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9th July Newsletter – Late start Monday optional, September staffing, Covid changes, and live YouTube draw
Summary
- Monday – late start is optional! See details.
- See staffing news for September,
- What is and isn’t changing with the revised goverment guidance? Not much – see below.
- Please look out for parent governor ballot forms and information via email.
- LIVE YouTube raffle draw – 6pm today (Friday 9th!) Click here!
- Class Parties – Thursday 22nd July – Our amazing Dave (parent and FOSM member) will be producing another spectacular video and activities. This replaces a non-uniform fundraiser, so please bring a donation of any amount if you are able to. Thank you.
- Thank you SO much for your generosity for recent fosm fundraising events!
- In other news, after over 1200 sponges being thrown, Mr Applegate is reported to be alive and well.
Monday 12th July – Optional Late Start
The following message doesn’t apply to Year 6 children (they are going on a trip!).- There’s a big match on Sunday night!
- School will be open normal hours, including breakfast club from 8am and the side gates from 8:30am.
- However, if you would like your child to come in later, between 9:45am and 10am, the normal side gates will be open between those times and your child won’t be counted as late. The gates won’t be open from 9am-9:45am though!
- Because of cooking times, lunches for this day will change. The red meals for12th July and 19th July will swap. 12th July will become Sausages and 19th BBQ Chicken. Green options and allergy menus will remain the same.
- Go England!
- If England win, feel free to wear something red or white to school!
Government guidance – the changes
Following government announcements last week, we wanted to reassure you of the following:
- We won’t be making any changes to our covid-safe ways of working in July, even though the government say we don’t need to have bubbles.
- For September arrangements, we will take a very cautious approach. We will not be going back to pre-covid school life straight away. We will retain the idea of bubbles for the Autumn Term, but will probably move to year group bubbles as opposed to class bubbles. This is for organisational purposes, and feels like a safe and sensible next step. Remember, the children have been used to class bubbles for so long that to abolish them and go back to our large school environment overnight would be quite an anxious thing for many children. We also don’t know what the summer or Autumn months will bring in terms of case rates. We want to be safe and feel safe, and also take small steps back towards normal-ish life. Year group bubbles feels the sensible way to do that. We will confirm!
- For September, we are likely to retain the staggered start and collection times, but with adjusted timings. For example, 8:30am-8:40am and 8:40am-8:50am. These will be confirmed.
- For September, we will retain wearing PE kit to school on the days children have PE.
- More to follow next week.
September Staffing Arrangements
We’ve been working hard on our staffing team for September 2021! Remember, children find out on 19th July which class they will be in.
Class organisation:
Which members of staff are leaving?
- We say goodbye to Mrs Parramore, who has decided to retire after starting as an LSA 17 years ago. So many children have been cared for and developed through her expertise and nurture over the years. We will miss you Mrs Parramore! Enjoy the extra holidays and freedom, and please come back to visit!
- We also say goodbye to Mrs Gregory, who is finishing at St Mark’s to spend time on her other interests. Mrs Gregory has been with us since 2013 – she’ll fortunately be around as a parent, as her child starts at St Mark’s this year. Thank you Mrs Gregory for all that you’ve given at St Mark’s.
- We also say goodbye to Mrs Dawson and Miss Courtney, who have provided much support in our Year 3 team this year. They are both finishing to focus on different interests. Thank you for the care and compassion you have brought.
- Our lovely Mrs Mardell is finishing on our cleaning team at the end of the summer in order to help her family. Mrs Mardell is an incredibly hard worker, and always with a smile, and we will miss her from our team.
- Miss Saunders, one of our fantastic Bridge LSAs, is off to train to be a teacher, ultimately in a special needs school. We all agree that she will be an amazing teacher, and that we will miss her! Good luck in your training!
- Mrs Osman will also be finishing at St Mark’s this year. Mrs Osman has been with us since 2017, and has worked in a variety of roles and year groups, most recently Year 3. We are grateful for all that she has given to the pupils in her care.
- We’re pleased to announce that Mrs Mitchell is expecting! We are pleased for her and her family, and wish her well in the months ahead. Mrs Rushton will be taking Parrots class full time.
- Whilst Rev May isn’t a member of staff, she is absolutely a member of our community and we shall miss her! Rev Nicola Such from St Mark’s Church will be our parish vicar, and Rev Kim Robbins will be Curate, and we look forward to getting to know them both more in the months and years to come.
- Miss Jamieson leaves us as Miss Jamieson in July, and returns as Mrs Callaghan in September. We wish her a wonderful wedding over the summer, and huge congratulations from the St Mark’s community!
Is anyone joining us?
- Miss Crow is joining our teaching team in September, having worked as a Bridge LSA for several years, and successfully completing her training this year. Congratulations to you!
- We also welcome Mrs Lee more formally onto our team. Mrs Lee has been amazingly flexible this year, and I’m so pleased she will be joining our team.
- Mrs Eames hopes to come back in November following her treatment! She is doing very well, and can’t wait to be back.
- We welcome Mrs Cooke to our breakfast club team in September.
- We also welcome Mrs Keenan, Mrs McKenzie, Mrs Webb, Miss Stone, Mr Brown, Mrs Goldsworthy, Miss King, Mrs Matthews, Miss Wheeler, Mrs MacColl, Mrs Butler, Mrs Martin, and Mrs Hampton to our LSA team! Some will be new to our school, and for some, this is an official welcome, having joined us throughout the year!
Any other changes?
- We’re pleased to be increasing our capacity to support children with additional needs, with Mrs O’Neill joining our SEND team.
- Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Wood take on HLTA (Higher Level Teaching Assistant) roles.
- We strengthen our pastoral provision with Mrs Elms, who joins our pastoral team.
- Miss Goddard and Mrs Carter become Lead Learners, a role to maximise learning and outcomes for our children across the school. Exciting!
Transition, reports, new classes- what’s the plan?
On the 19th July, the children will also spend time in their new class, and new teacher(s). This will be on the field in a socially distanced way.
We’ll be running “Meet the Teacher” Zooms on Tues 20th, Weds 21st, or Thurs 22nd after school. There will be one for each class. Details of this will be shared next week, but please pencil the possibilities in your diary.
For current Year R parents, going into Year, we are organising an additional after-school Zoom for parents to help you understand the transition from Year R to Year 1. Details have been emailed regarding 14th July.
Cleaner Vacancy
We are looking for a friendly, reliable and enthusiastic person to join our amazing cleaning team.
Hours of work are 3.30pm to 6.30pm Monday to Friday with an hourly rate of £9.25 per hour.
If you would like to apply for the position please email the school office for an application form at adminoffice@st-markscofe.hants.sch.uk
Star Learners
Well done to:
- YR: Jessica, Rudi, Konrad
- Y1: Avani, Arianne, Oliver C
- Y2: Brogan, Lottie, Lucas
- Y3: Aimee, Harry, Arthur
- Y4: Sophie, Alexis, Charlie
- Y5: Charlie, Milly, Ruby
- Y6: Archie H, Elliot, Isla, Daniel H, Ollie P, Maddie F, Scarlett B, Penny, Edward M
Rock Stars best effort:
Numbots best effort:
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Year 1: Oliver C, Ben G, Elizabeth
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Year 2: Freddie, Ewan, Riley D
Year 6 – Aladdin production!
Can I say a huge well done and thank you to the Year 6 children and staff for their efforts in filming Aladdin?! Our school hall turned into a film set, and it was amazing to watch the workings out of it all. The children were just brilliant and we can’t wait to watch it in due course! It’s been a whole new world.
A huge thank you to Mrs Boyle for her editing time and creativity, too!
Summer Holiday Childcare
FOSM – Support Our School!
The ‘Friends of St Mark’s’ (FOSM) was formed early in the life of the school. All parents are automatically members and our committee organises social events for children and adults and fund-raising events such as Key Stage discos, Easter Egg Hunts and Summer Fun days.
Over the last few years the ‘Friends’ have donated money that has contributed towards extra resources to benefit the children at St. Mark’s which has included playground equipment, books for the school library, and general school funds. We are now a registered charity, too. Charity number: 1188879
Join our Facebook group here.
Regular Notices
- 23rd October 2026 Newsletter – PE and Forest School days, Book Fair, Harvest, Prayer Space and more
- 16th October 2026 Newsletter – Harvest donations, Prayer Space and more
- 9th October 2026 Newsletter – Last chance to buy Disco tickets!!
- 2nd October 2026 Newsletter – Parents’ Evening, Disco and more
- 25th September 2026 Newsletter – School Elections, Parents’ Evening, Census Day, Disco and more
- 18th September 2026 Newsletter – School Elections Deadline, Photographs on Monday, FOSM dates and more
