Newsletter 18 24/01/25

Today the majority of the school community came together to mark the start of the Jubilee Year within the church, readings and prayers in our mass,  helped us to understand how Pope Francis would like us all to be Pilgrims of Hope this year. As a school we have lots of exciting events planned across the year with the first being the Big Lent Walk which we will share with children and families after half term. Please take time to discuss with your families around the dinner table about 'Hope' and the hopes you all have for yourselves, the community and the world as we move through this Jubilee Year. 

This week has seen year 3 enjoy an immersive Egyptian day and Year 6 will have an immersive World war II day in February. Along with our new resource of Now Press Play we are truly working hard to bring the curriculum to life for our pupils and to make their learning experiences memorable. Also 30 Year 5 pupils participated in a dance festival at the Palace Theatre, with other primary schools from the Assisi Trust. It was a great opportunity to celebrate with other schools in the Trust how wonderful our pupils are and it was a  great performance from our pupils and all the schools involved. 

At Sacred Heart we take great pride in our school and our community. This is not just the school building, classrooms, and corridors but also how we present ourselves. Wearing the correct uniform is an important part of this pride, and it is an expectation for all pupils and families to support us with this and all parents have this information shared with them on starting with us in reception or nursery. It is also incredibly important as it helps all the children to all feel equal. We have noticed many children who are not following the uniform requirements, and messages are being sent home to ensure correct uniform is worn. Ties should be worn, and if a child does not like the feeling, a slightly larger shirt could be worn, which is looser around the neck and in turn the tie is then looser. You have chosen this school for your child because we are a good school; please help us maintain our high standards. You can read more about our uniform requirements here. 

Street School has received so many positive comments since we started in November. Unfortunately it appears that the problem we had in front of the school has only been moved further away to the end of the road. Since our return this month we have seen an increase in people pulling up and children being told to get out into a busy road and we have had one near miss with somebody mounting the curb. We do have photos of some of these vehicles and today I have passed these on to the council, police and the local MP as I truly believe that this behaviour is unacceptable and we as a community are working hard to try and make the area around school safe for all. Please take the time to park in Ilfracombe Avenue Car Park which is free to all during school drop of time and then enjoy walking your child into school. Once again I do put out a plea for any more volunteers for the afternoon session so that we can implement Street School at the end of the school day as well. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend with your families 

God Bless

Mrs Crabb

Deputy Headteacher

• 30/01/25 – Year 3 St Brigid – Class Assembly

• 03/02/25 – St Maximilian Kolbe Swimming

• 03/02/25 – Young Voices Choir event at O2 in London

• 04/02/25 – KS1 Football at Len Forge

• 06/02/25 – St Patrick Class Assembly

• 06/02/25 – Year 6 Boys Football League Match

• 07/02/25 – KS1 Football

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.

Last week we enjoyed our first class assembly of the year with St Francis in Year 4 telling us about the baptism of Jesus, along with their resolutions that link to our Christian values.

Year 5 have been dissecting flowers to label the different reproductive part in their science lessons.

Year 3 loved their Egyptian day. We explored different parts of Egypt, saw real mummy bandages and helped mummify a Pharaoh, pulling the brain out was their favourite part.

30 of our Year 5 pupils participated in a dance festival at the Palace Theatre this week with other primary schools from the Assisi Trust. A great performance from our pupils and all the schools involved.

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 (£3 per session) runs from 7:30 until the start of school and includes a light breakfast and childcare.  

We also run a tea club (£6 per session) from 3:15-5:30pm which includes a light tea and childcare - 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.