Overton St Helen's Primary School family news: Issue 1
Welcome Back!
Welcome back one and all to the start of a new school year - and what a fantastic start it has been. It was an absolute pleasure to see our pupils return on Wednesday, all looking smart in fresh uniform, ready to dive into new learning and get stuck into the routines of the class. When we all make such a positive start, it makes me excited to see what we will all achieve this year.
This morning in worship we were joined by many parents - thanks for joining us! Remember, all parents are welcome to attend Friday celebration worship which is almost always at the early time of 8.45am.
This morning we announced our new Y6 House Captains who will proudly be leading their houses over the coming year. Emma and Garth are new House Captains for Clarke House (green), Archie and Freya are House Captains of Benson House (blue), Dylan and Georgia are House Captains for Milligan House (red) and Ava and Ted are House Captains for Smith House (yellow). I am confident that they will all be a great support for the rest of their team mates throughout the school.
High School Open Evenings
Many dates have now been communicated to us regarding our local high school open evenings. I have included them in the dates section of the newsletter. Just a reminder that Y5 pupils are invited to attend open evenings, as well as Y6 pupils - all you need to do is turn up. If you don't see a date for a particular high school you are interested in, check out their own websites as the information is usually on there somewhere.
Request from Maple Class
It has been lovely to welcome our new Reception children into school this week. They have been coming in for a morning or afternoon only so far, but they have all made a fabulous start!
Mrs Marsland has put out a request for any unwanted Forest School waterproofs, black leggings or joggers and small socks, that some of our older pupils may have grown out of. It is always very handy to have a stock of spares for whenever they may be needed. Please send any items her way if you have anything to spare - thank you.
PE Kit Days
In the welcome letter that came home on Wednesday this week, we informed parents of which days each class would be having PE lessons and therefore, which days pupils would need to come in their PE Kit. Here is a reminder - pupils will need to wear their PE kits on each particular day, from the start of next week.
Holly Class - Monday and Tuesday
Elm Class - Wednesday and Thursday
Willow Class - Tuesday and Friday
Beech Class - Thursday and swimming kit on Fridays
Oak Class - Wednesday and Thursday
Any confusion, just pop in to see your child's class teacher.
Team Building Sessions
In addition to PE lessons, next week Scott Wilcock (PE coach) is coming in to school to lead a one off Team Building session with all our three KS2 classes. On these days, children will need to wear PE kit in addition to their PE lesson days. If Scott's session falls on a PE day for your class, then there is no need to do anything different. Please see below when the sessions are for each class:
Willow class - Tuesday 9th Sep
Beech Class - Wednesday 10th Sep
Oak Class - Friday 12th Sep
Meet the Teacher Evening
Next Wednesday will be our annual Meet the Teacher evening. All parents are welcome to come and get to know the new teachers and classrooms and get details of the class routines and what is needed, when. It is a great opportunity to hear things straight from the horse's mouth so please put the date in your diary.
The evening will begin at 6pm with a short welcome from myself, before parents will move in to classrooms to hear from the class teachers, for about 15 minutes. Each teacher will repeat their talk twice so that any parents who have two children in school can go to hear two talks over the course of the evening. If you can manage it, I would suggest children don't attend with you, as this is an information evening for parents specifically, but if this makes the difference between you being able or not able to be here, then of course, they are welcome too.
OSFA AGM
OSFA will be holding their annual AGM on Thursday 2nd October at 1.15pm. All parents are invited to join us for the meeting where the outgoing committee will report on the amazing achievements of the previous year and then new committee members will be appointed. We are on the look out for some new members this year so please consider coming along. Please don't be put off by the official sound of a 'committee' - it's simply a bunch of fantastic people all working together to organise loads of fun stuff for our kids.
We all remember the amazing Colour Dash that rounded off the OSFA year so perfectly this summer. If you enjoyed that, then please consider giving back and coming on board.
Collection for Motor Neurone Disease Association
You may notice a collection bucket for the Motor Neurone Disease Association appearing in our entrance porch next week. At the end of the month, a group of people from Overton, including some of our past and present school parents and members of staff (Mrs Birkett and Mrs Easthope) will be completing a 25mile charity walk for MNDA, on behalf of a member of the village community, one of our past parents who has developed the disease. If this strikes a chord with you, then consider popping in to drop a small something into the bucket in aid of this very worthy cause. Thank you.
Stars of the Week
I was thrilled to give out our first Star of the Week awards for the new school year this morning. Well done to Hallie in Holly Class, Holly in Elm, Jamie in Willow Class, Olivia in Beech and Charlie in Oak who were Stars of the Week for showing fantastic behaviours for learning, being ready, organised, helpful and eager to get going for the start of term. Well done to them and to all our pupils for a brilliant first week back.
Dates for the Diary
Mon 8th Sep: School Council elections will take place this week with announcements on Friday morning
Tues 9th Sep: Team Building session for WILLOW class
Wed 10th Sep: Team Building session for BEECH class
Wed 10th Sep: Meet the Teacher Evening 6-7pm
Fri 12th Sep: Team Building session for OAK class
Tues 16th Sep: Bay Leadership Academy Open Evening 6pm - 8.30pm
Thurs 18th Sep: Morecambe Bay Academy Open Evening 5pm - 8pm
Thurs 18th Sep & Wed 24th Sep: Dallam High School Open Evening 5pm - 7pm
Fri 19th Sep: Swimming sessions begin for BEECH Class
Wed 24th Sep: Our Ladies Academy Open Evening 5pm - 7pm
Thurs 25th Sep: School 'Open Morning' for any potential new starters for 2026/27 - 10am - 11.30am
Fri 26th Sep: School Harvest Festival - led by Worship Council 8.45am
Fri 26th Sep: Macmillan Coffee Afternoon - all welcome from 1.15pm
Thurs 2nd Oct: OSFA Annual General Meeting in school at 1.15pm
Wed 22nd Oct: 'Morecambe Bay Day'
Fri 24th Oct: School closes for half term break
Tues 4th Nov: School reopens for second Autumn half term
