St. Mary's Catholic Primary Schools Trust

Headteacher

Newsletter no. 7

16th  October  2026

Dear Parents / Carers, 

I cannot believe how fast the first seven weeks of the school year have gone. All the children are very settled in their classes and are engaged in their learning. We have packed a lot into this half term with trips to the Church and Liturgies, plus all the wonderful learning the children have completed.

Thank you to all who came to support the children for our Harvest Liturgy today. The children did an amazing job at performing their songs in front of so many people. It was lovely to see the school full with parents. The support you give the children and the school on these occasions means a lot.

Another big thank you for all the donations you have sent in for the Harvest appeal. I know Father Patrick and all the Priests will welcome it all and those who are less fortunate than us really will appreciate it.

We are still accepting donations next week. Later on in the week Year 2 will be taking everything that we have collected down to the Church.

What does respect & care look like at St Mary’s? A reminder that we will be exploring this with our staff, School Council and Faith Leaders, and I warmly invite parents and carers to join us on Tuesday 20th October at 2.45pm to share your thoughts and ideas.

This is a lovely opportunity to bring our community together and shape a shared vision for how we care for and respect one another. I hope you will be able to join us

Friends of St Mary’s

I had the pleasure of meeting with a number of parents this week who are going to help organise and run fundraising events in the school.

We have arranged the Christmas Fair for Friday 4^th December

Christmas Discos for children in Reception to Year 2

Reception Disco – Tuesday 15^th December

Year 1 Disco- Wednesday 16^th December

Year 2 Thursday 17^th December 

In order to get ready for the Christmas fair we will be having a mufti day (own clothes day) on Friday 4^th November. A letter will be sent out next week from the ‘St Mary’s Friends’ explaining all about the Christmas fair.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Our school uniform is very important to us and the children have a real sense of pride when they wear it. Can I please ask that your child is wearing the correct school uniform to school every day.

St Mary’s Catholic Infant School uniform is:

A Blue collared polo shirt (available in most super markets)

Royal blue sweatshirt with our school Logo (available from Hewitt’s in Croydon)

Dark Grey trousers for boys (available in most super markets)

Navy Blue trousers, skirts or pinafore dress for girls (available in most super markets)

A Royal blue book bag with our school Logo (available from Hewitt’s in Croydon) which should be brought to school every day.

A navy blue or black coat- no bright coloured coats

 

PE KITS

Royal Blue shorts or Navy Tracksuit bottoms

White T Shirt with the school Logo (available from Hewitt’s in Croydon)

Trainers – these must be worn on PE days for your child’s safety.

 

If you child attends gym or sports club they must bring their PE kits to change into- again this is for your child’s safety. They cannot take part in their school uniform it is not safe.

Speech and Language training for parents

At the beginning of the year, we shared our school priorities with you, and one of our key focuses this year is developing our children’s speaking, listening and oracy skills.

Across the school, staff are placing a strong emphasis on helping children to develop their confidence in communicating, listening carefully to others, expressing their ideas and using a rich and varied vocabulary. Staff have already received training in this area and will continue to develop their knowledge and practice throughout the year.

We are delighted to be able to offer parents the opportunity to take part in some free online speech and language training sessions. These sessions are not just for parents whose children have specific speech and language concerns – they are open to all parents and provide helpful ideas and strategies that can support every child’s communication and language development.

If you are interested, please do sign up and take advantage of this fantastic, free opportunity to learn more about how we can support our children’s communication skills both at home and in school.

I Rock

I Rock have informed me that they still have places available in the children’s rock bands if you are interested in your child taking part in these lessons.

They are offering a free taster session for any child that maybe interested in this opportunity.

Currently they have: 6 vocal spaces available

                                      5 drummer spaces available

                                      9 guitar spaces available

This is an amazing opportunity for your child to work as part of a group and to learn an instrument within school hours. Over a very short time we have seen children’s confidence and ability grow. We are looking forward to their concert at the end of November.  If you would  be interested in your child taking part in a taster session- they will be running on Thursday 22^nd October, please contact me and I will inform I Rock.

Month of the Holy Rosary

October is the month of the Holy Rosary. During this time, we come together as a school to say a decade of the Rosary. 

We would like to invite parents to join us, so you are all very welcome to come to the school hall at 3pm every Wednesday.

Asthma Inhalers

We are in the process of reviewing all the inhalers we have on site. Please can you speak to your child’s class teacher to ensure that the inhaler we have in school for your child is in date and provide a new one if necessary.

Reception Welcome Liturgy

We would like to welcome all St Andrew and St George parents to join us in our Reception Welcome Liturgy . This is an opportunity for all our reception parents, children and staff to come together for this time of collective worship.

The Reception Welcome Liturgy will be held on Tuesday 20^th October at in both classrooms (time to be confirmed).

St Martin Class Liturgy

We would like to welcome all St Martin parents to join their children for their class liturgy. This is an opportunity for parents, children and staff to come together for collective worship.

The liturgy will be in the classroom on Wednesday 21^st October and will begin at 9.15am

Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Many of us have been touched by Cancer in some way, whether it be a close friend, a relative or ourselves. Macmillan do a wonderful job in supporting families, patients and survivors in their Cancer journey.

Please join us for our Macmillan Coffee Morning on  Friday 23^rd October at 9.15am in the school hall.

If you are able to bake or donate a cake for this day it would be greatly appreciated.

This will also be the day that the children wear pink for WEAR IT PINK DAY to support the breast cancer charity.

Please help us to support these important charities as much as we can

Our stars of the week are:                     

 Sonny in St Bernadette Class

Aisha in St Therese Class

Aduago in St Francis Class

Jo-Jo in St Martin Class

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

Hazel in St Bernadette Class

Elizabeth in St Therese Class

Miriam  in St Francis Class

Joy in St Martin Class

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

Eva  in St Andrew Class

Saeshma in St George Class

Rigoberta  in St Bernadette Class

Spencer in St Therese Class

Aduago  in St Francis Class

Joy in St Martin Class

Wednesday word

GRATITUDE

“In all created things recognise the care and wisdom of God, and give him thanks”

St Teresa of Avila

 

Dear Lord Jesus

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways. Help us to be always grateful to you and to show our gratitude by loving those around us.

Amen

   God Bless you all and have a wonderful weekend