Friday 18th May 2012
My goodness, this week has lasted forever! I thought it would never end!
Well done to all our Year 6 children who coped magnificently with the End of Key Stage 2 SATS. They took it all in their stride and today they have had a more relaxing day. They have played cricket, started practising the songs for their end of year production and also had “AN END OF SATS PARTY!”
Tonight is the school disco and as a reward for “stepping up to the mark” so brilliantly, our Year 6 children have free entry. I look forward to seeing them there as well as our infant children at their disco and the Key Stage 2 children at their disco.
Another very good piece of news is the fact that Mr Priday was finally able to cut the grass. The weather has been so wet and the field so waterlogged that it has been impossible to take the grass cutter on to the field. It looks so much better now.
I have just finished watching Avebury’s assembly. They were brilliant! What a lovely way to end the week by hearing all about the Ascension of the Lord and his promise to be with us always.
Next week is another busy week. On Wednesday, the day of the Olympic torch, the school is ready for the School Improvement Partner and some Governors to do a monitoring visit. So the staff are all getting ready with their lesson plans and marking!
I am also pleased to announce that the scope of Mr Peter Thompson’s role has changed. He is becoming the Academy Manager and will be keeping us all on our toes to make sure we comply with all regulations associated with becoming an Academy. It will be a Leadership role within the Academy and he will assist the Headteacher and Governing Body in forming the strategic development of the school.
We wish our First Communion children well this weekend.
Mrs Burchall
Friday 11th May 2012
I couldn’t believe it this morning, I woke up to blue skies!! I had forgotten what a blue sky looked like. The weather has been atrocious rain and rain and grey skies. I think that everybody had a spring in their step today!
Year 6 had a couple of practices in the hall under test conditions to get them geared up for the SATS next week. I’m sure they will do the school proud!
Football in the Community from Swindon Town came in to do some coaching with the children. They will give every class the opportunity to learn some football skills.
Our Olympic ambassadors, Sophia Ali and Joseph Lloyd were all excited because their ipad arrived in school this week. This is so they can collect evidence of Olympic values being displayed throughout the school.
It’s First Communion weekend! There are two Masses tomorrow at 11.00am and 2.00pm so it will be a busy day for Fr Michael MacAndrew and myself!!!
Finally, Malmesbury finished the week with a lovely assembly all about how Jesus is with us always and of course our First Communion children will be meeting Jesus in a very special way this weekend when they receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
Well it’s 5.10pm and I’m going home!!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 4th May 2012
Due to Mr Priday’s absence, I have been opening up the school for the past two weeks for 7.00am. It’s nearly killed me! So this week has seemed endless! I am glad it’s Friday.
Neil Allen, the tennis coach was in school on Wednesday providing some tennis coaching. Salisbury had a tri golf session for an hour.One thing that we do offer in St Mary’s is a variety of sports in which children can engage. Football in the community is in next week. The coach that is coming is from Swindon Town.
The big event in school this week was the two day visit by Isabelle Valiant from Montabise School in Poitiers. Montabise is our partner school. Isabelle spent the time in classrooms and she also had come prepared to read a story to Barbury class. In Montabise School, Isabelle teaches 4 to 5 year olds, so she was very much at ease in the Early Years.
The Early Years visited Roves Farm on Thursday as part of their Farm topic. They had a great time and what was even better was that the heavy rain that was forecast didn’t materialise, so although it was damp, they did not get soaked!
The week finished off with a lovely assembly from Uffington class all about Pentecost. Thank you very much Uffington class for reminding us that the Holy Spirit is our helper and comforter.
Have a good weekend
Mrs Burchall
Friday 27th April 2012
We had a great day last Monday on St George’s Day. The themed day went very well with the vast majority of the children dressing up in red and white to mark the occasion of the patron saint of England’s special day. The themed lunch of traditional English food was very well received and for the children it was the first time they had ever tasted jam roly poly pudding! They enjoyed it.
There was an excellent piece in the Swindon Advertise about the day and I have put a copy of the article in the school documents page marked Newspaper articles. Please do take the time to read it.
The weather has been simply awful. However, you will be pleased to know that the pond is very well filled and there are lots of tadpoles swimming around. Please feel free to visit the pond and forest area when you get the chance. You are always very welcome.
The school photographer was in school taking class photos. He was at it all day arranging the children in a contemporary pose. I am looking forward to seeing the results.
Ermin class walked up to St Mary’s Church to look at the Easter Candle because the Easter candle is inscribed with the first letter of the Greek alphabet Alpha and the last letter in the Greek alphabet Omega. This is because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. Ermin class is learning about Ancient Greece along with the rest of the Middle Phase.
After school clubs are starting up next week .
Monday
Cricket, Science and Film Club
Tuesday
Family Art Club
Wednesday
Key Stage 2 Dance Club
Our week ended with a lovely assembly from Barbury, our youngest children. They told us to have more faith in Jesus and that Jesus is with us today in very special ways.
It’s now 5.15pm and I think it’s time to go home, seeing that I have to be back tomorrow morning to open up for the First Communion children.
Have a good weekend!
Mrs Burchall
Sunday 22nd April
Sorry this week’s blog has been a little delayed, but Friday was a very busy day at school. There were interviews for a permanent classroom teacher and I am delighted to say that Miss Molly Chambers has been appointed, her post to commence on 1st September 2012.
It was also a very wet week, which meant that the children had to stay indoors for some of their breaks. It’s never an ideal situation but we are very fortunate in St Mary’s that our children always come up trumps with their behaviour.
On Wednesday Miss Kershaw gave an assembly to the whole school about the forthcoming Olympics and the part our school has to play in displaying the Olympic qualities in our everyday life. Our Olympic Ambassadors, Sophia Cox and Joseph Lloyd will be looking for evidence of determination, inspiration, perseverance and courage, to name a few. They will be given an i pad to use in the collection of this evidence via video or photographs. Hopefully we can then showcase this on our T.V. screen.
On Friday the school place allocation for Reception places in September 2012 was released to parents. The anxious wait is now over!! For the 6th consecutive year we have been oversubscribed which goes to show how highly regarded our school is in Swindon.
Monday sees our themed day of red and white to celebrate the feast day of St George, the patron saint of England. There will also be a themed British lunch of bangers and mash and jam roly poly pudding! Key stage 2 will also have the pleasure of listening to a brass band roadshow!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 23rd March 2011
Today has been such a lovely day! Spring has definitely sprung!
The Chicken School arrived in school this week and already 6 chicks have hatched out and what a noisy lot they are. Thank you to Miss Upton for taking them home this weekend. Uffington class are really enjoying having them in their class. The chicks may go on tour next week into different class rooms.
Year 3 have been busy practising for The Easter Happening play next Friday. I can hear lots of Roman soldiers marching around the hall when I’m in my office. We’ll be practising the songs on Monday so that everything will be ready for the big performance on 30th March.
This week was lesson observation week when the teachers were observed teaching Maths. I think everyone is relieved that’s over.
Next week is the Swindon Junior Music Festival when our choir will be performing along with all the other Swindon choirs at the Oasis. This year they are singing quite a few Queen songs. Miss Clarke and Mrs Ballard have done a magnificent job of filling in for Miss Crook. We all hope she is better soon.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 16th March 2012
Another Friday. As I’m writing this blog the Infants are in the middle of their Disco. It’s gone quite quiet so I presume it’s crisps and drink time. I’ve been chasing my tail a bit this week as I’ve been out of school for 2 days and then the work catches up with you which is why the Disc is a godsend as it means I can catch up with my paperwork.
I went to the Clifton Diocese Headteacher’s Retreat on Tuesday down at the Ammerdown Centre in Somerset. It was a lovely time to be spiritually refreshed and recharge batteries. There was a very good speaker called Sister Judith Russi.
Fund raising for CAFOD has been continuing this week. Sarum class took part in a prom where all the children dressed up in their finery to raise money and Ridgeway class held a chocolate raffle and raised a magnificent £153.00. I’ll let you know the grand total when all the money comes in. What is wonderful is that for a three month period the Government is matching pound for pound money raised for the developing world.
The chicken school comes on Monday. It will be great to see the eggs hatch again. They are going to take up residence in Uffington classroom and will be here for two weeks until the end of term.
We also thank Mrs Hall who stood in for Miss Crook these past two weeks. Miss Marshall will be taking over on Monday until the holidays. We are all wishing Miss Crook a speedy recovery.
Uffington led us all in a lovely Mother’s Day assembly. Thank you Uffington.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU MUMS. I hope you all get spoilt!
Have a good weekend.
Mrs Burchall
Friday 9th March 2012
This week saw us participating in the Fairtrade 90 kg Rice Challenge whereby the school pledges to sell 90 kg of rice grown by farmers in Malawi to help them pay for sending one child to secondary school. This is what farmers in Malawi do. If they sell 90 kg of their rice then it raises enough money to pay the fees to educate one of their children at secondary school. Many children wanted to help in this project and there was a very nice newspaper article about it in the Swindon Advertiser. You can view it on our website in the documents section entitled Newspaper Articles. Our new website address is www.st-marys.swindon.sch.uk
The classes are raising money for CAFOD. To date we have had classes having pyjama days, crazy hair days and superheroes day. I believe Sarum is having a mini prom next week!!!
There were interviews today for the Team Leader of the Early Learning Phase as there was not enough time to make a permanent appointment when Mrs Brown left at summer. Mrs Foster has been acting team leader for this year. I am delighted to say that Mr Colm McCavera has been appointed. He will take up his new role in September.
Malmesbury gave a lovely assembly this afternoon all about “Being Proud.” We were very proud of them. We were also very proud of one of our Year 5 boys, Maximo Lopez, who played a piece of music on the piano for us by Beethoven. He played superbly.
I think that’s it for now. Have a good weekend!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 2nd March 2012
It’s been a really busy week and it has simply flown by! All the children, from Year 1 upwards have done their mid-year assessments. These are very important as it allows us to track the children’s progress and if progress hasn’t been made by this half way point in the school year, then it is time to do some intervention work. I think many of the children are really pleased of the progress they have made. I have seen lots of smiling faces.
On Wednesday, a CAFOD representative, Margaret Evans, came to do a special CAFOD assembly ahead of Lent Fast Day which is today. The theme of this Lent for CAFOD is “Make a Splash for Water!” We have been thinking of all the different ways we can help people in Developing countries to have access to clean water. Ridgeway developed this theme very well in their assembly today.
Every class is going to be doing something to raise money for CAFOD this Lent. Ermin had a pyjama day today. Well done Ermin!
World Book Day on Thursday saw everyone dress up as their favourite book character. All the money raised from the money brought in by the children is going to CAFOD. Did you know that for a 3 month period for every £1 raised to give to the developing world the Government will match it! So if St Mary’s raises £500 during this Lent period for CAFOD then the Coalition Government will double it. So potentially St Mary’s could raise £1000!
Next week sees our school doing the 90Kg Rice Challenge. I sent out letters yesterday explaining this, but remember to bring you £3.00 if you want to buy rice. The money we raise for this will go to Mary’s Meals because education in Malawi figures high on their lists of priorities.
That takes me up to 4.25pm on this Friday evening so I think it’s now time to shut up shop and call it a day!
Have a lovely weekend everybody!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 24th February 2012
Welcome back to term 4. It’s good to see all the children back again safe and sound, although it must have caused great inconvenience getting here to school with the top part of Northern Road being closed to traffic. Hopefully, all will be back to normal soon.
The school was full of pancake smells on Tuesday with Miss Clarke being kept busy with groups making pancakes. She started bright and early at 7.30am with the Breakfast Club children making pancakes for their breakfast. There were very appetising aromas permeating the corridor of school!.
Next day sae the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Fr Michael came to school so that all the children could receive their ashes for the beginning of Lent. Mrs Clare helped him and I must say that Mrs Clare really marked the children who came to her with a great big cross on their foreheads, whereas Fr Michael only gave a smudge! Well done Mrs Clare.
On Thursday the Early Years went to see The Gruffalo at the Wyvern Theatre. There was such excitement. The school subsidised the theatre visit as I feel it is really important for children to be given the cultural experience of visiting a theatre to see a live performance. I think they really enjoyed themselves.
Salisbury class finished off the week by leading the whole school assembly. It was all about how we should spring clean our souls for Lent! Thanks for all your advice Salisbury!
What a beautiful Friday afternoon it has turned out to be. I do hope you have a good weekend!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 10th February 2012
Well it’s good to have arrived at February half term. Imagine finishing with snow on the last day! At least we got off lightly.
It’s been a busy week. There was a staffing committee meeting on Monday, then parent / teacher consultations on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. After the parent / teacher meetings on Wednesday both Mrs Clare and myself had to go to a Diocesan meeting at Holy Family, so didn’t arrive home until 9.00pm.
It was unfortunate that the Disco had to be cancelled but as Miss Clarke was off ill most of the week, none of the essential background organisation had gone on. Because I didn’t know how many parent helpers could be relied upon, I decided to cancel. It will be rescheduled after half term.
You will have received the newsletter telling you about the planned change of website address. Well we have received notification that it can be used now. Instead of typing in the ik.org. the new website address is
www.st-marys.swindon.sch.uk Try it and you will go straight to our learning portal.
Have a good week and see you on February 20th.
Mrs Burchall
Friday 3rd February 2012
It’s been a busy week! On Tuesday a film crew came from the World Community of Christian Meditation to spend the day with us. They were gathering information and evidence about how doing Christian Meditation throughout the whole school at the same time each day is affecting the daily lives of the school community. They did this through talking to teachers and pupils and myself. They were very impressed with the school and how seriously the children took to meditation. St Mary’s is one of several schools that will be included as a case study for this training D.V.D. We’ll have a preview of it after Easter.
Later on that Tuesday we held a twilight session on Child Protection Update training. This was compulsory for all staff, so it was a long day by the time we finished at 6.00pm. This Child Protection Update has to be done by staff on a three year cycle, but for Headteachers and Deputies it’s 3 years.
Miss Crook and myself conducted a “Learning Walk” of the middle phase on Thursday. This is where we scrutinise books, talk to children about their targets, look at the learning environment in the classroom and the planning books. This is to ensure consistency of whole school approaches are happening in the classrooms.
Friday was a busy day with both Miss Crook and Mrs Weaver on a Leadership Pathways day in Bristol. This is a year long qualification run by the National College of School Leadership and helps develop senior leadership skills. Miss Kershaw took two Year 6 pupils, Joseph Lloyd and Sophia Ali to Steam to take in an Olympic Ambassador day. The school had to nominate two pupils to act as Olympic Ambassadors. They will come back from the day full of ideas to help us, as a school, prepare for the London 2012 Olympics!
We ended the week with a lovely assembly led by Avebury class.
Enjoy the weekend! I’m off to a wedding!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 20th January 2012
This week has flown past and has seen our year 6 children embark on their residential visit to Braeside, Devizes as well as a visit on Tuesday from The Image Theatre performing The Selfish Giant.
This performance happened on Tuesday afternoon and what sets this musical theatre group apart is the fact that they truly engage the children by involving them in the songs as well as dressing up and taking on acting parts. Last year they performed The Wind in the Willows which was very good, but I think they surpassed themselves with The Selfish Giant. I’m sure your children told you all about it when they came home on Tuesday evening.
Tuesday saw the year 6 children setting off for Braeside. This is always a highlight of their year and this month is chosen specially for its suitability for going long walks, wrapped up warmly, without any danger of heatstroke or sunstroke! The first day saw them taking part in problem solving and team building activities in the outdoors. Wednesday saw them tackling a six mile hike up Roundway Down, which they all managed superbly well. Thursday saw them buying various food for their lunch at the Devizes Market and then preparing their lunch. The main purpose of the task was to think about locally resourced food as well as packaging and nutritional value.
There was a lovely assembly this afternoon from Ermin all about self giving and they did a wonderfulpiece of drama all about a tree that gave everything it had, the acorns, branches and trunk to help a person in need. They then equated that story to Jesus who gave everything for us. They are to be congratulated and thank you Miss Upton and Mrs Ballard for your hard work in preparing the children.
I wish you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Burchall
Friday 13th January 2012
Well the first full week of school has passed and this morning was the first morning in ages that I had to scrape ice off my windscreen. They do say that next week will see a much colder spell of weather, just in time for the Year 6 Braeside Residential visit.
This week has been a relatively quiet week. Swimming started again for the year 3 children and music tuition started again for the African Drumming in Ermin and Waylands Smithy as well as trumpets in Ridgeway and Salisbury.
Paediatric First Aid Training took place for two days in school for two of our Teaching Assistants, Mrs Stephens and Mrs Warwick.
A Headteacher from Portsmouth paid the school a visit to find out more about converting to Academy Status. She was very complimentary about what she found at St Mary’s, especially our Conservation Area. I think sometimes we take all the space and land we have for granted. She was from an inner city school that had to share the playground with the Infant School next door!
We finished the week with a lovely assembly from Sarum class all about Celebrating which is the topic for R.E. these first few weeks. Thank you Miss Lumley and Sarum.
Don’t forget that if you have a child due to start school in September 2012 then Sunday 15th January is the closing date for applications.
Have a relaxing weekend!
Mrs Burchall
Friday 6th January 2012
Happy New Year to one and all. It’s good to get the first three days under our belts. Having the extra day holiday was really good. I do hope nobody turned up for school!
It’s been a quiet start to the term, although there has been some lovely news. Mr McCavera has become a Dad for the second time. His new daughter, Erin, was born on 29th December weighing 7ib 4oz. Both mother and daughter are doing well. Mr McCavera is taking two week’s paternity leave at the moment and Mrs Forcer has come in to hold the fort with Avebury class while he is away.
We have also welcomed Miss Claire Cummings as our new permanent admin assistant. Claire replaces Preet Cook who was doing the job on a temporary basis while we assessed the needs of St Mary’s operating as an academy. Claire will be working every day in the office and she will be the voice that is heard answering the telephone. This allows Mrs Green to have more time to concentrate more on the management side of the office.
I had a walk up to the conservation area and you will be glad to know that after the recent very wet weather our pond is almost full to the brim. The pond will be ready to welcome lots of new life in the spring.
I think that’s all to report at the present time as it has been a short week.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Burchall
Friday 9th December 2011
Those of you who came to school this morning will already know that we have had some trouble with the drains from the mobile classroom. Mr Priday and our plumber, john, have worked tirelessly to unblock the problem and they were true heroes and solved our problem. It was not a pleasant job trying to flush through a pile up of ten years waste. I shall leave it to your imagination! Thank you Mr Priday.
To offset that we had a another really successful Christmas morning complete with each class visiting Father Christmas in the community room. This year the children received a selection box as they did last year, but the added extra was that this year each selection box was individually wrapped with each child’s name on it. That was a true labour of love. Thank you to our Friends of St Mary’s and their merry band of supporters who really make this event so enjoyable for the children.
It has been a busy week. On Thursday night our school choir performed at the Oasis along with many other schools for the annual Christmas Concert. They were superb. They looked outstanding in their new choir polo shirts complete with a Christmas tree hat kindly donated by Mr Ballard of Independent Fireplace installations. Thank you Mr Ballard! We are very proud of our choir and tomorrow night they are performing at Holy Rood SVP Christmas party for the elderly. What great ambassadors they will be for St Mary’s.
The Governing Body meeting on 6th Dec discussed the school uniform and details of that will be going out on Monday in the newsletter. But for those who read this blog I’ll set it out for you below:
School Uniform
Year 3 upwards winter uniform
Black or grey trousers, skirts, or pinafore
Plain socks or tights
Black or brown flat school shoes or boots
Either
White shirt, school tie, v neck royal blue jumper or cardigan
Or
White polo shirt and royal blue sweatshirt
A school fleece may also be worn
Summer
Black/ grey tailored shorts may be worn or a blue and white dress.
Infants
As above but without the option of a shirt and tie.
Sweatshirts, cardigans, fleeces, coats and polo shirts with the school crest can be purchased through the school. The school uniform shop is run by the Friends of St Mary’s and is of the highest quality. However any royal blue jumper, cardigan and sweatshirt is acceptable as are white polo shirts.
Holiday dates for the school year 2012-2013 will also be circulated on Monday.
I must go now if I’m to be back in time for the disco tonight at 6.00pm
Have a good one!
Mrs Burchall