Newsletter 23 01/03/24

Address: Sacred Heart School
Windermere Road, Southend, SS1 2RF

Tel: 01702 534546

Love of God, Love of One Another, Love of our World and Love of learning

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We come to you with our thanks and requests. We hope that you will teach us your way and bring us together in unity, just like you did with your disciples.

Help us to teach your holy word to people who lack your knowledge. Thank you for bring us together as God’s family. We all have differences and similarities and we appreciate that we are stronger together. We will fight and overcome all of our fears and weaknesses with you in our life.

Together we pray in your name.

Amen.

by St Michael's class

Headteacher Message

The sun is out as I write and, hopefully, this is a sign of things to come!

We look forward to seeing you next week at your consultation meeting with teachers. Either on the day or during the week, we would be grateful if you could complete a short survey that will give us some feedback about the service that we provide. Also on your visit, please take time to have a look at a sample of the beautiful new books that we have bought to further promote a love of reading.

In relation to both of the above points - survey and books - I am conscious that I speak every day and every week as a 'middle class,' white male, surrounded by staff with a similar profile. We clearly serve a community that is diverse in so many ways and I want to explore, going forward, whether we are truly meeting the needs of all of our families and children. The books are one way in which we can better reflect our community but I don't want that to be just a token act. To that end, you will find in the survey a question or two related to culture and ethnicity which will begin the conversation around how our school can (even) better reflect our pupils.

Despite the thoughts and reflections I sometimes have around whether we are completely reflecting and meeting the needs of all, we certainly appear to be a vibrant, multicultural, loving school where, dare I say, children don't appear to notice colour or nationality. It is a pleasure to see smiling faces every day in a place where '"it's ok to be you" because we are all created in the image of God.

God bless,

Mr. Beazeley

Stars of the Week

Here are our stars of the week who have represented our core values well through their actions of responsibility, achievement, compassion, equality, faith and respect.

School Nurse

The school nurse will be opening a drop-in clinic for parents on Thursday 14th March from 9am-10am.

If you would like a one-to-one session, could you let the office know by sending an email to office@sacredheart.southend.sch.uk

School Library

Our Amazon Wishlist is live!! The idea is that friends and family of the school can donate directly to the school library. We’ll still accept preloved copies from home that you may also wish to donate. The selection of books are chosen by the staff as texts that may benefit the pupil's reading comprehension, engagement with the curriculum and foster an interest in reading. The current list is reflective of this and will update as and when donations come through Amazon.co.uk

A big thank you to those that have bought books for the school, we truly appeciate it.

Upcoming Dates

1st Mar - Year 6 National Offer Day for Secondary School Places

4th Mar - Class Photos - Whole School

5th Mar - Parent/Carer Information Meeting 3.30pm – 6.30pm

6th Mar - Parent/Carer Information Meeting 5.00pm – 7.30pm

6th Mar - Girls Football at our Lady of Lourdes 9:00am - 11:30am

7th Mar - World Book Day

7th Mar - Year 1 St Felicity Class Assembly at 9.00am
11th Mar - Swimming Lessons (weekly) begin for Year 5 St Joseph

13th Mar - Southend Makes Music (at Palace Theatre) - evening
14th Mar - Year 1 St Perpetua Class Assembly at 9.00am
14th Mar - KS2 Lent reconciliation service – at 10.45am (for Pupils only)
20th Mar - Hot Cross Run (Key Stage 2 Cross Country) - at St Thomas More High School 9:00am - 12:00pm
21st Mar - Infant Music Festival
26th Mar - Easter Service at 1.45pm and 6.30pm at Sacred Heart Church – parent/carers welcome
27th Mar - Local Governing Body Meeting at 6.00pm
27th Mar - Year 2 Colchester Zoo Trip
27th Mar - WWII Exhibition in Hall – Year 6
28th Mar - Rocks and Fossils Exhibition in Hall – Year 3

28th Mar - No After School Clubs on this day
29th Mar - 14th Apr - EASTER HOLIDAYS
15th Apr - CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL

Reading Challenge Cup

What's Happening at Sacred Heart

As part of their history work about the Titanic, Year 4 went to Southend Museum to explore the London Shipwreck

Respecting School Property

At Sacred Heart we are always proud of our pupils and their behaviour but over the last couple of months we have had several incidents in our pupil toilets. These incidences have happened across the school and are not isolated to one area.

As a school we have spoken with classes, and we have discussed in assembly on several occasions the impact these incidences have, ranging from upsetting other pupils to the extra work they are creating for our site staff. Unfortunately, we are still having some of these incidences happening.

Of course, if we are aware of particular children who are committing these actions, we will approach children and their parents directly. In the meantime, it would be helpful if you could just help to reinforce our messages about appropriate behaviour, as well as letting us know if they see things that are not appropriate.

Dinner Menu

Notices from the School Office

Some of you will have noticed that on your School Money account under Shop there is now a facility to pay for lost books.

This is only applicable if you have received a message from the school office with the title of the book that has not been returned.

Year 3 will be studying rocks and fossils this half term. If anyone has any that they would be willing to let us borrow for our science topic, we would be very grateful.

APPEAL FOR SOCKS AND TIGHTS - If anybody has any spare good quality boys and girls socks we would be most grateful as we frequently need spares along with girls tights of all sizes.

Many thanks

We would like to remind all our families using breakfast club of the importance of booking in advance. We have noticed an increase of children not booking in advance and this effects our staffing ratio.

All bookings must be made at the beginning of each week so we can ensure we have enough staff available. Priority will be given to children who have booked in advance and those who have not booked may not be able to stay.

If you need assistance making a booking please email annemariedriscoll@sacredheart.southend.sch.uk

We would like to remind you that dogs cannot be bought on to the playground during school pick up at the end of the day. Thank you for your understanding in this matter

New School Uniform Supplier

With the closure of Paul's School Uniform, we have made a new partnership with Brand Identity Schoolwear. You can order online at
www.b-id.co.uk/schools/ or buy at their store - Unit 2, 555 Sutton Rd, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 5FB (the entrance is on Stock Road).

An alternative retailer is Crawlers, who can be found at 361 Hamstel Road, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 4LE

Uniform Policy

Here is a reminder of our SCHOOL UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS as we are approaching the half-term, and parents may be considering purchasing uniform for the summer term. Please also pay special attention to the jewellery and hairstyles requirements as well, thank you.

Attendance

The government launched on 8th January a new initiative to support parents and schools in improving the attendance of their children. Under the slogan ‘Moments Matter Attendance Counts’, the DFE have outlined a number of illnesses which they feel students should still come to school with despite feeling slightly under the weather. The NHS has produced guidance to help you make a decision as to whether to send your child to school. Please see this at the following link NHS Guidance: Is my child too ill for school? If you have any attendance queries or further questions relating to your son or daughter coming to school, please do not hesitate to contact the office telephone number 01702 534546 or by email office@sacredheart.southend.sch.uk for clarification

If your child has sickness or diarrhea remember that ALL children must remain at home until they have had 48 clear hours after the last bout of illness/symptoms. This Government requirement to prevent the spread of these highly infections illnesses. Please do not send your child back to school too soon, thank you.

Absence: If your child is unwell and unable to attend, please notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 9am or as soon as practically possible by calling the school or by emailing. If the absence lasts more than one day, please update the school on a daily basis

Allergy Notice

A reminder to parents... we are a nut free school, so that means no Nutella/chocolate spread and peanut butter etc. should be bought in to school, including in packed lunches. This is due to the fact that we have pupils severely allergic to nuts. Thank you.

Medication

Please can you ensure that, if needed, your child has their epipen and asthma pumps in school at all times and that we have received the relevant paperwork with authorisation to use them. If your child has been prescribed medication that needs administering in school, please ensure that you complete the medical form which is available from the school office. Thank you.

School Dinners

Please ensure that you book your child a school dinner in advance. Booking is essential for the kitchen to be able to prepare and arrange the correct quantity of food and limit any waste.

If you are having any problems with booking school dinners online, please contact the school office who will be more than happy to help.