SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Friday 12th June 2020

St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School

Tel: 01538 722378 & 01538 722093

Principal: Mrs S Baxter

Website: www.st-thomas-tean.staffs.sch.uk

Email: headteacher@st-thomas-tean.staffs.sch.uk

or office@st-thomas-tean.staffs.sch.uk

Goodbye and Good Luck!

It is with much sadness that we say goodbye to Marie Brown, school cook, who is leaving us after almost seven years running the school kitchen. Marie has added so much to the life of the school, not just cooking a delicious meal at lunchtimes, but also for introducing and organising various fundraising events and special occasion meals. She has always gone out of her way to ensure that each and every pupil receives a healthy meal to their liking and has always been willing to go the extra mile for the school and pupils.

We will all miss Marie greatly, but wish her every success in her future career. Good luck Marie, and thank you for all your hard work at St Thomas’.

Key Workers

As more parents are returning to work and more pupils are in school, we would like to remind parents of our provision for pupils of Key Workers in Years 2 to 5. Based on Government recommendations and space available, places at St Thomas’ are very limited.

Currently we offer a place to pupils in Years 2 to 5 where parents are Key Workers, and neither parent is able to work from home. The place is available only when both parents are working or are unable to look after their child(ren) themselves. If you fall into this category and would like a place for your child, please contact Mrs Burnett in the school office.

Please see below extract from letter already sent to all parents:

“Key Worker Children

Drop off - Parents to enter through pedestrian gate and wait at small side gate. The path is marked in 2mtr intervals. Parents will walk along to the front door and then out via steps ensuring a one-way system. Children will enter through the front door.

Pick up - Parents to enter through pedestrian gate and wait at small side gate. Children will be brought out by staff and handed to parents (in the order that parents are lined up). Parents will exit via the steps.

Please ensure that the person picking up your child is from the same household as the person dropping them off.”

Keyworker Provision for Children in Reception, Year 1 or Year 6 If your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 6 but you require care before their start time (anytime from 8.00am) or after their class finish time you will need to email this request through to the school office please. Charges for before school club are only applicable if drop off is before 8.45am, however, we do need to know if you will be dropping off early or collecting late. The pre-school breakfast club for key worker children is charged at £3 per session – please note that food/drink is not served.

New school start times for next week

Rec – 9.00am – 2.50pm

Y1 – 9.10am - 3.00pm

Y6 – 8.55am – 3.10pm

Key Worker – 8.45am – 3.20pm

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you are all keeping safe and well! I have been delighted to welcome back even more children to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 this week! It is wonderful to see all their smiling faces and I am delighted with the manner in which they continue to settle back into a routine and receive their much-needed face-to-face education.

I thank parents for your co-operation with regards to the 2m social distance rule and for keeping to the staggered times – it is vital that this continues for the good of our health and safety. The times will change slightly as of next week:-

Key workers 8.45am – 3.20pm

Reception 9.00am – 2.50pm

Year 1 9.10am – 3.00pm

Year 6 8.55am – 3.10pm

There has been an increasing amount of news stories in the media about education. You will know that the government has announced that all children will not return to school before the end of term but schools have been asked to accommodate more pupils if possible. As stressed before, we place the health and safety of staff and children at the heart of all we do. Therefore, we are reviewing how we can increase the number of children in school safely before the end of term. In reality, most pupils who are not in eligible classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 6) will not be able to do so before the end of term. Please do not feel forgotten! We will continue to set work as follows:

Live lessons for years 3, 4, and 5 - 9.15am to 10.15am and 10.45am to 11.45am.

Year 2 work set via the daily timetable and online platforms.

We will also continue to make welfare calls to say ‘Hello’ and ask if you need any support with the educational programmes listed above. Please do not hesitate to ask for help and support if required. We are here to help! If you feel that your child would benefit from returning to school, please contact the office and we will put your child’s name on a waiting list. This might be, for example, because your child is struggling with technology or that the live teaching is proving to be a challenge for your child. We cannot guarantee that we can meet demand but we will certainly try to help in whatever way we can. We care a great deal!

I have held discussions with Mrs Waugh at Painsley this week and am pleased to confirm that there is an exciting induction programme planned for Year 6, which includes competitions, live streaming from secondary teachers and a visit to the school. Mrs Waugh is really looking forward to meeting Year 6!

This Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi, which means the body of Christ in Latin. This is such an important feast as we honour the real presence of the body (Corpus) of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. Every day, Fr Eric celebrates Mass in church and during the Eucharistic prayer, the bread and wine are consecrated to become the body and blood of Jesus our Saviour (the actual term is transubstantiation). We miss not being able to receive the Blessed Sacrament and look forward to the time when we can all meet again in church.

Thank you for your continuing support and co-operation – it is very much appreciated.

God bless!

Sarah Baxter

Principal

Reception 2020

Mrs Scott is setting up a dojo group for the new Reception class so she can keep in touch with next year’s reception class and parents can communicate with Mrs Scott.

You will have received an email from Mrs Scott, with a link to the class dojo website and a unique code for you to access the relevant information and to download the app. Mrs Scott will add information as and when parents need to see it and you will be able to contact Mrs Scott directly if you have any questions. This is a form of communication that is used by all year groups throughout the school for parents to keep in touch with their class teachers.,

There is also an ‘all about me pack’ on the school website, under the new intake tab. It would be lovely if parents could fill in a few pages a week with their child. This can be brought into school in September and shared with the class.

Link to the “All about me” pack https://st-thomas-catholic-primary.secure-primarysite.net/new-intake-september-2020/

How lovely to see

Conrad in the local

press!

Working from home

SCHOOL UNIFORM

We have been in contact with Something Special, who supply our school uniform, and they have confirmed that they already have the new St Thomas’ PE kit available to order. The new jumpers and cardigans are expected in their store at the beginning of July. The tartan kilts, skirts and pinafores are due in the first week in August. They apologise for the delay in obtaining these, however, as you will appreciate all companies have been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Something Special are happy for you to contact them either by telephone 01538 752840 or on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/

Somethingspecialcheadleltd/ They will take your details and contact you once supplies are in.

Year 6 Leavers 2020 Arrangements are being made for a celebration afternoon for the children in year 6 (obviously under social distancing guidelines). We are hoping to hold a pizza picnic on the field on the day of the leavers’ assembly. The PTA are kindly purchasing leavers hoodies, Mr Jones is working on a year book and they will all be presented with a leavers medal. There will be the usual ‘Most Likely To….’ awards along with the year 6 and sports awards. We will be asking the children to dress in their ‘smart’ clothes for this celebration. At the current time this celebration will be solely for the year 6 pupils, but we are hoping to share this special time possibly on Facebook Live. Once we have confirmed arrangements we will send these out to parents. Transition plans are also in place with Painsley - more details to follow once we have them.

End of Year Reports

These are being prepared and for the children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6

the reports will be sent home with the children (along with their siblings re-

port if applicable).

We will allocate collection days/time slots for parents of children in years 2 – 5

where they can come to school to collect their child’s report.

Back to school

with social

distancing

School Lunch Menu

Week commencing 15 June 2020

Monday

Beef/Veggie Burger & Potato Wedges

Tuesday

Meatballs/Tomato Pasta Bake

Wednesday

Sausage Roll/Pizza with Potato Wedges

Thursday

Chicken Curry & Rice

Macaroni Cheese

Friday

Fish Cakes/Fish Fingers and Chips

Puddings will be a selection of biscuits, ice cream and tray bakes. A packed lunch will be available to order every day – ham, cheese, tuna wrap or sandwich or jacket potato with cheese, tuna or beans. All pupils are offered a hot lunch - however, they need to order one for every day of the week (not just on certain days) and need to order a day in advance, so the kitchen can be prepared. Please let your child see the menu and decide what they would like each day.

DROWNING PREVENTION WEEK

Week commencing 12th June is Drowning Prevention Week. This is particularly important this year as many children are not attending school and are probably out and about more than usual. Please see be-low links to a number of websites with information for both parents and children. Please keep safe this summer!

https://www.rlss.org.uk/drowning-prevention-week

https://www.rlss.org.uk/forms/i-am-a-school-or-community-group-looking-to-support-drowning-prevention-week

https://www.facebook.com/StaySafeStayOutOfQuarries/