News and Views
Visit this page for news, information, ideas, celebrations of success and opportunities to support our Christian community.
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PFC Meeting
Fri 25 Mar 2022It was wonderful to gather together at the PFC on 15th March, to hear from Heads of School on the continuing application of God’s Big Story in the curriculum, and to worship and pray together. It was also very encouraging to hear about the playground improvements that will take place over Easter, and the Reception class improvements planned to take place before the start of the next academic year. We also appreciated seeing displays on online safety, Relationship and Sex Education (RSE), some some very creative textiles and design and technology displays from Middle School, and the colourful birthday assembly art also provided a great backdrop for us to enjoy. We wanted to say a big thank you to parents who made a real effort to be there and especially those who arranged a babysitter so they could both come. Of course we do appreciate that Covid and illness are real factors affecting attendance at PFC meetings at this time.
The key information provided, for those that were not able to join us, is as follows:
Diversity Group - Abraham Waigi introduced himself as one of our governors with responsibility for communications and together with Claire his wife, for staff welfare. He explained how he has been working with us to look at how diversity works in relation to representation in our school curriculum and especially how aspects of this concept impact our pupils, and to listen to their thoughts and feelings on racism. Abraham explained how he has found this very rewarding himself and worthwhile for the development of the school.
Fees update for September 2022 - school fees will be updated on the school website during the week commencing 21st March. Fees will increase by 6.6% next year in line with inflation and increases in the National Living Wage.
Giving to the school - we are enormously grateful to God and to givers for the donations we receive, much of which allows us to make improvements to the building and equipment. The tools available to give to the work of CFS were flagged again at PFC - please do have a look. We love getting money from online retailers for no extra cost to our community! Please do also continue to share the Birthday JustGiving campaign with contacts - you never know who might be happy to support your children’s thriving! We also asked at the PFC that those who may be in a position to give a bit more each month over and above fees to please consider this way of regularly giving. Additional monthly payments can be GiftAided to increase their value to the school by 25%, and for some people can reduce tax liability.
Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) Forum - We heard on the evening that this area of curriculum has now become a foundational subject right across the school as required by the Department for Education statutory guidance and we would like to invite all parents from Reception to year 11 to come to a forum to see exactly what lessons look like across our curriculum. The dates for these forums are:
- Monday 23rd May 2.00 - 3.30pm; or
- Tuesday 24th May 7.30 - 9.00pm.
We would encourage as many parents as possible to come to either of these sessions.We trust that by working together in this area, our children will continue to be well supported as they mature from childhood into young adulthood and beyond in an ever-changing world.
Donations for Ukraine - Thank you for your donations which came to £120.00. We will keep you informed of other ways that that we would like to support the victims of this crisis over the next weeks and months. -
Exam invigilation
Wed 23 Mar 2022This year we are planning for a very busy exam season and are looking for up to 10 parents who can give at least two sessions, but ideally more to help us to invigilate GCSE exams, between the 17th May and 23rd of June. If you can be available, please do seriously consider helping us this year as we need to run two separate exam rooms for most exams and so you can still help even if you are parents of year 11 students.
You will need to have a school DBS organised in time, so we would be grateful if you could contact me as soon as possible on rj@cfschool.org.uk. I will be running a specific invigilator training session (which is mandatory even if you have done invigilation with us before) on Wednesday 27th April or Friday 29th April in the morning, or if you can't make these please let me know of any times early next term that you could be available.
We would be most grateful to hear from as many parents as possible. -
Year 8 Textiles
Wed 16 Mar 2022Years 5, 7 and 8 have been working very hard on their textiles projects this term, and all their recent work was on display at the PFC on 15th March. A few examples are shown below. Well done to all the pupils involved, and thanks to Mrs Castellon for all her work supporting the pupils with these projects.
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Covid update and PFC
Sun 13 Mar 2022PFC Tuesday 15th March 7.30pm
This is our first in-person meeting for a couple of years and is for all parents. Please make every effort to come, hear about developments in school, pray and have fellowship. There will be some display stands for you to visit, including one about how our Christ-centred approach is worked out in the online safety curriculum and another that will give you an insight into our intentions for a Christ-centred D&T curriculum. There will also be a chance to hear more about our revised Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum and view some learning materials that we are using.
Covid absencesThis is a change to our procedures before half-term.
If your child is unwell with any cold like symptoms and especially a temperature, please do a lateral flow test (LFT). If positive please also arrange a PCR. Day one is considered to be the day after a positive LFT and pupils should stay home for five days. If the child then tests negative on day five and again on day six, they can come into school on day six. The key is that there should be two negative LFTs in two days. The maximum days for isolation is 10 days. Siblings can continue to come to school so long as they do an LFT every day. This is a change to the previous procedure. We can provide LFT packs to families in these circumstances.