ST ANNE'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL, CAVERSHAM
'THE SCHOOL THAT'S KNOWN BY LOVE'
WELCOME TO ST ANNE'S
The children of St Anne's are known for their smiles, their generosity and their passion for learning! We are a vibrant, happy, forward-looking school in the heart of Caversham for children of any faith and no faith, where every pupil is scaffolded to aim for the stars. Here, we believe that children learn best when they feel safe, are loved and are challenged. As a result, teachers are committed to providing outstanding pastoral care alongside the highest quality, engaging learning experiences.
As recognised in our 2019 Ofsted report,
‘The school is a small but close-knit community. There is a strong sense of family values. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and caring. The school is highly inclusive. Pupils with all different types of need are welcomed and feel part of the school community .... At the heart of this is a strong, shared commitment to every child’s success, underpinned by the school’s ethos...'
Our curriculum provision is outstanding and involves teaching by subject specialists from Year 3 meaning that children experience the best quality teaching across the entire curriculum.
Currently, we have 185 children across 7 year groups. We also have a 21 place Nursery. Children come into our Reception class in the year that they are 5 and move up to secondary school at the end of Year 6, when they are 11. Our school day starts at 8.40am and finishes at 3.25pm We do also have a super Before and After School Club, run by school staff which opens at 8.00 and ends at 18.00.
Please do contact the school office for a tour on 01189375537 or contact me direct via email on head@st-annes.reading.sch.uk and I would love to show you round!
Mrs Sarah Bernto
Headteacher
Contact details for enquiries
If you have any questions or queries about our school, please contact the school office - via email on admin@st-annes.reading.sch.uk 01189375537.
For enquires regarding SEND, please email our SENCO - Mrs Gemma Burnitt on senco@st-annes.reading.sch.uk or phone the school office on 01189375537.
For safeguarding enquires, please contact our DSL Sarah Bernto. She is contactable on head@st-annes.reading.sch.uk or by phone on 01189375537. We also have 3 Deputy DSLs: Gemma Burnitt (senco@st-annes.reading.sch.uk), Patricia Lee (plee@st-annes.reading.sch.uk) and Charlotte Talbot (ctalbot@st-annes.reading.sch.uk) and our Safeguarding governors are Anne Pegram (APegram@stmartins.reading.sch.uk) and Rebecca Mee (RMee@stmartins.reading.sch.uk). Please see our Safeguarding Policy (on the policies page of the website) for information about Safeguarding and relating school practice.
Are you a prospective parent looking for a school place in September 2024?
We have Open Morning and Afternoons throughout the months of September-January. Please see below:
I would be delighted to show you round and tell you all about our fantastic school! Please do email me on head@st-annes.reading.sch.uk or contact the school office on 01189 375537 to book a tour.
Are you a prospective parent looking for a school place today?
If you are looking for an in-year transfer for your child or a nursery place, please contact the school as above for a tour at any time.
We would love to see you and your children!
Learning to live by faith and to be known by love
KEY DOCUMENTS FOR 2023-2024
9th November, 2023
We are sending out today our second Catholic Life and Mission Newsletter focussed on telling our wider school community how we are trying to follow in Jesus’s footsteps.
As mentioned previously, on Tuesdays, the children gather in Key Stage groups to learn about an aspect of Catholic Social Teaching; last term, we focussed on Participation through Family and Community and on the Dignity of the Human Person. This term, we are focussing on Solidarity and the Common Good.
On Wednesday mornings, children participate in a class liturgy based on the Jesuit virtues, with those in KS2 planning and leading the liturgy themselves. Last term, the virtues that the children were learning about and trying to grow within themselves were being grateful and being generous. Our actions included a collection for Readifood, reflecting on the generosity of God in Creation and writing prayers for the farmers and workers who grow and produce our food. This term, the children will be thinking about being Attentive and Discerning.
19 OCTOBER 2023
This week, the children have also shown solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine. The Catholic bishops of the Holy Land called for Tuesday October 17 to be set aside for fasting, abstinence, and prayer for peace in the region. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said: “On behalf of all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land, I invite all parishes and religious communities to a day of fasting and prayer for peace and reconciliation. Let us organise prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the rosary to our Blessed Virgin Mary.” As a result, all children from Reception to Year 6 said the rosary on Tuesday and wrote prayers for the people of these lands.
This Friday is Disconnect to Reconnect Day living out the Catholic Social Teaching of Stewardship. On this day, teachers across the school will try to deliver as much learning as possible without the aid of computers or interactive whiteboards. Staff will try to provide as many practical activities as possible and will spend time outside appreciating God’s beautiful creation. In his papal encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis asked that we all work to protect the earth, our common home. He writes ‘The earth is God’s gift to us full of beauty and wonder. And it belongs to everyone… The whole human family needs to work together to care for our planet earth so that we sow beauty and not pollution and destruction.’
We would like to ask all of our families to join with us in marking this day for the earth by unplugging at home throughout the day. This could be by switching off lights, eating a meal that does not need cooking or playing a board game/reading a book rather than watching TV or your phone in the evening. It would be lovely if families could send in photos of what they get up to at home! Please email your pictures to head@st-annes.reading.sch.uk The benefits of unplugging are numerous. Research has shown that too much time spent on electronic devices can lead to increased stress, anxiety, and depression. By taking a break from technology, we can give our minds and bodies much-needed rest and improve our overall well-being.
READIFOOD
We were extremely touched by your generosity and wish to extend our deepest thanks for all the items that we sent in. Readifood has now collected our contributions and they will be going out to families in and around Reading throughout the half term.
5 OCTOBER 2023
Thank you so very much for all your kind donations to our Harvest collection in aid of Readifood; the boxes are starting to fill up nicely! We will be having our Harvest Mass next Friday 13 October in the church and would be most grateful if we could have a final push for donations. In addition, we would like to warmly welcome all parents to join us at Mass where we will give praise and thanksgiving to God for His wonderful Creation and the gifts He has given us.
A message from our One World Council Reps:
We – the One World Council members - have been very keen to collect for Readifood and have made some fantastic posters to raise awareness of our annual collection. Please read some of the reasons why we want to help and collect food for our local Christian charity.
‘We want to help people and make the world a better place and more loving,’ said Trisha from Year 3.
Our One World Council members are keen to help others and to, ‘Make school and the environment a better place,’ Saad from Year 6.
Romaya from Year 4 wants to be involved, ‘because I want people to love each other’.
We are very blessed to have such loving children who want to help their community so, if you have not yet donated, please do send something in with your child. A small donation can make a big difference!
A note regarding Covid
The school is following government guidelines regarding Covid. We are therefore asking that any adult who tests positive not attend school for 5 days and any child for 3 days. We would kindly ask that parents observe these guidelines as well. We do have a number of Covid cases and the virus is spreading quickly among staff.
21 SEPTEMER 2023
Are you looking for a new job? Are you interested in working with children? We have 2 exciting opportunities open at the moment. Please see the Vacancies page for full details and an application form.
FRIDAY 8th September 2023
Welcome Back!
It has been so lovely to see the children return to school this week with their huge grins and stories of summer holiday adventures. We have had loads of fun with our new Literacy scheme. This has included a giant invading the school, Y5 joining NASA and Literacy Group being invaded by the staff. Check out the newsletter for more photos!
Please see below a list of dates for the coming term.
Dates for the coming term are as follows:
Thursday 7 September 15.30 and 16.00 Meet the Teacher sessions
Friday 8 September Knowledge Organisers and Curriculum Letters sent home
Friday 8 September 09.15 Whole School Mass
w/c Monday 11 September Mission Week
Monday 11 September Reception children in all day
Wednesday 20 September 8.40 Reception Stay and Play – Learning through play
Friday 22 September 9.30-11 Open Morning for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 22 September 14.50 Maths Parent Workshop
Friday 29 September 14.00 Open Afternoon for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 6 October 09.00 Early Reading and Phonics (EYFS-Y1) Parent Workshop
Friday 6 October 09.15 Harvest Mass
Thursday 12 October Flu immunisations Reception to Y6
Friday 13 October 09.00 Y2-6 Love of Reading Parent Workshop
Friday 13 October 09.15 KS2 Mass
Monday 16 October 09.00 Gold Tie Assembly (for Y6 children and parents)
Friday 20 October Disconnect to Reconnect Day
Friday 20 October 09.30-11 Open Morning for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 20 October 15.25 TERM ENDS
Monday 30 October AUTUMN 2 TERM STARTS
Wednesday 1 November 09.15 Whole School Mass
Friday 3 November Knowledge Organisers and Curriculum Letters sent home
Wednesday 8 November 09.30 Open Morning for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 10 November 10.45-11.15 Remembrance Liturgy
w/c Monday 13 November Other Faiths Week
Wednesday 15 November 09.00 Reception Stay and Play – reading
Friday 17 November 09.15 KS1 Mass
Tuesday 21 November 14.00 Open Afternoon for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 24 November Anti-Bullying and Odd Socks Day
Tuesday 28 November 15.30-17.00 Parents’ Evening
Thursday 30 November 17.00-19.00 Parents’ Evening
Friday 1 December 09.15 KS2 Mass
Wednesday 6 December 08.40 Reception Stay and Play – Christmas Decorations
Wednesday 6 December 09.30-11 Open Morning for Reception Sept 2024
Friday 8 December 09.15 Whole School Mass
w/c Monday 11 December Bambinelli Week
Wednesday 13 December Christmas Jumper Day
Wednesday 13 December 11.00 Nursery Christmas Performance
Wednesday 13 December 12.15 Christmas Lunch
Wednesday 13 December 14.00 Reception and KS1 Nativity to school and parents with pre-school age children
Thursday 14 December 14.00 Reception and KS1 Nativity to parents
Friday 15 December 09.15 Whole School Mass
Tuesday 19 December 18.00 KS2 Carol Service (in church) all KS2 children must attend
Wednesday 20 December 13.00 TERM ENDS
