7th November 2025

A Message from Mrs Murphy

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you all had a lovely half term break. It has been lovely to see all the children return to school refreshed and ready for the exciting half term ahead.

Cycling to School

It has been great to see so many children riding their bikes to school over the last few weeks as this a fantastic way to travel actively to school. In Year 4 and 6 we offer Bikeability sessions in school to support children to learn how to ride safely and Year 6 have completed this over the week. We are proud to offer this valuable learning opportunity to all our children and this forms part of our Safeguarding curriculum as we prepare children for independence of secondary school and adult life.

As a result of seeing so many children now using their bikes and scooters to travel to school, we will be looking to upgrade our bike storage options so we can provide undercover storage.

October

November

Walk to School Badges

The Year 6 Ambassadors were very excited to hand out the first WOW badges this week for all children who have travelled actively at least once a week in October. We handed out 276 badges this month and it has been lovely to see so many children wearing them proudly on their ties.

This months badge was a Music badge.

There are different designs of badges to collect so please do continue travel actively to school where possible.

Parent Friendly Schools award

At the end of the half term, we received recognition of our efforts and commitment to working with parents and wider agencies to support children at St James by achieving the Parent Friendly Schools Standard. We were significantly above the standard in a number of areas so will be working to achieve the next level, the Silver standard, in the next academic year by increasing the number of parent workshops, continuing to support PTA events and developing community partnerships.

And finally...

Outdoor learning

This week we celebrated the Outdoor learning day at St James and headed out to our stunning school grounds. The children had such a great day learning the national curriculum outdoors. Thank you to Mrs Procter who coordinated this event.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Mrs Murphy

Friends of St James

Christmas Fair - 22nd November 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

This year we’re kicking off the festive season early with the St James Christmas Fair taking place on Saturday 22nd November between 2pm and 5pm. We can’t wait to welcome all our St James families and friends for an afternoon of fun, games, food and drink!

We have a whole host of fun planned to include:

Giant Advent Calendar · Pin the Nose on Rudolph
Christmas Decoration Making · Biscuit Decorating
Coin Toss Game · Money Tree
Tin Can Alley · Christmas Stocking Game
Lucky Candy Canes · Christmas Hat Ring Toss
Snowman Snap · Bottle Tombola
Guess the number of sweets in the jar · Christmas Tuck Shop
BBQ & Bar · Mulled Wine and Mince Pies
Toy Collection for the Giant Advent Calendar

This year we are bringing back one of the kids’ most popular stalls – The Giant Advent Calendar! To help us fill the calendar windows with amazing prizes we need your help!

Next week, between Monday 10th and Friday 14th November, we are asking for donations of NEW (not pre-loved) stocking filler type gifts, toys and accessories. These small gifts should only cost a maximum of a few pounds.

Each class will be given identical ‘bag for life’ shopping bags to fill with their wonderful prize donations. As a reward for donating prizes, all classes will receive five minutes extra playtime! But even better – the year group who fills their bags the quickest with prizes will win DOUBLE PLAYTIME!!

Thank you for your support in donating prizes – we look forward to seeing this stall come to life.

Bottle Mufti Day

Friday 21st November will be a mufti day where children can wear their own clothes in return for donating a bottle. Donations we are keen to receive are wine, beer, sparkling wine, cocktails, mixers, soft drinks. We are also happy to receive bottles of toiletries. The teachers will be collecting all bottles at the gate at drop-off on the morning of 21st November.

Tokens

All stalls will accept both cash and tokens. Tokens will be on sale before and after school in the days leading up to the fair. Tokens can also be purchased at the fair.

Natasha’s Law and Allergies

Various stalls at the Christmas Fair will feature a selection treats/food items for sale, including a dedicated biscuit decorating stall. In line with Natasha's Law, we want to assure you that all ingredients will be clearly displayed at each stall offering food items. As these stalls are run by volunteer parents, we must stress that the school and the volunteers cannot take responsibility for children purchasing food items. It is the responsibility of parents/carers to ensure that any child with a known allergy is either accompanied, supervised, or not permitted to buy items without adult oversight to ensure their safety.

Thank you in advance for your support of our Christmas Fair and we look forward to seeing you on the day.

Kind Regards,

Daisy and the Christmas Fair team.

After School Clubs at St James

Please find below the timetable for all other Autumn Term 2025 clubs at St James.

Links have been provided to sign up for clubs run by external providers.

2025 Club dates and times Autumn Term (1).pdf

School Menu

Please find below the current lunch menu from our school caterers, Twelve15. This is a three week rolling menu. All children choose from one of the three meal options at the start of each school day. There is also a fully stocked salad bar and fresh bread served daily.

Please remember to book school meals in advance using ARBOR.

Attendance and Penalty Notices

Weekly reminder - for parents/carers, that if they take their children out of school without authority for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive), then you will be liable for a penalty notice fine

1. If you have not incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children in a rolling 3 year period since 19 August 2024, then the penalty notice will be charged at the rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80.00 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

2. If you have incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children since 19 August 2024, the rolling 3 year period will be activated from the date of the first penalty notice and the second penalty notice will be charged at the flat rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. There will be no reduction for payment within 21 days. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

3. If you have incurred 2 penalty notices relating to this child/children in the rolling 3 year period since the first penalty notice was issued, then you will NOT receive a third penalty notice – Surrey County Council will have no option but to consider a prosecution, per parent/carer per child, in the Magistrates Court under s 444 Education Act 1996.

Surrey County Council is not responsible for authorising pupil absence and therefore cannot withdraw any Penalty Notice requests without the written permission of the Headteacher.

The St James Attendance Policy can be found here..

Leave of Absence form can be found here.