Key Dates for your diary: School closes 12pm Thursday 14 th February for PTCs INSIDE THIS ISSUE: St. Agatha s Catholic Primary School

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1 St. Agatha s Catholic Primary School Learning together in God s love JANUARY 2019 SPRING TERM 2019 NEWSLETTER NO.2 Key Dates for your diary: Spring Term 2019 Monday 4 th February Friday 8 th February: Wellbeing Week Tuesday 5 th February: Feast of St Agatha Whole School Mass 9.30am National Safer Internet Day Thursday 14 th February: Parent Teacher Consultations N Y6 School Closes 12pm Rec.-Y6 Friday 15 th February: Parent Teacher Consultations Y5-6 Monday 18 th Friday 22 nd February: Half Term Thursday 7 th March: World Book Day Further details to follow INSIDE THIS ISSUE: School closes 12pm Thursday 14 th February for PTCs Value for February Cardinal Hume Centre Parent Teacher Consultations School Fund St Agatha s Feast Day Wellness Week Adventure Playground Update Message from Headteacher

2 SPRING TERM 2019 NEWSLETTER Value for February Loyalty comes in many forms, including loyalty to your country, principles, or even yourself. For a child, though, loyalty is an abstract concept. Most children first feel loyalty within their family circle as they gain deep love and appreciation for family members. Later, they'll expand their understanding of loyalty to include ideals. Our culture is often inundated with cynicism and negativity, where television shows depict family members treating each other with sarcasm and derision. To develop loyalty we must all speak positively of family members, community and teachers. We must model looking for the good in others and share positive moments with the children in our care. During the month of February, we will be exploring this value of Loyalty with the children. Cardinal Hume Centre Last week we received a letter from the Cardinal Hume Centre, thanking St Agatha s for our contributions to their charity. Thank you so much to all the school community for the incredibly generous donation of from the Christmas Nativity Plays and Carol Service. St Agatha s is always such a great supporter of the Centre at Christmas, and we really appreciate it. Because of consistently loyal supporters like you we were able to help hundreds of families in need, underprivileged children and young homeless over Christmas. This was the highest amount St Agatha s have donated to us, and overall since 1998 you have donated an astonishing 9393! THANK YOU. SCL Holiday Club SCL will be running a holiday club over the February Half Term. For more information, please click here. Parent Teacher Consultations Our Parent Teacher Consultations take place on Thursday 14 th February (Nursery Year 6) and Friday 15 th February (Years 5 & 6 only). Please note the earlier closing time of 12pm on 14 th February. Details of how to book your appointment are available on the school website - Consultations You will have received a link to the booking system but if you experience any problems please contact the School Office. St Agatha s Feast Day On Tuesday 5th February, we will be celebrating the life of our school's namesake, St Agatha. St Agatha was a brave and faithful young Catholic whose example should inspire all of us to be courageous and steadfast in our faith. We are inviting the children to wear something red on this day. There will be a collection at the school gate that morning and all money raised will go to the charity 'Aid to the Church in Need' who provide support to persecuted Christians around the world. We raised over 300 last year, let s see if we can beat that amount this year. Wellness Week We will be celebrating Wellbeing Week from Monday 4 th -Friday 8 th February The children will be learning how to reflect, relax and talk to others to keep their minds healthy. There will be some fun activities throughout the week to raise the importance of looking after our wellbeing. We have organised a very special workshop to help raise children s self-esteem and confidence. 2

3 Poppy Appeal A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the Poppy Appeal. St Agatha s managed to raise from selling poppies and a further was raised by the Year 6 Poppy Art sale! All monies were gratefully received by the Royal British Legion. Intra-House Cup KS2 children again battled it out in their outdoor PE lessons to see which house could use the skills learnt in their lessons to earn points towards the end of year intra-house cup! Topics taught for Autumn 2 Term: Year 3 Tennis Year 4 Basketball Year 5 Netball Year 6 Circuit Training Results: St Francis 22 points St Agatha 19 points St Patrick 19 points St Bernadette 17 points Well done to all! We have a new winner this term of St Francis and a special mention to St Patrick s house as they have doubled their score from last term a huge improvement! We look forward to seeing the most improved team next term. Year 2 Infant Music Festival Year 2 Parents and Carers, don't forget to reserve your tickets for the free Infant Singing Festival taking place at All Saint's Parish Church on Friday 22 nd March at 2.30pm. Please click here to book tickets. We strongly advise reserving tickets in advance as we cannot guarantee availability on the day. Year 2 pupils do not require a ticket. Further information about the festival will be sent out after half term. Year 3 Visit This week, Year 3 were lucky enough to enjoy a visit from professional writer, Mr Ciaran Murtagh. He writes and develops stories for CBBC shows such as Danger Mouse, Gumball, Dick and Dom and many more. He showed us a cartoon of Mr Bean that he had written which we were then able to compare to his initial drafts and scripts for the story. It was a real surprise to see how much his work changed and how often he edited and redrafted it before it was made into a finished show. Now we understand how important our purple pens are! Thank you to Mr Murtagh for visiting and our wonderfully supportive parents for letting us know about the contacts they have. These visits really inspire us in our work! Smiggle Pencil Cases A gentle reminder please that we ask children not to bring their lovely Smiggle pencil cases to school. We have noticed an increase in the number of these pencil cases in classrooms this term. Although it is appreciated that these are prized possessions, they do cause quite a distraction to learning, therefore our school policy states that children s pencil cases should not be Smiggle branded. Thank you for your understanding and support. Celebration of Reconciliation We remember in our thoughts and prayers the Year 3 children preparing for their First Holy Communion, as they celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation this weekend. School Fund The new school fund donation for this term is now available for payment through your SchoolMoney account. All voluntary contributions, of any amount, are very gratefully received. 3

4 KEY PRIORITIES FOR CHILDREN S LEARNING At St Agatha s we believe that all children thrive in an environment in which they are happy, challenged and secure. Our aim is always to provide the best education and experience for pupils throughout their time at our school. Each year the Governors and Senior Leadership Team write a School Development Plan which identifies the key areas of focus for our school. These areas are identified through analysis of the progress our children make, evaluation of school strengths and identification of key areas to further develop. This development plan is in constant use by both staff and governors, in order to monitor and evaluate progress against identified priorities. Day to day monitoring of the school development plan is the responsibility of the Headteacher together with the Senior Leadership Team and teaching staff. The Governing Body receives regular reports on progress and contributes to the monitoring process through school visits and committee meetings. At the end of the year, judgements are made about whether a target has been achieved, whether further work is needed to consolidate improvement or whether a different set of actions is required. Some of the key areas identified for are: Writing Times Tables Children s well-being Please watch out for regular updates on these areas in the newsletters and on the website. 4

5 Our Fantastic New Adventure Playground! Last Tuesday, 22 nd January, the bunting went up and the adventure playground was officially opened! The names of each class had been drawn out of a hat and the rota was complete. Every class had the chance to enjoy the amazing new equipment with a challenge for all year groups. A huge thank you to the PSA for funding this incredible addition to our outside space! 5

6 Letter from our Headteacher Dear Parents, As I write this message, I find myself reflecting on the fact that we are fast approaching the half way point in the academic year. September seems just a short time ago, when we were welcoming the children to their new year groups and putting all our school development plans into action. I am very pleased with the progress that has been made towards addressing school priorities, whilst ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum, with amazing experiences for the children. Of course, none of this would be possible without the dedicated team of school staff, whom I thank for their continued hard work. Also I wish to thank you, as not only parents, but also members of the PSA, Class Reps and volunteers who enrich the school with all your support and efforts the newly developed adventure playground is a prime example. St. Agatha s Catholic Primary School St. Agatha s Drive Kingston Upon Thames Surrey KT2 5TY Phone: office@stagathas.school