Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 13th June 2025
Date: 13th Jun 2025 @ 5:46pm
Sports Day
What a fabulous day we have had today for our Sports Day – where sports was at the heart of everything that the children did for the whole day! It has been so wonderful to be able to celebrate it at our own school for the first time in a number of years and big, big thanks goes to Miss Boydell for having the vision to enable us to do so and all the work that she has put in behind the scenes and on the day. The children and staff have had a fantastic day taking part in such a wide variety of activities – whether competitively on the field with our fantastic parental audience or generally having great fun with the many other activities that were going on around school (archery, pickle ball, nerf guns, dancing … the list goes on). Thank you to all the staff for their dedication and support, to the PTA for giving their time to organise the raffle and refreshments. Thanks to the volunteers who helped to ensure the day ran smoothly, to the pre-school for coming to see what goes on at OSJ and to you all for coming and supporting it. We were very proud to receive the many positive comments from our visitors as they were leaving and now look forward to being able to celebrate many more Sports Days on home turf in the future.
London Residential
Next week sees our children in Years 4, 5 and 6 head off to London for the residential. I am also going and to be honest, I don’t know who is more excited! We have a flight on the London Eye, an evening meal in a restaurant, a visit to a museum, a sightseeing walk, a stay in a Youth Hostel and we are also watching The Lion King – what more could you want?! I will endeavour to fill you in but it certainly won't be next week when I will be rather busier than usual!
Attendance
As always, we are looking for attendance to be at least 96%. Since September, we are on 94.95%, which is really good! Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could make it over 95% by the end of term? That would be our best attendance since before COVID!!!
Here is a rundown of the attendance in each class this week:
Hatchmere: 96.39%
Sandymere: 93.33%
Delamere: 98.00%
Oakmere: 95.20%
Linmere: 93.60%
Blakemere: 97.69%
Well done to Delamere for the best attendance this week who will receive our trophy in Collective Worship on Friday and receive their treat too.
As always, I appreciate how difficult it is when there is illness circulating but also appreciate you checking Is my child too ill for school? and being reassured that we will send them home if they are too ill to be in school. You might also be interested in this link from the Government about support for parents for attendance:
Improving School Attendance - Government Support for Parents May 2024
#WakeUpWednesday
Generative AI can be a brilliant tool for creativity and learning – but it’s not without its hazards. With 3 in 4 pupils now using generative AI (up from just 2 in 5 last year!), it’s more important than ever for parents and educators to understand the risks.
This week’s free #WakeUpWednesday guide breaks down the key safety concerns around generative AI tools and offers expert advice for keeping young users safe. From encouraging critical thinking to safeguarding their privacy, find out how to help children use AI safely and smartly.
Foster Caring
As I am sure that many of you will agree, foster caring is a vital part of life for some children and young people who need a safe, secure and stable family around them. Foster Care Matters, a newly set up sister branch of Adoption Matters, based in Chester, are screening the film ‘Sound of Hope’ in Northwich at the end of the month, which gives an insight into the important work that these people do. The film, based on a true story, was screened in the UK last year and has a 12 certificate because of its sensitive content. Further details are attached below but if you are interested, you must book on, not just turn up, as there are only 100 places.
Absence During Term Time – Reminder
As I have shared a number of times previously, there have been some changes to the way that Penalty Notices are issued for absences during term time. Penalty Notices are issued for irregular attendance, with days off here and there throughout the term including holidays.
The new National Framework for Penalty includes:
A Penalty Notice must be considered for 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period – these days do not have to be all at the same time, they can be a couple of days here and a couple of days there; they can be a combination of a couple of days holiday and a couple of days absence at other times too.
An increase to the amount of a Penalty Notice is now £160 if paid within 28 days, and £80 if paid within 21 days. This fine is issued to each parent separately for each child, so both parents receive the £80 fine, meaning that for one child it equals £160 (£80 for Mum and £80 for Dad) if both parents take the child.
A second Penalty Notice could be issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3 year period being charged at a higher rate of £160 with no option for this second offence to be discharged at the lower rate of £80.
A national limit of 2 penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3 year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another tool will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions).
School Dinners
School dinners currently cost £3.10 per day, £15.50 per week.
Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free meals as part of the government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme. Dinner money must be paid in advance via School Spider.
If you are in receipt of benefits and think that you may be entitled to free school meals, please click here for more information and support and how to apply. It is very important to apply for free schools meals whatever year your child is in, even if you receive the UIFSM in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, as the school receives a sum of extra money to further help support your child and their education.
Confirmed Dates for the Summer Term 2025 – new dates highlighted
Dinner Week 3
Monday 16th June: New Starters Group B Session 1 - 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Thursday 19th June – Friday 20th June: Y4, Y5 and Y6 London residential
Monday 23rd June: New Starters Group A Session 2 - 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Monday 30th June: New Starters Group B Session 2 - 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Tuesday 1st – Wednesday 2nd July: The Winsford Academy Induction days for Year 6
Friday 11th July: Annual Reports due out
Friday 18th July: Leaver’s Service in St. John’s church at 9.15am. All welcome.
Friday 18th July: School closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend!
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon