St Michael's C.E. Primary School Parent Portal - St Michael's CE Primary School Newsletter September 2024

September 2024

Summer feels like a long time ago now, but I hope that everyone had a restful and enjoyable summer break, filled with time to recharge and make lasting memories with your families.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our students and staff, particularly those who are joining us for the first time. A special congratulations to our new children on successfully starting this exciting chapter in their educational journey.

This year, we want to continue our work on creating a community where our values of love, respect, and integrity are at the heart of everything we do. These values aren’t just for our students, but are embedded into the fabric of our entire school community.

It is also important that we keep our vision front and centre: to act justly, love mercifully, and walk humbly with God. These guiding principles remind us of the importance of kindness, understanding, and humility in all that we do, both inside and outside the classroom.

Our staff kicked off the year with a productive inset day, where we focused on understanding the ‘whole’ child, on inclusion and on learning experiences and techniques that resonate with all types of learners. As part of our ongoing commitment, this year we will place particular emphasis on building strong, happy, and confident learners. This involves not only academic success, but ensuring our students grow in a nurturing and encouraging environment where they feel safe, supported, and inspired to thrive.

As we settle into the term, I look forward to seeing our school community flourish and am excited about the year ahead. Thank you for your ongoing support as we work together to make this school year one of belonging, growth, joy, and success for all.

Yr 3 Trip- British Museum

All Day

02
October

Yr 4 Trip- Verulamium Museum

Prospective Parent Tour

10:15am – 11:45am

17
October

Yr 5 Trip- Verulamium Museum

From 26 Oct until 03 Nov

Year 6 Trip to Science Museum

All Day

05
November

Prospective Parent Tour

At St Michael’s, we are incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated PTA, whose tireless efforts and enthusiasm make a real difference, especially in times when school budgets are tight. Thanks to their fantastic fundraising initiatives last year, we were able to host numerous fun events that all our children (and families) enjoyed, and their hard work allowed us to purchase 30 new Chromebooks, enhancing our IT provision. They have also generously supported music lessons, covered coach costs for trips, and contributed to various other projects that enrich our students’ learning experiences.

We encourage everyone to continue supporting their annual events. The popular Quiz Night on 12th October is fast approaching—be sure to grab your tickets and join the fun; you might even find yourself competing against the teachers! Tickets are also on sale for the Botany Bay Fireworks Display, another exciting event that promises a great time for all. Your participation helps ensure that the PTA can keep doing the incredible work they do for our school.

Year 5

This week, a very fortunate Year 5 was introduced to African drumming! It was amazing to see how quickly their skills developed under the excellent tutelage of a real expert. What a fantastic way to learn about the arts and music from other countries. Not only that, we then began our ' Thinking into Results' scheme of work. Children are encouraged to self-reflect and take responsibility for their attitude to their learning -what a great start to our term.

In Our Hands

This was our back-to-school book - it offered teachers and pupils a chance to come back together, reconnecting with each other after the summer break, fostering togetherness as a whole school community.

We wanted a real focus on children’s wider wellbeing and make an important contribution to children’s success as learners, helping them to feel secure and safe, to raise self-esteem and to see themselves as part of a larger community.

We had age-appropriate activities planned that provided opportunities for children to use writing for a range of purposes including personal response, as well as shared reading and meaning-making. The whole school community will share their work and display the range of approaches taken to the same text.

Make sure you ask your child(ren) about it.

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Archangels' Day

On Monday 30^th September, we will be celebrating Archangels’ Day - The Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael – our school’s saints. We have a fun morning planned with a whole school assembly, some class activities in the morning and in the afternoon we will be mixing up all the year groups to explore different aspects of the concept of spirituality. Should be fun giving children the opportunity to work with different year groups and in different classrooms.

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Difference Primary

Archbishop Justin Welby is bringing together leading educators and peacemakers to create Difference for Primary Schools – we have been asked to be a pilot school for this project after half term – which is a very exciting opportunity.

The aims of the project are to instil foundational values of inclusivity, respect, and appreciation of diversity from an early age, drawing on the teachings of Jesus to love one another and treat others with kindness and compassion. By fostering these qualities during formative years, young people will be better equipped to thrive in a globalised society – and ultimately contribute towards building a more compassionate and just world.

We would love a few parents to support us – if you are interested please email office@st-michaels.enfield.sch.uk with the subject - Difference Primary.

Harvest Festival

Thank you so much for your generosity. The children carried the food up to the church for our first ever - staff led Harvest Service. Year 4 children organised the offerings and they were collected by the Foodbank who were extremely grateful for our support. Great way to start the year.

Get Involved in a Local Issue

You may have heard about Enfield’s plans to improve and enhance several libraries and to close 8 libraries in the area. I’d like to encourage you to read this consultation and respond to it by clicking on the link below:

https://www.enfield.gov.uk/consultations/library-consultation