Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that you all had a fabulous half term break and that you managed to find opportunities to spend quality time with friends and family in the busyness of life.
Inset Day
You may wonder what staff do on Inset (In-service education and training) days. Inset days are built into the school year to provide time for staff to do a variety of things. These includes opportunities for staff to learn new skills, brush up on their existing knowledge and focus on key areas of development to help them promote learning and improve outcomes for pupils. On Monday 4th November, St Mary’s joined the staff from other local schools to listen to two inspirational speakers, focusing on the modern challenges for the young people in our schools. Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and Jeffrey Boakye author, educator, journalist and broadcaster spoke about sexism and racism and intersecting inequalities. The feedback from staff was resoundingly positive. It made us stop and reflect on our own actions, open up difficult conversations and reflect on what we can do better in our schools. If you are interested in finding out more about the two speakers, please follow the links.
Parent Consultations
Next Tuesday and Wednesday you are invited to make an appointment to come and meet your child’s class teacher to discuss their progress, achievements and next steps. Research tells us that school and parents working together has the best impact on children’s wellbeing and outcomes. For this reason we would love to see you all. Many of you will have already booked your appointment but if you haven’t done so, please do so asap (link below).
Book Fair
Please make sure that you visit the school book fair next week. These will be open during Parent Consultations and may be the opportunity to purchase some Christmas gifts and get ahead with the Christmas shopping! Remember for every purchase, the school gets a small contribution to spend on books for the children’s classrooms.
Music and Cultural Workshops
Next week, the children across the school will be attending either African drumming or Steel pan workshops. This is something that the children and staff look forward to and the amazing sounds echo around the buildings bring joy to everyone who hears. Please ask your children about their experiences next week.
Flood Works and Our Reflection Area
You will have seen all of the works happening at the front of St Mary’s at Rectory Gardens. After a serious flood a few years ago, we have been fortunate to acquire some funding to carry out some works that will prevent the school from flooding again in the future. To you and me it looks like we just have a new fence and planting, however it is the science behind what is sitting underground, away from our view, that is fascinating and will help to protect the school. Similarly in the car park and at the back of the playground, works have been completed as these are the areas by which the flood waters travelled and sat. On top of the underground soakaways and pump, we have a new area for quiet reflection. This area consists of some seating, decking, planting and stepping stones in a relaxed and calming environment. There are still a few more jobs to be done in this area before the children can access it, however it already looks wonderful and we are very thankful for these additions to the Rectory Gardens site.
Sarah Blakeley – Teaching Assistant – Memorial
Many of you will remember the very sad news of Ms Blakeley’s death at the beginning of the term. Sarah was a much-loved member of the staff team and community who worked at St Mary’s for 18 years. You may be interested to know that staff, family and friends of Sarah came together on Thursday for a memorial service. Sarah leaves behind a legacy of dedication, kindness, and professionalism but also a generation of young people and adults who she has shaped and influenced in one way or another. In the reflection and quiet space that I described above, we planted a tree to remember Sarah. The tree will provide shade and a place to “just be” in the playground in which she spent many years. Although the area is not completely finished, when it is, please go and take a look and maybe take a moment to be still and reflect, in what is often a very busy day.
Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Jane O’Brien
Headteacher
