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Tag: Diary dates

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 19th December 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/Carers,

What a great final week we’ve had to the term. With parties galore, a Christmas lunch that made us all smile and a Church service that showed us all what a great school we are and a school that I am so proud to be part of. Thank you to everyone that contributes to making St. Mary’s the great place it truly is!

Christmas Service

The children performed beautifully in our Christmas Service, which told the Christmas story through song.
Thank you, Mrs Taylor and Mrs English, for organising this and to the teachers, parents and Church members who eagerly support us – the Church was packed!

Christmas Lunch

A lovely lunch was had with crackers and laughter. We also thanked our volunteers with a lunch afterwards. Thank you to Natalie and Raquel in the kitchen.

Christmas Artwork

Here is some lovely Christmas artwork that our Year 3’s have been working on today.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week96.5%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 4 – 100%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.5%
National average94.6%

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely Christmas break. Please do something that makes you very happy and we’ll see you all refreshed in the New Year for another term of creative learning.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 12th December 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/Carers,

We’ve had another lovely week at St. Mary’s. The EYFS nativity was just lovely and our iRock stars were shining brightly. Thank you to all the parents and carers that attended the performances – the school was packed!

PTA Disco

The PTA disco was just amazing! The music was loud, the games were fun and all the parents were well-behaved! No seriously, the children had an amazing time and thank you so much to all the parents that helped out to make the event such a success. The PTA are so amazing at giving up their time to provide so much for the children of St. Mary’s.

EYFS Nativity

Seeing your child in their first nativity performance is a very special experience and this week it wasn’t any different for all of our families.

Church Celebrations, Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumpers – a bumper day!

Our Christmas dinner will be on Thursday 18th December 2025. You can view the full festive menu and order on School Grid.

Christmas Jumper Day

We will be holding our Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 18th December 2025. Children can wear a festive jumper instead of a school jumper but must be in school uniform otherwise. Please bring in a £1 donation to go to Save the Children.

We’d love to see you at Church for our Christmas Carol service at 9.30am on yes, you guessed it, Thursday 18th December.

Staffing Update from January 2026

We are delighted to welcome new staff to our school from January 2026

School Business Manager – Mrs Tinkham, who will be in the office Monday, Thursday & Friday

Administrator – Mrs Strick who will continue to be in the office but on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Year 1 Teacher – Mrs Leah will be teaching our Year 1 class Thursday and Friday along with Mrs Brunt who will be teaching Monday – Wednesday.

Nursery Lead – Mrs Jocefcuk

SENDCo – Miss Wakefield (Monday-Friday)

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week96.62%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 3 & Year 6 – 97.4%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.6%
National average94.7%

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend and we’ll see you all on Monday for our last week of term.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 5th December 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have had a lovely festive start to December this week. Here are a few things we have been doing:

Our School Christmas Tree

This year, we wanted our children to decorate our tree with their beautiful creations and doesn’t it look stunning! Here are two of our winning entries for the decoration competition.

Singing Club

On Saturday, our singing club sang some festive classics at the Christmas Tree Festival and they have been to visit the residents of Southern Down Care home today.

Christmas Dinner

Our Christmas dinner will be on Thursday 18th December 2025. You can view the full festive menu and order on School Grid.

Christmas Jumper Day

We will be holding our Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 18th December 2025. Children can wear a festive jumper instead of a school jumper but must be in school uniform otherwise. Please bring in a £1 donation to go to Save the Children.

Free School Meals

Just a reminder that all children in Reception, Year 1 & 2 are entitled to free school meals – if you don’t already and your child would like to try one then please order via School Grid. If you need any assistance with this then please contact the school office.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week96.67%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 4 – 100%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.7%
National average94.8%

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 21st November 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Winter certainly has set in but we have had a lovely week in school. Here are some highlights:

Year 3 – Stone Age Project

Year 3 had a great time in Computing this week bringing their Stone Age stories to life using IMotion to create a short animation.

Netball Tournament at CNS

Some Year 5 & 6 children represented our school at a Netball tournament at CNS – Mrs Hornsby was very proud and said that they represented our school beautifully.

Piper and Theo presented a report to Assembly this morning ‘It was really fun to take part in the tournament. We all played brilliantly and showed great team work & communication. It was a fantastic opportunity.’

EYFS – Castle Role Play

EYFS have been enjoying castle role play this week and dressing up in some wonderful costumes.

Poppy Appeal

Thank you to everyone that supported the Poppy Appeal in school, we raised £242.78 for the Royal British Legion.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week97.95%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 1 – 99.5%
Whole school attendance (year to date)97.4%
National Attendance95.2%

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 14th November 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Well, what a fantastic week we’ve had despite the rain! We’ve had dance workshops, singing, Opera to name but a few.

Here’s one of the highlights – Lantern Making.

Year 3 enjoyed a trip to the Town Hall to make Christmas Lanterns. They were very well behaved and Mrs Eaglestone and Mrs Hicks were very proud of how creative the children were.

The class are looking forward to taking part in the Chipping Norton Light Switch on, on Thursday 27th November where they will take part in a lantern procession before the official countdown.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week97.61%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 1 – 100%
Whole school termly attendance97.3%
National Attendance95.2%

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 17th October 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Harvest Festival

Thank you to everyone who attended our Harvest festival yesterday. It was a lovely service, where our children are growing in confidence every time they speak. Thank you Mrs Taylor for organising this and to Rev. Kennedy and Rev. Shaw for supporting us with this.

Parents’ Evening

If you haven’t booked already, there are still spaces available to see your child’s class teacher. This is an excellent opportunity to see how they have settled in to their new classes, raise any concerns and learn how to support your child even further. The children love to hear how well they are doing too.

Panto Reminders

Lots of parents have paid for our Christmas annual treat to the Pantomime. We are very lucky to be able to attend this at a hugely reduced rate, due to it being a school performance and that the PTA contribute heavily to this as well. If you haven’t had a chance, tickets are available to purchase on ParentMail.

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Christine McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 10th October 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Collaboration with Ace Centre Nursery

We are pleased to announce that, in January 2026, we will be collaborating with Ace Centre Nursery, where I will assume the role of Executive Headteacher. This decision comes as the current headteacher embarks on an exciting new headship opportunity. Recognising the statutory importance of leadership, we felt it imperative to support and ensure the continued existence of the nursery school, at this current time, within our community.

In the coming weeks, we will share further information, ensuring that everyone is fully informed and involved. A letter has already been sent via ParentMail to keep you updated on these developments.

We look forward to embarking on this journey together and are excited about the positive impact our collaboration will have for the children and families in Chipping Norton. Thank you for your continued support.

PGL

The children have had an excellent week at PGL. I saw many smiling faces as they took part in some amazing activities. Thank you to Mrs Hornsby, Mrs Jordan and Miss Philpott for supporting the children this week. A well-deserved rest is in order for everyone at the weekend!

Some After-School Clubs in Action

Harvest Festival Donations

Thank you to all the families that donated food for our Harvest Festival next week. I will be taking the food to church tonight so that it can be displayed in the church. Giving a little of what you can and letting your children see the importance of this is a valuable life lesson and we appreciate this so much.

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Christine McQueen

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