Year 6 Leavers Events

We are looking for some parents of Year 6 children who would be willing to help with organising Year 6 leavers hoodies and year books. If you can help with this, please contact the school office. 

St Ives Rotary Club Writer and Photographer competitions 2025/26

‘Happiness in Nature’

St Ives Rotary Club would like to invite your child to enter their Young Writer and Young Photographer competitions. Please refer to the attached guidance about each competition.

Writing Competition information

Photography Competition information

Closing date

The closing date for the competitions is on or before Monday 23^th February 9am.

Please can your child give their writing or photography entry to their class teacher or the school office. The school will pass all the entries onto a member of St Ives Rotary Club for judging.

Good luck everyone.

from

The Octagon School Cluster group and St Ives Rotary Club

School Uniform and Lost Property

The school uniform dress code is as follows: 

• Black or grey trousers, shorts, skirts or pinafores 
• White or red polo shirt (with or without school logo)
• Red cardigan, or sweatshirt (with or without school logo)
• Red and white summer dress (we request no play suits in EYFS, please)
• Plain white, grey or black socks or tights
• Sensible black shoes (sandals may be worn in the summer but these need to be practical for indoor and outdoor learning and play)
• A sun hat for hot days and a waterproof coat for cold/wet days which are suitable/appropriate for school and weather conditions.

Our PE Kit - children come to school in their PE kit on PE days -please ensure it is appropriate for the weather conditions.

• Black, grey or navy shorts
• Plain short-sleeved T-Shirt in your child's house colour (with or without school logo) - red, blue, purple, yellow or green
• Black, grey or navy jogging bottoms/leggings
• Plain jumper or hooded top which is appropriate for PE sessions, i.e. does not restrict movement and provides warmth for outdoor PE
• Trainers for outdoor PE with good grip
• Plain sports socks

Children should not be coming to school in any other items of clothing.

Whilst we ask for our children to have specific items of clothing in certain colours, as you can see there is flexibility within this and items do not have to have the school logo on and do not have to be from a specific shop or a specific brand.  We do use the company 'Total clothing' to provide our logo imprinted clothing/items (details of which can be found below) but you do not have to purchase them.

Our PTA ( PTA@swavesey.cambs.sch.uk ) have a permanent stock of 'pre-loved' uniform items and the poster below provides details of how to enquire about this second-hand clothing.

Please make sure that you label every item of your child's school uniform. Every week we have multiple 'lost' items that we cannot return as they are unnamed. If it is named, it will be returned to its owner!

Please find below links to all the key information about your child's learning this term. All this information is available on the school website, and you may follow these links to find updates about: Termly Newsletters, Termly Topic Overviews and Homework Menus. 

Upcoming events: 

Thurs 5th March - World Book Day chocolate sale 

Colour Run (this has been postponed - new date to follow)

Friday 27^th March - Non-Uniform

School PE Days

Just a quick reminder of the PE Days for each of the classes - Please can children come to school on these days wearing their PE kit. Not all classes in a phase have PE on the same day, so please check the class names in brackets to to see which classes this links to. 

Reception: Wednesday & Thursday
Year 1/2: Monday & Wednesday (Foxes & Otters) & Thursday (Squirrels)
Year 3/4: Monday (Swans) & Tuesday & Friday (Badgers & Kingfishers)
Year 5/6: Tuesday & Wednesday (Ravens and Swallows) Tuesday & Thursday (Owls)

Message from School Gardening Club

The School Gardening Club is continuing the work started by previous pupils, teachers and volunteers. We meet every Monday lunchtime from 1215, giving the members time to eat their lunch first.

My name is Sue Hope and I was invited to take on this project and I will be using RHS resources to help. My only ‘qualification’ is a love of gardening and working outdoors. There are so many benefits for the children and adults involved, from developing themselves to looking after their wellbeing.

We started on 10 November 2025 with a group from years 3 & 4 and we have already planted some tubs with spring bulbs and violas, as well as making a start to clear the garden area ready for planting in the spring. If you look in the borders at the front of the school you will see the four tubs and can watch for early signs of the bulbs!  We received tremendous support from Oakington Garden Centre who provided all the resources for the tubs.

On the colder sessions the children created new resources for the noticeboard with their drawings of their favourite flowers as well as a thank you letter to Oakington Garden Centre.

We have a list of items that we would like to collect for us to use next year – your help in this would be much appreciated:

• Plastic egg boxes with lids (to make mini greenhouses)
• 2pt and 4pt plastic milk bottles with lids (to making watering cans)
• Individual yogurt pots (125ml) (for planting beans etc)
• Large plastic screw top lids (e.g. from large coffee jars) (to plant micrograins)
• toilet roll inners

These can be dropped off at Reception into a marked box. Thank you in anticipation.

The Gardening Club will start again after half term on Mon 23 Feb and any other information is currently sent out via the PTA group, courtesy of Nicola Griffiths.

Another request for help is for volunteers to help for a couple of hours on a Monday, from 1130-1330 if possible.  I can only help 10 children at the moment, so the more volunteers the better. If you know anyone that would be willing to get involved in some capacity  please can you contact me direct by email sueollive@solomail.co.uk, subject School Gardening Club. You would need to go through the school DBS check but if you initially want a chat then we can arrange to meet to discuss.

There are great plans for the development of the garden and other resources and your support in any way, from items donated, help in a practical way and encouraging your children to take part, will be much appreciated.  The aim is to encourage the children to get involved and benefit from doing activities outdoors, increase their wellbeing, develop skills of teamwork and communication as well as learning where their food comes from. The current members already say they have fun and enjoy being in the fresh air, as well as the feel of the soil. Apologies in advance for the state of their clothes!

One measure of the success will be when we are in a position to meet the criteria to apply for the RHS School Garden Awards.  You will be updated and there will be information on the noticeboard, opposite the Reception office and in future newsletters

Thank you for reading this and I hope I can count on your support in this project.

Sue Hope, Volunteer

Some of you may know me as Miss Bennett (I’m a supply teacher at Swavesey and have taught all of the students at some point over my time here). This year, I’m taking on a charity challenge: driving a rickshaw over 1,200km across India as part of a fundraising rally.

I’m fundraising to support projects that help improve access to education, wellbeing and support for women and girls; values that strongly reflect what we encourage in school every day: resilience, courage and kindness.

If you are able, I would be incredibly grateful for any support. My goal is to raise £1200 to reflect £ per kilometre of my journey, finishing on International Women’s Day on 8th March and every contribution — no matter the size — makes a real difference.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for the continued support you show our school community.

Donation link: https://gofund.me/2e 

Parents Helpline | Mental Health Help for Your Child | YoungMinds

Guitar Lessons

Our resident guitar teacher, Mr Cory, may now have some available 30min slots (£19.25 per session) and/or 15min slots (£9.62 per session)! If your child is age 7 or above and interested in learning the guitar, please contact Mr Cory via email at jimmypagefans@hotmail.com.

Please include:- pupils name, parent/guardian name, school name, class teachers name for 25/26 term, home address & mobile phone number. Please book early to avoid disappointment. Please note if you have already been added to my waiting list, you will be the first to be offered any spaces that become available.

Join Cambridge United for their February Soccer Schools from Monday 16th February – Friday 20th February and have an unforgettable Half Term of footballing fun! More details here.

Pupil Premium 

Pupil Premium is extra funding given to schools to help children who may face barriers to learning—such as those from low-income families, in care or adopted, or with parents in the armed forces.

If you receive benefits like Income Support or income-based JSA/ESA, your child may qualify. Even if your child gets Universal Free School Meals (Reception–Year 2), you must still apply to unlock Pupil Premium funding.

For more information see: Pupil Premium Information

SEND, Safeguarding, Health and Wellbeing Links

SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) information can be accessed through our SEND website pages here

Safeguarding Information - please click here for our Safeguarding page especially should you have concerns relating to the safeguarding of our children and families.  Please click here to go directly to our Safeguarding policy.

Attendance Policy - please click here for the school's attendance policy. It is vitally important parents and carers are aware of their responsibilities and the formal processes for attendance matters.  The NHS have created a useful webpage to support decision-making when children are unwell - you can click here for the link.

SEMH (Social Emotional Mental Health) resources for parents - Please click here to access an overview sheet with signposted resources for you to use at home to support your children.  The overview sheet can also be found at the bottom of the SEND page on our website here.  

H.A.Y Cambridgeshire Community Wellbeing support -  How Are You South Cambs? | Home (haysouthcambs.co.uk)

NHS Mental Health Services - www.keep-your-head.com and SHOUT - a new Text service on 85258 which provides real-time support to people of all ages who are struggling with their mental health (text the word HEAR to 85258).

Chat Health is a NHS confidential NHS service for help and advice. It’s safe and easy for you to speak to a qualified health professional. Just send a message, you don’t have to give your name. Discreet and quick. It only takes one message to start making a difference. You’ll get confidential advice from trained health staff in your area. Click here to access the site to start a web chat today.

NHS Pharmacy First Service - the NHS Pharmacy First Service enables children and adults to get convenient access to healthcare advice and treatment where appropriate, for seven common conditions without the potential delay of having to wait for a GP appointment. There is no need to make an appointment; parents or carers can pop into their local Pharmacy with their child and ask for help under the service.

Support for the following conditions can be accessed under the service, free of charge (unless NHS prescription charges apply):