News

We are delighted to announce Holy Cross has won an award for outstanding mental health and well-being provision.

Our SENCO, Mrs Griffin, has led the school to achieve the Silver standard School Mental Health Award delivered by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.

https://uckfieldnews.com/uckfield-school-scoops-pioneering-mental-health-award/?fbclid=IwAR1Ofv0gcmOPxcR7wGl1kVAkJvfmSDRUyz4-awjpjanlG_MdYylsoU2c7mo

“An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world”

Safer Internet Day united millions of young people, schools and organisations across the UK, to spark conversations around online safety and what to trust online. Over 2,000 organisations, including Holy Cross, took part in joining young people in conversation.

Our pupils took part in Safer Internet Day and learnt how to stay safe online. Some pupils created posters to share with others on how to keep safe.

Yesterday we celebrated Inside Out Day during Children’s Mental Health Week. It’s an awareness campaign that aims to enable young people to start talking about their mental health in a meaningful way. 

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How someone looks on the outside doesn’t necessarily reflect how they are truly feeling on the inside, so it is important to always be kind and think of others.

We turned our clothes inside out to get important conversations started. No one should be embarrassed about how they feel.

Because Uckfield is in full Lockdown, our school has been closed.

Since we can't go to school, the teachers have decided to help us learn at home using Google Classroom.

Information about Google Classroom:

Google Classroom is an educational App that you can use at home to do all the things you normally do at school. You can do this on a tablet, phone and more. All you have to do is sign up and your kids will be doing their school work.

Pupils at Holy Cross have been inspired by our annual Campaign Against Plastic. Even in a Lockdown, they are as motivated as ever to change the world for a better future.

Our Key Worker and Vulnerable Bubble at school have been litter picking every day along our driveway, down in our forest school patch and near the Luxford park.

Some pupils learning remotely completed the Plastics Challenge and designed (and some even created) products for people using recycled plastic. We had bird feeders made out of milk cartons and plastic friendship bracelets! They then created a ‘plastic’ self portrait of themselves using the plastic they have at home.

All of our pupils at Holy Cross have been enjoying their Remote Learning at home. They have been working hard to use our Secrets of Success: Try New Things, Imagine, Improve, Understand Others, Concentrate and Don’t Give Up & Push Yourself. 

Willow Class have been learning all about the components of blood in Science. They created a model of blood to show the plasma (syrup), white blood cells (marshmallows), red blood cells (red sweeties) and platelets (smarties). They had to measure out each of the components to ensure they were the correct percentages!

Oak Class have been busy learning their 2 times tables using toy cars, creating Sumerian city houses on Minecraft, creating Pop Art inspired self-portraits and making a plan to escape from the wolves in the book The Ice Palace.

Cherry Class have been learning all about Supertato in English! They have invented their own super vegetable, made their own characters to help with their story telling, acted out the story and written their own stories. The videos of their stories have been fabulous and so much fun to watch! 

Mrs Griffin has set some extra challenges involving communication and interaction, cognition and learning, sensory and social, emotional and mental health. Children have created sensory jars to regulate their emotions, learnt to use sign language to say names of their family members and made inventions for superheroes.

Thank you to all those who bought raffle tickets this year, the PFA have raised a total of £216.20 from the event to help the school through-out the year.  

The raffle was drawn on Tuesday 15th December by Mrs Dart, Mrs Gooch and Mrs Clifford and witnessed by Mrs Weller from the PFA.  The winners of the chocolate hamper, chocolate bouquet and pick and mix selection have now all been informed.  Congratulations.

We hope the lucky winners enjoy their prizes!

Term 2 is soon coming to an end and what an incredible term it has been. We have packed in all the Christmas fun and at the same time been really mindful of the true meaning of Christmas by remembering the homeless, the elderly and those spending Christmas on their own. We may be a small school, but our children have very big hearts!

Thanks must be extended to the PFA who organised a very successful Christmas colouring competition and a Christmas raffle; raising funds for the children. We look forward to many more PFA events in the future as the school slowly gets back to normal.

The highlight of the term has to be Oak class' Nativity. The rest of the school joined in with Carols and Christmas worship songs and music, but the pupils in Oak knocked everyone's socks off with their amazing reading, acting, singing and dancing. I'm sure you have all followed the link and caught up with the Nativity and Carols, but in case you haven't, here's the link again. 

Christmas dinners have been served up and gratefully devoured by festively dressed children and all has been done with great Christmas cheer. A big thank you to Chartwells' staff - Donna and Paul, and to our Holy Cross TAs/dinner ladies - Mrs Conway, Mrs Cook, Mrs Ritchie, Mrs Perrott, Miss Ridway and Mrs Bhatti who have worked hard to deliver the best Christmas dining experience for our children.

A huge thank you to our lovely caretaker, Alfie who has worked so hard behind the scenes to keep our school clean and safe during these Covid-19 times. He has also put up and decorated 2 Christmas trees and even put colourful lights on the tree outside, which has grown so tall without us noticing. Alfie has gone out of his way to ensure that all of us have been able to experience as near a normal festive season as possible.

In January, the school is entering a new era, embracing it's small school status. Teachers have been working really hard to plan for the year ahead and to offer the very best learning opportunities to our pupils - so a big thank you to them. The office team have also worked hard keeping abreast of and acting upon all the DfE Coronavirus guidance that comes into school far too frequently. Their efforts have ensured that our school has stayed open and stayed a safe place to work and learn.

Thanks also to the school Governors who continue to be involved closely in school life. But the greatest thanks has to go to all of our Holy Cross families who have remained resolutely positive and supportive of our school. A merry Christmas to you all. Have a safe and happy holiday and we'll see you all back in 2021!

I count the days to Christmas
and I watch the evening sky. 
I want to see the angels
as to Bethlehem they fly.

I'm watching for the wise men
and the royal shining star.
Please may I travel with them?
Is the stable very far?

I count the days to Christmas
as we shope and bake and clean.
The lights and tinsel sparkle, 
and yet deep inside I dream

That as we tell the story
of Lord Jesus and his birth,
the things of every day will fade 
as heaven comes to earth.

All the children had a lovely day at school on Wednesday 16th December.

Although a little different from previous years, everyone really enjoyed their delicious Christmas lunch.  Thank you to our school cook Donna and her team, for all their work preparing it for the children, as well as the staff at Holy Cross for serving the lunch.

We can also announce that we have raised approximately £50.00 from our Christmas Jumper fundraiser, which this year will be donated to the Brighton Housing Trust Charity.

Thank you for all your donations. 

As we approach the end of 2020 the governors of this very special school would like to thank you all for the contributions you have made to get us through this year so successfully.  

Huge thanks to all staff members who have maintained a safe and secure environment for our children. 

Heartfelt gratitude to classroom staff for keeping education going through the initial Lockdown, for all the motivational videos and for welcoming back pupils before the summer break. 

To all the children a virtual hug and pat on the back for taking on the challenge of learning in bubbles and 'catching up'. You're all stars. 

Last, but not least, to all the parents and carers who coped so well with home learning and then made sure that the children attended school regularly once the doors were opened again, thank you so much. ??

You all deserve a very happy Christmas and a stress free 2021. 

A huge congratulations to the winners of the PFA Christmas Colouring Competition 2020.

Our Chair of Governors, Sandie Boniface, has now judged all the entries and has chosen her two winners from each class.

The winners, who will each recive a voucher of £10 for Kids Stuff in Uckfield, are:

Logan, Lily, Fletcher, Rubie, Lyra, Joey, Brooke and Tristen.

Well done to everyone who entered.  All of the colouring pictures were amazing.

Here is a kindness calendar containing daily suggestions for small acts of kindness to promote wellbeing and festive spirit.

We sadly say goodbye to Mr Harvey at the end of this term.  

We will miss you, and wish you all the best in your new position at a Kent School.

Every Christmas, pupils from Holy Cross visit local care homes, to sing carols for the elderly and vulnerable people in our community.  Unfortunately, due to Covid, this year we were unable to do this, so the children have created Christmas cards to send instead.

Thank you to Home Instead Senior Care who will be collecting our children's cards and acting as post office, to distribute the cards to the lonley, isolated and elderly people in Uckfield this Christmas.

Smartphones, tablets, consoles, and TVs  frequently top the Christmas list, so follow this link to help with the safe set-up of devices :

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-technology

Have a happy holiday and be safe. 

Mrs. Griffin 

This year the Uckfield Festival of Christmas Trees is being held virtually, and we are very pleased to once again take part in this important local event, to support the Church, the local community and to keep the magic of Christmas alive in Uckfield. 

Recently, a videographer visited our school and filmed our beautiful Christmas tree accompanied by our amazing Willow Class children singing.

The Virtual Festival of Christmas Trees will be released on Saturday 5th December at 5.30pm.  You will be able to watch the festival via Holy Cross Church's facebook and Youtube page.  We hope you all enjoy it.

Holy Cross Church Facebook Page

Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) is a local charity working to combat homelessness across East and West Sussex. Over the last five decades they have helped thousands of people with complex needs to secure safe accommodation, overcome barriers to work and learning, and address issues such as addiction, poverty and mental health.

We joined their Christmas Bauble Campaign this year to raise awareness of homelessness and the work BHT do to support our local community.

Every pupil at Holy Cross decorated a special bauble with glitter and Christmassy pictures. The pupils each wrote a special message. Our baubles will be posted off to Brighton Housing Trust this weekend so they can decorate their residential services this festive season.

We will also be fundraising for the Trust by asking for a small donation on Christmas Jumper Day 16^th December.  

Each class now has its own Christmas postbox so that pupils can start bringing in Christmas cards for their friends. To ensure Covid safety, boxes will be emptied of cards by adults, who will wash hands before and after handling them. The cards will then be quarantined for 48 hours before being handed out to pupils by an adult. Hopefully these measures will prevent the spread of the virus and ensure everyone's safety. We are trying hard to keep to our Christmas traditions whilst adhering to DfE and local authority guidance.

Our Christmas tree was delivered on Monday after school and unveiled on Tuesday. It's a perfect specimen and has been donated to the school by Michael Grant of White House Farm Christmas Trees, Uckfield. Michael used to be a pupil at Holy Cross Primary School and now he very generously gives the school a wonderful tree each Christmas.

Thank you Michael.