St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Primary School Five Oaks Close, St John’s, Woking, Surrey GU21 8TU Telephone: 01483 480441 2014-2015, issue 21 13 February 2015 Website: www.sthugh-of-lincoln.surrey.sch.uk Twitter: @StHughSchool Dear Parents, On Tuesday we marked ‘Safer Internet Day’ in school. Miss Whitfield led a whole school assembly on the theme of e-safety, and children in all classes engaged in learning linked to the theme of the assembly. E-safety is an issue affecting all users of the internet and is something all users must take seriously. There is a lot that can be done at home to help children to be able to enjoy and benefit from use of the internet while staying safe. On pages 3 and 4 of this newsletter I have reproduced a Childnet International leaflet, ‘Supporting Children and Young People online— information and advice for parents and carers’. I enjoyed joining Year 5 and Year 6 for an assembly on Thursday morning. A group of Year 5 children prepared and led the assembly on the theme of ‘equality’. They chose the gospel reading of Jesus healing the ten lepers, illustrating that Jesus saw no barriers between himself and those who were ill, only that they were all human beings. Well done to the children who led such a thoughtful and prayerful assembly. We have had a busy week on the football field. Chil- dren from Year 3 and Year 4 took part in a small tournament organised by Woking Football in the Community at Winston Churchill on Monday. The two teams played three matches each and played well! On Thursday our Year 6 team played against Ottershaw. Again, they played well, particularly when defending with courage and determination, although Ottershaw won the match 5-1. Well done to all our footballers. Parents Evening meetings will take place on 2nd and 3rd March. Appointments on 2nd March will be between 3.30pm and 6.00pm. On Tuesday 3rd March they will be between 2.10pm and 3.00pm, and then from 3.30pm to 5.10pm. Sign up sheets for making appointments will be on the Key Stage 1 playground from 8.30am on Monday 23 February. I remain a little frustrated about the amount of clothing in school that is not named. Please make sure that when the children return after halfterm all items of clothing are clearly named. Please can parents also ensure that hair bands, head bands, scrunchies etc are plain—red to go with the school uniform, or a dark colour. There will be a lot going on in school next week, most visibly toilet/ washbasin replacement for Years 5 and 6, completion of Key Stage 2 playground resurfacing with associated drainage improvement, and perimeter fence replacement. There will also be some other less visible work! Exciting times! I enjoyed teaching Year 3 on Tuesday. We reinforced our understanding of place value in maths, considered responses to different scenarios while learning about e-safety, and investigated light and shadows. I enjoyed teaching Year 5 on Thursday afternoon, learning about the Real Presence in the Eucharist. This week we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. This feast is a perfect reminder to us to pray for those who are sick—please do pray for those in our school community who are unwell at this time and who are in need of our prayers. Enjoy the half-term week. God bless, Mr George This issue includes: Dear Parents 1 Safeguarding 1 Our Golden Chil- 2 dren Forthcoming dates 2 E-safety 3&4 Children’s Cen- 5 tre news School Develop- 5 ment Plan At St Hugh of Lincoln School we are fully committed to safeguarding. Mr George and Mrs Ashby the school’s Designated Child Protection Officers: any concerns regarding safeguarding should be raised with either of them. Our Golden Children Reception: Sebastian—for great progress in reading and writing, including using the sounds he has learned in ‘have a go’ writing; Tione—for fantastic ‘have a go’ writing, writing in a sentence; Christina—for a great effort in letters and sounds work, putting into practice the sounds that she has learned. Year 1: Emilio—for careful listening and effort in everything, while being very kind, caring and polite; Emily—for thinking very carefully about writing, making writing very interesting for the reader; Noah—for making a real effort with handwriting, showing big improvements. Year 2: Phoebe, Ciara and Hazel—for fantastic art work in the style of Van Gogh and the style of Mondrian. Year 3: John—for doing so well to learn all his assembly lines and for speaking them so well; Madelyn and Louise—for a brilliant dance, which they devised entirely on their own. Year 4: Livia—for brilliant work in DT, making a money container, and for being so happy to share her resources with others who needed them; Cara—for great quality, quantity and accuracy of work in English and maths, and for sharing brilliant ideas during the class’ DT work making purses; Aniela—for great perseverance and imagination shown when making a fantastic money container with its own strap. Year 5: Jamie—for approaching guided reading with enthusiasm and a willingness to take risks when answering questions; Chiara—for working extremely hard and demonstrating a great enthusiasm for learning, being a super learning partner to anyone she works with; Christian—for an admirable thirst for knowledge in maths, including creating his own maths dictionary of facts he researched. Year 6: Olivia—for presenting work beautifully and for great progress in grammar and maths; Megan—for being an excellent mathematician, an engaging writer and a great friend to others; Kristian—for being very conscientious, making excellent progress in maths and demonstrating a very sensible approach to learning. Thank you God for our gifts and talents Forthcoming dates: 13 February—School closes for half-term holiday 25 February—School Mass—all parents welcome (9.05am) 26 February—Year 4 trip to Butser Ancient Farm 28 February—Friends Quiz Night 2&3 March—Parent consultation meetings 3 March—World Wildlife Day 5 March—World Book Day (celebrated in school on 6 March—remember dressing up) 9 March—Year 5 to Royal Grammar School Tudor experience 10-13 March—Year 5 bikeability 10, 17, 24 March—Cross country events 11 March—Catenian public speaking competition (Year 6) 13 March—Year 2 class assembly 16 March—Woking Schools Music Festival (Aldershot) 18 March—’Youth Speaks’ event (Year 6) 18 March—Netball rally 20 March—Year 1 class assembly 20 March—Confessions in school 24 March—Year 6 to Junior Citizen 24 March—Year 3 trip to Haslemere Museum St John’s Knaphill Children’s Centre News The Parent and Toddler session next week will be on TUESDAY 17th instead of Wednesday – just for half term. It will run from 10.00 - 11.30 in the hall and combine with Bumps and Babes. This is our only activity next week as there is no Play and Learn on Friday. The Centre will be open each day from 9.00 – 1.30 so you can still contact us. On Friday 27th February we are having our first Single Parent’s Lunch from 12.15 – 1.30. If you’re a lone parent and have any children under 5 you’ll be very welcome. We’ll provide the lunch – just let us know by Wednesday 25th if you plan to come – children of course too! You can find details of all the centre’s activities on the website www.stjohnsknaphillchildrenscentre.co.uk or contact the Centre: childrenscentre@stjohnsknaphill.co.uk 01483 476450 – 4 Chris, Gemma and Kirsty World Wildlife Day / World Book Day Please remember that on 6 March we would like children to dress up to celebrate World Wildlife Day and World Book Day. We would like children to dress as a book character, preferably incorporating an animal as part of their outfit (of course, the whole outfit could be an animal!) Parents have suggested to me another good idea for World Book Day—children may well have books at home they have enjoyed reading but have now ‘finished with’ - any children with a book or books they would be happy to bring into school to swap for a book or books brought in by another child will have the opportunity to do this on 6 March—I will oversee the swaps. Friends Thank you to the Friends who I met with on Tuesday evening—not just for the meeting but for all the work that goes on over the course of the year thinking of fundraising ideas and organising events. The Friends have agreed to fund the purchase of tablets for use by children in all classes—a major investment that would not be possible from within the school’s budget. Please do support the Friends in their fundraising activities—they benefit all the children in the school. School Development Plan STRATEGIC INTENT 3: The well-being and development of the whole community is actively promoted. (BEHAVIOUR AND SAFETY) More hygienic toilet facilities, in which children feel safer. This is half done, with the other half to be done over the next fortnight. Improved storage of resources. Reception Class have better storage facilities. Improved storage of reading books and resources in the area outside Years 4, 5 and 6 will require funding not currently available. Variety of lunchtime activities, including structured lunchtime activity. There are now more children running clubs at lunch and other times—eg. World Wildlife, Art, Dance Pupils understand and can talk about e-safety at an age appropriate level. Safer internet day was marked in all classes this week. Parent material accompanies this newsletter. Improved security and safety of the school site. Fences bordering the school car park have been replaced. Boundary fencing will be replaced over the next two weeks. Exemplary school safeguarding procedures. Five members of staff attended safeguarding training on Wednesday. Every teacher, teaching assistant, office staff member and our caretaker have attended this safeguarding training. I attended mandatory refresher training for my role as designated child protection officer last Friday.