Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 18th July 2025
Date: 17th Jul 2025 @ 1:56pm
As this is my last blog of this academic year, I would like to just take a moment to reflect on what has been another fabulous year in the life of Over St. John’s. As usual, much has been accomplished. The children have excelled themselves, as they do every year and have enjoyed all that has been on offer to them, whether it be in the classroom, around our local area or further afield such as on our residentials to London and Robinwood. The staff have also excelled themselves and continued their dedicated approach to every aspect of school life and I would like to say thank you for their continued support and hard work.
I would also like to say thank you to our fabulous PTA members for the events and activities that they have organised this year as well as the added extras – such as the Year 6 SATS and leavers gifts. All of their wonderful work, with your added support too, has helped to achieve the goal that they set out to achieve in September: to be able to purchase a set of iPads for our pupils to use in school. These are now in school and being added to our network etc over the holidays so that they are ready to go in September. A wonderful achievement for which we are very grateful.
We say goodbye today to some members of staff as they move on to pastures new – to Mrs Highton and to Mrs Boughey who have both been valuable teaching assistants and also to Mrs Dimmock who has been teaching in Linmere on Thursday and Friday. I am sure that you would join with me in expressing thanks for all that they have done for our children and school community during their time with us and to wish them lots of love and luck as they move on.
Year 6 Leavers
Today we say goodbye to our wonderful Year 6 children. They treated us to a fabulous performance last night at the United Reformed Church and the rest of the school paid a beautiful tribute to them in church this morning. They have been a joy to have as members of our school community and we wish them lots of love and luck as they continue their education at secondary school. Goodbye to Kai, Mia, Annie, Harry, Haley, Alex, Eva C, Ava D, Eva E, Holly, Joshua, Ava K, Tate, Michael, Natalie, Frankie, Franklin, Rosabeller, Roey, Quinn and Arabella-Alice.
Olympic Medal Winner’s Visit
We had a very exciting visit from a real-life Olympian this week! Emily Ford, a bronze medallist at the Paris Olympics in the Women’s 8 Rowing, came in to school to tell us about her sporting journey. It was very humbling to hear about the difficulties that she faced in her journey and the children heard a very clear message to not give up and to keep on trying. Inspirational!
Uniform - Reminder
As we finish for the summer and people start to think about preparations for September, please may I remind you of our uniform expectations as detailed in our uniform policy on our website:
- Light blue polo shirt
- Blue school sweatshirt or cardigan with the school logo
- Grey skirt or grey trousers
- Sensible black shoes (not trainers) which are flat and offer support, Velcro fastenings are ideal
- Grey or white socks, grey or black tights
- Optional blue/ white checked dress or grey shorts in the summer
Furthermore, our PE kit consists of:
- Plain white t-shirt
- Plain black shorts
- Plain black jogging bottoms in cooler weather with the addition of the school jumper.
- Black pumps or bare feet for indoor PE
- Black pumps or trainers for outdoor PE
We only have the one branded item as policy, which is our jumper or cardigan which is available from Winsford Market or The Green Uniform and Baby Bank. All other items are widely available from supermarkets and other retailers.
Attendance
As always, we are looking for attendance to be at least 96%. For the school this week we are at 93.24% – thank you! Since September, we are on 94.76%.
Here is a rundown of each class attendance this week:
Hatchmere: 94.55%
Sandymere: 86.67%
Delamere: 95.00%
Oakmere: 92.80%
Linmere: 92.40%
Blakemere: 97.31%
Well done to Blakemere for the best attendance this week - with Year 6 finishing on a win!
Summer Reading Challenge - Reminder
Details of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge have now been shared by Cheshire Libraries. Five thousand children from Cheshire West took part last year and this year they are hoping for more!
The Challenge (4- to 12-year-olds) and Mini Challenge (Under 4s) are entirely free. Children are given a sticker booklet for starting and stickers every time they read two books or whatever target they have set themselves. After reading their target of books (normally six), they are given a certificate and a medal. Any books qualify, from the library or not, and can be in print, digital, or audio form.
In addition, they have lots of free events, including favourites like animal handling and fun science but also face-painting and even Nick Sharratt (You Choose, Pants) will be visiting. Details of these events are on www.ticketsource.co.uk/cwaclibraries and will be bookable from 5 July. They also have special offers from partners such as Hayrack Church Farm (free child entry), Climbing Hut, and Deva Roman Experience just for joining, plus Brio have given 200 family swim passes for the first children that go in to join. One child per library who completes each Challenge will receive a bug hotel/book (SRC) or a plush Gruffalo toy (Mini).
Children can join the Challenge from “Start Up Saturday” 5 July at their local library or via https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/read and can, from that date, book events for the first half of the holidays then all the rest of the events can be booked from Saturday 26 July.
#WakeUpWednesday
Spending time in or around water is a brilliant way for children to stay active and make memories; however, it’s vital to understand the dangers. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide is packed with tips to help you keep young people safe around water, at home, school, and further afield. From teaching children what beach flags mean to why inflatables should stay in pools, this guide is designed to support parents and educators in promoting water safety. Whether it’s a bath, a beach, or a boating lake, being prepared can help prevent avoidable tragedies.
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.
Have a lovely summer and we will see you when school re-opens on Tuesday 2nd September at 8.35am.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon