9 December 2022

Dear Parents and Carers

We had a wonderful evening on Tuesday as we began our Christmas celebrations. We have enjoyed a lovely festive atmosphere as we celebrated Advent and Christmas with our KS2 Christmas Carol Service. It highlighted how talented the children of St Wulstan’s are, and how they rise to every occasion. The children spoke with clarity and confidence and sang beautifully. I, along with all the staff, am incredibly proud of our children as I know you, their parents, must also be. Well done children! I would like to thank all the staff who worked so hard to prepare the children for this event.

We are now eagerly awaiting our KS1 Nativity Play on Monday, at 2.15pm and again at 6.30pm. The children have practised so hard and we are sure it will be a lovely opportunity to see them act out and sing the Christmas story. The children will need to return to school at 6.00pm on Monday for the evening performance.

Today was 'Christmas Jumper Day' and there were some lovely and very imaginative jumpers on display. Thank you to all those parents who made such very generous donations to our local foodbank. We will take your donations to the Kidderminster Food Bank next week and I know they will be very gratefully received. Thank you for your generosity and kindness.

This afternoon, the children have  taken part in Kemp Hospice's Rudolph Run. The children ran a few laps of the school field in order to raise money for KEMP. All the children then had the opportunity to become 'Healthy Elfies' with a range of fun and festive activities set up by our Sports Crew who did a wonderful job of supporting our younger children and setting up the stations. There is a Just Giving link below for anyone who would like to make a donation to KEMP hospice. 

St Wulstan's Catholic Primary School is fundraising for KEMP Hospice (justgiving.com)

We have many families in our community who have been greatly supported by KEMP Hospice. We are sure any donation large or small would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy the photographs!

We are very aware of both cost of living and environmental concerns so we feel it would be lovely this year if the children rather than send everyone a card just send in one card to the whole class. The children can read out their card and messages to their class mates and then pin them up around their class Christmas tree.

Thursday 15 December is our Christmas Party Day- a major highlight in the life of St Wulstan’s children (and staff!) Children come in their party clothes and an exciting day of festivities ends with a gift from a very special person! Please remember lunch is sausage and chips all provided by school so your child will not require a packed lunch or hot meal order on that day.

On Friday morning at 9.15 am Fr Richard will celebrate our end of term Christmas Mass in the school hall. Please join us for this lovely occasion to come together, attend Mass and sing carols. We would like to invite everyone to join us for tea, coffee and mince pies afterwards , all are welcome .

Thank you so much to the many family and friends who were able to attend our ’Book and a Biscuit’ session on Wednesday. There was a lovely buzz around the school as children enjoyed sharing reading (and the biscuits, of course!). We loved being able to welcome you all into school.  It was also wonderful to share a reading workshop with so many of our families afterwards with Mrs Tasker, our English Lead. Resources shared at the workshop are available on the school website (in ‘Reading at St Wulstan’s’ under the ‘Key Information’ tab), but please do let your child’s class teacher if you would like any further information. A link to a very short reading survey has been sent to you via email, School Life messaging and the Facebook and we would welcome your feedback to help us plan future events.

Reception class had an exciting start to the week when they discovered part of the classroom had been transformed into an elf workshop. The children have been busy decorating the tree, wrapping presents and writing cards.

In Year 3, the children have been finding out about pulley systems and how they can be used to make it easier to lift things. They looked at several different ways that a pulley can work before setting out to produce their own annotated design. Year 3 then began to create their design using a range of different materials of their choice, including recycled materials and even Lego. When they are complete, the children will test and evaluate them to see how well they work.  

 This week Year 6 pupils have been investigating how and why their bodies change with exercise. Over this term, the children have developed a greater awareness of their hearts and how they work. They also collected evidence by making observations and measurements. Finally, they plotted those measurements on graphs.

This week Reception and Year 1 turned into Super Scientists and tested materials to see if they floated or sunk. Some of the children even linked their learning to last week’s lesson on absorbent and waterproof materials!

As part of their Advent preparations, Year 4 have assembled Jesse Trees in groups and shared their understanding of them with other year groups in school. Having prior knowledge of many of the stories found on a Jesse Tree, the class were able to share lots of information about Jesus’s ancestors. The children recognised the importance of these ancestors and could share some of the actions and behaviours they showed in their lives, recognising how copying many of these actions will help them grow and prepare during this season.  Well done Year 4 !

At the end of last week, Year 5 had a visit from Mr Mallinson to further prepare for their upcoming Pyramid Concert. The children had to record a video that will introduce their song on the night. Everyone did a great job and we look forward to sharing the video with our grown ups at the concert in the New Year. We have also been using our new performance skills this week preparing videos for an imaginary nature programme called, ‘Life’. Each group had to reflect upon their learning from our science topic this half term and compare the life cycles of the various animals and plants that we have studied. Everyone was very knowledgeable and could share some wonderful facts. It was also lovely to see everyone work together with respect and maturity. Well done Year 5!

 There is obviously concern regarding a general increase in Strep A cases. Please see attached a letter regarding this from our CSEL, Mrs Suzanne Horan. You will also have received this through your email.

A message from our Wyre Forest Sports Partnership

As we approach the end of 2022, looking after our physical and mental health remains incredibly important. The information, tips and links you will find within this newsletter are to support the whole family (adults and children) to improve their overall wellbeing through opportunities that are linked to the ‘5 Ways to
Wellbeing’. The All Active Academy would like to wish schools and families across the district a very Merry Fitmas & a Happy New Year!

As we are now halfway through the season of Advent  we begin our preparation towards Christmas. 

Advent Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe.

You sent your Son to be the Light of the world and to

spread his light of love to all.

As we light the candles of this wreath

May its growing brightness remind us of the approaching

nearness of your Son

So that the day of His coming may find us prepared and

filled with joy.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We wish everyone a lovely weekend as we look to a really enjoyable last week of term before Christmas

KE Savage

Principal