Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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PTFA Valentines Disco
Wed 01 Feb 2023
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Girls Football performance
Wed 01 Feb 2023
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Netball Winners
Wed 01 Feb 2023
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New Reception open days/night
Wed 21 Sep 2022St Giles’ will be hosting open days on the following dates:
Tuesday 11th October at 6.00 pm –parents only
Monday 14th November 1.00-3.00pm – drop in session parents and children
Thursday 17th November 1.00-3.00pm – drop in session parents and children
Parents should contact the school office to book a place office@st-giles.staffs.sch.uk or telephone 01538 753220
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Year 3 Pupil Angelina cutting her hair in aid of the Little Princess Trust
Wed 21 Jul 2021Angelina, who is a student in Year 3, cut her beautiful, long hair today (Wednesday 21st July) and is donating it to The Little Princess Trust which is a charity that provides real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or illness. We are so proud of Angelina for doing something so life changing for another young person.
In support of Angelina and The Little Princess Trust St Giles’ had a Non-Uniform Day on Wednesday 21st July 2021 and asked for donations to The Little Princess Trust, these have been counted and £718.30 was raised!!! This smashed our target of £550 which is the cost of making a wig.
Angelina is pictured above with her sister Alena and her mum.
Please see the video of Angelina cutting her hair below!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pwa7NqWsJoZNfUCESh_6U5LKPC5qUZeE/view?usp=drivesdk
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World Record Donation to Mary's Meals
Tue 09 Mar 2021Painsley Catholic Academy has raised £120,000 for the global school feeding charity, Mary’s Meals, an amount that beats any other single donation from an academy. The impressive donation is enough to feed almost 8,000 children for a whole school year through Mary’s Meals.
Back at the start of the academic year in September 2019, the 15 schools within The Painsley Catholic Academy, pledged to raise £100,000 for their chosen charity, Mary’s Meals, in a campaign they called 20:20 for Mary.
The aim was originally to meet this target by the end of the school year in July 2020. Pupils and staff undertook a massive range of events including cake sales, sponsored silences, sponsored head-shaves, sky dives, mountain climbs, bike rides, car washes and porridge breakfasts.
Since then, Covid has pretty much changed everything over the past 12 months. Plans have had to be cancelled and put on hold and schools had to change how they operate completely. Despite all the challenges that the schools have faced, the students, staff and parents have continued in their support of this charity, finding ever more inventive ways of raising the cash resulting in a fantastic outcome.
Mr Steve Bell, Chief Executive Officer of The Painsley Catholic Academy commented, “Mary’s Meals is a very popular charity with our pupils. It is a simple charity and that is what we like. It costs just £15.90 to feed a child with Mary’s Meals for an entire school year. Research shows that children who eat Mary’s Meals: have more energy, feel healthier and happier, find it easier to concentrate and do better in school. The school that we were raising funds for is Kafumphe Primary School, Dowa, Malawi; one of the world’s poorest countries where many families live through farming, but struggle to grow enough food.”
Mr Bell continued, “Our pupils loved the thought that by raising just £15.90, they would enable a child to eat a nutritious meal every day and attend school for a whole year. However, then the pandemic began. We realised that asking for sponsored events was not feasible, and on March 23rd 2020, our schools closed their doors to most pupils. However, the children and staff were adamant that they wanted to continue their fundraising efforts. The deadline for the target was extended until December 2020 with a view to raising as much as we could. This determination was underlined by the fact that the Kafumphe Primary School also had to close and the pupils would potentially not receive any food.”
During the pandemic, Mary’s Meals is providing children with food at home, until it is safe for them to return to the classroom. Parents and guardians collect the food from a central distribution point – observing all necessary hygiene and social distancing measures. Soap is distributed along with handwashing guidance to help support communities’ resilience to the virus.
Gillian McMahon, Director of Supporter Engagement and Income at Mary’s Meals, said: “We never cease to be amazed by the creative and committed fundraising efforts of the pupils and schools who support our work. The amount raised by Painsley Catholic Academy is so impressive. We are immensely grateful to everyone involved for their extraordinary fundraising efforts. This will help to transform the lives of children in Malawi so they receive nutritious meals, supporting them to feel healthier and happier and making it easier for them to concentrate in school. It’s clear that raising these funds have also proved life-changing in a different way for the pupils who took part, really demonstrating that so many little acts of kindness can make such a big difference. One of the core values of Mary’s Meals is that the charity believes in the innate goodness of people. There is no doubt that the pupils of The Painsley Catholic Academy have demonstrated this goodness.”
Mr Bell adds, “More important than the value of the fundraising, are the values that the pupils have learned along this difficult journey at this seemingly impossible time. We must look after each other regardless of where we live, our gender, our background, our colour, our faith. We are one human race in this battle together. The pupils, through their individual acts of kindness, will collectively be providing 7862 children with meals for a whole year.”
The celebrations of this achievement have had to be low key due to the current restrictions. However, the students who attend the schools within the academy, and the wider communities who have all played a part in the fundraising were delighted to receive a video thank you message from Founder and Global Chief Executive of Mary’s Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow.
In this video, Magnus says, “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done, your incredible 20:20 for Mary campaign. You’ve ensured that the children at Kafumphe Primary School can carry on eating, so on their behalf, I thank you with all my heart.”
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Painsley Catholic College to become Teaching Hub
Fri 12 Feb 2021Painsley selected to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders.
Painsley Catholic College has been selected to become a teaching school hub.
Teachers across the country will benefit from vital developmental support and expert advice, allowing them to improve a broad range of vital teaching skills, under plans announced by the Department for Education today.
The teaching workforce will get best-practice and expert advice on how best to engage with pupils, lesson planning, and classroom management, as the teaching school hubs programme is rolled out across the country.
Painsley is one of the 81 schools in England selected to be designated as a new teaching school hub.
Mrs Rachel Waugh, Principal at Painsley Catholic College commented, ““We are delighted to have been successfully designated as a teaching school hub. It is an important development for the continued professional development of teachers and leaders in education. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of training to ensure the highest quality of teaching and leadership in schools for the benefit of the staff and young people we serve.”
The teaching school programme was announced in 2019 and was followed by a procurement to successfully appoint six test and learn hubs.
The 81 new hubs will be rolled out in addition to those six existing test & learn TSH, meaning there will be nationwide coverage for the first time, and that every school in England will now have access to a local centre of excellence for teacher training.
81 hubs will be added in all corners of the country to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders at all stages of their career and play a key role in helping to build up trainee teachers as they enter the workforce. This will further level up the quality of teaching, allowing every child to receive a world-class start in life no matter where they are born.
Each hub, all of which will be operational and helping schools from this September, will have its own defined geographical patch and will be expected to be accessible to all schools within that area, serving on average around 250 schools each.
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Thank you to all who donated to our 'Miles for Mary' we have raised an amazing £604!!
Fri 09 Oct 2020 -
Please read our weekly bulletin, with latest information for parents 04.09.20
Fri 04 Sep 2020 -
Coronavirus - Latest information for parents
Fri 28 Feb 2020Coronavirus: latest Information from Public Health England
Posted by school: 28th February, 2020
What are the signs and symptoms of this new virus?
The symptoms of this new coronavirus (now known as COVID-19) include fever and respiratory symptoms including coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath. The current evidence is that most cases appear to be mild.
If you have returned from these specific areas since February 19, you should call NHS 111 and stay indoors and avoid contact with other people even if you do not have symptoms:
- Iran
- Specific lockdown areas in the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Northern Italy as designated by the Government of Italy
- Daegu or Cheongdo in South Korea
- Hubei province (returned in the past 14 days)
If you have returned from these areas since February 19th and develop symptoms, however mild, you should stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS 111:
- Northern Italy (defined as North of Pisa but not including Pisa, Florence and Rimini)
- Vietnam
- Cambodia
- Laos
- Myanmar
If you have a cough, or fever or shortness of breath and have visited any of the following areas in the last 14 days
- China
- Thailand
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
- Hong Kong
- Taiwan
- Singapore
- Malaysia
- Macau
Stay indoors and call NHS 111 informing them of your recent travel to the city.
What does self-isolation mean for people who don’t have symptoms?
Just like when you have the flu, individuals should remain at home and should not go to work, school or public areas. Where possible, individuals should avoid having visitors to their home but it is ok for friends, family or delivery drivers to drop off food. Individuals should not use public transport or taxis until 14 days after their return from Wuhan.
Individuals should monitor their symptoms and call NHS 111 (or your national alternative) if they develop any of the following symptoms – fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.
How does this new coronavirus spread – I’m concerned I could catch it?
Because it's a new illness, we do not know exactly how it spreads from person to person, but similar viruses spread by cough droplets or sneeze droplets. These droplets fall on people in the vicinity and can be directly inhaled or picked up on the hands and transferred when someone touches their face.
How long any respiratory virus survives will depend on a number of factors; for example:
- what surface the virus is on
- whether it is exposed to sunlight
- differences in temperature and humidity
- exposure to cleaning products
Under most circumstances, the amount of infectious virus on any contaminated surfaces is likely to have decreased significantly by 24 hours, and even more so by 48 hours.
We will continue to update you as necessary and thank you for your co-operation. For full information, please click on the following link:
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/
