21st October 2022
21 October 2022
Dear Parents and Carers,
It was great to see so many of you coming into school to talk to class teachers about how your child has settled into school over the last number of weeks. As a parent of a St George’s child myself, I am so grateful to have chosen this wonderful school as the place my child will develop and grow as a learner. The staff are caring and are always willing to go the extra mile to ensure the children have the best educational experience possible. The children themselves are curious, well-behaved and motivated to succeed as learners and the parents are supportive, friendly and community-spirited.
It is no wonder that Mr Hanratty used to view this school as a palace of learning. Thank you to the staff and children for their hard work, and to you for your support. It has been an enjoyable half-term, and I do hope we will all return, refreshed, after a well-deserved half-term break.
On Tuesday, the Year 5/6 Boys Football Team took on the boys from Trull School and it was a fantastic game to watch. A huge congratulations to the St George’s blues, as they smashed it and brought home the Vivary Cup. Thank you also to Mr C and Mr White for organising the event. They give up their time to ensure the children have so many of these fantastic opportunities to enjoy a good run around and some healthy competition.
Parent Volunteers – Parent Support Group
We are in great need of volunteers to support with our school fundraising initiatives. Without your support, we cannot run much loved events, such as the School Disco and Movie Night, or the Christmas Hamper Raffle. As PSG events, they cannot be run by the school and without a Parent Support Group, they will disappear from our school calendar. If you would like to save these much loved moments for your children, we would urge you to take the plunge and get in touch.
The school would propose that a KS1 Disco/KS2 Movie Night could be held on Friday 18th November and a KS2 Disco/KS1 Movie Night could be held on Friday 25th November. However, the PSG would need lots of volunteers to run this. We know that many parents are on class/school WhatsApp/Facebook Groups, and we hope that you can get some conversations going around organising these events.
One traditional idea from the PSG has been to organise a Mufti Day where items are donated by families and prize hampers are made up. If you would like to get involved in this, please see the school office and we can organise a date for the Mufti day, and letters to go out to inform parents of any plans. Volunteers would be needed to make up the hampers. We are really hopeful that some kind souls among you can commit to supporting our PSG!
Support in Caring for our Books
Key Stage One children are currently using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds reading scheme. The school has invested in Collins Big Cat Books to support the children’s phonics and reading. These books are used in class during the school week and are then sent home as a home reader to enable the children to gain further practice. There are only 6 books in each pack, and it is vital that any books sent home are returned routinely, and in good condition. The books are then needed in class and if there are missing or damaged books, the school will no longer have the resources necessary for reading and phonics sessions. We greatly appreciate your support in helping to care for our home reading books, as they are a vital, costly resource, enabling our pupils to develop and grow as readers.
Poppy Appeal
We will begin collecting for the annual Poppy Appeal after half-term. If your child would like to purchase a poppy, please send a donation in and these will be sold in each class until Remembrance Day. Donations are gratefully received, and every poppy sold shows care for the lives of our Armed Forces Community.
First Holy Communion
On behalf of the Church, we would like to inform parents that the First Holy Communion course will be starting in January 2023. To be eligible to join the course, children need to be in Year 3 or above and must have been baptised. Visit www.tauntonvalecatholics.com and click on the Sacraments tab for further details, and to sign up.
Photographs
Please can I remind parents and carers that Tempest Photography will be here on Friday 4th November to take individual and family photos. This is the first Friday back after half-term.
Amenities/Swimming
Please can I remind all parents and carers that each year, we ask for a voluntary contribution of
£10 per term per child for swimming, and £10 per term for each family for School Amenities.
The school has always traditionally asked parents and carers for an amenity contribution. The Amenities Fund allows the school to give children extra opportunities and experiences such as visiting artists, performers and sport companies. We feel it is crucial that the children continue to have these WOW moments and with the rising costs of maintaining and running the swimming pool, we would really appreciate your contribution to allow this to continue.
Payments for Swimming and Amenities can be paid online, details are as follows:
Bank Account Number: 02887152 Sort-Code: 30-98-45
Please quote ref S for Swimming or A for Amenities
Flu Immunisation
The nurses are visiting St George's on Tuesday 29th November to give the flu nasal spray for the whole school. It is vital that parents and carers complete the consent form using the following link https://www.somersetsaint.co.uk/Forms/Flu and enter the school’s unique code: SM123851.
This link will close on the morning of the session date but we request that you do this as soon as possible. If you are unable to access the online consent form for any reason, please contact Somerset SAINT for assistance on 0300 3230032.
Reception Intake Applications
Time to start school? If you have a child born between 1st September 2018 and 31st August 2019, then now is the time to apply for a place at our school for admission from September 2023 onwards. You must complete an application form that is available from the school admissions team at County Hall, Somerset County Council. Please ensure you apply by the closing date of 15 January 2023. If your child is Catholic, you must also provide a copy of the baptism certificate to the school by this date.
Best wishes for a lovely half-term break,
Edwina McDonnell
Upcoming Dates:
Saturday 22nd October – Sunday 30th October: SCHOOL CLOSED (Half-Term)
Monday 31st October – SCHOOL OPEN
Tuesday 1st November – All Saints Day – Mass in Church at 9.30am. Parents welcome.
Friday 4th November – School Photographs
Tuesday, 29th November – Flu Immunisations
Wednesday, 14th December – Carol Concert at St George’s Church, 9.30am. Parents welcome.
Thursday 15th December – End of Term Mass in School, 9.30am. Parents welcome.
