Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 17th January 2020
Date: 17th Jan 2020 @ 12:21pm
The children have finally come home this week with their attendance medals for the Autumn Term. As you will be aware, regular school attendance is vital to ensuring children are able to learn and Over St. John’s promotes this in many ways. At the end of each term, those children who have had 98% or more attendance for the term receive a silver medal and those who have had 100% attendance receive a gold medal and a certificate (certificates were given out before Christmas). All those who have had 100% attendance also go in to a draw with the chance to wind a £15 Argos voucher. This resets each term so the children have a fresh chance of receiving this award. Furthermore, at the end of the year, any children that have had 100% attendance all year go in to a draw with the chance of winning a £30 Argos voucher.
The children were very proud of their medals when I took them around the classes yesterday and I look forward to being able to give out lots more at the end of the Spring Term.
In our Collective Worship this week, we have been thinking of the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. We have talked about how we are all ‘smart’ in many ways and the boy in the story was smart at sharing – he offered everything that he had to Jesus who did something very special with it. We talked about how we are all smart in many ways and we are all able to ‘Do Something’ to help others and ‘Let our light shine before others.’ (Matthew 5: 15 – 16). As we have done this week, have a listen to 'Do Something' by Matthew West for examples of what we can do to help others.
#WakeUpWednesday
Minecraft is still as popular today as it was when it was first released. The highly addictive block building game has developed a huge following and has millions of monthly active users playing it worldwide across PC, console and mobile platforms. Minecraft is relatively safe generally speaking, however, as per any game, it pays to be mindful about the main features that children may encounter. That’s why National Online Safety have this week created a useful guide to help parents and carers understand exactly what Minecraft is all about. Please download your copy below.
The Sun Books for Schools
Thank you to those of you that sent The Sun tokens into school for their Books for Schools scheme. Unfortunately, we haven’t received nearly enough for the 3,500 needed to receive a pack of books, so I will find a local school that is also collecting and pass our tokens on to them.
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