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Headteacher’s Newsletter – 13th March 2026

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Year 5 Music Festival

Year 5 did us proud at the Chipping Norton Music Festival this week. They were not only praised for their
teamwork and beautiful singing but their exemplary behaviour as well. Follow us on Facebook and
Instagram to see the video.

Mother’s Day Event

Thank you to everyone who attended the Mother’s Day event today as it was such a success. Thank you to all the staff for supporting such creativity. We look forward to dressing up next Friday for Comic Relief and making ourselves look funny for money.

Nursery News

After a short delay, we have been given the opportunity to open our nursery to two year olds in September. If you are interested in this, please contact the school for further information. We will open this if there is demand.

If you have a child who is about to reach 3 years old and are looking for a school nursery place, we can
currently accommodate this as well. We are open 50 weeks of the year.

Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools Inspections (SIAMS)

Thank you to our governors – Linda carpenter and Rev. James Kennedy for supporting our school on
Tuesday and working with Mrs Taylor on our SIAMS report. Our Christian vision is very important to us and we use our school values every day.

Our vision is, ‘to provide firm foundations and create opportunities for everyone to be inspired and flourish within a supportive community demonstrating branches of wisdom, integrity, compassion, patience and joy’.

We demonstrate our vision and values through our story of the mustard seed. Please ask your children
about this and see what they can tell you. Our values are seen in the form of some memorable objects.

Funny for Money – Comic Relief Friday 20th March

Dress up funny for money – wear something silly, funny or daft (using what you made today!) to school for £1 donation.

Holiday Club at The Treehouse

This is now open! If you would like your child to attend but may need support financially, we may be able to help you with this. Contact the school office for support.

Parents’ Evening – Last chance to book

Parents’ Evening is on Monday 16th March and Wednesday 18th March are available to book online. This is the perfect the opportunity to find out how your child is doing in school.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week96.64%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 4 – 99.23%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.67%
National average94.6%

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

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 27th February 2026 

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Mother’s Day Magic – Friday 13th March 2026

On Friday 13th March at 1.15pm we will look forward to inviting female representatives of our children to
our Creative Mother’s Day event. Please complete the google form so that Natalie in the kitchen knows
how many sweet treats to prepare and we can organise the family groupings. The feedback from last year’s event was so positive so we look forward to seeing you there.

Parents’ Evening

Parents’ Evening on Monday 16th March and Wednesday 18th March are available to book online. This is
the perfect opportunity to find out how your child is doing in school.

Holiday Club at The Treehouse

Our holiday club last week was a real success. The children flipped pancakes; baked cakes; made a beautiful Chinese dragon and had the most amazing time with all the gym equipment. Would you like to
join us for Easter? Holiday places will be available to book from next week.

World Book Week 2nd March – 6th March

A week full of exciting activities. More information will be available via Ms Hollander – our English lead via
Dojo. Your child will need their PJs, their favourite book, a cuddly toy and a blanket next Friday as we
snuggle down for some favourite story telling.

Attendance

I am always talking about the importance of school attendance and the impact good attendance has on
the outcomes of our pupils. We had made such amazing progress with raising attendance levels over the
past three years. Recently, this has changed. Not with all our families but we have a number of children
that are now classed as persistently absent, 90% or below and a significant increase in children closer to
90% than 95%. Some of this has been illness, at other times some pupils are choosing to have those extra
duvet days. We will look to continue our processes to promote good attendance and work with those
families where attendance is unsatisfactory. Being punctual is also vitally important for future generations.
We want our children to be successful on the next stage of their school journey. Please help us to help
your child by attending every day and on time.

Whole school attendance this week95.92%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 3 – 98.9%
Whole school attendance (year to date)95.9%
National average94.6%

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

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 13th February 2026

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Mrs Southeard writes: On Wednesday afternoon Orchard class learnt about Shrove Tuesday. We weighed out and mixed our ingredients and made our own pancakes. Everyone had a turn flipping their own pancakes before enjoying eating them!

We then donned aprons and hats and took part in some pancake flipping races!

Safeguarding and Mental Health Week

We continued this week to talk to the children about good decision making and what this means to everyone. Again, if you need to talk, please reach out to any member of staff or perhaps pop in to Emma Kennedy’s drop in sessions at the school gate on Mondays from 08.25am.

If you have a concern or would like further information about safeguarding, please contact:
Mrs. McQueen – Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Taylor – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Miss Wakefield – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Working in Partnership

In order for Safeguarding to be most effective, it needs to be a collaborative effort involving multiple
sectors to protect children from harm. Alongside parents and carers, Education, Children’s Social Care,
health services, and the Police all play crucial roles in ensuring children’s safety.

Education: Schools and educational settings have a duty of care to safeguard children. They provide a
safe learning environment, monitor children’s wellbeing, and have policies and procedures in place to
identify and respond to potential risks.

Children’s Social Care: Social workers are responsible for assessing children’s needs and providing
support and protection, where necessary. They investigate concerns of abuse or neglect, work with
families to address issues, and may take legal action to safeguard children. It is important to remember
that, as Social Care is not about removing children from their homes- but supporting families to stay
together and thrive.

Health Services: Healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives and health visitors, play
an essential role in identifying signs of abuse or neglect as well as providing medical treatment, support,
and advice to children and their families.

Police: The police are responsible for investigating crimes, including child abuse and exploitation. They
work closely with other agencies to protect children and bring perpetrators to justice. They can be used to
safeguard children in emergency situations and work closely with other agencies to share important
information.

By working together, these sectors can create a strong network of support to protect children from harm
and ensure their well-being.

Robot Wednesday

Mrs Hornsby has been working with Mr Allen from Kitebrook School every Wednesday lunchtime with a Coding Club. Mrs Hornsby is now in charge of our newly revitilised Facebook and Instagram pages. Her tech skills far exceed mine so please tag a long to see what is happening at St. Mary’s. Some of our Year 4 and Year 5 children have been having a fantastic time at Coding Club on Wednesday lunchtimes! Using Sphero robots, the children have been learning how to program commands to control movement, speed and direction. They have also explored how to make their Spheros display colourful images and play exciting sounds, bringing their creations to life. It has been wonderful to see their creativity, teamwork and resilience in action as they test and improve their codes. Well done to all of our enthusiastic coders – we can’t wait to see what you create next!

Mother’s Day Magic – Save the Date

On Friday 13th March at 1.15pm we will look forward to inviting female representatives of our children to
our Creative Mother’s Day event. You are invited to spend an afternoon with your children getting crafty.
This year, you will be making something funny for your children to wear the next Friday for Comic Relief. There will be an opportunity afterwards to eat cake and have a coffee or tea afterwards with friends and other families. We look forward to seeing you there.

Holiday Club

We look forward to seeing all of our children who have signed up for holiday club next week. There will be celebrations galore with Chinese New Year, Shrove Tuesday and portrait painting on canvas. It is set to be an exciting week. Please make sure that you provide a packed lunch and some snacks if you are joining us next week.

Wrap Around Care – Price Increase

Just a reminder that after half term the price will increase for Night Owls:
3-4pm £4.00
4-5pm £4.00
3-5pm £8.00
Prices for Early Birds will remain at £2.00 from 8am to 8.25am

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week93.4%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 3 – 98.26%
Whole school attendance (year to date)95.5%
National Attendance94.5%

Have a lovely half term holiday, although it could be a wet one and we’ll see you on Monday 23rd February.

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 16th January 2026

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Our collective worship theme for this week has been on the topic of ‘HOPE’ and we talked about our hopes for the future and the small hopes we can wish for on a daily basis. I was running late for my child’s Parents’ Evening last night because of the rain and I hoped I would find a parking space and I was so lucky to get one in a good spot. It’s the little wins that we can celebrate just when we need them alongside those bigger wishes.

School and Packed Lunches

School lunches are a real hit with the children. If you would like your child to try a school lunch, please book on The School Grid. If you are having difficulties with this, please contact the school office.

If your child brings a packed lunch to school, please could you ensure that there are NO NUTS or items containing obvious nuts in them such a nutella products. We have a child with a severe food allergy and this could be catastrophic for him if he came into contact with any items.

We are going to be looking at what make s a nutritious lunch box in the coming weeks. Yesterday, I identified a packed lunch box that consisted of five chocolate bars only and don’t get me wrong, I love a sweet treat but five chocolate bars will mean more trips to the dentist and will also leave your child feeling hungry. If your child is entitled to a free lunch, please book online and they can try items alongside the packed lunch you provide but NO NUTS, thank you.

The Branch

Pop into the school library at 10am on a Monday morning if you need signposting or need some family support. I have spoken to some parents recently so do speak to Emma Kennedy or join them at The Branch on a Tuesday for Connect Café 1-2.30pm.

Please go to The Branch website for further information – www.thebranchtrust.org

Holiday Club

Following on from last weeks newsletter, we are delighted to give you all the details about our new holiday club ‘The Treehouse’ starting in the February half term (please see attached poster). You can now book via ParentMail on the ‘Accounts’ section. Any problems, please contact the school office.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week95.23%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 5 – 96.9%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.5%
National average94.6%

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

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 9th January 2026

Written by Mrs McQueen on . Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Nursery News

We welcomed several new nursery children to our school at the beginning of this month. Our Early
Years area is full of happy faces that are settling in with some already familiar faces.

VR Experience

We started the year off with a whole school Virtual Reality Experience. One child said to me, ‘I didn’t really like the orangutang’s bottom in my face – it was scary’. I would tend to agree but everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience apart from that.

Attendance is at 97%

Three years ago, when I started St. Mary’s, our whole school attendance was 90.2%. It is currently 97%. This high attendance means that children don’t miss out on some amazing school experiences. The children have stated that learning is fun; they like to play with their friends and miss school when they are not here. Our attendance on the snowiest week of the year so far, has still been a super 96.5%. We have worked as a whole school community to understand the importance of high attendance. You can’t help it
when you are genuinely ill but our parents and children have really understood the value of having a duvet day at the weekend and that holidays are taken during the school holidays.

Wrap-around Care at St. Mary’s

Meet our wrap-around team.

Mrs Austin is our lead co-ordinator and runs Early Birds, Night Owls and our soon to be holiday provision. She has worked at St. Mary’s for a number of years and comes with a wealth of childcare experience. Mrs Austin is a keen artist and has run an art club alongside one of our other teaching assistants for the past two years. The art activities she provides at Night owls are the reason why we are currently bursting at the seams!

Miss Reynolds is a new member of school and is currently taking her Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification with us. Miss Reynolds loves to cook and is looking forward to getting creative in the kitchen over the half term break with our holiday club.

Mr Buzzard is our sporting member of the team and he can be seen with our PE coach during daily afternoon sessions. He is a keen watcher and player of football as well as loving several other sports. He
is eager to support the whole school by looking for grant opportunities and has secured several pieces of
equipment and kits for the school so far.

Charging for Clubs

8:00 – 8:25 am3:00 – 4:00 pm4:00 – 5:00 pm
Early Birds £2Night Owls £2Night Owls £4
After-school clubs £2

Due to the high demand for Night Owls, we have had to recruit an extra member of staff. This will mean
that after half term, we will have to increase the cost to £4 from 3-4pm and to £8 3-5pm. Our afterschool provision is the cheapest across the county and all of the money goes to paying staff wages and resourcing. We will also be sending a google form to ascertain whether parents would like the times
extended.

Late pick up

If you are going to be late picking up your child, please ring the school office and let us know. We have
noticed that several parents during the Autumn term were regularly picking up their child/children from
school late and without prior warning. It has recently come to our attention that this is to avoid The Green
at the end of the school day. If you are late and you do not give us any warning, your child will be placed in Night Owls and you will be charged accordingly. If you are late for Night Owls, you will also be charged £10 for every 10 minutes you are late.

Holiday Club – Monday 16th – Friday 20th February

We will also be offering a holiday club during the half-term February break. There will be physical activities, cookery, art and crafts and that all important ‘chill time’. You will need to provide your child with
a packed lunch and snacks for throughout the day. Please email the office to register your interest, more
details will follow.

Attendance

Whole school attendance this week97.48%
Class with the highest attendance this weekYear 5 – 100%
Whole school attendance (year to date)96.4%
National average94.5%

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Christine McQueen

st mary's school credentials