Newsletter: 2nd May 2025
Newsletter: 2nd May 2025
Embedded Files
A Message from Mrs Murphy
A Message from Mrs Murphy
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you have had a chance to enjoy the sunshine over the last few days. It has been great to see all the children enjoy the fabulous outside space St James has. As we head into the warmer season, children are encouraged to bring in a sunhat for their time outside and we strongly recommend that all children come to school with sun cream already applied for the day.
In further updates here at St James, Year 4 have been very excited about starting their swimming sessions, Year 3 Barn Owls have been out to Mini Olympics at Cleves and Year 1 and 2 have had a school trip this week. We have also been thrilled to start our summer afterschool clubs and they are proving very popular. We do still have spaces in Year 1&2 Cricket and Year 5&6 Cricket, plus Choir is open to all (as this club does not count in the 1 club allocation per child) so please get in touch with the Office if your child is interested, and you are keen for them to attend.
Year 6
Year 2
Spotlight on Writing
Over the week, we have been reviewing our writing at St James and I am thrilled to be able to share some 'shining star' examples from across the school.
At St James, we encourage children to use a range of sentence openers, but also by KS2, expect children to use a range of simple, compound and complex sentences in their work.
We are fully aware that there is more focus on the teaching of grammar in schools and we are keen to support all parents to be able to help their child with their writing at home.
In school, over the next few weeks, we will be looking at a range of sentence structures with the children and we would like to ask parents to support this by drawing children's attention to different sentence structures or punctuation when reading at home.
We have included a brief explanation of different sentence structures that you may want to use at home to support writing practise.
We also encourage building in fun sentence writing games at home where possible. Writing silly sentences in a low stakes environment, as a family, could also be a fun way of developing the love of writing and will also develop your child's understanding of sentence structures. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Year 5
Year 3
Year 1
Year 4
Reception
Reeds Launch Car Challenge Final
Today Mrs Cowden accompanied two St James teams to the Launch Car Challenge Final at Reeds. Following success at the St James heats, where children had to build a car that travelled the furthest from the launcher, two teams had to enhance their car design and prepare a presentation board to demonstrate their engineering choices during today's final. Whilst we are still awaiting for the overall scores, I understand that one of the St James entries came third in the distance race. All the children who attended had a fabulous time, were credited for their inventive designs and their behaviour was reportedly impeccable. Congratulations Annaliese, Emily, Olivia, Sneha and Ellie for all your hard work.
Parent Reminders
Reading at home is so important as it provides children the opportunity to practice this skill and build their reading stamina. Thank you to all those parents who have already built reading into their routine and who are encouraging children to develop that love of reading. Please could we request that parents (or children) write in their reading diaries when they have read so that these can be counted towards the reading rainbow. We were thrilled to see some children receive their 200 read certificates this week and would love to see everyone receive a reading certificate by the end of the year.
We have been alerted that the Doodle App for our homework provider has been updated. Please check that you have the most updated version on the devices the children use to access this.
The summer term is always full of fun events. Please do consult the school calendar for the key dates for your children, which will include Celebration of Learning Assemblies and Sports Day.
Wishing you a lovely bank holiday weekend.
Mrs Murphy
Celebration Awards
Celebration Awards
Celebration Awards
Celebration Awards
Y1 Wrens - Holly / Jemima
Y1 Wrens - Holly / Jemima
Robins - Noah / Sky
Robins - Noah / Sky
Y2 Woodpeckers - Charlie / Olivia
Kingfishers - Keeyan / Violeta
Y3 Barn Owls - Imogen / Hannah
Snowy Owls - Felix / Sasha
Y4 Kestrels - Imogen / Beau
Merlins - Lorena / Vassu
Y5 Falcons - ALL / Mabel
Kites - Samuel / Bade
Y6 Eagles - Jonny / Georgia
Hawks - Sam S / Jayden
Values Certificates and Counter Collection
This week we awarded:
LOVE:
RESPECT: Olive / Tapiwa
UNITY: Noah M
COURAGE: Aarya
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 25th April: Kingfishers, Woodpeckers and Kestrels (all 100%)
Friday 2nd May: Merlins, Kingfishers and Snowy Owls (all 100%)
Well done to all of the children in these classes.
Collective Worship
Collective Worship
W/C : 21st April
Monday: EASTER MONDAY
Tuesday : Father Damian's Collective Worship
Wednesday: Singing
Thursday: Picture News
Friday: Celebration Assembly
W/C : 28th April
Monday: Consent and Boundaries - Age appropriate assemblies in class.
Tuesday : Father Damian's Collective Worship
Wednesday: Singing
Thursday: Picture News
Friday: Celebration Assembly
SEND Support
SEND Support
QR map (3).pdfWhat is Mindworks poster - for schools V.1.pdfCrisis line poster - for schools V.1.pdfSummer Term Clubs
Summer Term Clubs
Spaces still available
Spaces still available
RB Tennis will be running an after school Tennis Club at St James during the summer term.
This club is open to children in Years 2 - 4 .
Tennis club sessions will run from the 1st May - 22nd May.
To sign your child up to this new club, please use the QR code on the tennis club flyer.
Please find below the timetable for all other Summer Term clubs at St James.
Links and information leaflets have been provided to sign up for clubs run by external providers.
2025 Club dates and times Summer Term.pdfSummer Menu
Summer Menu
Please find below the Summer 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.
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.
Friends of St James PTA
Friends of St James PTA
We’re excited to let you know the summer party tickets are now on sale.
16th May at the Ship hotel.
7pm-Late.
To include an arrival drink, buffet, live band and auction & raffle.
This is an adults only event. No need to put together a table, just buy a ticket and see you there 😊
https://www.pta-events.co.uk/friendsofstjamesweybridge/index.cfm?event=event&eventId=97040
Attendance and Penalty Notices
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.
Attendance
The Government released two longitudinal studies on the impact of low attendance on future attainment and on future earning this week. Please see the two posters which demonstrate their findings.
Thank you to all the parents who support us in aiming for positive school attendance. Our current school attendance figure is 95.1% which is above National and Surrey level.
Family Support
Family Support
Diary Dates
Diary Dates
To view our calendar online, please visit:
https://www.stjames-weybridge.surrey.sch.uk/calendar/?calid=1&pid=3&viewid=1
St James Yearly Planner 24-25.pdfFlyers
Flyers
St James COE Swimming.pdfPage updated
Report abuse