12 June 2020

Dear Parents

We hope you have had a good week. At school next week we take further steps towards a wider reopening with the return of some more of our Year 6 children and Key Worker children. As many of you are now aware, the government has announced that there are no plans for other year groups to return to school before the summer holidays. In light of the fact that the children will be learning at home for longer than anticipated, we are keen to hear from all of our families and we would like to know how you are finding things from a home learning perspective. Below is a link to our parent survey. The survey shouldn’t take longer that 5 minutes - if you have more than one child at school, we would be grateful if you could complete one survey for each child. You may add your name if you wish. If there is anything you would like to share with us which isn’t covered in the survey, the last question is blank to allow you to leave any further comments. Please complete the questionnaire by 5:00pm on Monday 15 June. Thank you in advance for taking part.

https://survey.kuwanda.com/survey/runtimex/83617f8a-b4f9-49f4-bf38-f97b7117023e?k=9fbdf7c7-f849-46a6-b7e4-bf31c8de2a51

Please remember to email your child’s teacher or school at point. Teachers may not be able to respond immediately as they are all teaching Bubbles of children in school during the day but they will answer you as soon as possible.

You may also be aware that Places of Worship are now taking steps to reopen for prayer. In light of this, Father Richard has asked that his message to parishioners is shared with you.

Dear Parishioners,

 As we prepare for the opening of our Churches for private prayer (initially at St Wulstan's in Stourport) we must have a team of stewards and cleaners. We expect that initially the church will only be open for a limited period of time and for this to happen we need volunteers to support us. Therefore, if you are deemed healthy and fit for work and NOT in the vulnerable groups (over 70 years, and/or with certain pre-existing health conditions, self-isolating or shielding) and wish to volunteer, please contact me on fr.richard.sharples@rcaob.org.uk  giving details of name, contact number, days / time when you would be able to volunteer, as well as confirmation that you are eligible. This information will be used for this exercise only and shall not be retained thereafter. Once we know how many volunteers we have we can establish stewarding and cleaning teams and rotas. If we are not successful in doing this, we will not be able to open. I am planning to return to the Parish before the end of the month. Thank you for your support. Fr Richard

Mrs Tasker, keen organiser of our annual ‘Talent Show’ , is not deterred by lockdown and sends the children this message

This year’s end of year Talent Show will take place via the school Facebook page. In the final weeks of term, we will be asking you to send us short videos of your talents for us to share. Over the next few weeks, it would be a good idea to start practising your routine! We can’t wait to see what talents you entertain us with this year! 

Mr Tasker, our PE Lead, is equally committed to ensuring the children’s enjoyment of sport continues in lockdown and sends this message.

Last week we saw the launch of this year's Worcestershire School Games. Due to the current climate, instead of cancelling the games the sports partnerships decided to provide competition and promotion of key values in a 'virtual' format. The children throughout Worcestershire and in our school have been completing challenge and activities set by the organisers. This week, children have been competing in the 'Speed Jumps' activity and have started designing Worcestershire Virtual School Games flags or posters which promote the key values of honesty, teamwork, self-belief, respect, passion, and determination, alongside the importance of inclusion within sport. We have already received some fantastic entries for the flag/poster competition which closes on Friday 26th June, but we would love to see more. 

Our CSEL and Directors of St Nicholas Owen MAC are a constant support to all our schools during this period of partial school closure. As well as this, they have spent considerable time recently on the future development of the company. A consultation letter for Parents has been uploaded to the school website regarding the intention to join the St Nicholas Owen and St Catherine of Siena MACs to create one larger Multi Academy Company. Please take time to read this important letter which can be found under the Parent Information tab on the school website. Thank you

Once again, your children’s photographs from home are a joy to receive and thank you for continuing to send them to us. We hope you enjoy them.

God bless and take care, from all the staff

Well done to all our children!