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Newsletter 23rd January 2026

Head Teacher's Message It has been a super first two weeks back at school. Even the rainy weather has not dampened our enthusiasm for learning and spending quality time with our teachers and friends. In collective worship, we have enjoyed finding out about the 100th birthday of the Diocese of Blackburn. Our diocese is made up of a family of local churches and church of England schools. The theme of the celebrations, which will be ongoing throughout this year, is ‘All for Jesus’. Rev Nikki led a worship on what that means to us and gave us a sneak preview of all of the exciting things we will learning about and joining in with as the year goes on.   We are also looking forward to our first ever ‘Careers Week’ in the week commencing 2nd February. Mrs Heywood has taken on the challenge of leading on our ‘Take Care of our Future’ school rule. She has already introduced and leads on our School Parliament but now she has organised an exciting careers week where the children will find out more about what jobs they may aspire to have in the future and how that ambition may help shape them as learners now. We look forward to sharing more about it via Dojo!  In the meantime, I wish you all a lovely relaxing weekend. Thank you for your continued support. Best wishes Mrs Gaffiney

Newsletter 9th January 2026

Headteacher’s Message Happy New Year to all of our lovely families at Skerton St Luke’s. I hope you all enjoyed a magical Christmas with your loved ones and that you managed to also find some time to rest and relax. I personally really love a new year – it feels like a blank page, a chance to reset and refocus, as well as an exciting opportunity to make plans for new adventures. As a staff team, we are excited to be back in school and continuing to work hard for our pupils. We welcome back Mrs Wood from maternity leave who has resumed her role as Year 3 class teacher. It is lovely to have her back and to see the class so settled already is a real compliment to her. In a few weeks, we will be launching an exciting new project to support with getting to school every day and making sure that we are on time. These are really important targets for us to continue to focus and work on so watch this space for more information and how all of our families can get involved!

Newsletter 12th December 2025

A Message from Mrs Gaffiney What a brilliant term it has been! The children of our wonderful school continue to impress me with their behaviour, attitude to learning and open hearts. I feel so proud to be your Headteacher. As I look back, there are so many things to celebrate that it would take the whole newsletter to list them but I would like to share just a few of my personal highlights: Building relationships – I have loved getting to know you all better. Skerton is truly a special place to work and learn and that is the result of the wonderful community (children, families and staff) that come together and work consistently in the best interests of the children we serve. Thank you for all your ongoing support – we really do appreciate it. Setting a new mantra to guide us as a staff team: Every child matters. Every minute counts. We are building cathedrals. This has been so useful in framing our whole staff approach to all aspects of school life, demonstrating our continued commitment to working tirelessly to ensure that every single pupil has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Expectations and aspirations always remain high. Celebration worships – I love coming together on a Friday morning as a whole community to share in our pupils’ efforts and achievements all in the light and love of God. It is lovely to see so many of you there. I would love to get parents more involved in the worship so do let me know if you would like to play an active part, such as saying the prayer, or have any other ideas for getting involved. The Christmas nativities and plays – it is MAGICAL to see the children performing with such confidence. They brought a massive smile to my face as well as a tear to my eye so I’m sure you all found it very emotional too. Their joy and celebration is what Christmas is all about. For me having the privilege of seeing these special moments is when Christmas officially starts. This will be the last newsletter of 2025 so I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very magical and merry Christmas and send you my very best wishes and prayers for the new year to come. I look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 5th January.

Newsletter 28th November 2025

Headteacher’s Message It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks in school since our last newsletter. As we start the second half of the autumn term, it is exciting to see parts of our school development plan for this year beginning to come to life. Miss Race is leading on a sustainability project and has inspired us all to consider how we may have a fresh look at sustainable use of foods. Each class will be putting something very special together to share with you at the upcoming PTA Christmas Fayre (18th December). From things you can eat, to gifts for a treat – you will be amazed at what they can produce with produce! We are also so excited to have our new Pupil Parliament up and running. The children experienced a real taste of democracy with each class asking for nominations, nominees presenting to their classes and then the final voting. Congratulations to all those who took part, whether or not elected, as I know your teachers were simply bowled over by the effort you all put into it. The new Pupil Parliament will be a brilliant way of giving our pupils more of a voice in their school and more responsibility in making decisions to benefit the children with us now and into the future. Thank you to Mrs Heywood and Miss James for all of their hard work behind the scenes.

Newsletter 14th November 2025

Headteacher’s Message Welcome back to you all. I do hope that you had a restful half-term and enjoyed some quality family time. This is always a busy time of year in the run up to Christmas and there will be lots of exciting activities for you to join in with as a family. Please look out for announcements Via ParentApp, Dojo and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out!

Newsletter 17th October 2025

It has been an exciting week in school with lots of fantastic learning and wonderful opportunities for our children to try something new: Live- Learn- Thrive! Year 6 have transformed the school hall into an art gallery to share their amazing school portraits whilst Year 4 have been making apple juice by hand at Leighton Hall! As a staff team, this week, we have shared our vision for what we want for every child that attends Skerton St Luke’s and how we, as professionals, ensure that we do our very best every day for every single child. We are so passionate about this and really love it when we can provide opportunities to learn out of the classroom therefore really bring learning to life. We will be working now as a Senior Leadership Team to reflect on your survey feedback about how we communicate about what your children are learning so watch out for those updates soon!

Newsletter 3rd October 2025

Headteacher’s Message Thank you to all of you who managed to complete our parent survey last week. Your feedback is really important to me. It was lovely to hear about all the things that are going well and how you think we can continue to get better. We will now take some time to consider our responses so look out for our response in a couple of weeks! Please remember, you never have to wait for a survey to share your ideas or concerns with us. I’m out in the gate whenever my diary will allow and I love to chat to you all so please come and talk with me. This week, in Worship, we have explored our school vision: Live, Learn, Thrive: Love God, Love each other Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…Love your neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:27) As a new addition to the Skerton family, I have certainly felt the power of the ‘love’ at our wonderful school and I am certain that is what makes it feel so very special. Through God’s love and by following the example of Jesus Christ, we continue to build together a community centred on love, respect and care for one another which can only get stronger

Newsletter - 19th September 2025

Message from Mrs Gaffiney What a lovely start I have had in my first few weeks at Skerton St Luke’s! I have been humbled and extremely grateful for the very warm welcome I have received, from pupils, parents and staff alike, and I can’t believe how lucky I am to have been appointed the Headteacher of such a fantastic school. Thank you all. Having settled in, I am now beginning the exciting work on the priorities that we will be focussing on over the next academic year. More information will follow on this in the coming weeks so watch this space! Wishing you all a fun-filled weekend of family time, Mrs Gaffiney

Newsletter - 10th September 2025

A message from Mrs Gaffiney A very warm welcome to you all to the new academic year 2025-2026. I am absolutely delighted to be writing to you as your new Headteacher, a position which I feel very proud and privileged to hold. I first qualified as a teacher in 2003 and join you, at Skerton, from my most recent position as Headteacher at a primary and nursery school in South Derbyshire. My values and principles are very much aligned with Mrs Armistead’s so, in terms of the feel and ethos of the school, I hope you will experience very little change. I am passionate about education and believe that all children should be given every opportunity to reach their potential. Beyond classroom learning, I believe it is important to support the children in becoming positive, respectful and responsible young people, with the confidence and resilience to tackle any new challenge. Communications with our parents and carers is very important to me and I believe that if a concern arises the best way to solve it is to talk to us in school as early as you can. I feel very lucky to be working with such a capable staff team, who are equally committed to the all-round education of your children. Mrs Gaffiney

Newsletter 13th June 2025

HEADTEACHER’S MESSAGE There are lots of fun activities and trips organised for the last half of the summer term. Please keep an eye on ParentApp and Class Dojo to receive all of the latest information, including dates for special events. On Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th July, our new headteacher, Leanne Gaffiney will be visiting school to get to know everyone. Please come along to the Summer Fair on the afternoon of 3rd July. Come and introduce yourself to her so that we can make her feel really welcome as the amazing school community that we are. Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 7th May 2025

HEADTEACHER’S MESSAGE Welcome back to the Summer Term. Although it has still been quite cool in the mornings and some days, please be aware that the sun is as hot now as it is in the middle of August. Please ensure that your children are taking all precautions for sun safety. All children should have a hat or a cap, please put sun screen on your child before school. If they need to top up their sun protection throughout the day, please teach them how to do this independently. Children can have small tubes of sunscreen that can be kept in their book bags or trays. There are many activities planned for the Summer Term including lots of outdoor learning opportunities. Please keep an eye of information for this from the teachers as some of these need your permission via ParentApp in order to allow your child to take part. These activities along with swimming, residentials etc. are not just a fun time for the children, they are also a huge part of the National Curriculum and allows children to learn outdoor skills as well as resilience and team work. When these opportunities come up please ensure children dress in appropriate clothing and arrive at school on time. Whilst Sports Funding covers the cost of the activities we are holding extra fund raising to cover the cost of transport to and from the venues. Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 4th April 2025

Happy Easter Following the recent appointment process, it gives me great pleasure to let you know that governors hve appointed Mrs Leanne Gaffiney who will join the staff at Skerton St Luke’s as Headteacher in September. Mrs Gaffiney is currently headteacher at Walton-on-Trent CE Primary and Nursery School in Derbyshire. She and her family will be relocating to the area over the summer. Governors, staff and children were all involved in the recruitment process in some form and it was a resounding ‘YES’ from everyone. I have also met Mrs Gaffiney and I know she is going to fit right into St Luke’s and is full of new ideas and enthusiasm to continue to move our wonderful school forward. Congratulations and welcome! Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - 12th January 2024

Happy New Year! It has been lovely to welcome all the children back and to hear their Christmas stories. I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and managed to find some time to relax during the holiday period. The term has started smoothly and I have been impressed with how quickly the children have got back into the routine of school. There is always a lot happening at school so keep an eye on the dates, newsletter, Parent App and Dojo as we always try and give as much notice as possible to the things that are happening and any changes to planned events. Mrs Armistead

Christmas Diary Dates

Newsletter - 10th November 2023

Welcome back following our long Autumn Half Term. I hope you all had a relaxing time and that the children had a chance to play and enjoy. This half term is a very busy time in school as we prepare for Nativities and carol singing as well as getting lots of good learning happening. Please make a note of all of the activities that are coming up over the next couple of months.