Newsletter 5 Autumn Term

Smartphone Free Childhood Movement - parent/carer representatives are seeking your views!  

If you haven't already, Representatives from the Smartphone Free Childhood movement would welcome your views via this survey. 

This parent & carer survey is to gather opinions on children owning and using smartphones. The survey will only take 3 minutes and is completely anonymous. If you have more than one child of school age, we would be grateful if you could complete a survey for each child. Please be aware that the data you are consenting to provide in this survey is not being processed and stored by St Andrew's and St Mark's but by parent representatives.    

We will share the survey findings and the proposed next steps as soon as possible. This survey is based on an idea from the Smartphone Free Childhood movement Smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk. 

Prospective parent morning

Registration for our open morning is now live. Prospective parents, who are looking to apply for a place for their child at SASM from September 2025, are warmly invited to visit on Monday 21st October at 9:00am to hear from Mr Gates and have a tour of the school. 

For more information and to register your place, visit: our prospective parent webpage 

Hollyfield Secondary talk for Year 5 and 6 parents and carers - this Friday morning at SASM

We are delighted to welcome Josephine Rhodes - Assistant Headteacher at Hollyfield Secondary to SASM to speak with Year 5 parents and carers this Friday at 8:45am. She will be speaking more about life at Hollyfield as well as answering any questions parents/carers may have. Book your place here. 

Eco-Refill Shop Success 

Last Friday saw our on-site Eco-Refill Shop (SASM Eco-Refill's) first day of trading. Thanks to your support, we refilled 56 bottles, saving a substantial amount of plastic from landfill - a fantastic result! The eco-shop is self-sustaining: all money gained through the shop is used to buy more stock. 

Our next day of trading will be on Thursday 24th October in the playground (8:30am - 8:45am and 3:15pm - 3:30pm).

Invitation to join the children's church choir

The St Andrew’s and St Mark’s church children’s choir has its first rehearsal this Friday 4th October at 4:30pm - 5:30pm at St Mark’s church.

This is the first of five Friday sessions leading to a performance during morning service on Sunday 2nd November 2024. 

Rehearsals are led by the Director of Music, Simon Harvey.  No previous training is required, and it’s totally free.

If your child would like to join, please contact Robert the vicar (robertstanier@btinternet.com) to find out more details or just turn up.  Quite a few SASM pupils are already members but there is room for more.

We are ready for harvest donations

The annual Harvest Festival will take place on Tuesday 22nd October (9:15am - 10:15am) at St Mark's Church. It is a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together, give thanks, and celebrate the abundance of the season. 

As part of the Harvest Festival, we will be collecting donations (see list of items below).  Please bring your contributions to the school office. 

Author visit   

We recently had a visit from award-winning children’s author Pamela Butchart which was a fantastic success! The children were captivated as Pamela brought her much-loved characters to life, sharing stories and insights from her popular books such as The Spy Who Loved School Dinners and There's a Werewolf in My Tent!

Her lively storytelling and infectious enthusiasm engaged everyone, with the children enjoying every moment of the experience. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to learn about the world of writing, and they left feeling inspired and excited to dive into more of Pamela’s stories.

Huge thanks to Pamela Butchart for visiting and making the day so memorable for our young readers and to our friends from Regency Book Shop for making it possible!

Bring a coat to school every day  

Autumn is well underway! The children go outside for play at break and lunchtimes, even if there is rain. Please make sure your child brings a named waterproof coat to school everyday. Children who have forgotten their coats are encouraged to remain under our covered walkways in the playground, although this is their responsibility. 

Oracy at Home

How important is it to know about the author behind the book?

Book publishing company, Penguin Random House UK, has revealed a new book vending machine at Linlithgow Academy, near Edinburgh, Scotland.  The machine gives the pupils access to more than seventy different books from Penguin's 'Lit in Colour' reading lists.  The reading lists, set up around 4 years ago, are updated each year and aim to make works by writers of colour more visible and accessible in schools. 

Things to talk about at home

• What type of books do you like to read, and who are some of your favourite authors?  Ask others at home about their reading preferences.

• Do you feel its important to know about the author of a book you read? Is it important to you to read books by authors from different backgrounds and with different experiences? What do others at home think?

FREE SCHOOL MEALS  

If your child is eligible for free school meals but you prefer to provide them with packed lunches, it's still important to register.  By doing so, the school receives additional funding called Pupil Premium which helps support your child in other ways. 

Once you have registered for free school meals and we have received confirmation that you are eligible, your child will then be able to attend an enrichment club after school free of charge, as well as one session at our after school club.  They will also qualify for the Holiday Activity and Food Programme, this is also known as FUEL (which stands for ‘Feed Ur Everyday Lives’) This programme offers free places at holiday clubs during the Easter, summer and Christmas breaks. 

Children can enjoy 4 sessions during Easter, 16 sessions over the summer and 4 in winter, with lunch provided at the club. There are lots of clubs and activities to choose from across a range of dates, time and locations. Some activities include: cycling; film-making; yoga; technology and coding; skateboarding; art and crafts; cooking; indoor climbing; and lots of sports such as cricket, football, netball and rugby. 

If you think you may be eligible and would like further information please contact the office and ask for Mrs Miller, our School Community Worker. 

Help children get a healthy start to the new school year by ensuring they are up to date with all their routine vaccinations

When your child starts or returns to school, they will have increased contact with other children. If they are not up to date with their routine immunisations, they may be at risk of catching preventable diseases, including measles, whooping cough, meningitis, diphtheria and polio.

Please check that your child is fully up to date with their routine immunisations before they start or return to school. You can check if your child is up to date with immunisations by checking their red book or contacting your GP surgery. For a full checklist of vaccines and when they should be given visit - NHS vaccinations and when to have them.

• Immunising primary school children - Postcard

• Immunising pre-secondary school children - Postcard

Kingston's family friendly bike ride

Join Kingston Cycling Campaign and friends on Sunday 6 October 2024 for the final fun-packed family-friendly ride of the year! Designed with all ages and cycling abilities in mind, this easy-paced 6.5-mile ride will take us from Surbiton to North Kingston, and back via the river, making the most of quiet roads and traffic-free routes.

Organised by Kingston Cycling Campaign, with the support of Full Cycle Community Bike Project, this is a great chance to discover new cycle-friendly routes, explore different parts of the borough and build your bike confidence, with the ride led by experienced ride marshalls for extra safety. So invite your friends, neighbours and family, and get ready to discover a few new routes on this easy ride.

The event will start from Claremont Gardens, a stone's throw from Surbiton station, gathering by 10.45am just inside the gardens at the junction of The Crescent and Grove Road for the ride briefing before we set off at 11am.

Register for your free place here.

£1 entry to Kew Gardens

On universal credit or pension credit? Enjoy £1 entry to Kew Gardens.

Flyer here.

Supporting Our Families with Kingston Foodbank

We don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry. That is why we are pleased to be able to offer our families support in partnership with Kingston Foodbank.

Kingston Foodbank provide three days’ nutritionally-balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. They are part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.

Foodbank clients bring their vouchers to a foodbank centre where they can be redeemed for three days of emergency food. Volunteers meet clients over a warm drink or free hot meal, and are able to signpost people to other agencies that may able to them solve the longer-term problems.

Vouchers can be issued any day and at any time during the school week. These can be either printed or sent to you electronically via your mobile phone. This is a confidential service and vouchers are only allocated by Mrs Miller - School Community Worker.

Our nearest food collection points are listed below - please note the opening times.

Monday (6.00pm - 7.00pm)

Surbiton New Life Baptist Church
1 Balaclava Road
Surbiton
KT6 5PW

Tuesday and Friday (11.00am - 12.30pm)

Kingston Everyday Church

46 Union St, Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1RP

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.

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.