St Cecilia's News

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a lovely sunny end we are having to the school year. Thanks for working with us through the recent heatwave, we hope that the flexible afternoon closure gave you the options that you needed. The children have been very sensible and have worked with us to stay as cool as possible. Let's hope the good weather continues for the next 6 weeks of holidays!

Y6 Leavers' and End of Year Mass

We say goodbye to our Year 6 on Thursday morning, starting with a Mass at St Cecilia's Church to be celebrated by Father Benedict. Years 4-6 will attend Mass, parents are most welcome, please sit towards to back of the Church and move forwards when we are all in! There will be teas and coffees for Y6 parents after Mass on the school field.

Clapping out ceremony

We end the term with a Clapping Out Ceremony where we clap out Year 6 and Mrs Le Prevost and wish them well in their new adventures, at High School for the children and in a lovely retirement for Mrs Le Prevost. You can join us for this at 11:30 on Thursday, just come through the blue gate near the Nursery and you will find us on the field and on the green playground. At the end of the clapping out the children are dismissed fairly quickly. We have an ice cream van on site and will be treating the Y6 children. If you wish to purchase an ice cream you are more than welcome.

Farewells

We say farewell to our Year 6 children and families who leave us on Thursday along with all the other children throughout the school who are moving house. Some of our families have been here a very long time with several children of different ages, thanks for having faith in us and for being with us for so long!

We wish you all well and thank you for your time with us, we will have lovely memories of working with your children and with you as a family.

After a heatwave postponement, our Sports Day has been booked for Tuesday 22nd September. This will be for Years 1-6 at the David Weir Centre. Term dates and events for the next year are linked below and have been updated on our website.

Best wishes to you all for a lovely summer holiday with your families, we look forward to welcoming the children back in September. We reopen on Thursday 3rd September for Years 1-6, Early Years start dates can vary over the first few days.

Vince Burke
Headteacher

Mrs Le Prevost has been an amazing Music teacher. Although she comes to us as a contractor from a music provider, she really feels like a member of the staff family and we will really miss her.

It is a shame she has only been with us for two years. We have enjoyed the beautiful music she has brought to our school. We all wish her the very best in her retirement!

We've had a wonderful summer term of trips and visits, from science centres to farms, we are very grateful for all your support in funding these visits through your contributions. Thanks also to all the volunteers who have accompanied the classes on their days out, we hope you had fun! They provide a deeper learning and social experience for the children.

We had our celebration for First Holy Communion last week. Father Benedict celebrated a lovely Mass for us, we had a great breakfast afterwards and a chance to catch up with the children on news of all their First Holy Communion celebrations in the different parishes, at home and abroad. Thanks to the PTA for their support with the breakfast and refreshments for parents, we all had a really special morning.

Thanks to our volunteers, some of whom had gone home by the time I took the photo! God bless you all for such challenging work.

We are very grateful for funding from the Trustees of the Ursuline Prep School, which recently closed down. We have been allocated enough funds to complete some long standing and rather expensive projects in school. The first of these has been to replace all of the children's tables and chairs across the school in 16 classrooms and common areas. That is a lot of tables and chairs as you would have seen on delivery day. The chairs are colour coded for the different phases of the school with light blue, tangy green and dark blue colours. We are extremely grateful to the relatives, parents and grandparents of the school who came in to help us breakdown and recycle all of the old furniture. It was a very hot day and they went above and beyond what we expected to get the job done. Thank you.

Replacing school furniture is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The majority of the furniture was close to 40 years old and have served us well, the new furniture looks beautiful in the classrooms. Lets hope it lasts 40 years. Volunteers may be needed in 2066!

Congratulations to Y6 on a beautiful performance of "A hint of Snow White." It was a fun filled performance with great acting and quite a few terrible jokes, which makes for good entertainment. I loved seeing how the children had grown from those shy little pupils in Nursery and Reception to the confident young people of today. A lovely memory of them for us and of primary school for them all.

We will happily take donations for good quality shoes and trainers for children at Bijilo Nursery and Primary School in the Gambia. Please make sure that they are in good useable and clean condition. It helps us if you tie them together somehow so that we do not lose them as a pair. Children may wear trainers for school if they have donated their shoes.

We are pleased to support this local project run by Mrs Carroll, a past parent at the school.

Year 6 had a wonderful week in Shropshire at Manor Adventure. They were kept very busy with a wide range of activities from breakfast to bedtime. A big thank you to all the staff who accompanied the group and to Y6 parents for their support for the residential, what a lovely experience they have to remember. It has been great to view all the photos and to see their courage and determination in attempting the challenges! It certainly has been a very busy time for them all since their SATs exams.

Our first ever Science fair was such a great hit, the children loved sharing their science learning on the various stands in the playgrounds. The day also provided an opportunity for all the children to visit stands from other classes. During the morning we had a fun science show from an education company, many thanks to the PTA for funding this for us. Congratulations to Mr Morris, Subject Leader for Science for all the arrangements and for all the staff and children for getting behind this lovely idea with such enthusiasm.

On Wednesday 19th June, our Year 5 pupils journeyed to Wintershall for a wonderfully reflective day dedicated to exploring the life of Christ. Far from a traditional classroom lesson, this was a fully immersive experience that brought history and faith vividly to life.

Sitting on the rolling hillsides, our pupils found themselves right in the heart of the action. With talented actors and live animals weaving seamlessly through the crowd, the children were completely captivated, genuinely feeling as though they had been transported back in time.

We were blessed with glorious weather, which only enhanced the beauty of the day and left everyone truly open to the spiritual and educational journey. It was an unforgettable experience for staff and pupils alike, and it has certainly whetted our appetites for what’s to come. We are already looking forward to welcoming the travelling crib when it arrives at St Aidan's in Croydon this Christmas, they have offered us a visit!

The government have now brought in a policy to simplify school uniforms across the country.

Each school can have three branded items, you can see our branded items below. All other items of uniform can now be brought from local suppliers. Our polo shirt with logo can still be purchased from our supplier, however a plain non-logo one can now be worn.

We have links to local supplier on the uniform page of our website. We've chosen these three items as they are the most visible identifiers for our children in the community.

Contact us:

General queries - office@stcecilias.school

Report an absence - absence@stcecilias.school

Anything finance - finance@stcecilias.school

Extra Curricular Activity booking - eca@stcecilias.school

Childcare - childcare@stcecilias.school

Special educational needs - send@stcecilias.school

Admissions - admissions@stcecilias.school

Website www.stcecilias.school

Phone: 020 8337 4566

July

Thursday 15th - End of Year for Nursery

Thursday 16th - 0930 Y6 Mass at St Cecilia's Church

Clapping Out Ceremony from 1130 or so, please join us on the field.

End of Year for Years R to 6 at Midday, no after school childcare

And finally... Summer!

September

Tuesday 3rd - School reopens for Years 1-6. A staggered start over a week for Nursery and Reception.

Thursday 10th - 0900 Y5 Residential Pre Departure Meeting

Monday 22nd - ECAs begin for Years 1-6

Monday 28th - Y6 Bikeability courses begin.

Tuesday 29th - Y4 visit to Butser Village

Wednesday 30th - Y5 Residential Camp

October

Monday 12th - Y1 Mission Week

Monday 12th - Y6 Junior Citizenship (pm.)

Thursday 15th - Y1 Harvest Festival

Tuesday 20th - Y1 Creation Treasure Hunters Workshop

Wednesday 21st - Y1 Knights & Castles day

Monday 26th - Friday 30th October (Half Term)

November

Sunday 22nd - St Cecilia's Day

Monday 30th - School Closed for staff training (INSET)

December

Saturday 4th - PTA Christmas Fayre 12:00 to 15:00

Thursday 10th - Y2 Nativity - 2pm.

Monday 14th - Christmas Lunch (Christmas Jumper Day)

Tuesday 15th - Class Christmas Party Day

Thursday 17th - End of term for Nursery

Friday 18th - School closes at Midday for Years R to 6 - no childcare after school, breakfast club as usual.

Discover summer adventures at Sutton Ecology Centre! From pond dipping to fairy hunts and incredible insects to summer senses, our holiday activities offer fun and learning for all ages. Book now!

https://events.sutton.gov.uk/series?sn=biodiversity+event

Wallington Fire Station Open Day on 19th July - see pdf below.

Wallington Fire Station – Green Watch (H37) would like to invite everyone to our Open Day.

Come along with family and friends to meet your local firefighters, explore the fire station, see the fire engines up close, and learn more about the important work we do in our community.

Fun for all ages
Fire engine displays
Fire safety information
Activities for children and families
Meet your local Green Watch team

We would love to welcome local residents, parents, children, clubs, community groups, guardians, friends and neighbours.