Newsletter : 15th March 2024
A Message from Mrs Murphy
Dear Parents and Carers,
What a busy couple of weeks we have had here at St James, with so many exciting trips, vistors and activities. With Red Nose day today, it was lovely to see the school all in red to raise money for a good cause. Thank you to all who have donated to Comic Relief this year. St James collected £328 in the buckets this morning, and the online donations are continuing to come in.
If you would still like to donate online please click on the link below.
World Book Day
A highlight for last week was our World Book Day celebration on Thursday. The children all looked fabulous dressed as characters from their favourite books. The staff too had a great time in costume for the day!
We were also very lucky to welcome our visiting author for this year, Abie Longstaff. Over the course of the day, she spoke to all the children and had a special Q&A with a group of readers from across the school. Abie was very impressed by all the children and had a very enjoyable day. We have purchased some of her books for the library so those children who were particularly inspired, can read her stories.
School Trips and Visits
Lots of classes have been out on visits over the last two weeks. These trips include:
Year 5 Legoland trip
Year 3 and Year 1 visiting the Synagogue
Year 3 Kew Gardens
International Women's Day Chelsea Event for some of our Girls Football team.
We do really appreciate all the support from parents who have come to volunteer to allow us to enhance the curriculum with these visits. Thank you to those parents who have made the voluntary contributions to ensure that these trips can go ahead. We do unfortunately have many school trips that run at a loss to the school, and we do make a decision two weeks before whether all trips can go ahead based on the number of contributions.
I have recently had kind requests from some parents who would be happy to overpay for trips to cover some of the deficit, to ensure that the trip goes go ahead. If you would like to do this, please make your donation through the 'Voluntary Donation' section on SCOPAY. This can be found under 'Trips and Events'. If you would like to make a regular donation to the School Fund, please email the school office who can supply you with the standing order form.
There are more exciting trips coming up. Next week, Year 4 are heading on their residential which is set to be an exciting three days filled with climbing, orienteering, archery and much more! Our school council have also been invited to represent the school at the the opening of Gail's Bakery in Weybridge on Monday.
Open Afternoon and Parent Consultations
It was lovely to see so many parents at open afternoon and parents consultations over the last two weeks. We are very happy to see that our uptake was 86.2% on our parent consultation booking system and I know that further meetings have also taken place meaning we are close to hitting our target of 100% parental engagement. Each teacher is aiming to make contact with all their class so if you were unable to make the in-person appointments, they will be sending home target sheets and will make a short call to you to discuss these.
Parenting Puzzle
Our Family Support Worker, Mrs Doe, has recently run a weekly Parent Puzzle course at St James and as this course is coming to the end, she wanted to remind all parents that there are other courses running. The next Parenting Puzzle will be run on Wednesday mornings via Zoom, starting on the 1st May from 10.30am-12pm. There will also be an evening course run via Zoom starting on Tuesday 24th September, 6.30pm-8.00pm. To book, you can click the link here. We are keen that all St James parents, who want to attend this course, have the opportunity to do so. The course is £50, but if this would be a barrier due to financial constraints, please still book on the course and complete this additional form to request school support with payment for this.
And finally....
Request from the teaching staff
A number of teachers have spoken to me about waterbottles this week. They have asked that parents consider which water bottles the children are bringing into school. We have seen an increasing trend in Air Up bottles coming into school that are regularly leaking, damaging school books and resources. Simple is often best for school waterbottles, so we do not recommend these water bottles for school.
Best wishes,
Mrs Murphy
Reading
Safeguarding
Information from Surrey County Council
Our school are assisting Surrey County Council’s Safer Travel Team to undertake research with parents on pupils’ types of travel to and from school. The objective of the research is to develop a better understanding of the different types of travel used, and to ascertain if this is changing over time. The Safer Travel Team’s goal is to assist schools to continue to encourage safer and more active ways of travelling to school.
Please could I ask that you take the time to complete the survey using the link below. The deadline for completion of the survey is 7th April 2024 and the survey should be completed for each child that attends our school.
https://www.surreysays.co.uk/safer-travel/secondary-school-travel-2024/
OR
https://www.surreysays.co.uk/safer-travel/primary-school-travel-2024/
As a thank you for taking the time to help them, The Safer Travel team will donate £25 for every 100 surveys completed* to your choice of the following two charities;
Shooting Stars Children’s hospices
http://www.shootingstar.org.uk/about-us/
Change of Scene, Farnham
http://www.changeofscene.org.uk/about-us
Thank you for continuing to support our school to improve pupils' journeys to school.
Friends of St James
Family Support
Collective Worship at St James
Week beginning: 4th March 2024
Monday : Anti Bullying revisit
Tuesday: Collective Worship
Wednesday: Picture News
Thursday: Singing
Friday: No Assembly
Week beginning: 11th March 2024
Monday : Kindness can help our mental health
Tuesday: Class Assembly
Wednesday: Class Assembly
Thursday: Class Assembly
Friday: Celebration
During last Monday's assembly, we have revisited our work on Antibullying and how it is important to be kind.
We revisited that bullying is Several Times On Purpose and that there is a difference between bullying and someone being unkind. We used examples in assembly and considered if these were one off incidents of children making negative choices, or could be bullying.
These included: taking a glue stick from table without asking; a group of children leaving someone out every lunchtime; a child getting cross and kicking someone's bag once and a child refusing to help someone one time.
Through all our discussions about bullying, we always reiterate to the children that they must speak up and tell someone. We talk about trusted adults in school and at home and how it is important to not be a bystander and let others purposely cause upset to others.
Celebration Awards
Y1 Wrens: Joseph / Charley
Robins: Sonny / Olivia
Y2 Woodpeckers: Avni / Neil
Kingfishers: Izzy / Naila
Y3 Barn Owls: Alias / Alexis / Coral
Snowy Owls: James / Livia / Cosmin
Y4 Kestrels: Eva / Kaoih
Merlins: Mia / Sonny / Yassie
Y5 Falcons: Zak / Sofia
Kites: Kasper / Mia
Y6 Eagles: India
Hawks: Christopher
Values Certificates and Counter Collection
This week we awarded:
LOVE: Toby / Dolly-Rose / Jack / Fajar
RESPECT: Robert / Mia F. / Isabel / Obaida / Ella / Kasper / Mia V.I / Dylan / Poppy L. / Flora / Denise / Nishan / Neil
UNITY: Callie / Makie / Henry T.
COURAGE: Ben / Logan / Pixie
Diary Dates
DIARY DATES:
18 - 20 March Year 4 Residential 'Hindleap Warren'
Thurs 21 March Y3 Hampton Court day trip
Wed 27 March Easter Bonnet Competition
Wed 27 March Year 4 Assembly - Trombones Performance - 10.30am
Thurs 28 March Last day of Term (Easter) - Normal 3:15pm finish (no After-School Club)
Mon 15 April START OF SUMMER TERM
Tues 16 April Y6 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' workshop. 9 - 11.30am
Wed 17, 24 April Y4 Swimming
Wed 24 April Y1 Wisley Gardens day trip
Wed 1, 8, 15, 22 May Y4 Swimming
Thurs 2 May Y5 Dorking Halls Primary Music Festival
w/c Mon 13 May Y6 SATS
Tues 21 May Reception - Painshill Park day trip
Thurs 23 May Mufti Day - 'Break The Rules'
Fri 24 May Inset Day - (School closed)
W/C 27 May Half Term.
Mon 3 June Back to School.
Fri 7 June Someone Special stall
Mon 10 - Fri 14 June Y6 Residential - Isle Of Wight
Tues 18 June Y6 - Leavers Service at Guildford Cathedral
Wed 26 June Year 3 Assembly - 9.15am
Thurs 27 June Y1 Cake sale
Fri 28 June Sports Day
Fri 5 July Year 2 Assembly - 9.15am
Tues 9 July Y6 Leavers Production (4.15 - 7pm)
Wed 10 July Y6 Leavers Production (4.30 - 7pm)
Fri 12 July Friends Mufti Day
Sat 13 July Summer Fair
Tues 16 July 'Moving Up' Morning
Wed 17 July Y6 Leavers Service at St James Church
Thurs 18 July Year 1 Assembly - 9.15am
Friday 19 July End of Summer Term - 1.30pm finish (no After-School Club)
Health
St James' Church, Weybridge
Services of Baptism at St James' Church, Weybridge during 2024.
We would love to book your child(ren) in for Baptism during this year.
We have availability at 12noon on Sunday: 26/05, 23/06, 28/07, 25/08,
22/09 & 24/11
(There are also some dates available for Baptism within the Sunday 10am
Sung Eucharist, upon request).
To book in please complete the application form, one per child and return to the Parish Office by email: stjamesweybridge@btinternet.com