Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 10th January 2020
Date: 10th Jan 2020 @ 1:31pm
Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed the time spent with family and friends and the early mornings didn’t come as too much of a shock to you this week!
We welcome some new faces into the Over St. John’s family this week. We welcome Miss Hartley into Blakemere class as she has taken over during Mrs McLaughlin’s maternity leave and we welcome Miss Rimmer to our lunchtime team as she takes over from Miss Howley who has moved into the kitchen as our new Kitchen Assistant. I am sure that they will fit very well into our school team.
We held our Christmas Fair and Disco in December and I said in a previous blog that I would let you know the total amount raised when we had the final numbers. I am delighted to tell you that we raised a grand total of £1002.84! This is a fantastic amount that will go directly towards benefitting the children in many ways. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed in whatever way to making the two events a success.
#WakeUpWednesday
TikTok is one of the most downloaded apps in the world. The video-sharing platform can provide hours of entertainment and encourages users to make their own short ‘pop-style’ video which they can edit and share with the world. However, despite the seemingly harmless nature of the app, it is rated 12+ on the app store and users don’t always post age appropriate content. That’s why National Online Safety have created a useful guide to help parents and carers understand exactly what TikTok is all about. Download you guide below.
Christmas Waste Watch
Cheshire and Chester West Council has called a Climate Emergency and are asking for people to help them take action to reduce our impact on the planet. They are launching a competition January to find an aspiring climate activist, like Greta, to be in a film that they are making about where the rubbish that cannot be recycled in Cheshire and Chester West goes.
They are asking for people to track how much waste is produced at home - this could be a diary about how much your family puts in the recycling bin and how much goes into the waste bin over a couple of weeks, it could be a story about where you think your recycling goes, you could even draw a picture of all the materials your family recycles - it is up to you.
Please click on the link below to find out more about the Waste Watch and the competition.
Reminder: The Sun Books for Schools
The Sun newspaper has teamed up with Collins Big Cat to give primary schools in England a free pack of books worth more than £600. To be in with a chance of receiving the books, we need to collect tokens that will be printed in The Sun and The Sun on Sunday between Saturday 23rd November 2019 and Saturday 18th January 2020. We need to collect 3,500 tokens and if we do so, we will be sent the pack of books, which contains 105 high quality fiction and non-fiction books, in March. Please can you spread the message among family and friends and send any tokens in to school. Thank you!
Reminders
School dinners cost £2.30 per day, £11.50 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 the School Money system.
If you are in receipt of benefits and think that you may be entitled to free school meals, please click https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/education-and-learning/school-meals.aspx for more information 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.
Please may I remind you that schools are not allowed to authorise pupil holidays in term time. Any child going on holiday in term time will receive an unauthorised absence. Our registers are regularly checked by the Education Welfare Service and parents may be issued with a fine from the Local Authority for unauthorised absence, which is currently £60 per child, per parent.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2020
Monday 27th January: Oakmere trip to Liverpool museum – more details to follow
Friday 31st January: NSPCC Workshop with Year 5 and 6
Wednesday 5th – Thursday 6th February: Year 3 and 4 residential to Beeston
Wednesday 12th – Friday 14th February: Year 5 and 6 residential to the Conway Centre
Friday 14th February: School closes at 3pm
Monday 24th February: INSET Day – School closed to pupils
Tuesday 25th February: School opens at 8:45am
Have a lovely weekend,
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon