News

We are very proud to share the exciting news that one of our own Cherry Class pupils at Holy Cross was chosen to meet the Duchess of Cornwall on 30th March.

Naomi presented the Duchess with flowers, while she was visiting Uckfield's Kamsons Pharmacy and Warehouse.

Please see the news article on Uckfield News by clicking HERE.  

Well done Naomi, you did amazingly well.

The governors of Holy Cross are happy to announce that they have appointed Miss Travers to the role of Deputy Head at the school. She will continue her teaching commitment in Willow Class but will also support Mrs Dart in leading the school.

I'm sure you will all want to extend your congratulations to Miss Travers and wish her well in her new role.

Spring is definitely in the air and the school grounds have burst into bloom - there are even a few bluebells down in the Forest School. Hopefully along with the flowers, we will also be blessed with some warm sunny weather so that we can truly enjoy our Easter Holidays. 

My garden at home beckons me. There is a lot to tidy and even some painting to be done before the garden furniture can be reinstated for the summer. I love this time of year and can't wait to get stuck in to some seasonal chores around the home. 

Have a wonderful Easter break! We all deserve it!

We would like to welcome Mrs Williams to Holy Cross. 

Mrs Williams is an experienced teacher who specialised in dance and PE.  She has experience of teaching across the primary phase from Early Years to Year 6.

Miss Williams will be teaching Cherry Class on Thursdays and Fridays from Monday 19th April.  

Please join us in welcoming Mrs Williams to our lovely school.

The whole bright world rejoices now:
with laughing cheer! with boundless joy!
The birds do sing on every bough:
Alleluia!

Then shout beneath the racing skies:
with laughing cheer! with boundless joy!
To him who rose that we might rise:
Alleluia!

God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
with laughing cheer! with boundless joy!
Our God most high,our joy our boast:
Alleluia!

Holy Cross are currently looking for a Part time Cleaner.

If you are interested in this vacancy or know anyone who may be looking for a similar role, please have a look at the job advertisement via the link below:

Part Time Cleaner Advertisement

Holy Cross have been planting trees during lockdown.  Our forest school teacher Steve and the Uckfield Ranger Neal, have worked with the key worker pupils to plant 16 new saplings in our school grounds at Holy Cross.  The children had a lovely day planting.  After taking part in their usual thankfulness circle, they went onto the field where Neal explained the main principles of tree planting. As our school field has been a field with grass for many years, the soil was not brilliant for growing, so Neal brought some fungal material and compost. The children also collected some soil from the woodland to add in, as this is much richer.
The children decided where they wanted their trees to be, dug holes and planted them, along with a wish or prayer written on paper birch buried in the soil. They labelled the trees with their names and there were 6 different species; Dogwood, Bird Cherry, Lime, Douglas Fir, Beech and Hawthorn. The children planted 16 trees in total and protected them from the wind and animals with a plastic sleeve, which was held in place with a stake, hammered in on the South West side as this is the main direction of the wind.  The forest school group gathered at the end of the session to wish our little children’s forest to grow big & strong so that the children’s children can enjoy them in the future.

https://www.uckfieldfm.co.uk/2021/the-guide/tree-planting-at-holy-cross-ce-primary-school/?fbclid=IwAR16hf-qIcJzwwoMNmYv9TV0M7bdSbxObqcIHgC8nfT-JK_FLEf19eXMZcw

Our annual celebration of Book Week has been slightly different this year!

Our wonderful teachers created videos of themselves reading their favourite stories for the Holy Cross children. We also sent out daily book quizzes and to end our celebrations of Book Week, we dressed up as our favourite book characters!

To catch up on the stories read by our teachers, please visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0yQOwPbsKQZ2iWmkSJJStg

“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.

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

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.

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.