St George & St Martin Catholic Academy Growing, Learning and loving; United in Play, Prayer and Peace February 2016 Newsletter A belated Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you enjoyed a happy and peaceful Christmas. The children have all made an excellent start to the New Year and are working hard long may it continue! Family Workshop Save the Date! This term we will be holding a Family Workshop relating to calculation strategies that we use in school. Mrs Thompson will talk through the different methods we use in school. You will also have a chance to work with your child and members of staff to become more familiar with these strategies. The workshops will take place on Wednesday 15 th March for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and Wednesday 22 nd March for Key Stage 2. Reply slips will be sent out with next month s memo. Science Week Save the Date! Parents Evenings We will be holding Science Week from Monday 20 th March to Friday 24 th March. The children will take part in Science activities throughout the week. On Monday 20 th March, we will be holding a Family Day where you will be able to come along and join in some of the activities with your child. Details of this will follow in next month s memo. You will again have an opportunity to meet with your child s classteacher on Wednesday 8 th March or Thursday 9 th March. It is very important that you attend these meetings so that you can find out how well your child is doing, look at the wonderful work they are producing and find out what you can do to help your child at home. Reply slips will be sent out after half term. Book Fair Our Book Fair arrives on Tuesday 21 st March and to coincide with this we will be holding our Book Day on Monday 27 th March. We are asking children to dress up as a book character for the day. There will be a prize awarded for the best dressed in each class. Staffing Update As you know, Mel Prescott leaves After-School Club today. Her replacement is Miss Lees who will be starting on Monday. Miss Harris and Miss Ferguson will be assisting Miss. Lees. Mr Casey will be re-joining us in February as he continues with his teacher training. He will be working in Year 1 alongside Mrs Griffiths and Mrs Ladeira. Shakespeare s The Tempest Key Stage 2 children will be going to watch The Tempest be performed just before half term. Years 5 and 6 will be going to The New Vic Theatre on Wednesday 15 th February, and Years 3 and 4 will be going to Springhead Primary School, Talke on Friday 17 th February. School Holidays Consultation Please complete the online survey about school holidays http://webapps.stoke.gov.uk/snapsurveys/schooltermdates/schooltermdates.htm There are 2 options: Stay the same Have an extra week at October half term Survey closes at 6pm on Friday 17 th February. Boulton Street, Birches Head, Stoke on Trent. ST1 2NQ. Tel. No: 01782 234384
Bikeability Last week, our Year 4 children had the opportunity to take part in Level 1 Bikeability. 20 children took part and 17 children were awarded Level 1, well done Year 4. On the 7 th and 8 th of February, Year 5 children will have the opportunity to complete Level 2 Bikeability. Alice Charity Sam from Alice Charity came to talk to the children on Monday about the work the charity does. I was very proud of the children and the questions they asked of Sam. They were very thoughtful about how the things Sam told them made them feel. Some children said they felt guilty that they have so many things and always want more. The children want to continue to help the Alice Charity and so during our Lenten Appeals, Alice Charity will be given a proportion of money. If you have any unwanted beds or cots, please let me know or contact Alice Charity directly on 01782 627107. We would also like to have a food collection to go directly to Alice Charity. One of the children asked Sam on Monday why do they need to give out food parcels when there is the Foodbank. Sam told us that the families can only access the Foodbank 3 times in a certain time period and the people Alice Charity help need food regularly. We would like to do our food collection on Wednesday 15 th February. Year 6 visit Stanley Head On Monday 30 th January we will wave off our Year 6 children as they go off to Stanley Head for the week. I will of course keep year 6 parents updated through text messages. Enjoy the peace, we certainly will! Thank you to everyone who is following our request to park safely around the school. There are fewer people parking and stopping on the zig-zags and double yellow lines. However, there are still a number of parents/grandparents still stopping on the zig-zags and double yellow lines. Please do not park or stop to drop children off on the zig-zag lines or the double yellow lines. This includes for Breakfast Club and After-school club. I have recently met with members of the traffic management team for the council and also from the parking enforcement team. Parking enforcement will be in the area and will be issuing parking tickets to anyone who parks or stops on the zig-zags or double yellow lines. I also request that you do not drive into the staff car park as this can create congestion if members of staff are trying to park in the morning or leave at the end of the day. Thank you for your support in this matter. We are now part of the Living Streets, Let s Walk to School scheme. The aim of this is for the children to walk to or from school at least once every week for each month. As many of you live further than walking distance, this could be parking further away from school and walking. If the children manage this, they get a badge for each month. I m sure we can all make that extra effort to walk at least once a week. School website: sgsmacademy.co.uk
Monday 30 th January Friday 3 rd February Year 6 Residential visit to Stanley Head Friday 3 rd February 9:15am Year 4 class assembly all Year 4 parents welcome Tuesday 7 th February Level 2 Bikeability for Year 5 9:30am Year 3 and 4 football tournament @ Power League, Stoke 2:30pm Parent drop-in with Mrs Farmer all welcome Wednesday 8 th February Level 2 Bikeability SFC Valentine s Tombola after school Thursday 9 th February 9:15am Whole school Mass all welcome 9:30am Year 5 and 6 football tournament @ Power League, Stoke Friday 10 th February 9:15am Year 6 class assembly all Year 6 parents welcome Monday 13 th February 3:45pm Change4Life Festival for 10 Key Stage 2 children @ SMW Wednesday 15 th February Food collection for Alice Charity 2pm Years 5 and 6 visit The New Vic theatre to see The Tempest Friday 17 th February 9:15am Year 3 class assembly all Year 3 parents welcome 2pm Years 3 and 4 visit Springhead Primary School, Talke to see The Tempest 3:15pm School closes for half term 6pm Consultation on school holidays closes Monday 27 th February 9am School opens Tuesday 28 th February 9:30am Year 4 Mass at St Margaret Ward Wednesday 1 st March 2pm Ash Wednesday Mass all welcome Friday 3 rd March 10am CAFOD assembly for all children Wednesday 7 th March Nursery & Reception visit Wonderland Wednesday 8 th March 3:30 5:30pm Parents Evening Thursday 9 th March 9:15am Whole school Mass all welcome 5 7:30pm Parents Evening Monday 13 th March 6:30pm Dance Extravaganza at The Victoria Hall Wednesday 15 th March 9:15am Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 calculation workshop 4pm Cross country Thursday 16 th March Year 3 and 4 visit Sarehole Mill 6:30pm Meeting for Year 3 parents and children Reconciliation Friday 17 th March 9:15am Year 1 class assembly all Year 1 parents welcome Monday 20 th March Friday 24 th March Science Week Monday 20 th March Family Day Tuesday 21 st March Book Fair delivered 10am Mass for Year 4 children @ SMW Mother s Day Shop at lunchtime School email: sgsmcp@sgsmnewman.co.uk
Wednesday 22 nd March 9:15am Key Stage 2 calculation workshop Mother s Day Shop at lunchtime Thursday 23 rd March 9:15am Whole school Mass all welcome 6:30pm Sacrament of Reconciliation for Year 3 Friday 24 th March 9:30am Swimming gala 2:30pm Mothers Day service led by Nursery and Reception Nursery and Reception mums and nans welcome Sunday 26 th March 9:30am Thanksgiving Mass for Year 3 receiving Sacrament of Reconciliation all Year 3 and Year 6 children and families should attend Monday 27 th March Book Day Last day of Book Fair Wednesday 29 th March 6pm Singing Stars perform at The Mitchell Theatre Thursday 30 th March 2:30pm Parent drop-in with Mrs Farmer all welcome Friday 31 st March 9:15am Year 2 class assembly all Year 2 parents welcome Last day of clubs Wednesday 5 th April 6 7pm Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 Disco 7:15 8:45pm Key Stage 2 Disco Thursday 6 th April 9:15am Journey of the Cross Mass all welcome SFC Easter Tombola after school Friday 7 th April 2:30pm Easter Bonnet parade led by Nursery all Nursery parents welcome 3:15pm School closes Thank you so much for your continued support. Yours sincerely Mrs. D. Farmer Principal This newsletter can be viewed/downloaded from the school website.
Netball News We took our brand new, spangly and "up for it," netball team to a Stoke on Trent City wide High Five tournament. held at Fenton Manor. This was a thrill a minute, fast 'n' furious tournament which was one of the most exciting and new (to me) sporting events I have been a part of. Man, did we play well... So, when it came down to who proceeded through to the semi-finals, mathematicians were drawn in to calculate... It boiled down to just who put the most balls through the hoop... Here we lost out.... Obviously we were disappointed. However, this was, without doubt, an incredible performance from a team who did us proud. A thoroughly enjoyable and exciting morning; one from which we have all learned a great deal about ourselves Onwards and upwards, Mrs Clarke. XX Dinner Money & Nursery Provision A considerable amount of administration time is being spent on chasing up late payments. Please note: both dinner money and nursery provision need to be paid on a MONDAY morning (in advance). Thank you for your support. Medical Appointments If your child has a medical appointment we will require sight of the appointment card/letter. Please ensure you bring this with you when signing your child out at the office. Thank you. Test Messages To enable you to receive up to date text messages from school, please ensure you keep us up to date with your latest mobile phone number. Thank you. The School Fundraising Community (S.F.C) work extremely hard to raise much needed funds for our children and school. Here are some up and coming events that we hope you will support us with:- Wednesday, 8th February Valentine Tombola - after school, on the school playground (5 tickets 1.00). Tuesday, 21st March Mother s Day Shop at lunchtime. Items will range from 50p to 2.00 Wednesday, 22nd March Mother s Day Shop at lunchtime. Items will range from 50p to 2.00 Thursday, 6th April Easter Tombola - after school (5 tickets 1.00). To report your child s absence just leave a message on the school absence line.
Yesterday, Thursday 26 th January, myself and Miss Rushton took 8 Year 4, 5 and 6 children to Genting Arena, Birmingham to be part of a huge choir of 6200 children. The children had an amazing experience and great fun was had by all. I was so proud of how well the children took part in this huge concert. Well done to all our children who took part in the Young Voices event!!!