Latest News
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School closure
Mon 04 Jan 2021School will close to all children on Tuesday 5th January.
It will open on 6th January to key worker children only.
If you are a key worker please apply for a place for your child by 12.00 tomorrow so we can plan the key worker groupings and teacher rotas.
Let us have which days and names of children.
Home learning will begin through See Saw on Thursday.
Apologies for the short notice but we have just been told by the government to close from tomorrow and the teachers need time to prepare materials to go online for Wednesday.
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SCHOOL OPEN 4th JAN
Thu 31 Dec 2020Following the government announcement yesterday, St Mary's will open for the new term on 4th January.
All the staff look forward to welcoming everyone and having a fantastic term.
K Joyce
Head teacher.
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Virtual Open Day for Reception 2021: 7th or 14th December
Mon 30 Nov 2020Reception 2021 virtual Open Day meetings
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are unable to hold face-face Reception site visits. However, we have decided to host TEAMS parent virtual meetings instead on the following dates; Monday 7th December and Monday 14th December both starting at 1.30pm.
The meetings will involve a short presentation, an opportunity to meet the class teacher and a chance to ask questions.
If you go to our website and under the section for ‘Parents’ you will find Reception 2021. We have a virtual tour of the school for you to view and information about St Mary’s.
We would like to ask if you were able to help us by taking any opportunity to share these dates with prospective parents. Please can you ask them to either email or phone the school directly to leave us with an email address and preferred meeting date.
These parents will then be sent a link to their meeting of choice.
We look forward to meeting you.
Thank you
K Joyce
Head teacher
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Odd Sox Day - Anti-Bullying Week 16 - 20 November 2020
Wed 11 Nov 2020Anti-Bullying Week
Next week is Anti-Bullying Week and on Monday 16th November it will be Odd Sox Day! We would like children to wear odd socks on Monday next week to highlight the value of difference and uniqueness. During the week each class will be ensuring that:
- children know that school is a safe place for all and that bullying in all its forms is not tolerated
- children know who they can talk to if they are worried about themselves or about someone else
- children know that everyone has a part to play in making school a safe place.
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Return to school COVID Procedures Term 2.
Mon 02 Nov 2020Dear parents, carers,
With the new term about to start I would just like to mention some new stricter guidelines we are putting into place.
As you know we are technically back into lockdown and the rate of infection is rising all over the country. Schools are not closing but we have been asked to make sure strict adherence to rules and regulations are followed as best we can as both the safety of our children and staff are paramount.
Below are measures we need to have in place:
- Parents drop off and collect children exactly on time.
- Please follow the one-way system and do not linger in the playground while the children are lining up. Please just drop off and go.
- Please wear a face mask on the playground at all times.
- Think about social distancing at all times, including outside the school gate as there will be vulnerable adults dropping children off as well.
- If you are collecting more than one child, please collect each one at the correct time.
- We need to make sure children do not play in the school, please ensure younger children are not allowed to roam the playground.
- Absolutely no birthday gifts or exchanging of presents in school.
- No toys from home to be brought in.
- We have plenty of sanitiser in school, children do not need to bring in their own sanitiser.
- Once your child has left school they cannot return to collect a forgotten clothing item.
For Class 5 and Class 6 only.
Class 6 – new start time of 8.40am through the BLUE GATES LEADING TO THE CAR PARK
Class 5 – new start time of 8.50am through the BLUE GATES LEADING TO THE CAR PARK
Class 4 – new start time of 9.00am through the BLUE GATES LEADING TO THE CAR PARK
At the end of the day:
Class 6 – pick up time will be 3.20pm through the BLUE GATES
Class 5 - pick up time will be 3.10pm through the BLUE GATES
Class 4 - pick up time will be 3.15pm through the BLUE GATES
Please see the timetable for the other classes also.
There may well be additions or adjustments to the above statement. With your support we can significantly reduce risk so that the school community is safe and well protected.
Yours faithfully,
K Joyce
Head teacher.
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Emergency Food Parcel offer from South Gloucestershire
Wed 28 Oct 2020Emergency Food Parcel Offer
Families eligible for free school meals can apply for a payment card by visiting our One Stop Shops, contacting their local Citizens Advice Bureau or calling the Council on 01454 868009, and successful applicants will receive a card within 48 hours with sufficient funds (£20) for meals for a week for their children that can be used in all main supermarkets and other retail outlets.
Food Parcel Offer
In addition, on Thursday and Friday of this week, we have organised across the Council area, food parcel collection points for parents and/carers that as is an alternative to the above and for where a voucher may not be their preferred option. All parents/carers will need to do, is turn up at the collection point and they will be given a food parcel containing various products. South Gloucestershire have worked tirelessly in conjunction with ELS and our Transport department with support from Local schools to get an offer in place. All collection points across South Gloucestershire will be open from 11am-1pm on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th October. The food parcels contain dried goods only and non-perishables.
The collection points are listed below . If parents and carers, go to the front entrance, they will be directed to the collection point as appropriate. We have tried to cover the whole geography of South Gloucestershire so that we meet the needs of as many families as possible, so please see a list of schools.
The Castle School
Yate Academy
Winterbourne Academy
Patchway Community School
Bradley Stoke Community School
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OPEN DAY VIDEO TOUR
Wed 23 Sep 2020The recommendation from the LA is that we do not do Open Days this year to reduce the risk of cross contamination.
Instead and for potential new 2021, Reception children we have produced a power point and video tour of the school for you to view.
These can be found under the Parents signpost and second subject down
'Information for 2021 parents'.
Please have a look and if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the school.
Thank you.
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Open Days
Fri 11 Sep 2020The Local Education Authority have advised schools not to have Open Days this year due to the risk of spreading COVID19.
Instead we are planning to put onto the website a virtual tour of the school that will include relevant information for new prospective parents.
We hope to have this up within the next two weeks.
Thank you.
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Ground Force days
Tue 11 Aug 2020In preparation for returning in September we are planning to have two Ground Force mornings.
The first on 24th August: 9 - 12i, is to finish the painting in KS2 corridor and would really like to have some volunteers to help paint the final coat. An hour of your time would be ideal as earlier in the holiday our volunteers did the whole corridor with the undercoat in just over two hours.
The second Ground Force morning is Thursday 27th August: 9 - 11ish. This is to weed the new Remembrance garden on the playground. During the wonderful summer weather weeds have taken over and it would be great to have a lovely fresh garden for the new term. Again it should take just an hour or so to do.
If you would like to volunteer, please come along and enter through the blue gates by the staffroom at the back of the school.
Thank you.
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Exciting news, new Vicar for St Mary's
Sun 26 Jul 2020On behalf of the school and staff I wish to announce and congratulate the appointment of Rev'd Joy as our new Priest in Charge. We are really excited about Rev'd Joy joining our school community and look forward to her visits to and many services with us in the future.
STOP PRESS announcement:
We are delighted to announce that Rev’d Joy Ludlow has been appointed as Priest in Charge of the United Benefice of Thornbury and Oldbury with Shepperdine, subject to the completion of the usual legal processes. The completion of Joy’s curacy will be celebrated on Sunday 9 August at a 10am service in St Mary’s and a final evening service at St Arilda’s. Joy will then take a break from duties for various preparations to be made and will be welcomed back and licensed, as the new Incumbent, by Bishop Rachel on Wednesday 7 October at 7pm in St Mary’s Church. The final details of this service will depend very much on the situation with regard to Covid-19. We are sure that you will be very pleased with Joy’s appointment and that you will be wishing her well and giving her every support in this new role; an exciting time for her and us as we go forward into the future together. Our prayer for her is that God will richly bless her now, during her preparations and as our new Priest in Charge. Rev’d Joy is really excited about taking up the post and is looking forward to what the future holds with us all together.
Churchwardens: Andrew Gazard, Sandra Grey, Robin Gupta, Mike Dennett and Jenny Ovens 12 July 2020