St. Stephen’s Catholic Primary School and
Nursery, a Voluntary Academy
26th
Newsletter
September 2016
What a great start to the new year with overall attendance for the first week of 98.7%.
Congratulations to Airedale, Wharfedale and Wensleydale who all achieved 100% attendance.
Welcome back!
I am pleased to see everyone back in school looking
refreshed and ready for an exciting new year. Our
new children seem to have settled in well and have
already made new friends. We have lots of exciting
activities planned for this term and beyond and we
will keep you up to date about those. In particular,
our Philosophy 4 children programme will be
launched and classes are working on local topics
involving art and history. Look out for displays of
great art work around school.
We have used mixed age classes in key stage 2 as a
platform to “name” each class; we have taken up the
idea of Skipton as “Gateway to the Dales” and classes
have been named as follows:
Nursery is Fossdale
Reception is Ribblesdale
Year 1 is Malhamdale
Year 2 is Airedale
Year 3 is Wharfedale
Year 4/5 is Nidderdale
Year 5/6 is Wensleydale
Newsletters will continue to be sent fortnightly and
we will again be using letters, texts and e mails for
most communication. It is important that your
contact details are up to date.
Thank you for your continued support and do not
hesitate to contact school if you need any further
information.
Tony Pye
Headteacher
Snacks
The school provide fruit as a snack. If you wish to
provide a snack for your child yourself could you
please ensure that it is a healthy snack and not crisps,
sweets or chocolate.
Y6 Residential November ‘16
Please pay for this trip by the end of this half
term. Payments can be made by instalments on
Parentpay. If you need any help with Parentpay
or are having difficulty with the payments please
contact the School and we will do our best to
help.
FOSS
FOSS had a fantastic year last year raising loads of
money to support the school with reading schemes,
theatre visits and cinema trips. They are already
planning for this year so please support these
enjoyable events .
AGM – Thursday 29th September 7.30pm
Bingo – Saturday 1st October 1.30pm for a 2pm start
Race Night – Friday 14th October with the Parish
Malhamdale
Malhamdale are already hard at work learning to
count up to 20 objects, comparing numbers and
thinking about which was bigger and which was
smaller.
Roald Dahl Day
Open Days
Tuesday would have been Roald Dahl’s 100 birthday
and each class celebrated in a different way.
Fossdale (Nursery) made whizz popper drinks and
snozcumbers from the BFG.
We will be holding Open Days for the school and
nursery for prospective parents during the term. If you
know of any parents looking for Reception places for
Sept 16 please let them know.
Weds 19th Oct – 9.30am to 11.30am
Thurs 10th Nov – 1.15pm to 2.45pm
Mon 21st Nov – 9.30am to 11.30am
St. Stephen’s goes cashless
St. Stephen’s is now a cashless school! All payments
for swimming, trips, school meals, wrap around care
and nursery should be made through Parentpay or by
vouchers. If you require any assistance please ask at
the office.
Please support the school by using Parentpay as it
reduces the amount of cash received in school.
Children in Wharfedale (Yr 3) who are having school
meals need to pay for these through Parentpay unless
they are eligible for Free School Meals.
Could this be you?
Could you be entitled to assistance with Free School
Meals and Residential Visits?
In addition to the Universal Free School Meals for KS1
pupils, free school meals and funding for residential
visits are available to children whose parents receive
certain benefits.
For more information please either contact the
school office; the Welfare Team at NYCC on 01609
533405 or check out this website:
http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/article/25811
If your child is in KS1 and already receives the
Universal Free School Meals but you are in receipt of
benefits we would also ask you to complete an
application form, as this also triggers additional
funding for the school which is used to help increase
children’s levels of attainment.
Planners
We hope that you are finding the planners useful for
home to school communication. We request a
voluntary contribution to help to pay for these. This
can be made through Parentpay.
Dates for your diary
September
Tuesday 20th Nidderdale Mass in Church 9.15am
Monday 26th – Friday 30th Sept – Book Fair
Wednesday 28th – Nidderdale trip to Pateley Bridge and
Macmillan Coffee Morning.
Thursday 29th – Wensleydale trip to Settle and FOSS AGM
7.30pm to 8.30pm School Hall.
October
Saturday 1st – Bingo afternoon 1.30pm for a 2pm start
Tuesday 4th – Mass in church 9.15am
Macmillan Coffee Morning
We are holding a coffee morning in school to raise
money to support Macmillan Coffee Morning on
Wednesday 28th September.
The school staff will also be holding a bake off to
determine the Star Baker of 2016.
Mrs Turvill and Mrs Ellis would like to ask Foundation
parents for donations of cakes for the coffee
morning. Please bring these to school on Tuesday 27th
September or first thing on Wednesday.
Friday 14th – FOSS / Parish Race Night – School Hall
Tuesday 18th – Harvest Mass in church
Wednesday 19th Open Morning for prospective parents
9.30am to 11.30am
Thursday 20th Close for half term
Friday 21st - Inset day
Monday 31st Reopen after half term
November
Wednesday 9th – School photos
Thursday 10th – Open afternoon for prospective parents
1.15pm to 2.45pm
Monday 14th – Image Musical Theatre present ‘The Jungle
Book’
Monday 21st – Open Morning for prospective parents
9.30am to 11.30am
Monday 28th – Friday 2nd Dec – Y6 Residential to East
Barnby
December
Friday 16th – close for Christmas holiday
Mass Times at St. Stephen’s church
Saturday 5.00pm
Sunday 9.30am
Sunday 6.00pm
The first Sunday in every month is Family Mass at St.
Stephen’s church. Please come along and join us for
Mass.
Cheerleading
Sportscool are holding an after school course in
Cheerleading for KS1 on Wednesdays and KS2 on
Thursdays. Please see the letter that has been sent
home if you would like your child to participate.