Newsletter 24 14/03/25

As we continue on our journey through Lent, we have been reflecting on stories from the Bible and how Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert. We witnessed a brilliant retelling of this through the Year 2 assembly from St Perpetua Class. The children have been sharing in their RE lessons about making sacrifices and how we can help others during this season of Lent. As a school, we are currently working on our Big Lent Walk and how we can help others around the world through the work of CAFOD. On March 31st, we will be holding an afternoon when we will strive to hit our target of 1000km during Lent, we have already been building towards this through our walking school trips and daily laps on the playground with pupils. You can find out how close we are to our target and make donations on our JustGiving Page. 

This week, some of our Year 1's visited Wagamamas as part of their Science work on healthy eating and Year 5 went for a local walk to look to explore the micro-habitats of the local area including: Southchurch Hall Park, the beach and Southchurch Park. We are striving to get pupils out in the local environment and have enriching experiences. If you know of any new locations or venues we could visit then please let us know. 

The pupils got to meet our penguin today who will be part of the great 'Waddle-on-Sea' this summer in Southend. The winning design has been chosen and over the coming weeks pupils will have the opportunity to be part of making it come to life on our penguin. The last job pupils have been tasked with is to think of a name for it, all ideas into Mrs Robb or Mrs Charlick.

As always, I ask you to consider our neighbours and each other when arriving at school for drop offs and pick ups. Everyone has busy days and places to be but we can all be kind to each other and not behave in a way we would not want our pupils to witness. Also our volunteers do not need to witness this, they give up their time to help our school community to be a safer place and should be thanked for their ongoing contribution to keeping our pupils safe. 

Wishing you a happy weekend and don't forget those science projects for Science Day next week, lots of fun planned for Wednesday. 

God Bless

Mrs Crabb

Deputy Headteacher

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

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

• 19/03/25 – SCIENCE DAY – Special activities in school all day and a special lunch menu

• 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

• 24/03/25 – Hot Cross Run Day at St Thomas More

• 25/03/25 – Year 2 - Colchester Zoo Trip

• 26/03/25 – WWII Art Exhibition in school hall from 2.30pm to 3.30pm

• 27/03/25 – St Padre Pio – Class Assembly

• 27/03/25 – Netball League match

• 28/03/25 – Big Lent Walk

• 28/03/25 – Girls with ASD Coffee - afternoon at 2.00pm 

• 01/04/25 – Easter Service in church – 1.45pm

• 01/04/25 – Easter Service in church – 6.30pm

• 02/04/25 – St Bernadette - Wagamama Trip

• 03/04/25 – St Bernadette – Class Assembly

• 03/04/25 – Last day of Term for all pupils

• 04/04/25 – School Closed – INSET Day, staff training

• 07/04/25-21/04/25 - EASTER HOLIDAYS

• 22/04/25 - CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL

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 

St Perpetua Class shared their class assembly about Jesus going into the desert for 40 days and being tempted by the Devil. They reminded us of how during Lent we work hard to show resilience and try to do our best as Jesus taught us.

Our School choir performed at Southend Makes Music, on the stage of the Palace Theatre. They performed brilliantly and sounded amazing under the wonderful guidance of Mrs Elvidge.

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