Dear Parent/Carer,

I would like to extend a warm welcome back to school for the new academic year to all of our children and parents, especially those of you who are new to our school family. I hope you will find St Mary’s to be a friendly, welcoming place. Staff are usually available at the end of the day but if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via Class Dojo or email/telephone to the school office. Apologies for the length of this Newsletter, there is a great deal of information to share at this time of year!

Working in Partnership Agreement/School Travel Plan/Acceptable use of ICT

This week, the children will be bringing home a copy of the Working in Partnership Agreement, Travel Plan and Acceptable Use of ICT Agreement. The partnership between school and home is crucial to securing good outcomes for all our pupils. Therefore, we would be grateful if you could discuss both of these documents with your child and return them, signed, as soon as possible. The Values are absolutely at the heart of all we do here at St Mary’s and are part of the everyday language that we use in school with the children.

Reception Collection

On occasions, someone other than the usual carer for your child may be collecting at the end of the day. If this is the case, for security purposes we operate a password system. Please contact the school office or the Reception class staff to let them know who will be collecting your child and provide a password already agreed with the person collecting.

Voluntary Help

In school, we really appreciate the time that parents and grandparents are able to give in order to support our children’s education, and we are now able to welcome volunteers back into school once DBS checks have been completed. If anyone else can spare an hour or two on a regular basis or even be available to help out occasionally, then please let us know by telephoning or calling in to the school office or speaking to your child’s class teacher at the end of the day.

Equipment in School

Just a reminder – apart from Year 6, pupils should not bring pencil cases into school. All equipment will be provided. Only pupils who have pre-arranged agreements with class staff should bring fidgets into school and most children who require a fidget have been supplied with one by the pastoral staff. Last year, the number of children having fidgets became quite a distraction in class - particularly for children who don’t need them.

Your child’s class teacher will inform you which day your child will be doing P.E. on. On those days, your child should come to school in P.E. kit i.e. black shorts/joggers (depending on the weather), plain white t-shirt, trainers and school jumper/cardigan.

Open House Meetings

The Open House meetings are a great opportunity for parents/carers to meet their child’s new teacher and find out what the key learning will be for this year. This year, all of the meetings will be held in person straight after school in your child’s classroom. The half-termly overview will be given out and discussed at this meeting. If you are unable to attend, we will send the information home with your child. The dates for the meetings are included below on the dates for your diary section.

Parking on Cornhill Road

Parking is always challenging around schools and unfortunately, we are on a particularly busy road. St Mary’s church very kindly allow us to use their carpark at pick up and drop off times and I would urge you, if you have to drive to school, to please park away from Cornhill Road. The road gets very congested, especially when we have buses going both ways. We work in partnership with our community and work to maintain good relationships with our neighbours. Please park considerately and do not block driveways, even for a short time. Many thanks for your support in keeping our children safe.

Breakfast and After School Club

Mrs O’Leary and her team are ready to welcome the children back to Breakfast and After School club. If you would like to make use of our wraparound care, please pick up a booking form from the school office. Bookings must be made via the office and not via Class Dojo.

Attendance

If your child is unwell and cannot come to school, it is essential that you inform the school office via telephone or email. Please do not message via Dojo about absences, as class teachers are not always able to check their messages in the morning when they are teaching. It is the office who record attendance and they will be the ones following up if your child is not in school.

I would also like to remind you that absence during term time for holidays is not permitted, unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you are considering taking your child out of school, you need to collect an Application for Authorised Absence During Term Time form from the office then complete and return it to school for my attention. For your information, attendance is classified as follows:-

98% - 100%           Excellent

95% - 97.9%          Good

90% - 94.9%          Unsatisfactory

Below 90%            Persistent absentee

Our attendance figures are reported to the local authority and all cases of pupils whose attendance is giving cause for concern will be followed up by the school office and Trafford to see how we can best support families to ensure their child is attending school regularly.

School Meals

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free meal in school under the Universal Infant free School Meals scheme. Meals for KS2 pupils cost £2.40 per day. If your child wishes to change between school meals and bringing a packed lunch, we need a week’s notice so that we can order food in advance.

All children in Reception and KS1 are provided with a piece of fruit or vegetable for their morning snack and will not therefore need to bring an additional snack with them. In KS2, children are able to bring a healthy snack to school with them to eat at morning playtime. Please refer to our Whole School Healthy Eating Policy (available on the school website) for further information. All children should bring a named water bottle to school with them and they will be encouraged to drink throughout the day. Only water is permitted in water bottles.

Homework/Reading

Your child’s class teacher will inform you of the requirements for homework and reading at the Open House meeting, however I just want to impress upon you the importance of reading with your child. Reading is the single most important thing you can do at home to support your child’s education. Being a fluent reader supports children in all areas of the curriculum and gives them the skills they need to support their education for high school and beyond. Even when your child has mastered phonics and can decode, it is crucial that reading at home continues so that children develop understanding and analytical skills. Please make sure that your child, whatever their age, reads every day.

Dates For Your Diary

Please find below some important dates for your diary. As new events are added or if things change, we will get the information out to you as soon as possible. For Open House meetings, please collect your child from the playground then enter school via the main office to give staff time to set up the classrooms. Fabulous Finishes are an opportunity for you to come into school to find out what your child has been learning in a particular topic. These were very well-established prior to the pandemic and we are very much looking forward to getting them started again. We are keeping our fingers crossed that all events will be face-to-face this year following on from two years of remote/blended activities.

We are looking forward to working closely with you all over the coming year and I hope you soon settle into the school routine.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do come and talk to us. We are always willing to listen and if we work together, we can provide the best possible opportunities for our children. Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs A Daniel

Headteacher