St Cecilia's News

It's St Cecilia's Feast Day this Sunday.

Many thanks to St Catherine's Class, Miss Morre and Mrs Kolendo for our lovely St Cecilia's Day play this year which told the life of St Cecilia, a lovely tradition for the school.

We will be sending a copy of the play to the parents of the children in St Catherine's via a Vimeo secure link.

The polls close at 4pm. today.

If you have not voted please make sure to do so before the deadline. Voting links were sent to you via email from ChoiceVoting, we have also sent a reminder email through their system.

The election result will be published online at 4pm. Many thanks to our three candidates, Mr Arnett, Mr Brookes and Mrs Salinas Nokes. The Governing Body look forward to working with the successful candidate.

We will not be having a PTA Christmas Fair this year, we did want to involve the children in a little fundraiser project that they could enjoy over the Christmas holiday. Each class is working on pages for our first ever Christmas Annual, it will be a bumper edition with over 70 pages of Christmas jokes, puzzles, recipes and games. To order your family copy please complete the Google Form below, we will then place an order with the printer for you.

At £5 per copy, we estimate that at least £2 will go to the school fund. The annuals will be printed and shipped to the school just before we close in December. They will be in full colour with a laminated cover. Orders must be placed before Monday 30th November, payment will then be requested through the Pupil Asset App. Please make payment before Midday on Monday 7th December.

It is much cheaper for us to order the annuals in one large print job, we can support parents with individual orders after the deadline, however these will be priced at around £16 each, so please order on time.

It was a wonderful sight to see all the class teachers in their classrooms chatting with you the other night, I am so pleased that we found a way to meet with you safely. We will use the same system for our Spring term parent-teacher meetings, currently planned for 2nd and 4th March 2021.

Our library catalogue is now available to view online using the link below. We have enabled additional features of the library system so parents will notice that automated reminder letters are now being sent from the library. Library books can be borrowed for two weeks, at that point the book needs to be renewed or returned. We hope that the reminders will help parents to track their child's books at home and prevent books from going missing for long periods of time.

We have created a library email account, please remember that we no longer have a librarian, the process of searching for books, verifying queries and replying takes a lot longer at this moment in time.

You can help us by making sure that your child has a place for their library books at home and that they are returned to the library correctly, to the returns box or to their class teacher or TA.

During Advent and Lent we are called to think of those less fortunate than ourselves. This coming advent, we will be supporting a charity close to many hearts I know, St Raphael's Hospice. The hospice, like many charities, has had a very tough year and we are pleased to partner with them for a Rudolph Fun Run.

You can see details of the Fun Run in the video from St Raphael's below. Essentially, we hope that you can sponsor the children as they take on a running course around the school whilst wearing reindeer antlers and nose. The staff will be joining them too, it will be a lovely fun morning. (Don't worry - if the weather is poor we will postpone to another day before Christmas.) If you wish to add additional reindeer features to your child's uniform that day, please do.

We don't often ask for sponsorship as we do not want to put families under pressure, especially this year. We hope that you will be able to support the charity as much as you can and many thanks in advance.

You will find more details in the flyer and sponsorship form coming home early next week.

All classes will be running from Nursery to Year 6 - the course will be all around the school site, the distance and number of laps varying by age.

Please don't forget that applications for admission to Nursery and Reception in September 2021 need to be into school by January 15th, 2021. If you are applying for Reception please remember to complete the online application process via the local authority.

Supplementary application forms are required if you wish to notify us of priority and can be downloaded from our website. Priests are still able to sign the forms but please allow more time for signing and contact your priest for details of the process. Whilst Masses are not being celebrated in public, priests have been reminded to take into account your attendance at Mass over time, not just in recent months since lockdowns began.

Thank you to all of you who have sent your admission form to us already.

For queries on admissions please contact Mrs Saunders at office@stcecilias.school

During the pandemic we realise that the financial situation for many families may have changed. If you can get any of the following benefits it is well worth applying for free meals, even if you child currently gets a universal free meal in a Reception, Y1 or Y2 class. Once on free meals, the school gains a Pupil Premium payment, this pot of learning supports more TAs in classes, specific support for your child and other projects and resources.

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Please use the checker at the weblink below to find out more.

Our main events for the remainder of the term are shown below.

Monday 7th December

We will start to record our Christmas Carol concert this week, it will be sent home at the end of term via Vimeo.com. Only children with permission for Vimeo will take part.

Tuesday 8th

Y3 Elf Day

Wednesday 9th

Christmas Jumper (non uniform day) Wear the most Christmassy jumper you can find!

Christmas Lunch

Thursday 10th December

The Rudolph Run

Monday 14th December

Class Christmas parties (non uniform - party clothes)

Wednesday 16th December

The Talent Show

Thursday 17th December

Last day of term for Nursery

Friday 18th December

Christmas Farewell assembly

End of term at midday for Years R to 6.

We are sending a questionnaire home today to registered parents at the school. We hope to do this each Autumn term, it will help us gain valuable feedback on how we are doing in key areas of our work.

We know that this is a strange year, we feel that we are keeping you at arms length in the pandemic, so please put that to one side and try to focus on other aspects of our provision.

We are using many of the questions that OFSTED would use on their feedback form, we have also added several questions. One of these asks for three wishes, if we could change in three ways what would they be? Please bear in mind our incredibly tight budget and the period of austerity that we are about to enter, wishes that do not include too much investment may come true, it can be easier for us to change our policy or practise rather than invest at this time.

The Governing Body are considering expanding childcare next Summer through a private contractor on site. One of the questions relates to this, we are not sure on the level of demand and would appreciate your feedback.

The Google form will not take too long to return and thanks for your thoughts, we appreciate your time and look forward to the feedback.

Please see below for a new newsletter from the Sutton Education Partnership which provides details of their service, as they go from strength to strength it's good to work with them. They have asked us to forward this on to parents on their behalf.

We don't have any rain this weekend, I hope you manage to get some autumnal fresh air after the rain of recent weeks. Thanks for all your support and happy St Cecilia's Day!

Best wishes,

Vince Burke

Head Teacher

London Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM3 9DL

Email: office@stcecilias.school
Website: www.stcecilias.school
Phone: 020 8337 4566