Newsletter 03 20/09/24

Congratulations to all of the Year 6 pupils who have been appointed to senior roles today: these include Head (and Deputy) Boy and Girl, House Captains, Sports Captains and Liturgy Leaders. We wish them all well with their responsibilities and trust that they will be well supported by peers and adults alike.

In our assemblies this week, we have been hearing about God's plans; how these can be unexpected and may not coincide with the plans that we have for ourselves. Many of the children are not yet at the stage where they have set 'plans' or ideas of what they want to be or do when they are older but, hopefully, their futures will not only be bright but involve a degree of service and care for others.

In schools, we are fortunate to be in a position to serve others as part of our paid job roles. As a school, we always hope to keep in mind our mission to serve others and improve their life chances, outlooks and potential to do good for others. The academic aspect of schools is clearly a major part of our role in teaching and learning, although far from the only one. In the academic regard, we aim to equip pupils with the English, Maths and wider curriculum skills and knowledge to successfully progress to their next step at secondary school. However, we still face the challenge of supporting a proportion of children who don't easily secure the 'basic' skills in Key Stage 1 and may end up leaving our school below the level we would hope for and expect.

In order to work towards increasing the number of pupils who reach their academic potential, we are prioritising the following areas, as part of our own development plans for this year:

• How to adapt teaching to support pupils who are below an ‘expected standard’ and further challenge those who are the highest achievers

• Training for all staff becomes a more regular entitlement to improve their knowledge & practice 

• Developing reading fluency & a love of reading: ReadWriteInc programme extended, adding greater structure

• Adding more structure to teaching Writing to further develop key skills: RWInc 'Get Writing' & Grammarsaurus

• Securing fluency & confidence in Number: ‘Number Sense’ programme     (Click the link to find out more)  

• Targeting individual needs in Reception classes

• Moving towards a new scheme for teaching RE

• Develop a Mental Health team & extend our support for pupils  

We will work with you on these priorities and, where possible, provide you with more information and advice around how you can help with our mission. With God's help, and yours, we'll be successful in providing ever improving service for our children and families!

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.

• 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

• 30/09/24 – School Nurse Drop in Session – 8.30am to 9.30am

• 02/10/24 – Reception Class Information Meeting – 2.30pm

• 03/10/24 – Mary Mother of God Class Assembly – 9.00am

• 04/10/24 – INSET DAY – NO PUPILS IN SCHOOL

Our Student Leadership Team for this academic year. 

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/