Newsletter 1 Autumn Term
4th September 2024
Embedded Files
St Andrew’s and St Mark’s
Church of England Junior School
“I have come in order that you might have life - life in all its fullness.” John 10:10
-School News-
Our Instagram feed displays photos of school events. Click or tap on a photo to find out more:
If you would like your child to have the opportunity to be featured on our Instagram page, please update the parental consent on the SIMs Parent App and ensure permission to be posted on social media is ticked.
Message from the Headteacher
Welcome to the new school year! We are excited to embark on another year of learning together. Our dedicated team has been busy preparing for the year ahead. Our Christian value in-focus this half term is friendship and it has been fantastic to see pupils settling into their new classrooms today, reuniting with old friends and making new ones.
A particular congratulations to Mr Clarke on his marriage over the summer break; he is now known as Mr Clarke-Rahman. We wish Mr and Mrs Clarke-Rahman every happiness in their married life together. 3C will now be known as 3CR.
Today's newsletter provides the key notices for the start of the school year.
Welcome to our new members of the team
We are excited to welcome a number of new faces joining us this year:
Alison Miller (School Community Worker) - Mrs Miller is joining us and is highly experienced in this role, which is a new position at SASM. Mrs Miller will be working with pupils and families to provide pastoral, attendance and signposting support as well as working with pupils as we engage with our local community. Mrs Miller is also a trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA).
Laura Dandy (School Business Manager) - Ms Dandy is also highly experienced in School Business Management, including finance, human resources and site management. Ms Dandy will become a familiar face on the school gate, greeting pupils as they enter the school.
We would also like to welcome Miss Gardiner, Miss Rickards, Mrs Lancaster and Miss Wissanji to the teaching team.
-Back to School Notices-
The planner:
Your child's planner provides key information and is also used as a teaching resource within lessons. It is important that your child takes their planner to school every day. We would like to draw your attention to some key pages:
Login details (page 2) - your child will be given logins for various educational apps, which are listed here.
Parent and Carer Handbook (page 5) - a QR code is shown here. You can point your phone at this to access our handbook, which includes a wealth of information for parents and carers. You can also access the Parent Handbook here.
Responsible Use Policy (page 12) - in order for pupils to use our IT equipment in school (such as their Chromebook), this page must be understood and signed by pupils and their parent/carer.
Home School Agreement (page 16) - this explains expectations for parents, carers and pupils. This must also be signed by pupils and their parent/carer.
Code of Conduct for Clubs (page 17) - in order for your child to attend afterschool Curriculum Clubs, this page must be signed by pupils and their parent/carer.
Pupils are expected to record a comment about what they are reading at home daily during the school week; this is explained in more detail in the home learning section of our website and below. Adults at school may also write notes to you via your child's planner.
Home-school communication:
We believe that clear, open communication between the school and parents and carers has a positive impact on pupils’ learning, helps the school improve and builds trust between home and school. We will communicate with you in a variety of ways including:
Emails from the school (all emails will be sent from and received by office@sasm.rbksch.org or via ParentMail).
Text messages for urgent communication.
SIMS Parent App - to communicate attendance, behaviour points, assessment results and school reports.
The website - which includes our weekly newsletter and a wealth of key information and resources, as well as a 'Dates for your Diary' page to keep you informed about school events in advance.
Your child's planner.
Parent consultation meetings - these take place in October and March, with a Celebration Afternoon in July.
Staff will aim to respond to communication during core school hours or their working hours. Parents and carers should always telephone, email or visit the school office, about non-urgent issues in the first instance. You may be asked to complete a short Google Form to make sure we direct your question to the appropriate member of staff; in the vast majority of cases, booking a meeting or phone call with your child's class teacher is the first point-of-contact.
We aim to acknowledge all emails within 3 working days, and to respond in full (or arrange a meeting or phone call if appropriate) within 5 working days. When contacting the school and speaking with our team, please make sure that communication is respectful at all times. More information can be found in our Home-School Community Policy
Home learning:
Home learning will begin from next week across the school and the login details for each app can be found in your child's planner. This year, we have tasks that pupils must complete as well as some optional activities to support your child's learning at home.
Tasks which must be completed:
Spelling Shed - spelling words will be assigned on a Monday in preparation for a dictation task on Friday. We encourage children to practise these words every day for up to 15 minutes.
Recording reading in the planner - Children are expected to read their colour-banded book at home every day. They must then record this in their planner. Your child should write in their planner themselves and should include: the name of the book, pages read and a short comment about what they have read. Children must write in the box for the day the planner will be marked in school e.g. if they read on Monday night, they should write in Tuesday's box as this is when it will be marked. All children are expected to complete 5 entries in their planner over the week.
Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) - this app is focused on pupils learning their times tables, which is key for their success in maths. Whilst there is no set-time pupils need to spend on TTRS, they must engage with this at home at least once every week. It is well-loved by pupils and many play TTRS at home daily!
Optional learning to support pupils at home:
Reading Eggspress - in Week 1, all children will complete a baseline task; this will ensure they are set home learning which is appropriate to their reading level and will move at their own pace.
Maths: Key-instant-recall-facts (KIRFs). These key facts support pupils' learning in class and helps them grasp the curriculum much faster. You can view the KIRFs to learn this term here. For those who want to get ahead, all of the KIRFs for the year are on our website here.
Our home learning webpage includes step-by-step guides to signing into each app as well as answers to frequently-asked questions.
Reading books - a guide to book bands and 'reading for pleasure' books
When children join us in Year 3, we assess their reading level using FFT’s reading assessment programme. Their book band is assigned based on their reading fluency level - this reflects how accurately they read the text aloud, their ability to use tone and how many words they can read in a minute. If your child is in Year 3, they will come home with an appropriate colour-banded book by the end of Tuesday 10th September.
In Years 4-6, class teachers will reassess children’s book band levels when listening to them read aloud this week. Children should be able to read their book banded book fluently; this allows them to practise their comprehension skills with an adult whilst reading a book.
If your child is accessing Read, Write, Inc. TTGs, they will be assigned a reading book that is matched to the sounds they are working on in school. They will receive this book to bring home next week.
All children can read a ‘reading for pleasure’ book in addition to their book banded book. This could be a book from the library, home or school!
PE days
Pupils in all year groups have 2 PE lessons a week. One takes place in the school hall (indoor PE) and the other takes place on the school's Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) or playground. A guide to our school uniform for PE can be found here. On your child's PE days, they need to come to school in their PE kit (pupils remain in their PE kit all day).
Your child's PE days are:
3CR - Monday (outdoor PE), Thursday (indoor PE)
3J - Wednesday (indoor PE), Friday (outdoor PE)
3M - Monday (outdoor PE), Wednesday (indoor PE)
4B - Monday (indoor PE), Wednesday (outdoor PE)
4H - Monday (indoor PE), Wednesday (outdoor PE)
4R - Thursday (indoor PE), Friday (outdoor PE)
5J - Tuesday (outdoor PE), Friday (indoor PE)
5L - Tuesday (outdoor PE), Friday (indoor PE)
5M - Tuesday (indoor PE), Friday (outdoor PE)
6G - Thursday (outdoor PE), Friday (indoor PE)
6M - Tuesday (indoor PE), Friday (outdoor PE)
6S - Thursday (outdoor PE), Friday (indoor PE)
Attendance
It will come as no surprise that your child will need to be in school in order to succeed. We track attendance daily and please expect some contact from our School Community Worker or Senior Leaders should your child be absent from school. We do conduct home visits to ensure the welfare of pupils. Pupils who arrive after 8:45am are marked as late and should your child arrive after the close of registration (9:00am) their absence is considered unauthorised.
Should your child be absent from school, it is important that you phone the school office prior to the start of the the school day on 0208 390 2976. Keeping your child off school with minor ailments such as a headache or slight cold is not acceptable and SASM reflects the NHS guidance: Is my child too ill for school? Repeated absences will require us to request that you obtain medical evidence from your doctor’s surgery. This may be in the form of a date stamped compliment slip confirming your visit, or prescription or medicine bottle.
We do refer families who take holidays or visits (both in the UK and abroad) during term time for Fixed Penalty Notices (fines), which are then issued by the local authority. As you may have seen in the news, the fine has increased from £60 to £80 per-parent-per-child for each absence. For example, a family with 2 parents and 2 children would now receive a £320 fine for term-time absence.
More information, including our policy, can be found on our attendance webpage
Curriculum Clubs
The offerings for this term's Curriculum Clubs and enrichment activities will be sent via ParentMail on Friday 6th September.
Children who have PPG status will be sent a Google Form to pre-book a subsidised place.
For all other pupils, bookings will open via ParentMail at 7:45am on Wednesday 11th September.
Clubs will start week commencing Monday 16th September.
Christian Value Points
At SASM, we reward pupils for demonstrating any of our 12 Christian Values. As pupils collect more Christian Value Points (CVPs), they recieve the following rewards:
5 CVPs earned = Celebration Collective Worship certificate
15 CVPs earned = Mufti (non uniform) day
40 CVPs earned = A book token to recieve a book from our own book vending machine
50 CVPs earned = A letter home from the Headteacher
60 CVPS earned = A pizza lunch with a friend
Our School Parliament
Your child may come home today talking about our School Parliament. At SASM, every pupil delivers a speech to persuade their class to elect them as a Member of our School Parliament (MP). Following the speeches, each class elects an MP for each of our 5 school committees (environment, advocacy, learning, wellbeing and faith). As a result, we will have 60 elected MPs in the school, who work in their committees to lead change and make sure all pupils are included in life at SASM.
Coming soon - Eco-refill shop - empty (cleaned) 500ml bottles needed!
We are really excited to have recieved a grant from Kingston Council to set-up an Eco-refill shop, where parents and carers will be able to purchase items such as washing-up liquid, soap, shampoo and conditioner from a pupil-led shop each month. We will be sharing more information about this soon!
In order to help get the shop up-and-running, we are looking for donations of (cleaned) 500ml liquid bottles. If you have any of these, please drop them into the school office.
Safer Schools App
We would encourage all parents/carers to download the Safer Schools app for free push notifications about online safety and helpful advice. You can download the app using the instructions here.
School uniform
As the school year begins, pupils continue to wear summer uniform. This includes a polo shirt, summer dress and shorts for PE (as shown in the picture) and should continue to be worn until the end of the October half term.
Please also ensure your child wears smart black shoes on non-PE days. If your child is not in school with the correct uniform they may be given alternatives from our nearly-new stock and you may find a reminder note in your child's planner.
Uniform donations warmly welcomes
If your child has outgrown their school uniform over the summer break (including shoes, plimsolls or trainers) and they are still in good condition, please consider donating them to our uniform shop. You can drop off any unwanted school shoes at the office.
Thank you for your continued support and generosity.
Please send a water bottle with your child
Its important to ensure that our pupils stay hydrated throughout the day. Please remember to send your child to school with a water bottle. To avoid any mix-ups, kindly label the bottle with your child's name. Thank you.
Wrap Around Care
To pre-book places in wrap around care for the Breakfast Club and After School Club up until December 2024 please follow this link to our website.
Do you have concerns about a child?
Adults - you can contact the Single Point of Access to request support, or to report a concern about a child or young person. Click here to make a referral. You can also call for advice. Opening hours: From 8.00am to 5.15pm, Monday to Thursday, and 8.00am to 5.00pm on Friday - call 020 8547 5008 (Out of hours, phone 020 8770 5000). If you think a child or young person is in immediate danger call 999. Referrals are not limited to safeguarding: the Single Point of Access acts as a signposting service to other services, including mental health. Matt Gates is our Designated Safeguarding Lead.
-What's New? Community Groups-
New online course - Couples and ADHD: Making Your Family’s Life Better
The ADHD Embrace Team is aware that there are many parents of children with ADHD who could have ADHD themselves which is why they are introducing a 5-week online course starting on Monday 16th September (8.00pm - 9.30pm) designed specifically to support couples in ADHD-impacted households.
If you’re interested in learning more please click here for more information and to register for an account please click here.
New Jack Meggitt-Phillips book - The Beast and the Bethany series
Last year, pupils were thrilled to meet the incredible author Jack Meggitt-Phillips during a visit to SASM. Fans will be excited to know that the final book in The Beast and The Bethany series is now available, and Jack is returning to Surbiton later this month to celebrate it. Please see the poster from our friends at Regency Bookshop for all the information. Don't miss out on what is sure to be a beastly event!
Click the 'Community Groups' button to see all community notices:
-School reminders-
Pupil Premium Grants
For the first time, all pupils at SASM are entitled to receive a free school lunch. To enable your child to access this, you must book your child's lunch via ParentPay.com.
If you were previously eligible for means tested free school meals or are in receipt of any of the following benefits...
income support
income-based job seeker's allowance
income-related employment and support allowance
the guarantee element of state pension credit
support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
child tax credit (but not working tax credit) and have an annual income of less than £16,190
working tax credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for working tax credit
Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
...your child maybe eligible for a Pupil Premium Grant. This will gives your child access to:
This gives your child access to:
A free after school club every half term
A free 'stay and play' session in our Wrap Around Care each week
A free place at Breakfast Club every day
A discount on school residential visits
... and much more!
Please contact the school office if you have any issues with activating an account.
Parking outside SASM
If you are driving to drop your children off or pick them up from school, please park considerately on the surrounding roads. Please don't park over driveways or over the zig zag lines. This helps keep everyone safe.
We have received reports from local residents of dangerous parking and verbal unkindness from some parents and carers. Please help us to be a positive part of our local community. Whilst the school is not responsible for enforcing street parking, we have advised our local community to report all instances of poor parking or behaviour to the police.
No toys in school, please!
We would like to remind parents and carers that pupils are not permitted to bring their own toys or collectables into school. Not only do toys provide a distraction from pupils' learning, there is a potential for personal items to be misplaced. Please be aware that any lost toys, collectible cards or other play items are beyond the responsibility of the school.
Jewellery
Children can wear watches to school but the wearing of jewellery and earrings of all types is not permitted on safety grounds. Any child wearing earrings to school will be asked to remove them. If they are unable to remove them they will be required to stay inside during break and lunch times and will not be able to participate in any PE or physical activities.
Smart Watches
Fitness trackers without smart watch capability are permitted but St Andrew’s and St Mark’s accept no responsibility for the loss or damage of these items. Smart watches , including iWatches- are not permitted due to their messaging capabilities.
Lost Property
Please remember to label your child’s uniform, lunch box and water bottle. All named lost property will be returned to your child by the next school day. Unlabelled property will be kept for one week only in the school office.
Road safety for children
If your child walks to school on their own, it is important they know how to cross roads, including zebra crossings safely. Please click here for more information about Road Safety for children.
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