Friday 8 March 2019

Dear Parents

It has been another very busy week in school .At the beginning of the week two of our Year 5 children, accompanied by Mrs Freitas, attending a Prayer Leaders training session with other Worcestershire children at Blessed Edward Oldcorne High School in Worcester. They have returned with some new ideas of how they can plan and lead prayer in our school and develop a team of leaders. Every Thursday each class worship is planned and led totally by the children and these liturgies are a joy to experience. The children’s reverence and enthusiasm brings so much to everyone involved. Our leaders will hopefully now further enhance this with their future plans.

On Tuesday we welcomed Burlish football team over for a friendly match. Despite several downpours the children played on valiantly and were rewarded with a win of 7-5 .Both teams showed great sportsmanship and thoroughly enjoyed the match. Well done children!

This morning our Under 9 and Under 11 football teams participated in the annual CTA  tournament. Mr Tasker said:

Today, in this year’s CTA Football Competitions, our school’s Under 9s and Under 11s teams made it out of their groups to the semi-finals. The Under 9s went on to finish a fantastic 3rd place with the Under 11s losing narrowly to finish 4th. All the children demonstrated great character and team spirit to work collectively to compete. In times of disappointment and frustration the children showed great maturity and supported each other.

The children who took part are: Harriet, William S, Finlay, Coben, Tyler, George, Austin, Ryan, Morgan, William K, James, Oliver B, Oliver T, Alex, Theo, Liam, Kieron and Aiden.

A big thank you to the parents who offered help, support and guided the children in some of the matches. Having parents offering to help is always really appreciated.

Tomorrow, the netball players have their own opportunity to compete against Catholic Schools in Worcestershire and we wish them the very best of luck.

Last Monday evening as part of our participation in the Stourport Sports Partnership, the netball team took part in week one of the local schools netball league. They won three matches and drew one, a fabulous start. We couldn’t be more proud of our teams as they always show excellent sportsmanship and determination to do their best and are very worthy competitors. They play well together as a team and it is lovely to see how they have developed their skills over the last year. Our thanks go to all the staff and parents who support our girls but particularly to Mrs Hannah Gariff for the time she has given so generously and all work she has done with the girls. Tomorrow, Saturday 9^th, our Under 9s and Under 11s girls will part in the Catholic Teachers’ Association annual Netball Tournament. We look forward to sharing news of their achievements next week. Good luck girls! 

The children had great fun in school this week as we celebrated World Book Day, with everyone really getting into the spirit of the day! As World Book Day has grown and become more commercialized it would be very easy for this to become just a ‘Fancy Dress Day’ and lose the focus of the exploration and enjoyment of literature. However this was not the case in school as the children delved deep into their class text.

For example, Year 3 actually became Charlie’s chocolate factory, creating their own chocolate , designing personalized wrappers , discussing the flaws and strengths of each character and ending the day enjoying story time munching on their chocolate. Year 5 were fabulous with their great sense of humour, swapping ’traditional images’ as they engaged in ‘Bill’s New Frock’. The book provoked much discussion on sterotypes and we were so impressed by the children’s maturity and brilliant sense of fun. There were some wonderful costumes with the prize of a book being given to the best costume in each class. It was an extremely difficult decision in every class as you will see from the photographs. Thank you to all parents and grandparents for supporting this event. Each child received a money off book voucher which as well as accepted at major book shops can be used at school book fairs.

On Wednesday we also enjoyed the treat of live drama as the Hobgoblin Theatre company performed ’The Greatest Fairy Tale ever told!’ The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and their laughter was infectious. These are always memorable events and impact greatly on the children. Thank you to parents who donated to the cost. If you have not yet done so payment is through Parentpay. Thank you. Our Book Fair will be open until next Tuesday evening in the school hall  selling a wide range of books from Reception age to young teens. I would like to thank Mrs Tasker,our English Lead, for organizing the Theatre visit, World Book Day, book swap and the Book Fair. The week has taken a lot of her time in order to enrich the children’s love of books. We were delighted this week to welcome six new members into our school community. Cute, fluffy and absolutely adorable we have six baby ducklings in Year 1. As I write they are not yet named but hopefully a decision will be made by the end of the day. The incubator of 6 eggs was delivered on Tuesday and by Wednesday all six chicks had hatched enabling the children to learn first hand about life cycles and growth. Today the children will be able to carefully hold the chicks, which will develop their understanding of caring for the world around them. Of course the rest of the school have been frequent visitors to the Year 1 classroom as well. It is an exciting and enjoyable experience and I am sure on Monday the children will be amazed to see how the chicks will have grown over the weekend.

As you are aware the PTA work relentlessly to both provide fun events and raise funds for our school for which we are extremely grateful. Mrs Mandi Crummey has for many years been our PTA Treasurer and given many ,many hours of her time freely but feels now is time to hand over her role. On behalf of the whole school community I would like to thank her for all her time and support. In light of this we will need to elect a new Treasurer. There will be a PTA meeting on Wednesday 27 March at the Brintons Arms at 7pm. Please come along to join in the discussion of events planned for this term and next- Summer Fayre, Disco etc. If you would like to stand for the Treasurer role please come along  or would like further information on what it entails please speak to me or contact Kim Ball or Hannah Gariff. Thank you.

Please look in your child’s book bag this evening with a letter regarding  Sunday’s Mass with Bishop Byrne and a reminder for Year 3 children regarding First Holy Communion. The school calendar on the website has been updated with some holiday dates so please check to update your diaries.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

KE Savage