Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 29th November 2024
Date: 28th Nov 2024 @ 10:22am
With the arrival of December this weekend, everything is going into full Christmas mode! You will have received information about the Christmas activities happening in school on School Spider yesterday – Christmas Extravaganza, Santa’s Grotto, Secret Santa, Christmas Disco, Hamper Raffle... Please do take the time to read this information as there is a lot going on. There are cut off dates for sending in responses and money for some of the activities. Unfortunately, we absolutely cannot take any more responses after these dates as there are lots of preparations being made behind the scenes and we are not able to accommodate the many different requests after these dates.
We are always on the look out for helpers at these events so if you are able to help, please let the office know via admin@overstjohns.cheshire.sch.uk or our PTFA through Facebook and you can find them by searching ‘Friends of Over St. John’s PTA.’ Thank you!
We also have other events taking place such as the pantomime and our Carol Service. As a reminder, we will be holding our Christmas Carol Service in St. John’s church on Thursday 19th December at 1.30pm. All are welcome to attend. At this service, the children in Year 6 will narrate the Christmas story whilst the children in Hatchmere present the nativity. All the classes will also sing a special song that they have learnt to fit particular parts of the Christmas story. It is a beautiful occasion to celebrate such a special time of year. On that day, all children are to be collected from St. John’s church at the end of the service instead of school and as such, we ask them not to bring bags and book bags (usual lunch boxes are fine), just to make transportation and storage at church much easier. Thank you.
Luminate Tickets
The draw took place this morning to find a winner of the free family pass to Luminate at Arley Hall - the lucky winner was Esmee in Oakmere. Congratulations and we hope you have a wonderful time!
Late Arrivals
There has been some improvement in the number of late arrivals this week – thank you – however we still have some way to go. The gate opens at 8.35am and the register is taken at 8.45am. The whole school is then in Collective Worship at 8.50am. When children are late, this impacts not only the child who is late who has missed the register, the morning activity, the dinner selection and had to walk into a full school hall, but also on the rest of the school who are disturbed when the front door bell goes (which also sounds in the hall), when the office door then goes as children come into the hall and the again when the children are taking their coats off and joining the other children to sit down in the hall. Thank you for your help in ensuring that your children are in school on time and vital learning time is not lost - it is greatly appreciated.
Guardian Education Awards 2025
The Guardian Education Awards 2025 for Mid Cheshire are back for another year and promise to be the best yet! Ten awards will celebrate schools, nurseries and colleges across Mid Cheshire, honouring pupils and students, teachers and teaching assistants, and classes and teams. The Guardian want to highlight everything that’s good about Mid Cheshire's educators, shining a spotlight on innovation and best practice across the town.
Who should win one of their 10 awards?
There’s pupil of the year for primary and secondary, class or team of the year and headteacher of the year as well as awards for teachers and teaching assistants.
They will also be handing out a lifetime achievement award and an innovation award.
Entries are invited from teachers, parents, governors, pupils and anyone with knowledge of a particular school or education establishment. All schools are welcome to enter as long as they are based in Mid Cheshire.
Individuals or institutions can enter more than one category, but this should be made clear on the entry form.
If you would like to make a nomination, you can do so here using this link:
https://forms.office.com/e/ePXVHHKK4h?origin=lprLink
The closing date for entries is Saturday 30th November 2024.
Weekly Attendance
We continue to have quite a lot of illness in school this week which you can see has impacted on attendance. However, congratulations to Hatchmere who seem to have fended it off, resulting in the best attendance this week.
Hatchmere: 95.00%
Sandymere: 92.38%
Delamere: 93.33%
Oakmere: 83.33%
Linmere: 86.00%
Blakemere: 92.80%
#WakeUpWednesday
Recent user numbers for the messaging app Snapchat currently sit at approximately 800 million and figures from data gathering company Statista indicate that roughly 20% of those users are under 18. That’s a lot of young people participating in this sprawling social media platform, many of whom are potentially unaware of the associated risks. That’s why National Online Safety are releasing this week’s guide – also available in podcast format for those who want to listen on the go. It can be tricky to know how to safeguard younger users on Snapchat but they aim to show you how, whilst also giving you in-depth knowledge of the online safety risks posed by this platform.
Absence During Term Time – Reminder
As shared towards the end of last term, 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).
Applying for Primary School Places for September 2025
If you have a child who is turning 4 years old between now and 31st August 2025, 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 2025, 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 2025. 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.
School Dinners
School dinners 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 Autumn Term 2024 – new dates highlighted
Dinner Week 2
Friday 6th December: Secret Santa Deadline Day - no more forms/ money will be accepted
Friday 6th December: Santa's Grotto Deadline Day - no more forms/ money will be accepted
Monday 9th December: Christmas Hamper Raffle tickets available daily from today in the playground after school
Thursday 12th December: Whole School Pantomime Trip
Friday 13th December: PTA Christmas Extravaganza and Santa's Grotto 3:15pm - 5:30pm
Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th December: Secret Santa Wrapping Day
Wednesday 18th December: Christmas Disco from 5.30pm - 7pm £2 entry
Thursday 19th December: Carol Service in St. Johns Church at 1.30pm – collection from Church
Thursday 19th December: Christmas Hamper Raffle in St. Johns Church at 1.30pm
Friday 20th December: Christmas Jumper Day and school closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon