St Paul’s C of E Primary School Parent Portal - Newsletter Issue 08/22, 13 January 2023

ISSUE No. 08/22

A message from Mrs Cresswell

Happy New Year and welcome back to a new term at school!

Two big thank yous to start the new year: - thank you, from me and from all staff members, to families for their very generous gifts, cards and best wishes before Christmas – your kindness is much appreciated.

Thank you again for all your support of the school Christmas activities at the end of last term – it makes Christmas a very special and exciting time for all the children in school.

This term is a time in school when the light gradually returns to the evenings and thoughts turn to the renewal of Spring. We are looking forward to a slightly less busy term, although we have plenty of interesting events planned, including class assemblies, Vision day, World Book Day and lots of trips to look forward to!

With very best wishes to all families for a very healthy and happy 2023.

Clare Cresswell

Our value this half term is Faith –

“For we live by faith, not by sight."

2 Corinthians 5:7

Epiphany

Last week we thought about Epiphany, the time that the 3 Kings visited the baby Jesus. We considered how it feels to open a gift, and also took clues from the gifts given by the Wise Men, which indicated how important this baby was. The Wise Men journeyed for many, many miles. They left behind everything important to them to face unknown dangers and hardships. All of this was done with the hope of giving their gifts to one called to great things.

All of us, no matter what we believe, are called to the journey which is life and face unknown dangers as we grow. What matters is how we respond to the challenges we face as we keep our minds focussed on our goal whatever that may be. As we go forward at school, we hope to show our school values in all we do and every challenge we face.

On time every day, please

School is open from 8.45am every day with gates closing at 8.55. There have been a number of children who are late coming into school on a regular basis. Children need to be at school by 8.55am at the latest. Learning starts straight away, when, in our ‘early work’, classes are often recapping and consolidating previous learning. If your child arrives just five minutes late every day, this soon adds up to well over an hour of learning time lost over three weeks. Children arriving late also miss out on information about the routine and plan for the day ahead.

There are always some genuine reasons for the odd late arrival, but being just five minutes late every day disrupts your child’s learning, their class, staff members and can be avoided by setting off earlier or walking faster! Please make every effort for your child to be at school before 8.55am every day in 2023!

If your child is going to be late for any reason, please make sure they are signed in at the office and not sent into school alone.

Thank you

Parent volunteers

We are still in need of volunteers to come into school to work with the children and help teachers with resources etc. Please contact Mrs Hawting via the school office if you would be able to spare some time each week, or know of family members or people in the community who would be happy to come into school.

Image of hands reaching up to the word "Volunteer"

Back gate

There has been an increase in the number of parents who are driving up to the back gate to drop their children off at school. A reminder that children should be dropped at the end of the road and walk to the gate. There should not be any school traffic using the road leading to the back gate. Thank you for your help in this matter.

Free Stop Street Sign illustration and picture

Extra-curricular clubs

Information about clubs taking place after school this term will be sent out to parents shortly. We have changed the way clubs are being organised and are now leasing the hall and additional rooms to the individuals/companies who are running the clubs, as this is a new system we are hoping to add more clubs over the next few weeks.

Parent Portal

A reminder that all parents have access to the school's Parent Portal using this link www.st-pauls.enfield.sch.uk/parentportal or alternatively through the school website via the Home or Parents pages. You can log in to the Parent Portal using the same log in details as the Mobile App.

The Parent Portal gives you an overview of your child's attendance data, emails, newsletters, parents' evening bookings, term dates and pupil reports.

If you are unable to login or haven't yet done so, please contact Mrs Zmajkovic at schoolbusinessmanager@st-pauls.enfield.sch.uk for more information on how to do so.

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Confirmation 2023 - a message from Father Daniel

Bishop Rob will be with us to baptise and confirm on Sunday 11 June. Classes start for children (Years 5 and above) on 16 March. For more details head to www.spwh.org/confirmation. If your child would like to make this next step on their journey of faith, please sign them up to classes using the Google form on the website, or email office@spwh.org.

For details of confirmation preparation and services at our other churches please make contact with your parish clergy.

Lost property

We have three unnamed coats that have been left in lost property (see the photos below). If you recognise any of them please pop in to claim them.

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Year 5's D&T

This week we made spaghetti bolognese as part of the Design & Technology curriculum. Our design brief was to make it as healthy as possible so we used low fat beef mince/a veggie option, whole wheat spaghetti and lots of vegetables including celery, peppers, carrots and onions. We practised our chopping skills in preparing the vegetables and each had a chance to contribute to the cooking. We really enjoyed cooking bolognese and it tasted delicious!

Year 6's visit to RAF Hendon

Yesterday, Year 6 visited the RAF Museum London to support our studies of World War 2 in history. We saw various aircraft that were used in the war, such as the Lancaster bomber.

We sat in a wartime classroom and practised writing with an ink pen that we dipped into an inkwell. We even experienced an air raid warning!