                                         Donatella in St George Class

                                         Levya in St Bernadette Class

                                         Michelle in St Therese Class

                                         Bree in St Francis Class

                                         Papa Yaw in St Martin Class

Wednesday word

CHANGE

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”

St John Henry Newman

 

Dear Lord Jesus

Grant me the courage to change what can be changed, the peace to accept the things that cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference

Amen

 

   God Bless you all and have a wonderful weekend