Cardinal Newman Catholic Primary School Parent Portal

Dear Parents

News and Events

Welcome back to the second half of the Spring Term. The weather certainly hasn’t been particularly Spring-like, but our children have nevertheless enjoyed lots of adventures outdoors, including the Year 3 trip to Wisley yesterday and the exciting Year 5 Sapphire Class Mission Week activities on both KS1 and KS2 playgrounds. We are trialling a new way of sharing this weekly news, through photos and captions on the News and Events tab on our new school website, so each week we will include a link here to share with you all the exciting activities which have been going on. This week these include our whole school investigative Maths learning on Twosday (22/2/22) and photos from the Y2 Florence Nightingale performance before half-term.

Covid

In exciting news this week, we have had confirmation from Surrey LA that Covid guidance has now changed in schools with immediate effect stating simply:

Pupils and staff should attend school if they are well
Pupils and staff should stay at home if they are unwell
If you or your child have COVID-19 symptoms, seek a PCR Test (available free until end March 2022) and if positive, stay at home for 5 full days then continue to follow guidance re testing

Close contacts of positive Covid cases can now attend school without testing as long as they are well. Asymptomatic testing for staff has now stopped and free testing for the public will stop on 1^st April 2022.

At Cardinal Newman we currently have a handful of positive cases among pupils, but this is lower than either the Autumn Term or Spring 1. Other schools are reporting significant positive cases amongst staff, but this is not so far the case for us. Staffing has recently been the biggest challenge for all schools, but we are hopeful that most CN staff have now had the virus (some twice!) and we look forward to a more settled period as we head towards Easter.

Ash Wednesday

Next week brings two landmark events in the calendar – first of all, the whole school will be marking the start of Lent with our Ash Wednesday services in the school hall. These are open to parents (KS2 at 9am on Wednesday and EYFS / KS1 at 2:30pm) and we warmly welcome all parents to join us. Receiving ashes in Lent is a sign of our recognition that God loves us and has a plan for us which we sometimes mistakenly turn away from – Lent is our opportunity to make a positive change in our lives. Receiving ashes is a symbolic action which is open to everyone, regardless of faith background – you don’t have to be Catholic to receive ashes. There is a great video clip which explains Ash Wednesday simply for children here.

Book Week

The second big event next week is Book Week! You will already be aware through last week’s letter of the many exciting activities arranged for next week! (more info below). I am looking forward to seeing the class poems performed through the week and to awarding winners for our Sponsored Read and for our Potato Characters! If your child hasn’t yet started with these activities, it isn’t too late, so do please encourage them to read (or listen to a book) over this weekend! Remember we are celebrating World Book Day on Friday, so costumes at the ready!

Dress to Express Donations

Thank you for participating so enthusiastically in our Dress to Express mission today, to support the work of the diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage for families and for the sick. It was lovely to see the children embracing this cause – we are hoping that our donations will support a teenager or young helper who would not otherwise have been able to afford to attend the trip, volunteering their time to support young families and the sick and elderly. If you haven’t yet had the chance to make your mufti donation, you can access the link on here.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend.

All best wishes

Catherine Burnham

Headteacher

Notes/Reminders

Lego etc donations

Having a spring clean? We are looking for donations of Lego, Duplo, Meccano, Mega blocks and card games such as Dobble and Uno for children to use during lunchtimes. Thank you.

Book Fair

Thank you for all your support with our recent Book Fair.

Lunch menu changes next week

Due to the start of Lent next week, the lunch menu has been changed slightly. The changes are the following

Monday: Main lunch - Vegetarian hot dog with chips

Tuesday: Dessert - Pancakes with fruit and cream

Wednesday: Main lunch - Pasta with herby bread and salad

Dessert - Selection of yoghurts

Please take this into account when ordering your lunches next week.

Lost Property

There is a huge amount of lost property at the moment. Please have a look here and help yourself if it belongs to your child. It is located by the double door in the KSI playground. The keyring and watch are in the office. Anything not claimed will be disposed of next week. Please remember to label all of your child's items.

Year 6 Top of the Form

A group of us from Year 6 (Henry, Maxwell, Harry and George) went to Ashely school for Top of the Form on Thursday. Top of the Form is a competition where 16 schools come together to compete for which school is best at general knowledge. We won the match yesterday with a score of 63-37. "We don’t know what team we’re facing next but are hoping we will go all the way and win."

Roman Assembly

Year 4 are looking forward to their Roman assembly on 15^th March. If Year 6 have any Roman costumes from their performance back in 2020, which they would be happy to lend to Year 4 for this year's performance, we would be extremely grateful. Please bring (named) items to the office.

Buy a Brick

Final push to complete the wall - another order is about to go in. Please fill in the form and let Tina O'Kelly know if you would like to purchase one of the final bricks! Click here for more information.

Whizz Kids Places

There are a few places left for our newly expanded Whizz Kids (Breakfast or After-school club) provision after Easter - please email wraparoundcare@cardinalnewmanschool.co.uk if you would like to take up one of these spaces for one day or more than one.

Greenredeem school donations update

Help our school win funding for eco-projects! Sign up to Greenredeem and donate your points to help out. We’re currently in 3rd place in the league table. Thanks for all your support so far! Sign up for free here → https://register.greenredeem.co.uk/elmbridgeschools-internal

Events

Book Week 28th February – 4th March

We are looking forward to celebrating our love for children’s literature during our annual Book Week. This week, beginning on Monday 28th February, will provide lots of opportunity for children to share their passion for reading. Please read below for further details about Book Week activities.

Sponsored Read-a-thon!

We are thrilled to have our dedicated PA on board with Book Week! The Parents’ Association have kindly organised a whole-school sponsored read-a-thon to encourage every child to read, whilst raising funds for our school. From Monday 14th February – Sunday 25 th February, children will be challenged to read, or be read to, for as many minutes (or hours!) as possible. We hope that friends and family of our Cardinal Newman pupils will support them in their challenge and we look forward to seeing some fantastic results.

Author-led Workshops

Children in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two will enjoy fun, interactive workshops led by two highly talented authors: Grace Francis will be joining Key Stage One on Thursday 3rd March and Michael de Souza, creator and author of Cbeebies ‘Rastamouse’, will work with Key Stage Two the following week. Once again, we would like to thank the Parents’ Association who have generously funded these events.

Performing Poetry

Throughout the week, teachers and children will be sharing their passion for poetry. On Tuesday afternoon, each class will perform their favourite poem for the rest of the school to enjoy.

Whole School Competition

This year we would like children to transform a potato as their favourite book character! All competition entries must be handed in with a book cover to show which book the character comes from. The competition closes on Wednesday 2nd March and winners will be announced by our School Council on Friday afternoon. Please see the attached poster for some fantastic ideas!

Hersham Library

We are incredibly fortunate to live and work so closely to Hersham library which houses an extensive selection of high-quality literature. On Wednesday morning, our Key Stage One children will visit Hersham library to participate in a Book Week workshop and explore the library at their leisure. If you are able to accompany your child’s class on this outing, please inform the relevant class teacher.

Parent Reading Workshop in Key Stage One

On Monday 28th Feb at 14:00, Mrs Gautheron will be leading a parent reading workshop in the main hall. From 14:30 – 15:00 on the same afternoon, Reception and Key Stage One parents are invited to join children in their classrooms for a whole class, individual or small group reading session. If you would like to bring your own children’s story to share, please do not hesitate to do so!

Literature meets Forest School!

Towards the end of the week, we will be taking our love of reading outdoors! Mrs Coleman will be leading some green-themed book activities out in our environmental area for our Year 2 and 3 children.

Dressing-up - Friday 4th March

As a final celebration of Book Week and World Book Day, we would like every child in the school to dress in the costume of their favourite story book character. We would always encourage parents not to buy costumes! For inspiration and printable resources, please visit https://www.worldbookday.com/dressing-up-ideas/ On Friday afternoon, we will be holding a whole school read-a-thon in the school hall. For this, we will allow children to bring their favourite book, a pair of slippers and a teddy bear to snuggle up with as they settle down to read together.

Book Tokens

Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd, your child will have already received a book voucher, which they can take to a local bookshop to get £1 off any book that costs over £2.99 or to swap for one of the eight (exclusive, new and completely free) £1 World Book Day books.

And it doesn’t stop there… Children can enjoy Book Week at home too! Lots of resources and competitions are available on the official World Book Day website https://www.worldbookday.com/. Many of our Harry Potter enthusiasts will undoubtedly enjoy this year’s competition, with all details at https://www.worldbookday.com/harrypotter/. Best of luck! Thank you for your anticipated support and we hope that your child will thoroughly enjoy Book Week. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Gautheron and Mrs Denmead (English Leads

Notes/Reminders

Lego etc donations

Book Fair

Lunch menu changes next week

Lost Property

Year 6 Top of the Form

Buy a Brick

Whizz Kids Places

Greenredeem school donations update

Club News

Dance Club

Report your child's absence

Events

Book Week 28th February – 4th March

Parents Association Notes

Sponsored Read

Bags2School

Uniform Sale

Wellbeing

Sibling rivalry, healthy gaming habits, dealing with meltdowns and anxiety