St James E-News

10th December 2021

Welcome to the St James Primary School's E-News, a weekly roundup of the latest goings on at the school.

Latest Headteachers Blog

Dear Parents,

Thank you to everyone who came and watched our outdoor Carol Concert yesterday, the children really enjoyed being able to perform their songs to a real audience! Listening to them, I felt festive for the first time, something many of you commented on as well. The pandemic has deprived us of many of those 'special moments' which we treasure when our children are at primary school, but when they do come along, I know I value them even more. I would also like to thank Kayte, Clare and Justin of the PTA, plus all the volunteers, for putting on a great Christmas fair, despite everything. The children certainly enjoyed it and I hope you did as well.

As we move towards the end of term, we are looking forward to a week of festivities in school, but are mindful of the recent changes made by the government to Covid measures. For most of this half-term we have been operating in 'semi-bubbles' with limited mixing between classes, and we will sadly need to continue this into January. But one of the biggest challenges we've had to face in the last few weeks has been covering staff illness; as we've had at least one and often two or three staff not in school almost every day. The main reason staff have been unwell is because they have caught a very nasty cold that is circulating around the school community, so please can I remind parents to keep children at home if their child is unwell.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend,

Valerie Elliott

School Notices

Sinbad, The Elstead Panto Written And Directed By Mr Gardner - Tickets On Sale Now  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/elsteadyouthpanto
Come along and help us raise money for charity. This, and every year, we are 'Panto with a Purpose'; all our profits will go to two charities.

This year we are raising funds for Target Ovarian Cancer. Information here: https://targetovariancancer.org.uk/

We are also raising money for Phyllis Tuckwell. Information here: https://www.pth.org.uk/

This year's panto is Sinbad, providing great entertainment along with a bar, a café, a shop and a raffle with some AMAZING raffle prizes too!  Not only this, but we are probably the cheapest panto around, with tickets a maximum of £8. Come along and join the fun!
St James' Church Collection for SW Surrey Domestic Abuse Outreach

Reception Applications for September 2022 - the national closing date for Reception and Junior applications for September 2022 entry is 15 January 2022. Surrey Admissions strongly encourage online applications via https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/eAdmissions/app. Parents can apply online from a smartphone or tablet as well as a laptop. If parents are unable to apply online, they will need to request a paper application form via the Surrey Schools & Childcare Service (0300 200 1004, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). The completed paper application form must be received by Admissions (to their Quadrant Court address) by 15 January, so parents must allow time for the post to reach them. If parents need to apply on paper, Surrey Admissions recommend that they send applications by recorded post. Full information is available on Surrey's website at www.surreycc.gov.uk/primaryadmissions. The Surrey Schools & Childcare Service can also provide impartial help in completing an application.
Applications received after the closing date without an exceptional reason will be treated as late and will not be considered until all on time applications have been processed. This may jeopardise the chance of a parent being offered one of their preferred schools for their child.
Covid Reminder - all staff at St James Primary are wearing masks in all areas in school other than the classrooms. We ask that any visitors to the school take a lateral flow test prior to their visit and wear masks at all times whilst inside school buildings. We remain vigilant about cleaning, hand washing and ventilation. We continue to remind you not to bring your child into school if they are at all unwell.
Open Classrooms - we hope that all our parents have been able to take advantage of the opportunity to see their child's work over the past 2 weeks. If you weren't able to attend your child's Open Classroom and have not already spoken to the class teacher to make alternative arrangements, please contact your child's class teacher so that something can be arranged.
Parking Outside School During Pick-Up and Drop-Off - we have received a request from a resident that parents avoid parking on the bend on Thursley Road near St James' Church. We continue to ask that parents park safely and with consideration for local residents and walk to school as much as possible.
PTA Big Christmas Raffle - For every ticket purchased, you will have 12 chances to win up to £5,000!* At the same time, we will raise 50% from every ticket sold supporting our PTA. It's a fantastic way to bring parents, carers, teachers and the wider community together, in partnership with our PTA, and at the same time give something back. We hope to raise funds that can support and enrich the education of our children – we aim to provide extra resources for the children, improve the school environment, as well as run extracurricular activities such as music, art and sport.

Drop in sessions with our Home School Link Worker, Helen Owen - The role of the Home School Link Worker (HSLW) is to support families with a range of issues at home or at school. This includes offering support with:
Parenting challenges and/or access to courses/information
Families who are experiencing difficult times (e.g. financial concerns, illness, separation, addiction, domestic abuse, bereavement etc.).
Helping complete forms such as: Disability living allowance, school trips etc
Helping families access additional support or resources
1:1 sessions are available on Wednesdays. To book an appointment email Helen on hslw@st-james-elstead.surrey.sch.uk or ring the school office to request a call back.
Have you discovered the St James Mobile App? - The app allows parents to keep up to date with all the latest news, dates, photo galleries and more all in one handy place on their phone. Parents can also receive push notifications and subscribe to alert groups that give reminders about class or school events. The app is free to download so please give it a try! Please click here to learn more about this useful communication tool.

Covid-19 Information

Please remember; if your child (or a member of your family) has Covid-19 symptoms please do not send your child to school - Please immediately arrange a PCR test for your child and inform the school office as soon as possible. Please do not send your child to school at least until you receive the test result and not before they are well. Whilst Government guidance no longer requires members of the household of someone testing positive to isolate for ten days, we would ask that you keep your child at home for the period of isolation to give a further level of protection to the physical and mental health all members of our school family.
All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of their age or vaccination status. This position is under review by the Government.
Weekend Results: It is very important that you continue to notify us of Covid-19 test results still over the weekend by using the email address below.

results@st-james-elstead.surrey.sch.uk