Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 28th November 2025
Date: 28th Nov 2025 @ 9:09am
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! We had our Christmas Disco this week and the Christmas tree went up in the hall yesterday. Children have been creating beautiful art pieces for this year’s Cine Window film in the Cross Hatch Gallery. All the classes are preparing their pieces for the Carol Service and we are doing lots of singing for our whole school songs too – and there are still 3 weeks to go!
It was really lovely to welcome Mrs Andrews to school this week. Mrs Andrews will be job sharing with Mrs Skelley in Linmere and will be teaching on Thursdays and Friday in the new year. She will be spending some time with the class over these next few weeks and getting to know them all and we are really pleased to be able to welcome her.
School Council – Healthy Eating Snacks Update
The School Council have asked me to share the following message with you all:
In our School Council meeting, we researched the benefits that healthy eating gives us.
- gives us energy so that we are ready to learn;
- helps us to grow;
- helps to fight off illness;
We looked at some healthy snacks. Here are some ideas:
- cheese
- chicken pieces
- yogurt
- carrot sticks
- cucumber sticks
- raisins
- berries
- chopped fruit such as pineapple
- humus
- crackers/ breadsticks/ Ritz
- cereal bars (be careful of these as some have quite a lot of sugar in!)
We’ll be checking in on the new year if you’re enjoying the healthy snacks.
Alice (Vice Chair) on behalf of the School Council.
Current Attendance
Hatchmere 81.58%
Sandymere 88.18%
Delamere 92.38%
Oakmere 90.77%
Linmere 98.18%
Blakemere 93.08%
Whole school this week 90.96%
Whole school this year 94.22%
Huge congratulations to Linmere with the best attendance this week – keep it up!
Attendance - Reminder
This year, we are going to continue our focus on attendance as we definitely made some improvements on the previous year, going from 94.1% to at the end of 2024 to 94.76% at the end of last year. This is a fantastic improvement on which I am sure we can build this year to get closer to our pre-COVID levels of around 96%
The magic number that we are aiming for is 96% and above and for the children who achieve this, we have some special rewards. At the end of each term there will be certificates for all children who have attendance at 96% or more and a special prize draw of a £15 Argos voucher for those children with 98% attendance or more. Each term will be a ‘new start’ so if someone didn’t manage to make the percentage in one term, there will be future chances. But what does 96% attendance look like? This table may help to give you an idea.
|
Attendance during one school year |
Equivalent Days |
Equivalent Sessions |
Equivalent Weeks |
Equivalent Lessons Missed |
|
95% |
9 Days |
18 Sessions |
1.4 Weeks |
45 Lessons |
|
90% |
19 Days |
38 Sessions |
3.4 Weeks |
95 Lessons |
|
85% |
29 Days |
58 Sessions |
5.4 Weeks |
145 Lessons |
|
80% |
36 Days |
72 Sessions |
7.1 Weeks |
180 Lessons |
|
75% |
48 Days |
96 Sessions |
9.3 Weeks |
240 Lessons |
Children understandably get ill from time to time and it can be easy to wonder whether they should be in school or not, so to help, please find some guidance from the NHS around Is my child too ill for school?
Absence During Term Time – Government Regulations including Fines
Penalty Notices are issued for irregular attendance, not just holidays, with days off here and there throughout the term.
The National Framework for Penalties 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 (e.g. £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).
Applying for Primary School Places for September 2026
If you have a child who is turning 4 years old between now and 31st August 2026, or know of a child who is, then the application round is also open for them to apply for their Reception place. The timescale is slightly different for this and you have until 15th January 2026, but like the secondary school place, before making your application, it is important you view the Starting Primary School Booklet. Results are available from 16th April 2026. To apply, you will need to create an account or log in on this link.
If you would like to visit Over St. John’s with a view to a Reception place next September or know of someone else who would, please do just ring the office and we will arrange a time to suit yourselves and us. We do not hold an open morning as I prefer people to see us as we are on a daily basis and have more personal time during a look around with me to ask any questions that they may have.
#WakeUpWednesday
It can be challenging for parents and carers to know whether children are spending too much time on their digital devices. It’s even more of a conundrum to decide whether a child is just deeply engaged with the internet and social media, or genuinely addicted to it. As technology becomes more pervasive in all of our lives, many children and young people in particular are beginning to experience tech-related dependencies. As trusted adults, do we have the right knowledge to identify and support children and young people who might be developing an addiction to their devices?
In this week’s guide, you'll find tips on avoiding potential risks such as damage to health and wellbeing, app addiction and a lack of sleep.
School Dinners
School dinners 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.
Confirmed Dates for the Autumn Term 2025 – new dates highlighted
School Dinners: Week 2
Thursday 4th December: Christmas Movie Night at 5pm – 7pm
Friday 12th December: Christmas Fair 3.15pm – 4.30pm
Wednesday 17th December: Carol Service in St. John’s church at 1.30pm Pick up from church
Thursday 18th December: Whole School Pantomime trip
Friday 19th December: School closes for Christmas at 2pm
Monday 5th January 2026: School closed - INSET
Tuesday 6th January 2026: School opens at the usual time
Tuesday 13th January: PTA Meeting at The Gate at 7pm – all welcome
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon