Newsletter 02 13/09/24

I think that most of us are feeling back in the groove of school life after only a week and a half, with the Summer holidays a fading memory!

I hope that you have been able to attend Year group meetings with your child's new teacher and that they have been useful, if they have happened already. It has been positive to see pretty good attendance across all Year groups. As well as the usual parent consultation meetings for your child after half term, we will also be increasing the number of information meetings this year, for areas including Reading and Maths. We will also be holding a Sleep Workshop at the start of October and know that we will also be reaching out to help with behaviour and relationships at home, where they might sometimes be challenging.

It was nice to celebrate the first Stars of the Week of this year this morning and also to welcome our new Year 6 pupils to the responsibilities of Ambassadorship on Monday. With the awarding of special ties and the support of their attending families, they are already growing into the role as our senior pupils. Next week, our House Captains will be elected by their peers across Key Stage 2 and other key positions will be decided.

Our 'Tea Club' is starting to grow and I'm hopeful that, with external funding, we may be able to lower the price from the current £4 per hour before very long. Other extra curricular clubs are well underway and I would like to thank all of the staff who provide these for our pupils.

Following on from last week's message on this subject, the School Street Scheme seems unlikely to include the barriers that would close the road at key times: despite a few more offers, we are still short of volunteers on several days. 

As you may have heard in recent months, the Government is looking for schools and Local Authorities to take more serious action to improve attendance for pupils. As a result, those parents taking holidays in term time or building up other unauthorised absences are much more likely to face penalty notices than has been the case up to now. This will be the case across all schools in our Assisi Trust, the Southend area and nationally.

God bless, keep well, enjoy the weekend.

Mr Beazeley

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.  The link to our Wishlist is here.

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

• 16/09/24 – Reception Class reading Workshop

• 18/09/24 – Parent Information Meeting – Year 4 at 2.30pm

• 21/09/24 – 11+ Selection Test for Year 6 children wishing to take the test

• 23/09/24 – Individual and Sibling Photographs

• 25/09/24 – Victorian Day – Year 6

• 26/09/24 – Class Assembly – St Joseph’s Year 6.

Application forms are now available in the porch of both churches to apply for your child’s place on the First Holy Communion Course 2025. Your child should be in year 3. It is best if your child joins the course while in year 3 as they will be amongst likeminded children of a similar age and with their friends. However, if your child is a little older they may also join the course. The forms must be returned to Sacred Heart Presbytery by Sunday 3rd November. You will be informed if your application has been successful before the Parent’s Meeting on Wednesday 13th November. We will ask to see your child’s Baptism certificate.

Sacred Heart Craft Fayre

Saturday 12th October

12 Noon – 3pm

Sacred Heart Church Hall

Tea and Cake

Model Railway

Crafts to buy

Raffle

Repository

Fun and games for all the family

If you have unwanted gifts for the raffle or bottles for the bottle stall please see Marie Lang.

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 all our families that we are a nut free school to protect some of our pupils/staff and therefore request that no items of food containing nuts are brought in.  We have noticed an increasing number of children bringing in snacks and spreads containing nuts ie cereal bars, chocolate spread etc.  We hope you all understand the importance that some of our community have epi pens for their allergies and we need to ensure their safety at all times.  Thank you for your co-operation.

Parentkind – the charity that supports school PTAs - have teamed up with Asda, who are making millions of pounds available to donate to primary schools across the UK through their ‘Cashpot for Schools’ initiative –  all you have to do is, opt in through the Asda Rewards app, choose our primary school and shop and scan in store or shop online at Asda.com, between 2nd September and 30th November 2024

Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to our Primary school. Also, every time somebody opts in, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Plus, it doesn’t stop there – Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

Please follow the link to the Ten Ten collective Worship Newsletter this month www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/