Dear Parents and Carers, 

We have reached the end of another fun filled term. So many exciting things has taken place and lots of impressive learning and progress can be seen across the school.

Over the past two weeks, four year groups have visited St James' Church to continue their learning about Easter. In sessions led by Father Damian, the children were able to explore the church and all thoroughly enjoyed their visit. Thank you to Father Damian for supporting us with these visits. 

There is exciting learning to come next term, including the return of Year group assemblies for parents and carers. These will be celebrations of learning in each year group.

Assemblies have been set for the following dates:

Reception - Wed 12th July at 9.30am - End of EYFS celebration

Year 1 - Wed 12th July at 2.30pm

Year 2 - Wed 19th July at 2.30pm

Year 3 - Wed 5th July at 2.30pm

Year 4 - Wed 21st June at 2.30pm

Year 5 - Wed 28th June at 2.30pm

Year 6 - Tues 11th and Wed 12th July at 7.00pm - Leavers production 

                        Thurs 20th July 9.30am - Leavers Church service at St James Church

Fond farewells  

Today we said goodbye to Miss Mahon, who has taught Year 3 Barn Owls since September. I would like to thank Miss Mahon for all her hard work at St James, especially how much she has developed our reading for pleasure agenda over the last two terms. She will be missed but we wish her luck on her new adventure. 

Welcomes 

After Easter we will welcome two members of staff to the St James team.  

Mrs Mattingly will be joining us to work in Year 5 Kites in the mornings and Mrs Wales will also be joining us as SENCO and Inclusion Lead. They are both looking forward to joining our team. 

Thank you!

Thank you to all the support from parents over the last term. It was lovely to see lots of you at our parents consultations. We were very pleased with the turnout for these with many teachers being able to speak to 100% of their parents. Please do give us feedback on the meetings below, using the Google form below. 

At the end of this Spring term, I would like to thank the staff team of St James for their continued hard work, support and dedication to the school. I wish them all a well earned rest over the Easter holidays. I would also like to add a personal thanks to Mrs Cowden, who has done a tremendous job covering the SENCO role over this last term alongside her normal deputy head and DSL duties. I know there are lots of parents and staff who have benefitted from her experience and support over the last term that will join me in this well earned thanks.

Date to note: 

As part of our development of our school grounds, we have planned a 'Plants and Seeds' Mufti day on Friday 21st April. Children will be invited to wear their own clothes and we will be asking for a voluntary donation of plants or seeds for our allotment and wider school grounds. If parents are unable to contribute, as always, children are still welcome to come in to school in Mufti on this day. If you would like to make a donation of plants or seeds, please take note of the guidance of plants we cannot have in school A Checklist of Potentially Harmful Plants / RHS Campaign for School Gardening.

Kind Request

Please could I respectfully ask for dog owners to be mindful of children, who may be frightened or allegic to dogs when walking to school, especially near the school gates. If owners could keep dogs on short leads as they approach the school and try to avoid blocking the gates, that would be a great support to those children who may be a little worried around dogs.  Thank you for your support in this. 

Reminder that we return to school on Tuesday 18th April as Monday 17th April is an INSET day. There is an INSET day club running at St James to support working parents and carers. Please see the flyer at the end of the newsletter. 

Wishing you all a lovely Easter break! 

Mrs Murphy 

Over the last week, we have seen an increase in children bringing in Prime drinks into school.

 Please could I request parents to not allow children to do this. 

To encourage children to stay hydrated throughout the day, we do ask that parents supply a water bottle for their child. These should contain plain water only. Squash or any other flavourings are not allowed in school.