Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 8th November 2024
Date: 8th Nov 2024 @ 10:22am
I hope that you all had a lovely half term holiday and managed to have some lovely time with your families. We now enter one of the busiest periods of the school year on the lead up to Christmas where there is usually lots going on, so do keep your eye on the diary below each week as it is certain to change.
For those of you who are unaware, we hold 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 Over 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.
Anti-Bullying Week
Next week begins this year’s Anti Bullying week and the theme this time is Choose Respect. Each class will be having a particular focus and carrying out activities in relation to this.
Hatchmere will be celebrating friendships and thinking about kind words/kind actions.
Sandymere will look at negative and positive effects of online gaming and how online bullying can affect others.
Delamere will focus on the impact of sharing images and how your online actions can affect others, whilst learning about the risks of sharing images without permission.
Oakmere will think about how to stay safe and keep safe online, the need for reporting negative online content and making friends safely online.
Linmere will be looking at the positive and negatives of using computers and being online, being able to identify cyberbullying and its consequences whilst also being able to develop coping strategies to use if we or someone we know is being bullied online.
Blakemere will focus on peer pressure computer safety and understanding the consequences of potential outcomes of sharing images online. They will think about being able to create a set of rules to follow when sharing images online and know that there are rules and laws about sharing images online. They will also look at strategies as to how to overcome pressures to share online.
Furthermore, Odd Socks Day marks the start of Anti-Bullying Week, an opportunity to celebrate what makes us all unique and spread kindness! At OSJ, Odd Socks Day 2024 will take place on Tuesday 12th November and we are inviting children to come to school wearing odd socks in support of Anti-Bullying Week. It is supported by cBeebies presenter & ABA patron Andy Day and his band 'Andy and the Odd Socks'. Odd Socks Day is designed to be fun! It’s an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique! A great opportunity to talk about celebrating differences and the British Value of Individual Liberty. We look forward to seeing those Odd Socks on Tuesday.
A Message from our PTFA
What a week it’s been for the PTA! Our Remember Them Glow Walk took place last night. Thank you to everyone that attended our first event! The children certainly lit up our evening and it was so lovely to see so many of the OSJ children enjoying time with their families. An extra thank you to Trooper McGarty for attending in uniform to lead our OSJ Troops. We raised £222 during the evening which is amazing!
On top of all that, we hit £400 in our Asda cashpot with 20 days still to go! These funds will get released to the PTA in the spring term. Thank you to you all for supporting us and please continue to do so over the next 20 days.
We hope the children had a great evening with us last night and we’d love to hear what they thought! If you have any feedback or ideas for future events please pop us a message on facebook or you can email us at overstjohnspta@gmail.com.
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
I have attached a QR code below, as it takes people straight to the nomination form.
The closing date for entries is Saturday 30th November 2024.
Weekly Attendance
Congratulations to Blakemere who have had the best attendance this week, with a special mention to Sandymere who were hot on their heels.. The magic number that we are looking for is at least 96% attendance or above and we have had a very positive week this week - thank you!
Hatchmere 95.50%
Sandymere 98.10%
Delamere 97.22%
Oakmere 96.67%
Linmere 91.60%
Blakemere 98.40%
#WakeUpWednesday
The 11th November marks the beginning of Anti-Bullying Week and this year’s theme is ‘Choose Respect.’ Statistics from this week’s experts – the Anti-Bullying Alliance – reveal that 40% of children in the UK have suffered some form of bullying within the last year, with the most common experience being name-calling and verbal abuse. While it can have several causes, this kind of behaviour is commonly seen when a disagreement between two youngsters gets out of hand and emotions take over. Many children are still learning how to conduct themselves and it can be difficult for them to know how to act when faced with someone who disagrees with them, or otherwise find themselves in conflict with another person. It can also be tricky for parents and educators to teach them how to resolve disputes in a mature and healthy manner. By teaming up with the ABA for Anti-Bullying Week, National Online Safety are bringing you expert advice on encouraging children to choose respect.
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
Monday 11th November: Start of Anti-Bullying Week
Tuesday 12th November: Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying Awareness
Wednesday 13th November: Best of British special lunch
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: Christmas Jumper Day and school closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon