Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 16th May 2025
Date: 15th May 2025 @ 11:41am
Short and sweet this week!
KS2 SATs
Huge congratulations to all our Year 6 children, Mrs M and Mrs Roche who have been completing SATs this week. They have arrived early each day for breakfast and then really focussed on the task in hand with great maturity. We couldn’t have asked any more of them! They now have lots of different things to look forward to such as transition activities and the residential to London
Also, a thank you to our lovely PTA who sent the children a special gift at the beginning of the week to show what ‘smart cookies’ they are!
Attendance
As always, we are looking for attendance to be at least 96%. For the school this week we are at 92.75%. Since September, we are on 94.88%.
Here is a rundown of each class attendance this week:
Hatchmere: 95.91%
Sandymere: 92.86%
Delamere: 89.47%
Oakmere: 85.60%
Linmere: 93.60%
Blakemere: 98.46%
Well done to Blakemere for the best attendance this week who will receive our trophy in Collective Worship next Friday.
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
Still the best-selling game of all time, Minecraft has hundreds of millions of players - making it more important than ever to stay informed. With its vibrant worlds and endless potential for creativity, it’s no wonder Minecraft continues to capture young imaginations.
With the Minecraft movie hitting cinemas in April, interest in the game has remained strong but whether they’re mining resources or building digital castles, children could also encounter strangers, scary content or bullying behaviour online. National Online Safety have created this free guide offering parents and educators the latest top tips on how to keep children safe from issues like griefing, chat risks, and unintended purchases, while still embracing the game’s educational and creative benefits.
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 per day, £15 per week.
From Thursday 1st May next week, the cost will rise to £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 2
Tuesday 20th May: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm
Wednesday 21st May: Blakemere Snaptrap presentation (online awareness) at St. Joseph’s
Thursday 22nd May: Pupil Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.15pm
Friday 23rd May: School nurse to do Y6 and Reception height and weight screening and Reception vision and hearing screening
Friday 23rd May: School closes at 3pm for half term
Monday 2nd June: School opens at 8.35am
Monday 2nd June – Friday 13th June: Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check window
Tuesday 3rd June: Witton Dental Practice visiting to talk to each class
Wednesday 4th June: Reception new starters meeting at 4.15pm in Hatchmere classroom
Friday 6th June: Sports Day at Over St. John’s (KS1 am and KS2 pm)
Monday 9th June: Phonics Screening Week for Year 1
Monday 9th June: New Starters Group A Session 1 - 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Friday 13th June: Reserve Sports Day at Over St. John’s (KS1 am and KS2 pm)
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