Dear Parents & Carers,
It is hard to believe that once again we find ourselves almost at the end of another school year, and yet there is still so much more to do, achieve and experience.
Whipsnade & Broadstairs Trip – Tuesday 27th June
As with your children, we too are hugely looking forward to the trip to Whipsnade Zoo for Church Lane children and to Broadstairs Beach for those at Rectory Gardens. You will be receiving additional communications from the school offices about these trips and, of course, we would like every one of our children to be able to go. Therefore, please confirm your child’s attendance as soon as possible by paying for these exciting trips online via SchoolMoney.
Support for PSA – Summer Fair is fast approaching, Saturday 1st July, 1-4pm
It will be July before you know it, with 1st July marking the day of our annual Summer Fair. The PSA representatives are busily preparing what we are sure will be a joyful day, filled with lots of fun activities to take part in and enjoying the food, drink in the sunshine with our lovely school community. However, the PSA need all hands on deck, so please support this if you can, by making yourself available for even just an hour on the day itself. If you can help, please speak to Lorraine, Nicole, Sally or Rebecca in the school offices and they will put you in touch with the PSA chair, Montse.
Changes to Ofsted Framework and Academy Order update
You will no doubt have seen or read in the news about proposed changes to the Ofsted framework. Whilst it is widely acknowledged amongst the teaching profession that these changes do not yet go far enough, I am heartened that it is at least acknowledged by Ofsted that the system needs improving. Hopefully, this will lead to more changes in time, especially if the sector continues to feel pressures as it currently does.
Rights Respecting Accreditation
Yesterday, we were assessed by a UNICEF Rights Respecting accreditor to determine whether or not we were able to progress from our Bronze status to that of Silver. I am delighted to inform you that this has indeed been achieved; this is as a result of the efforts of our Rights Respecting Lead, Ms Abernethy, alongside our school’s Rights Respecting Steering Group. Increasingly, our children are fully aware of their rights as well as responsibilities, and as duty bearing adults, we do our very best to ensure that children have full access to their rights on a daily basis. The children and staff who met with a UNICEF adviser answered lots of questions about how children learn about, through, and for their rights at St Mary’s. The children spoke with great enthusiasm and proved very knowledgeable. We’re very proud of them.
Helen Hutchings’ Memorial Space Opening
Last week Friday, we had the opening of a special area in our school garden that has been designated a space for reflection, quiet and peace in Helen Hutching’s name. Helen’s immediate family members came along to open the seating area on top of the mound in the garden and were hugely touched and so very grateful for the effort of so many people in making such a special space. Our huge thanks to our staff members, Janet Brewer and Ian Bruce, for their efforts in developing this area. Also, very special thanks to the Cooper-Coote family for their very generous donation to allow for the funding of this area.
Unicef Schools Week Challenge w/c 19th June
You received a letter last week with details of this fundraiser bringing awareness and funds for the vital work done by Unicef. You can read the letter HERE and please send your child in with £1 next week.
Summer “Soulstice” Concert
We have lots of musical treats in store before the end of term, starting with our “Summer Soulstice” concert on Wednesday 21st June featuring choir, band and a few solo and group performances. Please come along to watch. It starts at 5pm at Rectory Gardens. Have a look at the poster below.
Have a great weekend and I hope to see some of you at the concert on Wednesday.
Calvin Henry
Headteacher
