Bulletin Number 29

1 May 2015

ST THOMAS MORE PARTNERSHIP OF SCHOOLS (07900532) When we welcome the child, we welcome the family

Tel: 01207 270396 / Email: [email protected] / Website: www.sacredheartgateshead.org Congratulations to Year 5/6 who had 100% attendance this week Well done to ALL CLASSES who achieved our 95% target This week our overall attendance was 98.1% Please ensure you make every effort to ensure your child gets to school every day to help us achieve our target

Class Attendance

Reception 99.2%

Year 1 95.3%

Year 2 98.5%

Year 3/4 97.2%

Year 5/6 100%

Poor punctuality means your child misses valuable learning time and that lessons are disrupted for all other pupils. Please make sure that your children are in the yard by 8.45 am every day. Dear Parents, Grandparents & Parishioners This week has been a lovely week for the children with frequent visits by Fr Kelly at different times. Fr Kelly has committed himself to helping extend the parish community links by supporting this year’s Summer Fair on Saturday 4 July. The school and Parish will be as one as we hold our biggest Summer Fair ever. This year we hope to have bands, including Miss Barker performing in the church grounds with an extended BBQ. Our army of Friends turned out at a special meeting on Thursday and we are determined to make this the best Fair to date. If you can help then please come to our next meeting on Thursday 30 May. The Y6 children were delighted to officially unveil one of their leavers’ wishes as we opened the new school benches for the school community. We now have 3 additional benches to the school yard with the gospel values inscribed on them beautifully. The largest bench has ‘Y6 Leavers 2015’ inscribed on and another has a special plaque. Please have a look and enjoy. Many thanks to the Friend’s that contributed £400 towards the cost of the benches. Finally, just gentle reminder that Monday 4 May is a bank holiday and therefore our school will be closed. We re-open on Tuesday 5 May at 8.40am. NEWS Attendance and Holidays In Term Time Letters: As a school we take attendance incredibly seriously. A number of letters regarding attendance and holidays in term time will be sent out tonight to the parents/carers of children with attendance below Ofsted’s requirement of 95%. We are aware that a number of children have had medical issues that affect their overall attendance, however, we have a duty to inform you of your child’s attendance at regular periods; governors monitor attendance closely and regularly invite parents to discuss attendance issues. Please remember we work closely with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) and persistent absence, lateness and holidays in term time can result in fines or prosecution. New Starters Reception 2015: Our new starter welcome invites are being sent out today for our initial welcome meeting on Wednesday 10 June at 6pm. Please can parents try and make this meeting as it’s a great chance to meet staff, governors, Friends and other parents of children that hopefully you will spend much time with over the next 7 years. All starter packs will also go out on this evening and parents will have clear details of induction and transition arrangements. Sing with Sting: On Friday 24 April, 41 children from our school went to the Sage for a once in a lifetime experience. The day started getting dropped off at school as normal, morning lessons, lunch…and then the excitement kicked in! The bus arrived and we all hopped on to make our way to ‘Sing with Sting’! When we arrived we were shown to our seats in Hall 1. We had a vocal exercise with all the other schools who were taking part and two of Sting’s band members, who ran through the four songs we were singing with us -‘Last Ship’, ‘Shipyard’, August Winds’ (acapella) and ‘Whatta Ya Got’. After the warm up, Sting’s band appeared along with another famous Geordie bloke called Jimmy Nail! Then Sting came on stage and the singing began as excitement filled the air. We sang our three songs with Sting, Jimmy Nail and the band. After the first two songs, we sang one of Sting’s famous songs called ‘August Winds’ to him and he said he was so emotional hearing it sung by such young children. There were a few rude words in some songs and it was funny watching Jimmy Nail and Sting trying to blur them out, although Jimmy Nail kept saying them to Sting (quietly of course). All in all it was an absolutely fantastic once in a lifetime experience that I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed. I also enjoyed telling my parents and grandparents all about it as I could see I was making them very jealous! I would also love to thank Miss Barker for teaching us those songs. (Georgia Wilkinson, Y6)

After School Clubs: The majority of our after school clubs began this week with some having over 30 children in attendance! If you are unsure about whether your child has a place in any of our clubs, please see Miss Cook or drop her an email and she will be happy to confirm this for you. Toddlers Shed: Next week Toddlers take receipt of their new shed – Sam and Elaine will be organising the shed next Tuesday and if anyone would like then you’re most welcome. Year 6 Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) – Free Breakfast: Children in Year 6 will be sitting their SATs during the week beginning 18 May. School will be providing a free breakfast for Year 6 children from Monday to Thursday of that week, consisting of sausage/bacon sandwiches, toast, cereal and fresh juices. The children have worked incredibly hard throughout the year and we are very proud of them. It is really important that all children attend school that week to enable them to participate in the tests and demonstrate their achievements in English and Maths. The breakfast will be served at 8.30am and children are asked to arrive no earlier than 8.30am as there will be no-one available to supervise them. Many thanks to Carol, our fantastic school cook, for enabling us to do this. MEMOS AND REMINDERS London Marathon: Congratulations to Clare Iles who completed the London Marathon last weekend, she did it for Clic Sargent which is a great cause. If you would like to donate you can do so at www.virginmoneygiving.com/ClaireIles th

CND Peace Education Writing Competition: This year’s competition will commemorate the 70 anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and is a wonderful opportunity to nurture children’s creative talents whilst learning about the human and environmental impact of this historically significant event. Competition entries should start with the line: “The day the bomb fell…” and fit on a size of A4 paper. Winners will be selected from three categories: Years 3-6 for Primary schools, Years 7-11 for Secondary schools; and anyone under 19 who is studying at Sixth Form or College. Winners in each category will be chosen by a panel of judges and 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed authors will be invited to an exclusive award ceremony in central London on the 3rd July 2015 and will be presented with: 1st Place: £50 cash and £50 book voucher, 2nd Place: £30 book voucher, 3rd Place: £20 book voucher. A travel subsidy of up to £50 is also available for the ceremony. Additionally, the winning entries will be published on our th website in August to commemorate the bombings. All entries must be submitted by the 12 of June by email to [email protected] or by post to Creative Writing Competition; Mordechai Vanunu House, 162 Holloway Road, London N7 8DQ. For more information and to see the full terms and conditions please visit our website at http://www.cnduk.org/competition Charity Tea Party: On Tuesday 2 June we will be having our annual charity tea party. Any profit made will be donated to Catherine Sheens chosen charities in her memory. The tea party will be held in the yard (weather permitting). The weather has been wonderful the last few years so hopefully it will be the same this year. Come and join us in the yard from 2.30pm for a cuppa and a piece of cake. Cake Stall: Year 6 children will be selling cakes on Thursday 7 May. Year 6 parents will be providing the cakes for the children to sell. All children will be able to buy a cake. If your child wishes to buy a cake please send some money in with them on the day, no more than £1. No Dogs Allowed (Sorry): It has been brought to my attention that occasionally people bring dogs into the school yard. I am a dog lover. However, for obvious health & safety reasons dogs are not allowed on school premises (even if they are carried) or left tied to school railings. We have a strict council policy on this and it protects everyone in the event of something unpredictable that could happen. Please help us have a safe community. Summer Uniform & Summer Sun: Please can parents make sure in the coming months that children have sun screen applied before school, a suitable hat and water bottle (unless already in class). We are sun safe and encourage children to take shade during hot parts of the day. The sun is very dangerous. Let’s stay sun safe together! Contact details: Please ensure you let Miss Cook know if any of your contact information changes. It is very important that contact information is kept up to date. Contents of Packed Lunches: Could I also take this opportunity to remind parents that as an accredited Healthy School, packed lunch boxes must be nutritionally balanced and should not include fizzy drinks, chocolate or high fat crisps. By the same token, please try to increase the amount of fruit, yoghurt, brown bread, vegetables and unflavoured water, wherever you can. Nuts or foods containing nuts are not allowed. This is because of the number of children who have quite severe reactions, often life-threatening. Obviously these children avoid consuming nuts themselves but they can react in the same way if simply in a room where nuts can be found in another child’s lunch box. I am sure you will understand that we have to be very careful and I appreciate your support. In our Prayers: If there is anyone you would like us to pray for in our school community please drop comments into the prayer box or email the school office and we will remember those intentions in our prayers.

Taken from the Gospel for 3rd May 2015 (John 15:1-8): The True Vine READ: Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away - he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.” REFLECT: What bits of your life need to be pruned away now? What more can you do to express the flow of Christ’s life within you?

Birthdays: Kaitlyn Laidler (27 April), Sofia Flavell (28 April), Lucas Cairns (1 May) and Izabela Salomon (3 May) Weekly Assembly Awards: Little Hearts Star of the Week - Lucas Cavanagh & Lyla Blades-Murray Head Teacher’s Award - Zoe Corke, Izabela Salomon, Eve Carr-Wilson, Jake Carr-Wilson and Lori Doak Mathematician of the Week - Amelia Kirchner

Writer of the Week- Abbie Elliott

Miss Barrass’ Award - Jake Carr-Wilson

Brilliant Manners - Leon Harmeston

Pupils of the Week: India McVeigh, Hannah Summerside, Filip Drapiewski, Luke Robinson-Crow, Ruby Sheen, Molly Hopper and Georgia Garrett FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND KEY DATES Monday 4 May: Bank Holiday Monday. School Closed. Thursday 7 May: Year 6 Cake Stall Monday 18 May: Friends Movie Night - The Lego Movie Wednesday 20 May: Parish Meeting at 6pm Friday 22 May: School Closes for Half Term Holidays Monday 1 June: School Re-opens Tuesday 2 June: Annual Charity Tea Party. 2.30pm in the School Yard. Friday 12 June: Feast of the Sacred Heart. More information to follow Monday 15 June: Friends Movie Night. More information to follow. Finally, on behalf of Fr Kelly and all staff and governors have a lovely long bank holiday weekend! God Bless. Mr Naughton