Friday 16th December 2016

Governor News

As this exciting term comes to a close the governors would like to thank the children and staff for their invitations to the full

programme of Christmas events that included Christmas lunch and performances from all five classes. Governors are very aware

of all the hard work done by staff to get the children ready to give confident and polished performances. Thank you so much.

All committees have met this term carrying out work to support Mrs Welch and the staff in the smooth and effective running of the

school. There are always new challenges to be met in education and this academic year is no exception so our thanks go out to

Mrs Welch and the whole staff.

The Board of Governors works because people give up their time to support the Headteacher, staff, pupils and parents by

attending meetings and becoming involved in projects that will help to keep the school moving forward. As a Board of Governors

we are very grateful to all those who take on this role. We welcome to the Board this term Chris White as a new parent governor

and look forward to working with him on the Teaching and Learning Committee.

This term we have to say goodbye to Rosie Smith and Terry Dillon who have served as members of the Teach-

ing and Learning Committee for a number of years, taking on responsibility for Safeguarding and SEND. A huge

thank you to them for all the work they have done in those areas. Chris White will now take on responsibility for

Safeguarding and Tess Taylor will be our SEND governor.

The Governors would like to wish you all a joyful and peaceful Christmas.

£90 raised for

SHELTER–

thank you for

supporting our

Advent

fundraising.

Dear All

I have been so impressed with the St Catharine’s Family over recent weeks.

Somehow, the wonderful staff team has managed to keep the children focused on their Curriculum learning right up

until the end of term, and yet have also managed to provide opportunities for children to have enjoyable Advent

experiences and participate in performances for the school and wider community as well.

Thank you to all

the children who

attended the

Advent Pop-Up

Chapel in the

Library each day.

Congratulations to Greene Class for their wonderful Nativity in the Church. We were amazed by their confidence, team work and

ability to learn so many songs! Every single child played his or her part in making the production really special and memorable

for family and friends.

‘A Miracle in Town’ by Ashbee and Wilson Classes was a traditional Nativity with a comic twist. It was extremely entertaining,

and polished, especially considering that the children practised for 8 hours in total!

Dover and Noel’s Carol Concert was just beautiful and an opportunity for the school to enjoy the singing, individual

musicians and thought-provoking readings, plus it provided an opportunity for audience participation as well!

PAG has worked extremely hard since the AGM under Julia Parr’s leadership. There was a lovely community atmosphere at the

Christmas Fair and it raised £1600 for new iPads/cameras for each class. Also ‘Breakfast with Santa’ was a new event . The children

loved it and it raised £200! Thank you to everyone who helped and supported.

By the time you read this, the children will have enjoyed a whole school trip to the pantomime at Tewkesbury and the winner of the

Annual Christmas House Quiz will be known. Please see the ‘News’ section of the website for more details on Friday!

We will end the term with a very special assembly. The ‘International Peace Light,’ from Bethlehem, will be brought to school by local

Scouts. "We gladly receive the light as a sign of our willingness to be channels of peace, by our words and actions."

Best wishes,

Joanne Welch

Thank you to Mr

and Mrs Tang for

gifting the staff a

delicious lunch!

Proposed document for consultation -

Admissions Policy 2018/2019

Please see the proposed Admissions Policy for 2018/19 on the school

website in the ‘Policies’ section. This is a policy for consultation and we

invite all responses to Joanne Welch via

head@stcatharines.gloucs.sch.uk . The consultation period opens for 6

weeks, commencing Friday 16th December 2016.

There are 2 main changes:

1– St Catharine’s Catholic Primary school has become the officially

designated school for the parish of ‘Our Lady and St Kenelm’ in Stow-on-

the-Wold, which also incorporates Bourton-on-the-Water.

2-In line with Diocesan guidance, the use of distance measurement is no

longer appropriate. Children from the parish of ‘Our Lady and St Kenelm’

could be penalised because they may live further away than children from

within St Catharine’s parish. Random allocation will therefore be used as

the method for allocating school places.

Attendance Please be advised that schools/

Governing Bodies are compelled by

Local Authority and Government to

monitor the attendance of pupils, and

this can cover all types of absence,

including holidays in term time and

even sick absence. 95% is the target

that schools have to meet. This term

our overall attendance has been

97%. 45 children have attended

every morning and afternoon

session and 29 children have fallen

below the target of 95% for a wide

number of reasons. The current

school practice is to send out a

standard letter when attendance

figures are falling below the target, to

raise awareness of a child’s

attendance figure and to sometimes

open up a dialogue about how

attendance could be improved.

Please see the ‘Attendance Policy’ in

the ‘Policies’ section of the school

website for more details about school

attendance.

First Holy Communion Dear Parents,

I would like to begin the programme by the end of January if at all

possible. Sessions will be held on Tuesdays in school 3.30 – 4.30.

If you have not completed a form please do so as soon as you can.

The programme is open to children who are baptised Catholics cur-

rently in year 3 or above. Forms are available from Mrs McCarthy in

the school office.

Many thanks

Jane A Cannon

St Catharine’s Choir of Angels

Messages from the

Office:

Please ensure all uniform is la-

belled clearly with a child’s

name. It is almost impossible to

locate lost items otherwise!

Please ensure that all break time

snacks are healthy. Fruit is

acceptable, but other snacks

such as crisps are more suitable

for lunch boxes.

Thank you to Clair Bennett for co-

ordinating our entry to St James’

Church Festival. This year the theme

was ‘Angels’ and each class made an

angel, covered with personal, and

sometimes moving, Advent prayers.

Indoor Athletics 30.11.16

Six girls and eight boys went to Chipping Campden School to take part in an indoor athletics event.

They competed against five other schools in our cluster group. St. Catharine’s came second overall

and were narrowly beaten by Mickleton School.

There were some outstanding performances in the competition. The girls’ team won all their races

except one where they came joint first with Dormer House. The Standing Triple jump was difficult but

good jumps were recorded. Hannah Curtis jumped 4.20m, Imogen Hill 4m, Isaac Jacquinet 4.39m,

Jacob Dee 3.75m. The Speed Bounce also scored highly: Hannah Curtis 48, Alexandra Ashton-

Haddleton 45, Jack Theo 45 and Joss Robbins 40. Chest Push was contested by two boys and two

girls from St. Catharine’s. Joss Robbins scored 8 feet, Jack Boylan 7 feet, Imogen Turner 5 feet and

Lara Dawe 5 feet. Isaac Jacquinet won the Soft Javelin event. Evie Jeavons threw well in her event.

Imogen Hill, Euan Woodfinn, Charlie Jones, Henry Robinson, Jack Boylan competed exceptionally

well in their events and contributed to the success of their team. Well done to all who participated.

Winning entries for new Sports strips and kits by Felix New Sports Kits have been

ordered!

Thank you to all the children who entered

Mrs Heneghan’s competition to design new

Sport’s kit for our inter-school fixtures. The

winning designs, by Felix, display the school

logo and retain our traditional school

colours, but at the same time the black

‘splodges’ provide a modern twist and may

give a killer edge on the sport fields/courts/

pitches! Congratulations to Felix Lindner!

Schools Points Position

St. David’s 80 6th

Willersey 86 5th

St. James 136 4th

Dormer House 190 3rd

St. Catharine’s 198 2nd

Mickleton 206 1st

Please see the ‘News’ section of the website for a full match report

and individual results on the KS2 Indoor Athletics event for Y3/4/5

and 6 held on 16.11.16. The competition tested speed, agility,

co-ordination and balance.

Tag Rugby Tournament Y3/4/5 and 6 - Moreton Fire College Four teams represented the school at this tournament. All the teams played exceptionally well despite the cold weather and the wet

field. We were lucky to see the sun for an hour!

Our all-female captains were fantastic, well organised, encouraging, fair minded, they got their teams to the right pitch at the right time

and allowed others to play instead of them. A special mention must go to Imogen Turner who only played once as she was so

determined to field all her players and also to Jack Theo who came off to allow a player on as he was aware of how cold he was.

Outstanding players were Flinn Duggan who passed very well, Miah Allsop-Judd who ran straight and scored two tries, Seb Makaritis

and Edward Smith who scored lots of tries, Jack Theo, Hannah Curtis and Jack Boylan who dodged around the opposition, Egan

Kyneswood and Jacob Dee who supported their team in attack.

Team ‘B’ was team of the tournament as they won all their matches, followed closely by the ‘A’ Team who only conceded one match.

Team ‘C’ were nominated the most sporting team and Team ‘D’ were deemed the fittest team as they had no substitutes.

A special thank you must go to Mrs. Snape-Jones who kept a tally of all the scores and to Ms Ashton who took the warm up and en-couraged the teams. Thanks to Mrs. McMillan, Mrs. Jones and Mr. Makaritis for supporting all the teams.

Match Results

Full match report available on the

Team A Team B Team C Team D

2-3 v Blockley A 4-0 v St. David’s B 2-1v St. James’s C 1-1 v St. James’s D

4-2 v Dormer A 2-0 v Dormer B 9-0 v Dormer C 0-2 Dormer C

5-0 v St. James A 2-0 v St. James’s C 3-0 v St. Cath’s D 0-1 St. Cath’s C

4-1 v St. David’s A 2-2 v St. James’s B

Dover Christmas Tree Decorations

Thank you to Mrs Sarah Mattocks for making

super tree decorations with Dover Class.

Children have been thoroughly enjoying the

Friday afternoon Craft Club as well.

We wish you all a healthy, happy and holy Christmas and New Year.

New term begins for children on Wednesday 3rd January 2017.