12 October 2018

Dear Parents                                                                                  

Thank you to the parents and teachers who attended our PTA AGM. I am delighted to say that Kim Ball is our new Chairperson and will soon be contacting all parents with details of several events for children and parents this term. Please look out for further information in your child’s book bag and on the PTA noticeboard next week. Our next ever popular PTA children’s cake sale will restart this term. The first will be held on Tuesday 23 October. Letters will be sent out soon requesting donations from specific classes. My thanks for both donations and to all the mums who organize and run these sales. For families new to the school a guide to cake sales! Every half term our wonderful mums organize a sale of cupcakes , cake bars etc. Each class in turn receives a letter requesting donations of cakes on a particular day. The children can bring in 30p on that day to purchase a cake at playtime. It is extremely popular with the children and raises funds towards the extras that the school budget cannot cover.

Parents Evening will be held on Wednesday 7 November 4.00-7.00pm and Thursday 8 November 5.00 - 7.00pm. Please sign up for an appointment via the school life app.

We will be holding our ‘Open Morning’ on Saturday 20 October 9.30 - 11.30 am and all current parents and prospective parents are invited to visit, chat to staff and look around the school. There will be tea and coffee in the hall providing an opportunity for prospective parents to chat more informally with myself and other staff. Please feel free to come along and take advantage of this opportunity and encourage any friends or neighbours with school age children to come along too. As I have said before there can be a misconception that only Catholic children can apply to our school. We welcome applications from all families of all or no faith. If you know of any families who are presently applying for a school place please encourage them to attend the Open morning or contact me to arrange a visit and tour of the school. Applications for Reception Class 2019 must be completed online by 15 January 2019. Year 6 children will be asked to attend our Open morning to act as guides. Our children are our best ambassadors and I am sure many parents like to hear of a child’s view of their school as well as the staff’s view. If your child would like to attend please return the permission slip to the office. Our school features in a whole school advertisement in this week’s ‘Shuttle’. Please look out for it and share with parents who may be interested in applying for a place at our lovely school.

Half term break will soon be upon us. After half term all children will all need to wear full winter uniform. This consists of white shirt and tie and trousers for the boys( Red polo shirts are only for summer). The girls winter uniform is white blouse and tie and grey skirt or pinafore. Can I just remind parents that culottes or trousers are not part of our girls uniform and should not be worn. I know many parents will take their children for haircuts over the half term break. Again we remind you that extreme haircuts are not acceptable. Several parents have asked what is the permitted cut and we request a Grade 3 is the shortest. Several children have had extreme haircuts recently and once grown out we request that you adhere to our uniform policy. Thank you for your support and to the many parents who double check with me before taking their child to the hairdressers.

Week commencing 19 November we will be holding our annual Scholastic ‘Half price Book Fair’. The fair will be open before and after school from the Monday afternoon. This is a good Christmas shopping opportunity as the books are popular and genuinely half price. A further bonus is the commission we earn to buy library books which the children choose. Please pop in and have a browse.

Several parents have asked for dates of Christmas celebrations . Please check the school website calendar for further updates. Specific timings will be confirmed nearer the date.

A reminder that Year 5 Mass will take place at 9.15 next Friday. Year 5 look forward to welcoming many parents and families to their Mass.

Just a long term date to put in your diaries! On Thursday 14 February our Year 5 children will be performing at Birmingham Town Hall along with children from Hagley Catholic High School and its feeder schools. This will be the 8^th annual concert at the Town Hall and they have been absolutely fantastic in previous years and this year’s concert I am sure will be equally good. Ticket for this concert will soon be available and then in the new year further details will be sent out regarding a coach for parents on the evening. There is no limit to the number of tickets you can buy so please encourage family and friends to attend.

This weekend fifteen of our children, past and present, will be taking part in a performance at the Stourport Civic in the ‘Simply Gold Show’. Good luck, Amelia, Annie, Daisy, Darcy, Emmy, Harrison, Henry, Isla, Maisie, Natalya, Roxanne, Senara, Thomasin, Sylvanna and Joshua. We look forward to hearing all about it next week. Do your best and enjoy yourselves!

Please remember if you ever have any concerns regarding your child, academic, social or emotional please speak to me or any member of the teaching staff so we can work together to solve them. If you are unable to see me at school or wish to arrange a meeting please contact me via email at secretary @wulsev.worcs.sch.uk or telephone 01299 877808.

Wishing you and your families a lovely weekend.

KE Savage