ST MARY’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
A Community Where we Live, Learn and Laugh Together in God’s Love
[email protected]
www.stmaryshalifax.co.uk
Tel: 01422 362365
No. 132
13/1/17
FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY - We celebrated the Feast of the Wise Men (Epiphany) a little late this week
on Wednesday. Fr Martin said Mass for us and the children were as always fantastic, especially their
singing!
CENSUS DAY – PLEASE LET YOUR CHILD EAT A SCHOOL DINNER!!!
Next Thursday 19th January is a very important data collection day for our
school office. We are appealing to all parents, but especially those with a
child in KS1 or Reception to allow your child to have a school dinner on this
day, even if they don’t normally do so. The school’s funding for 2017-18 is
partly calculated using the number of School Meals
served on this specific day, so the more children
having a dinner made by school, the more money we will have to spend on your
child! All KS1 and Reception meals are FREE of course and we have asked the
kitchen to move the Pizza Day to Thursday next week as an extra incentive!
AMPLEFORTH RETREAT 15th - 17th March 2017 (Y5) Another reminder
that we have now opened the School Money account for this trip and
parents can start making payment instalments towards the £90 cost. If
you would like to receive a new password for this online payment system
please ask in the School Office. Remember that the children are in theory
supposed to be ‘earning’ this, so they should be doing little jobs etc. around the house to save at least some of the
cost.
KESWICK RESIDENTIAL 3rd – 7th April 2017 (Y6) Just another reminder that the online payments for this trip have
also gone live. Thank you to all those who have started paying instalments towards the cost of £230. If you would
like a new password text sending to you please ask.
LAMPEDUSA WORKSHOP (Y6) A small number of children from Year 6 will be talking about this special
Deanery-wide project in the main Sunday Masses at St Mary’s (22nd January) and St Alban’s (29th
January). There will also be a display in the Churches containing some of the work produced by children
from around the Halifax, Brighouse and Elland area.
TASIF KHAN We are still expecting a very special visit from Taz,
a professional boxer and holder of an impressive set of World
Title Belts – (WBU, GBU World Superflyweight Champion and
WBC Bantamweight Champion) on Wednesday 25th January
(2.30pm) at an assembly for KS2.
Any parents who are interested in coming along are very
welcome.
PTA THANKS We have had a brand new, state of the art media system installed in the main hall today
and we look forward to making full use of it in the coming weeks, especially at the next two PTA Film Nights
on 3rd February (KS1) and 10th February (KS2)! Half the cost has been paid for
with funds from the PTA to the tune of £1600. Thank you to everyone who has
supported the PTA events since September.
KS1 MATHS EVENING Despite the threat of snow last night we were very
pleased with the number of parents who were able to come along to our
information meeting on the teaching of Maths in KS1. Those who attended seem
to have found it useful.
BRITISH VALUES WEEK (23rd January – 27th January) Children across the
school will be doing some work (writing, art, poetry etc.) on the traditional values
common to all citizens of the United Kingdom. Ofsted summarises these as:
Tolerance, Democracy, Rule of Law, Responsibility, Respect and Individual
Liberty.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE (Y6) The children in Y6 will be visiting this fantastic museum and
educational centre near Nottingham on the 3 rd February. They will be learning about the way Jewish
children were treated by Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and how some of them were lucky enough to escape
the country just before the start of WW2. If they are very lucky they will get the chance to listen to a firsthand testimony from an actual Holocaust Survivor. The children will also be learning about how racism,
discrimination, prejudice and bullying can lead to people having to leave their homes and flee for their lives
to another part of the world, and how they as individuals can help stop this happening even today. If you
would like to know a little more try watching this video: https://www.nationalholocaustcentre.net/what-we-do
SNOW PROCEDURES If the weather is so extreme that we have to close the school (which
we always try to avoid if we can) we will always inform you via the texting service, school
website and twitter (if you are signed up to the twitter feed). We would also attempt to get the
closure broadcast on Radio Leeds, but this can often be quite a lengthy process and is
always much slower than the other methods. As a general rule, please assume we are open as normal
unless we contact you.
LABELLING CLOTHING It is a matter of constant surprise to us that lost
property frequently has no child’s name written in it. Jumpers, cardigans,
pumps, coats, scarves, gloves, drinks bottles, sandwich boxes, shoes, hats,
PE kits etc. have a far better chance of being returned to their owner if they
have a name written on them. Why not get your child to do the job for
themselves??
WINTER WRAP UP The weather has definitely turned cold again and we ask all parents to make sure
children bring their winter coats, scarves, hats etc. to school every day. There are lots who don’t!
ATTENDANCE We have unfortunately seen the usual high proportion of winter coughs, sneezes and
sickness bugs around in the last two weeks. Hopefully things will improve soon! Please do your best to get
children in everyday and on time.
YELLOW BUS FOR ALL SAINTS’ STUDENTS A small number of parents with children at All Saints’
College have started to explore the possibilities and practicalities of a dedicated Yellow Bus service. A
letter about this initiative has gone out tonight with all Y6 and Y5 children thinking about attending All
Saints’ when they leave St Mary’s. When you receive this letter please don’t ignore it. We would really like
to find out what level of interest there is for this idea. Thank you.