Moorgreen Road, West End

Southampton, SO30 3EG

Tel: 02380 900995

m.marsh@st-james-westend.hants.sch.uk

adminoffice@st-james-westend.hants.sch.uk

‘Love, Respect and Courage’ at Saint James C of E Primary School

Headteacher: Mrs Michelle Marsh Deputy Headteacher: Mrs Rebecca Gardiner

29 September 2017

A message from Mrs Marsh

As you know it has been all action at Saint James over the holiday, with the start of our building works. Whilst we know that the building work will inevitably be inconvenient at times, we are very much looking forward to our new and improved school this time next year! The children’s safety continues to be of paramount importance and the senior leadership team will continue to work closely with the development team to be prepared for each stage of the building work.

The start of each day is certainly challenging but we are doing our best to help you to enter our school grounds safely. We are not qualified lollipop ladies so please be patient with us. Please be aware that there may be days when we are unable to be at the entrance of the school so we ask both drivers and pedestrians to be considerate of each other and ensure you put safety first at all times.

The teachers have been working in their new year teams to prepare exciting topics and challenging learning opportunities ready for the children’s return. Each class began the new year by finding out about the country their class is named after and starting this terms topics. This has allowed the children to gain a strong sense of belonging to Saint James while they build relationships with their new teacher and classmates.

If you have any concerns during the school year that you cannot resolve with your child’s teacher, please feel free to email me or to make an appointment to see me.

Building Update Thank you to everyone for your understanding during the significant building work that we are undergoing. This is not something which I would have chosen for our school but Hampshire County Council made a decision that it needs to expand due to the volume of housing being built in this area. While we had no choice in the matter, we have ensured that we get the best deal for our children so have managed to secure a MUGA, extended hall, new front entrance for our school along with the seven new classrooms they are building. On the plans the yellow sections show where the new hall extension and classroom block will be located. While this is currently extremely challenging for us as a school, the disruption to the children’s learning is being kept to a minimum. While we are at times experiencing short term inconvenience, in the long term we know the building work will greatly improve our school. We are anticipating we will have the full use of the hall by Easter and the classroom expansion will be completed by June.

ELSA Support Mrs Weston will be available on the pathway near the blue bins in the mornings before school to help you if you have any concerns or questions.

School lunches from Monday 2nd October

We apologise for the disruption to the service of meals at the start of the year. This as you

know was caused by the contractors damaging an asbestos panel. I should point out this

was the Hampshire Catering contractors and nothing to do with the main building work being

undertaken by Kier. This has now been removed and the kitchen work is being carried out.

As a result we hope to resume usual service relatively soon—we will keep you informed.

Some parents would like to pay for meals in a block – this is absolutely fine and if your

child does not order a meal on a particular day, then no money would be deducted.

Meals cost £2.15 and must be paid for in advance, otherwise your child will need to bring a

packed lunch. We are not permitted to continue providing meals if you are in debt.

The cost for lunch every day for the final 3 weeks of the half-term would be £32.25 for 15

meals . Remember to deduct £2.15 for any day your child is on a trip, or at a medical

appointment etc if they will not be requiring a school lunch.

No Parking on School Grounds

For health and safety reasons there is unfortunately no

parent parking on our site at any time other than for Early

Birds drop off in the morning. We would like to make a

special plea asking parents to NEVER enter our car park

via the exit as going against the “No Entry” sign is very

dangerous. We have had a number of near misses and

the risk to cars and pedestrians will obviously increase as

the mornings and evenings become darker.

Eco-Schools Update

Even though we are having extensive building work, the Eco-Schools committee intends to continue as best we can. Our topics will be changing at our meeting next week and we will let you all know what they are.

Look out for our new name…’Eco-Schools Committee’ is a bit boring!

In the meantime, you can all keep helping

the environment and the school by using

sustainable transport whenever possible.

Christmas Concerts This year due to the building work we will have

no hall in which to do our traditional Christmas

concerts. As a result for this year only concerts

will be held at the church for Key Stage 1 and

Key Stage 2. Please see the diary dates on

this news letter for the dates and times of the

performances.

Year R

Our new YR children have settled in wonderfully and are already

making lots of new friends. It is lovely to see them gaining

confidence with the adults, exploring their new environment and

becoming increasingly independent. In each class the children

have quickly become familiar with school rules and routines.

We look forward to seeing our new families at parents’ evening.

Saint James were handed a tough group with tough games such as Fair Oak and

Shamblehurst as well as games against Netley Abbey and Bishops Waltham.

Saint James’ first game was against eventual finalists Netley Abbey, the game was

tight and it was only decided by one goal! Unfortunately it went to Netley who

scored in off the post with just a few minutes left of the game. Moments before that

Saint James hit the post with a powerful shot from Jacob Hibberd, but unfortunately

the ball bounced away from the goal.

The second match was against a very strong Fair Oak team and for the most part

of the match the game was even, however Fair Oak managed to convert one of

their chances and hold on to their 1-0 lead.

Up next was a game against Shamblehurst, another very strong team. Saint James

passed the ball about well but due to a dodgy bounce and the fact our goalie had

no gloves on the ball managed to find the back of the net. With Saint James

pushing forward to equalize, Shamblehurst counter attacked and added a second

goal.

Saint James had one final game against Bishops Waltham, in which the boys were

determined to end on a high and not let previous results effect them. They started

well by scoring within a minute with Charlie White slotting the ball past the keeper

and went on to add a second through Jacob Hibberd who smashed the ball into the

net!

Learning Through Sport

At the end of last year we said goodbye to Mrs Julia Quehan who took a full time secondment as the Assistant Headteacher at St Mary’s Catholic School in Gosport. She is greatly enjoying the challenge and new experiences and promises to stay in touch with us throughout the year.

Mrs Jackie Marriot has also begun a two day a week secondment in the same school, also as an Assistant Head. She is enjoying the opportunity to develop her senior leadership skills and sharing ideas between our two schools.

Our new teachers Mrs Penny Wilson, Miss Faith Thomas and Miss Shianne Lihou have settled in well and we have also welcomed Miss Ruth Emerson and Miss Georgia Matthews to our school as they join us for the year to undertake their teacher training.

Staffing Update

Class Name Class Teacher Learning Support Assistant

YR Scotland Mrs Fiona Ellery Mrs Liz Corcoran

YR Wales Miss Sarah Williams Mrs Nickie Natt

YR/1 Spain Mrs Claire Burgess and Miss Debbie Schools Mrs Jo Candler

Y1 Portugal Mrs Penny Wilson Mrs Gina Austin

Y1 Italy Mr Andy Boyden Mrs Humaira Abrar

Y2 France Miss Rachael Hodson Mrs Henna Chaudhry

Y2 Germany Miss Taryn Christmas Mrs Jayne Ife

Y2 Poland Mrs Tracy Appleyard Mrs Aisha Turnbull

Y3 South Africa Miss Faith Thomas Mrs Jeanette McQuillan

Y3 Kenya Mrs Kathy Bate

Y4 Norway Miss Heather White Mrs Lin Light

Y4 Sweden Mr Alex Allsop Mrs Luci Jenkins

Y5 Argentina Miss Shianne Lihou Mrs Clarissa Griffiths

Y5 Brazil Mrs Jackie Marriott and Mrs Debbie Lowe Mrs Sharon Bowen

Y6 Japan Mr Neil Adams Mrs Heather Rudd

Y6 India Mr Andrew Thompson Mrs Anna Pearson

Governing Body Changes

Our warmest and sincere thanks go to Karen Wiseman for

her years of service as our Chair of Governors. She has

made the difficult decision to step down as our chair, due to

her work commitments, but will be staying on as a governor

for our school. It has been truly inspirational working with

her and we are grateful for all she has done for our school.

Jo Allen, who was our vice chair, has now been appointed

as our Chair of the governing body and we look forward to

working closely with her in the years to come.

Building security

Please may we politely remind you that parents are not allowed to walk through the

school building or enter the cloakrooms. Other than Saint James pupils and staff,

anyone else wishing to enter the building MUST enter via the school office, be signed

in and visibly display the Saint James Visitor lanyard. This is essential not only for

fire regulations, but more importantly for the safety of the children at Saint James.

Homework

Thank you to the vast majority of parents who are supporting their children with

homework. We can’t emphasise enough what a massive impact parents can have

by reading regularly with their child and helping with spellings/x-tables etc. We will

continue to run a homework club for children who, for whatever reason, have been

unable to return completed homework. While we cannot offer the same 1:1 support

they would get at home, it does provide a quiet supervised space for them to work.

While some children love completing homework, others are less keen, so please bear

in mind that it needs to be regular but not time consuming. For example:

Y1: 5 minutes every morning flashing phonics and sticky words;

10 minutes sharing a reading book before bed;

Complete the one homework book activity sometime over the weekend.

Y2: 5 minutes every morning practising spellings;

10 minutes sharing a reading book before bed;

Complete the one homework book activity sometime over the weekend.

KS2: 5-10 minutes every morning practising spellings and X-tables;

10 minutes sharing a reading book before bed

Complete the two homework book activities sometime over the weekend.

Homework becomes much easier once it is part of daily routine, children know that it

won’t take long and feel that their grown-ups enjoy spending this time with them.

Diary Dates 2017-2018

Mon 2nd Oct 2017 Parent Drop in after school—’Book Look’.

Wed 4th Oct Parents’ Evening

Thurs 5th Oct Harvest Service at St James Church

Thurs 5th Oct Parents’ Evening

Fri 13th Oct SJSA ‘Bad Moms’ Parents’ Film Night 7pm

Mon 16th Oct SJSA AGM 3:30pm

Thurs 19th Oct Individual photographs

Fri 20th Oct 2017 Last Day

Sat 21st

Oct - Sun 29th

Oct Half term break

Mon 30th Oct 2017 Term starts

Mon 6th Nov 2017 Parent Drop in after school—’Book Look’.

Mon 6th Nov 2017 YR Stay and Play 1:45-3:00pm

Thurs 9th Nov 2017 SJSA Film Night 3:30pm

Fri 10th Nov 2017 Shared communion in the hall 8:00am

Sun 12th Nov 2017 Remembrance Day Service 10:15am

Fri 17th Nov 2017 Children in Need (Spotacular non-uniform)

Wed 22nd Nov 2017 SJSA meeting

Fri 24th Nov Chocolate non-uniform day

Wed 29th Nov School nurses YR to Y4 Flu vaccine

Fri 1st Dec Bottle non-uniform day (bring a FULL bottle)

Fri 8th Dec SJSA Christmas Fair

Tues 12th Dec 2017 KS1 Concert 1:30 St James Church

Wed 13th Dec 2017 YR Scotland/Spain Nativity 2-3 Main Hall

Thurs 14th Dec 2017 YR Wales/Spain Nativity 2-3 Main Hall

Fri 15th Dec 2017 SJSA Christmas shopping day

Thurs 14th Dec 2017 KS2 Concert 6:30-7:30 St James Church

Thurs 21st Dec 2017 Church service for the children.

Thurs 21st Dec 2017 Last Day

Continued ...

Diary Dates 2017-2018… continued

Fri 22nd

Jan - Sun 7th Jan Christmas break

Thurs 4th

Jan 2018 INSET

Fri 5th

Jan 2018 INSET

Mon 8th Jan 2018 Term starts

Fri 9th Feb 2018 Last Day

Sat 10th

Feb – Sun 18th

Feb Half term break

Mon 19th Feb 2018 Term starts

Thurs 29th Mar 2018 Last Day

Fri 30th

Mar – Sun 15th

Apr Easter break

Mon 16th Apr 2018 Term starts

Thurs 24th May 2018 Last Day

Fri 25th

May 2018 INSET

Sat 26th

May – Sun 3rd

June Half term break

Mon 4th June 2018 Term starts

Fri 20th

July 2018 Last Day

Mon 23rd

July 2018 INSET

Upcoming SJSA events

SJSA are pleased to bring you our first Adults Film Night, showing on 13

th October at 7pm, in the hall.

Tickets will cost £3 and include a complimentary glass of wine and cake, please bring your own bottle and nibbles!

Our SJSA AGM will be held after school on Monday 16

th October in the Year 6

classrooms. Please come along and find out more about what we’ve been up to! There’s a free kids club for school aged children and a free lucky dip raffle for everyone who attends

Our school lottery is still growing and so is the weekly jackpot! Sign up to be in

with a chance to win – www.yourschoollottery.co.uk and search for St James

Our Autumn Film night this term will be Despicable Me 3, showing after school on 9

th November

In the absence of our textile bin, we have arranged a Bags2School collection for

November 6th – so if you have a sort out of old clothes, we will recycle them

and raise money for our school

Save the Date! Our Christmas Fair will be on Friday 8th Decem-

ber, 3.30-5.30

Upcoming Meetings; all welcome:

10th

October, 7.30pm, Master Builder – Xmas Fair Planning 22

nd November, 7.00pm, Master Builder – SJSA Meeting

Come and join us at St James’ Church!

Children's Harvest Workshop at St. James' Church

Sat 30th Sept 10 - 11.30am

Children with parents are invited to join our flower arrangers to make Harvest displays around the church. Decorating small pumpkins with flowers, Knitted mice made by the school knitting club, Harvest mice. Please contact Sue Fitch to confirm a place: sue.fitch@sky.com 023 80477248

St. James' Church Harvest Service

Sunday 1st October 10.30am-11.30am with St. James' School Choir A celebratory service with Communion

Saint James School Harvest Service

Thursday 5th October 9.45am at St. James' Church

Starting in October – a warm welcome at our Youth Group

(For Year 6 and above)