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Headteacher’s Newsletter – 27th June 2025

Dear Parents/carers,

St. Mary’s Unplugged

So, we all survived the day! Can you survive the evening as well? Well, let’s hope so. This will raise lots of money for the school if you do. Yes, St. Mary’s was very much unplugged for the day. What we didn’t all realise, teachers alike, is how much technology is a necessity in our everyday lives and how much we use it to make our lives easier.

Y4 Maths day at Kitebrook

Our Y4 mathematicians were lucky enough to take part in an extremely fun maths adventure day at Kitebrook School.

Friday Family Fun

Some of families took part in some family fun sessions today run by Cheryl Huntbach and Ms Southeard. Everyone went home very happy for the weekend!

Y3 Singing in Churchill

The children had a beautiful day on Thursday singing with other schools. We are very grateful that Cotswolds Arts were able to support the children with some fabulous lessons before their performance at church and be taught by a professional music teacher.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 20th June 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

t’s been an extremely warm week for us all but thank you to everyone for equipping their child with a hat, sun cream and a water bottle. This weather is set to continue next week so please continue with these protective measures.

School uniform

We have noticed that some children are wearing colourful trainers. We appreciate that little feet grow –
especially at this time of year and families do not want to purchase new school shoes so although we have noticed, we have not asked any family to purchase the correct footwear. However, when your child returns in September, the expectation will be to have the correct shoes. Also, we have noticed that there are girls wearing thick grey tights with summer dresses. Please ensure white socks are worn with the school dress. I had two children with tights and leggings underneath a summer dress the other day and they were very uncomfortable.

Y6 Winchcombe visit

The children experienced an amazing trip to Winchombe railway yesterday. Although warm, they had an excellent time and the public were witness to the war songs they all sang on the train. I was also given a sneak preview of a beautiful song for the Year 6 upcoming show – just beautiful! Tickets for the theatre will be on sale soon.

Reception and All Things Wild

The children in Reception had an amazing day out this week to All Things Wild. They saw lots of animals and had a wonderful experience riding on a tractor round the dinosaur field! They cooled down in the afternoon with an ice cream.

New classes for September 2025-2026

HeadteacherMrs McQueen
Deputy headteacherMrs Taylor
EYFS teamMrs English (teacher Monday and Tuesday)
Mrs Keyzor (teacher Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday)
EYFS practitioners to be confirmed
Year 1Mrs Brunt (teacher)
Mrs Austin (TA)
Year 2Mrs Townsend (teacher)
Miss MacDonald (TA)
Year 3Mrs Eaglestone and Miss Thorsby (teachers)
Mrs Hicks (TA)
Year 4Ms Hollander (teacher)
Mrs Harrison (TA)
Year 5Mrs Pike (teacher)
Mrs Hornsby (TA)
Year 6Miss Philpott (teacher)
Mrs Jordan (TA)
The Orchard teamMr Buzzard
Mrs Dunn
Miss Southeard

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceYear 5 – 98.81% Mrs Pike’s Class
School overall attendance97.65%
Unauthorised attendance0.14%

Dates for your Diary

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 13th June 2025

Dear Parents/carers,

Parent Workshops at St Mary’s – creche available

If your child is being referred to CAMHS, is in the process of an EHCNA or is being supported through the school team MHST or takes part in Big Feelings this could be the workshop for you!

Please join us for a CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Parent Workshop – Introducing ‘The Brief Incredible Years: Empowering parents to manage and understand their child’s behaviour. Part 1 & 2.

Save the date:
Part 1: Tuesday 17 June 2025 from 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Part 2: Tuesday 1 July 2025 from 3.00pm – 4.30pm

The workshop ‘Brief Incredible Years’ is based on the book ‘The Incredible Years’ by Caroline Webster-Stratton. This program focuses on positive parenting strategies that support emotional and social development in children. The book is available for purchase (though not required for the workshop), or through Audible and some schools may lend copies. This is a parent-only workshop.

Please let the office know if you would like to attend so that we organise staff to look after your children.

Sports Day Magic

Thank you to everyone that contributed to Wednesday’s Sports Day. The weather was beautiful and everyone had an amazing time. The children showed amazing team spirit and determination! Mrs Eaglestone added up the house points and they are as follows:
1st place St Andrews with 2019 points
2nd place St Patrick 1955 points
3rd place St George 1913 points
4th place St David 1895 points

These points will be added to the yearly total. There’s not a lot in it so keep trying hard to get as many merits as you can.

Attendance this week

Class with overall best attendanceYear 5 – 99.11%
Overall school attendance97.45%
Unauthorised attendance0.14%

Dates for your diary

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 6th June 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

The Branch

Please see the programme, at the end of this newsletter, from The Branch. They support and signpost a variety of children and adults in our community. If you are in need of support, please reach out, either through school or popping along to The Branch directly (it is just along from Sainbury’s). Emma Kennedy is available on a Monday morning from 8.30am in school. You will catch her at the school gates.

Parent Workshops at St Mary’s – creche available

Please join us for a CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Parent Workshop – Introducing ‘The Brief Incredible Years: Empowering parents to manage and understand their child’s behaviour. Part 1 & 2.

Save the date:
Part 1: Tuesday 17 June 2025 3.00pm – 4:30pm
Part 2: Tuesday 1 July 2025 3.00pm – 4:30pm

The workshop ‘Brief Incredible Years’ is based on the book ‘The Incredible Years’ by Caroline Webster-Stratton. This program focuses on positive parenting strategies that support emotional and social development in children. The book is available for purchase (though not required for the workshop), or through Audible and some schools may lend copies. This is a parent-only workshop.

Please let the office know if you would like to attend so that we organise staff to look after your children.

St Mary’s Unplugged – 24 hours

A child told me the other day that he had so many sponsors. I responded with a very well done. The child told me that his parents and family didn’t think he could survive without technology for 24 hours. He said to me, ‘I can do anything I tell myself, even giving up my Xbox!’

Our FIRST platinum award winner!

Well done Ethan – 500 merits!

Multiplication and Maths End of Term Reward

Do you want your child to enjoy ice-cream and a bouncy castle treat for learning their multiplication tables? An afternoon of fun is on offer at St. Mary’s.

By the end of next term, your child will receive this reward if they:

  • Reception – know doubles to 10 (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 etc)
  • Y1 – can count in 2s, 5s and 10s
  • Y2 – can multiply by 2, 5 and 10
  • Y3 – know their 2,3,4,5,8 x tables in under 6 seconds
  • Y4, Y5 and Y6 – know ALL of their tables to 12 x 12 in under 6 seconds

If your child has already received a certificate, their name will already be on the treat list. If you are concerned that your child has SEN but you have been trying hard at home regularly, this will also be recognised by the class teacher as they will have had the data for TTRockstars across the year.

Year 4 in action

Year 4 have been looking at still life in art (Cezanne). They arranged their own still life, photographed it, drew it and now onto painting.

School Photos

You will have received some beautiful class photos this week. We were very lucky with the weather and were able to take them outside. Please do purchase a lovely reminder.

Piano Lessons – 9 pupils have already signed up!

Piano lessons are now available with a music teacher during school hours or lunch breaks, with rotating times each week so children do not miss the same class regularly. A fun and flexible way to build confidence and learn piano-perfect for beginners. Lessons are 20 minutes long and cost £12.50.

If your child would be interested in this, please leave a message at the office for Mrs English.

Sports day is next Wednesday 11 June 2025

All parents are welcome to attend from 9.30am until 12.30pm.

Every child will compete in some sporting events to gain house points before doing two individual races which will start about 11.00am.

At 12.00 noon you are invited to eat lunch with your child on the field so please bring your blankets and your picnics!

The Friends have kindly arranged for some refreshments to be available for purchasing throughout the morning. We would prefer card payments for this or small change.

I look forward to seeing lots of you there and we may even get time for Parents races!

Please make sure your child has full PE kit in school on Wednesday that includes trainers and their coloured house T-shirt and a water bottle. If it is set to be hot, please apply sun cream before school and provide a sun hat.

Many thanks for your help with this.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceYear 2 – 100%
Overall school attendance97.26%
Unauthorised attendance1.10%

Dates for your diary

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen

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Headteacher’s Newsletter – 23rd May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

Sean Woodcock MP

We were visited by our local MP today to discuss our plans for the new nursery. Mr. Woodcock was very impressed with our school and development ideas. If you know anyone coming to the area or considering a school for their child we would be more than happy to show them around St. Mary’s.

School Photos

We thought we’d try something different today so class photos were taken outside, on the school field. We have such beautiful school grounds. I’m sure they will look lovely when they are produced.

Piano Lessons

Piano lessons are now available with a music teacher during school hours or lunch breaks, with rotating times each week so children do not miss the same class regularly. A fun and flexible way to build confidence and learn piano-perfect for beginners. Lessons are 20 minutes long and cost £12.50.

If your child would be interested in this, please leave a message at the office for Mrs English.

iRock Thursday 10 July at 9.30am

We are inviting parents and carers of those children that have just started their iRock sessions to come along to a small concert, where the children would like to show you what they have been learning. If any other parents were thinking of signing their child up for next year, please join us too.

Multiplication and Maths End of Term Reward

Do you want your child to enjoy ice-cream and a bouncy castle treat for learning their multiplication tables? An afternoon of fun is on offer at St. Mary’s.

By the end of next term, your child will receive this reward if they:

  • Reception – know doubles to 10 (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 etc)
  • Y1 – can count in 2s, 5s and 10s
  • Y2 – can multiply by 2, 5 and 10
  • Y3 – know their 2,3,4,5,8 x tables in under 6 seconds
  • Y4, Y5 and Y6 – know ALL of their tables to 12 x 12 in under 6 seconds.

If your child has already received a certificate, their name will already be on the treat list. If you are concerned that your child has SEN but you have been trying hard at home regularly, this will also be recognised by the class teacher as they will have had the data for TTRockstars across the year.

St Mary’s Unplugged – 24 hours

A child told me the other day that he had so many sponsors. I responded with a very well done. The child told me that his parents and family didn’t think he could survive without technology for 24 hours. He said to me, ‘I can do anything I tell myself, even giving up my Xbox!’

So, who else is taking up the challenge? It doesn’t have to be a lot of money but the fact you complete the challenge is so important.

Athletics achievements

Our athletics team were fantastic on Wednesday. They all
competed in the 75m sprint, 300m run, long jump and howler throw.

We unfortunately didn’t win overall but we had some amazing performances, notably from Annabel, Ellie, Alfie Lee and Ethan for coming first in their long jump event! Every child in our team managed to come 1st, 2nd or 3rd in at least one event!

Mr Buzzard and Mrs Eaglestone were very proud. Thank you for representing St Mary’s so brilliantly!

Attendance

Thank you to all those parents who supported us this week in bringing their child to school on time. Even with all of the mayhem at the beginning of the week, the lates this week has reduced significantly. If you received a letter last week, we will be monitoring this on a weekly basis.

Class with overall best attendanceEYFS – 99.05%
Overall school attendance95.14%
Unauthorised attendance2.62%

Staff changes

Miss Gardner will be leaving us at the end of the summer term to fulfil her dream of being able to walk to work. I would like to thank Miss Gardner for her lovely whole school events at the Church and her fabulous face painting on VE day. We wish her all the best with her new adventure.

With Miss Gardner leaving us, we will be recruiting for a new class teacher. Please find more information on the DFE and OCC jobs website.

We are also recruiting 3 teaching assistants. We are able to offer two permanent and one temporary contract. If you or anyone you know is interested in this position, please contact me for an informal chat. You would be joining a happy, motivated team who work hard to give the children of St Mary’s the best every day.

Once the recruitment of all staff has been made, classes and their teaching assistants will be announced.

School Lunches

Thank you to those parents and carers who completed the school lunch questionnaire last week. We listened very carefully to your responses. The process of school and packed lunches have not changed for a number of years. The school has also been subsidising those families who pay for their meals for many years too. However, this has had a detrimental effect on the choice of meals on offer. I stated in a previous letter that we will be increasing our charges from September. We have just been informed that
our current provider will now make this change after half term. However, we feel this is too short notice and will continue to subsidise this increase as well.

From September, we will be looking at a different company, who will provide us with a range of choices that you will be able to pre-book. The increased choice, quality and ease of booking will come at an increased cost and we will unfortunately be unable to subsidise this.

We will keep you informed about all of this next term and thank you for your continued support.

Parent Workshops at St Mary’s – creche available

Please join us for a CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Parent Workshop – Introducing ‘The Brief Incredible Years: Empowering parents to manage and understand their child’s behaviour. Part 1 & 2.

Save the date:
Part 1: Tuesday 17 June 2025 from 3.00pm – 4:30pm
Part 2: Tuesday 1 July 2025 from 3.00pm – 4:30pm

The workshop ‘Brief Incredible Years’ is based on the book ‘The Incredible Years’ by Caroline WebsterStratton. This program focuses on positive parenting strategies that support emotional and social development in children. The book is available for purchase (though not required for the workshop), or through Audible and some schools may lend copies. This is a parent-only workshop.

Please let the office know if you would like to attend so that we organise staff to look after your children.

Dates for your Diary

Have a lovely half term holiday and we look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 30 May 2025.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 16th May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

VE Day Celebration – a rip-roaring success!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our celebration last week. We raised a fantastic £2,432.00.

The children have already told us what they would like to do with the money. Thank you to the PTA for
organising the tombola and raffle.

We had a fantastic afternoon. Our school neighbours wrote us letters and email to state how much they also enjoyed the singing and general feeling over their garden fences!

Multiplication and Maths End of Term Reward

Do you want your child to enjoy ice-cream and a bouncy castle treat for learning their multiplication
tables? An afternoon of fun is on offer at St Mary’s.

By the end of next term, your child will receive this reward if they:

  • Reception – know doubles to 10 (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 etc)
  • Y1 – can count in 2s, 5s and 10s
  • Y2 – can multiply by 2, 5 and 10
  • Y3 – know their 2,3,4,5,8 x tables in under 6 seconds
  • Y4, Y5 and Y6 – know ALL of their tables to 12 x 12 in under 6 seconds

If your child has already received a certificate, their name will already be on the treat list. If you are concerned that your child has SEN but you have been trying hard at home regularly, this will also be recognised by the class teacher as they will have had the data for TTRockstars across the year.

St Mary’s Unplugged – 24 hours

Next week you will find a sponsorship form for our St Mary’s Unplugged. The School Council decided that
on Friday 27June 2025 from 8.00am until Saturday 28June at 8.00am, that your child has NO access to any technology – TV, Ipads, Xbox, phones etc. Your child will be sponsored from people they know for giving up this technology for 24 hours. The school council would like to raise money for some outdoor equipment.

Ponding dipping in reception

Acorn Class have been pond-dipping. They found lots of creatures living in and around the pond but were delighted to find at least 8 newts. This shows that our pond is a very healthy environment. Acorn Class have done lots of fact finding about newts and are loving this week’s text ‘Bog Baby’. We are so lucky to have such a fantastic resource within our school grounds.

Attendance Update

Attendance has significantly improved across all classes lately. In fact, the children who are frequently late or absent in Year 6 showed that they could attend on time last week so please ensure your child does so until the end of term.

You are all aware that term-time holidays are now not allowed. If you do intend to take a holiday, please
make sure you have completed a form. It is unlikely to be authorised unless there are extenuating circumstances, but we do appreciate families who support us and follow school procedures.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceEYFS – 100%
Overall school attendance97%
Unauthorised attendance1.62%

Dates for your Diary

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming you back on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 2nd May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

VE Day Celebration – further details

Tickets will be available to purchase on ParentMail.

Our Summer Fair, last year, was a great success and raised £1600 to go towards our outdoor classroom. To make it even easier this year, we are going to put our ticket sales on ParentMail.

£5 = 10 tickets
£10 = 20 tickets

You should be able to do most things (splat the rat, hook a duck, arts and crafts) and buy cakes for £10 per child. Most activities will cost 50p – 1 ticket. Your tickets will then be counted, popped in an envelope and given to your child on Friday 9 May 2025.

Cakes – 1 ticket Ice-cream – 3 tickets with all the toppings! You will be able to buy more tickets on the day if you run out (cash and cards excepted).

The raffle will be extra, and cash and cards will be accepted for this on the day.

Hot and cold drinks will also be available at 3 tickets.

Raffle Prizes organised by the PTA

£75 cash
£25 cash
Fairytale Farm family pass
Hampers of Woodstock – wine
Blenheim Palace family pass
Park Fair tickets
Cotswold Wildlife Park family pass
2 x massage at Chipping Norton Golf Club
1 x family swim at Chipping Norton Leisure Centre
1 x family swim at Kingham School

Thank you to those parents who have signed up already to join us for so much fun. All the children will be singing some war time favourites and Mrs English has been working very hard with the school Singing Club. There will be lots of games, crafts and music.

All children are expected to dress as they would have in 1945, so please have a think about this over the weekend. Lots of children have already organised their costumes already so that’s great. Parents and carers can also dress up too, although this is optional. We’d just love every family to be represented in school.

If you can’t make it, please ensure you have bought your child some tickets so that they can also enjoy the afternoon.

Outdoor Classroom

As you can see, our outdoor classroom is on its way to being installed and ready to use very soon!

All things Roman

We secured a grant for £592.26 for all things Roman. Well done, Miss Philpott!

Parent Forum – have your say!

We will be running our first parent forum, where you will be able to have your say on a variety of different matters that affect your child at St Mary’s. We will look at attendance, our behaviour policy, learning in the classroom, parental engagement, the new nursery, The Orchard (provision for children with special educational needs)…….. the list in school is endless and I am sure you will have lots of your own ideas.

If you’d like to know more, have a niggle that you’d like to share or are just genuinely interested in what goes on at St Mary’s, please join us for our first meeting on:

Wednesday 14 May 2025 at 2.00pm to 3.00pm.

The first meeting will address what we are doing well at St Mary’s and how we can make St Mary’s even better with your help and support. If you can’t make it but would like us to discuss something, please drop the school office an email.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceYear 1 – 98.82%
Overall school attendance96.67%
Unauthorised attendance0.67%

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend and we look forward to welcoming you back on Tuesday.

Best wishes

Mrs Christine McQueen

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