Wow – what a busy week! We have made the most of the beautiful sunny Autumn days to take the children out and about. Reception children enjoyed their first school trip – the Autumn Walk to Coronation Recreation Ground, while Year 2 explored All Saints Church as part of their Mission Weeks and also visited the playground. The Prayer Council worked hard to gather all your generous Harvest donations and took them to Hersham Foodbank with Mrs Sharp (RE Lead) where they were gratefully received. We are looking forward to hearing what weight of food we have donated! Thank you for all your help with these activities.
An enormous thank you as well to all the very many parents / grandparents / friends who helped us on the Legoland trip at the very end of last term. We had 103 adults in total and we certainly couldn’t have done it without the generosity of the volunteers. It was a wonderful experience for all of the school community and I have had many kind messages, notes and emails thanking us for organising such a memorable event to celebrate the canonisation of St John Henry Newman. Thank you for all your support – I am sure that it will help the children to remember that they were at Cardinal Newman’s school when he became a saint! Certainly even Reception could tell me that in collective worship on Monday! Well done Reception!
Apologies that the thank yous are followed by a couple of pleas for your help:
The Hall Extension Fund thermometer is now in position by the office. The Governors have sent out a communication asking for your support for this much-needed project. If you are able to make a small (or large!) increase in your monthly giving, your help will be greatly appreciated!
Coffee and Conversation – Please submit any questions/points you might like to raise for the parent forum discussion to the office by Monday 11 November. These should be whole school topics, not related to an individual child/class. We have already received some parent questions and we will also take this opportunity to consult on the school’s Relationships and Sex Education Policy (in light of the new guidance to schools in September 2020) and how we feedback to parents including the new Xavier report format.
Parking – Following further issues with parking on Arch Road, I am asking that there is no parent parking on Arch Road at school pick-up time / drop off time from Monday 11 November. It really is unmanageable to have so many cars and pedestrians in such a tight space. We have already had many near misses and there is a significant risk that a child will be hurt. It may be your child…
If it is necessary to drive (and I know for many it is unavoidable), please use the various other options available, including free parking at Coronation Rec, at Hersham Station (please ask at the office for a permit) and in the side streets on the other side of the tunnel. Please park considerately of our neighbours in these spaces, ensuring that no driveways are blocked. Those dropping for Breakfast Club or collecting from extra-curricular clubs/Whizz Kids may continue to use Arch Road as these start/finish at less busy times.
Thank you for your support with this, for the good of all our school community.
Finally, to end with some good news! We have received a letter this week from Nick Gibb (MP) who is Minister for School Standards. The letter commends us on our outstanding Phonics results last summer – at 97%, this puts our Phonics results in the top 5% of schools nationally. You can read his letter here. I have already congratulated the dedicated staff team of teachers and LSAs who worked so tirelessly to achieve these results with our children. I have also congratulated the staff who delivered results significantly above the national average in Early Years and in the percentage of children reaching the Higher (Greater Depth) level in Reading, Writing and Maths in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 – these results were in the top 10% of schools nationally and are testament to the hard work and dedication of our children, supported by a fantastic staff team. Well done everyone!
Have a great weekend.
Catherine Burnham
The Year 6 Prayer Council members were very lucky to be able to visit the Walton and Hersham food bank on 6 November in the minibus. While we were there we helped to sort our school's donations by packing it up in boxes. We were also very lucky to meet the hard-working volunteers who sort out the food. We felt that it was really special to hear that our food would help so many people in our community. By Abi and Sophia 
