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Tag: Diary dates

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 8th May 2026

Dear Parents/carers,

Homely Habitats in Nursery and Reception

Children in Acorn class have been learning all about habitats. They have been looking in the garden and finding where all the small creatures live. They even made their own habitat based on the story, ‘Bog Baby’.

Outdoor Learning Club

At Outdoor Learning Club, each session begins with a wellbeing check-in where children and staff share how they are feeling and talk about their day, helping to create a calm and supportive environment.

The children have enjoyed a variety of outdoor activities including building shelters using ropes, tarps and natural materials, pond dipping and learning how to safely build and manage individual fires. During the fire sessions, the children learnt what a fire needs to burn and how to stay safe around fire, before toasting a marshmallow and making a s’more. 

A warm drink and snack are included in every session, helping children feel comfortable while developing confidence, teamwork, resilience and a love for outdoor learning.

Year 5 Bikeability

Our Year 5 pupils took part in Bikeability this week, building confidence and learning essential cycling skills to stay safe on the road.

A huge thank you to the fantastic Windrush Bike Project for delivering such an engaging and valuable experience — the children had a brilliant time while learning skills for life.

VE Day Singing at Beech Haven

Today, some of the children from our Singing Club had the privilege of visiting Beech Haven Care Home to mark VE Day. They performed a selection of wartime songs for the residents, bringing smiles, memories, and plenty of singing along.

The highlight of the visit was when the children and residents came together to form one choir, sharing a truly special moment across generations.

A wonderful way to honour VE Day – through music, remembrance, and community.

Nursery News

If you would like your child to have a fantastic nursery experience, look no further. From September 2026, we will be offering places for 2,3 and 4 year olds. If you know anyone who is looking for a place, please do let them know of our wonderful new spaces available. We would love to show prospective parents around.

Racing Excitement in Y2

Year 2 had fun testing their cars they had made in DT.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week  90.65%
Class with the highest attendance this week  Year 5 – 98% 
Whole school attendance (year to date)95.5%
National average  94.7%
Statutory Attendance (year to date)95.9%

Diary Dates

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 1st May 2026

Dear Parents/carers,

Year 3 Egyption Assembly

What a brilliant assembly the Year 3 pupils shared with us today. It really shows how much learning takes place in the classroom. Thank you to the teachers, children and parents for attending.

Supporting St. Deny’s Church, Little Compton,  Plant Sale on  Sunday 17th May 2-5pm

We are supporting a Church within the parish of St. Mary’s by growing plants. Mrs Dunn has been co-ordinating this mammoth effort. If you would like some plants for your garden or pots for your patio, please come along and support this worthwhile event. There will be tea and cake!

Tennis Coaching

All the children were fortunate enough to take part in tennis coaching sessions this week. Watch out for future stars at Wimbledon!

Year 4 Festival of Languages

Some of our Year 4 children had a fantastic time attending the Languages’ Festival at CNS yesterday. They enjoyed learning some German, Japanese and Latin, and even had the chance to sample lots of delicious French cheese! What a wonderful opportunity to explore new languages and cultures.

Victorian School Rooms

Year 5 had a fascinating time exploring our old school logbooks from the 1860s as part of their History learning on what life was like in Victorian times. Looking back at real records from the past helped bring Victorian school experiences to life and sparked lots of thoughtful questions about how different life was for children then compared with today. Although it was noted that the cane has now vanished, they were as eager about attendance as I am today – who knew!

PTA Disco

The PTA Disco tickets are now available to book on ParentMail.

World Cup Football Friday (£1 to wear your favourite Sports clothes to school) also on Friday 12th June 2026.

All the proceeds raised go towards the school.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week 95.99% 
Class with the highest attendance this week Year 3 – 98%
Whole school attendance (year to date) 95.7% 
National average 94.6% 
Statutory Attendance (year to date) 96.0% 

Diary Dates

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 27th March 2026

Dear Parents/carers,

Cotswolds Art In Schools

This term, we have been fortunate to take part in an exciting  art project in partnership with Oxford Brookes University, CATS, and Art in Schools https://www.artinschools.org.uk/). Through this initiative, children at our school have had the unique opportunity to experience a wide range of artistic treasures—many of which are freely accessible in galleries across the United Kingdom.

Pupils have explored works by renowned artists such as Turner and Van Gogh, alongside pieces by lesser-known artists, broadening their understanding of different styles and periods. These artworks have been shared through fortnightly classroom exhibitions, presented as engaging PowerPoint displays.

The response from the children has been overwhelmingly positive. They have shown great enthusiasm, confidently identifying their favourite pieces and explaining the reasons behind their choices.

We look forward to continuing this inspiring project next term. Thank you to Mrs Thorsby for co-ordinating this work.

Easter Church Service

Thank you to everyone for joining us for the Easter Service yesterday. Thank you to Olly and Rev Kennedy from the church and Mrs Taylor and Mrs English for organising this. EYFS pupils made an Easter tray to understand why we celebrate Easter.

Y3 River Walk

To complete their topic this term on rivers, Y3 ventured to Glyme river.

Y5 Rainforest Adventure

Thank you to the PTA for contributing to the very exciting trip that Y5 took to the rainforest this week. They had learnt so much and were very excited on their retun. The staff commented on how polite our children had been throughout the visit, which was lovely to hear.

School Uniform

Summer uniform of shorts or a red checked dress can be worn after the Easter holidays. The summer dress should be worn with white socks not tights. Please remember that leggings and sports trainers are NOT part of our school uniform.

The Treehouse

The Treehouse is open next week and I know there are lots of children who are looking forward to some fabulous Easter activities. The Treehouse will run in June and throughout the summer too. If you would like a place to support you with managing childcare, do book. The Treehouse is run by our qualified school staff, who know your children really well. If you are in work currently and need childcare but finds the cost too expensive, please talk to us to see how we can support your child with a reduced place. Everything will be treated confidentially.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week95%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 5 – 98.46%
Whole school attendance (year to date)95.9%
National average94.6%

Diary Dates

We hope you have a lovely Easter holiday and look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 13th April.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 19th December 2025

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

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

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

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

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

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 21st November 2025

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

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

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