News - 3rd April 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
As another busy fortnight comes to a close at St Mary’s, it is remarkable to reflect on the fact that we have reached the end of the Spring Term—my first full term as Headteacher. As we approach the Easter holidays, we have taken time to reflect on the significance of this important event in the Christian calendar.
On Tuesday, our Year 3 pupils led a beautiful church service at St Mary’s Church, sharing the Easter story through readings, prayers, and songs. This morning, the Collective Worship Team led an Easter Assembly, and last week, we held our Easter Pause Day, a special occasion during which we paused from the usual curriculum to reflect on the meaning of Easter. Each class visited the church to engage in reflective and thought-provoking activities connected to the Easter story, before returning to school to explore it in greater depth. The day concluded with a visit from the Easter Bunny, much to the delight of the children.
This year, our Easter card competition took on a new format, with all entries completed at school. For the first time, students were able to use colour, which added a wonderful new dimension to their artwork. The winning entries from each class are now displayed at the entrance to the school hall, and we are pleased to announce that the overall winner’s design is published in the Parish Magazine. Congratulations to Minnie in Year 6 and all of our talented winners!
It has been an uplifting fortnight in many ways, with several fantastic performances to enjoy. The PTA discos two weeks ago were a resounding success, showcasing some excellent dance moves from both children and adults alike (I may have enjoyed it a little too much!). A huge thank you to everyone who helped organise this event.
The feel-good atmosphere continued the following day when St Mary’s hosted its very first staff lip-sync battle in support of Comic Relief. Congratulations to Mrs Porter and her talented backing dancers for their winning performance of Freed from Desire. A special thank you to Mr Hanson and the School Council for organising the event. In total, the penalty shoot-out and mufti day raised £158 for charity.
The talent at St Mary’s did not stop there. Last Wednesday, our Drama Club delivered an impressive performance of Jack
and the Beanstalk, demonstrating excellent comedic timing, expressive acting (complete with accents!), and wonderful costumes. Thank you to the Drama Club and Mr Hanson for all their hard work in bringing this production to life. On Friday, we enjoyed the Spring Term Rocksteady concert, which was a fantastic showcase of teamwork and musical skill. It was particularly rewarding to witness the progression of confidence and ability from our younger to our older bands. The enthusiasm and creativity were evident, enhanced by the rockstar props and outfits!
Beyond the stage, our pupils have been engaged in a variety of enriching activities. Last week, Year 4 successfully completed their Bikeability Level 1 training, mastering essential cycling skills on the playground. Meanwhile, Year 5 enjoyed a fantastic afternoon at King Edward’s School, where they visited the newly refurbished Design & Technology Suite to complete the final stage of their DT unit. With the support of KES pupils, they used a variety of tools and materials to bring their bridge designs to life—a highly valuable and enjoyable experience. We greatly appreciate our partnership with KES and the opportunities it provides.
On Wednesday last week, our Year 6 School Council representatives, Archie and Lola, attended the termly ‘Super School Council’ meeting hosted by St Bartholomew’s Primary School this time. Alongside peers from the Haslemere Confederation of Schools, they shared insights from our ‘Kindness Week’ held in the Autumn Term and discussed recent school council initiatives.
Last week also saw parents meeting with class teachers to discuss their children’s progress and learning. We hope these evenings were both informative and helpful. Additionally, on Friday, we held our termly REACH award assembly, celebrating pupils who have consistently demonstrated our core values of Respect, Endeavour, Achievement, Creativity, and Happiness. Congratulations to Sandor, Lola, Elsie, Joshua, Ellie, Zosia, and Clara on this well-deserved recognition.
We were delighted to welcome a new addition to our school community last week. Harold, our Pets as Therapy dog, accompanied by his owner Jane, joined us for a morning visit. We look forward to working with them both regularly after Easter.
Yesterday, Year 2 had the pleasure of visiting Marwell Zoo, enjoying a sunny day out as they concluded their learning on animals and habitats—a wonderful way to end the term. Year 6 have ended their learning on politics this half-term by creating their own political parties and writing manifestos.
They hosted a general election in the hall yesterday morning, where they presented their ideas to Year 5, who then cast their votes in a ballot box.
Finally, this morning, Mrs Balchin’s ‘License to Cook’ club hosted a morning tea for some of our regular volunteer readers and members of the wider school community, including the Chair of the LC and representatives from the church. This event provided the pupils with a wonderful opportunity to showcase the culinary and service skills they have developed over the term. Well done to everyone involved!
Mrs Swift continues to be off school on long-term sick; we wish her well and send thanks to the PTA for their cards and well wishes. We would like to thank Mr Whitbourn for taking on the role of lollipop man in her absence this half-term, and we look forward to welcoming Mrs Bishop into the role after the Easter holidays.
It has been a whirlwind of a term, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your continued support. As I begin planning for the Summer Term and beyond, I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Please take a moment to complete the parent survey, which has been sent out alongside this bulletin. Working in partnership with parents and families is of great importance to me, and your insights will be invaluable in shaping the future of St Mary’s. The survey will close on Monday, 28th April.
Wishing you all a wonderful Easter! I hope you have a peaceful and restful break, and I look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Wednesday, 23rd April.
Warm regards,
Alison Evans Headteacher
THE START OF THE SCHOOL DAYWe 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.
END OF TERM REMINDERS
•Please check lost property. We have a number of items unnamed so cannot be returned to the correct child.
•Please collect any medicines from the office,
•Please ensure that Scopay is updated for after the Easter break.
•Please review Scopay for any outstanding payments for upcoming school trips.
BREAKFAST CLUB
Please avoid parking on School Lane when dropping child/children for Breakfast Club. This causes obstruction to staff trying to access the carpark and becoming increasingly difficult for staff to park.
Please ensure you book your child onto breakfast club the day/evening before via Scopay. Numbers have increased over the past few weeks so it is important we have the right ratio of adults to children.
ATTENDANCE CERTIFICATES
Attendance Certificates are being sent home this week. For a more detailed report, please log on to your parent portal.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
From next 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 or trainers on non 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.
SCHOOL FUND
On a termly basis, we ask for a small contribution per family in order to support some of the extended opportunities that we provide.
In today’s economic climate, I am aware that parents are concerned about requests for financial support from schools. However, the reality of the situation is that, like all schools, in our latest budget we have had to make significant savings, which reflect reduction in our funding allocation from central government. It is only through continued careful management of resources that we have been able to afford to do this and protect the core curriculum resources.
With this in mind, your on-going support for the school fund would help us to continue to support these additional resources. For the academic year 2024 – 2025, we would like to ask each family to contribute £25 per term; however, anything you can contribute
would be gratefully received.
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/
| Week Commencing 24th March 2025 | |
| Reception | 95.5% |
| Year 1 | 97% |
| Year 2 | 93.3% |
| Year 3 | 95% |
| Year 4 | 98.1% |
| Year 5 | 94.3% |
| Year 6 | 98.6% |
ST. MARY’S SCHOOL VISION
Wisdom
Wisdom is a core Christian value in our school because we believe through wisdom good choices are made, that it encourages us to learn from our mistakes and encourages us to live our lives wisely for the benefit of all.
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’’ John 8:32
Hope
Hope is a core Christian value in our school because hope gives us energy and supports us through difficult times.
"Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time.’’ Romans 12:12
To act with hope is to aspire to greater things, to promote positivity and courageous advocacy.
Respect
Respect is a core Christian value in our school because we believe that all life is precious within the image of God and deserves to be valued.
"Do to others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:31
Our Christian value of respect means living up to the image of God with our school, our community and ourselves.
Community
Community is a core Christian value in our school because we know that together we are stronger and can achieve more.
"Live together in peace with each other. Don’t be proud but be willing to be friends with people who are not important to others. Don’t think of yourself as smarter than everyone else.’’ Romans 12:16
Everyone in our school, local and global community are needed and valued.
