Dear Parents and Carers,
The return to school after the festive period has been very positive here at St James and all the children have returned ready for a further term of learning.
This week we have had a visitor from Surrey County Council to complete our annual review visit and it was lovely to be able to discuss the schools strengths whilst touring the school and visiting classes. Our commitment to delivering the best possible education for our children was praised during our visit, along with governance procedures, calm learning environments and the excellent manners and behaviour of our children.
Reading
Thank you to all the parents who are encouraging the love of reading by supporting their children to read regularly at home. As you know we do provide certificates for reading efforts and I am very pleased to announce that 117 children have achieved 50 reads so far this year, and 11 children have achieved 100 reads. We would love to see the remaining 72% of the school reach their 50 read milestone over the next few weeks.
Curriculum enhancements
Across the last two weeks we have had a range of experiences for the children across the school to enhance our curriculum delivery.
In Year 1, there was much excitement about the 'alien landing' on the playground which has enhanced their enthusiasm about their writing.
Year 3 visited the synagogue today to extend their R.E learning on Judaism.
Year 5 had a workshop on the Vikings, led by Open the Box Theatre
Reception completed a workshop on Polar Explorers, led by Open the Box Theatre
We were very fortunate to have a visitor in assembly this week to talk about Sikhism. This was really interesting for all the children and supported their R.E learning.
Sports News
On Thursday 9th of January, the St James girls football team played away against St Cuthberts. After a hard fought match, St Cuthberts won 2-0. I understand there was some excellent play from all the team. Well done Girls on representing the school so well.
We are very proud of Sam (Y6), who qualified for the Surrey Sports hall competition in Guildford. He competed in a team with children from Cleves and other schools, and as a group the boys team came first. Well done Sam!
Maths at St James
As part of our continued drive to aim for excellence in all we do at St James, as well as respond to the feedback by parents during the Parent Survey 2024, where more information about how we challenge children in Maths was requested, we have created the following information for parents and carers:
Curriculum
At St James we believe in developing a culture of deep understanding, competence and confidence in Maths. Our Maths Curriculum is based on the philosophy of Maths Mastery, which encourages deep understanding of maths. We do not rush children on to new concepts, or larger numbers, yet instead encourage application of skills through a range of reasoning tasks.
At St James, we use the White Rose scheme, which is a progressive scheme to guide our coverage of the National Curriculum. Through adaptive teaching methods, teachers deliver the learning so all children have the opportunity to learn key concepts and practise and revisit these regularly.
We support children to understand concepts using concrete and pictorial representations. This means that all children, from Reception to Year 6, will use manipulatives resources and visuals where needed, to encourage deeper grasps of concepts, before moving to abstract methods.
Daily lessons
At St James, Maths is taught daily and each lesson begins with a retrieval of key facts. The use of this daily 'flashback' activity supports the cognitive learning theory, as retrieval of prior learning helps to ensure that understanding and knowledge moves to the long-term memory.
Within all lessons, children will have the opportunity to use their reasoning skills and apply what they have learnt. Children are encouraged to explain why, and prove their understanding. For the older children, they are required to use sentences to explain their thinking, but sentence starters are provided to support.
Challenge for children in Maths comes from the complexity of the reasoning questions, and the number of steps needed to solve these problems.
Has Maths Changed?
In essence, the Maths philosophy and methods have not changed from Maths that parents may remember from their own school experience, however the steps taken to ensure secure understanding of the Maths concepts has developed. Formal methods are still used, but this is more towards Key Stage Two, and after children have been exposed to a range of other methods so that they can choose the most appropriate way to solve problems. This is to ensure that they have the deeper understanding of the Maths, not just the process.
We have a calculation progression document on our website that may assist parents in understanding how these methods progress, but White Rose have also produced some excellent videos to explain further.
You can view these resources here : Maths with Michael | White Rose Education
How can we help?
At St James we are keen to know how we can help parents to be able to support their children at home. We are currently planning some Maths workshops for parents and carers who would like to know more about our Maths teaching and lessons. To help us plan these sessions, if you are interested in learning more, please complete this short questionnaire here.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Mrs Murphy
Robins - Richard / Edward
Y2 Woodpeckers - Can / Erik
Kingfishers - Bodhi / Jessica
Y3 Barn Owls - Jude /Poppy
Snowy Owls - Jacob / Naila
Y4 Kestrels - Mark / Arthur
Merlins - Riley / Blake / Livia
Y5 Falcons - Tyler
Kites - Sneya / Abigail
Y6 Eagles - Abdul / Fajar
Hawks - Elizabeth R. / Poppy
Values Certificates and Counter Collection
This week we awarded:
LOVE: Yasmin / Emily W. / Riley
RESPECT: Ria / Lucy
UNITY: River / Benedict / Mithran / Zach WB / Malachi
COURAGE:
Attendance Award
The attendance trophy is being given out every Friday to the class who has the highest attendance each week.
The award has been presented to the following classes:
Friday 10th January: Woodpeckers
Friday 17th January: Hawks
Well done to all of the children in these classes.
W/C : 6th January
Monday: New years resolutions
Tuesday : Father Damian's Collective Worship
Wednesday: Singing
Thursday: Picture News
Friday: Celebration Assembly
W/C : 13th January
Monday: E-Safety
Tuesday : Father Damian's Collective Worship
Wednesday: Singing
Thursday: Sikhism visitor
Friday: Celebration Assembly
TikTok is a popular social media platform where users can create, share, and view short videos. It is widely used by children and young people, providing a creative outlet and a way to connect with peers. However, it's important to be aware that TikTok's minimum age requirement is 13 years.
Care should be taken when children use TikTok due to potential exposure to inappropriate content and online interactions that may not be suitable for young users. We encourage parents and guardians to actively engage with their child's online activities and to discuss the importance of online safety.
For more detailed guidance and practical tips, please refer to the TikTok factsheet included in our newsletter.
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.
Please find below the 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.
If your child is in KS2 and has a school meal, please remember to pay for and book their meals in advance using the SCOPAY app for next term.
Updated date sheet for the new year
In order to give all parents and carers the most up to date information, to help them plan for our school events, please see attached an updated version of our date sheet for the year.
This now includes the celebration of learning assemblies for the Summer term.
We hope you find it useful