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Headteacher’s Newsletter – 28th February 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

Harry Baker visits St Mary’s

Harry Baker, a World Cup and Paralympian footballer spoke to the children about the ups and downs in his career. His story was inspirational and showed the realities of football at the highest level. Harry talked about scoring goals for England and how proud he was to represent his country. Having cerebral palsy, he had never dreamed of such a fantastic career. However, he did talk to the children about his attitude to failure at certain times in his profession and his initial lack of resilience to overcoming set backs and not being chosen for the squad for an Olympic games. His self-reflection throughout his presentation was extraordinary and you could have heard a pin drop in the hall as everyone was listening so hard! Follow your dreams and make the impossible something possible for you. He even took the time to sign autographs for all the children in Year 6.

Library Visits

The children in all year groups are again having the opportunity to visit the library and take out some ‘free’ books. Mrs Keyzor needed a shopping trolley for all the books that Acorn class borrowed yesterday.

World Book Week next week

Next week is World Book Week and there will be a variety of activities taking place for the children. On Friday 7March 2025, the children can come to dressed in their favourite PJs and bring with them their favourite book and a teddy. We will also be having a special lunchtime menu on Thursday 6 March 2025, which is displayed at the end of this letter.

Attendance

We have all been working hard on our attendance this term. To help us to support you and your child, please ensure that when make contact by either phone, email or ParentMail that you detail your child’s absence. Unfortunately, writing ‘stomach’ or ‘unwell’ does not help us to understand your child’s illness, especially if they have multiple absences.

Class with overall best attendance98.86% – EYFS – Mrs Taylor’s class
Overall School attendance96.30%
Lates17 lates / 10 children
Unauthorised absence0.41%

Dates for your diary

Monday 10 March 2025 Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 5.30pm
Tuesday 11 March 2025Year 5 Singing Workshop at Chipping Norton School from 2.00pm – Music Festival
Wednesday 12 March 2025Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 6.30pm
EYFS – visit Pizza Express in Banbury – cooking session
Wednesday 19 March 2025Year 6 and EYFS – Height and Weight National Measurement programme
Thursday 20 March 2025NSPCC Workshop – Years 2, 5 and 6
Tuesday 25 March 2025Individual School Photos
Friday 4 April 2025End of term – finish at 2.00pm for the Easter break until Monday 21 April 2025.
Tuesday 22 April 2025INSET DAY – school closed for pupils
Wednesday 23 April 2025Summer term begins – 8.25am

World book day lunchtime menu

  • Horrid Henry’s Greedy Crispy Bun – Crispy Chicken Burger served with Lettuce and Mayo in a fresh Bread Bap.
  • BFG Human Bean Burger – Homemade Bean Burger with Mayo and Lettuce served in a fresh Bread
    Bap.
  • Gruffalo’s Terrible Tusks Potato Wedges.
  • Jack’s Magic Beans.
  • Peter Rabbit’s Carrots and Baked Beans.
  • Dessert – Oompa Loompa Bar, a Chocolate drizzled Shortbread.

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen
(Headteacher)

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 14th February 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

Isla’s busy week

Isla has been so busy this week! Not only has Isla been read to so nicely, she has also helped Finley in EYFS. When he first met Isla he would scream and cry even if we were on the other side of the playground but this week he stroked her for the first time and even walked round the track with us – go Finley!

Adam also talked to Isla using lots of new English words – well done Adam.

Some children in Year 3 who came to show me their fabulous writing also got to stroke their furry friend.

The Duke of Edinburgh visits The Branch

Some of the children at St. Mary’s were lucky enough to meet the Duke of Edinburgh on Wednesday. Those children that take part in Nurture Gardening and Full Circle in school were invited to The Branch to be part of the official opening. We hope to have some lovely photos in the next few weeks to share with you.

Year 4 assembly

Year 4 assembly was great this week. The children told us all about their learning from Boudica to the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Year 1 – Puppet making

Year 1 were making puppets in DT and what amazing fun they had, linking this to their Toy topic. They were sewing using a running stitch and being very careful with a hot glue gun to attach fastenings – well done Year 1.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceMrs English / Mrs Townsend’s Class Year 2 – 98.74%
Overall school attendance95.29%
Lates34 lates / 18 children
Unauthorised attendance0.51%

Kind regards,

Mrs. McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 7th February 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

Children’s Mental Health Week

We started off the week by watching Inside Out 2 and discussing our emotions. We talked about the feelings some of us find difficult but discussed the fact that no matter what the feeling, at times, they are perfectly normal feelings to be having and it is how we manage those feelings that matters the most.

As I was walking back to my room at the end of that day, Albert in Year 2 stated that he was feeling jealous of a child because they had been chosen to take something from the special treat box. Jo-Jo then
reminded him that he had just received a merit and although a merit wasn’t a thing, it was just as important. Jo-Jo also continued with the fact that the feeling of jealousy was perfectly normal as we had
talked about this. Albert’s response to this was so lovely and it made me so proud because sometimes I
wonder whether the children are truly listening to me and on this ocassion they were! These are the
children of St Mary’s and what great adults they will make in the future.

Mother’s Day Celebration at school – SAVE THE DATE

On Friday 28 March 2025, the children will be inviting mothers, a grandmother, aunty or significant female in their life to join them between 1.00pm and 3.00pm. The school will be split into family groups and you
will have the opportunity to complete a craft activity with your child/children and enjoy cake provided by the PTA.

Questionnaire regarding After School Clubs / Holiday Clubs

Further to the Parentmail message sent out yesterday, the google form for this is still open. Thank you to
all the parents that have already completed the form. Please see the link below. We need as many of you
in our school community to complete the form so we have a better understanding of what is working and
what can be improved.

Thank you for your support with this.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceMrs Eaglestone / Miss Thorsby Year 3 – 97.44%
Overall School attendance97.22%
Lates31 Lates / 17 children
Unauthorised absence0.14%

Kind regards
Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 31st January 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

GREAT NEWS!

Thank you to everyone who has attended events, bought a raffle ticket, donated cakes in the last two years because everything you have contributed has gone to pay for our new outdoor classroom.

I will admit, that last year, we did try to Bag a Book Bus for £1000 but unfortunately we could not get it down the back lane outside school – it was too big! I didn’t want to tell you at the time but now we have bagged ourselves an amazing outdoor classroom so that the children can read, draw, play games with their friends at lunch and play. All being well it should be installed by the end of April.

TTRockstars

The children were excited last week to receive their certificates for knowing their multiplication tables. A lot of children made the effort to complete their 10 minutes a day. Please support your child to do this. It’s easy to log on. Contact your child’s teacher if you are unable to do this. Your child’s class teacher will be checking on this every week. Let’s reach for the stars and have all our children reciting their multiplication quickly.

Numbots

EYFS and Year 1 will be completing work on Numbots and will receive their logins next week. We will be holding a parental workshop on this after half term – more information to follow.

Our EYFS in action

What fun they have in Acorn class every week from outdoor play to construction and even ordering food from the Acorn class Chinese kitchen – delicious!

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceMrs English/Mrs Townsend Year 2 – 97.22%
Overall School attendance93.61%
Lates36 lates/23 children
Unauthorised absence0.60%

Kind regards
Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 24th January 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

Attendance

We have been working on our school attendance for two years and have made such improvements. In that time, we have raised our school attendance rate to over 95% from 90%, which is phenomenal.

However, we are seeing signs that this is slipping. Children are taking odd days off here and there. We have also noticed that whole families are absent on a Friday without a significant reason for this.

Your child will have received a certificate today if their attendance since September has been above 96%. We are now classing any absence between 90% and 95% a cause for concern and you will have received a letter regarding this. If your child’s absence is below 90%, your child will now be classed as a persistent absentee. This is in-line with local and government initiatives. An appointment will be made to discuss how we can support you and your child to attend regularly and see the importance of regular attendance.

Lateness = Lost Learning
(Figures below are calculated over a school year)

5 minutes late each day3 days lost
10 minutes late each day 6.5 days lost
15 minutes late each day 10 days lost
20 minutes late each day13 days lost
30 minutes late each day19 days lost

We regularly have children turning up late to school. We are setting our children up to fail if we allow this to happen regularly. In the workplace, this would not be tolerated. Imagine if the staff turned up late several times a week. This would not be a good example to set your children and if you found the gates closed when you needed to attend work, imagine the complaints I would receive. If you find mornings difficult, we need to discuss how we will make them better.

Attendance this week

Class with overall best attendance97.57% Year 4 – Miss Philpott
Overall school attendance93.78%
Lates44 lates / 25 children
Unauthorised attendance1.80%

Maths monitoring

Mr. Nelson, our Maths Governor, took time out of his day to come into classes, look at books and speak to children today. We were very impressed with some of the children we spoke to. The children were able to tell us what they have been learning recently; what they do when they find concepts tricky and what they do to move their learning forward. One child even stated, ‘Did you look at my book? I think my writing could be better’. Your child will have received a letter today that states which multiplication tables they need to learn. Please support us by reading the letter and ensuring that your child completes TTRockstars regularly. Some children received our new award this week. Please speak to your child about this.

Year 4 Corinium Museum

Year 4 visited the Corinium Museum on Wednesday and had a fantastic time! They took part in games, dressed up and experienced a great Roman workshop run by some amazing educationalists. Thank you for supporting us so that your children can have these wonderful experiences that will be memories forever.

EYFS visit from our Governor Jon Carter

It is the first time that one our new governors has made a visit to see the children of EYFS in action. Jon was impressed by our provision, which you know includes three classrooms and a large outdoor area. I was relieved today to see that Pip the Penguin had been returned to his cold land in EYFS as Lisa Bridge, our school cook found the penguin in her freezer when looking for our fish fingers. What a naughty penguin, looking for an early lunch! Thank you, Jon, for visiting and we look forward to welcoming you back soon.

Kind regards,
Mrs. McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 17th January 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

After-school clubs

After-school clubs started again this week. Attendance at each club is excellent this term. Our
after-school offer is extensive.

This term, we provide five different sports a week, sewing, two art clubs, musical theatre, book
club, lego and construction, ballet and dance. Has your child signed up for a club this year? If not,
please try for a summer club next term.

Joining a club offers immense benefits such as learning a new skill, perfecting something you love,
having fun with friends – the list is endless. Attending after-school activities is also good for your
mental health.

As parents, if there is something you would like to suggest for either a group of adults or an idea for
children in school, we’d love to hear from you.

Take a look at some of the photos below.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceYear 3 Mrs Eaglestone and Miss Thorsby – 100%
Overall school attendance92.09%
Lates35 lates / 17 children
Unauthorised attendance3.01%

Kind regards

Mrs. McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 10th January 2025

Written by Anne Strick on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

The children have settled back into school life extremely well after the Christmas break.

Board game fun

Thank you to the two families who sent pictures of board game fun over the holidays. I myself, played several games of Uno and lost very badly when playing Monopoly! If you have any more photos please do send them to Mrs Strick.

Virtual Reality Experiences in Key Stage 2

In Year 6, the children learn about Everest and Sir Edmund Hillary. Unfortunately, for the children at St. Mary’s, a trip to the Himalayas is a little bit tricky. However, using VR the children were able to get as close as possible and experience life as a climber. The children thought the afternoon was lots of fun and felt the opportunity was a very exciting launch to their topic this term.
Year 5, who are studying The Amazon were also able to experience animals in the Rainforest. Year 5 will be lucky enough to compliment this experience with a visit to the Living Rainforest in Berkshire soon.

Home Reading

There are many children who Strive for 5 every week and are lucky enough to get their name popped into the basket for the weekly draw. We have lots of more new books this term, so it is definitely worth giving it a go. This term, you will receive a merit every time you read and if you achieve your Strive for 5, you will receive 10 MERITS! You’ve got to be in it to win it! Remember that Isla is also waiting for her weekly walk around the track. When Shane in Year 5 read to her last time, she fell asleep and started snoring!

School uniform

Please ensure your child is dressed correctly for school. We are still seeing summer dresses, leggings and stretchy short skirts and this is not part of our uniform policy. Could elaborate hair decorations please be kept for the weekend only. Thank you.

Contacting school if your child is absent

Contacting the school when your child is absent is extremely important. Attendance is now reported daily to the Government. If you do not contact the school when your child is absent and they are of walking age, we do not know if they are ill or something has happened to them and then this becomes a Safeguarding concern. Thank you to all the parents and carers that send an email via Parentmail or phone and leave a message.

If your child will be absent from school, you MUST contact the school before the register closes at 9.00am, otherwise your child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised. We will make every effort to contact you, whether this is by email, phone call or text but we would appreciate it if you made that contact first.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendance 100 % in Year 3 – Mrs Eaglestone and Miss Thorsby
Overall School attendance 93.62%
Lates 16 Lates / 12 children
Unauthorised absence3.87%

Kind regards,
Mrs McQueen

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