We look forward to all children returning on the 8th March! A summary:
School will operate as it did in the Autumn term, including staggered start times and different entry points – see here for details.
Breakfast Club – if you had a space in Autumn term, you still have a space. There aren’t any additional spaces available. If you don’t need a space anymore, please let us know. If you didn’t have a space but will need one, please let the office know.
Our safety measures continue, including washing hands, regular cleaning, ventilation, bubbles as classes, adults wearing masks and more.
Please watch the video for more information.
We’ll be talking about the return in worship next week with the children (on video), helping them to get ready emotionally and practically for the return.
This video may be helpful for the children as a reminder of what school will look like (it was made in September but essentially the same points).
This document may also help you think through what can be done at home to help prepare your child.
If you have any concerns or questions about the return, please don’t hestiate to contact us.
Half-term is here! Thank you for all of your heroic efforts this term, whether at home or school. We are in this together. We are so grateful that we have got this far with only 1 bubble being closed since September – thank you for the sacrifices you are making. For one of the largest primary schools in Hampshire, this is quite a feat.
We haven’t had any planned or leaked news about school returning. Like you, we await any news from the government. We will respond as quick as we are able to when the news comes out.
Bug Club – Apologies for any confusion, but as parents/carers you can’t actually change the password, we have to do this. We’ll be in touch soon about that. I do hope you are enjoying Bug Club!
A massive thank you to Martin’s Tool Hire, who have saved us hundreds of pounds by lending us a scoffold tower for a few days to carry out essential maintenance. When we called to ask about the cost, the immediate answer was – we’ll do it for free, including collection and delivery. We thought it deserved a special mention.
Have a wonderful break! Mr Applegate :)
Star Learners – Home and At School
Well done to:
Year R: Alfie J, Finley, Prannav, Isla, Olivia, Joshua S
Year 1: Camila, Daisy (1C), Liliana, Ruby C, Elizabeth, Elijah
Year 2: Angelina, Thomas, Freddie, Daniel, Braden, Zach
Year 3: Kody, Ashdon, Joshua F, Taya, Isla, Lucas
Year 4: Tyler, Liam J, Izzy, Cristina, Marcus, Harry S, Owen
Year 5: Lottie H, David, Issac B, Joe H, Sophia M, Daisy S
Year 6: Nevaya, Bela, Matilda, Maddie, Evie (6B), Rafferty, Brooke
Competition Winners!
Well done to Katie (Year R), Elodie (Year 1), Mia (Year 2), Chloe (Year 3), Eva (Year 4), Emily (Year 5) and Gurshannt (Year 6) for your brilliant inventions! This is following our competition to design something new that will make our world a better place. Their creative ideas have won them a special book and certificate. Well done to everyone who entered too – we had lots of entries! See their designs here!
Your generosity is outstanding – and much appreciated!
Thanks to your kindness, we have bene able to raise £14,583.11 since September 2020! Just phoenomenal! Thank you so much, and of course to the FOSM team for your massive efforts in this. Find our more about our FOSM fundraising here!
World Book Day – Thursday 4th March
We won’t be doing a dress up day, but the children will be taking part in a range of reading-related activities on this day! We also aim to do a little something extra in the summer!
FOSM bookshop now open!
We are excited to announce that FOSM now has its own bookshop! You can find it by clicking here:
For every book purchased through the site, FOSM will get 10% of the price.
We have put together a wide selection of titles from activity books and books to save the planet, through to books to boost confidence as well as books being shared in school. There are even some books for grown-ups on the site.
If you would like to share any books that you and your family have enjoyed we’d be delighted to add them to the shop. If there is a book you’d like to purchase, but its not listed in the bookshop yet, then you can drop us a line and we will make sure it’s added.
The FOSM Bookshop is hosted on Bookshop.org a new platform that supports independent booksellers who are really struggling currently. Bookshop.org was set up to provide a convenient and affordable alternative to buying through Amazon. There is a small delivery charge on orders but all books are sold at a discount on rrp. You can find out more about bookshop.org here: https://uk.bookshop.org/pages/about
Please contact Clare Hodder at bookshop.fosm@stmarksce.org.uk with any questions about the shop or to send your recommendations or requests for books to add to the shop.
Support with heating costs, for families facing Winter hardship due to COVID-19
Information for Parents and Carers
As part of our connect4communities programme, and in addition to the food vouchers distributed to families through childcare providers, schools and colleges, we have provided the Citizens Advice Service with £100,000 of funding to help families and individuals with energy costs over the Winter period – gas, electric and water.
Please note that the local branch will complete a quick eligibility check and refer parents and carers to the distributors of the grant and financial support will be provided to the family or individual seeking help.
The eligibility criteria for this support – to heat homes – is wide-ranging to ensure the money is as accessible as possible and is as follows:
Families with children:
Families in receipt of benefits related free school meals
Families including 16-18-year olds previously eligible for Free School Meals
All children with a social worker
All children open to Early Help
All households with 2 – 4year olds accessing childcare and eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium
Households with a young carer
Those who it is believed will struggle to afford to heat their home adequately and/or maintain a reasonable standard of living this winter
Households without children:
Care leavers
Households that have been identified as going into debt for the first time
Households or individuals with no other way of obtaining funds, e.g. those who face choosing to pay either rent or bills (considered unmanageable debt)
Those who it is believed will struggle to afford to heat their home adequately and/or maintain a reasonable standard of living this winter
Support from this fund, distributed by the Citizens Advice Service, can take the form of:
Pre-paid energy cards or the payment of a fuel bill on behalf of an eligible household
Other sources of welfare support
Local sources of other welfare support can be found through:
‘connect4communities’ is a programme of support provided by Hampshire County Council, in collaboration with other agency, voluntary and charitable partners. It is funded by the Authority’s £2.89 million Covid Winter Grant from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
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.
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.
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.
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!
I want to say a huge ‘Thank you’ to the adults at home who are helping with home learning. What a task you have, and we don’t underestimate the effort involved. You are amazing. Whatever your circumstances at home, this isn’t what you have signed up for and having supported home learning for my children for an extended period of time, I know how tricky it can be. Hopefully there is a bit of a routine now, and that the staff efforts with live lessons and check-ins have made it easier. Thank you for your supportive comments and emails, too- staff do appreciate them. The good news is that we have a week off from home learning next week! A time to recharge, turn off the tech, and not have the expectations of getting the school work done and joining meets at certain times!
This week is e-safety week. How relevant given our increased use of tech! The children will be learning about keeping safe online, with a focus for KS2 on what fake news is, and how we need to question the information we find online. E-safety week is always a good time to think about your family’s use of tech in the home. What are your family rules and boundaries? Why not take this opportunity to talk with your child again about how they keep safe online, as well as the mental impact of using tech frequently? Perhaps do so whilst taking a walk in the up-coming snow!
Have a wonderful weekend
Mr Applegate
Families Magazine,
Please click on this link for the latest edition of the Families magazine,
Star Learners – Home and At School
Well done to:
Year R: Lewis, Oliver, Danny C, Kieran, Mathea, Louie
Year 1: Joey, Sarah, Liam, Harry, Max, Dylan
Year 2: Isabelle C, Reece, Finley, Theo, Aaron, Rebecca
Year 3: Joe, Florence, Cullen, Seth, Zac, Jeffrey
Year 4: AJ, Amelia, Charlie T, Megan, Georgia, Isla
Year 5: Lottie H, Zac P, Samuel F, Charlotte C, Ethan, Beth
Year 6: Ava S, Evie (6S), William S, Ethan, Ed E Daniel Hen
Bug Club
We hope you have enjoyed using BugClub so far! How many coins has your child earned?!
If you haven’t yet logged in for your child, please do so. Appropriately levelled reading books are set by their teacher. The login details are in your child’s Google Stream. Please email the office if you need any help.
Google Classroom
Don’t forget! :
Work should be submitted/handed in so that we can mark it and provide feedback. This includes work done on paper (take a photo and then submit it!).
Please do your best to attend all live lessons. We have a very high level of engagement, which is great!
We have been informed by Scopay that a download of text messages that were sent via them by Hampshire Schools between 1st December and 8th January was made by an unauthorised user.
The download was limited to mobile numbers only, and no other personal information was obtained. Please be vigilant to any unusual text messages you may receive that appear to be from us noting that we will not request payment by text message and we would never ask you to reply by text if we need any information from you.
If you are unsure of the authenticity of a text that appears to be from us please contact the school office.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
Look out for the BugClub online reading resource login details, which will be in your child’s Google Classroom Stream, if you’ve recieved an email about it. Our school code is tp3k. There are instructions here. Teachers will be setting books to read on it, and there are interactive quizzes to do.
Staff home covid testing has started this week.
Thank you for your messages of support for our staff members as they work so hard to give their best in such challenging circusmtances for everyone.
We’d LOVE to have every child back in school, but sadly we can’t. We have restrictions we have to abide by to keep everyone safe. We honestly understand the stresses of home learning, and thank you for working with us as we try to make home learning as good as we can as a school.
Don’t forget that if you do home learning work on paper, please upload it on GC for the teachers to see and respond too. See the video below if you need help (it’s the same process for an android phone or tablet). Remember to install the Google Classroom app!
In worship this week…
… we’ll be thinking about making a difference in small ways. Be inspired by the starfish story
Star Learners – Home and At School
Well done to:
Year R: Enrique, Joshua W, Elijah, Jessica, Ruby R, Daniel N
Year 1: Olivia L, Alexa,, Alba, Leo, Henry, Ava Mc
Year 2: Elsa, Ben, Ivy-Rose, Oscar, Olivia, Henry
Year 3: Millie, Chloe Ma, Charlie E, Vinnie, Peter, Ella
Year 4: Edward, Elsie, Cara, Eva, Benjamin, Finley
Year 5: Max B, Madi S, Neve, James, Adam, Libby
Year 6: Nicolas, Mira, Harriet, Gurshantt, Katie D, Katie G
Ask for Ani
A lovely act of kindness
A huge thank you to Cara (Y4) and Holly-Marie (YR) for their kind donation to our school, given through JustGiving. They wanted to give the school some money they had received instead of spending it on themselves. An amazing act of generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you!
How’s Simba getting on?
He’s doing ok! Getting bigger, and maturing! He responds to ‘sit’, ‘lay down’, ‘paw’, ‘spin’ and ‘twist’. And he loves eating anything and everything…
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.
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.
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.
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!
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