St Paul's Catholic Primary School Newsletter

Celebrating Our Student Leaders: Missionary Badges Awarded!

We were delighted to welcome so many families to our recent Celebration Assembly as we marked a very special milestone in our school year. During the assembly, we officially presented badges to the children who have stepped up to take on a Missionary Role for the coming year.

Our Missionary Roles play an essential part in the life of our school. From helping with day-to-day activities to representing their peers, these pupil leaders help ensure the smooth running of our school community while giving our children a meaningful voice in shaping school life. Their leadership, enthusiasm, and commitment set a wonderful example for everyone.

We are incredibly fortunate to have so many pupils who are eager to serve, support, and lift up our school family. It was wonderful to see so many parents, carers, and family members joining us to celebrate their achievements and share in their pride.

Thank you to all who attended, and congratulations to all of our new pupil leaders—we look forward to seeing the wonderful impact you will make this year!

In Nursery this week the children learnt all about Noah’s Ark, through lots of fun and interactive activities.

They listened to the story ‘Noah and the Great Big Boat’, explored the wooden Ark and animals, played an animal matching game, moved like animals during music and movement sessions, tried to identify different animal sounds and investigated textured materials in our farm tuff tray!

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St Paul's Record Breakers!

On Thursday 8th October, we were so lucky to be included in an opportunity to become Guiness World Record breakers, for the most people reading online within a 12 hour period. Years 3,4,5 and 6 got to read with Frank Cotrell Boyce and hear all about his latest book, "Blockbusters", which sounds like such an exciting read! The session for years 1 and 2 featured Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Nakul P. We then read for ten minutes and submitted our numbers for officiation. Fingers crossed that we all become record breakers.

PHSE News

This week, the whole school learnt about how to stay safe through an NSPCC online workshop. We talked about how we have the right to speak out and have our views taken seriously, be kept safe and how to get help when we need it. We listened to different scenarios and different forms of being hurt.

Year 5/6 Science Museum Trip

Year 5 and 6 all experienced an out-of-this-world day this week at Winchester Science Museum! The children excitedly explored the museum, discovering fascinating facts and getting hands-on with all things science. They took part in a fantastic workshop, carrying out two practical experiments whilst helping to design a space telescope while also learning lots about light, rockets and the exciting world of space exploration. After all that hard work, it was time for a well-deserved lunch before heading into the planetarium. Sitting beneath the stars, the children were captivated by a fascinating presentation about space, planets and the wonders of our universe. It was an action-packed day full of discovery, teamwork and scientific fun.

Our attendance as a school this week was 92.5%!!

This remains disappointing and remember that every day of learning counts.

Don't forget as a school we need to be achieving over 95% attendance!

This week 170 children had 100% attendance.

The class with this week's winning attendance is ...

St Edith Class with 99.2%

Well done you are able to wear non uniform on Friday.

Please note children cannot wear PJ's / crocs or unsuitable footwear.

🎉St Paul's Award🎉

This week award is linked to our St Paul's Principle of

being a Supportive

Winners

St Peter Thomas

St James Edmund

St Bernadette Ina

St Thomas Izzabella

St Pio Evaniya

St Francis Rihan

St Scholastica Oliver

St Teresa Daniel D

St Edith Sia

Congratulations and well done to you all.

Tournament One

St Thomas Vs St Pio Vs St Francis

This week's winners are : St Thomas

St Thomas 310 points

St Pio 151 points

St Francis 131 points

Well done!

Tournament Two

Every class from Year 2 - Year 6.

This week's winners are : St Edith Class with 697 points

Player of the week: Joachim with over 11,000 points

73 pupils took part this week!

Well done!

Be Curious, not Just Corrective

When your child’s behaviour concerns you, try to pause before correcting and find out what is happening for them.

Instead of “Why did you do that?”, try “I wonder what is happening for you?”

Listen, ask open questions and avoid jumping to conclusions.

Being curious doesn't mean excusing behaviour or removing boundaries. It helps us understand what may be behind the behaviour so we can respond with greater understanding.

Remember: Ask. Listen. Understand. Then respond.

This week in nursery the children have started brushing their teeth, as part of our daily routine. With adult guidance they are following instructions, building confidence and developing self-care skills.

We have also been listening to ‘The Gruffalo’ story, by Julia Donaldson and Axel and Axel Scheffler. On Wednesday the pre-school children went on an owl, snake, fox and Gruffalo hunt, around the school grounds and nature garden.

Although we didn’t find any of the animals, we saw lots of clues and concluded that all of the animals must be asleep!

Read Write Inc. Workshop

Thank you to everyone who attended our Read Write Inc. workshop this week. We hope you found it helpful! It was lovely to chat with you about how we teach phonics in Reception and how you can support your child at home.

If you missed the workshop or have any questions about phonics, please feel free to contact Mrs Mulgrew.

The children in Years 5 and 6 had a wonderful time celebrating National Poetry Day this week! On Thursday, they joined a very special live assembly with renowned poet Michael Rosen and the Hot Poets. Alongside more than a thousand other schools, the children helped to create a collaborative poem inspired by the theme of Wonder’, making it a truly memorable experience. Later that afternoon, some budding poets from Years 5 and 6 took part in a poetry workshop with Mrs Burgess, where they explored the sights, sounds and feelings of autumn and used these ideas to create their own poems. On Friday, the poetry celebrations continued when local poet Lynne Stretch visited the children. Lynne shared some of her own poems before listening to the children’s autumn poetry. She was amazed by the creativity, imagination and quality of their work and was thoroughly impressed by the budding poets she met!

A poem written by Teresa in Year 6 after the poetry workshop this week

Our attendance as a school this week was 90.6%!!

This remains disappointing and remember that every day of learning counts.

Don't forget as a school we need to be achieving over 95% attendance!

This week 170 children had 100% attendance.

The class with this week's winning attendance is ...

St Bernadette Class with 97.5%

Well done you are able to wear non uniform on Friday.

Please note children cannot wear PJ's / crocs or unsuitable footwear.

🎉St Paul's Award🎉

This week award is linked to our St Paul's Principle of

being a Supportive

Winners

St Peter Reggie

St James Jilynn

St Bernadette Gemma

St Thomas Dalia

St Pio Isabelle

St Francis Alfred

St Scholastica Kourtney

St Teresa Celina

St Edith Kaitlyn

Congratulations and well done to you all.

Tournament One

St Thomas Vs St Pio Vs St Francis

This week's winners are : St Thomas

St Thomas 308 points

St Pio 40 points

St Francis 32 points

Well done!

Tournament Two

Every class from Year 2 - Year 6.

This week's winners are : St Teresa and St Thomas with a score of 309 points

Player of the week: Chase with 4250 points

61 pupils took part this week!

Well done!

On Wednesday morning we celebrated a joyful annual Harvest Mass. Father Oliver in his homily invited the children to give thanks to God for what they have and to thank their parents and teachers for the care they receive.

Harvest means to share what we have with others who have less than us.

Let's be inspired by God and make an act of generosity with a simple donation whether a can of food, a smile or a spending time with others.

As a relational school, we know just how important our relationships are in helping children feel happy, safe and ready to learn.

In our newsletters, we will now be sharing some simple relational tips and ideas that you might find helpful at home.

Nothing complicated — just little things that can make a big difference to how we connect and communicate with our children.

Remember: Connect first. Calm together. Then correct and repair.

You don't have to be a perfect parent — just a parent who keeps coming back to connection.

Connect Before You Correct

When children are upset, angry or frustrated, it can be tempting to focus straight away on their behaviour. Relational practice encourages us to pause, connect and understand before correcting.

Try asking yourself what does my child need from me right now?

Connection might mean:

* Getting down to their level.

* Using a calm voice.

* Acknowledging their feelings.

* Listening before offering solutions.

* Reassuring them that you are there to help.

Connecting doesn't mean removing boundaries or accepting difficult behaviour. We can be both warm and firm.

When children feel safe and understood, they are often better able to listen, reflect and learn.

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Click here to register

Our attendance as a school this week was 92.9%!!

This remains disappointing and remember that every day of learning counts.

Don't forget as a school we need to be achieving over 95% attendance!

This week 171 children had 100% attendance.

The class with this week's winning attendance is ...

St Bernadette Class with 98.8%

Well done you are able to wear non uniform on Friday.

Please note children cannot wear PJ's / crocs or unsuitable footwear.

🎉St Paul's Award🎉

This week award is linked to our St Paul's Principle of

being a Leader

Winners

St Peter -------

St James Cloda

St Bernadette Romy

St Thomas Luna

St Pio Keiza

St Francis Rihan

St Scholastica Jamil

St Teresa Tilliana

St Edith Angela

Congratulations and well done to you all.

This week in nursery we have enjoyed exploring colours through the story ‘Wow! Said the Owl’ by Tim Hopgood.

The children had lots of fun discovering the colourful world around them through various activities and learning experiences. This included, mixing primary paint colours, to create new colours; going on a colour hunt around the setting to find specific coloured objects; and using chalk to draw rainbow pictures in the garden.

“Red and blue makes a sort of purple” Noelle commented.

“I love rainbows, they’re beautiful” said Rosie.

Zoo

Party

Park

Click to watch our learning videos

Farm

Woods

Click to watch our learning videos

On Wednesday, we were fortunate enough to have Siobhan from the Mental Health Support Team to talk to us about well being. She shared with us some of the physical sensations that we might feel in our bodies if we were nervous, worried or anxious and how that might make us change how we feel about things we used to enjoy. She then gave us strategies and tips to help overcome any negative feelings and to keep our mental wellbeing in tip-top shape! She shared that it was important to notice things around us and spend time in nature. Spending time connecting in person with our friends and family is another great way that we can help to feel calm and relaxed. Learning new things can also give us a sense of achievement and purpose. Finally, she shared with us that keeping active such as going for a walk, playing sports and spending time at the park can also be a fantastic way to promote positive wellbeing.

Tournament One

St Thomas Vs St Pio Vs St Francis

This week's winners are : St Thomas

Well done!

Tournament Two

Every class from Year 2 - Year 6.

This week's winners are : St Edith with an amazing 407 points.

Congratulations to Ezra in St Edith with an amazing 4084 points!

Well done!

This week, Year 3 and 4 celebrated the life of St. Pio (Padre Pio).

Through studying St. Pio’s life of prayer, humility, and extraordinary care for others, our Year 3 and Year 4 have been exploring how God sends saints to guide and inspire us. The saints serve as practical role models, showing us how we can speak to God in prayer every day, trust in His love, and deepen our own personal relationship with Him. After our COTW Father Oliver then joined each class to bless their classrooms.

This week we are looking at deepfakes and how to support our young people with the ever evolving AI landscape.

Our Family Support Worker has compiled a new resource to share all the support for families in our local area. This will be added to as times goes on.

If you know of any support services in the local area, please do let us know so we can add to our resource.

Family and Community Outreach Support Click Here To Visit

Click here to register

Click here to sign up

Cosham Fire Station on Northern Road will be holding its Open Day on Saturday, September 26 from 10am until 4pm. The station, which opened in 2024, will be hosting a day of family fun allowing people to see inside fire engines and get up close to equipment used.

Our attendance as a school this week was 94.9%.

This remains disappointing and remember that every day of learning counts.

Don't forget as a school we need to be achieving over 95% attendance!

This week 172 children had 100% attendance.

The class with this week's winning attendance is ...

St Edith Class with 98.2%

Well done you are able to wear non uniform on Friday.

Please note children cannot wear PJ's / crocs or unsuitable footwear.

🎉St Paul's Award🎉

This week award is linked to our St Paul's Principle of

Understanding

Winners

St Peter

St James Maya

St Bernadette Arthur M

St Thomas Artur

St Pio Rayan

St Francis Florence

St Scholastica Cassie

St Teresa Oliver P

St Edith Freddy S

Congratulations and well done to you all.

Another Busy Week in Nursery

We have had another lovely week in Nursery! The children are becoming much more familiar with their Nursery environment and are growing in confidence with our daily routines.

This week, we have started introducing group times, giving the children opportunities to come together, listen, join in with songs and stories, and begin learning as a group.

It has been wonderful to see friendships beginning to develop and the children becoming increasingly confident and independent as they explore and play.

We are really pleased with how well everyone is settling into Nursery life and can’t wait to see what next week brings!

My Happy Mind

The children had a fantastic time in their myHappymind assembly on Tuesday and are buzzing to start another year of learning how to look after their mental wellbeing! To help you support their journey at home, don't forget that you have access to the myHappymind Parent App. It is completely free and packed with brilliant resources, practical tools, and insights so you can use the same language and techniques we use in school—we strongly encourage all parents to download it and get involved!

On Wednesday, year 5 and 6 attended the liturgy of the hours, which is the prayer of the Church, made of song, psalms, readings and prayers. It is offered every day by clergy, men and women religious, and lay people to sanctify the day. In this Liturgy of Morning Prayer, we celebrated the gift of creation.

After the liturgy, Father Oliver came to visit our classrooms and bless them.

We are proud to be a TTRockstars School. Each week we have two tournaments running which are celebrated in our celebration assembly.

Tournament One

St Thomas Vs St Pio Vs St Francis - supporting our Year 4 children learning their multiplication facts.

Tournament Two

Every class from Year 2 - Year 6.

All children from Year 2 - Year 6 have a TTRockstar Log on - if they are unsure of what it is please check your child's reading diary/spelling diary.

With thanks to Tamworth Borough Council

Welcome Back

A huge welcome back to each and everyone of our school community. We hope you all had a wonderful break, rest and made some memories that will last a lifetime.

A special welcome to our new children in Reception who have settled beautifully and are already in school full time and to new children joining our school. We also welcome some new staff to our school community.

Mrs Lee joins the nursery as a Nursery Assistant. Miss Alexander, Ms Kalandrani are joining classrooms to support the children Ms Morrison and Miss Pettinger are our new administrative assistants in the school office, and Miss Head is joining the school office as attendance officer.

I am sure you will all give them your usual St Paul's welcome and show how truly 'Do Everything with Love.'

What a lovely week in Nursery!

The children have settled in so well and are already getting to grips with their new routines. It has been wonderful to welcome back some familiar faces after the summer holidays, as well as meeting and welcoming all of our lovely new starters.

We are so proud of how confidently the children are beginning to explore their new environment, make new friends and become part of our Nursery family

We’re really looking forward to all the fun, learning and adventures ahead!

Year One and Two were lucky enough to get a sneak peak of a new story by the well known author, Julia Donaldson. We watched a live stream where the author acted out The Gruffalo and then read her new book, the Gruffalo's Granny. The children were very excited and loved the new book!

Our attendance as a school this week was 93.7%.

This is really disappointing for the first full week back of the school year.

Don't forget as a school we need to be achieving over 95% attendance!

This week 174 children had 100% attendance.

The class with this week's winning attendance is ...

St Pio Class with 99.6%

Well done you are able to wear non uniform on Friday.

Please note children cannot wear PJ's / crocs or unsuitable footwear.

🎉St Paul's Award🎉

This week award is linked to our St Paul's Principle of

Ambitious

Winners

St Peter

St James Thomas

St Bernadette Renee E

St Thomas Savannah

St Pio Isla B

St Francis Leo JR

St Scholastica Henry B

St Teresa Daniel V

St Edith Toby D

Congratulations and well done to you all.

Going forth in faith

This week the children have been looking at ways we can explore and enjoy God's creation. They were shown a video of the school staff during the summer holidays exploring its beauty. If you have images of the children exploring God's creation during the summer, or anytime please send them into school with a copy for a display outside the school hall to share with others.

Allergy Information - Benedict's Law

I wanted to share with you some information around Benedict’s Law, which came into effect on September 1, 2026, making consistent, life-saving allergy safety measures mandatory for all schools in England.

All Schools now must:

Implement and action a school Allergy Policy which is published and available for parents to read. This is just waiting for Governors to approve and this will then be available on our school website.
Purchase emergency medication. All schools must keep spare, in-date adrenaline auto-injectors (such as EpiPens) on site for emergencies. These can be used on any child or adult experiencing a severe allergic reaction. These are already in place in the school and Nursery and we also have a set to take out with us for trips.
Ensure that ALL staff —including teachers, catering teams, cleaners, and bus drivers—must receive training to spot the signs of an allergic reaction and know how to use emergency pens. Thsi was part of our First Aid Training on our INSET day but additional online learning has also been implemented.
Complete Individual Healthcare Plans for every student diagnosed with a serious allergy. This is ongoing throughout the school year.

Celebrating our first Mass of the academic year

On Wednesday we gathered as a whole school community to celebrate our very first Mass of the academic year. It was a beautiful and uplifting occasion as we came together in prayer to dedicate the year ahead to God.

During the service, Father Andrew formally introduced us to Father Oliver, our new parish priest. We are absolutely delighted to welcome Father Oliver to our school community and look forward to sharing many more spiritual milestones with him over the coming months.

Father Andrew and Father Oliver blessed our brand-new class candles, which will be lit during our daily prayers to remind us of the light of Christ in our learning spaces. In addition, our prayer bags were blessed. These will soon begin making their way home with your children, allowing our families to share in these special moments of reflection together.

If you would like to know more click here : Internet Matters

Link to Information Leaflet

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