Cardinal Newman Catholic Primary School Parent Portal - Issue

Dear Parents

Thank you for your fantastic engagement with our Parent Consultations by virtual means this week! SchoolCloud seems to have worked well almost universally and parents we have spoken to have reported a positive experience with useful updates on their children’s progress. It would be great to have some feedback from these appointments as we are likely to have to use a similar virtual consultation in February. You can access a parent feedback form for Parent Consultations here: https://forms.gle/9z8v83uMcpD4FEtWA This form will be open until after half-term for parents in Y1-Y6.

We are delighted there have been so many positives to this first half-term back at school, despite the very many changes we have encountered. These have included:

Year 6 day trip to High Ashurst to complete their Outdoor Adventurous Activity topic in the curriculum
Reception children’s Welcome Assembly via Zoom to welcome them to our community of Learners, Believers and Friends
Whole School Mass and celebration for the Feast Day of St John Henry Newman
Mission Weeks for Year 4 and Year 6 classes, including “Acts of Kindness” for the local community – Sherwood House and Hersham Foodbank
Harvest assemblies for KS1 and KS2
Year 4 trip to the allotments, to learn about “Care for our Common World” and growing our own fruit and veg
Forest School experiences for Y1, Y4 and Y6 – and more to follow!
Year 3 Newspaper reports on the mysterious cave paintings
Y2 “safari” to the Environmental Area
Online safety Workshops for all year groups
CAFOD Family Fast Day collection
Y5 Olympic Project work

As well as these individual experiences, we have also universally enjoyed having the children back in school to spend time with their friends and to continue the rhythm of their core learning in a collaborative fashion. Thank you to parents for all your support to staff in enabling our school community to come back together successfully this half-term. We look forward to continuing our work with the children when we return to school on Monday 2^nd November.

You may be aware there are one or two new faces on the school staff in the past couple of weeks. An overview of these changes is as follows:

Mrs Natalie Crabb is leaving from the school office at half-term. She will be replaced by Mrs Natalie Gilhooly who will take over responsibility for school dinners, attendance and Whizz Kids administration.

Mrs Maria Ferrari has started as a part-time LSA in Y3. Mrs Fiona Donarelli (Y2) and Mr Tom Mulvany (Y5) have started as full-time LSAs to the end of the Summer Term 2021.

Mr Neil Armstrong (Class Teacher in Y3) is leaving us when his contract ends at Christmas, to pursue adventures over the sea in Ireland in the New Year! We are sorry to see him leave and wish him all the best. His class will be taught in the Spring and Summer Terms by Mrs Sara Jones, who did a super job as a long-term supply teacher at Cardinal Newman in Y3 and in Y1 last year. We are delighted to be able to welcome her back to the staff team at Cardinal Newman.

You will be aware that there remains some national debate around the use of a "circuit-breaker" lockdown period after half-term. At the moment, it doesn't look likely, but a week is a long time in the current climate and it is hard to rule it out. Even if that were the case, it is my understanding that primary schools would stay open for all pupils and that is certainly our intention at Cardinal Newman. Nevertheless, forewarned being forearmed, the children (dependent on their age) are coming home with their regular reading book / spelling book / Maths book as well as any relevant logins so that they can access some of the regular tasks if the worst should happen. In that scenario, work would be sent home to parents and there is no need for the children to use the resources unless instructed to by their teacher . Please be reassured that there are no plans for school closure and these measures are merely "carrying an umbrella in case of rain." We hope this makes sense - the aim is to reassure and not to raise anxiety levels!

We wish all our families a very happy and positive half-term holiday and look forward to seeing you next half-term.

All best wishes

Catherine Burnham

Notes/Reminders

Forest School Volunteers

Mrs Fleur Coleman wondered whether there was a parent volunteer who would be keen to help her at our Forest School Experience on a Friday (all day) – this is an entirely outdoor event and would be particularly appealing to those with an interest in adventurous outdoor activities, Scouting or gardening. A third adult would enable her to give our children more adventurous experiences as we can keep the group sizes smaller. Please contact Mrs Coleman via the school office email if you would be interested in volunteering – either every Friday or on a rota. Thank you!

Winter Uniform

Remember that the children will return to school after half-term in winter uniform with their white shirts and red ties. Our winter uniform is particularly smart and we would like to remind you of a few other uniform essentials to keep our children looking great for school:

long hair should be tied back and hair accessories should be simple clips / hairbands / ties in plain school colours (navy, red or white)

school shoes should be black (no boots or trainer-style shoes please) and worn with ankle socks (no trainer socks)

earrings, if worn, should be simple studs, one in each ear and the child must be able to take them out themselves for PE

no nail varnish or other decoration should be worn for school please

Please do name all items of school uniform so that we can minimise the amount of lost property we accumulate during the course of a term!

Thank you for helping us to keep our school uniform smart and practical.

Secondary school place applications – closing soon

Apply online; apply by 31 October.

If your child is due to start secondary school in September 2021, you have until 31 October to apply for their school place. If you miss the deadline, you reduce the chances of getting one of your preferred schools for your child. We recommend you apply as soon as possible and before schools break up for half term on 23 October, to avoid any last-minute hiccups. While the usual open days and evenings may not take place this term because of Covid-19, please check school websites for details of virtual tours and alternative arrangements.

The online admissions system is quick and easy to use. Here you will also find information about schools in your area. You can even apply using your mobile; surreycc.gov.uk/admissions You’ll receive the outcome of your application by email on 1 March next year. You can also log into the online admissions system from that evening to view your school offer. If you cannot apply online, you will need to call Surrey’s Schools & Childcare Service on 0300 200 1004 to request a paper application form. Make sure you send it back to arrive no later than 31 October. We recommend you send it by registered post.

Reception

Please make sure that all children have suitable coats and wellingtons in school on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th November as we will be going on an autumn walk on the school field. We will not be able to have parent helpers on this occasion. The reason we have said 2 days is in case of heavy rain on Tuesday, we will have an alternative day.

Photographer

The school photographer will visit on 3rd November, 2020. Due to Covid restrictions, there will be no sibling photographs this year including twins.

Parking

Reminder to park safely on Molesey Road and Arch Road. We have had 2 more complaints this week so please do not block anyone's driveway or cause any other obstruction. Thank you for your co-operation with this.

Opal visit to the Allotments

On Monday, we arrived in school, put on our wellies and left school to walk to the allotments on Severn Drive. When we got there we met a lady from Walton Charities called Karen. She showed us all the vegetables fruits and flowers that were growing there and told us how they grow. We made bird feeders using bread, cranberries, raisins and apples and we allowed to take them home. Amazingly, Karen let us taste marigold petals, cucumelons and cape gooseberries. We enjoyed finding out about allotments and what people grow so close to our school. We would like to say thank you to Karen and Mrs Boyce-Korkis for allowing us to visit her allotment.

Eva and Kayla, Opal Class

Food Bank report

On Wednesday morning Opal class collected and sorted Food Bank donations. We loaded the food boxes into the car and drove to the warehouse in Hersham. Once there, we unloaded the boxes and took them to the door. The boxes were weighed and we donated a whopping 36kgs. Our mission accomplished, we returned to school with Mrs Simpkin.

It was a very humbling experience for us and we were thrilled that people in need would be helped by the charitable donations of the families of Cardinal Newman School.

Opal class would like to thank everyone who has donated items.

Isabella B and Carlos

Absences email address

Please report any absences before 9.30 am for sick leave, appointments and holidays. Please only email absence@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk

Pickup Notifications

Please give your child a note to let the teacher know of any pickup changes. If it's last minute, please ring the school office.

School Dinners

Please remember to book your school dinners ahead on Scopay.com

23rd October, 2020