Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 27th September 2024
Date: 27th Sep 2024 @ 1:37pm
Book Start Bear
What a lovely time the children in Hatchmere and Sandymere had yesterday when they had a very special visitor! The Bookstart bear came to visit the children and they had a lovely time listening to the story that was read to them and they all got to take home a copy of a ‘You Choose’ book. What a lovely afternoon!
School Council
A huge congratulations to Mia, Franklin, Joshua, Phoebe, Alice, Toby, Beautiful, Archie, Oscar, Teddy and Eliza who have been successfully elected to represent their year group in this year’s school council.
Ably assisted by Mrs Williamson, they had their first meet and greet meeting on Monday where they elected this year’s chair and vice chair and also talked through some ideas for projects for the future.
This year’s chair person is Mia and the vice chair is Franklin. Congratulations to you both.
Mrs Williamson is very much looking forward to working with the school council and supporting them in their visions for making Over St John's an even better place to be and the chair and vice chair have already started collating ideas and putting together plans for the future. Watch this space!
Express Yourself
Thank you so much to the PTA for organising today’s Express Yourself Day. It was so lovely to see the children dressed up in outfits that they feel most comfortable in and we had a huge variety, as I am sure you can imagine! Thank you all for your donations towards the PTA for today’s event. When the total is known, I am sure that you will be able to find it on their Facebook page and I will also share it here with you in the future.
Don’t forget that the PTA AGM takes place at 3pm on Monday in the school hall and we look forward to many more exciting events to come!
Junior Safety Officers
Well done to this year’s new Junior Safety Officers, Ava and Frankie, who stood up in Collective Worship yesterday and shared the latest safety bulletin with the children themed around the darker nights that are coming and Halloween and Bonfire night. They have also launched a competition for all the children around the theme of ‘Be Bright, Be Seen’ with the children in KS1 having a colouring competition and those in KS2 have been challenged to write a rap or poem. Information was sent home yesterday and the children have until the competition closes on 11th October to get their entries in. Good luck!
Weekly Attendance
Congratulations to Hatchmere who have had the best attendance this week. The magic number that we are looking for is at least 96% attendance or above so well done to Hatchmere for achieving this and also to Blakemere.
Hatchmere: 99%
Sandymere: 92.86%
Delamere: 90%
Oakmere: 93.75%
Linmere: 87.60%
Blakemere: 96.80%
Once again, the attendance this week has been lower than we would like. There are a number of holidays being taking and odd days off. It is always at the schools discretion as to whether to authorise any illness and if we suspect that holidays are being taken when absence for illness has been requested, this can lead to a fine.
Please remember that the rules around holidays/ odd days off have changed this year and the fine has increased – please see my ‘Absence During Term Time – Reminder’ below.
#WakeUpWednesday
As of 2024, social media giant Instagram has over two billion active users, with 8% of those (approximately 1.6 million) being under-18. That’s a lot of children and young people making use of this platform, exploring its features and being exposed to its risks – from influencer marketing to contact with strangers and plenty more.
As parents and educators, it’s important to understand how to keep children protected as they discover new regions of the digital landscape and this is no different for Instagram. Fortunately, #WakeUpWednesday’s updated guide tells you all you need to know about potential safety concerns around Instagram and offers advice on how to safeguard children and young people as they use 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 Secondary School Places for September 2025
If you have a child in Year 6, the application round has now opened for you to apply for a secondary school place. It is very important that you do this before the deadline, which is 31st October 2024, otherwise your application will be classed as a late application and could have a severe impact on your preferred school choice. Results are available from 12.30am on 3rd March 2025. To apply, you will need to create an account or log in on this link. Before making your application, it is important you view the Transferring to Secondary School Guide to help you with your choices.
As a school, we are a partner primary with both The Winsford Academy and Hartford CE High School which means that applications for children from our school are considered above some other categories, should the school be oversubscribed. However, you have the option to apply for 3 secondary schools of your choice. Further details with regards to this can be found in the ‘Transferring to Secondary School’ information booklet in the link above.
The Winsford Academy have their Open Evening next week on Thursday 3rd October from 4.30pm – 6.30pm.
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
Monday 30th September: PTA Annual General Meeting at 3pm in the school hall – all welcome
Thursday 3rd October: Whole School Nasal Flu Vaccines
Thursday 3rd October: Special school lunch – ‘Posh Dogs’
Thursday 10th October: Individual Photographs – change of date
Friday 11th October: Be Bright, Be Seen competition closes
Monday 21st October – Wednesday 23rd October: Chester Zoo workshops in school for Oakmere, Linmere and Blakemere
Tuesday 22nd October: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm
Thursday 24th October: Trip to Chester Zoo for Oakmere, Linmere and Blakemere
Thursday 24th October: School closes for half term at 3pm
Thursday 24th October: Pupil Consultation Evening 3:15pm – 5:15pm
Friday 25th October: INSET Day – School closed
Monday 4th November: School opens at 8:35am
Thursday 7th November: PTA Glow Walk – more details to follow
Friday 15th November: Children in Need Non Uniform Day
Thursday 12th December: Whole School Pantomime Trip
Friday 13th December: PTA Christmas Extravaganza
Friday 20th December: School closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon