St Bernadette Catholic Primary School
Message from the
Co-headteachers
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to the new academic year 2023-2024! We hope that you have all had a wonderful summer and managed to get some rest. All the staff are fired up and ready to start what we know will be a very exciting year. Myself and Mrs Reilly have been visiting the classes daily and the children have settled in amazingly well and are already producing some outstanding work.
Thank you to all those parents who have attended the 'Meet the teacher' meetings this week. For those who could not attend, please find the presentations each teacher gave on the school website under your child's class page.
The start of the year is always a great time to try and encourage new families to join FAB's, our PTA here at St Bernadette, who help to arrange many exciting and fun ways to raise much-needed funds for the school. Any time and help you can spare is always very much appreciated and it's a great way to become involved and meet more members of our school community for those of you who are new!
Please can we remind all parents and carers to let the office know if someone else will be collecting their child from school. This will ensure that children are efficiently dismissed at the end of the day and that all children are safeguarded.
Please read the key information below regarding: school ethos and values, behaviour, academisation updates, attendance, and what to do if you have a concern or worry.
We are looking forward to inviting parents & carers into school this year for some of our festivals, productions and open mornings. Details of all of these events will come in due course.
Finally, we wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you all very soon.
Kind regards
Mrs Lavelle-Murphy & Mrs Reilly
School Ethos and Values:
The passage in I Corinthians teaches us that there should be no division in the body and that we should all have concern for each other. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it”. We all work together, secure in the knowledge of God’s love, to make sure we experience life in all its fullness. This is at the center of all that we do at St. Bernadette Catholic Primary School as we believe that developing core strong relationships will enable our children to thrive. As a community, we have identified 5 key relationships which we hope to develop and enhance in our children as they journey through school with us.
Untitled presentation.pdf
We believe that when these 5 core relationships are strong, our children will flourish. In order to try and develop these relationships, we have identified 5 key values for all stakeholders to work towards.
Academisation
In September 2017 the Diocese of Westminster published its strategy for Catholic Academy Trusts http://rcdow.org.uk/education/academies-/ . The Strategy sets out the reasons, benefits, and structure of the Catholic Academy Trusts across the Diocese. The aim of the Diocese’s Strategy is “to protect, secure and develop the Church’s mission in education.” Since this time the school has been working with the Diocese on a way forward for St. Bernadette. We will be writing to you on Monday 25th September with further information on what this means for our school. We will also hold a parent information meeting on the 11th October at 6.00pm.
What to do if you have a concern:
As a school we will always aim to do the very best for your children. Please know that we want to work together with parents to secure the best outcomes for them and all that we do is out of genuine care and love for the children. However, we are fallible and there may be times when we get some things wrong. We really want to create positive relationships with all parents so that you feel comfortable to come to the school with any concerns you may have. We just ask that you do so in a way that allows staff to respond in the best way possible, to hopefully alleviate any concerns you may have. We would always ask if there is ever a question or concern please contact the class teacher for a meeting in the first instance. Teachers are very busy at the door in the morning and have a duty of care for the children in their class and therefore don't feel that the doorway is the best time for them to be able to discuss concerns appropriately. If the concern continues, please contact the school to arrange a meeting with the class teacher and a member of the senior leadership team. If the concerns are still not resolved please make an appointment to meet with the co-headteachers.
Attendance:
The school is committed to securing strong attendance for all our children. This is something we will continue to monitor closely throughout the year and will work tirelessly with families to ensure this improves. Please see our attendance policy for more information: https://www.stbernadette.herts.sch.uk/web/school_policies/559555
Please see the following guidance on good attendance practices within school:
Is my child too ill for school?
Working together to improve school attendance
Behaviour
Our behaviour Policy is well embedded throughout the school and the children have a good understanding of the school rules. We believe that when a child demonstrates unacceptable behaviour, it is the behaviour which is unacceptable not the child. We believe it is our duty to promote and encourage positive behaviour, not just react to that which is unacceptable.
Nursery / Reception
The children begin on the rainbow symbol. They have the opportunity to stay on that all day or move up to the sunshine based on how they behave. If they are making poor choices, the teacher will discreetly show the children the cloud symbol and if this persists, the thunder symbol. If this is the case then they will be sent to the phase leader for a chance to reflect on their poor choices and may lose part of their break or lunchtime to reflect on their behaviour.
KS1/2
The school operates a ‘go for gold’ system, whereby the children will strive to demonstrate the school values to the best of their ability, in order to receive a gold card. If a child is displaying difficult behaviour, the school will follow the following strategies:
Check in - Are you okay?
Ask them if they are ok. If they are not, then staff can find out what is wrong (if they are able to tell them) and deal with the problem.
Warning 1 - Reminder of the school values
I notice you are not using the …. value. You could show this value by…
Warning 2 - Reminder of the school values
I notice you are not using the …. value. You could show this value by…
Warning 3 - Chat 1:1 with the classteacher or teaching assistant
2-minute intervention
‘I was wondering what was upsetting you’
‘I noticed you were struggling to keep our school values’
‘Respectful is one of our values, so you need to….
‘What do you need right now to help you with your learning?’
‘How can I help now?’
Reflection Time
Children will be given time to reflect, repair and restore with their classteacher or a known adult. The purpose of reflect, repair and restore is to re-visit the experience by re-telling and exploring the story with a changed set of feelings. This restoration may take place at a playtime. This will be recorded on the school monitoring system (CPOMS)
Persistent difficult or unsocial behaviours
When a child is displaying persistent difficult/unsociable behaviours and the previous strategies have been unsuccessful, a child will be sent to a member of the SLT for further restoration work. Each child will be given time to reflect, repair and restore. The member of SLT will work with the member of staff to consider further strategies that could be used to support.
Looking forward to this year, we once again will be holding assemblies across the school to celebrate the children who have demonstrated the school values and those who have received the role of honour.
Roll of Honour
Nursery and Reception
Year 1 and Year 2
Year 3,4,5 and Year 6
