Dear Parents
Thank you once again for your wonderful engagement with our Christmas livestreams. This week it has been the turn of Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 to broadcast their section of the Nativity story to parents. The children rose to the occasion as always, telling the story clearly and singing beautifully – many parents have emailed to say how much they enjoyed hearing the children singing the Nativity songs and traditional carols this year. Our enormous thanks go to Mrs Kareem who has worked tirelessly to accompany all of the year groups – not only for the Christmas livestreams and recording day, but also for our daily Advent Reflections in school! Thank you to Mrs Kareem and to all our staff team who have made the “normal” things happen in this most abnormal of years!
The children have enjoyed wonderful Aladdin workshops in school this week in lieu of our usual whole school pantomime. It has been great fun and we are delighted that that the children had the opportunity to have some seasonal good cheer at the end of term. Thank you for your support of the Parent Association, which enables them to give these exciting opportunities to all of our children. We have already booked more drama workshops for Book Week, funded by the PA and we are looking forward to using our new Computer Suite from January.
Following the children’s end of term assessments, we also thank the staff team for their tremendous hard work and resilience this term, supporting children across the school to make accelerated progress in their Reading, Writing and Maths. Despite the swan-like appearance of the school from the outside, there remains a relentless paddling beneath the surface to ensure that none of the children are disadvantaged by recent events. This term’s results were very positive and we are optimistic that we will achieve our aim of a full recovery by the end of this academic year.
After feedback from parents in last year’s Coffee and Conversation, we are retaining Autumn Term reports for Reception, Year 2 and Year 6 who are working towards end of Key Stage assessments in the Summer Term. These will be sent home in the early part of next week. Parents of children in Years 1, 3, 4 and 5 will have another opportunity to discuss their children’s progress and targets with class teachers in the second week of term in January (11th and 13th January). These will be via SchoolCloud as previously. Year R, 2 and 6 will then have parent consultations in February (9th and 11th February). We are very conscious that parents have not had the opportunity to come into school or to look at children’s books yet this year and we are working towards Open Afternoons in the children’s classrooms in the Summer Term, should this be a possibility by then! Let us hope!
Parent feedback is once again invited for our Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) policy as part of the consultation with parents. The Xavier Catholic Education Trust has issued a new template for the RSHE policy based on advice from the diocese and Catholic Education Service. Our previous content has been transferred into the new template, so it looks different, but the delivery of the curriculum will be exactly as previously discussed, including the new “Life to the Full” resources which have been shared with parents previously. If you have any issues or concerns arising from the policy, please have a chat with Mrs Burnham or Mrs Sharp before the end of term. (Policy attached)
This week in school we have celebrated some wonderful work in RE. In reflective work on “text messages between Mary and Joseph” in the build up to the birth of Jesus, some of the children have considered the emotional responses of the key characters in the Nativity story. During our Advent Reflections on the Jesse Tree stories, the children have presented Biblical characters who were faced with great difficulties in their lives (and in this time of global pandemic, we can all associate with that!) The children have recognised the challenges faced by these people from long ago and how despite these, they still said “Yes!” to God. During our Advent Adoration this morning, Year 5 considered what God is asking us to be brave enough to say “Yes!” to in our own lives today.
Enormous thanks to parents for your engagement with the Giving Tree Project – we have been delighted to receive generous donations of gifts for children both in our school community and also in local schools, parishes and care homes. At a time when it can be difficult to feel connected, these donations can bring joy and a sense of togetherness for all in our community! Thank you! Families in our community have also received Foodbank Christmas hampers and support from the Rotary Club, Homestart, Diocese and local benefactors. We know that the financial situation is ever-changing at this time and would encourage families to contact us if we can be of any help. There is also a local Elmbridge Council website, called “Here to Help” which may be of assistance signposting to locally available support: https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/news/coronavirus-covid-19-updates/here-to-help/
Next week in school, we are looking forward to lots of exciting events:
Monday 14th December – Parent Association fundraiser – Christmas Wacky Hair Day! See flyer attached.
Tuesday 15th December – Christmas lunch (Christmas jumpers and hats may be worn with school uniform)
Wednesday 16th December 4:15pm – Carols Round the Christmas Tree – Y6 will lead us in singing carols together virtually as a community! Warm drinks and woolly hats at the ready, do join us!
Wednesday 16th (YR / Y1 / Y4 and Y5) and Thursday 17th (Y2/Y3/Y6) December – Wintershall Nativity workshops.
Children should wear their own WARM clothes (no school uniform) on the workshop day and bring wellies to change into. They will be outdoors for an hour, come rain or shine, so waterproof coats and woolly hats are advised!
Christmas Parties will be Wednesday (YR/ Y4/ Y6) or Thursday afternoon (Y1,/Y2/ Y3/ Y5), depending on the class. Treats will be provided by the Parent Association, so please don’t send in any food from home. Children can wear their own clothes on these days.
Friday 18th December – Christmas collective worship and activities; 12 – 12:30 finish (staggered times like the 3pm times)
There will be no newsletter next week and so we take this opportunity to thank you for all your support for our school team during this challenging year. We wish all our families a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2021!
Catherine Burnham
Headteacher