September 15, 2023

15th September 2023 Newsletter

Apply by Monday! St Mark’s Elections

Children have the opportunity to apply for a school responsbility. Click here for full details, including the online application form.

Applications must be made by Monday 18th September, online, at home.

Ready to apply?

Click here

School Crossing Patrol – notice of redundancy

Lyn and Jane are possibly facing redundancy due to council budget cuts. They’ve asked us to share this news with you, in case you’d like to raise your voice with our councillors. A decision is being made on Monday 18th September, so you’ll need to act now:

stephen.reid@hants.gov.uk
Cllr.Rebecca.Bean@basingstoke.gov.uk
cllr.samir.kotecha@basingstoke.gov.uk
cllr.dan.putty@basingstoke.gov.uk

You may like to include these key points:

Heavy traffic.

30 mph limit frequently not observed.

Safety of children

Approx 200 children crossing the road each morning.

Serving two primary/junior schools and two pre-schools.

Congratulations!

Our huge congrats goes to Mrs Phillips and her family, following the successful arrival of their new baby daughter yesterday! Mum and baby doing well!

This week- Key Information Sessions

Don’t forget to attend these! At school (in person).

Tuesday September 19th
Year 4 – 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Year 5 – 5:45 pm – 6:30 pm

Wednesday September 20th

Year 3 – 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Year 1 – 5:45 pm – 6:30 pm

Thursday September 21th
Year 2 – 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Year 6 – 5:45 pm – 6:30 pm

What's your child learning this term?

Parent drop-in

Mrs Delves and Mrs Elms are running an informal drop in on Monday 18^th September for parents to come and meet the Pastoral team for a cup of coffee/tea and a biscuit and find out what we do! The school nursing team will also be there to offer advice on toilet training, sleep and eating issues. We look forward to seeing you there from 8.30 – 9.30 in the Church.

Second Hand Uniform

Have you spotted our purple uniform bins at the school gates? We accept donations of good condition school jumpers and cardigans and clean and check them ready to re-home.

Jumpers and cardigans cost £2 and all funds go straight back to the school! Plus we are helping the environment by recycling! If you would like to find out which sizes and conditions we currently have please contact us: uniform.fosm@stmarksce.org.uk

Want to book a farm slot?

Click here

From last week…

How does reading work?
What about homework?
Breakfast Club - New Drop-off System

We are aware of congestion issues in our car park in the mornings, and in the hope of easing the problem from Monday 11^th September we are going to trial a new ‘drop off’ system for arrivals to breakfast club between 8am and 8.15am each day.

When driving into the car park, please keep to the left side and there will be a member of staff wearing a hi-vis jacket near the school entrance waiting to accept your child and direct them up the slope to the hall. There will no doubt be several families arriving at the same time, so we would ask you to be patient and join any queue. Please be sure that your child has their bag, lunch box and coat ready to be able to get out of the car when it is your turn.

School Bag Promo Code

Ordering a school bag? Don’t forget to use a promo code of COLLECTION for free delivery to the school.

Agents of Change

Don’t forget to send us any nominations. Just let us know how they’ve made the world a better place!

⭐ Star Learners ⭐

We celebrate our Star Learners every week. We’ll post them here on Fridays.

⭐ Attendance Updates ⭐

Our target over the year is 97%. Last year’s attendance was 95.8% – above national levels, but we’d like it to be much higher.

Our current attendance percentage is 97.5%. Yes!

Weekly Attendance by Class

Is your child too ill for school?

Advice from the NHS

Find out here

School Dates, Lunches, and Clubs

View the full calendar here. Alternatively, subscribe to our online calendar to keep up-to-date on your mobile. Click on either Chrome/ Android or Apple depending on your phone/computer.

Meals
PE Days
Status: running as usual

Which days?
- Year R – Mondays (indoors) and Thursdays (indoors)
- Year 1 – Mondays(outdoors) and Thursdays (indoors)
- Year 2 – Tuesdays (indoors) and Wednesdays (indoors)
- Year 3 – Mondays (outdoors) and Thursdays (outdoors)
- Year 4 – Mondays (indoors) and Fridays (indoors)
- Year 5 – Tuesdays (indoors) and Wednesdays (outdoors)
- Year 6 – Fridays (outdoors) and either Tues/Weds/Thurs Forest school (outdoors)
What to wear

Children should wear PE kit to school on the days they have PE. When children have gym, please can they bring or wear shorts underneath. PE kit guide:
- Navy or black shorts. Jogging bottoms for outside in cold weather (leggings are fine too).
- PE skirts with cycling-style shorts are acceptable.
- White t-shirt. Please also wear the school jumper to school on PE days. Football shirts are not acceptable as PE kit.
- Trainers for all children.
After School Clubs
- When do clubs start? KS1 and KS2 choirs start week beginning Monday 11th September. Planet Education clubs start week beginning Monday 18th September. All other clubs start week beginning Monday 18th September.
Music Info
Full School Calendar
Information - breakfast and afterschool clubs, uniform etc
- Breakfast Club – just show up – details here.
- SCL after-school club – click here for full details.
- Hatch Warren Community Centre after-school club– click here for full details.
- Uniform – click here for details, including Skoolkit ordering
- School bags – can be ordered here
- Absence – Please report absences via phone or email here by 9am. If you need to request a future absence, please use this form.
- Are you eligible for Free School Meals and further funding for the school? Check online here.
Foodbank Support

In worship this week…

Music of the Week

Clarinet concerto in A major by Mozart

This concerto was composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Classical era.