04 December 2015

Bulletin Number 12

ST THOMAS MORE PARTNERSHIP OF SCHOOLS (07900532)

When we welcome the child, we welcome the family

Tel:01207 270396 / Email: sacredheartgateshead@stthomasmore.org.uk / Website: www.sacredheartgateshead.org / Twitter: @SHByermoor

Congratulations to Y2 & Y6 who had 100% attendance this week Well done to Y2, Y3, Y4/5 & Y6 who achieved our 95% target

This week our overall attendance was 96% Please ensure you make every effort to ensure your child gets to school every day to help us achieve our target

Class Reception Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4/5 Year 6

Attendance 88% 94.8% 100% 97.6% 97.8% 100%

Poor punctuality means your child misses valuable learning time and that lessons are disrupted for all other pupils. Please make sure that your children are in the yard by 8.45am every day.

Dear Parents, Grandparents & Parishioners

I can only describe our first week of advent as amazing. It got off to the best possible start as Y1 gave a packed hall of parents and grandparents a truly memorable advent liturgy. Fr. Kelly who also attended praised the children for making brilliant advent promises to Jesus. Some of the promises included: Thomas - "I will clean the kitchen for my mum!" and Beth - “I will make my bed every day!" But Thursday’s ‘Christmas Enterprise Day’ was without a doubt (not wanting to sound like a Match of the Day pundit) the best one ever. Much of its success was down to the army of Friends that have been preparing for weeks and a number of mums and dads that gave up an entire day of work to make the day a success. The morning began with a surprise visit from Mr and Mrs Santa Claus who spoke to every child in school in a specially prepared grotto. Every child received a lovely gift with a helping hand from a small group of elves. Enterprise afternoon was a sell-out with so many parents and grandparents in school purchasing all the children's carefully made Christmas crafts and decorations. No one left empty handed and parents had a real treat in the hall as they were entertained by Miss Barker's carol singers and enjoyed an array of much needed refreshments from the Friend's. The raffle had some spectacular prizes and I can only thank everyone for coming on behalf of the staff and children for coming in such huge numbers.

NEWS

Brilliant Breaking Building News: I am delighted to officially confirm that Sacred Heart has been able to obtain our second academy funded grant of £700,000 to build three additional classes at the back of the school. This will only enhance our already outstanding school and give everyone yet another lift just before Christmas.

The picture below gives an aerial impression of the works to be completed over the next 8 months which will begin in just over a weeks’ time. Our contractors Meldrums have just completed a £5m extension at St Thomas More. The build will be sympathetic to the character of this amazing building with so much history attached to it. The parishioners who are governors are already excited about this development.

The build will begin with the mobile classroom that Little Hearts use, being craned and repositioned at the end of the yard before works to adjoin the three classes to the back of the school begin. The classes will primarily be for a state of the art early years and reception facility and a new Y1 class.

Works will be finished by the end of the 2016 summer holidays and Sacred Heart will be officially a single form entry school with each year group having their own classroom. In September 2016 we will house 190 pupils from 3 to 11 years of age.

This is an exciting time for the school and as a result will bring some changes that will affect everyone initially but not the quality of the children’s education or the safety of the children in any way. Firstly the nursery will vacate their building week beginning Monday 14 December and continue to operate the last few days in school until the end of term. Little Hearts will then return to their building on Monday 11 January.

The rest of the school will return one day later than originally planned due to health and safety reasons on Thursday 7 January rather than Wednesday 6 January. The school will exercise the original occasional day which we had planned to take on Friday 1 July 2016 and exercise this on 6 January. No school days will be lost. Children will enter school as usual in the morning but all classes will enter school from the yard via the steps until further notice. More to follow in time...parents will be able to view plans in school in the next few weeks...watch this space!

Santa’s Special Message: Hello Children, I would like to thank you all for being so good yesterday, it was wonderful visiting your school. Mr Naughton and your teachers should be very proud of you all. When I got home to winter wonderland I put my lovely decorated snowflake, Christmas card & gift tag on my fireplace, the Elves were very impressed with your lovely drawings. Keep being good; write your letters so I know what to deliver on Christmas Eve and Finn don't forget to leave the key so I can get into the conservatory. A big thank you to all of the parents, teaching assistants and staff for making me feel so welcome. MERRY CHRISTMAS. Love Santa Clause & his little helpers the Elves. P.S Mr Woods the children told me they want less homework but I disagree…home work is very important!! Ho Ho Ho xx

Snow Bear Show: On Tuesday 8 December Little Hearts, Reception, Y1 and Y2 are invited to a wintry tale with live music, songs, puppets and a travelling theatre packed full of delights. The Snow Bear is inspired by Norwegian folk tales and tells the story of a polar bear who is taken away from his arctic home. Will the friendly Tomten’s magic help him find his way back? The Snow Bear is brought to life with mesmerizing storytelling and original music played live on cello, tuba, accordion and ukulele. It is packed with adventures and lots of audience involvement and children can bring along their favourite teddy to join in the fun!

Christmas Postbox: The school Christmas Post box opened this week and the children are invited to place their cards in the box for delivery to staff and other children throughout the school.

Christmas Lunch: The menu for our Christmas lunch sounds delicious: roast turkey with all the trimmings and a selection of puddings. We are looking forward to welcoming all of our guests. Once again, due to high numbers, lunch will start early. Friends have again come up trumps as they are providing every child with a cracker with their lunch. With the music in the background I am sure this will be a festive treat!

Christmas Jumper Day: On Friday 11 December we’re inviting all pupils and staff in Little Hearts Pre-school and Sacred Heart School to take part in Christmas Jumper Day. Everyone will be asked to wear their silliest, sparkliest or cosiest Christmas woollies and make a donation of £1, or whatever they can give, to help save children’s lives around the world. If your child doesn’t have a festive sweater already, just dig out a plain jumper and decorate it with tinsel, baubles or homemade snowflakes. We’d really appreciate your help to make Christmas Jumper Day a huge success. With your support we’re looking forward to a woolly fun day! Any monies raised will be split between Save the Children and the children in Zambia, which the school sponsor.

Carol Concert Tickets: Tickets have been selling like hot cakes and we have filled over half the church already! There a still a number of families that have not yet returned their order forms, please ensure you do no later than Monday as after then we will be releasing any spare tickets to anyone else who would like to attend. Please note we will not be accepting any additional ticket requests until the letters are sent out next week.

Tubs for Tablets: Please keep sending your tokens into school - this is a fab scheme from Flora, in partnership with Tesco, to provide schools with FREE Samsung Galaxy touch-screen tablets. Collecting tokens is as easy as 1, 2, 3…

1. Collect Tubs4Tablets tokens inside special 500g tubs of Flora Original or Light and Buttery 500g – available from Tesco stores only from 23rd September 2015

2. Hand the tokens into school – they will then submit them just before Christmas on the 18th December 2015

3. We will send them off to receive a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0” Wi-Fi 8GB for every 50 tokens collected

These tablets are a fantastic learning resource that will not only help prepare children for the exciting opportunities ahead, but will also bring a whole world of learning to life – allowing them to go on a host of educational adventures without stepping out the classroom. MEMOS AND REMINDERS

Safety Notice: Some parents park down the road and choose to walk up the road against oncoming traffic with their children in

the mornings. Although this has never been encouraged as there is no pedestrian access and the school has no responsibility for this area, it has come to my attention that some cars drive too quickly down the hill. In the winter when we have snow and ice this could prove to be fatal. Can I please advise that parents drive slowly passed pedestrians and that parents choose not to walk up the hill into oncoming traffic.

Heart Zone: Just a reminder that Heartzone will not be running on Monday 14 December due to staff training. It will resume as normal on Tuesday 15 December.

Morning Routines: Just a little reminder that in the event of bad weather staff will send children straight into school at 8.40am. If the staff members on gate duty have already gone back into school as you drop-off in the morning, could you please just buzz the

front door where office staff will be on hand to answer. Your child will then be walked to their classroom, giving you peace of mind that he/she is in school safely. Parents a not permitted through the double doors during school time unless authorisation from the headteacher is given. In our Prayers - Prayer booklet: We continue to pray for Fr Michael Corbett, Mollie Hay and Isaac Dawson. If there is anyone you would like us to pray for in our school community please drop comments into the prayer box or email the school office and we will remember those intentions in our prayers.

Taken from the Gospel for 6th December 2015 (Luke 3:1-6): The Baptist’s Message

READ: In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah: “A voice cries in the wilderness;

prepare a way for the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low; winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.” REFLECT: What sort of change did John

the Baptist ask from his listeners? Think of one change you need to make in your life to welcome Jesus.

Happy Birthday: Many happy returns to Millie Sampson and Maddison Rooney (6 December)

Weekly Assembly Awards:

Little Hearts Star of the Week – Paige Thornton-Logan Brilliant Manners – Tia Clark

Mathematician of the Week – Luke Robinson-Crow Writer of the Week – Nancy Sloan

Ms Sloan’s Award – Dominic Berry Head Teacher’s Award – Oliver Dee, Josh Healey & John Hood-Dixon

Pupils of the Week: Iris Kelly, Owen Thewlis, Thomas Hay, Daniel Gane, Tia Peart, Quincy Hull & Emily Dinning FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND KEY DATES

Wednesday 9 December: Reception Liturgy @ 9am Friday 11 December: Christmas Jumper Day Monday 14 December: Last swimming session of the Autumn Term Monday 14 – Friday 18 December: Class Christmas Parties Wednesday 16 December: Y6 Liturgy @ 9am Monday 21 December: Carol Service at the Church, 1.15pm Tuesday 22 December: Advent Liturgy @ 1.15pm, Gold Book Assembly @ 2.15pm & School Closes for Christmas Hols. Wednesday 6 January: OCCASIONAL DAY – SCHOOL CLOSED. Thursday 7 January: School re-opens On behalf of Fr Kelly, staff and governors may I wish you a happy weekend.

God Bless. Mr Naughton

Friends of Sacred Heart and Little Hearts

Dear Parents/Grandparents and Parishioners

What a Fantastic afternoon Enterprise Day was, the children made some great gifts to sell and sang some wonderful Christmas Carols.

The Friends raised £266.00 from the Raffle, £107.20 from teas/ coffees/cakes and juice, £65.00 from Decorations/Sweet gifts/Pencils & Candy Canes. That’s a grand

total of £438.20 Amazing!!

All monies raised by the Friends goes back into school for the children (Christmas parties/food, a gift from Santa etc).

A HUGE Thankyou to everyone who helped on the day we really do appreciate the

help that we get from every one of you.

The Friends

CLUBS SPRING 2016 As a first step, could you look, with your child, at the ‘menu’ of activities attached and put a tick in the appropriate boxes to indicate which clubs your child would like to attend. This will help us to plan groups. The slip should then be returned to school no later than Friday 11 December. Letters confirming places will then be sent out - clubs will aim to start the second week back. Child’s Name: Class: Please indicate with a tick the clubs you would like to attend and return the completed form to your class teacher

no later than Friday 11 December. Please ask your parent/guardian to sign at the bottom of the form.

Day

Club

Time

Year Groups

Teacher

Cost

Tick which club(s)

you would like to attend

Monday-Friday

Breakfast Club 7.45 – 8.50am All Please see school office for booking

forms/more information Monday - Thursday

Heart Zone 3.10 – 5.45pm All

Monday Dance 3.10 - 4.15pm KS1 & KS2 Ms Sloan £10 (£1

per week)

Monday Book Club 3.10 - 4.15pm KS1 Miss Maggiore Free

Tuesday Drama 3.10 - 4.15pm KS2 Miss Bray Free

Tuesday Y6 Sats Booster Class

3.10 - 4.15pm Y6 Mr Woods & Miss Barker

Free

Tuesday Art 3.10 - 4.15pm KS1/KS2 Miss Gray FULL

Tuesday Mathletics 8.20 – 8.50am Y3-Y6 All Staff Free

Wednesday Mathletics 8.20 – 8.50am Y1&2 All Staff Free

Wednesday Choir Lunchtime Y3-6 Miss Barker Free

Wednesday Athletics 3.10 - 4.15pm Y1-Y6 Mr Evans £10 (£1

per week)

Thursday Mathletics 8.20 – 8.50am Y3-Y6 All Staff Free

Thursday Football Lunchtime - After Feb ½ term

Y1-Y6 Mr Woods Free

Thursday Y6 Sats Booster Class

3.10 - 4.15pm 3.10 - 4.15pm Mr Woods & Miss Barker

Free

Thursday Computing Club 3.10 - 4.30pm KS1/KS2 Miss Wise £10 (£1

per week)

Thursday Netball 3.10 - 4.15pm Y4, Y5 & Y6 Mrs Iles Free

I have enclosed payment of £___________ in order to secure his/her place. Cheques must be payable to ‘Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School’. Please note, payment is necessary in order to reserve a place. If insufficient numbers are achieved a full refund will be given. Please note any dietary, medical or other issues the teacher may need to know about:

Signed: Parent/Guardian Date:

PLEASE NOTE: Clubs will only be able to run if sufficient attendance numbers are reached.

Any other info (e.g siblings to be together / whether they will attend Heartzone afterwards):