Dear Parents and Carers,   Updated Information for Food Allergies We have recently reviewed and updated our ‘School Meals, Packed Lunch and Food Allergy’ policy at St Cuthbert’s. As part of this review and because we have children on roll at St Cuthbert’s who cannot eat nor come into contact with nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils, we would like to clarify the following information with all of our parents and carers: No foods (cakes, biscuits, lollies etc) are allowed into school in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 that contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. These nuts and oils are present in most readily available cakes and biscuits. If you do wish to share something to celebrate your child’s birthday in school, please ensure that these are ‘Haribo’ sweets.  Packed lunches – the hall is a shared space with EYs, KS1 and KS2 therefore all foods, including packed lunches must not contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. To support our own policy, school will also share only ‘Haribo’ sweets at key celebratory events such as Christmas and Easter. We wanted to clarify this information with you as there have been a number of birthday items coming into school which contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause but we must prioritise the health and safety of our children first. Thank you for your understanding and support regarding this important information. Should you wish to discuss any of the information shared, please contact the school office to make an appointment. Best Wishes, Mrs Anne Bullerwell Executive Headteacher

Year 5 and 6 had a great time with their parents decorating crosses as part of our Year of Hope activities. A huge thank you to all the parents that were able to attend our Jubilee Year craft morning to decorate crosses as part of our Year of Hope activities in Year 1 and Year 2

Year 5 and 6 were pilgrims of Hope during our Sponsored walk on Holy Island this week! Thank you to everyone that has sponsored all of the classes that have completed their pilgrimage so far! Year 1 and 2 made the pilgrimage to our local church- St Cuthbert's Catholic Church. We loved looking around our church.

Date Time Event Monday 3rd March 8:30am School Re-opens after Half-Term Tuesday 4th March 9:00am Year 1 and Year 2 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Wednesday 5th March 9:00am Year 3 and Year 4 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Thursday 6th March 9:00am Year 5 and Year 6 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Friday 7th March 9:00am Sibling Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Tuesday 11th March 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Wednesday 12th March 9:00am Y4 Maths Workshop Tuesday 18th March 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Wednesday 19th March All Day Y5/6 Trip to Holy Island Thursday 20th March 11:00am Whole School Mass in Church (parents/carers invited) Friday 21st March All Day St Cuthbert’s Book Day Tuesday 25th March All Day Reception trip to Newcastle Castle Wednesday 26th March 9:00am Y5 Maths Workshop   AM Y4 Stations of the Cross at the Cathedral Friday 4th April 9:00am Reception Palm Sunday Assembly (parents/carers invited) Monday 7th April 9:00am Early Years & KS1 Sibling Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Tuesday 8th April 9:00am KS1 Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Wednesday 9th April All Day Nursery & Reception Easter Celebration Day – Children to wear White or Yellow 9:00am Nursery & Reception Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Thursday 10th April All Day Easter Disco Friday 11th April 3:15pm School Closes for Easter Holidays

We are delighted to share our latest Ofsted Report below. 'Pupils thrive in an environment that is caring, supportive and highly inclusive. The school is ambitious for pupils and ensures that they are well prepared for each step in their education journey. This is reflected in their achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, along with a range of other subjects.' OFSTED, 2025 https://www.stcuthbertsk.org/ofsted

Dear Parents and Carers of St Cuthbert’s,   Please check the Dates for your Diary for more information re: the rest of this term so that you don’t miss out on anything.     Workshops of Hope Thank you to all of our families who were able to attend our Workshops of Hope. In addition to the children and families, all of the staff have completed a cross too and together we have produced some beautiful designs and personal images of what hope means to each of us as either individuals or as families. We will be combining these crosses into a whole school cross which will be completely unique to our school.   St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Sale – Save the Date! As you know, on Friday 21 March, we have our St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Sale. This is a family event where you can browse the books we have on sale with your child/children, choose a book(s) at your leisure and then get yourself some light refreshments and enjoy your new purchases alongside your child.   Please continue to send your book donations into school and do your utmost to attend the book sale on the day. This is a lovely opportunity for you to spend some time, if you’re able, with your child in school.   As always, children are invited to dress as characters from their favourite books or come into school in their pyjamas as if ready for a bedtime story. This can include face paints but please ensure these are washable and removed by return to school on Monday 24 March. Please do not feel under pressure to buy any expensive costumes for your child and please join us in dressing up if you fancy! More information to follow re: arrangements for the day.   Climate Change and Walk to School Week, week beginning: 31 March As part of our curriculum work on climate change and the impact this can have on the environment, we have been learning all about the little differences we can make in our everyday lives to contribute positively to the prevention of the negative impact of climate change.   One of the messages we will be sharing with the children is the impact of our ‘carbon footprint’ and how this can affect changes in climate. As part of raising awareness of this with the children, we will be hosting a ‘Walk to School Week’ and will be encouraging all of the children to walk to school during the week beginning 31 March.   We fully appreciate that some of our children live quite a distance away from school and families do need to use cars to get to St Cuthbert’s. We would politely ask those families to park a few streets away from the school gates so that their child has the opportunity to fully take part in the week.   We will be doing a ‘Travel to School’ survey each day of this week and every child who has managed to walk all or at least part way to school will be getting a certificate of achievement for that week for trying to reduce their own carbon footprint.   Please do your utmost to support your child’s participation in our Walk to School Week. Thank you.   New Leave of Absence Form Trial We are introducing a new Leave of Absence Form for parents and carers to complete should they request to take their child out of school during term time. We have included the codes school need to use on our school registers which provides the local authority with the reason why a child is not in school. We hope this clarifies school absence and attendance monitoring procedures further for our parents and carers. We would appreciate any feedback you can provide on the new form. Please share this with the school office. Thank you.   Easter Craft Sessions for Early Years and Key Stage 1 We will be hosting our Easter Craft Sessions in school for our parents and carers to attend alongside their child in Early Years and KS1. If you have more than one child in Early Years / KS1 (Years 1&2) we have added a sibling session that you can attend instead.   The sessions for parents/carers to join their children are as follows:   Monday 7 April 9.00am Sibling Session for N/R/Y1 and Y2 parents/carers welcome Tuesday 8 April 9.00am Year 1 and Year 2 parents/carers welcome Wednesday 9 April 9.00am Nursery and Reception parents/carers welcome   Punctuality Our school day begins at 8.45am prompt. We have a number of children who are consistently late and who are missing the first 10-15minutes, and in some cases even longer, of their learning in school. We have collated some seriously concerning data re: the number of lates and minutes of learning missed for some of our children. We will be reaching out to parents and carers directly over the next couple of weeks to see how school can best support them in helping their child to arrive in school on time to begin their day properly alongside their friends and peers.   If you wish to discuss any item in this letter or anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.   Best wishes,   Mrs Anne Bullerwell Executive Headteacher

March 2025 March marks the beginning of Lent, a time in the Church that focuses on prayer, fasting and almsgiving (charitable giving). This year also brings the added invitation to explore and grow our friendship with God through the celebrations of the Year of Jubilee .   The season brings an exciting opportunity to slow down, put the most important things first and experience the joy that God offers each one of us.   This newsletter shares some of the content children will experience in school throughout March, and suggests ways for you to engage with them about it. We hope it is a useful resource for your family prayer time.    Follow the link for our full Newsletter: March 2025

Dear Parents and Carers of St Cuthbert’s,   It’s been a very busy and exciting start to the new year at St Cuthbert’s with loads going on in school.   Please see the Dates for your Diary for more information re: the rest of this term so that you don’t miss out on anything.     The Year of Jubilee 2025 at St Cuthbert’s Please read our information letter on our school website re: The Year of Jubilee 2025 which explains this very important celebratory event as part of our Catholic Faith and how we will be marking this occasion across the whole year at St Cuthbert’s.   Parent and Carer Workshops of Hope – Save the Dates! As part of our Year of Jubilee celebrations, we will be hosting a cross decorating workshop in school for our parents and carers to attend alongside their child. The cross is a symbol of hope, sacrifice and love. We have bought a small wooden cross for each child from Year 1 to Year 6 to decorate with any words, symbols or pictures which they feel best represent hope to them. The crosses have a front and back to them and are easily decorated with pencils and felt tips.   We will be sending a sheet home with two blank crosses on over the half term so that children can work at home on their designs with their families, prior to the parent/carer workshop taking place in school. If parents/carers can’t attend the workshops, children will still get to decorate their own cross to keep.   The workshops for parents/carers to join their children are as follows:   Tuesday 4th March 9.00am Year 1 and Year 2 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Wednesday 5th March 9.00am Year 3 and Year 4 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Thursday 6th March 9.00am Year 5 and Year 6 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome   Year 5 and Year 6 Lindisfarne Visit and Sponsored Walk Another part of our Year of Jubilee celebrations is a pilgrimage visit to the beautiful island of Lindisfarne where we will be taking the Year 5 and Year 6 children. There is no cost for the children for this visit but we would ask that any children who normally pay for a school lunch, bring a packed lunch on that day. Any children entitled to a Free School Meal will, of course, have a lunch provided for them.   As the walk is a sponsored event, we will be providing the Year 5 and Year 6 children with sponsor forms to share with their families so that we can work together as a community and raise some much-needed funds for CAFOD. As you know, CAFOD are an international development charity who reach out to people all over the world who are living in poverty with practical help, whatever their religion or culture. CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and part of Caritas International.   Through our charitable works and fundraising events, the community of St Cuthbert’s can make a huge contribution to the work of CAFOD.   Please encourage sponsorship of the children on their pilgrimage wherever possible.   Reading Success at St Cuthbert’s Our Year 6 class of 2024 achieved 100% at the Expected Standard in Reading in their end of KS2 SATs. This in itself is a fantastic achievement and is the result of much hard work, dedication and enthusiasm from teachers and pupils alike and tremendous support from home. We have just found out that these exceptional results Rank St Cuthbert’s number 1 in the whole local authority along with our partner school St George’s who also achieved 100% at the Expected Standard in Reading in their end of KS2 SATs. Just brilliant news to share!   Champion Heritage School Status In addition to the wonderful news above, we have been contacted by Historic England who have shared that St Cuthbert’s has been awarded Champion Heritage School Status on top of the Heritage School Status we achieved in 2024. This is a fantastic accolade for our school. I must mention Mr Bright and our Heritage Heroes who have been responsible for much of the excellent work completed to gain this award.   St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Swap – Save the Date! On Friday 21 March, we have our St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Swap. This event was a huge success last year so we are running it again this year. This is a family event where you can browse the books we have on sale with your child/children, choose a book(s) at your leisure and then get yourself some light refreshments and enjoy your new purchases alongside your child/children.   Please send any book donations into school from Monday 10 March. Please do your utmost to attend the book sale on the day. This is a lovely opportunity for you to spend some time, if you’re able, with your child/children in school.   As always, children are invited to dress as characters from their favourite books or come into school in their pyjamas as if ready for a bedtime story. This can include face paints but please ensure these are washable and removed by return to school on Monday 24 March. Please do not feel under pressure to buy any expensive costumes. More details to follow nearer the time.   If you wish to discuss any item in this letter or anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.   Best wishes,   Mrs Anne Bullerwell Executive Headteacher

Please click the link below to find out more about celebrating The Year of The Jubilee in school.

The Heritage Heroes visited Kilbourn House care home to share stories and memories with residents, sparking conversations about local heritage and life in bygone days. Through reminiscence and storytelling, they celebrated the rich history and personal experiences that shape our community.

Mrs Marley and Mrs Thompson enjoyed taking some of the Year 6 children to a netball tournament at Blue Flames Sporting Club.  They won one of their matches and showed great determination and team work in the other games they played. Well done everyone.

We loved it when our parents came in to the Reception class and played Phonic games with us.