St. Brendan’s Catholic Primary School

Term 4 2019 Newsletter‘Always treat others as you would like them to treat you’

Dear Parents and Carers,I hope that you all had a lovely half term holiday and enjoyed the sunshine, hopefully it will

continue over this term. There are just a few items of information to start the year.Kind regards,Mrs Brydon

AttendanceImproving our attendance remains a priority again this year. The national average is 96.1% and this is the minimum expected for our school. Congratulations to all those pupils who achieved 100% attendance last term! Remember every child has the chance to be included in the prize raffle this half term! A whole school attendance letter will be sent home with each child this week to keep you informed of your child’s current attendance for the academic year. If there are any issues or concerns that you feel we can support with, please do not hesitate to speak with your child’s class teacher, Mrs McAuley (our Family Support Worker), or myself. Whole school attendance this academic year: 96.2%Class attendance for Term 3:Miss McAuley 93.9% Mrs Brooks 95.3%Miss Rose 96.7% Miss Sullivan 96.1%Miss Wareing 94.75 Mrs Robertson 97.5%Mrs Clowes 96.9% Miss Robertson and Mrs

Barrowman96.8%

Mrs McLaughlin 96.5% Miss Bell 96.4%Miss MacKay 96.5% Mrs Edgley 96.2%

Congratulations to Mrs Robertson’s class for being top attenders for Term 3!

Reminders for this term*School starts at 8:45am and all children from Year 1 to Year 6 should begin the day on the playground to start the day together. There are too many children coming through the front door in the morning after 8:45am and we would appreciate your help in ensuring a prompt start to the day. * Our school uniform is black shoes, please make sure your child wears the correct uniform to school and not trainers. If your child is wearing trainers to school a letter should be sent to their class teacher to explain the reason for this. *Please encourage your child to bring the correct equipment to school on the correct day, especially PE kits. If you are unsure of when your child needs their kit, please speak with their class teacher. *Can I remind you that, with the exception of stud earrings, jewellery should not be worn in school. The children have difficulty in removing earrings, so it is easier not to wear these on the days that they have PE. Staff are not allowed to remove earnings under Northamptonshire County Council guidance.*Please remember that children in Key Stage 2 who bring in a snack for the morning break should bring in a healthy snack, such as a piece of fruit or vegetable. As a school we aim to comply with the Healthy Eating Standards for schools and I would appreciate your support in encouraging the children to eat healthily. The energy crew try really hard to encourage children to have a healthy snack but we are still seeing many children with crisps and chocolate bars for their snack at playtime.

*Try to be careful when parking at the end of the school day, we all have a duty of care to ensure everyone is safe as they leave school and cross the zebra crossing. We are very lucky to have the church car park so near to use, along with the shops so please be considerate when parking your car.

Forest School AreaWe have been busy in school during the half term holiday developing a Forest School area which will be used by everyone during the school year. Mrs Wildmsith has completed her Forest School training and is working with a small group of children currently to begin the programme. Forest School is an outdoor learning experience that takes place outside of the classroom. The outdoor learning experience offers all learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees. The children also learn and develop their social skills, communication and physical skills. They develop a knowledge and understanding of their natural environment and have fun with outdoor learning! This is a very exciting opportunity for all children.

We have also been very fortunate to have Miss Wearing’s father and some colleagues from Cummins Engineering volunteered to tidy the school pond over the half term and it looks fantastic! We have a little more work to do but it will soon be ready for every child to access during their lessons. A huge thank you to Mrs and Mr Wearing and Mr Wearing’s colleagues for giving their time to help our school.

Friends of St. Brendan’s The Friends of St Brendan’s have kindly purchased

indoor play activities for every class in the school. The school councillors collected ideas from each class about

the types of games or activities each class would like and over the half term they have been purchased. We

are hoping that this will make indoor play more enjoyable for the children and they may learn some

new games. Thank you for the support given to each event organised by the Friends of St. Brendan’s, if you would like to get involved with organising any event please speak with the

school office who will keep you informed of when the next meeting is taking place.

World Book DayOn Thursday 7th March we will be celebrating and participating in World Book Day. We are hoping that all the children will come to school on this day dressed as their favourite book character. All classes will be completing work to celebrate World Book Day and class photographs will be posted onto the school website. A letter with more details will be sent home this week,

Bishop Peter’s Visit to our Parish Bishop Peter is currently visiting all the Parishes in North Northants Pastoral Area and will be coming to St. Brendan’s and St. Patrick’s on the weekend of the 9th/10th March where he will celebrate the Masses and have an opportunity to meet parishioners. We look forward to making him welcome and it would be wonderful if you are able to attend Mass over this weekend to show Bishop Peter how special our Parish is.

The School Council UpdateWe have been busy gathering our class choices of games and activities to go into our wet play and lunch time boxes. Each

pupil had the opportunity to vote for their own choice of items to go into the boxes and these will be able to be used during this

term. We have ordered red noses to be sold in school before Red Nose Day, we will be selling these at break and lunch times to

the school. We are also planning on holding a Bring and Buy toy sale to help raise funds for the school and Comic Relief – more

information to follow from your school council.

Sports UpdateLast term was a busy term for indoor athletics in the school. 30 children from year 5 and year

6 attended a competition at Lodge Park on the 16th January. We competed brilliantly, representing the school with pride and managed to finish in 1st place for our session, beating

9 other local schools. Wow! Sadly, we just missed out on a place in the County Final competition as we finished 3rd overall, but still, a huge achievement.

10 children from year 3 and year 4 also competed in an indoor athletics competition that was hosted by the school and judged by our very own Energy Crew on the 20th January. This competition was against the 3 other schools in the St Luke’s trust and was a very closely

fought competition with everyone trying their very best – well done to all.

We also attended a skateboarding festival the 24th January at St Patricks School. 30 children got the opportunity to try a new sport and learn a new skill with the help of trained

professionals. Although a very tricky sport, the children gave it their all and showed brilliant enthusiasm and perseverance.

Reflection…Please take some time to share this as a family as we enter into Lent this term.

Lord, give us each daythe wisdom to recognise which things are important,and which things are not.

Show us how bestto use the time and talentsyou have given us.

Help us to use all opportunities wiselythat we may give in service to others

the good gifts we have receivedfrom you.

Amen

Dates for Your Diary (Times to be confirmed)

Monday 25th February Term BeginsThursday 7th March World Book DayFriday 8th March Miss Wareing Class Assembly 2.45pmFriday 15th March Red Nose Day (More information to follow)Friday 22nd March Miss Sullivan Class Assembly 2.45pmSunday 24th March Confirmation Preparation Mass 11.00amMonday 25th March Parents Evening (More information to follow. Please note change

of date)Thursday 28th March Parents Evening (More information to follow)Friday 5th April Mrs Brooks Class Assembly 2.45pmFriday 5th April Term EndSunday 7th April First Holy Communion Preparation Mass 11.00amTuesday 23rd April Training DayWednesday 24th April Term BeginsFriday 3rd May Mrs McLaughlin Class Assembly 2.45pmMonday 6th May Spring Bank Holiday School ClosedW/C 13th May KS2 (Year 6) SATS WeekW/C 20th May KS1 (Year 2) Test WeekFriday 24th May Term EndsMonday 3rd June Training DayTuesday 4th June Term BeginsW/C 9th June Year 1 Phonics Screening WeekFriday 14th June Miss McAuley Class Assembly 2.45pmFriday 21st June Confirmation Mass 7.00pmSunday 30th June First Holy Communion Mass 2.00pmTuesday 2nd July School Games DaySunday 7th July First Holy Communion Mass 2.00pmFriday 19th July Friends of St Brendan End of Year DISCOWednesday 24th July Term Ends