With Christ we live, we love, we learn and we grow

23rd February 2018

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to the spring second half-term. We welcome especially Isabella and Kalean to our

school; we hope they both settle in and become very happy here.

Parents’ Evenings The spring term parents’ evenings took place on the evenings of the 20th and 22nd February. We hope you found the meetings useful and that you had the chance to speak to your child’s teacher about their progress and had a chance to glance through their books. CAFOD Lent Family Fast Day Today is CAFOD Lent Family Fast Day. The children will be bringing home an envelope. If you can spare any loose change for the collection we would be extremely grateful. St Mary’s Reading for Pleasure Book Week 26th February - 2nd March

Miss Hesketh has organised an exciting menu of

activities for us in Reading for Pleasure Book Week

(incorporating World Book Day on Thursday) next

week.

It starts on Monday with the visit of local author

Gemma Lees, for the EYFS, Y1 and Y2. On Wednesday there will be performances for Reception, KS1

and KS2 based on the most popular children’s books over the last year by the Floodlights Theatre

Company. Thank you to the PTFA for funding the theatre company’s visit.

On World Book Day (Thursday) there will be story readings by a

mystery teacher for each class. Also on Thursday, children can dress

up as a character from an inspirational book; if they have the book,

they can bring it along too. On Friday, there will be an opportunity

for children from older year groups to partner up with younger

children for reading buddy sessions.

There will many more fun-filled reading-related activities besides.

Nugent Care Lenten ‘Good Shepherd Appeal 2018’

We will start the Good Shepherd Appeal next Monday 26th February and will

continue for up until the Easter break. Read more about the appeal at:

https://www.wearenugent.org/fundraising/good-shepherd-appeal-2018/

Good Shepherd Activities As usual, children are asked to devise small enterprises e.g. guessing the amount of

sweets in a jar, selling cakes, biscuits, holding raffles and so on. We start with the break time cake sale on Monday. All proceeds will go towards the Good Shepherd Nugent Care Appeal. In addition, the annual Talent Show will be staged on Thursday 29th March. Last year the children’s efforts raised over £600 for the fourth year running – thank you for your generosity and support. The weekly activities are planned as follows:

Monday Cake Sale in the Quad (Children can ‘Bring and Buy’ cakes. Tuesday Games and Activities in the Quad (Guess the name of the Teddy etc.) Wednesday Disco in the Hall (20p admission) Except Wednesday 1st March due to

Footlights Theatre Company Visit Thursday Games and Activities in the Quad (Guess the name of the Teddy etc.)

Please note: due to the cake sale being on a Monday we are moving the Fruit to Suit Tuck Shop to

from Monday to Friday.

Y2 Chocolate Doesn’t Grow on Trees Chocolate Sale

Year 2 have enjoyed their topic based around chocolate last term; they rounded it off with a chocolate sale raising over £30. Thank you very much Y2 for your hard work and thank you parents for your support. The children decided to donate this money to the Fair Trade Foundation to help cocoa farmers around the world.

Fair Trade Fortnight Children in school will be taking part in activities during Fair Trade Fortnight beginning Monday 5th March. As part of those activities we will be holding a Fair Trade Tea/ Coffee drop-in for parents on Friday 9th March at 9am; the money raised will go to Fair Trade charities. Easter Disco PTFA

You will have received a separate letter from the PTFA regarding the Easter

Disco on 23rd March 2018, St Mary’s Parish Centre from 7pm to 9pm. To help

fund prizes for the night we are having a non-uniform day in exchange for a

voluntary 50p donation. Once again many thanks to all the PTFA volunteers

for putting on these events for the children; it is greatly appreciated.

Next PTFA Meeting

The next meeting of the PTFA will be on Wednesday 14th March at 6:30pm here at school.

Sports News Football v Duke Street Mr Hodge took the St Mary’s football team to play in a tournament organised by Chorley Town

Football Club and Chorley Borough Council at Holy Cross.

In a very close game, in which our players put in a fantastic team performance, St Mary’s hit the post

and the crossbar but couldn’t find the back of the net. The outcome was decided by the one goal

from Duke Street. Congratulations to Duke Street but well done to our team. Thanks to Mr Hodge

for taking them and thanks as always to our parents for their support.

Yarrow Teaching School Alliance 2018/2019 entry – Open Evenings – two new dates: Wednesday

28th February at 6.00pm and Thursday 8th March at 6.00pm

Please see the end of the newsletter for details of times and dates of open evenings for the Yarrow

Teaching School Alliance for this spring. School-based training is an excellent route into primary

school teaching and the Yarrow Teaching School Alliance provides first class training and support for

those who enrol.

As many of you will be aware, we have had the privilege to host a number of high quality associate

teachers on their placements. Most recently we hosted Miss Berry on a very successful placement in

our Y5 class from September to January. All those who have graduated from the programme since it

began a few years ago have secured teaching jobs. If you know of anyone who has a degree (or will

have by September 2018) and is considering a career in primary school teaching please pass on the

details; I would highly recommend it. Many thanks.

Unavoidable School Closures In the unlikely event of a very heavy snowfall and the need to close the school, we will inform you via the GroupCall text, announcements on the local radio and via the school website. Health and Safety Reminder – sickness and/ or diarrhoea

This is the time of year when there are more bugs and germs around than usual. If

your child does become ill with sickness or diarrhoea, the guidance for schools from

Public Health England gives a minimum recommended absence from school of 48

hours. This is to limit the spread of the bug around school. Thank you.

Free School Meal Eligibility and Pupil Premium Funding

Because all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school meal, many parents

do not realise that they might be entitled to something called free school meal eligibility. And we

understand why this might be the case because the system is confusing! At St Mary’s, we have

noticed a fall in the number of infant children whose parents have claimed eligibility since the

introduction of free school meals for all infants –other schools have noticed the same.

This free school meal eligibility can be applied for in Reception, Year 1 and in Year 2 even though

children are receiving a school meal anyway. And parents in Y3, 4, 5 and 6 can also apply. Why

bother applying if your child is receiving a free meal anyway?

If you think you might be eligible it is very much worth applying for two reasons:

1. Your child will continue to receive free school meals on leaving the infants in Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 and

beyond

2. The school receives additional money (pupil premium) for children eligible for free school meals

(over £1 300 per pupil).

If you receive any of the benefits below, St Mary’s School can access this extra funding, called pupil

premium.

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

The guaranteed element of Pension Credit

Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual

gross income of no more than £16,190)

Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

Universal Credit

How can you find out if you are eligible? Apply by phone – and you can find out in a matter of

minutes!

You can ring the local Free School Meals and Pupil Premium team on 01772 531809

It must be the person claiming the benefit that rings.

You will need to provide your:

Name

Date of birth

National insurance number

They will confirm whether you are entitled over the telephone.

Apply by post Download the application form from http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-

education-families/schools/free-school-meals.aspx and return it to your local area education office.

South Area Education Office

Level 1 Christ Church Precinct

County Hall

Preston

PR1 8RJ

Free milk

If you receive benefits, your child could also get free milk. Contact us to find out what arrangements

we make for school milk.

STARS OF THE WEEK w/e 23.02.18

Notable Dates –

SPRING TERM 2018

26 Book Week 26 Feb – 2 March

26 Good Shepherd fundraising begins

March

1 World Book Day

5 Fair Trade Fortnight begins

7 Y3 Class Assembly

9 Fair Trade Coffee/Tea Drop-in 9am

23 PTFA Easter Bingo at the Parish Centre - 7pm to 9pm

28 Y2 Class Assembly

29 Good Shepherd Talent Show

29 End of spring term

P Smyth 23.02.18

Class Name Star of the Week for …

YN William G Being super in Nursery this week.

YR Krystian Working really hard in phonics

Y1 Dylan Excellent attitude to all his work

Y2 Charlie Super mathematics – well done

Y3 Lucia Beautifully presented work all week – as always

Y4 Harry O Hard work improving his handwriting – earning a pen!

Y5 Isabella Working hard in completing her writing assessment this week

Y6 Jemma Excellent effort and positive attitude towards long division in mathematics.

Are you interested in training to become a primary school teacher? Have you considered school-based training?

Our school is part of the Yarrow Teaching School Alliance and is one of a growing number of schools that is leading the way in providing school-led, school-based teacher training. As an Alliance, we are committed to selecting the very best talent and developing that talent to produce outstanding teachers – teachers who will improve outcomes for our children in our local schools. We have vacancies now to start training in September 2018 and we would be very interested to hear from you if you are thinking of becoming a teacher, or know someone who is. We are looking for people who have (or will have) a degree, have a passion for teaching and want to make a difference to the lives of the children of Chorley. If a school-based approach, with the opportunity to train hands-on, alongside good and outstanding practitioners in local schools, appeals to you, come and find out more at one of our forthcoming Open Events to be held at St George’s Primary School, Carr Lane, Chorley PR7 3JU on: At the events there will be an opportunity to

Look around school

Learn more about a school based approach to ITT

Meet Alliance Headteachers and Teaching School Staff

Receive guidance on applying for a place on the course To reserve your place, please contact the Director of Teaching Schools, Bernard Golding at b.golding@st-georges.lancs.sch.uk Visit www.yarrowteachingschoolalliance.co.uk to find out more about what we offer at Yarrow Teaching School Alliance. Further information on training to become a teacher can also be found at http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching

Wednesday 28th February at 6.00pm Thursday 8th March at 6.00pm