6th September, 2024

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

Welcome back, I hope you had a wonderful summer.

It has been great to see all the excitement as the children start the new academic year in their new classes.

At this time of year their uniforms are looking very smart and their shoes unscuffed! A gentle reminder please that remaining hair braids and other holiday accessories are removed over the weekend.

Thank you for your cooperation as we managed the heavy rainfall during the week- is that the end of the summer weather?

Please find below news and notification of upcoming events.

Have a lovely weekend.

Gerry Flower

Head of School

Governors’ Fund classroom iPad appeal – thank you!

Thank you very much to everyone who contributes to the Governors’ Fund.  We are blessed to have many long-standing contributors within the Cardinal Newman community and we are delighted this year to have welcomed many new contributors.

Our focus for most of this academic year has been on fundraising to purchase 30 new 10th generation iPads (together with anti-shock cases for protection) and we are delighted to announce that these have been purchased!  Thanks to your generosity, children throughout the school will now be able to use these iPads on a 1:1 basis in their classrooms to enrich their learning.

The assistance of the whole Cardinal Newman community is crucial in helping us to continue to offer all of our students an exciting Cardinal Newman education. Many families choose to give a regular monthly gift; some families make ad hoc donations and we are extremely grateful for all contributions.

We would love to increase our regular donors and would be extremely grateful for any donations you feel able to give, which you can make easily online here. 

Thank you for your support.

Mobile phone use onsite

Please can we kindly remind you mobile phones should not be used onsite for safeguarding reasons. Thank you for your co-operation.

News/notes

Partners in Learning

Thank you to everyone who attended our Partners in Learning event yesterday.  The presentations are available on the website under Curriculum/Year group and have been emailed out today.

 

Autumn Termly overviews

The Autumn Termly overviews are available on the website under Curriculum/Year group.

 

Teacher-led Clubs

These will be available to book on Scopay from Monday 2pm. Please be aware that they can take a few minutes to load onto Scopay so may show up between 2pm - 2.10pm. See Clubs section below for details or website. 

These clubs will start the week of 16th September.  

Some clubs will open up to Reception after the Christmas holidays. 

 

'Birthday Book' initiative

At Cardinal Newman, we love birthdays… with this in mind, we are implementing a new birthday tradition at Cardinal Newman, our  'Birthday Book' initiative. Many parents generously send class treats into school when it's their child's birthday. Instead of sweets or chocolates though, you may like to support our idea to donate a lasting treat…a new book for the school/ class library! By donating a book on your child's birthday, pupils across the whole school will benefit and the gift will be treasured and shared for many years to come.  

Children are invited to write a small note in their book, or we can always add a beautiful book plate to the inside front cover, so we know who has donated it. We will feature children who have donated books in our reading newsletter. It is our aim to enable all pupils to enjoy reading for pleasure, and with your support, our library shelves can be boosted with the latest releases!  

What book will you donate for your birthday? It doesn't have to be a brand-new book. It could simply be a pre-loved book from your own collection that you wish to donate; a book from a charity shop; or you may wish to purchase a new book to donate. It is entirely up to you. If you are looking for inspiration, the website https://www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/recommended-reads/ has a fantastic selection of age-appropriate books for each year group or you can talk to your child's class teacher for recommendations. 

 We plan to slowly introduce this initiative during the Autumn term where children are asked to consider bringing in sweets or a book for their birthday. From January we ask that, if children would like to bring something into school to help celebrate their birthday, all children donate a book instead of handing out sweets to celebrate their birthday with their peers.  

Thank you

Open Days 2025/2026 intake

Open Days are as follows:

10.00 am - 12.00             Friday 20th September

10.00 am – 12.00            Friday 11th October

10.00 am – 12.00            Friday 18th October

10.00 am – 12.00            Friday 8th November

10.00 am – 12.00            Friday 17th January 2024                                          

Please email the office at office@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk  to book your session and please provide your phone number.

 

Family Mass on Sunday 29th September 2pm

We warmly invite the families of our school community to a start of year Mass on Sunday 29th September at 2pm in the school hall.  Fr Richard will celebrate Mass with us  and will commission our Prayer Council children and Altar servers for their ministry in the coming year. 

Mass will be followed by tea/coffee and cakes.  We look forward to seeing you there.  

Salesians Open Mornings

We are pleased to announce that Salesian will be conducting Open Morning for prospective Year 6 students and their parents on the following dates:

Wednesday 18th September

Wednesday 25th September

Tuesday 1st October

Open Mornings start at 8.45am and involve a short tour of the school.

We kindly ask you register your interest HERE

New Evening Class at Cardinal Newman

 

Brooklands Museum - School Membership card

If you would like to book the Brooklands Museum card for a weekend, please contact the office.

For more information about the museum, please visit www.brooklandsmuseum.com 

National Online Safety: Wake Up Wednesday Guides for Parents 

We would like to make you aware of our ‘online safety’ advice, guidance and support page called ‘Wake Up Wednesday - what parents / carers need to know’.

Wake Up Wednesday, created by The National College, aims to inform parents and carers on topics such as social media platforms, gaming, and IPad security. They include top tips, important reminders and reality checks on a wide range of online safety topics. They are a great resource to keep up to date with the issues children may encounter. 

We will post relevant articles of interest that should help you and your child here on our website.

We thank you for your ongoing support in assuring the safety of our pupils online.  

Eco Committee

 

News update shortly!

Vacancies

Teach Southeast Teacher Training

TRAIN TO TEACH WITH OUTSTANDING ITT PROVIDER XAVIER TEACH SOUTHEAST 


We always welcome people who want to discuss routes into teaching – we might be biased but we believe there is no better job than teaching young people and shaping the next generation! We would encourage anyone thinking of teaching to get in touch so that they can come to visit and find out more. 

We are proud to be a partner school of Xavier Teach SouthEast, a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) provider working in and around our local area. Xavier Teach SouthEast provides all trainees with high quality training, in both primary and secondary settings, to enable them to develop into competent and confident professionals.

Trainees are well prepared through first-rate complementary placements which ensure that they gain substantial practical experience, developing their evaluative and practical teaching skills effectively. In-school expert mentors and external subject trainers have consistently high expectations and work collaboratively to ensure training is coherent and highly relevant to the needs of trainees.

Xavier Teach SouthEast have had two consecutive Outstanding judgements and are highly regarded in the local area; we love working with them and hope you will too.

For more information please call them on 01932 578 682

Or visit the website to view their prospectus or sign up to a SCITT open morning  www.teachsoutheast.co.uk

 

Xavier Catholic Education Trust Vacancies

 

To find out more about vacancies within the Xavier Catholic Education Trust, please click here

 

Parents Association Notes

To contact the PA, please email: PA@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk  

 

Pre-loved book sale

The PA are going to hold a ‘pre loved’ book sale after school in September (date TBC).

We’re looking for donations of children’s books (all ages) in good condition - so something to think about if parents are having a sort out over the summer holidays.

Details to follow about when to bring books but it will be start of new school term.

 

Parents Disco

Tickets available now on classist !

Glow Disco 11th Oct

 

Christmas Fair 8th Dec

Quiz night 7th Feb

 

 

St Barnabas Youth Club

Autumn Clubs September 2024

 

External Run Clubs Autumn Term 2024

Please see details of external clubs here.

Teacher led Clubs Autumn Term 2024

Please see details of teacher led clubs here.

 

After Crafts - Please find flyer here.

Ballet - For more information, please click here

Chess Club - Please book via Scopay from September 2024

Code camp - Please see flyer here

Engineering club - Please find flyer here

Footbellas Girls Football Club - Please find flyer here.

French Club - Please find flyer here

New! Gaelic Football Club - Please click here for more information. Please book via Scopay from September 2024

Irish Dancing - Please email lgsoid@hotmail.co.uk

iRock  - Please find flyer here

Judo class - Please contact Diane Capon on 07960 699 077 or email diane.capon@sky.com

Mini Dance Performers - Please click here for more information

MTech - an extracurricular music technology and creative composition course for children aged 7-13. For the flyer click here.

Spanish club - Please find flyer here

Tae Kwon Do - For Year 2-6. Please find flyer here.

Ukulele club - Please book via Scopay. Dates this term are 

6th November - 4th December

Please click here for more information. 

Planet Soccer - Please click here for more information. 

Homework Club (Y3-Y6)

Homework club runs from 3.15 pm - 4.15 pm Monday - Friday, cost is £5 (free if your child attends Whizz Kids after-school club). Please book and pay for via Scopay.

Music lessons - during school hours, music lessons can be arranged through Surrey Arts. Please contact them directly by telephone on 01483 519303, by email at surreyarts@surreycc.gov.uk or visit the Surrey Arts web page for more information. You can subscribe to the Surrey Arts newsletter here.

Lost Property

Please collect lost items from the lost property box in the KS1 playground.  Please label everything clearly so it can be returned to the owner. Please note it can take some time for items to reach the lost property box depending on where they were lost. 

Items not claimed from the lost property box will be disposed of periodically as it quickly builds up. Thank you.

Communicating with your child's teacher 

Messages for teachers can be put in your child's reading/homework diary/bookbag, eg. pick up arrangements, homework issues, lost property, requesting a meeting with the teacher or anything else you would like the teacher to know.

For KS2 children, please remind your child to tell the teacher that the message is in there.

Absences should still be communicated via the office. (see below)

Pick-up notes 

Please note that if someone other than a parent/carer is picking your child up, you need to let the teacher or the office know. Please put pick-up notes in your child's reading/ homework diary or bookbag. 

For KS2 children, please remind your child to tell the teacher that the message is in there.

Children will not be released with someone else unless we have been notified of it. 

If you do need to let the office know about a last minute pick-up change,  please do so before 2 pm if possible.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Y6 Independent Walkers

If your child is in Y6 and you would like to let us know they will be walking home from school independently, please email the office.

Y6 Mobile Phones

If Y6 children wish to bring their mobile phone to school, they just need to drop the phone at the school office before school and collect it after school.  Phones should be switched off please and not switched back on until children are off site. 

No need to complete any form or email the office. 

How to report your child being absent or sick

Please notify the school office every day your child is absent from school before 9 am so we can adjust dinner figures and complete the registers. Please either ring the school office on 01932 222536 and leave a voicemail or email absence@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk. If you email us about an absence, you will not receive an acknowledgement reply due to the large volume of emails we receive in relation to this daily.  

If your child has a stomach bug, they should not return to school until 48 hours after the last episode of illness.

Absence Request

If you require a school absence for your child for some reason, please email the school office with the details. 

Wellbeing

Crisis Helpline

Children and Young People's Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service

Sleep and why it matters

Please click here for information on Sleep and why it matters. More videos can be found on the Childrens Health Surrey website here

National Sleep Helpline: We are here to help

At any given time up to 40% of adults and 50% of children (this rises to 80% with a SEND diagnosis) have difficulties with their sleep. Yet in a recent survey, almost 60% of adults felt there was a lack of support for sleep issues. Sleep problems can leave people feeling isolated and lonely. 

Our free helpline is run by trained sleep advisors, many of whom are specialists in working with SEND. We can talk to young people directly, or parents (we can also talk to adults, including older people, about their sleep issues). 

The helpline is open 5 times a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday evenings 7-9pm, and Monday, Wednesday mornings 9-11am. The number is 03303 530 541. 

You can read more here: https://thesleepcharity.org.uk/national-sleep-helpline/

Support groups and workshops for parents and carers

123 Magic Parenting course

No one has ever said parenting was easy. Living with children can be one of life’s most enjoyable experiences, but it can also be unbelievably frustrating. 123 Magic is a simple, precise and effective way of managing the behaviour of children. It’s not magic but works like magic! Please click flyer here for more information. 

Parent Wellbeing Service, Barnardo's Referral Form

Please see information flyer here and referral form here for support from Barnardo's Parent Wellbeing Service. 

eSafety and Safeguarding

Reminder: Keeping children safe online and in the real world

At Cardinal Newman School we are always reminding the children how they can keep themselves safe whether in the real world or in the virtual world. Class teachers regularly use the Zones of Regulation to assess how the children in their classes are feeling. Children are encouraged to share their worries using the ‘What I want my teacher to know boxes’ which are in each Key Stage 2 classrooms and the Worry Monsters which can be found in the Keys Stage 1 Classrooms.

Information to support parents can be found on the school website here.

Please continue to report any safeguarding concerns to Mr Flower (Designated Safeguarding Lead) or Mrs Burnham (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead).

All new Reception children in school full-time
All Day
13
September
PA cake sale Y4
All Day
13
September
Garnet Class Mission week
All Day
From 16 Sep until 20 Sep
16
September
Garnet Class Mission Week Assembly
8:50am – 9:20am
20
September
Open Morning new parents
10:00am – 12:00pm
20
September
Amethyst Class Mission week
All Day
From 23 Sep until 27 Sep
23
September
Reception Partners in Learning (Time TBC)
All Day
27
September
PA Parents Disco, Esher Rugby Club time tbc
All Day
27
September
Reception Welcome Assembly led by Amethyst Class
8:50am – 9:20am
27
September
Start of Year Mass
2:00pm – 3:00pm
29
September
Inset day (school closed for children)
All Day
04
October
Green class Mission week
All Day
From 07 Oct until 11 Oct
07
October
Reception Phonics meeting AM (Time TBC)
All Day
08
October
Whole school mass led by Y5
2:00pm – 3:00pm
09
October
Glow Disco times tbc
All Day
11
October

To see the full Calendar of Events, click here.

School Day: 8.40 am - 3.15 pm     Office opening hours: 8.00 am  - 4.00 pm Monday - Friday

Arch Road, Hersham, KT12 4QT    T: 01932 222536   E: office@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk