Newsletter: 6th September 2024

A Message from Mrs Murphy

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back!

It has been so lovely to see all the children back after the summer holidays and they have all settled back into school life quickly.

Welcome to all our new Reception families. I look forward to getting to know you all over the next few weeks.

The staff have returned refreshed and motivated this term. There has been such a positive vibe around school over the last few days as begin the new term's learning.

Summer developments

As you will have seen, there have been some changes to St James over the holidays. The Reception canopy has dramatically increased the amount of undercover outdoor learning space for Chicks and Ducklings class and the new doors allow for the children to access this provision more easily.

We have also been fortunate to be able to relocate the old canopy to create an undercover working area for Year 3 children.

Our new hand dryers have caused much excitement for the children this week. These are designed to be low noise, and also support St James to become more sustainable.

Safeguarding Updates

Keeping Children Safe in Education has been updated for 2024 and all staff and Governors have received updated training on the changes. Our policy has been updated and can be found on our website here.

As you know, we take our Safeguarding duty extremely seriously here at St James. We began our training on Monday reflecting on this poem, as it highlights the important role that school staff have in keeping children safe.

Parents are always encouraged to share concerns they have and this can be done confidentially by contacting the DSL team on DSL@stjames-weybridge.surrey.sch.uk

Meet the Teacher Sessions

Kind reminder to parents that we will be running Meet the Teacher sessions on Wednesday 11th September for children in Year 1- Year 6. We will run two identical sessions at 4.15-4.45pm and 5.00 - 5.30pm to support parents with multiple children. (Children can attend if necessary, but must remain with their responsible adult at all times). Whilst we encourage attendance, we understand that sometimes this is not possible. We will be sending out packs of information for those who are unable to attend.

Please also keep and eye out for the Year group newsletters.

School Dates

Our School Dates have been set for the year and we will be updating the school website calendar to reflect this. As we appreciate that working parents and carers need to plan to attend these in advance, please see a brief overview of the key dates here. We will continue to update this and will share in future newsletters.

St James Yearly Planner (2).pdf

Reception Tour advert 2024.pdf

Reception Tours for 2025

We are now starting our school tours for 2025 starters. If you know someone who has a child due to start school next September, please do let them know that our tours are available to book on our website.

Our advert here can also be shared.

Wishing you a lovely, relaxing weekend.

Mrs Murphy

Attendance - Update to Penalty Notices

Just to remind 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.

School Menu

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.