St James E-News

15th July 2021

Welcome to the St James Primary School's E-News, a weekly roundup of the latest goings on at the school.

Latest Headteachers Blog

Dear Parents,

As this is the last blog of the year, I'd like to thank everyone for all your support over the last 12 months and more. Our collective efforts have meant that the school has remained open, and the children have been able to learn in school as much as possible. However, with many schools locally experiencing a rise in positive cases, and classes having to isolate, we are keeping our fingers crossed for a successful end of term. Please keep your child at home if they are not well and book a PCR test as soon as possible if your child displays Covid symptoms.

A second big thank you to parents who have supported the school across the year in many different ways. . Thank you to the PTA committee who have been very creative in finding ways to raise money throughout the pandemic, and to Gemma and Danielle, who run the second-hand uniform shop. I'd also like to thank Terry Stoodley who raised £406 for us directly by doing a run of 220 miles along King Alfred’s Way, the Godwin and Parson families who have, once again, trimmed the willow hedge for us around the allotment, and to the Mustill family who have advised us on how to create our secret garden next to the trim trail.

A third big thank you to the Governors, who have supported the Senior Leadership Team when making some difficult decisions throughout the pandemic. They have also been very proactive in exploring different ways of further supporting and developing the school. As volunteers with their own full-time jobs, the Governors put in a lot of extra work on behalf of the school.

Finally, I'd like to thank the staff for all their incredible efforts over the last year or so. When I look around the staffroom at the moment, everyone is exhausted, but also incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a team, not only in terms of Covid, but also in continuing improvements across the school. I will be sending out an end of year letter to celebrate what has been done.

I hope you all manage to have a happy, restful weekend and the good news is the sun is forecast to be shining!

Best wishes for a lovely weekend,

Valerie Elliott

School Notices

Sports Day Friday 16th July - please send your children to school in their house tee-shirts and PE shorts tomorrow.
SW Surrey Families Magazine - a publication filled with ideas and news of activities for families during July and August. Please click on the picture to see more.
Swimming Kit - please remember to ensure that your child has their kit in school every day until the end of term in case they get a last minute opportunity to swim.

Covid-19 Information

Please remember; if your child or a member of your family have Covid-19 symptoms please do not send your child to school - Please immediately arrange a test for the symptomatic member of your family and inform the school office as soon as possible. Your child and all members of your household will need to self-isolate at least until you receive the test result.
NEW COVID-19 INFORMATION FROM PHE - In response to the transmission of variants of concern, Public Health England (PHE) South East, is advising all close contacts of COVID-19 cases to get a COVID-19 PCR test (ideally 5 days after exposure or day five of isolation) whether or not they have symptoms of coronavirus COVID-19
Weekend Results: It is very important that you continue to notify us of Covid-19 test results still over the weekend by using the below email address which is monitored out of school hours.
results@st-james-elstead.surrey.sch.uk

A negative result will require a confirmation from the school before your child and siblings can return to school. Please do not send your child back to school until we have been in touch with you.