96.9%↓ - St Catherine

Issue 04
www.stcatherines.academy ~ classnews.stcatherines.academy
21st September 2015
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Firshill Crescent, Sheffield S4 7BX
School Dinners Week 2
Important Dates
View the school dinner menu online at
stcatherines.academy/school-meals
View more information about
important dates online at
stcatherines.academy/calendar
Sign up for online payments at
stcatherines.academy/online-payments
Thursday 24th September
Year 5 Eyam Museum
Please pay dinner money in advance at the school office in an envelope
with your child’s name and class on it. Dinners must be ordered by
9.30am; if a child is going to be late due to an appointment, you need
to phone school before 9.30am and order dinner for that day. Dinners
cost £1.98, or £1.75 for nursery children.
Attendance and Punctuality
Wednesday 14th October
World Maths Day
Overall school attendance last week was
96.9%
Miss Sefton
F2AW
Mrs Atkinson and Mrs Wood
Year 1AH
Miss Ambler Mrs Hughes
Year 1PH
Mr Higgins
Year 2JW
Miss Weir
Year 2JP
Mr Park
Year 3RH
Miss Handy
Year 3BH
Mr Harper
Year 4GG
Miss Gleeson
Year 4MT
Mrs Tipping
Year 5OW
Mrs Wilson
Year 5LI
Ms Illien
Year 6SJ
Mrs Jennings
Year 6FS
Miss Scott
Friday 2nd October
Brighten the Harvest!
Harvest Fast
Wednesday 14th October
Y1 & Y2 Flu Immunisation
Oh no – 48 late marks last week!
F2ES
Wednesday 30th September
1PH Parents’ Evening
Monday 5th October
Parents’ Evening
Well done to F2AW for the highest attendance last week!
Class
Wednesday 30th September
M&M Robin Hood Production
Friday 13th November
Children in Need
Lates
% Attendance
4
98.9
2
100
3
98.7
3
94.1
5
94.8
1
99.7
7
98.3
7
91.7
2
94.1
2
98.3
3
93.7
4
97.3
2
99.0
3
97.2
Monday 1st to Friday 5th February
Safer Internet Week
Friday 18th March
Sport Relief
Thursday 26th May 7.00pm
Primary Swimming Gala
Issue 04
www.stcatherines.academy ~ classnews.stcatherines.academy
21st September 2015
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Firshill Crescent, Sheffield S4 7BX
Buns
Pupil Voice
Thank you for Year 5 for bringing buns last week. This week it is the
turn of Year 4 children to provide buns!
As part of our Pupil Voice work,
we will be sending out a pupilmade newspaper every month
– we need your help!
Harvest Fast Day
Every year, we team up with Cafod to take part in Harvest Fast Day.
This year Harvest Fast Day will take place on Friday 2nd October. We
will be raising money for the world’s poorest people. Some of the
money will go to the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East.
Instead of having the normal school dinner, children can instead
choose a simple meal of soup and bread, and donate their dinner
money to Cafod.
Your child can also wear one piece of bright clothing on this day (this
is not a non-uniform day – please make sure you just wear one piece
of different clothing!)
Read about the Harvest Fast Day at st.catherin.es/fast-day
Year 5 Eyam Trip
Remember, the Year 5 Eyam trip is this Thursday! Children will be out
of school all day, walking in the countryside. Children need to come to
school in normal uniform but with sensible trousers (jogging bottoms),
a waterproof coat and sensible footwear for walking (these shoes
might get muddy!).
Year 5 Plague Masks
st
On Thursday 1 and Friday 2nd October, Year 5 will be working with a
visitor to create plague masks. These masks will be made from Modroc
(used to plaster a broken arm or leg) and will be moulded on the
children’s faces to make a perfect fit. Every child will make a plague
mask to use in a school production.
The children will put Vaseline on their faces first and use baby wipes
to remove any traces afterwards. If there is a medical reason why your
child can’t make a mask, please let Miss Illien or Mrs Wilson know in
writing by Friday 25th September.
Please send your child with a large old t-shirt or shirt that they can
wear to protect their school uniform.
We
are
launching
a
competition to name our
school newspaper and design a
logo. There will be a prize for
the winning entry.
There is homework attached to
this week’s Newsletter. The
deadline is Wednesday 30th
September. Please give your
homework to a Pupil Voice
leader: Mrs Wilson, Miss
Hammonds, Mrs Winterbottom
or Miss Franks.
Year 3 Roman Day
On Thursday 22nd October,
Year 3 will be inviting Romans
into their classroom!
The Romans will be working all
day with Year 3, for a Roman
Day.
The cost of this Roman day is
£8. Please send this money to
the office marked with your
child’s name.
Foundation 2 Notice
If your child is in F2AW or F2ES,
please make sure you send
them with a pair of wellies and
a waterproof coat every day!
Issue 04
www.stcatherines.academy ~ classnews.stcatherines.academy
21st September 2015
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Firshill Crescent, Sheffield S4 7BX
We Need You!
Parent Forum
Miss Illien is looking for members of our wider school community to
get involved with our learning – look out for a letter going home with
your child tomorrow.
Contact Parent Forum by emailing
parent.forum@stcatherines.academy
Changes to ‘Persistent Absence’
As you will be aware, our school considers regular school attendance
a priority to improve the educational outcomes of our children. For the
past two years the Department for Education have said that pupils with
school attendance below 85% are at risk of becoming a persistent
absentee.
85% = 28 ½ days of learning lost each year.
From September 2015, this threshold is being increased to 90%.
Therefore, pupils with attendance each half term below 90% will be at
risk of becoming a persistent absentee. Any absence, including illness,
medical appointments, term time leave, punctuality and unauthorised
absence will affect your child’s attendance rate.
90% = 19 days of learning lost each year.
Any student below 90% will now be classed as a persistent absentee.
Your child’s attendance will be routinely monitored this academic year
by the school and the Local Authority. If your child’s attendance
becomes a cause for concern, then a referral may be made to the Local
Authority for consideration about how to improve your child’s
attendance rate.
Like you, we want the very best for all our children; we hope, therefore,
that you will support us in ensuring your child attends school every
day, and on time, in order for them to access the education they are
entitled to, enabling them to reach their full potential.
If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, please call at
the office and ask to speak to Mrs Woodhouse.
Parent Forum Coffee Morning
runs every Tuesday morning.
This is a great time to catch up
on news around school and
meet other parents. A member
of the leadership team attends
Parent Forum every week to
discuss any questions.
Parent Forum have received a
thank you card from Kirsty and
Paul, who we helped fundraise
for. Thank you all for helping
out!
Exciting new homework is on the way!
To help with getting the balance of homework just right, we are
launching a new system from next week called ‘St Catherine’s
Takeaway Homework!’ Each week your child will bring home a
menu with three courses on it (like the blank one we’ve
attached to this week’s Newsletter). The main course is
designed for everyone and we’d expect all children to complete
this. The starters and desserts are for those with a bit more
time or a bigger appetite!
You won’t really notice a difference in the type of homework
your child takes home; there will just be more flexibility. If
they’d like to do a bit more work and take on a starter or
dessert (or both!) then they can; if not, they can just stick to the
main course.
As with the old homework, the new menus will come home on
a Monday and be brought back to school on Friday. If you’ve
got any questions or comments, then please get in touch. We
hope you like it!
Pupil Voice needs you!
For homework this week we would like you to think of a name and a logo
for our monthly school newspaper.
Use the space below to design your logo and come up with a name.
What does Pupil Voice mean to you?
Try this week’s main course, and if you
have the appetite, take a look at the
starters and desserts too!
Dear parents,
My new role in school this year is related to getting you more involved with our school and
your child’s learning. I know that there are many of you out there (not just parents –
grandparents, siblings, aunties, uncles….) who have skills and knowledge that we could
draw upon. I am also sure that lots of you would like to be more involved with what
happens here in school.
 Do you have a job that children in school might be interested in hearing about?
 Do you have a hobby or area of expertise that you might like to share with our
community?
 Is your family heritage something that might be of interest?
 Is there anything else that you think you could bring to our school community?
 Do you speak a language that you would like to share?
 Do you have any other ideas about how parents and carers or other family members
could be more involved with life in school?
On the other side of this letter is a feedback form that I would greatly appreciate you filling
in and returning to school. It will really help me to ensure we use the skills, expertise and
talents that we have within our school community in the very best ways that we can.
Thanks in Advance for your help,
Miss Louise Illien
Please return to Miss Illien in school as soon as possible.
1. Do you have a job that children might be interested in hearing about or that might
relate to any learning in school?
Yes
No
If yes, please state what your job is:
2. Do you have any talent, skill or area of expertise that you would be interested in
sharing with children within our school?
Yes
No
If yes, please state what you would like to share with children in school:
3. Is there anything relating to your family heritage that you would be interested in
sharing with children in school?
Yes
No
If yes, please state what you would be able to share:
4. Do you speak a language that might be interesting to share with other members of
our school community?
Yes
No
If yes, please tell me more:
5. Is there anything else, not already mentioned that you feel you could bring to our
school community?
6. Do you have any ideas about how parents and carers could be more involved with
learning in school?
Your name(s)
The name(s) of your children in school