St Charles Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome back to a new year and a new School term. We hope you and your family enjoyed a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Although the Christmas decorations, the tree, the crib and the advent wreath are safely stored away for next year, we are still in the season of Christmas-tide, which includes the feast of the Epiphany, celebrated last Monday, and concludes with the Baptism of the Lord, this Sunday. At this time of year, it was a tradition for Catholics to take part in the ‘chalking of the door’. A piece of chalk, blessed by the priest, was used to write the following over the doorway to the home, 20+M+C+B+25. 20-25 is the year, M, C and B are the initials of the three wise men and the + represent the cross of Jesus. It is believed that this would bring peace and prosperity to the household. Keeping with this tradition, we have placed this symbol on every classroom door in the School. Many households still do this today. Look out for it on your travels.

Regards,

Tony Lynch

Gospel: The Baptism of the Lord (Luke 3:15-16.21-22)

Using the Wednesday Word link below, read this Sunday’s Gospel

https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/messenger?pid=MTA101634&v=5.5

KS1

• Who did the people think John was?
• Who was John preparing for?
• What happened when John baptised Jesus?

KS2

• Why do you think the people thought that John was the chosen one?
• How will the way John baptised people be different to the way Jesus baptises?
• What do you know about your own baptism? Why are Catholics baptised?

Please remember that the deadline for Reception admissions is Wednesday 15th January.

There is no automatic transfer between Nursery and Reception.

To apply for a place at St Charles next September you will need to complete two forms.

1. The online Common Application Form (CAF) with the London Borough of RBKC www.eadmissions.org.uk​

2. The St Charles Supplementary Information Form. This can be collected from and returned to the school ​office or downloaded from our website.

We recommend doing this before the 15th January deadline so we can assist you if there are any problems.

Any applications that come in late will be given a lower priority by the borough when allocating school places.

The children look lovely in their school uniform. Sadly, some children are not wearing their ties.

The St Charles school tie gives the school its unique identity and this is something we want to preserve and promote throughout the local area. Staff will be checking to ensure that all school uniform criteria is followed. Thank you for your support.

Our whole school attendance is currently at 93.5%

We are working towards achieving 96% attendance this academic year. Please help us to achieve this by ensuring that your child attends school each day and by not booking any holiday during term time. Please be aware that holiday leave in term time cannot be authorised.

In line with the Department for Education guidelines, where pupils miss school without a good reason (including a holiday), the Local Authority and schools can intervene, and you may be issued a fine.

There is strong correlation between good attendance and good progress. So together, let’s give our children the best possible chance of reaching their potential.

As part of our Christmas preparations during the season of Advent and linking with our learning of Catholic Social Teaching, we collected food and other goods to donate to our local food bank.

This week in RE 3/4H made puppets and acted out the story of the Epiphany when the Magi visited Jesus in Bethlehem.

Children in 4H have enjoyed the start of their new RE topic, understanding why some people gave Jesus the title ‘Christ’. Children wrote a newspaper report based on the events in Matthew 16:13-20.

Year 5 have been very interested in their computing this week. We have been learning about copyright and fair use. We found out that some images can be used by anyone in the public domain but to use some images we must credit the creator. This made making our History posters a little bit more tricky than we thought!

6G have been focusing on persuasive writing this week. They have explored subject specific vocabulary along with persuasive devices in order to design and annotate their chosen products and have worked hard to produce detailed plans for their persuasive adverts.

First Half Term

Staff Training – Monday 6th January – School Closed

First Day of School – Tuesday 7th January

Last Day of School – Friday 14th February

Half Term – Monday 17th – Friday 21st February

Second Half Term

First Day of School – Monday 24th February

Last Day of School – Friday 4th April - School Closes at 1.45pm

Easter Holiday – Monday 7th April – Monday 21st April

Summer Term – 2025

First Half Term

Staff Training – Tuesday 22nd April ­– School Closed

First Day of School – Wednesday 23rd April

Bank Holiday – Monday 5th May

Last Day of School – Friday 23rd May

Half Term – Monday 26th – Friday 30th May

Second Half Term

First Day of School – Monday 2nd June

Staff Training – Monday 30th June – School Closed

Last Day of School – Tuesday 22nd July - School Closes at 1.45pm

Email: info@st-charles.rbkc.sch.uk
Website: www.st-charles.rbkc.sch.uk
Location: St Charles Square, London W10 6EB, UK
Phone: 020 8969 5566