Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 20th January 2023
Date: 20th Jan 2023 @ 11:25am
This week we welcomed a number of our governors into school for a visit. They had the opportunity to tour the school and see the new outdoor facilities, they visited lessons to share in the learning and they met with teachers responsible for individual subjects to discuss and share their plans as well as meeting with our Chair of Governors, Mrs McClellan, to talk about their roles as a governor. Being a governor is a voluntary role and we are incredibly grateful to all our governors for the time that they dedicate to our school. We currently have one vacancy on our governing body for a local authority representative – this cannot be a parent as we need to ensure we have the right balance of numbers between parents and non-parents, but if you know of anybody who might be interested in this rewarding role, please ask them to get in touch and I can have a chat with them as to what the role entails.
St. John’s Film Night
Don’t forget that St. John’s church are holding another film night next weekend. If you would like to go and see Lightyear with no ticket cost and with hotdogs, popcorn and drinks, it will be screening in St. John’s Church Hall at 4.30pm on Sunday 29th January.
Industrial Strike Action
No doubt you will have seen in the news that the National Education Union has voted to take strike action largely over teachers’ pay and how pay rises are funded from existing school budgets, therefore decreasing the funds available for all other aspects of education. You may wonder how this will affect our school and your children. Whilst I am unable to confirm any plans currently, I anticipate that the strike action will have very little to no impact on Over St. John’s. I will keep you all updated.
#WakeUpWednesday
Twitter is a social media network which allows users to post short messages (‘tweets’) of up to 280 characters. Tweets can consist of text, photos, videos, audio, links, polls and GIFs, often linked by hashtags if they share a common theme or message. Hashtags receiving high levels of interest are said to be ‘trending.’ Twitter users can engage with other people’s posts by liking, retweeting (sharing) or tweeting back (commenting on). Since the entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, the platform has undergone several major changes.
In this week’s guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as trolls and bullying, fixation on view count and interaction with strangers.
Indoor Athletics
As shared last week, the children in Year 5 and 6 went to an indoor athletics competition last week and I promised to share the overall results once they were known. I am delighted to say that our children came second in the competition up against all the other Winsford schools! We shared the news in Collective Worship this morning and the children received their certificates. A huge well done to the 18 children involved – a real team effort!
Swimming
During February half term, a swimming crash course will be running at Winsford Lifestyle Centre. This is aimed at children who are non-swimmers to being able to swim 10m. There are also classes for children who are 8+ and are beginner swimmers. The sessions will be held between Monday 20th February and Friday 24th February and between 8.30am and 11.30am at a cost of £36.50. If you are interested, please see the contact details on the poster attached below. The poster mentions the different stages of swimming which are:
Stage 1 – beginner
Stage 2 – confident in the water, attempting to swim unaided.
Stage 3 – Confident in the water, swimming 5M unaided front and back.
8 years and older – Mixed class for total beginner and children attempting to swim unaided.
School Dinners
School dinners cost £2.45 per day, £12.25 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 as we do not accept cash in school.
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.
Absence during Term Time
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 and this rises to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2023 – new dates highlighted
Week beginning 23rd January: Dinners Week 3
Tuesday 14th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm
Thursday 16th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.15pm
Friday 17th February: School closes for half term at 3pm
Monday 27th February: School closed – INSET day
Tuesday 28th February: School opens at the usual time
Friday 31st March: End of Spring Term - school closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon