Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 4th October 2024
Date: 4th Oct 2024 @ 2:25pm
Online Reading Diaries
What a success these are proving to be! Thank you so much for your fantastic engagement with our new online reading diaries. Mrs McLaughlin and Mrs Rutherford had an online meeting with Learning with Parents yesterday and the company have been bowled over by your engagement – we currently have 88% of our families using the online reading diaries and they have shared that nationally, their average is 41% - so just look at how well you are doing!
Other information that they have been able to share is that nationally, 37% of children who receive free school meals are active, but at Over St. John’s it is 92%! These figures are an amazing achievement which all go towards helping to ensure that our children are confident readers and develop a love of reading – we just need to keep it up now! Thank you!
Roald Dahl Book Activities
Our Year 5 and 6 Reading Champions have been very busy planning a special event to celebrate reading with a Roald Dahl theme. This will take place on Thursday 17th October from 3pm – 4.15pm. Places are limited and a survey will come out on School Spider to book your place, so do keep your eye out for it. I have attached a poster below for you to take a look at.
PTFA Annual General Meeting
The PTFA held their AGM in school on Monday – thank you very much to those who were able to attend. Some important decisions were made and a new committee was formed consisting of the following people:
Chair: Amy Kennedy
Vice Chair: Gemma Williams
Treasurer: Samantha Parkinson
Secretary: Jess Whalley
Ordinary Committee Member: Laura McGarty
Attached below is a presentation that was shared at the meeting which also details some of the longer term goals for the PTFA
Don’t forget the ASDA Cashpot for Schools. Thank you to all those who have downloaded the ASDA rewards app, selected Over St. John’s and use it to scan when shopping with ASDA, George or online at Asda.com. At last check on 1st October, we had an amazing £224.24 in our Cashpot, just for people doing their ordinary shopping – and there are still 60 days to go – keep going and thank you!
Don’t forget to follow the PTFA on Facebook – find them by searching ‘Friends of Over St. John’s PTA’ and you’ll see their logo which is like the one on the presentation below.
Governance
Wednesday evening saw our first Governing Body meeting of the academic year and we elected a new Chair for the year. We welcome Mrs Hayley Rogers to the role of Chair and Mrs Sarah McClellan as our Vice Chair. The Governors meet six times per year to focus on the strategic direction of the school – they are not responsible for any of the day-to-day operational running of the school, which is down to myself as Head Teacher.
Information was sent out earlier this week with regards to two parent governor vacancies – please see the message sent on Wednesday titled ‘Parent Governor Election.’
Weekly Attendance
Congratulations to Blakemere who have had the best attendance this week. The magic number that we are looking for is at least 96% attendance or above so almost all our classes have been closer to that this week than previously.
Hatchmere: 95.63%
Sandymere: 95.83%
Delamere: 94.44%
Oakmere: 88.02%
Linmere: 95.00%
Blakemere: 96.00%
#WakeUpWednesday
If you’ve played or seen any online games from the past few years, you’ve probably noticed that almost every title of this kind has some kind of chat functionality. Whether allowing players to send text messages to one another or letting them use their mics to chat together on voice if you’re on a multiplayer game, chances are you can talk to your fellow gamers, one way or another. Sadly, such a function comes with its fair share of risks – as is to be expected with a feature intended to connect gamers from around the world and it is immensely important for parents and educators to understand these concerns and help young players address them. That’s why we’ve put together this free guide, breaking down the most prevalent issues associated with in-game chat and letting you know how to keep youngsters as safe as possible if or when they’re exposed to this feature.
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.
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 7th October: Blakemere Play Leader Training
Thursday 10th October: Individual Photographs
Friday 11th October: Be Bright, Be Seen competition closes
Thursday 17th October: Roald Dahl Activity Afternoon 3pm - 4.15pm
Monday 21st October – Wednesday 23rd October: Chester Zoo workshops in school for Oakmere, Linmere and Blakemere
Tuesday 22nd October: Pupil Consultation Evening
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
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 Fayre
Thursday 19th December: Carol Service in St. Johns Church at 1.30pm – collection from Church
Friday 20th December: School closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon