Newsletter 23 07/03/25

This week marked the start of our Lentern journey towards Easter. Following Shrove Tuesday celebrations that you may also have enjoyed at home, we held our Ash Wednesday services in school and church. It was lovely to be part of a packed church and be joined by parents and other adults in our community, all committed to marking the occasion and showing a desire to focus on better following the example of Jesus. After our breaktime, we held a shorter act of worship with our younger children, up to Year 3, giving them the opportunity to show togetherness with the ash cross.

The day before, we had an assembly with CAFOD which showed how their current fundraising is going towards supplying productive, 'glittery' chickens to people in Kenya who have little to eat. Our Big Lent Walk is underway, connected to our Jubilee Year, and we thank you for any donations that you can give, sponsoring your children without the need for the sponsor forms that we have all probably used in the past. How many £4.20 chickens can we buy - £420 for 100??

Yesterday was the day for our annual World Book Day event where we celebrate the world of books. Congratulations to the children who managed to fill jars to reflect a particular story and to everyone who made amazing efforts with their costumes. There were some wonderful, prize-winning outfits from the children and amazing efforts by the staff too! If WBD had the power to influence reading positively, we would have a school filled with avid readers!

Please see our social media and down below this article for some great pictures of our events and for further information.

You may have seen on our social media information from the City Family group: www.cityfamily.org.uk  They offer a parent and family information, advice and guidance service and have a number of drop-ins across a week. We'll be receiving and passing on leaflets soon. If you use them and find theservice useful, please let us know and we can spread the word.

Have a lovely and peaceful weekend.

Mr Beazeley

• 11/03/25 – Year 5 Beach Trip

• 11/03/25 – Year 1 to Wagamama’s – St Bernadette - POSTPONED - NEW DATE 2ND APRIL

• 12/03/25 – Year 1 to Wagamama’s – Our Lady of Lourdes

• 13/03/25 – St Perpetua Class Assembly

• 14/03/25 – KS1 Football Tournament

• 14/03/25 – Pre-loved uniform event

• 18/03/25 – St Maximilian Kolbe Reviews in Mr Beazeley’s office all day

• 18/03/25 – Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 6.00pm

• 20/03/25 – St Padre Pio Learning Reviews in Mr Beazeley’s office all day

• 20/03/25 - Parents Evening – 4.30pm to 7.00pm

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

Upcoming Special Menus:

We would like to remind all our families that we are a nut free school to protect some of our pupils and staff who are allergic, 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.

Dear Parents

By now, you should have received a notification about these meetings and be able to book your slot on the system.

Our staff received training on Asthma recently.  A slideshow showing the main points for parents is available on our website here

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.

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 

Ash Wednesday - All of the school community received ashes today either in church at mass or in the hall. It was a truly wonderful and holy morning with wonderful prayer and singing.

During Lent the pupils and staff will be collectively walking, running, skipping 200km as part of the Big Lent Walk to raise money for CAFOD. If you would like to donate to this cause then please use this link to do so, all donations will be made through this Just Giving page.

Pupils started to clock up the kilometres towards our Easter Target. Don't forget that you can make a pledge towards all their running and walking using the QR code above.

Southend Dive Team came into school today to talent spot in year 2 as they do every year. We are excited to see if any of our pupils progress, as happened last year, with one of our pupil competing nationally.

Pictures from last week's Hot Chocolate Friday - We celebrate pupils and staff that are superstars in all aspects of their school life.

So many fantastic costumes on this day... here are just a few from the staff and children!

And of course... it wouldn't be World Book Day without books!  Children have heard a wide range of stories today from a variety of the school staff, through assemblies and in the classrooms. 

Get ready to sharpen your skills because our school is participating in an epic TTRS Battle within our school trust! 🏆✨ It’s a thrilling online competition where students from across the trust will compete to become the top school and show off their amazing times tables skills.

Who will come out on top and claim the crown? 👑 Let’s show them what we’re made of!

PUPIL ABSENCE

When a child is off sick, a phone call must be made daily to record their absence.  For sickness and diarrhea, the school has a 48 hours policy from the last episode before a child can return to school.

Any medical appointments need proof of the appointment for our records.

For any other absences a leave of absence form must be completed which can be obtained from the office.

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.

SEND Spring Term Update  

In the next coming weeks, the teachers will be sharing  the spring Individual Support Plans (ISP) with all the families, who have children with special educational needs. I hope the plans devised will show the successes and the children have been part of setting the targets. Your input is greatly appreciated as we know that children with additional needs need a high level of support at home too. Your class teacher will be in contact with you for a meeting  and provide you with a new password. The ISPs will be online, please log onto https://edukeyapp.com/parent/login to communicate and share your views. Please speak to your class teacher if you need further support with this process. 

To find out further how we support children with special educational needs, at Sacred Heart Catholic school please click on this link. 

Click on the image below to read a workshop for parents of children who are anxious or worried about coming to school