Autumn Term Week 2

Headteacher reflection

As we move beyond our settling‑in period, it has been wonderful to see the full curriculum beginning to take shape across Ely St Mary’s. Classrooms feel purposeful, routines are embedded, and children are engaging confidently with their learning.

We are delighted that Mr Eves has rejoined us as our Premier Sports coach, working with classes on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. His sessions bring energy and expertise, and the children have already enjoyed getting back into high quality sports coaching.

Teachers have been focusing closely on our Maths curriculum, ensuring lessons are carefully structured so that every child can keep up. Small, manageable steps and inclusive teaching approaches are helping children build confidence and secure understanding as they move through new concepts.

It has been a positive and encouraging week, and we look forward to seeing the curriculum continue to unfold as autumn settles in.

Kind regards,
Oliver Graves, Headteacher

Current overall attendance at school is just short of our 97% target.

Thank you for always liaising with the Office and Pastoral Teams when your child is not able to come to school. As per our Attendance Policy (which is currently being updated and will be shared with you shortly) please ensure that you contact the School Office via email or phone to inform us that your child can't attend school. Please do not use class dojo.

As we move towards colder weather and more colds start to circulate, please see this useful link on the NHS website about illness and school:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

We are all here to support you and your children and are keen to work with you to ensure that every child enjoys attending school.

Pupil Leadership Groups

Over the coming weeks, we will be selecting children to join a number of our pupil leadership groups. These include the School Council, the Eco Council, our Sports Leaders (already chosen), and our Reading Ambassadors. Each group plays an important role in helping pupils develop confidence, responsibility, and a strong voice within our school community.

We are very much looking forward to launching these groups for the year ahead. The terms of reference for each leadership group will be available on the school website so that parents and carers can see the purpose, expectations, and focus of each team.

School Clubs

There are still a few spaces left in our After School Clubs - please visit the MCAS App or Premier Education or Active Play Education websites to book a place. If your child is in receipt of Pupil Premium Funding, you are able to access one free extra curricular club per term.

Ely St Mary's Community Council

As you may be aware from earlier correspondence, Ely St Mary's along with other Grace schools are under a different Local Governing Body arrangement than previously. The school is now governed by a Regional School Board which reports to Trustees of Grace Schools for academic standards, finance, premises, leadership and other matters.

We are looking for parents and carers who would like to join our Community Council, which will be a body purely for collecting community voice and working with the school to maintain the Christian Distinctiveness of the school. Meetings will, as a result, be shorter than a traditional local governing body meeting and will be once per term rather than half termly.

For anyone in the community who is interested in finding out more, or joining the Community Council, please respond to this form

Collective Worship and Assemblies

This week, building on our theme of creation from Genesis, we thought about the quote:

I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Children thought about their own unique gifts and spent Thursday's meditative assembly thinking about the strengths and values that they admire in others.

On Friday, it was a pleasure to see so many children being given certificates for their hard work and following our RESPECT values over the school week.

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