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11th September 2026 Newsletter – Key Info Sessions this week, School Elections, FOSM AGM and more
A few notes from Mr Applegate
- I’ve been so proud walking around our school, seeing our children working hard, playing well and being kind. And we can’t wait for all of our Year R children to start fulltime on Monday!
- Our school elections start soon – look out for a separate email.
- Do you have a child starting in Year R in Sept 27, or know someone who does? Then join us on our Year R Tours – book here.
- We are still waiting on Permission Forms from more than 100 families. Please complete this form. It’s to let us know who is collecting your child each day and if the Year 5 and 6 children can walk home.
- Clubs begin next week – you will have received an email with the dates, times, and pick up locations. If you have made your payment, you will be able to access this information at any time via Arbor. Please ensure grandparents know where the KS1 gate is – there’s a map in yellow section below.
Have a great weekend, Charles.
Uniform reminders – thanks!
- No head shavings or designs shaved in
- Wellies are a must for wet days on the field
- No shoes with chains or charms
FOSM AGM – Monday 21st September
Come and join our FOSM PTA Annual General Meeting – Monday 21st September 7:45pm at school. Find out what we do, and consider joining the team!
Year Group Key Information Sessions & Links
These are brief online sessions for parents to give a chance to meet the teachers, hear an overview of the year group, and get key information like homework, reading, forest school and more. Videos will be sent out after the meetings for people who are unable to attend.
Contacting Class Teachers
For matters requiring same day/urgent responses (e.g. pick up arrangements) we would prefer a telephone call please: 01256 346111 as year group emails can be missed and may not be looked at in the evenings or during the day.
Year R – yearr@stmarksce.org.uk Year R parents should no longer use the NewYearR email address as this is no longer monitored.
Year 1 – year1@stmarksce.org.uk
Year 2- year2@stmarksce.org.uk
Year 3 – year3@stmarksce.org.uk
Year 4 – year4@stmarksce.org.uk
Year 5 – year5@stmarksce.org.uk
Year 6 – year6@stmarksce.org.uk
This week’s homework and learning
Agents of Change
Google Logins were emailed out last week.
Helpful Information
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NB: it is not possible to pay for these clubs with Childcare Schemes or Government Tax-Free Childcare Accounts.
Please see your confirmation email and Arbor App to confirm which clubs your child has been registered for. If there is a charge, you must pay in order for the registration process to complete.
Finish Time: 4:10pm
School Access: COLLECTION IS VIA KS1 GATE – orange star in the photo below 👇🏻
Exceptions:
- Forest School – finishes at 5pm and collection is at Dandelions Gate.
- Dance Live – see emails from Mrs Boyle for details and contact her here for enquiries – dancelive@stmarksce.org.uk
- Young Voices – contact the team here for enquiries – youngvoices@stmarksce.org.uk
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Please read the information here to learn about Lions and Breakfast Club.
Childcare Tax-Free Payments Update
For parents who have been making payments for wraparound care (Breakfast Club & Lions) using the Government scheme or a similar company scheme we would like to help you to understand the process a little more now that we are getting to grips with it as well.
- You pay in money to your scheme choosing St Mark’s C of E Primary School as the childcare provider (on the Government site, search by our postcode – RG22 4US).
- The scheme will send the money to Hampshire County Council.
- We receive the money onto our banking system.
- We manually add the money onto your Arbor account.
- Your Arbor balance adjusts accordingly.
As you can see, the process is much longer than before. As long as you tell us in advance that you want to pay in this way (tell us here) we can set up Arbor to accept your bookings for Lions regardless. The negative balance on Arbor will remain until such time as we have received and actioned the funds. This will be happening on a regular basis from next week.
If you use both Wraparound provisions, please email us to tell us how much you want us to credit your Breakfast Club account and how much to credit your Lions account. That would be very helpful.
⭐Weekly Achievement and Attendance ⭐
Individual Photographs
Photographs of every individual child will be taken on the morning of Monday 21st September.
UPDATE: Children must wear their white OR navy polo shirts and green St Mark’s jumpers or cardigans.
What about children who have PE or Forest School/Outdoor Learning?
Photos are head and shoulders only, please send your child in wearing PE kit or Forest School attire on their lower halves.
The children will come home with a code for you to preview and order the photo. The website for ordering from Cardwell and Simons is here.
Car Parking Complaints
As the new school term began, we instantaneously received multiple emails from residents of Highwood Ridge, Lapin Lane, and Wood Close.
Please park considerately in these roads if you have to park there at all.
You are allowed to use the car park at Hatch Warren Community Centre.
There are roads without single or double lines where you could park and then walk from.
Please avoid parking over driveways or where there are single yellow restrictions before and after school.
We have also noticed parents parking on the left on the lead up to the school entrance barrier. This is not a drop off space. Please do not use it as one.
FOSM Colour Run – NOW POSTPONED. New date coming soon.
Calendar Dates
Remember, our school calendar is here.
School Dates, Lunches, and Clubs
NHS Courses and Videos for Parents
Witherslack Group Parent Support Webinars
