A Message from Mrs Murphy

Dear Parents and Carers, 

We are really in full flow here at St James and there has been so much exciting learning going on in classes! I have been able to visit a number of classes this week to see the children working hard and settled into their new classes. I cannot wait to visit the rest of the classes next week! 

Thank you to all the parents who came along to the Meet the Teacher sessions last week. It was great that over 150 parents were able to attend! 

Daily Communication Changes

It is lovely to receive all the positive feedback on our daily communication bulletin and our yearly dates sheet. We are pleased so many parents have found this useful. 

Parent Survey Results and School Development Plan 

As many of you will remember, we conducted a parent survey in July 2024. We have analysed these comments fully and have compiled the results for you below. You will note that we have created an action plan as as a result to your feedback. Please watch this space for further improvements as a result.  

Our School Development plan has also been finalised for this upcoming year and the targets can also be seen below. As you know we are always striving to get "even better" in all we do here at St James so we appreciate your views to help us do this. 

Please respect our neighbours

Sadly I have received a complaint this week from our neighbours on Grotto Road about children playing on driveways at the beginning and the end of the school day. Please could all parents remind their children of the school values, and maintain supervision during the drop off and pick up times, to ensure that we are demonstrating respect to our neighbouring community. 

Paralympian visit

You would have received an email about our Paralympian visit on the 30th September. We are very excited to welcome Courtney Orange and Nerys Pearce to St James for what is set to be an inspirational visit. The children will be completing a sponsored sports circuit, which will raise money for the school. Please do encourage your child to collect sponsorship money if you can. 

Trips and Visitors 

Last year we supplemented the school visits by over £8,000, and this has been steadily increasing over the last three years. As a result, we are having to consider the number of trips we offer at St James, as well as evaluate the impact of all trips we arrange for the children. Whilst these contributions are voluntary,  we unable to offer these curriculum enhancing school trips where we make a considerable loss.  We are yet to cancel a trip, but sadly we may have to this year if we do receive adequate contributions.  If you are able to contribute to our School Fund, which we use to support any unpaid fees for these trips, you can make a one off voluntary donation through Scopay or set up a monthly standing order through your online banking. 

For a standing order, the School Fund bank account details are as follows: 

Account No - 01182080 

Sort Code - 40-46-22

Account Name - St James C of E School Fund   

Please ensure you use your child's name/s as the reference if setting up a standing order.

As always, if you are experiencing financial difficulties, and contributing to any school visit will increase pressure, please do reach out as they may be additional support we can offer. 

Sunset and Sunrise Club 

Over last two years we have worked to increase our capacity at our Breakfast and Afterschool provision. We have increased our offer by over 45 spaces per day across the week during the last few years.  Whilst, despite our efforts, we do still have a considerable waiting list for afterschool club, we do have some spaces in Breakfast club. If you are interested in our wraparound care offer, please see our information booklet here for more details and email the office to enquire about space availability. We will continue to look at ways that we can meet the demand for afterschool care at St James in the hope that we will be able to reduce the waiting lists further. 

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.

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