Many of our parents, carers, pupils and staff speak languages other than English. St. Mary's is proud of the diverse and multi-cultural background of our families. Sometimes when families first arrive in the UK language can be a real barrier to obtaining information and settling in. It can be very hard and isolating for parents and children.

So at St. Mary's we are creating a database of language leaders amongst our parents, pupils and staff so that we can quickly get help in translating conversations for newly arrived parents and children and help them to settle in quickly.

These parent language leaders came to an information session to learn more about the role and they appear on our website here: https://st-marys.lewisham.sch.uk/language-leaders.html. 

If you would like to be a language leader, please let Mrs Tildesley know.

Lewisham Mental Health Support Team (MHST) work in schools with the whole school community – including staff, young people, and families – to support emotional wellbeing. They run individual and group interventions as well as things like assemblies, staff training, parent workshops, and supporting the school’s wellbeing strategy.
 
Today they provided a workshop for parents on managing children's fears and anxieties. We learned about how to spot the signs of fear and anxiety in our children - flight, fright, freeze, submit - and the things that might reinforce those anxieties. 
 
Finally we looked at ways of coping and encouraging our children to overcome their fears;

• Pay attention to what they’re doing
• Give clear and specific praise – “You stood at the front of the class and spoke in front of everyone. I know you were really worried but you faced your fears and did it anyway!”
• Model ‘brave’ behaviour to the child
• Allow and encourage independence

Supporting children to ‘face their fears’ in a gentle, manageable, and collaborative way, builds their confidence and allows them to discover that they can cope in a situation they are afraid of – usually they realise with time that it isn’t as bad as they’d imagined!

Planned and organised by our amazing children's Faith Group, the school community joined together to raise money at our Easter Fayre. The money raised will be donated to the charities supported by the Bishop of Southwark's Lent Appeal - including projects in Zimbabwe and Jerusalem. The children in the Faith Group included many exciting activities that were enjoyed by everyone - a cake sale, Easter egg hunt, egg painting, hook an Easter duck and an  egg and spoon obstacle race.

A huge thank you to Projectfivek who have provided food vouchers to many of our families, not just at Christmas but throughout the year.  The charity has also provided funds for our breakfast club to enable extra items to be purchased to ensure the children have a hot breakfast when they come in.
 
Acts of generosity like this are a wonderful example of how important it is to support those who are in need or struggling at this time. 
 
If you need help with food or any other basic necessities please contact Mrs Tildesley via the school office or have a chat with her at the school gate.

​Year 6 visited four of the Elderly Care units at Lewisham Hospital to sing carols and bring Christmas cheer!
 
St. Mary’s also donated 30 Christmas gift bags and handmade cards for patients to have on Christmas Day.
 
The patients and staff were delighted to hear the children sing - many sang along and remembered Christmases past.
 
Well done to all the children and especially to Mr. Sandman who accompanied the children on his guitar in true style! 

A big thank you to our parents who came to wrap 100s of presents for Santa’s grotto. If Santa’s elves go on strike St. Mary’s parents could cover it no problem!

Here are our fabulous School Council 2022-23!
We have two representatives from each class Year 1-6 and we meet a couple of times each half term. 
The School Council are a really important part of our school community as they share their views about aspects of school life and help with lots of projects! Watch this space for more developments!

​There was a lovely turnout of parents for an event to launch our Making it REAL project in the Nursery. This project aims to raise early literacy levels by encouraging families to do simple low cost activities at home like mark making, reading, talking and looking at everyday objects around them. 
 
Every conversation with your child matters - whether on the bus or in the bath - so seize every opportunity!