2024 – St Mark's CofE Primary School

September 27, 2024

27 September 2024 – Newsletter – Foodbank, Disco, Parents’ Evenings and more

Headlines

For Years R, 1 and 2 – please would you have a school meal this Thursday, 3rd October? It’s free, and as it’s census day, it determines how much funding we get next year. More meals served = more funding. We’ll be having fish fingers with chips, vegan fajita wrap with chips and pasta with tomato sauce.
Our children made the Basingstoke Gazette, BBC news and may be on HampshireTV on Monday evening. All regarding stopping budget cuts to SCPOs.
Well done to our children who put themselves forward for our school elections, as well as those who were duly elected!

Have a great weekend, Charles

Bring in a food item for our Harvest Worship – Monday 7th October

We’d love for each child/family to bring in 1 item. You can find out what Foodbank need here.

Glow In The Dark Disco!

Please help us to help us to reduce the queues for this fantastic and very popular event by booking online and in advance here!

Parents Evenings

Booking for our Autumn Term parents evenings is now open.

Click here to book.

You are invited to book a 10 minute appointment to meet with your child’s class teacher(s) in person. Appointments will run from 3:40pm to 6:50pm on both evenings. You will have received an email from school on Tuesday 24th September with details about how to book online. Bookings will close on Monday 14th Oct at 12pm.

Weds 16th October (1/2) 3:40pm-6:50pm
Weds 23rd October (2/2) 3:40pm-6:50pm

Parents Evening!

Please book for Weds 16th or Weds 23rd October

Book here

Katie’s Dash in the Dark!

Well done to Katie and her family who ran 5k for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

Katie ran it in about 37 minutes and raised £90! Whilst she was running, she kept encouraging all those around her to keep going, telling them all they could make it. Many of the runners around her were really grateful for her words of encouragement.

Well done Katie, you showed that No Way Through Isn’t True!

Well done Sophia, Jackson, Harry and Mr Payne!

IMG_20240923_093508 (Medium)

Look after our animals

A free and fun family activity

Click here

Allergy Update

As a result of a recent Government report, we can confirm that our caterers, Pabulum, will not be including mustard in any recipes on the school standard menu or allergy menus. This will protect all children and staff with nut allergies.

Click here to read the report.

If you have any queries regarding this subject, please feel free to email d.collins@st-markscofe.hants.sch.uk or call the school office on 01256 346111

⚠ Can you help?⚠

Thank you very much for your glass jar donations. We now have enough.

Instead, FOSM have an updated request. Please can you send in a jam jar filled with sweets for the Sweet Tombola at the Christmas Fayre? Any donations would be greatly received. Thank you!

⭐ Star Learners ⭐

⭐ Star Readers ⭐

⭐ 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 97.2%. 😊

Weekly Attendance by Class

What's the impact on missing school?

Categories	Learning days lost
Acceptable sickness & unforeseen absences.	98% = 4 days
	97% = 6 days
	96% = 8 days
Attendance below 95% is of concern to the school & you will be contacted automatically.10 days unauthorised absences for holidays over the year mean you will only achieve 95% attendance. Sickness & medical appointments, although usually unavoidable & authorised, will add further to your child’s absence record.	95% = 10 days
	94% = 12 days
	93% = 14 days
	92% = 16 days
Poor attendance Attendance below 90% is a serious concern. Your child has now missed nearly 4 weeks’ education. You may be referred to the Early Help team at the local authority.	91% = 18 days
	90% = 20 days
	89% = 21 days
	88% = 23 days
	87% = 25 days
	86% = 27 days
Very poor attendance	85% = 29 days
	84% = 31 days
	82% = 35 days
	80% = 39 days

Reminder of the new rules

School Dates, Lunches, and Clubs

View the full calendar here. Subscribe on either Chrome/ Android or Apple

Meals
PE Days
PE Uniform details can be found here. Remember, football shirts, hoodies, or general day-to-day clothing are not acceptable as PE kit.

Year R
- Monday – Indoor PE
- Thursday – Indoor PE
Year 1
- Mondays – Indoor PE
- Thursdays – Outdoor PE
Year 2
- All classes – Fridays – Indoor PE
- 2G – Tuesday – Forest School
- 2CL – Wednesday – Forest School
- 2B – Thursday – Forest School
Year 3
- Tuesdays – Indoor PE
- Fridays – Indoor PE
Year 4
- Wednesdays – Indoor PE
- Fridays – Outdoor PE
Year 5
- Tuesdays – Outdoor PE
- Wednesdays – Outdoor PE
Year 6
- All classes – Mondays – Outdoor PE.
- 6C – Wednesdays – Forest School
- 6B – Thursdays – Forest School
- 6F – Fridays – Forest School

After School Clubs

When do clubs start? Clubs started last week. You will have received an email to confirm your place in club.

Day	Club	Pick up time	Pick up place
Monday	Forest School	4:45	2B
	Chess Club	4:00	6B
	KS2 Choir	4:15	Small Hall
	Board Games Club	4:00	1TM
	Lego Coding Club	4:10	6C
	KS2 Girls’ Football	4:10	3P
Tuesday	Art Club	4:10	2CL
	Art/Craft Club	4:10	4PR
	Calm Club Yrs 5&6	4:00	3SG
	Recorders Club	4:00	3D
	Dance Live	4:10	Small Hall
Wednesday	Cookery Club	4:10	Office
	Multi-Skills	4:10	Small Hall
	Calm Club Yrs 3&4	4:00	3SG
Thursday	Photography Club	4:10	5P
	Scratch Coding Club	4:00	5DS
Friday	Netball	4:10	Small Hall
	Year 1 & 2 Choir	4:00	1TM

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.
- 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

Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827

One of the most famous pieces of classical music written.

Being a parent is tough!

Managing your child’s emotional outbursts: Setting boundaries and ways of dealing with tantrums

Read a helpful article from the BBC here.

Parental control guides

Come to our St Mark’s Parent Drop-in

Next session – Monday 14th October at 8:30am-9:30am in the church.

This week, the school nursing team will also be in attendance to support with any toiletting, eating or sleeping concerns you may have.

Mrs Elms and Mrs Haynes will be there to welcome you with tea, coffee and biscuits. Younger children are also able to attend.

Community News

Regular Notices

Welcome to Year 3

We have had a great start to Year 3 and the children have settled quickly into their new classrooms. On our first day, we started the day with a letter from Mr Calver. During the holidays he discovered a possible site that would be of interest to archaeologists, so asked if we could help him and become archaeologists. We started by learning all about our new role and then headed to the site to complete our dig. We had to be very careful as the artefacts we found looked extremely old. Once we were back in the classroom, we examined what we had found and then waited eagerly for the results from the lab at the official Forensic Archaeological Society – Mr Calver had sent some samples off during the holidays!

After lunch, we received a thank you letter and they confirmed the artefacts we found were very old, and were from the year 5000BCE. We then completed an activity to make a timeline (using a toilet roll!) to help us understand just how long ago the Stone Age was. Our project is called ‘Dig and Discover’ and will be History led. We have also attached our topic web for you to see what your child will be learning this half term.

Awesome Artefacts

We were lucky to have a History box delivered filled with amazing artefacts to explore. The children got to handle these, find out facts and ask questions.

Year 3 – Dig and Discover Curriculum Information

Amazing Artwork!

Later in the week, the children began to observe artwork from the Stone Age period. They identified that natural materials were used as media. Following this, they sourced their own chalk and mud from the school grounds and made a paint like consistency with water to create imagery similar to that shown in Stone Age caves.