The recent snowy weather has been great fun for all the children. They have enjoyed building snowmen and playing in the snow during playtimes.

Can I remind parents that, during these winter months, it is important that the children are dressed appropriately so that they can keep warm. The children should have a warm coat, a hat, gloves and scarf. Can I also ask parents to be extra careful when entering or leaving the school premises so as to avoid any slippages or falls. Thank you.

Mr LJ Duncan

Our children were centre stage last night at the Mayor of Seaham’s Ecumenical Service at Christ Church, Seaham. They sang a piece of music from ‘Peacechild’ and performed a very moving liturgical dance to the music Silent Night. Thank you to all who attended this very festive event.

On Friday 24^th November our children celebrated a Youth Friday ’17 liturgy in school. The focus was to celebrate and remember our diocesan youth service. Our Youth Friday theme was ‘Yes! The mighty has done great things for me.’ Our Year 4 children attended a liturgy at St Joseph’s, Murton, along with our other cluster schools. During this time the children were introduced to our new Partnership prayer as part of ‘Forward together in Hope’. The prayer was written by children from St Mary Magdalen’s and includes parts of the mission statements of all our cluster schools. The logo was designed by Ami Simpson, a past pupil of our school.

Dear Parent/Carer,

Please find in the school performance section of our website a copy of the final Ofsted inspection report, following our short inspection by Fiona Manuel (Her Majesty’s Inspector), carried out on 1^st November 2017. I am delighted to share the main findings of the inspection with you and I am pleased to inform you that our school continues to be Good and safeguarding is effective.

The report highlights many positive aspects of our school and acknowledges all the hard work carried out by all members of staff since our last inspection. It identifies our school as a calm and industrious environment where a culture of warmth, inclusivity and good humour prevails. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength and pupils attend well and enjoy coming to school.

At St Mary Magdalen’s all staff continually strive to ensure the children in our care receive a full and well-rounded education. The inspection report highlights that many parents agree that this is certainly the case. One parent’s view encapsulated the views of many passed onto the inspector, ‘This is a fabulous school that is entirely focused on the spiritual, educational and emotional well-being of its pupils.’

Thank you for your continued support

Mr L J Duncan

Dear Parents/Carers,

I have been informed today that our school will be inspected tomorrow (1st November). I have attached a letter from the Lead Inspector outlining information for all parents of pupils within school (please click the link below). A hard copy of this letter will be sent out with your child tonight.

Pupil Questionnaire –

Ofsted is inspecting your school and, would like to hear your views. You can do this by completing an online pupil questionnaire at the following link:

ofsted.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Pupil/10032055

Your views are really important to us and, will help inspectors understand your experience of school. The questionnaire will close at 11am on 1st November 2017 to give the inspector time to look at the results. The questionnaires work in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 11, and on mobiles and tablets when you copy and paste the link into the browser. We do not ask you your name, so you will not be identified from the responses you make.

Kind Regards,

Mr L J Duncan

Letter to parents

I would like to wish all of our staff, children and  families a fun filled and restful half term holiday. School will re-open on Monday 30th October 2017.

Mr L J Duncan