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Mr Applegate

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Help over Christmas

Good morning

As we get towards the end of term, I wanted to put together some helpful information about support that is out there over the festive period and beyond.

Basingstoke Food Bank

This amazing charity have helped so many over the years, more so in recent months.  More details of what they can offer are below:

Basingstoke Food Bank

Mind

Mind have helped people with mental health issues for over 60 years.  Their website is informative and can help to sign post towards external help.  A few people have asked me recently about specific support or tips for Christmas time.  Below are two links, one specifically about Christmas and coronavirus and the other is the main website:

Christmas and coronavirus

Mind

Hampshire CAMHS

Hampshire CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) is another great service to help with children and adolescents who find it hard to manage their emotional and psychological well-being.  A link for their website is below.  It is full of advice and contact details if you have any concerns:

Hampshire CAMHS

I-Talk

This is an online psychological therapy service.  You are able to self-refer and there are a lot of courses available depending on your needs.  The website link is below:

I-Talk

Remember, please feel free to contact me if you need help or support.  This can be done via the School Office or send an enquiry through on our website.

Have a wonderful Christmas break.

Mrs Greer 🎄🙂

Child & Family Support Worker/Pastoral Care Lead

Latest Newsletter

Message from Mr Applegate

We enter into the last week of term- a strange end in many ways. We would normally be enjoying the children’s Christmas performances, listening to them sing, and gearing up for Christmas activities. This year, we look forward to watching the performances virtually – the messages of Christmas don’t change, even if the delivery does! We’ll email out the links to the videos in the coming week.

At the end of this term, we sadly say goodbye to Claire Hacker, who has been part of our cleaning team for several years. Claire is a very hard worker, and always has a smile and encouraging word to pass on. Sarah Russell will also be finishing at St Mark’s; having been with us for a term, working 1 day a week in Year R, Sarah has been a huge help in Penguins class, and we will miss her. We wish them all the best in the future.

I know you will join me in thanking each member of staff for all that they have given this term. It has been challenging, but they continue to work hard, enthuse the children, and make school an enjoyable and safe place to be. I am very proud to be their head teacher.

I wish you and your family rest, peace and much enjoyment this Christmas break. 

Best wishes, Mr Applegate

Key Dates

From 14th Dec – Children’s Christmas videos will be available. We’ll send an email out some point next week.

15th Dec – Last day for Staff gifts (see below)

17th Dec – Non uniform, Christmas Lunch and afternoon party – with a massive surprise! Buckets for collection will be on both gates. This is a FOSM fundraiser.

18th Dec – Last day of term – normal finish times

Sponsored walk to the North Pole – all sponsorship forms and money need to be in school by 18th December.

4th Jan – INSET DAY

5th Jan – Term starts for children

Staff Gifts: There is never any expectation or pressure to buy staff Christmas presents. However, if you would like to, please bring them in by 15th Dec to allow for quarantine. Thank you.

Christmas Lunch – Thursday 17th December

Please note your child’s Christmas Lunch must have been ordered in advance, An email was sent to all parents in November. if you haven’t already placed an order, please send your child in with a packed lunch that day. They will still be able to join in with all of the fun activities.

If this will be difficult for you, please contact the school office.

No Inset on 18th December

You may have heard in the news recently that the government have ‘given’ schools the choice about moving forward one of their INSET days to the 18th December. Whilst this initially sounds promising, it’s full of problems for schools, and therefore we won’t be doing this.

Reminder – please avoid coming into the office

We’re trying to keep everyone safe, so please avoid coming into the office for any reason unless requested to do so. We are also finding a lot of items being forgotten and then later dropped in by parents/carers. Please do your best to avoid this. Thank you :)

Track and trace during Christmas break

In some instances, positive tests at the beginning of the Christmas holiday could have an impact on school bubbles and require people to isolate. We need to know immediately if your child tests positive during the Christmas holiday. Please complete the form below if:

– Your child has Covid symptoms on Saturday 19th and/or Sunday 20th December and then subsequently receives a positive test, or

– Your child receives a positive test before Thursday 24th December without any symptoms, or

– Your child or a member of your child’s household/Christmas bubble tests positive during the second week of the Christmas period.

If any of these apply to you, it’s important you complete this form asap as we may need to contact other children from their bubble.

Covid Notification Form

Self-isolation change from 14 days to 10 days

The Chief Medical Officer announced on Friday that on Monday 14 December, the change to the isolation period for household/contacts of a positive case will change from 14 to 10 days. There is no change to the length of time a person who tested positive needs to isolate for (this is 10 days too).

FOSM News

The school lottery winner this week was Mrs M. The total funds raised for St Mark’s so far through the lottery is now £336.40!

We are planning on another bags to school in February – if you could please hold onto unwanted clothes etc that would be amazing. Details to follow once we’ve booked a slot. . 

Raffle – due to the current situation and not being able to host a Christmas Fayre…the Christmas raffle has been postponed this year to Easter. We have some amazing prizes so far including a hot tub kindly donated by B&Q. 

One of our lovely parents nominated FOSM in their companies ‘let’s get giving’ competition and we won £500. 

Nearly New Uniform – we have a new email address. If you would like to purchase any Nearly New Uniform, please email your request to: uniform.fosm@stmarksce.org.uk

Created using the Donation Thermometer plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/donation-thermometer/.£37,000Raised £21,766 towards the £37,000 target.£21,766Raised £21,766 towards the £37,000 target.59%

 

 

Star Learners Last Week!

Well done to:

  • Year R: Sam, Phoenix, Will
  • Year 1: Emily, Amy, Henry
  • Year 2: Ruby, Effie, Leelan
  • Year 3: Reece, Cullen, Jakob
  • Year 4:Lewis, Trinity, Logan, Max
  • Year 5: Ryan, Aidan, Evie
  • Year 6:Ruby, Hannah, Ed E, Jack L

 

Train to teach with Apsire

 

Regular Notices

Sign-up for our school prayer points mailing list

Would you like to join our prayer points mailing list? In conjunction with Immanuel church, this is a new opportunity to receive by email a half-termly prayer point list for our school. Click here to find out more. 

SCL After school care and Half Term Child Care

Click here for Half-term child care booking! Held at Hatch Warren Community Centre.

Click here for regular after school care at St Mark’s.

 

 

 

Covid Reminders

  • Use the email covid@stmarksce.org.uk if you have questions or need to report symptoms or a positive case.
  • Please keep us updated – for example, of test results.
  • Read this letter from Public Health England about symptoms and testing.
  • NHS Symptoms Check
  • If a child or parent is at home because of symptoms, please keep the siblings off too. IE the whole household needs to isolate, and the person with symptoms needs to get a test.
  • We are moving online with homework, spellings and Google Classrooms. If you need help with technology, please do let us know by emailing the office.
  • If a child is off school but able to work, then Google Classroom work is available – and it should be completed. Teachers spend a lot of time making sure this work is available so no-one misses out!

Do you have a spare laptop you don’t need?

Do you have a laptop lying around, which we can use to support children at home? Doesn’t need to be new or quick. We blitz it, and install all the software necessary. That way a child who doesn’t have access to a laptop for home learning can really benefit. If you can help, please email the office.

 

What is your child learning this term?

Read the following for your child’s year group to find out more! It includes information about homework, reading, general expectations and more. The Knowledge Organiser helps you to know the knowledge the children should be learning for their project. Test them and see how they are getting on!

Online Forms

  • Absence Request form – going to be absent (e.g. wedding, funeral, holiday etc)? Use this form
  • Pupil Premium Form – have your work/benefit circumstances changed? Complete this form so we can check if your child is elligible for free school meals and other support at school.
  • Getting Home Arrangements – tell us how your child gets home each day.
  • Mobile Phone Request – for older children needing to bring a phone to school

Recent Posts – have you missed anything?

Going to be absent?

We’ve moved our absence request form online. This is for absence requests such as holidays, weddings, funeral, special events, and more. You don’t need to use this form for sickness or self-isolation (but please email/phone the office if they are unwell).

  Support our school whilst you shop!

 

Email and Contact Details

If you don’t receive the school newsletter and year group emails via email, you can sign up here!

Remember, if you change your contact details, please let the office know here.

Get in touch with us

Email Us
Phone Us
Visit Us

Clay fun in Year 1!

Over the last couple of weeks we have been enjoying learning all about clay. We have explored rolling and making different shapes with it and have created our own snails and snowmen using the clay. 

We have also loved learning all about Herman and his letters to his friend Henry. The children enjoyed making predictions about what they thought would happen next in the story and how the characters were feeling throughout. We have also enjoyed learning our actions for all the songs in ‘Hey Ewe’, our Christmas play and we look forward to sharing it with you all soon.

As the weather is getting colder, please can we remind you to send your child in with an appropriate coat and ensure that any gloves, hats and scarves are named clearly. Also, can we remind you that tomorrow is the last day for Christmas cards to be brought into school before they are quarantined.

For any questions or queries please email the Year 1 team on year1@stmarksce.org.uk

Thank you for all your support with your child’s learning.

Year 1 Team

Latest Newsletter

Key dates coming up

9th Dec – Last day for Christmas Cards (see below)

From 14th Dec – Children’s Christmas videos will be available (bear with us as there is a lot of editing!)

15th Dec – Last day for Staff gifts (see below)

17th Dec – Non uniform, Christmas Lunch and afternoon party – with a massive surprise!

18th Dec – Last day of term – normal finish times

4th Jan – INSET DAY

5th Jan – Term starts for children

Staff Gifts: There is never any expectation or pressure to buy staff Christmas presents. However, if you would like to, please bring them in by 15th Dec to allow for quarantine. Thank you.

Christmas Cards – to be Covid-safe, the last day for bringing in Christmas cards for other children is 9th Dec. Cards will then be quarantined, sorted, and re-quarantined before handing out. Remember, no name and class on the envelope means no delivery!

Goodbye and Thank you!

We sadly said goodbye to Mrs Friend this week. She has been part of our lunchtime team for 6 years, and part of our school for 10 years as her children were at St Mark’s. On behalf of our school community, we thank thank you, and all the best in the future!

Simba and the North Pole

Between now and Christmas we’ve got our sponsored walk to help get Simba to the North Pole to meet Santa. Sponsorship form is here! We’re holding a non-uniform day with Christmas party (Thursday 17th Dec – same day as Christmas Lunch), which MAY also include a surprise appearance from a very special guest (we’re not promising anything just yet!). We’re also trying to arrange a small virtual Christmas raffle. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have as many prizes as we would normally do given the current situation, but we hope you’ll still want to win and buy tickets.

(As you are probably aware, we are unable to hold our Christmas Fayre this year. We are so disappointed as not only does this raise around £5000 each year for our school, but it’s always a great day and offers many of our children the opportunity for a visit with Santa.)

Non Uniform Day

FOSM will be holding a non uniform day on Thursday 17th December for the class Christmas parties.

There will be buckets on the school gates to help raise funds. Thank you for your generosity so far, it really helps our school  :-)

Thank you Gift

An amazing grandparent, who wishes to remain anonymous, has kindly donated £250 towards our school fundraising total. Thank you so much – we are so grateful!

FOSM news

Simba Raffle – Congratulations to Madison H in Year 6 who won the Simba raffle! Thank you to everyone who took part.

Nearly New Uniform – we have a new email address. If you would like to purchase any Nearly New Uniform, please email your request to: uniform.fosm@stmarksce.org.uk

 

Created using the Donation Thermometer plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/donation-thermometer/.£37,000Raised £21,766 towards the £37,000 target.£21,766Raised £21,766 towards the £37,000 target.59%

St Mark’s Christmas Eve book sale

Local author and St Mark’s school mum Caroline Meek has created a new Christmas Eve book. We have 200 copies available. The price is £5 per book with all profits from the sale going to St Marks.

If you would like to purchase copies, please provide the right amount of cash or a cheque in an envelope with your child’s name and their class detailed on the front, to your child’s class teacher, by Friday 11th December. All books will be delivered week commencing the 14th of December. Due to quarantine requirements we cannot accept late orders. Cheques should be paid to “Caroline Meek” and have the child’s name and class on the back.

Book snapshot: Christmas is Chloe and Ben’s favourite time of year. They love seeing how happy it makes everyone. Join them as they visit their neighbours from around the world, and find out how they celebrate Christmas.

All profits go to St Mark’s to support your children and SimplyHealth with match any money raised. Thank you for your support.

Well done Isobelle, and thank you Wates Construction!

Isobelle in year 5 sent in a drawing and explanation of why St Mark’s should be awarded a grant from Wates Construction. Not only did she do a brilliant job, she also won the money for our school – £500! Well done Isobelle! And thank you to mum, dad and Wates Construction for your support and generosity!

Basingstoke Family Support Service

During these difficult times it can be hard to know where to ask for help. Basingstoke Family Support Service provide free support and advice for families in need. Our Session of Support (SOS) appointments are available over the phone to assist with a concern you need help with. Let us know if you think this could help you.

RockStars Headliners

Fastest Speed:
Year 6: 1st – Noa, 2nd – Bela and 3rd – Scarlett B
Year 5: 1st – Brody, 2nd – Samuel W and 3rd – Ryan R
Year 4: 1st – Kalel, 2nd – Matthew and 3rd – Iremide
Year 3: 1st – Isla B, 2nd – Zane and 3rd – Will H

 

Star Learners Last Week!

Well done to:

  • Year R: Thea, Kara, Elias
  • Year 1: Callan, Ellie, Mia
  • Year 2: Isobel, Ewan, Amber
  • Year 3: Owen, George H, Ashley, Theo M
  • Year 4: Ethan, James-Dean, Darcy
  • Year 5: Emily, Neve, Annabella
  • Year 6: Ollie P, Sophie Wh, Dan H

Immanuel Church

Regular Notices

Year R Tours – September 2021

Interested in joining St Mark’s for September 2021? We’re running tours and online sessions. Click here to find out more

SCL After school care and Half Term Child Care

Click here for Half-term child care booking! Held at Hatch Warren Community Centre.

Click here for regular after school care at St Mark’s.

 

Covid Reminders

  • Use the email covid@stmarksce.org.uk if you have questions or need to report symptoms or a positive case.
  • Please keep us updated – for example, of test results.
  • Read this letter from Public Health England about symptoms and testing.
  • NHS Symptoms Check
  • If a child or parent is at home because of symptoms, please keep the siblings off too. IE the whole household needs to isolate, and the person with symptoms needs to get a test.
  • We are moving online with homework, spellings and Google Classrooms. If you need help with technology, please do let us know by emailing the office.
  • If a child is off school but able to work, then Google Classroom work is available – and it should be completed. Teachers spend a lot of time making sure this work is available so no-one misses out!

Do you have a spare laptop you don’t need?

Do you have a laptop lying around, which we can use to support children at home? Doesn’t need to be new or quick. We blitz it, and install all the software necessary. That way a child who doesn’t have access to a laptop for home learning can really benefit. If you can help, please email the office.

 

What is your child learning this term?

Read the following for your child’s year group to find out more! It includes information about homework, reading, general expectations and more. The Knowledge Organiser helps you to know the knowledge the children should be learning for their project. Test them and see how they are getting on!

Online Forms

  • Absence Request form – going to be absent (e.g. wedding, funeral, holiday etc)? Use this form
  • Pupil Premium Form – have your work/benefit circumstances changed? Complete this form so we can check if your child is elligible for free school meals and other support at school.
  • Getting Home Arrangements – tell us how your child gets home each day.
  • Mobile Phone Request – for older children needing to bring a phone to school

Recent Posts – have you missed anything?

Going to be absent?

We’ve moved our absence request form online. This is for absence requests such as holidays, weddings, funeral, special events, and more. You don’t need to use this form for sickness or self-isolation (but please email/phone the office if they are unwell).

Support our school whilst you shop!

 

Email and Contact Details

If you don’t receive the school newsletter and year group emails via email, you can sign up here!

Remember, if you change your contact details, please let the office know here.

Get in touch with us

Email Us
Phone Us
Visit Us

Year 5 Learning Update – Globe Trotting Around North America

Overview

What a busy few weeks we have had in Year 5. The children have immersed themselves in our topic – Globe Trotting Around North America – and have been learning about all the differences that can be found across the continent including the biomes that can be found there, the land use and the different ways that different tribes have lived depending on their origin.

Big News! We have our class ‘State-Off’ coming up next week so would love the children to practise naming as many of the 50 states from the USA as they can. Which class will be victorious? We will find out soon! 

English 

‘The Midnight Fox’ by Betsy Byars is a traditional tale set in North America and we have been focusing our English all around this book. The children are currently rewriting the story from the fox’s perspective but last week, they wrote the most exceptional letters!

In the story, Uncle Fred goes fox hunting and when the children were faced with a recent newspaper report about fox hunting, they become so passionate about the topic! The children learned that Jeremy Hunt MP wanted to have a free vote on whether the ban on fox hunting should remain or be lifted and they wrote persuasive letters to him to encourage him to either leave the ban in place, or allow a free vote on the issue, depending on their own personal opinion. Please see some outstanding examples below.

Design Technology

As mentioned above, the children have been learning about the different tribes that live, and have lived, across North America. They have learned about how, depending on their origin, these people lived in homes ranging from teepees to igloos, lived on everything from deer to seals and wore a range of clothing and colours. From this research, the children have begun designing and completing their own weaves. Here are a few examples from last week.

We are excited to share the children’s other pieces of artwork with you at the end of term and hopefully some of their stories too. Look out for our final website update for 2020! We are so proud, as always, of how hard the children are working and particularly with how hard they have worked in their assessments over the last few days. Their results will be shared with you soon when you receive their end of term reports. 

Many thanks, 

The Year 5 Team

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