News - 1st May 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to the summer term at St Mary's! It's been a joy to see our pupils embracing the glorious sunshine, particularly during break times. Thanks to your generous sponsorship during our Great Athletes event in January, we've introduced an array of new playground games and equipment. Our Year 6 play leaders have taken on the responsibility of ensuring safe use and proper care of these resources, fostering a sense of leadership and community.

From throwing and catching games to skipping ropes, stilts, and giant board games, our playground is abuzz with activity. We're continually striving to enhance our playtime provision and would greatly appreciate donations of old card games, comics, or magazines for quiet moments in the shade. I'm also thrilled to announce that, thanks to our dedicated PTA's fundraising efforts, our 'sensory garden' will be installed in the week commencing 19th May, further enriching our outdoor space.

True to form, we've hit the ground running this term. Last week, our Years 5 and 6 netball players showcased their skills at a tournament hosted by Rodborough School. Mr Hanson was particularly impressed by their resilience and sportsmanship as they secured a commendable 4th place overall. Well done to our young athletes for being such fantastic ambassadors for St Mary's!

In our commitment to supporting all pupils, our Young Carers recently enjoyed a delightful afternoon with the lambs at Imbhams Farm in Haslemere. This respite activity provided a wonderful opportunity for these children to connect with peers who share similar experiences. We're eagerly anticipating upcoming visits to the farm for our Reception and Year 1 pupils, as well as the Year 5 residential in June. We're truly grateful for this local partnership and the enriching experiences it offers our pupils.

As we look ahead, Year 3 will be donning their togas for a Roman Workshop Day tomorrow, kicking off their new History topic in style.

Next week, we'll commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE day with a special assembly featuring Tony Ward, who will share his personal memories of that historic day. We're particularly excited to hear about his recent experience of interviewing Britain's oldest surviving veteran, Don Rose, alongside Al Murray for The One Show, set to air on Monday 5th May. Please see the notice below for further information on our plans for the day.

I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all parents who completed our recent survey. Your feedback is invaluable and will help to shape our priorities for the remainder of this term and our planning for 2025/26. We'll share our findings and response with you soon. If you missed the opportunity to participate, please feel free to email us your thoughts.

On a staffing note, I'm delighted to formally announce Miss Hampshire's appointment as Assistant Headteacher. With her wealth of experience and recent completion of the National Professional Qualification in Senior Leadership, I'm excited to lead St Mary's on the next stage of its journey alongside her.

As the academic year draws to a close, we’ll be bidding farewell to two cherished members of our team this year. Mrs Sadler, who joined us in October 2023, will be relocating to the US with her family at the end of June. Her calm, kind and patient demeanour will be missed, along with her infectious laughter and fabulous baking! We wish her and her family the very best in their new adventure.

In July, we'll also be saying goodbye to Mrs Balchin as she retires after an incredible 19 years at St Mary's. From kitchen chef to Teaching Assistant, her versatility and creativity have been invaluable, particularly in preparing props and scenery for class assemblies and school productions. We wish her a well-deserved and happy retirement, although I’m sure she will be popping in to see us regularly!

Here's to a fantastic summer term ahead!

I hope you all have a wonderful bank holiday weekend,

Warm regards, Alison Evans

SCHOOL FUND DONATIONS

Thank you for all your donations in the spring term, they are much appreciated and have gone towards refurbishing the Sensory Room. I think you'll agree this is a great use of limited space and is proving to be a calming and restorative space for our pupils when they need it.

School Fund Donations have also contributed to help fund Easter Eggs, the sound equipment, furniture for year 5 and 6 corridor and duckling eggs for year 2!

School budgets continue to prove challenging, and your donations go a long way to help with those additional extras that make all the difference! 

       

 

VE DAY - THURSDAY 8TH MAY

Next week, we look forward to commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE day. This celebration will honour the historic victory in Europe and the end of World War II, reflecting on the significance of peace and unity. As mentioned above, we have Tony Ward joining us for an assembly, but we would also like to invite the children to come to school wearing red, white and/or blue. They can also bring a small, single serving of cake, such as a cupcake or a slice of cake, to be enjoyed with their classmates.

THE START OF THE SCHOOL DAY

We would like to remind you of our school opening times. Members of staff will be at the gates from 8:30 AM to welcome the children. Registration takes place in classrooms between 8:35 and 8:40 AM.

To ensure a smooth start to the day, we kindly ask that, where possible, children in Years 1-6 are dropped off at the gate and walk to their classrooms independently. This helps our staff, especially those on the back gate, to return to their classrooms promptly, as we cannot leave the gates unmanned for safeguarding reasons.

Please help us by dropping your children off on time and leaving the playground swiftly. The gates will be closed between 8:40 and 8:45 AM at the latest. Anyone arriving or leaving after this time will need to use the main entrance/exit by the office.

Thank you for your cooperation!

SCHOOL DINNERS

Please ensure that Scopay is updated on a Wednesday for lunch choices for the following week.

Please also note the new menu changes. These can be found on Scopay.

The new cost for school dinners is now £2.85 per day.

MEDICINES

As we head towards the summer season, pollen count is on the rise. If your child/ren suffers with hay fever, please ensure that any medication required is given to the school office and a form completed.

If you want your child to have calpol administered at school if unwell, please also provide this and complete a form at the school office.

STIPS COFFEE MORNING

Mrs Ryder would like to remind you about the next coffee morning with STIPS (Specialist Teachers for Inclusive Practice) on Thursday 8th May from 9:00 to 10:30. We will focus on topics such as working with schools and professionals, supporting learning at home, and tools that can assist children with sensory, emotional, or other special needs—both in the classroom and at home. We will also discuss transitions, including those that occur during the school day and between different stages of education.

All parents are welcome to attend.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

This term, children can wear summer uniform if they choose to:

This includes plain white polo shirts, grey shorts, pale blue and white check dress, white socks and black or dark blue low-heeled shoes.
Children should be wearing royal blue sweatshirt or cardigan with logo. Children should not be wearing unbranded jumpers (plain jumpers) or blue cardigans.

https://www.yourschooluniform.com/

Children should not be wearing jewellery, large earrings, or colourful hair ties/bands. Trainers are only to be worn on PE days.

Long hair must be tied back for practical and hygiene reasons. Blue, black or white or hair coloured hair bands, slides and ribbons of a modest size are acceptable.

UPCOMING CHANGES TO OUR SCHOOL HOUSE SYSTEM

We are excited to announce that we plan to make enhancements to our school house system aimed at fostering a greater sense of belonging, team spirit, and opportunities for students to showcase their talents beyond sports day. Our goal is to use house points to promote our core values and make the system more meaningful for the children.

While not all changes will happen at once, we have some exciting plans we're working on over the summer, ready for a September launch. For now, we are starting with a new initiative: we will cumulatively add the weekly house point scores for the half-term. The house with the highest score will be rewarded with the privilege of wearing mufti on the first Friday back to school after half-term, which will become a regular half-termly event.

Thank you to Mrs Norton for her work on preparing these developments as part of her SSAT Leadership Legacy Project.

ATTENDANCE

We need to remind you that there are new Department for Education regulations in place regarding children’s absences. These took effect from 19th August 2024 which affect penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence from school.

The ‘National Threshold’, when it is appropriate to consider issuing a penalty notice, is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. A school week means any week in which there is at least one school session. This can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the summer term and a further 8 within the autumn term).

From autumn term 2024, only 2 penalty notices will be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3-year rolling period and any second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate:
1. The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
2. A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
3. A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first.

In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead, which will often include considering prosecution.

If you would like any further information regarding these changes, full details can be found here:
Working together to improve school attendance (Gov.uk)
https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/at-school/attendance-and-absence/legal-processes-used-to-enforce-school-attendance-guidance-for-parents
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance
https://www.stmaryschidd.org/key-information/parent-information/school-attendance/

CHRISTIAN VALUES

Dear Lord,
Thank you for all the opportunities we have,
And for the staff who help us to blossom and grow.
Please help us to always try our best and to be ready, be safe and be respectful.
Amen.