St James E-News

24th March 2023

Welcome to the St James Primary School's E-News, a weekly roundup of the latest news and events at the school

Latest Headteachers Blog

Dear Parents and Carers,

Following our recent Parent Consultations, we will be following up with a survey to get your views on these meetings, what works for you, and what we can improve. Next term we will be running an Open Classroom session for each year group so that you can see your child's work.

Many of you will be aware we have a new school information system called Arbor and our plan is to move many functions such as communication and booking school clubs and wraparound care to this system. We are still exploring the full potential of Arbor, but hope it will make everyone's lives a little easier!

Finally, Mrs Berrill continues to get better and is making a good recovery. We will know more after Easter about her plans to return to work. In the meantime, we have been supported by a SENCO from another local school for a couple of days this term. If you have a concern about your child, the best place to start is by speaking to your child's class teacher. If the teacher is not sure about your query, they will speak to Mrs Jenkinson or me.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend,

Valerie Elliott

School Notices

Easter Holidays - please remember that this school term ends next Friday, 31st March at 2pm. School resumes on Monday, 17th April at 8.55am.
Red Nose Day - thank you to all who supported our Red Nose Day last week. We loved seeing the children and staff dressed in 'what brings them joy'. Our school cook, Emma, created fun Red Nose cookies for the children's dessert. We have nearly reached our £300 target on our fundraising page, click on the photo of Mrs Duke and Mr Gardner if you would like to make a donation.

St James Primary Bake Off Final - the judging took place this morning. We would like all children to wear their house tee-shirts on Wednesday 29th March when the results are announced.
Anxiety Talk for Parents Next Tuesday, 28th March at 9am - we have invited NHS Primary Mental Health Worker, Nikki Brunton Smith, to St James Primary School to talk to parents. She will talk about understanding anxiety, how it presents and the solutions/strategies that can be used to support an anxious child. She will also offer a follow up session during which parents can drop in to ask specific questions about their child. Please see the letter on the Parent Portal. We are delighted that so many of you have said you would like to attend. Please help us plan how much space we need to allocate for this meeting by completing the online form here if you plan to attend.
DBS checks for adult helpers - we are able to have parents and carers help us in school and on trips and outings now. If you think you would like to help please speak to your child's class teacher in the first instance and then contact the school office so that we can carry out the DBS checks which are required beforehand.
PTA Taskmaster - our PTA are organising the first Elstead Taskmaster event for June. Please check out the information on the PTA News page.