Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 27th June 2025
Date: 27th Jun 2025 @ 12:21pm
Dance-a-thon
Wow!!!!! The final total is in from the Dance-a-thon that we held last week and it is a whopping £2,567.50! Thank you to everyone who helped to organise the day and to you all for your very generous sponsorship! As you may know, the PTA have been working extremely hard to help to raise funds to enable us to buy iPads for the children to use in school. We are now in a position where we are able to buy 30 iPads ready for use in classrooms in September. This could not have been achieved without the support of our wonderful PTA, dedicated staff and all of your support over this and other PTA events this year too so a huge, personal thank you from me.
Year 4/ 5/ 6 London Residential
What a fantastic and action packed two days we had in London last week. The weather was incredibly hot, but nobody melted ensuring that we could have a flight on the London Eye, a play in Jubilee Park, tea at Pizza Hut, watch The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre, a stay at YHA Thameside and a trip to The Natural History Museum. Phew – we were busy! The children were absolutely fabulous and made some wonderful memories that I am sure they will treasure for along time. My thanks go to Mrs Rutherford for her fantastic organisational skills and to Mrs McLaughlin, Mrs Skelley and Mrs Roche for giving up their time to ensure such a fabulous experience for our children.
Please see Mrs M's blogs last week for some pictures.
Town Sports
Well done to the pupils in KS2 who visited The Winsford Academy after school on Tuesday this week to take part in the Town Sports event. The children ran, jumped and threw (to mention a couple of activities) incredibly well and although we didn’t come home with any prizes, I think that the fact that so many took part and represented our school so well, that that is prize enough.
Attendance
As always, we are looking for attendance to be at least 96%. For the school this week we are at 91.44% as unfortunately we have been struck by chicken pox in school! Since September, we are on 94.75%.
Here is a rundown of each class attendance this week:
Hatchmere: 97.73%
Sandymere: 79.52%
Delamere: 94.00%
Oakmere: 92.80%
Linmere: 91.20%
Blakemere: 92.67%
Well done to Hatchmere for the best attendance this week who will receive our trophy in Collective Worship next week.
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
Summer Reading Challenge
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
New name, new features… same concerns? The Nintendo Switch 2 is the Japanese gaming giant’s latest console, and while it boasts impressive updates, it also brings a few new features for parents and educators to be aware of. From the arrival of real-time GameChat and a plug-in camera to an easier path to mature content and in-app spending, there’s a lot to consider. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide sets out what adults need to know, and how they can keep gaming fun and safe for the children in their care.
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.
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 1
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
Thursday 17th July: Leaver’s Play in the United Reformed Church. Admission by free ticket only – details to follow for adults of Year 6 children.
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