St Paul’s C of E Primary School Parent Portal - Newsletter Issue 05/22, 11 November 2022

ISSUE No. 05/22

A Message from Mrs Cresswell

It was lovely to see the children return to school at the beginning of last week following the October half-term break. As always, staff were very impressed with how quickly they have settled back into their day-to-day routines.

The second half of the Autumn School Term is always a busy one as children and staff begin to think about the various Christmas events that will soon be upon us. As you will read in this newsletter there is plenty to fit in before we get started with all our Christmas activities.

Yesterday the focus of our whole school church services was COP27. Thank you to Father Daniel and Father Pete who encouraged us, as a community, to think carefully about our response to climate change.

Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxing weekend.

With my very best wishes

Clare Cresswell

Forgiveness

This half term our school value is forgiveness. Please spend time to discuss this value with your child and encourage them to practice forgiveness in their daily lives.

Picture of a cross in the school's stained glass windows

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3:13

Remembrance 2022

Throughout the school, we have been using resources from The Royal British Legion to investigate what 'service' means and discuss with children why it is important that we remember the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces and emergency services. Our school wreath, hanging in the entrance hall, is a visual reminder to help us reflect on this as we pass by. We had a fantastic Collective worship from 6D on the theme of Remembrance and, throughout the week, Year 6 have been selling poppies to raise money for the Poppy Appeal. The week culminates in our whole school Collective Worship on November 11^th led by Father Stephen and the observation of the minutes silence at 11am.

Our Remembrance Wreath in the entrance hall

Year 6's Haiku display board for Remembrance Day — Year 6's Haiku Poems

Year 3's Poppy Collages for Remembrance Day — Year 3's Poppy Collages

5H's Remembrance display board - photos of childrens' hand holding poppies

5R's Poppy display board - photos of childrens' outstretched hands holding poppies — Year 5's Poppy Display

Safeguarding – Robox

You may have read about some concerns regarding the game Roblox. If your child plays Roblox or any other electronic games please look at any safety/security settings within the games they play.

Volunteer helpers

If you feel you could spare a few hours each week to help in school, whether to hear children read, prepare resources or work with small groups of children please email the school office.

Attendance

At St. Paul’s, we expect all children to maintain regular attendance of at least 95%. Anything below this means children begin to miss many lessons over a year. Attendance is monitored very closely by our Educational Welfare Officer.

Parents can help by:

Always encouraging your child to attend school
Ensuring medical and dentist appointments are scheduled outside of the school day
Setting a good example by getting to school on time every day
Not taking your child out of school unless in exceptional circumstances

Table illustrating lessons lost with absence

Year group weekly learning

To help with your child’s learning please read the weekly learning information document sent home each Friday.

Year 1 coffee morning

Year 1 parents are invited to come into school for a coffee morning on Wednesday 30^thNovember between 9.00-9.30am. Mrs Cresswell and Miss Patsalis will be in the hall during this time.

Non-uniform day – Christmas Market donations

Friday 25^th November is non-uniform day in exchange for donations for the Christmas market. Year 6 are on an educational visit on this date so will have their non-uniform day on the 23^rd November when they should also bring in their donations.

Housepoints

Congratulations to Sherbrook and Compton respectively for receiving the highest number of housepoints over the last two weeks.

Housepoints for the weeks ending 4/11 and 11/11

Christingle appeal

If anyone is able to donate the oranges for our Christingle services please could you contact Mrs Diamandi in the school office. We would also be grateful for any offers of help to assemble the oranges and for any donations of sweets.

1NP's visit to Woodcroft Wildspace

1NP visited Woodcroft Wildspace to look at nature at this time of year. We did bug hunting, pond-dipping and looked at plants and trees.

Photo of 1NP's visit to Woodcroft Wildspace - children pond dipping

Year 3 trip to Celtic Harmony

On Friday, 21^st October Year 3 travelled back in time through a million years of Prehistory to Celtic Harmony where we became Neolithic Hunter Gatherers, Bronze Age Potters and Iron Age Farmers. We started by creating a timeline using real metal ores and artefacts. Then we whittled our own ‘flint’ arrowheads from soap following a demonstration of flint knapping; ground grain to make flour using Iron Age Quern stones; learnt about the Beaker People before making our own coil pots; discussed matters in the chieftain’s roundhouse and bartered for our souvenirs. It was a fantastic day despite the torrential downpours and a great way to complete our learning about changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

Return of spare uniform

A gentle reminder to wash and return any spare uniform that may have been loaned to your child over the last few weeks as our supplies are running short.

Anti-bullying week

Next week, St Paul’s will be taking part in the national Anti-Bullying Week. We will be discussing what bullying is and how we can work together to make school a safe and happy place for everyone. The theme for this year is ‘Reach Out’ which is explored in order to help spread the message that we should all ‘reach out and show each other the support we need’.

We will kick off with odd socks day on Monday 14^th where adults and children are invited to wear odd socks to school to celebrate what makes us all unique.

Other activities include:

Whole school collective worship with a focus on Anti-bullying
writing poems about bullying in our English lessons
class discussions
‘Made a new friend’ activity where each class mixes with another class/ key stage, they partner up, chat and make a friendship band together to celebrate friendships
creating posters to display around the school reminding children where they can go for help
stories about friendship and bullying
Star awards will be for kindness and supportiveness towards others
Introduction of friendship ambassadors

On Thursday and Friday there will be class workshops where drama and storytelling will be used to explore self-esteem, bullying, its impact and what to do if the children are victims or witness to bullying. Reception classes will have their workshops on Thursday 24^th November.

Neurodiversity Coffee Morning - Friday 25^th November at 10am

We will be hosting a coffee morning for parents and carers of children at our school who are Neurodiverse. This will be an opportunity to meet other parents, share experiences and develop a support network. If your child is on a pathway to diagnosis you are also very welcome to attend. Please contact Miss Perrin if you would like to attend or have any questions.

Diary Dates - Week 1

Anti-Bullying Week

All Day