So this is Christmas! The end of term, close to the end of Advent and a few, short days to Christmas Day itself.

We have been celebrating this week in a number of ways, the most notable being the excellent Junior Services in church on Wednesday. Thankyou to the children and adults for their preparations and performances, and to parents and members of our community for sharing the Christmas joy.

It seems longer than a week ago but we mustn't forget the very well supported Fayre last Friday evening. With many, grateful thanks to members of FOSH, our staff and other adults (and children) for giving up the time to raise money for the schooland other causes. A profit of around £2000 was made so thank you very much for your support. The proceeds may well contribute to the playground equipment that children can access during playtimes and they will be asked about their ideas and preferences when we return.

On that note, this may be a good time to consider donating items for playtimes: if your child is lucky enough to be receiving new items such as scooters , toy prams, Duplo, Lego and (complete) board games this Christmas, we would be grateful to add recycled items to our available resources.

We may also be able to support the purchase of hoodies and Yearbooks for our Year 6 Leavers with some of the Christmas Fayre money but I still require more feedback from parents about their preferences and budget limitations. Here, again, is the survey (for parents of Year 6 only).

More thanks are due to our wonderful kitchen staff for their dinners this week and hard work all year round. To our small body of volunteers who help to keep our Street School safe in the mornings, I pass on the thanks of everyone in the community: it has made such a difference to residents as well as our families, even if not all reflect and recognise it as a blessing. On that theme, I hope that, together, we are teaching our children to be grateful for all that they have: I hope that this results in even more 'thank yous' and offers at help at home this holiday.

To all of the staff, I pass on your thanks for their efforts and hard work this term and for the whole of 2024. In return, we thank you all for the many signs of appreciation through cards and gifts: we don't expect families to spend their money on us but we are very grateful for the thought.

To the staff and children who have left us during the year, we think of them all at this time, sending our love and season's greetings. We wish you all a lovely Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year. As Pope Francis opens the door to the church's Jubilee year so we too will see you all again in 2025!

Mr Beazeley

• 20/12/24 – Last day of term

• 23/12/24 to 3/1/25 – CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

• 06/1/25 – INSET DAY

• 07/1/25 – CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL

• 07/01/25 – New Nursery children first day

• 09/01/25 – Sports Hall Athletics at Garons – Years 5&6 selected team

• 10/01/25 – Sports Hall Athletics at Garons – Years 3&4 selected team 

• 16/01/25 – Class Assembly Year 4 – St Francis

• 16/01/25 – Football at Thorpedene – selected team

• 17/01/25 – Football  - Selected year 3 & 4 team

Here is our new dinner menu.  Please note that the meat we serve is not Halal.

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.

We celebrated our last celebration assembly of 2024 and had pupils and teachers accompany the beautiful singing of the whole school whilst we sang O Little Town of Joy

Year 3 have researched, designed and made fruit tarts as part of their DT project.

Design Technology in Year 4 has involved designing Christmas Biscuits for a gift, not only have they made the biscuits but the packaging as well for their target audience.

The KS2 Carol Concert was a feast for the ears and got everyone in the Christmas spirit.

Thank you to everyone who gave up their time for the Christmas Fayre and to everyone who came along and supported us.

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. 

LOST PROPERTY

Please can all parents check their child’s clothes -  All items should be clearly labelled and your child needs to ensure they can identify their own property.  Staff are wasting too much time searching for children’s clothing and dealing with frustrated parents.

Thank you for your co-operation.

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.

Breakfast club bookings also includes the tea club (£9 per session) - again all bookings must be booked and paid for in advance.  Failure to pay will result in the child not being able to attend future sessions.

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.

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