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Tag: World Book Week

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 27th February 2026 

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 – 7th March 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

Nursery News

We are very excited to announce that we will be opening our very own nursery in September 2025. Our nursery will be called Little Acorns, in preparation for Acorn Class. Initially, this will be for 3 – 4 year olds but our intention will be to increase this to 2 year olds shortly afterwards. If you would like further information or a school tour, please email/phone the office and make an appointment to speak with Mrs Justine Taylor (Deputy Head Teacher and lead for nursery and EYFS).

World Book Week in pictures

Mother’s Day Celebration

Friday 28th March 1.15pm – 3pm
Come and make a beautiful Spring gift with your children and enjoy cake afterwards. A perfect way to end the week!

Wednesday Winners!

The football team played against Bruern Abbey School and won all of their games. Well done everyone!

Attendance

Class with overall best attendanceYear 2 – 99.31%
Overall school attendance96.76%
Unauthorised attendance2.16%

Kind regards,

Mrs McQueen

Headteacher’s Newsletter – 28th February 2025

Dear Parents and Carers

Harry Baker visits St Mary’s

Harry Baker, a World Cup and Paralympian footballer spoke to the children about the ups and downs in his career. His story was inspirational and showed the realities of football at the highest level. Harry talked about scoring goals for England and how proud he was to represent his country. Having cerebral palsy, he had never dreamed of such a fantastic career. However, he did talk to the children about his attitude to failure at certain times in his profession and his initial lack of resilience to overcoming set backs and not being chosen for the squad for an Olympic games. His self-reflection throughout his presentation was extraordinary and you could have heard a pin drop in the hall as everyone was listening so hard! Follow your dreams and make the impossible something possible for you. He even took the time to sign autographs for all the children in Year 6.

Library Visits

The children in all year groups are again having the opportunity to visit the library and take out some ‘free’ books. Mrs Keyzor needed a shopping trolley for all the books that Acorn class borrowed yesterday.

World Book Week next week

Next week is World Book Week and there will be a variety of activities taking place for the children. On Friday 7March 2025, the children can come to dressed in their favourite PJs and bring with them their favourite book and a teddy. We will also be having a special lunchtime menu on Thursday 6 March 2025, which is displayed at the end of this letter.

Attendance

We have all been working hard on our attendance this term. To help us to support you and your child, please ensure that when make contact by either phone, email or ParentMail that you detail your child’s absence. Unfortunately, writing ‘stomach’ or ‘unwell’ does not help us to understand your child’s illness, especially if they have multiple absences.

Class with overall best attendance98.86% – EYFS – Mrs Taylor’s class
Overall School attendance96.30%
Lates17 lates / 10 children
Unauthorised absence0.41%

Dates for your diary

Monday 10 March 2025 Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 5.30pm
Tuesday 11 March 2025Year 5 Singing Workshop at Chipping Norton School from 2.00pm – Music Festival
Wednesday 12 March 2025Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 6.30pm
EYFS – visit Pizza Express in Banbury – cooking session
Wednesday 19 March 2025Year 6 and EYFS – Height and Weight National Measurement programme
Thursday 20 March 2025NSPCC Workshop – Years 2, 5 and 6
Tuesday 25 March 2025Individual School Photos
Friday 4 April 2025End of term – finish at 2.00pm for the Easter break until Monday 21 April 2025.
Tuesday 22 April 2025INSET DAY – school closed for pupils
Wednesday 23 April 2025Summer term begins – 8.25am

World book day lunchtime menu

  • Horrid Henry’s Greedy Crispy Bun – Crispy Chicken Burger served with Lettuce and Mayo in a fresh Bread Bap.
  • BFG Human Bean Burger – Homemade Bean Burger with Mayo and Lettuce served in a fresh Bread
    Bap.
  • Gruffalo’s Terrible Tusks Potato Wedges.
  • Jack’s Magic Beans.
  • Peter Rabbit’s Carrots and Baked Beans.
  • Dessert – Oompa Loompa Bar, a Chocolate drizzled Shortbread.

Kind regards

Mrs McQueen
(Headteacher)

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