Headteacher's Newsletter

Friday 6 September 2024

Dear Parents, 

 Welcome to 2024-2025 academic year. I hope that you enjoyed spending time with your family over the summer break. 

I would like to warmly welcome our community back to school. I would especially like to welcome our new reception children and parents to the St Vincent’s community. We are delighted that you have joined our St Vincent’s family.  

We are settling well into the new school year, and everyone has been busy getting to know school routines. We are sure that this year is going to be an exciting year, full of new experiences and exciting learning challenges.   

Prayer for the start of term

Lord God, bless our school as we enter a new academic year.

May ours be a community of welcome and hope.

Watch over our pupils, so that they grow in understanding and love.

Encourage our staff, so that their service reveals your generosity and mercy.

Inspire our leaders, so that their actions show your wisdom and justice.

Loving Father, through the Trinity, you teach us the importance of relationships,

Help us work together to accomplish your mission:

That all your children may have life to the full.

Amen

 Summer Developments 

 Over the summer our site managers Mr Burke and Mr Payne were busy painting the outside of school. I’m sure you will agree that the blue paint looks very smart. You will see our site managers, Mr Burke in the morning and Mr Payne in the afternoon.  

Our Reception classrooms have had new flooring put down. The laminate creates a lovely modern and bright feel across the areas of learning.  

The Year 3 bathroom refurbishment is part of our plan to refurbish all bathrooms and this will again, create a fresh and bright feel.  

It is an exciting time for our digital developments. As part of our digital development plan, we have moved to the cloud. In addition, we also purchased new teaching whiteboards.  

The summer developments all help to make our environment even more conducive to learning, and we look forward to planning further developments in the coming year. 

Parent Curriculum Meetings 

 Each year we hold year group curriculum meetings for parents. During the meeting the class teachers will talk through the curriculum content for the year and activities the children will do. This is a good opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher and learn about how we can work together to support teaching and learning.  

School Timings Reminder 

The school day is as follows: 

When the classroom doors open, children are allowed to enter their classrooms. There is a morning activity for the children to start at this time and this enables the children to settle into their classroom. This arrangement also eases playground and traffic congestion in the morning.  

At the end of the day, we ask children and parents to make their way to the exits by 3:45pm so that our site manager can lock the gates to ensure the site is secure. Children are not permitted to play on school playground equipment or field after school. Other activities take place after school, and we need the site to be cleared and secure as part of our safeguarding arrangements. 

Attendance and Punctuality 

 Please ensure your child arrives at school before the morning bell which is 8:45am for the infant department and 8:40am for the junior department. This facilitates a calm and prompt start to the day. 

We want our children to have excellent attendance and achieve well. Please note that we do not authorise holidays in term time. Please refer to our term dates for 2024-2025 on this link before booking a holiday to ensure it is booked within the half term holiday.

Please also note that we do not permit a child to leave school early to travel.  

As part of our safeguarding procedures, if your child is too poorly to attend school, please notify the school office by phoning 0161 911 8040 or emailing admin@stvincents.trafford.sch.uk to report the reason for absence before 9:30am.

Please note that all routine, non-urgent medical appointments such as the dentist and opticians should be made outside of the school day. 

Keeping safe by reducing congestion - Park and Stride  

 Many parents park and stride to school by taking advantage of free parking in the large Tesco carpark. Parents can park for free then walk to school and enter school via the Balmoral gate.  

We know that there are many benefits to walking to school. It helps children learn road safety skills ready for when children begin to walk on their own. Walking together also gives children a chance to exercise, talk and notice the world around them. Children then arrive at school feeling refreshed and ready to learn.  

As our main school entrances are down two cul-de-sacs, we ask that cars do not drive down Orchard or Osborne Road unless necessary so that our children are not put in any danger. There is no parent parking on these roads. Please also note that keen traffic wardens patrol Orchard Rd and Osborne Rd. 

School Entrance Gates  

As a reminder, parents can enter school through any school gate. We have gates on: 

• Orchard Rd 
• Osborne Rd 
• Balmoral Rd  
• Stockport Rd at the end of the ginnel next to the golf course.   

Please note that we do not permit dogs on site, apart from assistance dogs.  

Safeguarding children with allergies 

You will have seen the letter sent by school this week about one of our pupils who has severe allergies and may be at risk of an anaphylactic reaction.

We need your help to keep children safe by: 

• Ensuring children only eat their own food; please let your child know that touching food or swapping food could make other children poorly
• Ensuring that your child is reminded to wash their hands with soap thoroughly every time after eating so they don’t get any crumbs/splashes on anything in the classroom 
• Talking to your child about allergies
• Ensuring that you don’t send cake or sweets into school for birthdays 

School Meal Payments 

We serve delicious meals prepared and cooked on site. The menus can be found on our website. Infant meals are free and funded through the government initiative Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM).  

The government does not fund the meals in the junior department, so parents are required to pay for them. Please note that payments must be made via ParentPay prior to the half term. The funds need to be in the lunch account before a meal can be taken. Parents also have the option of paying in full for the whole term or year if they wish.

Meal payments for children in years 3 to 6 are as follows:

Healthy Eating Snacks 

Reception and infant children receive a government funded piece of fruit each day for their break time snack. The government does not fund fruit for junior aged children. Children in the junior department are encouraged to bring a piece of fruit to school for their mid-morning snack. In line with health eating, we discourage processed snacks. 

We have noted that some parents ask to give out treats to their child’s class on their birthday. Whilst this is a kind gesture, over the year this can add up to lots of sweets and is not in keeping with our healthy eating approach. We also have several children with severe allergies or dietary requirements. For this reason, and in line with many other schools, we ask parents to refrain from giving out sweets. This is also in line with our school nursery and Sunshine Club policy.  

We offer an open door to parents. If you have any questions about school life, please liaise with your class teacher.  Mrs Farrell (infant deputy head), Mrs Sutton (junior deputy head), and I are also available to work in partnership with you.  

Yours sincerely, 

Mrs A Harrop  

Headteacher