We are pleased to announce that St. Mary’s will be getting an uplift as part of our ongoing maintenance programme. The hall will be getting painted and after nearly 40 years the hall floor will be replaced. Many of you will remember the hall from your own primary school days so it now deserves a refresh.
All of the work to transform the nursery will also take place during the summer holidays too.
We will have our usual Open Morning on Friday 26th September and would like you to join us to see all of the refurbishments.
St. Mary’s Unplugged
Wow, you all did so well at raising £1,130 for school. We are going to use this money to put towards our official den building area over the summer.
Summer reading challenge
Our children recently had the opportunity to visit the library and learn about the Summer Reading Challenge. They explored a fantastic range of books and many have eagerly signed up for the challenge.
Running from 21 June to 30 September, there are two ways to participate. Join in at your local library to receive a special sticker poster and incentives while discovering new books. Alternatively, sign up online, set a reading goal, and log your books to unlock a limited-edition badge and certificate. Happy reading! https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/
Super sewing
The children in sewing and knitting club produced some great tooth monsters. There’s nothing worse than the tooth fairy landing and can’t find the tooth you put under your pillow but with the tooth monster, she will know exactly where to get it from.
The Orchard
The Orchard is a special place in school, where a variety of our children and families use the facilities at different times during the week. Next year, some of our children will utilise this space more frequently so that their needs are met more readily. The team will be led by Miss Southeard and eagerly supported by Mrs Dunn and Mr Buzzard.
In addition to this, Mrs Townsend, who has been our SENCo for the past two years, will now step back into the classroom full-time. We would like to thank her for the time she has spent supporting children and their families. I will take on the role of SENCo for now, having been a SENCo previously. I work with many families already and look forward to working with even more of you. If you have any SEN queries please feel free to get in touch with Miss Southeard or myself.
Second Hand Uniform Sale
If you have any good quality, used school uniform you would be happy to donate, please bring to the Orchard (entrance opposite lower gates) at morning drop off on Monday or Tuesday morning next week or leave at the office for Miss Southeard. We will be holding a second hand uniform sale before the end of term. Many thanks.
As we said goodbye to the Y6 who were transitioning to CNS today, the rest of the school spent time with their new teachers. Everyone is looking forward to what next year will bring.
St. Mary’s Unplugged
Thank you to everyone for their contributions. If anyone has anything further to collect, please make sure it is at school by Monday 7th July. The children are very proud of what they achieved!
Dolce Dinners in September
I am pleased to announce that our new school lunches will be provided by a firm called Dolce. You will be required to pre-order your meals online (more information to follow) whether you are entitled to free school meals or you pay for lunches. School lunches have been £2.10 for many years and currently the school has been subsisidising these meals by paying 82p per meal, per child, per day. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, this does not make financial sense. If you receive free school meals, your child will continue to do so but this does mean that if you pay for your child’s school lunch we will now need to increase this. The cost for a delicious school meal will now cost £2.95. Dolce cook with fresh ingredients and your child will get a choice of four options online – a meat, a vegetarian, a baked potato with choice of fillings or a sandwich bag. Many of our free school meal children were choosing to bring in a packed lunch but with this new company, your child will be able to have great choice. Before the end of term you will receive further information about this so I hope you’ll ditch the homemade packed lunch and choose one of the many delicious meals on offer.
Guitar Lessons
We are hoping to begin guitar lessons starting in September 2025. The lessons will be available for the children from Years 3-6. The lessons are held in small groups (between 3- 4 children) and cost £9.00 per lesson. If your child would be interested in this, please contact the school office or Dojo Mrs English.
Super Assemblies from Y2 and Y3
Y2 taught us all about Space and Y3 talked about all their Egyptian learning – fascinating stuff!
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.
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.
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 attendance
EYFS – 99.05%
Overall school attendance
95.14%
Unauthorised attendance
2.62%
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.
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.
