Newsletter 12th February

Dear Parents and Carers of St George’s,

It’s been a very busy and exciting start to the new year at St George’s with loads going on in school.

Please see the Dates for your Diary for more information re: the rest of this term so that you don’t miss out on anything.  

The Year of Jubilee 2025 at St George’s

Please read our information letter on our school website re: The Year of Jubilee 2025 which explains this very important celebratory event as part of our Catholic Faith and how we will be marking this occasion across the whole year at St George’s.

Parent and Carer Workshops of Hope – Save the Dates!

As part of our Year of Jubilee celebrations, we will be hosting a cross decorating workshop in school for our parents and carers to attend alongside their child. The cross is a symbol of hope, sacrifice and love. We have bought a small wooden cross for each child from Year 1 to Year 6 to decorate with any words, symbols or pictures which they feel best represent hope to them. The crosses have a front and back to them and are easily decorated with pencils and felt tips.

We will be sending a sheet home with two blank crosses on over the half term so that children can work at home on their designs with their families, prior to the parent/carer workshop taking place in school. If parents/carers can’t attend the workshops, children will still get to decorate their own cross to keep.

The workshops for parents/carers to join their children are as follows:

Year 5 and Year 6 Lindisfarne Visit and Sponsored Walk

Another part of our Year of Jubilee celebrations is a pilgrimage visit to the beautiful island of Lindisfarne where we will be taking the Year 5 and Year 6 children. There is no cost for the children for this visit but we would ask that any children who normally pay for a school lunch, bring a packed lunch on that day. Any children entitled to a Free School Meal will, of course, have a lunch provided for them.

As the walk is a sponsored event, we will be providing the Year 5 and Year 6 children with sponsor forms to share with their families so that we can work together as a community and raise some much-needed funds for CAFOD. As you know, CAFOD are an international development charity who reach out to people all over the world who are living in poverty with practical help, whatever their religion or culture. CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and part of Caritas International.

Through our charitable works and fundraising events, the community of St George’s can make a huge contribution to the work of CAFOD.

Please encourage sponsorship of the children on their pilgrimage wherever possible.

Reading Success at St George’s

Our Year 6 class of 2024 achieved 100% at the Expected Standard in Reading in their end of KS2 SATs. This in itself is a fantastic achievement and is the result of much hard work, dedication and enthusiasm from teachers and pupils alike and tremendous support from home. We have just found out that these exceptional results Rank St George’s number 1 in the whole local authority along with our partner school St Cuthbert’s who also achieved 100% at the Expected Standard in Reading in their end of KS2 SATs. Just brilliant news to share!

Champion Heritage School Status

In addition to the wonderful news above, we have been contacted by Historic England who have shared that St George’s has been awarded Champion Heritage School Status on top of the Heritage School Status we achieved in 2024. This is a fantastic accolade for our school. I must mention Mrs Ellin and our Heritage heroes who have been responsible for much of the excellent work completed to gain this award.

St George’s Book Day Reading Café and Book Swap – Save the Date!

On Friday 21 March, we are hosting our St George’s Book Day. This year we are going to combine our book day with a whole school reading café and a book swap which all of our parents and carers are welcome to join.

There will be light refreshments on sale and we are inviting families to send any book donations into school from Monday 10 March. Please do your utmost to attend St George’s Book Day. This is a lovely opportunity for you to spend some time, if you’re able, with your child/children in school.

As always, children are invited to dress as characters from their favourite books or come into school in their pyjamas as if ready for a bedtime story. This can include face paints but please ensure these are washable and removed by return to school on Monday 24 March. Please do not feel under pressure to buy any expensive costumes. Parents and carers who are attending our event in school are more than welcome to dress up too! More details to follow nearer the time.

If you wish to discuss any item in this letter or anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.

Best wishes,  

Mrs Anne Bullerwell

Executive Headteacher