Tag: Nursery

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 26th September 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on 26 September 2025. Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Harvest Festival – Thursday 16^th October

Please join us for our annual Harvest Festival at St. Mary’s Church on Thursday 16^th October at 9.30am – all welcome.

If you would like to make a donation to the food bank, please send your child to school with something tinned or dried. No fresh items please. I will take them to the Church on Friday 10^th October so that they can be displayed in St. Mary’s Church for their Harvest Festival on Sunday 12^th and in preparation for ours on Thursday 16^th September.

Open Morning

Wow! What a busy Open Morning we had today. We had so many people through the school doors – old and new. Thank you to everyone that visited and thank you to the staff and children for working so hard. Thank you also to our teams that we work with – The Branch, LCSS and Rhiannon from the mental health team and of course our PTA. It was great to see so many families connecting with the services we have on offer.

Our new school lunch company, Dolce cooked up a variety of different food. My favourite was the yorkshire pudding topped with delicious cauliflower cheese. We had children tasting the menu and some of our Y6 pupils who woudn’t necessarily have a school lunch have definitely changed their minds. If your child would like a school lunch, please log onto the school grid.

Our Y6 tour guides were a credit to our school. Here is a message from a parent today.

‘Wow, never knew the school was so big! Stan and Vlad who showed me around are a credit to the school. It was great to see it all. For someone who is looking to put their child into the school you’d struggle to see why you wouldn’t want to. The place looks great. All the children were sat working hard and listening nicely.’

More nursery news and more…

We are very pleased to say that in January 2026 we will be taking 2 year old children. A special room is being developed for this provision and we hope that prospective parents will be able to visit this area in November/December. If you know someone that would be interested in this provision, please get them to contact the school.

Wrap around care and more…

We are also pleased to announce that we will be able to offer childcare from January 2026 for 50 weeks of the year. This will mean that we will offer not only after-school clubs but holidays clubs too. These will be run by staff in school so every face will be familiar and provide working parents with the support that they need. More information to follow. We are very excited about this.

If you would like to register your interest for a place in nursery or would like to know more about wrap around care, please get in touch.

Dates for your Diary

School Calendar

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Christine McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 12th September 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on 12 September 2025. Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents/carers,

Nursery News

Well, after a lot of hard work the nursery and reception area is now completely finished and it looks amazing! The children have had so much fun using all of the new equipment and as the headteacher of St. Mary’s it has been so lovely to see.

Open Morning Friday 26^th September 09.00am – 11.00am

Come and see the new nursery and reception area; our newly re-vamped school hall and of course all our hard-working school community in action. We’d love to see you all. We will have taster sessions from our new Lunch Company Dolce; The Branch will be here should you need signposting to services or support; Locality and Community Support Services (LCSS); The Friends of St. Mary’s and The Book Fair will all be available so please do join us.

Chastleton Teas – Sunday 21^st September at Chastleton Church in aid of St. Mary’s Primary

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered but we could do with a little more help. If you could bake a cake and/or could volunteer an hour of your time, we would really appreciate it. All cakes should be brought to the school office by the end of the school day on Friday 19^th September in preparation for Sunday 21^st. Please contact Sonia King if you could bake a cake or spare an hour of your time on the Sunday.

School Lunches

The feedback about school lunches couldn’t have been better. The variety of food on offer and the new recipes are a definite hit. We have noticed that a lot of children who would normally be entitled to a school lunch are still not taking advantage of this delicious offer. If you are having difficulties setting up an account, please contact the school office and remember if you are unsure whether your child is entitled to a free school meal in KS2, we can always check for you.

Also, some parents are forgetting to pre-order their child’s school meal so unfortunately will not always be given an option at the counter. To avoid any unecessary upset, please order your child’s meal in advance. Meals can be ordered a term in advance. Many parents find ordering on a Sunday evening with their child also a good option so they know what they are eating for that week.

Early Birds and Night Owls

After-school clubs are full. However, you still have the opportunity to place your child in Night Owls, which runs from 3-5pm. Please see the separate email on ParentMail for step by step instructions.

Early Birds and Night Owls – change of drop off and collection

Our wrap around care is now in full swing. Early Birds and Night owls will now run in The Orchard. Please drop your child off and collect your child from the victorian building entrance, labelled The Orchard. Press the Intercom system and someone will come to the door.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Christine McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 4th April 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on 4 April 2025. Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

What a fabulous term we’ve had at St. Mary’s from fantastic class assemblies to amazing school visits to link in with our school topics. We’ve been to sporting events and the children of St. Mary’s have represented our school in so many ways. In fact, we came fourth in the Oxfordshire Boccia finals last night. Our school is going from strength to strength every day and what we offer our children is something I am very proud of. Our staff challenge when it is needed, support when times get tough and turn up every day to give the children of St. Mary’s the very best they can.

Easter Service

Thank you to everyone who attended our service yesterday. We may have had some technical difficulties but we are strong and the sun shone down on us and did not deter some lovely singing.

Nursery News

You all know that we are set to open our nursery next September and we are very nearly full, which is just fantastic. I can’t think of anything better than dropping your children at the same place every morning in preparation for a smooth transition to the school they will spend the rest of their time in. We had applied for the Department For Education grant before Christmas and have just received the news that we have been successful. So, what does that mean for the children of St. Mary’s? There will be refurbishment throughout the summer holidays of the whole EYFS area. We will get new fencing, outdoor area and furniture throughout for our new pupils. This also means that the money we had put aside for this can be used on other projects around the school.

Nursery visits for new starters to be arranged for next term.

Amazon Antics!

Year 5 had an amazing time visiting the rainforest this week.

Attendance

Class with overall best attendance	Year 3 – 100%
Overall school attendance	94.91%
Unauthorised attendance	4.28%

Have a lovely Easter break as the weather is set to be lovely next week and we look forward to welcoming
you back on Tuesday 22April 2025.

Kind regards,

Mrs. McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 21st March 2025

Written by Mrs McQueen on 21 March 2025. Posted in Headteacher Newsletter.

Dear Parents and Carers

Chipping Norton Music Festival

All our children in Years 1 to 6 took part in the Chipping Norton Music Festival this week. They performed class poems and the feedback from the judges was excellent.

CNS Multi-ball skills

Great fun was had by all children in Year 2 and Year 3 on Wednesday afternoon. As always the children were polite and really positive when playing with others.

The Branch

Parent Drop-In EVERY MONDAY MORNING 8.20am – 9.30am

Every Monday there is a Parent Drop-In, in the library run by Emma Kennedy from The Branch. If you have any questions about benefits, arrears, housing, debt support, parenting, or if you need help filling in forms please do come to reception, and you will be shown up to the library. Many families are struggling at the moment, and there is lots of help and support available that people often do not know about. Rather than have sleepless nights worrying about things, do drop in on a Monday and we will help signpost you to support for you and your family.

The Branch also runs Connect Café every Tuesday afternoon 1.00pm – 2.30pm, where you can go along for coffee, cake and craft – and there is also a help desk and Citizens Advice.

This term they also have the No Limits Programme on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. This programme provides laptops, mobile phones, Wifi and Data packages for those who need a devise to access training or employment. If you would like support with this, then please either call in on a Monday morning when you drop the children off at school or go along to Connect Café on a Tuesday at The Branch.

All appointments are confidential.

Financial news for September 2025

After sending out the recent parental survey, every parent agreed that the after-school clubs on offer were varied and great value for money. 100% of parents who responded, stated they would agree to pay more. As we manage rising costs in school, we have made the decision to increase the cost of clubs to £2 per session in September. This is still much cheaper than schools in the locality that offer clubs at an average of £5 or more per hour.

School lunches will also rise to £2.50 per meal in September 2025 (this is the first rise in several years).

Nursery in September 2025

We are now taking enquiries for nursery places in September 2025. We already have several parents interested in joining us. Please contact Mrs Taylor for further information. We will take children after their 3rd birthday.