Welcome back to everyone, I hope you enjoyed a lovely Easter Break. The children have returned refreshed and raring to go, enjoying various educational school trips to Painshill Park, Hampton Court and Juniper Hall. We are also pleased to announce improved levels of attendance so far this term with every class receiving a house point for attendance levels exceeding 97%. Sincere thanks to parents for their continued support volunteering for our school trips and supporting their child s attendance. We look forward to welcoming parents to our Ascension Day Mass on 10 th May and wish the children a very happy Summer Term at St Alban s. April Highlights Mr Brannigan Headteacher s Tea Party This month, two children from each class received a golden ticket from Mr Brannigan. The golden tickets were awarded for Kindness and included an invitation to the Headteacher s tea party. At the tea party, the children enjoyed an array of tasty treats and a party bag to take home. Congratulations to everyone who attended! Lead The Way Page 1 of 8
Zoolab visit This month, Reception received a visit from the fantastic Zoolab. The children were introduced to many wonderful creatures and were taught about how to categorize a mini beast. They met a giant snail, a giant millipede, a baby gerbil, hissing cockroaches, a corn snake and a pink tarantula called Buttercup. The children were fascinated to learn about these amazing mini beasts and were very gentle with them all. Painshill Park trip Year 1 had a lovely trip to Painshill Park on Tuesday 17 th April. We learnt all about different seeds and plants. We had lots of fun collecting leaves and pinecones to make our own gardens. We even found some treasure! Thank you so much to all the parents who helped. Lead The Way Page 2 of 8
Hampton Court trip On Tuesday 24th April Year 5 visited Hampton Court Palace. Year 5 spent the morning exploring the Palace and learnt about Henry VIII and his famous wives. In the afternoon the class attended an Opening Up the World workshop. They discovered what life was like for explorers, such as Sir Walter Raleigh, during the 15th and 16th centuries. A very informative and enjoyable trip for the Year 5 children. Lead The Way Page 3 of 8
Juniper Hall trip Year 4 had a fantastic time at Juniper Hall on 27th-29th March. We developed our team work skills as well resilience and independence. The children took part in many amazing activities including animal catching, landscape painting, den building, hiking and bush skills. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and did themselves and the St Alban's staff extremely proud because of their outstanding behaviour and attitude to all the new activities. Well Done Year 4! Lead The Way Page 4 of 8
Important Please note that going forward, the school will close at the earlier time of 1pm at the end of each term (Summer, Autumn and Spring). Note, we will still close at the normal time before each half term. Hence closure times will be as follows this term: Fri 25th May School closes at normal time End of Summer Term 1 Thurs 19th July School closes at 1pm *new time* End of Summer Term 2 and Academic Year (2017/2018) Polite reminders from the office Tucasi account The summer term is very busy this year with a number of trips and clubs running. We would be very grateful if you can regularly check your tucasi account and ensure any outstanding balances are settled. Green Travel St Alban's is committed to promoting "Green Travel". We do this by ensuring that where possible, pupils walk to offsite events. We also organise events where pupils can improve their cycling skills. We would like to ask all parents to consider their journey to school and how they can incorporate more green travel for example by car sharing, parking further away and walking the remaining distance, cycling to school etc. Attendance Policy reason for absence from school We still have a number of outstanding letters from parents to advise the reason for their child s absence. As a requirement in our Attendance Policy the expectations of parents are: Encourage regular attendance and be aware of your legal responsibilities. Ensure that parents contact the school every day of the absence, for safeguarding reasons. Then send in a note of explanation when the child returns to school. Failing to do this will result in your child being marked with an unexplained absence. Please can we remind all parents/carers that if your child has had any absence that you haven t sent in a note of explanation for this is currently marked as Unexplained and recorded in your child s pupil record. If you are unsure of any dates, please contact the school office and we will be happy to provide the dates for you. Upcoming Events Ascension Day Mass Please note that the Ascension Day Mass will be held on Thursday 10 th May at 2pm. This will be held at school with all parents welcome. Lead The Way Page 5 of 8
Local Information Chertsey Museum has asked us to share the following information with you: We are offering a Summer-Term membership for just 10 pounds. This one-term membership to our education service gives you access to our range of loan boxes and resource packs. It also means that the cost of any sessions you book will be reduced because you will not have to pay a 10 booking fee on sessions that you book for this term. We offer a large number of different sessions which might be of interest to your school. For instance, this term is always a popular time for our Seaside Holidays in the Past workshop, which looks at how modern seaside holidays are different from those in the past. The workshop involves an object-based talk exploring these themes. The children are then split into groups and do a circle of different activities relating to seaside holidays in the past, including dressing up, making a Punch puppet, putting on a Punch and Judy puppet show, writing a postcard and studying seaside images from the past. Also popular this term are our Ancient Greek session, our Prehistory workshop and our WW2 session, but there are many more to choose from! Please refer to our website for further details and costs. Finally, we have now introduced nursery school sessions, which might be of interest if you run a pre-school or nursery school at your site. Please see the flyer attached and visit www.chertseymuseum.org. Attendance Cup Winners Every month our Attendance Cup is awarded to the class with the highest attendance. Attendance figures 29/03/2018 27/04/2018 St Bernadette 97.67% St Francis 98.75% St Thomas 98.33% St George 99.17% St Peter 99.82% St Joseph 99.48% St Paul 98.97% St Josephine 97.83% St John the Baptist 97.50% Saint Mother Teresa 98.21% Well done to St Peter who achieved the highest attendance over the past month. Congratulations also to St Joseph who came in second place and St George who were third. Every class that achieves over 97% receives a house point each and we are very happy to announce that every class will receive a house point this month. Well done to all the classes. Lead The Way Page 6 of 8
Summer Term Dates DATE TIME EVENT Thurs 3rd May 9.30-10.30am & 11am-12pm Pedals Training Yr 2 Fri 4th May 9.30am Yr 3 St Paul swimming lesson (3/6) Mon 7th May School closed May Day bank holiday Weds 9th May 9.10am Reception St Bernadette class assembly Thurs 10th May 2pm 8pm Ascension Mass at school (all parents welcome) Boat Party (FoSA) Kingston, Turks dock Fri 11th May 9.30am Yr 3 St Paul swiming lesson (4/6) Mon 14th May 14th-17th May KS2 SATs Week Fri 18th May 9.30am Yr 3 St Paul swimming lesson (5/6) Yr 2 St Peter fundraiser (FoSA) Weds 23rd May Thurs 24th May 9.10am 8.45am Reception St Francis class assembly Bags 2 school (FoSA) Yr 2 St Joseph fundraiser (FoSA) Tempest Photography end of key stage photos Fri 25th May Mon 4th June 9.30am School closes at normal time School re-opens at normal time Yr 3 St Paul swimming lesson (6/6) End of Summer Term 1 Start of Summer Term 2 Fri 8th June 9.30am Yr 4 St Josephine swimming lessons start (1/5) Sat 9th June Molesey Carnival parade and stall Weds 13th June 1.30pm Grandparents' tea party Thurs 14th June Yr 4 St Josephine Kew Bridge trip Yr 3 fundraiser Fri 15th June 9.30am Yr 4 St Josephine swimming lesson (2/5) Tues 19th June Weds 20th June Sports Day Yr 2 trip to Wisley Lead The Way Page 7 of 8
Fri 22nd June 9.30am Feast Day Mass Tues 26th June Sports Day reserve date (if weather prevents on Tuesday 19th June) Weds 27th June 9.10am Yr 2 St Peter class assembly Fri 29th June 9.30am Yr 4 St Josephine swimming lesson (3/5) Mon 2nd July 9am-12.15pm Yr 4 St Josephine Bikeability group 1 Tues 3rd July 9am-12.15pm Yr 4 St Josephine Bikeability group 2 Weds 4th July 9.10am Yr 2 St Joseph class assembly Thurs 5th July All day District Sports Fri 6th July 9.30am Yr 4 St Josephine swimming lesson (4/5) Sat 7th July 11am-2pm Summer Fair Mon 9th July Tues 10th July Weds 11th July Thurs 12th July Fri 13th July 9.30am Yr 4 St Josephine swimming lesson (5/5) Tues 17th July 6pm Yr 6 performance Weds 18th July 6pm Leavers Mass at St Barnabas Thurs 19th July School closes early at 1pm *new time* End of Academic Year (2017/2018) Fri 20th July School closed INSET day Lead The Way Page 8 of 8