Part of the Bishop Cleary Catholic Multi Academy Company

St. Michael's Catholic Primary Academy and Nursery

Part of the Bishop Cleary Catholic Multi Academy Company

a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (company number 08578428)

whose registered office address is Compton Park, Wolverhampton, WV3 9DU

Telford Gardens, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton WV3 7LE

Telephone 01902 556368 Fax 01902 556370

www.stmichaels-academy.co.uk

Principal Mrs S McHale

5th January 2018

Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break. It is wonderful to see the children return looking refreshed and excited to start a new term.

The feast of the Epiphany is an important celebration of Jesus being made known to the whole world. Families and children are asked to create an Epiphany scene project to showcase on Monday 8th January. Epiphany will also be celebrated in Mass on Tuesday 9th January, all welcome,9.15am.

Please find attached a booklet of event dates for the forthcoming term.

Staffing Update

We are pleased to welcome Mrs Rodgers to our Nursery staff this term. Mrs Rodgers will be working from lunchtime in Nursery with those children who are staying for 30 hour nursery provision. From September 2018, we are able to offer more ’30-hour’ places for either government funded or privately paid families. Please contact the academy office for an information pack if you know any families with a 3 year-old who can benefit from 30 (or 15) hour nursery provision.

We also welcome Mrs Lloyd who will be supporting learning in our Reception class this term.

Used stamps

Thank you to Rosie and Jonah Byrne for creating a collection bin for used stamps. Please place any used stamps in the bin which is in the main foyer. The charity CLIC SARGENT will be able to generate funds from the stamps we collect so please help if you can.

School closure in the Event of Adverse Weather

As in December, our academy will operate normally wherever possible and will only resort to closure or early closure in exceptional circumstances. We will communicate any closures via text message to all parents and on our website.

The Director of Education and Enterprise may however decide in the interests of public safety that all schools in the Local Authority must close. This will only happen if actual or forecast weather conditions are very severe. In certain circumstances even if there is no general closure a Principal/Head Teacher may decide in the light of local circumstances to close the school and share this information as soon as possible.

Procedures for school closure

We will contact parents via the text messaging service to inform you as to whether the academy will be closed. It is therefore very important that we hold correct contact information. I am aware that some parents may have changed their mobile numbers since Christmas. Please ensure that you notify the academy office of any change of contact number and Mrs Bowen will amend your child’s records.

Parents may wish to check for any warning messages related to school closures and these will appear on the Wolverhampton Education area of: www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/home and often on the ‘Wolverhampton Today’ Facebook Pages. Local radio stations will also be transmitting news of school closures as the information is made known to them by officers from the Local Authority.

Pupil Absence and Late Arrival at School

St Michael’s Academy attendance target for this year is 96.5%. Each week, classes are rewarded with extra 5, 10, 15 minutes break for being the highest attenders. This is to encourage children to come to school every day. Children with 80% attendance are missing on average 1 day per week which can have a massive impact on their progress.

If your child is unable to attend school due to illness, please telephone the academy from 8.15am on the first day of your child’s absence, giving the reason for absence. On your child’s return, please send a note outlining the reason for absence. Our MAC Attendance officer is Ms S Murden who works in our academy office every Thursday to monitor absence and hold meetings with myself, parents and the Local Authority.

May I also ask parents to ensure that your child/children arrive at school between 8.45 and 8.55 am. The school bell is rung at 8.55am to signal the start of the school day. Regularly arriving late is both disruptive to the class and to your child/children as they are playing catch up from the start of the day.

On the occasions when for good reasons you do arrive after the bell is rung, please bring the children to the main academy entrance and ensure that a parent or guardian signs them in. The names of the children arriving late are recorded in the late book each day, and parents should be aware that it is likely that the Educational Welfare Officer may contact families where pupils persistently arrive late.

Pupils are not permitted to arrive before 8.45am and wait unsupervised. This is not safe as there is no supervision at this point.

It should also be noted that on occasions pupils have been left in the academy at the close of the school day. Please ensure you collect your child/children at 3:15 which is when the day’s lessons have ended. When parents arrive late on a number of occasions, again the Educational Welfare Officer will be contacted and may become involved in monitoring the pattern of late departures from school. Pupils who are not collected on time are placed in our After School care Club which is subject to a charge of £6.

Parent Pay

We are now a cash-free academy which means payments for meals, trips, clubs, milk etc can only be made using Parent Pay www.parentpay.com

ParentPay offers you the freedom to make secure payments online using your credit or debit card whenever and wherever you like - safe in the knowledge that the technology used is of the highest internet security available.

All parents have been issued with a unique ParentPay username and password; you will be prompted to change these, and to keep them safe and secure. If you have more than one child at our academy, or children at other ParentPay schools, you can create a single account login for all your children.

Making a payment is straightforward and ParentPay holds a payment history for you to view at a later date; no card details are stored in any part of the academy system. Once you have activated your account you can make online payments for after school clubs, dinners, milk, trips etc straight away. For anyone having difficulty please contact our academy office as Mrs Bowen can also take secure card payments while you wait.

Breakfast and After School Care Club

Breakfast and After School Care Club is held in the ‘Moon’ room, next to Nursery. Please use the Nursery gate to bring and collect children to these services.

Breakfast & After School Club telephone number: 07486279943

Breakfast Club
Mon – Fri 7.30am – 8.45am
THE LAST ADMISSION TO BREAKFAST CLUB IS 8.30am each day.
1 child = £5 per morning
2 siblings = £8 per morning / After School Care Club
Mon – Fri 3:15pm – 5:15pm
1 child = £6
2 siblings = £10

Please send booking forms (available from the main office and Moon Room) and pay via parent pay for breakfast and after school club at the start of each week / month. Arrears are not permitted. Please ensure that, if your child is booked to attend either club and no longer needs that place due to a one-off change, you let the team know so that staffing and pupil ratios can be calculated correctly. Fees for non-attendance of pre-booked sessions will still apply unless in exceptional circumstances.

Parking

Please may I remind all parents not to park in Telford Gardens.

Please use the ample parking nearby and walk the final part of the journey to prevent our local residents becoming upset when their driveways and roads are blocked. Families arriving late are also parking outside of our academy so that children can run in unattended while parents watch from the car. This is unsafe for your children but also unsafe for other children and families who may be crossing the driveway or cul-de-sac. Children can enter the main door from 8.45am and are late once the 8.55 bell is rung, please leave enough time each morning to ensure children arrive safely.

Uniform

The following information is taken from our prospectus and school website. Please ensure children are sent to school in correct uniform and footwear each day. Pupils are not allowed to wear jewellery, make up, nail varnish, boots, heels or hoodies in school.

BOYS – Winter / GIRLS – Winter
Grey trousers
White/grey shirt and socks
Scarlet V-necked long sleeved pullover
Scarlet and yellow striped tie
Black shoes.
/ Grey skirt, pinafore or formal full length school trousers
White blouse or shirt
Scarlet V-necked pullover or cardigan
Scarlet and yellow striped tie
Grey or white socks, or red, grey, white or black tights.
Black shoes.

Parents’ Evenings

·  13th March 3.30 – 5.00 pm (Nursery only)

·  14th March 5.00 – 8.00 pm (Nursery – Y6)

·  15th March 3.30 -5.30 pm (Reception – Y6)

We will be using the free, text initiated, online booking system called ‘Teachers 2 Parents’ to book appointments for parents’ evenings.

All teachers will be based in the hall like last term, where you will be able to speak to your child’s teacher on a one-to-one basis. Your child’s books will be available for you to look at prior to speaking with the class teacher (please arrive 10 minutes early to look at your child’s books before your appointment time then bring your child’s books to the discussion with their class teacher). Parents who arrive late for their appointment time will have less than 10 minutes with the class teacher to prevent lengthy delays for others.

Parents are welcome to look at their own children’s books in detail but are reminded not to open other pupils’ books or allow any family members to handle other children’s books please.

How do I book a slot with my child’s teacher?

You will receive a text message on or around 16th February which contains a web link to choose a 10 minute appointment.

The system will only allow you to book an available slot and depending on how quickly you access the site, you may find some of the preferred slots have already been selected by other parents. The system is programmed to prevent parents of siblings being given conflicting slots. Teachers will automatically receive emails when slots are allocated.

It is very important that we have your current mobile phone number. If you have recently changed number, please inform the office in writing as soon as possible.

What if I cannot access the internet?

Online, the system is very user friendly, as many of you have found previously. If you need help, please telephone the academy office once you have received a text message containing a web link and our office administrators will be able to select a time slot for you while you are on the telephone.

Please may we point out that although there is an option to add a comment at the final booking stage, we ask parents NOT to use this function as teaching staff will not always be able to view any comments If you have any issues, please contact the academy office directly rather than entering any details in the comment box. Thank you.

We are looking forward to another super term at St Michael’s and thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely

Mrs S McHale

Principal

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