30th June 2023 - Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

This Week in School

On Wednesday, our Year 6 pupils boarded a bus for Woodlands, Somerset, where they camped for 2 nights. For many of the children, this was their first experience of camping, so it is very exciting that they were able to tick this off before they leave St George’s. We are delighted to be able to offer our pupils residential trips to Pinkery in Year 4, Kilve Court in Year 5 and Woodlands in Year 6. Each of these experiences are very different in many ways, but they have team building and developing confidence in common. As a Headteacher, I am so grateful to the wonderful staff at our school who continue to give up their time to offer these fantastic experiences, and to our parents, for being so supportive of us providing these opportunities for their children. A big well done to Mrs Gavins, Miss Walkman, Mrs Hazeldine and Mr Chidgey for taking 33 pre-adolescent children away for 3 days and surviving to tell the tale!

On Thursday, we celebrated a Holy Day of Obligation at St George’s Church – the Feast of St Peter and St Paul. As the Year 6 staff and pupils are away on their residential trip, our Year 5 students supported by Mrs Rolf, were charged with leading the Mass. I’m sure all who attended would agree that the Year 5 children did a fantastic job! They read confidently and were wonderful role models to the younger children present. Very soon, they will be entering their final year at our school, and it was lovely to see them taking on the responsibility of leading the school in a Mass (and sitting on the steps in assembly – an honour usually reserved for Year 6!) and to look so comfortable while doing so.

Teacher’s Strikes

As you may be aware, there are two further teacher’s strike days coming up next week, on Wednesday 5^th and Friday 7^th July. Although strike action is planned in one year group on Wednesday, on this occasion we do not expect the provision for the children to be significantly affected and our school will remain open. In this year group, the children’s timetable and curriculum provision may vary from the usual. However, we will keep any disruption to a minimum. Therefore, St George’s School will remain open next week for all pupils.

Transition Days

Despite the strikes, we believe that most local secondary schools are going ahead with transition days for Year 6 pupils next Tuesday and Wednesday. However, all parents should receive direct confirmation of this from their child’s intended secondary school. Do get in touch with them if you haven’t had any further information confirming this.

For other classes, our ‘Moving Up’ morning will take place on Wednesday 5^th July, where pupils will have the opportunity to meet their new teachers.

Staffing

We are pleased to announce that Mrs Potter has been appointed as a permanent, full-time member of staff at St George’s School. She will continue to teach in Year 4 while she completes her second ECT year. For those of you who are relatively new to the school, you may not be aware that Mrs Potter has worked at our school for 19 years now, and 17 years were as a teaching assistant. Two years ago, she completed her teacher training and this year, she is weeks away from completing the first of two years of her Early Careers Teacher (ECT) programme. We are delighted that she will be permanently joining our teaching team, and she looks forward to meeting with the parents of her new year group in September.

RE Parent Survey

We value your views on the RE and Catholic Life of our school. As such, we ask that you complete an RE Parent Survey. Your comments help us to improve our practice.

For instance, last year the survey responses made us aware that parents would like more information on their child’s learning in RE. Therefore this year, I have asked teachers to include a comment on RE in every child’s End of Year report, along with a grade for their attainment, effort and progress. We valued hearing your thoughts and are pleased to develop our processes to ensure parents can connect with their child’s learning at school.

The link to the survey is as follows: https://forms.office.com/e/TySicYgB9c

Thank you in advance for your time and we look forward to receiving your feedback so we can develop our provision.

Sports Day

Thank you to Mr Chidgey, Mrs Buck and the Year 6 Sports Leaders for organising and running a very successful Key Stage 2 Sports Day on Monday afternoon. The weather was thankfully a little cooler than it has been and so the children could comfortably take part in the races. Thank you also to the parents who attended and to those who took part in the parents’ race – we hope you enjoyed the event.

Holiday Clubs

I have included dates and information below for some additional holiday camps being held at St George’s School this summer.

Best wishes,

Edwina McDonnell

Upcoming Dates:  

Week beginning 3^rd July – Islam Week – all classes will be learning about this faith in school.

Wednesday 5^th July -Moving Up Day– children will meet their new teachers!

Thursday 6^th – Friday 7^th July – Year 4 Residential Trip to Pinkery

Friday, 14^th July – Summer Fete – save the date - details to follow.

Tuesday 18^th July – Year 6 Production Performance – 5pm – Year 6 parents welcome.

Wednesday 19th July – Year 6 Leaver’s Mass in Church – 9.30 am in Church. Parents welcome.

Friday 21^st July – Year 6 Leaver’s Assembly – more information to follow