Newsletter17 September Newsletter

17/09/2021by St Paul's Primary School

Dear Parents/Carers, Welcome back to St. Paul’s for our academic year 2021-2022. We are so happy to have you all back at school as we have so many exciting things planned for the year ahead. I hope you have had an enjoyable summer. The children have certainly had lots of exciting stories to share. It...

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to St. Paul’s for our academic year 2021-2022. We are so happy to have you all back at school as we have so many exciting things planned for the year ahead. I hope you have had an enjoyable summer. The children have certainly had lots of exciting stories to share. It has been great to see all of the happy faces, desperate to see their new teachers and friends.

A very warm welcome to our new Reception and Nursery children and their families who are settling in really well. Your children will be happy and content here and we will endeavour to support you all as families.

We wish all our new families a special St. Paul’s welcome, and we hope they will continue to enjoy their time at school. We look forward to working with you. I know you will continue to work with us, so your child can grow in confidence, with a love of learning, and a determination to be the best version of themselves.

We are really looking forward to the fresh new start this year. Please get in contact with school if you have any worries or concerns. Thank you for your ongoing and enthusiastic support into the exciting new school year.

Miss Harvey
Deputy Head Teacher

Attendance

Attendance up to the 10th September 2021, is 97.69%. The school target is 97%.

Parent Governor Vacancy

Nominations are now being invited for the Position of Parent Governor on our school’s Governing Body.

Parent governors play an important role as members of the governing body, which is responsible for directing the conduct of the school and for promoting high standards of educational achievement. The term of office for parent governors as determined by the governing body is 4 years.

You will need to be able to commit sufficient time. We are looking for someone who can take an active role, attend regular meetings, some of which may be during the day. Attendance at Full Governors and Committee Meetings each school term will also be expected.

Training is available for all governors and those new to being a governor are encouraged to attend induction training. All of our governors are expected to follow the Code of Conduct.

If you would like to stand for election please pop into the school office to pick up a nomination form, which needs to be returned to the school no later than Friday 24th September (i.e. you must get two parent/carers to nominate you, and you must sign to state that you are accepting the nomination.)

Nominations must be from parents or carers with children at the school. Parents/carers being nominated are invited to provide some brief details limited to no more than 150 words suitable for inclusion in a ballot paper should there be more than one nomination. More than one nomination will result in voting papers being send out to all parents/carers with details of the ballot procedure.

Supply Midday Supervisor

We are looking for individuals who can work the lunchtime period to cover staff absences. Hours of work will be 11.45am until 1.00pm each day. The role will involve supervising the children at lunchtimes, both on the playground and in classrooms if it is raining, making sure the children are playing safely and monitoring lunchtimes in the dinner hall.

The supply role will not commence until all pre-employment checks have been made. If you are interested in this position, please pick up a job application form from the school office.

Staff Retirement

Mrs Knight, who works in our school office, will sadly be retiring on Friday 1st October.

Mrs Knight has worked at our school for over 25 years, and is going to be greatly missed by us all. We wish her a very long and happy retirement.

If you wish to bring in cards, please do so from Monday 27th Sept.

Green Energy

Governors decided at a recent resources meeting for St. Paul’s to move to a 100% renewable energy from 1st October 2021 and using Pure Green energy means that we can report zero emissions for electricity. A small step towards making our school more environmentally sustainable towards climate change.

Library Bus and Reading Hut

The work on the Library Bus and

Reading Hut is almost complete and the children will be able to use them both very soon.

Educaterers

We are delighted that Educaterers have taken over the supply of our school meals from Monday 6th September. Educaterers have over 60 years’ experience in the education sector and their mission is to provide delicious, healthy nutritious food to everyone they serve. Further information about Educaterers can be found on their website educaterers.co.uk. Educaterers focus on working with schools to provide food that children want to eat and they use their ‘Nutrigang’ to raise pupil awareness of not only food and nutrition but also sustainability and ecology.

New menus are available from the school foyer area and on the school website. If your child is entitled to a free school meal, please encourage them to give the meals a try.

School Dinners

The new menu from Educaterers is now up and running and proving very popular. Meals cost £2.25 per day and remember if your child is in Foundation or KS1, they are free. Please follow the link to the school website where you can find up to date menus.

Free School Meals

Pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are automatically eligible for a free school dinner under the Universal Free School Meals initiative launched by the government a few years ago but some parents may not realise that unless you apply for FreeSchool Meals through the Local Authority, the school will receive additional funding that can help support your child.

Whether your child is in receipt of a universal school dinner (Reception, Year 1 or Year 2) or in Nursery, Years 3-6, if you are in receipt of any of the below benefits, please phone free schools meals on 01926 359189.

income support
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
income-related employment and support allowance (ESA)
guarantee element of state pension credit
Universal Credit (with an annual income of less than £7,400)
Both income-based and contribution-based JSA/ ESA if you receive the same amount for both. You should also qualify if you receive both, but the income-based amount is greater, but not if the contribution-based amount is
Families who are awarded Child Tax Credit and have an annual income assessed by HMRC to be no more than £16,190, providing there is no entitlement to Working Tax Credit (unless in respect of a 4-week ‘run-on’).

Jubilee Day

This year, with the announcement of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June half term, the Department for Education has stated that the school year should be reduced from 190 to 189 days. We will therefore end the school year a day early, so Wednesday 20th July 2022 will be the last day of term. Thursday 21st July will be a teacher training day.

Twitter

For up to date photos, links and infor mation on what your children are doing, see and learning at St. Paul’s every day, follow us at: twitter.com/StPaulsSchNun

Parents Evening

Our first Parents Consultation dates are set for Monday 4th October to Thursday 7th October and will be held virtually. You will receive a letter with more information about how to book on Monday 20th September. It is important that your e-mail address and mobile number is correct on our system and please make sure you book your parents meeting as soon as the system goes live to ensure you get the best time to suit you.

ParentPay

Could we remind Parents/Carers when pay ing on ParentPay, Please can you not pay via Bank Transfer, as this process takes up to 15 days and your account remains “Pending”. Please pay by “Visa/Debit” or “Other Method”. Thank you.

Parents Consultations

Book Fair

Our book fair will be running next week, please can you visit on the following days to avoid congestion in school:

Monday: Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & 2
Tuesday: Year 3 & 4
Thursday: Year 5 & 6

Please can we ask parents/carers to wear a mask in school.

Please log on to Scholaststic’s website for instructions on how to order and pay for books. PAYMENT IS TO BE MADE ONLINE, CASH PAYMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED. Scholastic’s new online payment system is available for parents wishing to pay by card either at the fair or from home.

They have an online secure payment system where you can pay for books securely. You can access the parent payment system either by the link bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/pay or QR code (this will be on display in the hall next week). You scan the QR code and proceed to make payment at the Book Fair, avoiding queuing and grouping.

All fair materials can be found on their website under the Free Digital Resource Pack banner bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/free resources. Thank you for supporting

Accident Reporting

The school continues to use an on-line system for the recording of accidents and parents will receive an e-mail notification of any minor accident such as a small bump, cut or graze.

When our first aiders consider the injury may require further medical care by a GP or Hospital or is a head injury, then our policy is to call the priority contact by telephone. Please ensure the school has all up to date phone numbers and an email address.