St Mary's Newsletter

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you!

On behalf of the staff team at St Mary’s, I wanted to say thank you for your continuing support and cooperation as we all strive to ensure our children flourish. Your kind words, messages and gifts this Christmas mean a lot and we are very appreciative.

Christmas events

I hope that you have enjoyed the Christmas events as much as I have. We have had so much fun with the children over the past few days, enjoying Christmas dinner together, dressing up in our finest Christmas jumpers and attire, and cheering on the children in the Santa Run. Did you enjoy the Christmas shows? It was fantastic to see so many parents join us both at Church Lane and Rectory Gardens. Seeing the school community coming together on these occasions is very special and I am sure that like me, you are very proud of all the children. We have a school bursting with talented children and it was a joy to see examples of this in the shows. Collectively their singing was magical, so much so I had goosebumps listening to them.

Attendance and punctuality

I hope that you have all read the information that was sent out a few days ago with regard to the slight changes to the start of the school day (you can see the information below too). You should also have received our new Attendance and Punctuality Parent’s Leaflet. I hope that these help clarify start times and the schools expectations. We have also posted this information on the schools website to enable the information to be translated into required languages.

Fundraising for sensory spaces

Our JustGiving page is still open to those who would like to support us in fundraising. We are all so unique and that’s what makes us all special. Some people have sensory processing difficulties and for those children in our school, we want to better support them with access to sensory spaces. These are spaces that are calming and relaxing, away from the liveliness of the school day. They help reduce stress and anxiety so that children are better ready to learn. Some children need their senses stimulated by calming music, lights and movement. Others get-over stimulated and need a calming and relaxing space to help them regulate. These are spaces that will be helpful to lots of children and we are thankful for your amazing support in fundraising so far.

Wishing you all a healthy and happy Christmas break and a very happy New Year,

Jane O’Brien

Headteacher

Important Dates – please make a note

Thursday 21st December – LAST DAY OF TERM
Friday 22nd December – Christmas Holiday begins
Monday 8th January – Children return to school – Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6 8.45am & Church Lane 9.00am
Wednesday 10th January – Year 2 to Tower of London
Thursday 18th January – Y4 to Natural History Museum
Tuesday 23rd January – Y5 Topaz Class Assembly
Thursday 25th January – Year 3 to Muswell Hill Synagogue
Tuesday 30th January – Y5 Turquoise Class Assembly
Thursday 1st February – Year 6 & Reception Height & Weight
Tuesday 6th February – Y2 Marigold Class Assembly
Wednesday 7th February – Reading/Phonics Stay & Play
Tuesday 27th February – Y2 Buttercup Class Assembly
Tuesday 5th March – Y1 Saffron Class Assembly
Thursday 7th March – World Book Day – more details to follow
Tuesday 12th March – Y1 Tangerine Class Assembly
w/c 11th March – Science Week – more details to follow

For Your Information

Don’t forget to book up for clubs for Spring Term – they will all start the week children return to school (08/01/24). The lunchtime Chess Club at Church Lane has lots of spaces and may not continue unless we get a good sign-up in 2024. It’s a great game for children to learn and helps develop strategic thinking, problem solving and is a fun social activity. Why not give it a go! Please also note that previous attendance of a club does not guarantee a place going forward and that some clubs have waiting lists.
We are raising funds for new sensory pods on each site and have match-funding up to £1,000. We’re so close so please consider donating here Sensory Pods Fundraising
Use the translate button to see our new Attendance & Punctuality Leaflet 2024
Christmas Junk Modelling Art Project – Ms Lincoln & Ms Bellini have a Christmas art challenge to make good use of recycling materials click here for details Christmas Holiday Art Challenge 2023
Thank you so much for your wonderful donations for the Hornsey Food Bank – the staff there were very grateful by your generosity (see photo below)
Luka Elson, a former pupil at St Mary’s, has been awarded Grassroots Match Official of the Year 2023 Match Official of the Year
We’d love to hear the news of any other former St Mary’s pupils so please get in touch with any updates – swalker@stmarysn8.co.uk
Also featuring another of our former pupils, the current Haringey SEND Newsletter shows (among lots of other useful information) the Youth Take Over in the Council offices, featuring Lois working in Children’s Services SEND Newsletter
Children, parents and carers are invited to take part in a Secret Safari Community Cycle on 30th December – Haringey Cycling Campaign, Haringey Living Streets, and Healthy Streets St Ann’s, are sending an invitation to parents, carers and pupils to join in a community family-friendly Secret Safari cycle ride on Saturday, December 30th at 11am. The event will start at Chestnuts Park cafe and finish at Lordship Rec, visiting wonderful murals by local artists James Straffon and ATMStreetArt en route. To take part please complete the registration link For a glimpse of some of their recent rides, please see our ride reports and the video here. For more details click here Secret Safari Community Ride
Hornsey Food Bank said a big THANK YOU to parents, carers, children & staff for their Christmassy donations – you can read it here Thank you from Hornsey Food Bank
Have a look at our new Spring Term menus from Olive Dining and please let us know if your child will still be school meals or packed lunch next term School Meals Spring Term 2024
Interested in hockey? See poster below for information about Southgate Hockey Club

Reminders

Please remember to let us know if your child is changing their meal preference for the Spring Term – from packed lunch to school dinner or the other way round!

Contact Details

Are your contact details up-to-date?

If you have changed your address, telephone or email address please let us know as soon as possible. Have your personal circumstances changed? Again, please let us know. If you don’t get emails or texts from us then we may need to update your details.

Class News

Nursery	We have been having lots of fun in nursery preparing for the festive season. We decorated our classroom to make it look magical for Christmas. We have made beautiful Christmas cards and Christmas decorations to take home and hang on the tree. We read the story ‘Little Robin Red Vest’ and spoke about how caring Robin was by giving out sweaters to keep the animals warm, and how in turn he was treated with a very special sweater from Father Christmas. Nursery were wonderful in The Nativity and really showed off their fantastic singing and dancing skills as sheep! Have a wonderful Christmas break and a happy New Year- We look forward to seeing you in 2024!
Reception	In Reception, we have been enjoying lots of Christmas stories together and practising our counting and subitising skills with lots of Christmas maths games. We have completed Phase 1+ of Floppy’s Phonics and the children are excited to start Phase 2 and learn new sounds after the holiday. We joined the rest of the school and the Church Team for our Christmas service at church, where the children were amazing at singing lots of the Christmas songs they have learned. Last but not least, the children really enjoyed their Christmas party together with lots of games and delicious food. We hope you all have a lovely festive break together with your children.
Year 1	In our last week before the Christmas holidays we have continued to practise using our phonics sounds through phonics lessons and reading. We have investigated Christmas poems and written our own about what we see and hear at Christmas using the pronoun ‘I’. We have also investigated patterns of shape in maths. Additionally, as it is our last week at school we have made lovely Christmas crafts, such as snowmen lolly sticks and straw Christmas tree decorations.
Year 2	It has been a very busy few weeks in year 2. We were delighted to share our nativity performances with all of our families last week. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. We think it was the best nativity ever! In addition, we have been up to lots of fun things. As part of learning in English, we made mince pies as part of our instructional writing. Have a look at the photos. In science we were busy investigating reflective materials. We had to shine the torch on a material and if the card lit up, we knew it was reflective. As festivities are now in full swing, we have been creating lots of Christmas themed art such as some amazing Christmas cards which we know the children cannot wait to share with you. The year 2 team would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of our St Mary’s community a very Happy Christmas and New Year! It has been your continued support that has enabled us to support your children to thrive and achieve and we are truly grateful for this special partnership we have. We wish you all a very restful and peaceful break. Happy Holidays!
Year 3	In English we have been writing instructions on how to trap an animal and how to wrap a present We have been including imperative verbs, time conjunctions, sub-headings and the present tense. In our maths lessons we have been consolidating everything that we have covered so far this term with a particular focus on the four main operations (multiplication, division, addition and subtraction). We have also been developing the way in which we select the most appropriate method to solve problems. Continuing with our geography topic of Rivers we have learnt about the River Indus. We have looked at how the river changes, how rivers get their water and how rivers shape the land. We also used the River Severn as a reference point when investigating the source and mouth of a river.
Year 4	Year 4 have now completed their poetry writing in English, writing shape poems, acrostic poems and kennings. In maths we have finished our work on area and have been working hard on our times tables challenge. In science we concluded our experiment on the effects different liquids have on teeth enamel – our results were very interesting so do ask your children! We have also been preparing for Christmas by looking at Jesus’ message of peace at Christmas in RE. Have a wonderful Christmas break and happy new year from the Year 4 team.
Year 5	In English over the last two weeks, we have completed a report about the black women scientists in ‘Hidden Figures’. We completed an assessed piece of writing using what we had learned about writing reports to write a report about the Round City of Baghdad. We also really enjoyed watching the film of Hidden Figures; this was a very powerful film that helped us to understand the significance of what these women achieved. We continued our work on fractions in maths and are now gaining confidence in adding fractions with different denominators. Our RE lessons ended this term by looking at how the Christmas story is represented in art and also in a wonderful nativity performance.
Year 6	We have continued our English work based on non-chronological reports, looking at how they are structured and how to organise information but still deliver it in an interesting way for a reader. We have been building on our knowledge of equivalent fractions in our maths lessons in order to be able to add or subtract them, including when presented in mixed number. In science, we have continued our topic on evolution and inheritance with the classes learning how animals and plants have adapted to suit their habitats. As this term draws to a close, we have also come to the ends of some of our topics. In geography, we have concluded our unit on the polar regions and in RE we have come to the end of looking how Christians advertise Christmas. We would like to wish everyone a happy holiday and we look forward to seeing the children in the new year.

In the news over the last two weeks…

Children of the Week – w/e 26 01 24 & 02 02 24

Christian Values of the week: 26 01 24 & 02 02 24 – How We Show Our Vision Through Through Endurance / How We Show Our Vision Through Compassion

Children of the Week – w/e 12 01 24 & 19 01 24

Christian Values of the week: 12 01 24 & 19 01 24 – How We Show Our Vision Through Wisdom & Hope

Children of the Week – w/e 15 12 23 & 21 12 23

Christian Values of the week: 01 12 23 & 08 12 23 – How We Show Our Vision Through Wisdom & Hope

Intra House Football Competition – w/c 04 12 23

Christmas 2023

As we love, we flourish
As we flourish, we aspire
As we aspire, we achieve
Together, we are a family

St Mary's Newsletter

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)

Important Dates – please make a note

Monday 8th January – Children return to school – Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6 8.45am & Church Lane 9.00am

For Your Information

Reminders

Contact Details

Class News

In the news over the last two weeks…

Children of the Week – w/e 26 01 24 & 02 02 24

Children of the Week – w/e 12 01 24 & 19 01 24

Children of the Week – w/e 15 12 23 & 21 12 23

Intra House Football Competition – w/c 04 12 23

Christmas 2023

Contact Details

Useful Links