News

Holy Cross welcomed its new Headteacher Mr Paul Prest, in January 2022.  Parents will have already had an opportunity to meet Mr Prest at the gate during drop off and collection time. Mr Prest endeavors to do this every day, so do say hello if you have not yet had the opportunity to do so.

“I have the proven experience, knowledge, enthusiasm and determination to make a difference for the young people and the community I serve. I have worked in a range of leadership positions within the primary, secondary and local authority, always seeking excellence. My passion is teaching and learning and I am well versed in research informed strategies, that make a demonstrable impact on the outcomes for our young people. I am delighted to have the opportunity of leading Holy Cross forward and am looking forward to the challenge” (Paul Prest, 2022).

Oak have been learning about biomes in Geography. In art they have been exploring mini worlds. They looked at terrariums and designed their own teardrop terrarium.

During term 2, Willow Class have been exploring the effects of drought in Geography. They have been trying to find the answer to, 'Why is California so thirsty?'

Their learning led them to find out how aqueducts work. They even designed and made their own aqueducts, which they all enjoyed.

Everyone really enjoyed the delicious Christmas lunch on Tuesday 14th December.  
Christmas jumpers were on and the Christmas music was turned up.

Thank you to Lynda and Paul in the kitchen for all their hard work, and thank you to Darren Butcher (parent governor) for his kind donation of crackers and Christmas napkins which gave the Christmas dinner a truly festive feel.

Some of our pupils will be lucky enough to receive new devices, games consoles and phones for Christmas.  Many of the rest will have access in one way or another to internet-enabled devices.  We all want to ensure that everyone in our school community has a safe Christmas holiday, online and beyond.

There will be a Facebook Live drop-in for parents on Monday 20th December at 7pm on the @LGfLDigiSafe channel, talking about staying safe online and offline too - what to worry about and what not, and how to have tricky conversations at home.  There will also be a discussion of how parents can help with bullying, relationships, criminal and sexual exploitation and simply starting tricky conversations!

Sing up now by heading to:

facebook.com/LGfLDigiSafe/posts where you can click 'Interested' / 'Going' on the post to receive a reminder when it is about to go live.

Please also remember before buying Christmas presents, that games, series and films (including on Netflix) have age ratings linked to their content, not their difficulty.

You may wish to visit the parentsafe.lgfl.net website where you will find many of the resources that will be presented to you on the eveing.

Whilst looking at their topic of Journeys and Exploration, the children in Cherry class have been reading the story of the Naughty Bus. In class we spoke of the things the bus did which maybe weren't good choices, and talked of the adventures he might have in Uckfield. Together we became a walking bus and took our gifted bus for an adventure through Uckfield High Street to the bus station. On the way we stopped at many different key features of our town, including the library, the church and the cinema. Whilst at the bus station we met the number 29 bus which had finished it's journey to Uckfield. 

I Count the Days to Christmas

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 shop 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.

Throughout term two we have been thinking about our local area, Uckfield, in Geography. We have looked at what there is in the area and the human and physical features of the town. We have also thought about what jobs there are in our local area.

In Science we have been looking at seasons and have been thinking about and watching how the seasons change, especially Autumn to Winter.

Whilst unfortunately the Nativity has been cancelled, the children have enjoyed spending some of their afternoons singing and acting!

It has been a busy term and the children have worked hard! 

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas!

Miss Whittall

As you know, I will be retiring at the end of this term. Whilst I am very sad to go, I am also really looking forward to new freedoms, e.g. taking holidays during term time. 

Sadly, Claire in the office is also leaving. Her last day will be Wednesday 5th January. She has gained a position in a school office in West Sussex - an exciting new challenge in a bigger school as part of a larger office team. I'm sure everyone will join me in wishing Claire well in her new job. She has been at Holy Cross for quite a while and everyone will miss her calm, gentle loveliness.

As people leave, so new people join. As you already know, Mr Prest will be the Headteacher from January 2022 and I would like to extend a warm welcome to him. I'm currently tidying my office in readiness for his arrival.

There will be two other new staff joining us in January. Mrs Charlotte Grimwade will be joining Holy Cross as the Cherry Year 1 class teacher and Mrs Shopna Tayed will be joining us to jobshare with Mr Pearson in Oak Class. Both new teachers have visited the school to meet the children in their classes ahead of taking up post in January. They are both very excited to be working at Holy Cross.

Have a wonderful Christmas when it finally comes. How many sleeps do the children have left? I think from Friday, it will be 8 sleeps. The excitement mounts! I wish you all well and I would like to say a big thank you for all your support and kindness over the time I have been Headteacher here at Holy Cross.

Tuesday 4th of January will be an INSET day for all staff instead of Friday 14th January.

School will reopen for pupils on Wednesday 5th January.

We have rescheduled our Uckfield Library visit to Wednesday 26th January.

The session will involve a tour of the library, a discussion on what Uckfield Library does and story sharing. At the end of the session, your child will be able to borrow a book from Uckfield Library, providing they have their own Library card with them.

If your child does not have a library card, you can sign up in advance using the link below:

Register for a Library Card

Dear Parents,

The governing board at their final meeting of 2021 with Mrs Dart thanked her for her long service to education and wished her well in the next phase of her life adventure.

Mrs Jan Meyer has joined the board and was voted in as Chair and we look forward to Mr Prest (Interim Headteacher) joining the school in January.

On behalf of the governing board I send Season's Greetings to you and your family.

Jenny Barnard-Langston

National Leader of Governance

Please remember that the school carpark is for staff and vistor use only.

The carpark is not to be used by parents for drop offs and collections, unless consent has been given from the headteacher.  

The barrier is due to be fixed very soon.

We harvest the fields,
we harvest the trees,
we harvest the gardens,
we harvest the seas.

We gather the blessings
that God freely gives
to you and to me
and to each one who lives.

Throughout Term One, Cherry Class have been learning all about Castles, Knights, Princesses and Dragons and focussed on the history of Lewes Castle. 

In October, Reception and Year One visited Lewes Castle itself! They climbed countless steps to reach the top and looked out across the whole of Lewes. They learnt about the history of this Norman Castle and explored the adjoining museum. 

What an excellent trip it was!

Thankyou to our parent volunteers who helped us on the trip. 

Our Harvest Festival this year took place at Holy Cross Church.

It was a delight to be able to celebrate Harvest this year with parents and carers of Holy Cross CE Primary School. 

We gave our thanks to God and performed some of our favourite songs: Beautiful World, All Creatures of Our God and King, We Need to Build Eachother Up, Everybody Praise Him and Sussex by the Sea.

Thankyou for your donations of food which have gone to the Uckfield Foodbank. 

Holy Cross CE Primary School went on their annual pilgrimage to St Margaret the Queen’s Church in Buxted.

The theme of this year’s pilgrimage was ‘Our Beautiful World’. Each class organised their own presentation for the rest of the school. Cherry Class performed a song with actions, Oak Class created posters and Willow Class created speeches.  

Our wonderful oldest pupils buddied up with the youngest pupils in the school to help them on the journey across the fields to Buxted.

Well done to all of our amazing Holy Cross pupils for their courage to perform and the determination to keep going on the journey.