Dear Parents and Carers,
Here we are, already at the half term break. I hope that you get some down time for yourselves and an opportunity for some quality time with your loved ones.
Class Assemblies
We have been entertained by our Year 1 and Year 3 classes over the past couple of weeks, as they showcased some of their learning for family, staff and friends. If you were in the audience, I hope that you enjoyed watching.
Year 1 told us about their trip to London Zoo, with great enthusiasm and wearing their animal masks. They taught us about the different types of animals, their characteristics and what makes them different from one another. Do you know some of the characteristics of fish, reptiles and birds? Do you know what characterises an amphibian or mammal? They also entertained us with songs and Devora performed a piece on her violin. What amazing and talented children we have!
What do you know about rivers? Well, Year 3 know lots and delivered a very informative assembly last week. Their learning had been made even more exciting and relevant by visiting the River Thames, looking at water quality and things that they found in the river. Again, they spoke confidently and sang beautifully as they entertained us all.
Upcoming Assemblies
We have lots of special assemblies coming up for the children – keep an eye on the calendar and the dates below but we wanted to draw your attention to one shortly after we return.
To mark the beginning of Lent, we will be holding a special Ash Wednesday assembly where the Church Team will invite the children to have the sign of the cross made on their foreheads with ash. Please discuss this with your children in advance of the assembly on Wednesday 5th March, and decide whether you are happy for them to have the mark made. Thank you.
Trips and Activities for Safer Internet Day
As well as Year 1’s trip to the Zoo, children in Year 5 visited Kew Gardens this week. It was a dry day but very cold and slightly muddy, however they all had a fantastic time as they learned more about their topic, rainforests. This week we have also had special assemblies around E-safety and have been learning more in class for Safer Internet Day. As well as one-off learning around E-safety, we also have learning embedded into our curriculum through Computing and Personal Social Health Education (PSHE). This is such an important topic and we look forward to inviting you to learn more about E-safety at a meeting next half term. Watch out for the date in school communication.
Uniform
With the half term holiday approaching, and the promise of warmer weather to come, I would like to remind parents/carers of the rules and expectations for uniform at St Mary’s as there is quite a lot of variation going on. If you are replacing uniform over half term, please bear in mind the information below:
Please note our uniform rules are as follows:
We wear school uniform:
- Grey or bottle green pinafore dress or skirt (not black)
- Summer dress – green and white gingham
- Long grey or black school trousers/shorts
- White shirt with a tie or white blouse/polo shirt
- Plain bottle green V-neck jumper/sweatshirt/cardigan or with school logo
- Tights or socks – white, grey, bottle green or black
- Black shoes (no open-toed or sling back sandals/shoes, slip-on shoes are not ideal for the school environment). If trainers, these must be black with no bright logos, flashing details or coloured laces/soles
- Long hair should be securely tied back. No large hair decorations. We strongly discourage children from having shaved, patterned hair styles
- No tattoo transfers or nail varnish to be worn
- Children who wear earrings should only wear studs for reasons of safety
- Small and simple analogue watches are allowed. No other jewellery should be worn
- Make up is not allowed
PE Kit
- No PE kit is necessary for Nursery
- Children will be allocated a House in their first term
- Children wear House colour T-shirt, black shorts in summer, and black tracksuit bottoms or leggings with a sweatshirt/hoodie in their House colours or black in winter
- Black plimsolls or trainers – no bright logos, flashing details or coloured laces/soles
- On PE days, RG & CL children can wear their PE kit to school
- For the second PE day, children can wear black trainers with their uniform
- Click here to see Mr Oakley’s letter about PE kit Correct PE kit letter JO 13 02 25
We recommend that all uniform is labelled so that lost items can be easily returned
Have a great half term holiday and we will see you back in school on Monday 24th February,
Best wishes
Jane O’Brien
Headteacher
