Dear Parents and Carers,
We started the week off with our first Mass of the academic year on Monday. A big thank you to Year 6, Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Hasler for their hard work in preparing for the liturgy. Year 6 had prepared a beautiful song to sing as we gathered for Mass but unfortunately, as the internet was down, we couldn’t access the music. We will make sure Year 6 can share this with us soon, as the practice I saw was beautiful and very moving!
It has been wonderful to see the Year 6 children take on their leadership roles with pride, particularly the enthusiasm of the Infant Helpers on the playground at lunchtimes. The younger children’s face light up when they see “the big children” coming to play with them too. This really is Sunday’s Gospel in action – Year 6 give up their playtime to look after the younger children, rather than seeing their own games as being more important, they volunteer to serve others.
Mark’s Gospel on Sunday taught us a very important lesson: the true measure of greatness is not in power, status, or wealth, but in humility and service to others. In our busy lives, it is easy to be tempted to measure ourselves by what we have or what we have achieved – rather than on the positive impact we have on the lives of others. Jesus shows us that the real greatness lies in serving others, especially the least among us, which is central to Catholic Social Teaching.
An opportunity to serve others would be to get involved with The Friends. This morning the Friends held their AGM meeting and there was a very small group of parents and me in attendance. Whilst everyone understands that people’s lives are busy, the Friends provide a wonderful opportunity to serve others in the community and it has a benefit to all of the children. As I am sure you are aware, budgets in schools are tight and only cover the essentials. The funding the Friends raise for the school enables us to provide the “extras” for the children. The other important role of the Friends is to build a sense of community among the families through social events. The Friends are looking for new volunteers to help with events - many hands make light work! Please do complete this form to offer your service. If you could respond by Monday 7th October that will enable The Friends to move forward with confirming events for the year! If your employer can make a donation, sponsor an event or gift match donations, please also let us know via the form.
God bless,
Mrs. Amy O’Donovan
Head of School
Year 6 Parents
Although your children are only a few weeks into year 6, it is time to apply for secondary school places! The Surrey deadline for Secondary School applications is the 31st October. Do make sure you have applied in time. Click here to go to Surrey’s Secondary School application page.
Online Safety
The school is looking to set up an Instagram account to be able to easily share with you learning and events taking place in school. Whilst we are planning this, it seems appropriate to share this week’s Wake Up Wednesday from National Online Safety with you as it focuses on Instagram.
We will of course seek your consent for photographs of your children to be put on Instagram and we will ensure the necessary privacy and security settings are in place before the account is up and running.
Your support
One of the things we are working on in school is table manners and using cutlery correctly. It would be so helpful if you could practice this at home too, to help the children have more independence at mealtimes. In school we way “Stab your food with your fork and cut with your knife”.
Crossing on Ewhurst Road
Thank you to the parents from the school community who lobbied and petitioned for the pedestrian crossing on Ewhurst Road. This ensures that our community has a safe way of crossing, what can be, a very busy road. We can all help to keep our local area safe by ensuring as a school community we are not the ones creating the dangers – a number of parents on Friday spoke to me on the gate about their concerns about cars parking on the double yellow lines and causing traffic to back up.
Toddler Group
Anyone with pre-school children is very welcome to join the toddler group in the Parish Room after school drop off on Friday mornings from 8.45 - 10.30am.
Reception 2025
We have just settled our Reception intake, but it is already time to think about 2025’s new intake! If your child is due to start school in September 2025 and you would like to find out more about St. Cuthbert Mayne Catholic Primary School, we will be running tours of the school so that you can see us in action and have the opportunity to meet with Mrs. O’Donovan, Head of School on the following dates:
Numbers will be limited to 6 families each week to ensure that the children in classrooms are not overwhelmed. To book a place, please complete this form.
