4 May 2018

Dear Parents

On Tuesday 1 May our Year 6 children joined children from other Worcestershire Catholic schools to celebrate the Good Shepherd Mass at St George's Catholic Church in Worcester. The children presented a cheque for £200 to Fr Hudson's collected from their Lenten donation boxes. Thank you to everyone who sent a donation which was the most money raised for many years. On Thursday twelve KS2 children represented school at the Parish Day of Prayer for Vocations. The day began with 10.00am Mass where the children led the singing and was followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. It is hard to express how proud we were of all the children at both Masses this week. They sang beautifully, responded clearly and confidently and showed great reverence and respect at both Masses. It was a pleasure to accompany them as they were such wonderful ambassadors of our school. Well done everyone.

Please note two new calendar dates for information meetings for our current Years 4 and 5 parents to hear about the residential trips to Manor Adventure and Alton Castle planned for September. The meetings, on May 22 at 3.35 will be held in the classrooms, are for children and parents.

Also on Tuesday 8 May at 6.30pm we will be holding a meeting at church for the parents of children in Year 3 who will be receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in June. It is important at least one parent attends this meeting.

Year 6 children have been working very hard preparing for their SATs tests which begin on Monday 14 May. It is very important that all Year 6 children are in school for these tests as the results of these tests are used by the High Schools when they are putting children into sets for Year 7. As we have done in previous years the children are invited to arrive at school early for the four days of testing to join their classmates for a breakfast of toast and fruit juice at 8.30am each morning.

Well done to Chloe and Macey in Year 4.Our budding gardeners have been busy growing wild flowers from seed, at home. These were kindly donated to our school's 'Gardening Club'. During lunchtime club on Thursday, these were planted out in the new wooden boxes on the bank and will be a colourful and scented addition for us and the wildlife to enjoy. Thank you girls.

The Gardening Club will be collecting raspberries at the end of term to make jam. Any donations of empty baby food jars would be gratefully received =for this activity. These can be left in the box in the school's office, thank you.

The parents of Year 6 children transferring to Hagley will have received information letters this week from Mr McArdle. Please sign up for the parent meeting on July 3 via the school life app.

On Sunday 13 May, school will lead the singing and readings at Mass. We hope to see as many of our families there as possible but it would be good to see all our Year 3 children who are soon to receive their First Holy Communion at that Mass. As part of Christian Aid week this Mass will be followed by a BIG BREKKIE event over in the church garden. Maple syrup and fruit pancakes will be on sale which I am sure will be very popular. Christian Aid is a charity that works tirelessly to alleviate the pain and suffering caused by war and natural disasters. Please support their work by enjoying pancakes and drinks whilst raising funds.

As I mentioned earlier we were so proud of our children this week in so many ways. I would like to add that it is noticeable how smart and well presented they were at these events. Thank you to everyone who ensured their children wore smart winter uniform and it was so evident extra care had been taken with neatly tied back or plaited hair and polished shoes. It was very much appreciated. Thank you.

We hope you have a lovely Bank holiday weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

K E Savage

Principal