1 March 2019

Dear Parents

I hope everyone had a restful half term holiday and enjoyed the lovely weather. Thank you to everyone who attended this week’s Parents’ Evenings, your completion of our questionnaires and the extremely positive and supportive comments.  These meetings are so valuable for both parents and teachers to enable us to work together to achieve the best outcomes for your children. Thank you.

This morning Year 4 celebrated Mass for the Feast of St David, Patron of Wales, a saint very close to the hearts of many staff! It was as ever a very reverent and prayerful Mass in which Year 4 children prayed, read and served with great maturity and enthusiasm. It was lovely to welcome so many families and parishioners to share this with us.

Next week the School Book Fair will be arriving and will be open after school each evening from Wednesday 6 March at 3.30 until it is collected again on Tuesday 12 March. It will also be open in the mornings before school, from 8.30 am starting on Thursday 7 March. The standard of reading at St Wulstan's has always been very high and this is in no small part due to the support and encouragement parents give to their children. So if you are thinking of looking for more reading material for your child, do come and have a look at the books on offer at the Book Fair. Sales from the last Book Fair meant school received free scholastic books These were purchased solely from the commission earned .These are now be available to the children in our school library. Every book purchased by you enables us to enhance the library and hence your child's experience of reading so thank you.

Next Thursday 7 March ,the whole school will participate in ‘World Book Day’  by dressing up as book characters.from their class text, as highlighted in the letter sent home before half term. This is always an exciting day in school and I am sure this year will be no exception. The children will all receive a £1 book voucher and will have the opportunity to visit the Book Fair with their class. If you wish your child to buy a book they can also bring money in on Thursday to put with their voucher.

The day before, Wednesday 6 March, we will be welcoming a theatre group to school to enhance the children’s experience. These opportunities are expensive but so enjoyable so we are asking for a donation of £3.50 towards the cost. Unfortunately, with school budgets as they are, without donations we cannot afford these enrichment opportunities so we would be grateful for your contribution. Payments can be made via Parentpay. Thank you.

Next week our Under 9 and Under 11 football and netball teams will be competing against Catholic schools from across Worcestershire in the CTA tournaments. The children have been playing together for some time now in their Wednesday and Thursday clubs and we have high hopes of success. The football tournament will take place on Friday 8 March at Winterfold school. Please look out for the letter sent this week regarding permission to travel, school arrival time and final details. The netball tournament takes place on Saturday 9 March in Worcester. Please look out for a letter tonight with final details this coming week. We wish all four teams the very best of luck and look forward to sharing their news next week.

This Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday and once again the PTA have kindly offered to sell pancakes at playtime. As usual there will be a variety of toppings available and the children can choose which they would like on the day. If you would like your child to have a pancake please send them with 50p on the day. My thanks once again to the ladies who organize the preparation and sale of these treats.

On Ash Wednesday (9.15am) we will be celebrating a whole school Mass and ashes will be distributed. Please join us for this Mass as we begin our journey through Lent. We will be encouraging the children to focus on doing something positive during this season of Lent as part of their preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

Finally, a reminder that our next School Mass at church is at 10.00 am next Sunday 10 March. Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Robert who is visiting the parish that weekend. We would  wish the school to be a very strong presence at this Mass to read and to sing so please make every effort to attend  and support our school and parish. We encourage and welcome all families, Catholic and non Catholic to attend as part of our school and parish community.

Wishing you a lovely weekend

KE Savage

Year 4 Class Mass 'St David's Feast Day'