Dominic's Sport Fest 2024 - Information

Tomorrow, we will be raising money for our final cause of the year, and what a cause it is. You will all know just how much it means to us to be able to raise money for Manchester Children’s Hospital - who quite simply saved Dominic’s life this year.

Here are some pointers for the day:

  • All children can come into school in any sports wear. If your child belongs to a community beyond school: football, netball, gymnastics, rainbows, scouts, dance, acting - this list goes one - then they can wear that kit or t-shirt. It would be lovely to see how many families we belong to beyond the school. We want to celebrate the feeling of family as much as we possibly can!

  • The day is being run by Year 5 and their parents. In the morning, during break times, the children will be running a cake stall for each class. If your child would like to buy a cake from the cake sale, then they need to bring in 50p for the cake sale.

  • In the afternoon, the plan is that all 240 children are outside taking part in sporting challenges, as set by Dominic and Year 5. From musical statues, to bench ball to an obstacle course - they will have lots of opportunity to get involved. Due to the whole school being outside at the same time, we will not be able to open up to parents until 3pm. Just because of space and logisitcs.

  • At 3pm the gates will open and you will be able to come in and get involved at this point. Year 5 have organised a tombola for the end of the day with a whole load of prizes. You will be able to visit the tombola stand and collect your child to do so.

  • Please don’t forget sponsor money tomorrow. Anything from £1 to whatever you can manage. It does all add up for a wonderful cause.

We have had some lovely messages from parents who have also made a donation from their businesses to support Dominic - we are blown away with your generosity!

Year 5 have organised this day to ensure that at some point, everyone is involved.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."

I am incredibly proud of our school, and I want to share that with as many people as possible. We are a special family who has a firm place in the wider community of St Annes. Over the past few weeks, we have been thinking about our global family; and where we fit into it; how we can contribute to it and how we can make it grow in love. Today in assembly, we have been looking at God’s call to go out and spread the Good News. We don’t have to be like Mother Theresa, Oscar Romero or Francis of Assisi, we can do the little things in life really well. Sometimes is it is really hard to do the right thing, it is much easier to do the wrong thing - we can only try.

Last Saturday, on a soggy morning, we had a great turn out for the Carnival Procession. Thank you to all of the children and parents who braved the conditions, with big smiles on faces, and represented our school and parish. We did have a lot of fun collecting sweets and collecting money on route.

Over the past few weeks, I have asked the Student Council to complete a mission in school; to explore with their class what it means to be a STAR. Today, all of the councillors brought back their designs and thoughts ready to share and create a consistent vision across the school. Being a star is going to be the focus of our year next year in terms of behaviour, expectations of work, contribution to school life and catholic life. Our pupils will drive this and decide just what is possible. More will come on this next week.

Looking forward to next year…

Transition tasks have taken over this week! On Wednesday, we welcomed our new Reception children into school for the first time, and all other classes moved up to meet their new teachers and see their new environments. It is always such an exciting day and enables the children to feel more relaxed about what is coming; and the staff too! Not only has transition happened within school, but in other schools as well. Our Year 6 children headed off to St Bedes to see what life will be like there, and our Year 4 children too. They went to St Bedes yesterday to take part in a prayer day with our other Catholic schools. It really was a beautiful day, full of song and prayer, and ending in a mass. Next week, Year 5 will be heading to St Bedes for a PE day; I am sure that they will have lots of fun.

The children all know who their teaching team will be next year, but with any year there is an element of change. One thing I know about our staff is that they are master plate spinners. Not only do they do what they do in school each and every day, but they are parents, coaches, Brownie leads, children themselves, all with a life beyond Our Ladys. For the past few years, Miss Neves has been completing an art degree alongside her work here in school. Ultimately she wants to be a secondary art teacher; which we know is right up her street. Next year is her final year of her degree, and for that she needs time. Time to concentrate on her work and time to complete the degree to her highest standard, alongside the other plate spinning that she does. Miss Neves will be leaving us at the end of this year to pursue her dream! We cannot thank her enough for what she has given to our school community and for the passion that she has instilled in our children, and staff! We know that whatever Miss Neves goes off to do, she will always have our support and pride - she is truly precious in our eyes!

There will be a few tweaks and changes to school life in September, nothing too major and always to enhance what we do. I don’t want to overwhelme you all at once so will be dripping it into my newsletters over the coming weeks.

As part of our School Improvement Plan next year, we will be looking at the Ethic of Excellence. How can we ensure that the offer we provide for our community is excellent and what does this look like at Our Ladys. We all have a responsibility with this in terms of the expectations that we have. Even though we have not finished this academic year, I know you will already be thinking about uniform for next year. There are no changes, I just want to reiterate our uniform expecations. The full branded items are still available at Top Marques if you require them; including the badged polo shirt. These can be requested as I know many of you prefer them. I have attached the uniform PDF for you here.

We have tried to ensure that only a few of the items are school badged, the rest can be bought easily from most shops. There has been an increase in football shorts and black creeping into school as of late. Please can you ensure that when you are buying uniform for next year, that it is blue. Navy PE shorts, plain navy jogging bottoms and navy leggings please.

Another thing to think about and solve is water bottles. We have seen the size of these mulitply in recent months, and as you can imagine, the size can interfere with the space that the children have on their table when they have their books and resources out. All children in school have a sleeve that we have had made on the back of their chair. In the sleeve, the children store their reading books, pencil cases, white boards and water bottles so that they can be accessed throughout the lesson and without any disruption to classroom routines. When purchasing new water bottles for next year, please can smaller ones be bought that fit into the space at the back of the chair. We used to have these, but they seem to have grown! All classrooms have sinks where the children can refill them. Space in classrooms are so tight, organisation is definitely key. 30 perfectly sized water bottles that fit into the back of chair sleeve would be amazing!

Next week I will share the changes to attendance, curriculum and Catholic life that we are implementing.

Our week in school…

There have been so many opportunitites in school this week, here is a flavour of what has been happening.

  • Our final enrichment session of the year took place on Monday across the school. The fact that every child in school has been taught by every teacher is just amazing. New skills beyond the curriculum have been taught and everyone has had a wonderful time.

  • Year 4 had a visit from some parents who told them about the jobs that they do. It is so important that our children can dream big and know what is possible. Thank you to the parents who gave their time so generously. We are really grateful.

  • Today our Year 5 & 6 children were visited by Natwest Money Sense Programme. Year 5 linked their session to Crime and Punishment and Year 6 to Saving our Planet. Natwest offer a whole host of sessions and we will be looking how to implement them across the school next year.

Plea from School

We are still looking for the following items for school. How can you help?

  • Scooters: do you have any old scooters at home that your children no longer play with or use, maybe they have grown out of them? We could use them in school at play times for our new scooter zone.

  • Board Games: our new Wrap Around Care Offer is in the planning stage and we are looking at our resources. We could do with some board games. Have you got any board games at home that you no longer play with? Could they be donated to school?

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learning role models of the week

Virtue butterfly award winners

Office news…

Thank you so much for everyone who has settled their dinner money balances this week. We started the week with an outstanding balance of over £1500 and we are now down to just over £500. Can you please check Parent Pay this weekend for any payments that need to be paid. I will send letters out on Monday for anything that need paying before the close of the year.

Play tickets have been steadily leaving the office this week ready for The Greatest Show in just over a week’s time. If you are a Year 5 or 6 parent, please come and get your tickets sooner rather than later. A waiting list has been established for additional tickets. All tickets are £3 each.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 1 this week with 100%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 96.2%

We also need your help! We have a missing scooter that has been taken off the school site this week at the end of the day. When Jacob went to collect it, it wasn’t there. We are hoping that someone has accidentally taken the wrong scooter. Please can you all check at home? Hopefully we will be able to return it to its rightful owner.

Next Friday, 12th July, Year 5 are organising a Sports Fest. This will be a sponsored event so that you do not need to worry. You can bring 20p to £20 - there is no minimum to get involved. Sponsor forms will be going out on Monday. On the afternoon, all children in school will be out at the same time taking part in a range of activities designed by Year 5; from dancing to racing, to football and everything in between. For the event, they would like the children to come in a kit or uniform that they belong to. For example: St Annes Football Kit, NW1 Academy t-shirt, Clifton Academy, CN Sports, Rainbows, Scouts, Sea Cadets - whatever you belong to, that is your uniform for the day. Please keep it appropriate, especially with gymnastics wear.

The class are also planning a cake sale in the morning and a tombola too! I am so proud of Year 5, Mr Cornwell and Mrs Mather for their initiative with this. We want to do what we can to support them and have lots of fun whilst doing it! Cakes will be available to be bought during morning breaktimes for 50p a cake. If the children would like to buy one, they can bring 50p in on the morning. I am assured that all dietary requirements have been catered for!

It has been lovely to see everyone in red, white and blue today with the hope of instilling some national good luck for the English Football Team tomorrow. It is always nice to have a whole-school initiative and the children look very patriotic, having fun at the same time! Last week, we also had a familiar face visit school. You may remember that last year, Stuart Robinson (wheelchair rugby superstar) visited our school to talk to the children about his sport and put them through their paces. Well, Stuart was visiting St Peters this week, and popped into school for a brew and catch up. He filled me in on his preparation for the Paralympics and his excitment at going for the gold again. We could not let the visit pass without warm wishes from us. A card was whipped up and good luck wishes sent.

I hope those who are going to festival have really enjoyed it. Fingers crossed again for England tomorrow (although I am a secret Spain fan due to the staff sweepstake). Let’s hope they can do themselves justice and overcome Switzerland!

Mrs Gregan

“Let us not become weary in doing good .”

In assembly today, we looked at how the country is required to make some big decisions next week in how it will be governed. The children watched a video about what a General Election is and what it means in terms of the Prime Minister. We thought about all of the ways that we have democracy in school: how we choose the student council, our parent governors, the new reading shed! Leadership is about being visible and being kind; next year there will be lots of opportunites to develop leadership in our pupils across the school - I cannot wait to see them in action.

In preparation for next Thursday, let’s pray that our leaders make the right choices, and lead with compassion and generosity.

Heavenly Father,

We come before you today with a heart of prayer for our world leaders. We ask that you give them wisdom and discernment as they make decisions that affect the lives of so many people.

We pray that you would give them a heart for justice and righteousness and that they would seek to bring peace and prosperity to the nations they lead.

Amen

You may have spotted our Reading Shed in the garden. This week, because we have had such beautiful weather, the shed has been open for business. On Wednesday, after a few days of office meetings, I headed out into the garden to spend some time with our children and see what they were up to; it was a hive of activity. I am hoping that next year we will be able to set up a Parent Library where you can swap books and pop in some really lovely reads. Thank you to our fundraising in school, we have been able to buy this for our children.

Next year, there will be quite a few changes in school to how we run our school day, what break time and lunch time will look like (of course with the upcoming kitchen extension), and parental opportunity too. I will start sharing things with you over the coming weeks, as to not bombard you with everything when we come back. As the summer is approaching, and we have more time to spend at home, often decluttering, we wondered if you could help us. We are in need of a few things in school:

  • Scooters: do you have any old scooters at home that your children no longer play with or use, maybe they have grown out of them? We could use them in school at play times for our new scooter zone.

  • Board Games: our new Wrap Around Care Offer is in the planning stage and we are looking at our resources. We could do with some board games. Have you got any board games at home that you no longer play with? Could they be donated to school?

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learning role models of the week

Virtue butterfly award winners

Office news…

As we approach the end of the school year, it is important that all finances are settled please on Parent Pay. School dinners is the biggest one. Next week, Mrs Nel will be sending a text message with your balance on. Please can you arrange payment by Wednesday next week. I will be sending letters out for any outstanding payments so that we can start next year on a clean slate.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 1 this week with 98.7%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 95.6%

Thank you to those who have filled in the form saying that they can walk with us at St Annes Carnival. The weather is looking better tomorrow, and hopefully dry enough for the parade at least. Roads will be closed at 9am, with the parade starting at 10.30am. We will be meeting from 9.30am onwards outside Ashton Gardens Gate on Clifton Road North. All of the children who are walking will need to be in full school uniform, looking smart, with a pair of good walking shoes for the parade. We will be walking with the parish too. The children will be walking together, with the support of staff and parents, keeping them safe. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, and seeing plenty of you on the route.

I know we have asked for so much lately, but my goodness, you have been so grateful and generous. Currently, we have raised over £1700 for Alder Hey and The Firefighter’s Charity from our Gym Jam Jog. And as it stands, over £600 for Manchester Children’s Hospital for Dominic.

On Friday 12th July, Year 5 are organising a Sports Fest. This will be a sponsored event so that you do not need to worry. You can bring 20p to £20 - there is no minimum to get involved. Sponsor forms will be going out on Monday. On the afternoon, all children in school will be out at the same time taking part in a range of activities designed by Year 5; from dancing to racing, to football and everything in between. For the event, they would like the children to come in a kit or uniform that they belong to. For example: St Annes Football Kit, NW1 Academy t-shirt, Clifton Academy, CN Sports, Rainbows, Scouts, Sea Cadets - whatever you belong to, that is your uniform for the day. Please keep it appropriate, especially with gymnastics wear.

The class are also planning a cake sale in the morning and a tombola too! I am so proud of Year 5, Mr Cornwell and Mrs Mather for their initiative with this. We want to do what we can to support them and have lots of fun whilst doing it!

God bless and have the most wonderful weekend. Let’s hope England do well on Sunday - we can then plan a red, white & blue day next week!

Mrs Gregan

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

What is a star? What is the job of a star? What does it mean to be part of Our Lady Star of the Sea? This week I have met with the Student Council who have all be tasked with creating a research board about being a star. What does this look like in our school and how can we all ensure that the behaviour we show demonstrates this? Next year is going to focused on this with lots of opportunites to shine. One of our nursery councillors said it so well, “It is about being like Jesus.” Every school should have a sense of belonging and a clear mission. We want to create shining stars who know their worth in our world and can make a positive contribution. Once our councillors bring their research boards back, we will be collating their ideas to create our behaviour focus for next year. This will span the entire school, from nursery through to Year 6, inside the classroom and outside too!

Running for Charity!

The past two weeks have been jam-packed with sporting opportunites as the children (and lots of staff) have ran for charity. I have spoken at each of the Sports Days, talking about how we are using opportunites of gratitude to be generous with our approach. Even though a lot of children have never known Harrison Bretherton, or may be in a distant class to our Dominic, you have all gone above and beyond for wonderful causes. To date, we have raised over £1500 for Alder Hey and The Firefighter’s Charity, on behalf of Harrison, and £580 for Manchester Children’s Hospital. On Friday 12th July, Year 5 will be hosting Dominic Fest! They will be in touch in the coming weeks to see just how you can all get involved. Thank you, for your generosity and for supporting these causes that are so very close to our hearts.

Looking forward to next year

School is so very busy at the moment, with an awful lot of things going on! There is so many more memories to be made in our current year groups, we want to hold onto them for a few more weeks yet. On Wednesday 3rd July, our Year 6 children will be heading off to St Bedes for their induction day there; this gives us an opportunity for all of our other children to move up and sample some time in their new year groups. All of the teaching teams will be visiting their classes in the coming weeks before transition morning, just to say hello and meet their classes in their own environments. We will also be welcoming a new teacher next year, Miss Hanlon, who will be joining us in Year 1 as Mrs Hartley’s maternity cover.

The teachers for next year are:

Nursery: Barbara

Reception: Miss Drummond & Mrs Hartley (until maternity leave starts)

Year 1: Miss Hanlon

Year 2: Mrs Hotchkiss

Year 3: Mrs Naylor

Year 4: Mrs Lyons

Year 5: Mrs Cornwell

Year 6: Mrs Harrison

Miss Bassett will continue to work across a number of classes supporting PPA and Miss Woodend will continue as SENCO. All of our wonderful teaching assistants will also be supporting the children across the school in lots of different ways.

Our Year 6 children have been busy organising the Outdoor Reading Shed ready to launch next week in the sunshine. There is a variety of books for all year groups in there to be enjoyed in the sunshine.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learning role models of the half-term

Virtue butterfly award winner

Office news…

Thank you to everyone who voted in our Parent Governor elections this week. We received over 180 votes across the school - which is massive! It demonstrates just how invested you all are in our community and the strength of biographies from our two candidates. Having counted the votes, I am pleased to say that Michael Heyes will be joining us as our new Parent Governor. Thank you again for being involved in the development of our community.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 6 this week with 94.9%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 94.9%

Wrap Around Care

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the expression of interest form for the Wrap Around Care. It was really useful to help us formulate plans and to see if it could work being based at Our Ladys. Whilst there is still a lot of the detail to work out, as setting up a new club from scratch isn’t easy, we are in a position to take bookings for the Autumn Term. The government have stipulated wrap around care from 8am - 6pm; our Breakfast Club will run from 7.45am - 8.45am and our After School Club from 3.30pm - 6pm. The pricing poitns are the next thing that we will be looking at, but please be assured that we will make it as affordable as we can for our families and in line with provision in the area. Please note that this is for children from Reception through to Year 6.

Please complete the following form to book a place for the Autumn Term:

Thank you to those who have filled in the form saying that they can walk with us at St Annes Carnival. We need more children! If you can, please do complete the form and support us and walk with us. It is lovely that our school is so visible in the community, but we need our pupils for that!

And finally!

The overall winners of the 2024 Our Lady Star of the Sea Sports Day ……..

HARCOURT

God bless.

Mrs Gregan

"The Kingdom of God is close at hand."

I don’t think many of us can believe just how quick this year has gone. It does not seem two minutes since we were opening the doors to school in September, and yet here we are in the final half-term of the year. It seems really fitting that the last two Jesuit virtues of our school year are Grateful and Generous. There is so much to be grateful for as we look back but still so much to give. Our Year 6s are showing us how to be generous with our time; they have embarked on their jobs around school, supporting children in classes and leading at sports days. We couldn’t be prouder of this group of children and how they have grown throughout their time at Our Ladys. In assembly today, we talked about the Kingdom of God and how we can bring it alive here in our community. Next week I will be meeting our student council to discuss what it means to be a star. The more and more I think about our children and community, the more I see them shining so very brightly. We are going to bring this idea across the school next year; from nursery through to Year 6.

Sports Days

Schooling is all about creating memories; good or bad, they are the times and events that we remember as we grow up and can shape our outlook on things. Sports days are one of those memories. Despite my absolute love of sport, I still remember getting my polo shirt button caught in the cargo net of the obstacle race at the age of 7. The sun kind of shone this week, meaning that we could complete the KS2 Sports Days. All 120 children gave it their all as they jumped, threw, ran and hurdled with the aim of collecting enough points for their houses. Parents, grandparents and friends cheered from the sidelines; the louder they got the quicker the children ran. Plessington were victorious in Year 5 & 6 and Harcourt in Year 3 & 4; currently, Plessington are the overall winners as we move into Key Stage 1 next week. The weather is looking unpredictable so please keep praying for nice weather so our younger children can have their chance to shine.

This week also demonstrated our new virtues fully as you showed just how generous you are and how grateful we are for the care Dominic has received. Before half-term, I told you how we would be raising money this half-term for causes close to our hearts; for Harrison Bretherton and for Dominic Barrow. A team of Year 5 children, buckets in arm, manned the gates to Sports Day, collecting funds for The Manchester Children’s Hospital. Just this week, we have raised £298.40 for the cause - WOW! Let’s see if we can keep this going into our Key Stage 1 events.

The Gym Jam Jog will take place on Monday morning at 8am (weather dependant). Don’t forget pjs, teddies and your sponsor money - have a hearty breakfast before you come to school! If the weather is not good, we will postpone and rearrange so that it is an enjoyable event for all. I will send out a text on Sunday to confirm.

Thsi morning I hosted the Lytham St Annes Swimming Gala at Palatine Swimming Baths. All of thye local schools send swimmers from Year 5 & 6 to compete in individual and realy events. Our team were magnificent, if not a little depleted. Despite this, we had more finalists than we have had before and earned more points. Well done to all swimmers! A special shout out to Benjamin and Ella who both medalled at the event in their individual races!

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learning role models of the half-term

Virtue butterfly award winner

Office news…

Before half-term, I asked for biographies from parents who wanted to be involved in school as a parent governor. I know that we have asked alot for this recently and have appointed a few times in recent years, so I am incredibly grateful that Michael Heyes and Kate Howcroft have stepped forward. I have attached their biographies below for you to read over the weekend. Voting slips will then be going out on Monday for you all to cast your votes and return to school. Thank you so much.

Below you will see our attendance for this week. Thank you to all of the parents who have been away during half-term and experienced delays on the return; thank you for communicating them to us. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing with you the government changes to attendance that will be implemented next year. I will try and make it as easy to understand as I can.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 6 this week with 98.3%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 94.9%

In a couple of weeks, Saturday 29th June, St Annes Carnival Day will be coming to town. Last year we walked with our parish family as a school, and this year we plan to do the same. If your child would like to walk with us as a school and parish, please can you complete the form below so that we can plan for numbers. It would be lovely to have a good group of children and parents walking like we did last year.

Finally, on behalf of us all, I would like to extend our congratulations to Mrs Hartley and her husband who are expecting their first child together. We are so happy for them and know that the reception class are incredibly excited! Once teachers for next year have been finalised, I will of course share them with you. They will all be popping in to work with their new classes in the next few weeks before transition day on Wednesday 3rd July; on this day, the children will be visiting their new classes and getting a taste of what life will be like next year.

God bless and have a wonderful weekend. I know many of you will be excited about the Euros - fingers crossed for England (although I have Spain in the staff sweepstake!)

Mrs Gregan

Welcome back to the final half term...

Welcome back to our final hal term together before we finish for the Summer holidays in July. I hope that you have all had a lovely break with your children and families, there are certainly some golden tans on show in school today. This half term, we are looking to be grateful and generous. As we complete our school year together, the summer term is an ideal time to look back and be grateful for all of the experiences that we have experienced this year. Our staff team are unbelievably dedicated and so kind; I personally want to thank them for what they have given so far this year; they really do go above and beyond.

The final half-term is filled with special times that create memories: sports days, school trips, ranger visits, sporting competitions and the end of year play in July. Please keep an eye on the school newsletter each week and the dates section of the website to find out all of the information and what is coming up.

Sports Days

Mr Cornwell has been busy planning this year’s Sports Days. This morning, for the first time in a long time, we have had a track painted on the school field. Practise is well and truely underway! Please check the following dates for this year’s Sports Afternoons:

  • Tuesday 11th June at 1.30pm - Year 5 & 6 Sports Day

  • Wednesday 12th June at 1.30pm - Year 3 & 4 Sports Day

  • Tuesday 18th June at 1.30pm - Nursery & Reception Sports Day

  • Wednesday 19th June at 1.30pm - Year 1 & 2 Sports Day

As with the good old British weather, we cannot rely too much on forecasts. It is looking dry and bright this week; hopefully we will be able to get this week’s event completed. The children are always the priority and we want to ensure that they enjoy the events. If there has been rain or it is forecast, we will look at how safe the ground is for them to compete. If we need to postpone the event because of the weather, we will do so at 11am. This will give all parents the chance to rearrange work or to make plans. It has been deliberate to put the events in quickly when we have returned, just incase there was any rearranged ones needing to take place.

Just a reminder that we are collecting for The Manchester Children’s Hospital in honour of our Dominic. Please bring change with you for our collection buckets!

Parent Governor Role

As mentioned before half-term, we need a new Parent Governor to join our governing body. I am extending the deadline to this Friday as we have had lots of people away over half term. Our school needs you! If you think that you could support us with the governance of the school in the next four years, please can you send a 150 word biography to Mrs Gregan at head@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk by Friday please. There is some really exciting opportunities and progressions coming up, we need people on board to help us steer the ship that we have created!

Board Game Club

There appears to have been a problem with the link to Year 2 and Year 4 Board Game Club which will start next Monday on the 17th June. Please find it below.

Please note, there will be no club on Monday 24th June, it will recommence on Monday 1st July.

We all did so well to keep the roads quiet around school during May; it was much safer for everybody in our community. Just because the class rewards have stopped, that does not mean that we cannot continue our good work. Please do try to park further away from school and walk, scoot or cycle. We have shown that we can do it - let’s continue!

Here is to a wonderful (hopefully sunny) summer together. There will be a number of transition events for the children to also meet their new teaching teams for next year, these will be arranged gradually.

Kind regards

Mrs Gregan

"Come, Holy Spirit Come."

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday; the feast day of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples were given tongues of fire and this incredibly gift to give them strength to tackle whatever came their way. They now had the responsibility to ensure that God’s Kingdom continued to grow here on earth, and for us all to hear the word of God without any fear.

There is a group of children this week who have tackled everything that has come their way with no fear and with pure determination. At the end of Year 6, the children have to complete a set of national assessments that all children in Year 6 have to do before heading off to high school. I could not be prouder of our children this week. Each morning, the children have walked into the hall with a huge smile on their faces, knowing that this was their time to shine. We spoke about not always been good at shining, that we are very modest as a community. But this week…boy did they shine and boy did they need a treat at the end of it!

Next for the children is the end of year play and jobs around school. In their final half term, they will be taking on SERVICE WITH A SMILE. Auditions and interviews will be taking place next week, and songs from The Greatest Show will be heard after half term as our Year 5 & 6 children will be putting on the show of all shows!

Becoming Sustainable

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in Green Day today, raising money for new litter pickers and bird houses for our garden. So far, we have raised £182. If you are yet to donate your £1, please do. Let’s see how much money we can raise.

Next Thursday the Forest School Area will start to be cleared. Fylde Ranger team, together with Year 5, will be clearing the floor and cutting down bushes to create space for the canopy area that will be built in the Autumn term. It really is exciting!

Learning Role Models of the Week

We managed to get mixed up on our pictures today!

Learning Role models and Virtue Butterflies

Office news…

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 3 this week with 100%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 97.7%

As we approach the final week of school this half-term, please can you ensure that you have visited Parent Pay and paid for all experiences your child has had: judo, archery, trips etc; and dinner money for this half term has been settled. For Summer 2, dinner money will be £2.50 per meal, costing £75 for the half term. Thank you kindly.

Wrap Around Care

Thank you to everyone who completed the form for wrap around care during the next half-term. Having looked at the numbers with Mr Nay, we are able to put on a club from 8am-3pm on Monday 3rd, Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th June. Unfortuantly the numbers were too low for the Thursday and Friday. If you click on the button below, you can book a place for the days that you require.

We are also at the point where we can confirm that wrap around care will be opening in school from September. This will take the form of a breakfast club and after school club. We have been asked to ensure that we are providing care from 8am - 6pm. In order for us to plan how this will look for us in school, we need some firmer market research and expression of interests. If you would like a place in our school wrap around care (name of which to be decided) please complete the expression of interest form below. As we gather more information and formulate plans, we will release more details in due course. This is a really exciting development in the offer that we are providing for our pupils. It will mean that they can attend both clubs in school and wrap around care.

Tomorrow, our next group of children will be making their First Holy Communion. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I look forward to sharing their photographs with you next week.

All of our extra-curricular clubs (cricket, judo, archery and football) have finished for this half-term. The new timetable will be published next week for the final half-term in school.

Have a lovely weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

"Christ has no body on earth but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours."

In this week’s Gospel, we are told that it is now our responsibility to live as Jesus helped us to. Now that he has ascended to heaven, it is down to us to care for our common home and the people who live on it. At mass today, Father Peter reminded us of this in his homily, and a very important prayer that was written by St Teresa:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Starting on May 19th, Pope Francis has set Laudato Si Week - Seeds of Hope. He has asked us to see our world as a suffering plant, calling for us to plant seeds of hope. Let us be seeds of hope in our lives and our world, rooted in faith and love. It seems appropriate that next Friday, our Eco-Team in Year 5 are asking us to be GREEN for the day. This will start our Laudato Si week in school. They have a mission to buy new litter pickers for the school and to buy some bird houses and feeders for the garden. Thank you Year 5 for caring for our Common Home so well.

We watched the CAFOD video in assembly today - why not watch it at home too.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of accompanying Year 6 to The Grand Theatre in Blackpool to see The Boy at the Back of the Class. This novel tells the story of a young boy who simply arrived at the back of his classroom; with no information about him. This story tells us how a group of friends fought for his friendship, protected him against prejudice and discrimination and ultimately reunited him with his family who had been lost when he became a refugee. I can tell you there was not a dry eye in the theatre from beginning to end. The message in this book demonstrates everything we need to be as human beings; what a beautiful link to our common home and the key messages from this week.

Over the next two weekends, our Year 4 children will be making their First Holy Communion. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they embark on their next sacramental journey. Our Year 6 children also have a big week next week as they take their end of year statutory assessments. Please keep them in your prayers too. We are so very proud of them and what they have already achieved.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Virtue Butterflies - Children being Learned and Wise

Learning Role Models

Walk to School in May

The lovely weather that we have been having has certainly helped our walk to school campaign. It has been really lovely seeing so many innovative ways that the children have created to come to school; I think many parents have done the same. We cannot thank you enough for your support with this and our roads do appear to be a lot quieter.

Next week, the weather isn’t looking quite as nice as it has been - this is your real test. Can you keep up the good work in damp conditions? We have every faith that you will.

More student councillors will be out and about next week with their flyers encouraging safe driving, safe parking and walking to school.

I have met with the Year 3 & 4 councillors this week who have decided to pool their winning prize money together and buy some scooters; creating a scooter area on the playground. These are role models and innovators in this area; we have never done this before. This week’s winning classes are Reception and Nursery!

Office news…

On Monday, sponsor forms will be going out for our annual JIM JAM JOG - a firm fixture on the school’s calendar. Every Summer, 240 children, staff and parents come dressed in their pjs ready to run as many times around the school field as possible. The funds raise always go towards the development of the school; this year that is our outside area and break time equipment. This year, it will take place on Monday 17th June at 8am.

In addition, this year we wanted to help another cause. It is very important that our children are aware of their community and causes that are close to them and us. There have been a number of significant events that have really made us stop this year and reflect. We hope that this summer, we can raise money for them both.

On 15th September 2023, we lost a very dear former pupil of ours, Harrison Bretheron. In a couple of week’s time, the family and friends of Harrison will be running his 22nd mile. Harrison never made it to 22 years of age; this is their tribute to him. All money raised from the run will be donated between Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and The Firefighter’s Charity; both of which have supported many of our current and former families. So far, they have raised over £15,000 - it is remarkable. We want to do our bit as well. Please support this event as much as you can - get your pjs ready!

We will be hosting a second charity towards the end of the year which our Year 5 children will tell us all about in a few week’s time.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 3 this week with 98.3%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 96%

Attendance letters have been issued to any children whose attendance has fallen below 90%. We know that there are many reasons for this, and each child is different. By law, we have to have working relationships with parents, alerting them to their children’s attendance. As always, please come and speak to me if you have any concerns.

Wrap Around Care

Over the last few months, we have been looking at the offer we provide for Wrap Around Care, in line with the new guidance that will be available in the coming months. We will be in a position to let you know our plans in school before half-term.

One area we are continuing to look at is half-term provision. Judo Education successfully ran a half-term club at Easter. Our May half-term is always two weeks and I know that this may be an issue for those parents who need additional care; especially in that second week of the holidays. I have spoken to Mr Nay and Mr Murray who have said that there is a possibility of them running a club for children from Reception to Year 6 from 8am-3pm here at school. For this to happen, we have to have the numbers to support it and make it viable to run. If you would be interested in this provision, please can you complete the expression of interest form below. We will then be able to gage interest and let you know if it is something that CN Active can provide.

Have a lovely weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

"Love one another as I have loved you."

Next week, we will be walking down to church to hear the most important commandment of all:

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

This may seem easy enough to say, but how do we act it out on a daily basis through our words and actions. How easy is it to truly love each other? How can we demonstrate this freely? On Thursday, Father Peter will tell us all the Gospel reading of the Ascention; the time when Jesus left us on this earth to bring his kingdom of God alive through the lessons that he had taught us. We hope that you will be able to join us for our school mass.

Another period of time has just started with the arrival of May; the month of Mary. Being Our Lady Star of the Sea, this is a special month to us as we share in the lessons we can learn from her. A vital part of this is the rosary. In assembly today, I shared with the children a set of rosary beads that I was given by my auntie and uncle on my Holy Communion; ones that I still use to this day. Over the next few weeks, the children will be praying the rosary in their classes. Could you use the time at home to devote time to the rosary too?

School Developments…

Over the next few months, there will be some building work taking place at school. This will span into the summer holidays and beyond. When our kitchen was built, it was only built for 40 dinners; we are now nearer 160 dinners each day. Because of this increase in numbers, we need an increase in size - which is very exciting for Jacqui our wonderful cook. You will start to see a few bricks being laid as we double the size of our current kitchen, making it fit for purpose.

Another area of school which we are looking to develop is the area of land to the left of the allotment on the field. This is a dense area and one that can be used in lots of different ways. To do this, we need your help.

  • Do you know someone who could help us prepare the ground of this area?

  • Have you worked with someone who you would recommend to the school?

  • Have you got some spare time on your hands where you could support our school?

We need a committed team of gardeners who can help us achieve our vision of what this space should look like.

The plan is to remove the brambles and nettles that have grown and prepare the ground for a canopy area to be made with log seating. We want to create our own forest school area. If you know someone who could help, please do email me at head@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

We really need your help to get this project off the ground and made into something that our whole school community will benefit from.

Enrichment

I have loved seeing the children and staff interact differently this year. Each half-term, the children have visited a different area of the school, and a different teacher, to learn something new. I think the teachers have enjoyed it more than the children. This week:

Recpetion visited the allotment with Mrs Hotchkiss; Year 1 completed some Van Gogh inspired craft with Mrs Naylor; Year 2 made some pasta salad with Mrs Lyons; Year 3 tackled team games with Mr Cornwell; Year 4 went all Strictly and learnt the waltz alongside Mrs Harrison; Year 5 visited Mrs Hartley and learnt German and Year 6 built some sedementary rocks with Miss Drummond in science.

Learning is all about the wider experiences. How can we encourage our children to experience more and therefore learn more?

Learning Role Models of the Week

Virtue Butterflies - Children being Learned and Wise

Learning Role Models

Walk to School in May

A huge thank you to EVERYONE who has made such an effort with walking, scooting, cycling and any other none car way to get to school. It has been quieter at the start and at the end of the school day around the gates. I am parking much further away from school and walking whilst my little one scoots. This is about a big team effort which we are so good at here!

We understand that it isn’t possible to do this every day, and that is fine, little and often is great. Even parking at the end of the road and walking for 2 minutes to school counts - it keeps our roads much quieter. What we want is to create quieter roads for those children who need to be brought in by car each day and for our Year 5 & 6 children who walk to and from school.

Data has been collected this week and the winning classes will have £50 donated to them for them to spend how they wish - hopefully to encourage more exercise in their class. This week, our winning classes were Year 3 & 4 who both had a total of 53 walks over the past three days.

Let’s see how many we can get walking next week!

Thank you to this week’s student counsellors who were giving flyers at the gate this week. They are being really proactive with their approach to our safer roads. Next week we will have a new batch of children with their flyers ready to go!

Office news…

We have one plea from the office for this week. If your child has a medical appointment or is delayed coming into school for any reason, please can you ring ahead with their dinner choices. We have to submit dinner numbers to our kitchen by 9.30am and if children are arriving in after that, we are then finding our numbers are skewed. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 2 this week with 99.3%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 96.3%

Next week we will be announcing two fundraising events that will be taking place in the Summer term for causes very close to our heart.

A bank holiday weekend is always welcome. I hope you enjoy your weekend and extra day on Monday. We look forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday.

Have a lovely weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me."

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we will hear about The Good Shepherd; someone who knows their sheep and their sheep know them. Someone who will always seek out the sheep who need their support and love the most; someone who will go out of their way to ensure that their sheep return. This is what Jesus does to us.

It seems fitting that this Sunday in church, Father Peter will be sharing this Gospel message with us on the week of his 50th anniversary of ordination, 10 of which have been spent at our parish. Father Peter does not like fuss, or any form of compliment; he simply sees himself as a servant of our faith and that it has been his vocation in life to act on the will of Christ. I cannot think of someone more who deserves the celebrations and gratitude that will be coming his way this week. On Thursday morning, we will be walking down to church to celebrate the start of his jubilee, just in the way that he will want it; through prayer, scripture and song. It would be wonderful if as many as our school community that we can fit inside the church came - please do join us if you are able to. The children will be walking down at 9.05am from school, we will desperately need walkers to support us. These events happen very rarely in anyone’s life or the life of a priest. Let’s make it a true celebration for someone who gives us so much of himself.

There is an event in the Parish Centre for Father Peter next Sunday afternoon. I know that many of you will already be going. Please see the parish newsletter for more information.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Virtue Butterflies - Children being Learned and Wise

Learning Role Models

There has been so much learning taking place in school this week. I have loved popping in and out of classes; hearing all of the wonderful experiences and opportunities that are coming the children’s way. I walked into the Year 1 classroom the other day to see the table tops full of different types of food. The children were having to work out, through scientific clues, if the food was a fruit or a vegetable. Year 5 are fully involved in their crime and punishment unit of work, exploring the laws of our country and making some discoveries of their own. They have also walked down to Hope Street Park today to see the bulbs that were planted by their hands last year. Year 6 are working so very hard preparing for their end of year assessments - I have had the pleasure of teaching them this week and will do next week. Year 2 children have got an exciting week planned next week as they take on Shakespeare. Please have a look at the website blogs that the teachers have written to share your child’s learning with you.

With the arrival of the sunshine (we hope) comes the start of the gardening club again in school. Mrs Mather and her little helpers have been busy preparing the ground, moving soil and planting potatoes this week. We are really hoping that we can update the outside grounds further this summer and may need a team of able parent helpers to support and project manage. Watch this space for how you can get involved!

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 3 this week with 99.7%. Our whole school attendance for this week is 96.2%.

Attendance Update…

My attendance officer came to see me this week for my termly update and check in. He is always happy with our attendance figures and how we work together as a community to ensure that any leave of absence is reduced to a minimum.

Whilst he was here, we looked at the new attendance guidance that will become statutory in September. These are some of the main points to be mindful of:

  • A child’s attendance will be analysed every 10 weeks to ensure that they meet level of attendance that is required in school.

  • Holiday requests will be on a rolling analysis for 3 years. For example, if you ask for a holiday out of school, in the 1st year, there will be a penalty notice. If this is repeated, in the 2nd year, the penalty notice will be issued but it will be at the highest amount. In the 3rd year, it will be legal action.

The government are really promoting high attendance and trying to crack down on term time holidays. The guidance will be really clear. I will share this in more detail as we approach the summer holidays. I am planning on developing a termly newsletter with key information for you going forward.

We are still urging people to park safely around the school perimeter and to monitor their speed on their approach to the school. Being in a residential area means the roads are narrow and often congested. Please be mindful of this in the coming weeks.

The school calendar for this term is now populated on the main page. There is lots of opportunites for the children and events taking place. I am currently working on the calendar for 2024/2025 with the hope of releasing all of the important dates and events for the year in September. You will also receive the holiday list for the following academic year, giving you plenty of time to get your diaries organised for the year ahead. Hopefully the more notice we can give you on things, the more available that you will be.

Have a lovely weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations. You are witnesses to this.”

At the beginning of this week, we met as a school community to reflect on the events of Easter; the sadness of the crucifixion, the anger felt at Gethsemane and the hope in the resurrection. Quite often, we feel sombre thinking about these times, when in fact, we should be feeling grateful. We have now moved into Eastertide - a period of celebration. As belivers and witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord, we now have the responsiblity to share this far and wide; to the ends of the earth. We all have the fire in us to be that change that we want to see in the world. I have set the children a mission to become witnesses. Can they really spot what is happening in our world and around them; identifying the disciples amongst us all.

Prayer and llitrugy is central to school life. We are passionate about providing the children with calm spaces where they can spend time with God. Over half term, our Worship Area has been decorated to ensure that the children have a beautiful space to write their prayers - this week we have been inundated and the prayer board is filled. You may also spot that the canvases that we had have been replaced by perspex ones, giving us space to add some black and white images depicted Holy Week - they are of our children.

We have also introduced our new virtues for this half-term; being learned and wise. Can the children use what they know to to make wise and informed choices?

How can home and school work together?

For as long as I have taught, home-learning has always been one of those things where we try and create an approach that aims to suit all ways of family life. In the middle of it all are the children and how we can all best support them with their learning to become the very best versions of themselves. Research shows that the more involved parents are with their child’s learning, the more progress they will make and the more confident children will feel with the skills that we need to teach. Practise is everything, the more we can repeat things, the more confident they will then feel applying these across the curriculum. We are also incredibly mindful of how precious family life is and the amount of time that the children are active outside of school. At the end of each school year, home learning is the one thing that is commented on the most by families.

With all of this in mind, we have created a new home-learning approach that will hopefully have something for everybody. Each week, the teachers will put set home-learning on their web blogs that is specific to the key skills that your children will need to be confident across all areas of the curriculum. This will focus on reading, spelling, handwriting and maths. In addition to this, they will also share a half-termly grid which has optional homework on. These are things that the children can choose to do to enhance their learning further. Some of them may have a creative aspect for those children who love to make, others may require you to head out as a family, some will be gathering facts. In addition, the teachers will also pop a conversation question on for you to discuss as a family around the dinner table, before bed, on a car journey - you can choose. This will link to previous learning or learning that is coming up. It will enable you to have a chat as a family without the need to record anything formally.

I have attached our new policy below so you can see in more detail what home learning will look like at Our Lady Star of the Sea.

Learning in school covers a vast amount of areas, and this week two have really stood out for me. We use Times Table Rockstars to ensure that our multiplication speed is high. Knowledge of times tables is key to accessing other areas of the maths curriculum. Currently, Dominic is top of our school leaderboard, being able to answer questions in 0.45seconds - unbelievable. Watch his screen recording below to see how fast he actually is. This speed is what we want to all aspire to gain - can you do it? A new Rockstars display will be going up in school so we can celebrate the wonderful work our children are doing - some have managed to turn their heatmap completely green!

We have also had our Year 6’s taking part in ‘Come Dine with Me’ for their DT Food Tech unit of work. This week it was the turn of the main courses with salmon featuring as the key ingredient.

I have had the pleasure of sampling salmon spaghetti and salmon tacos today - both absolutely delicious!

Learning Role Models of the Week

Virtue Butterflies - Children being Learned and Wise

Learning Role Models

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 2 this week - 99.3% attendance!

Next week, we will be spending time getting the website up to date with Summer Term dates for your diary. Please do keep an eye on what is happening. Extra-curricular clubs have started today with judo and archery, for the very first time. Next week sees cricket starting for all classes from Year 1. Thank you to everyone who has signed up.

Finally, I text out this week regarding the parking around school being dangerous. A number of cars are parking on double yellows and specifically on the corners near the gates to school. This has huge implications for our children who cannot cross the road safely. Some of our older children walk home by themselves, they cannot do this if it is dangerous outside. I have spoken with Fylde police this week who are going to monitor this and do some stop-bys to ensure that the roads around school are safe. They will be working with our student council to ensure that we have crossings on Church Road, but that our children and families can come to and from school safely. We need your support with this matter. The weather is getting better (we hope) please park away from school and walk that little bit further in. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

"“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here."

Holy Week is the most important week in the liturgical calendar, but it too is the most important week in our school. Each day this week, we have been touched deeply by the performance of our children as they have told the story of Jesus’s passion. From the peace at The Last Supper, to the anguish of Gethsemane. The dispair of the Crucifixion, to the hope in the Resurrection. I hope that those of you who came to see it felt it deeply. I am so proud of the children and the teaching team who created the memories of this week. The photographs below speak for themselves. During the holidays, our Worship Area is being decorated. We will be proudly displaying some of these photos as a symbol of our faith.

Over the past few days, Mrs Shields has been busy counting the lenten box money. So far, we have raised over £1200 for CAFOD. We will update you with the final total after half term.

At the end of each term, I like to share with you the prayer and liturgy from the term. It is so important to me that we come together as a whole school community; our prayer and liturgy is central to this. Shine Jesus Shine has been a firm favourite for sure!

Learning Role Models of the Week

In the midst of such a busy day, our certificate and virtue winners did not have their photos taken. We will do this on the first day back.

We had our first parent virtue winner - Mrs Couch who has taken our chicks home to be rehomed. Thank you for your generousity. The chicks have been a really welcomed addition to our school community this half-term. The children have loved seeing them grow from being born.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 3 & 1 who are our winners for the term!

Finally, we had our very first Our Lady Easter Egg Hunt today. The Easter Bunny kindly dropped off 240 chocolate eggs, each with a child’s name on, that all needed to be found somewhere in the school gardens. It was enormous fun!

We look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 8th April at 8.45am, ready for our Summer Term.

Have a lovely weekend with your families. We wish you a very happy Easter.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

“Deep within them, I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts.”

In assembly this week, we talked about a sense of belonging. Who do we belong to? What does it mean to belong? Why is it important to belong? Through the covenant that God shared with us; his son Jesus, we too belong to the Christian community. Next week, we will start to see that covenant come to life as our children share their portrayal of Holy Week. This is such a special time of the liturgical and school year which we urge you to attend if you can. Starting next Friday, there will be five opportunites to see the story of Holy Week unfold:

  • Friday 22nd March - Palm Sunday told by Year 2

  • Monday 25th March - The Last Supper told by Year 3

  • Tuesday 26th March - Garden of Gethsemane told by Year 4

  • Wednesday 27th March - The Crucifixion told by Year 5

  • Thursday 28th March - The Resurrection told by Year 6

Each portrayal will start at 9.15am in the school hall. These assemblies are part of our prayer and liturgy in school and the children will come into the hall having started that in class. Please use this time to reflect yourselves. We are often so busy in our lives, this is the perfect opportunity to be silent and calm.

You may remember that a few weeks ago I shared the images of the beautiful Stations of the Cross that each class had designed and made. It was so lovely to see so many of you admire them as part of book looks. Next Friday, 22nd March, instead of our whole-school assembly, the school hall and chapel will be open for you to come and visit for yourselves. The lights will be dim and there will be the opportunity for you to use the images to pray the stations of the cross. Following this, the chapel will be open to see the prayer station in there. Many of you will not have been in our chapel before. If you are able to, please do come into school next Friday at 2.30pm - we would love to see you.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learners of the Week

Learners of the Week

Demonstrating our virtues - loving and compassionate

Nursery Consultation

I have really enjoyed the many conversations that I have had about the planned nursery conversion taking place and what a wonderful opportunity it is. Don’t forget that the consultation window is open if you have any questions at all.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 4 - 98.1% Our whole school attendance this week is 95.7%

Office News

Trips are the perfect opportunity for you to get involved as parents and grandparents. Our classes need a certain number of adults for ratios, and we need you to make that happen. If you see a trip pop up on your child’s class page and adult support is needed, please do get involved. Trips are magical and the children have so much fun. We have a number of grandparents who support all trips in school. If you are someone who could do that and be a support for trips beyond your child’s classroom - or you have a grandparent who could - please complete this form below so that we can add you to our school contact. Thank you all so much.

Today, we had a large group of parents and grandparents who have supported our Year 1 and 2 children on their trips to the beach and Blackpool Zoo.

Please do fill in the form below if you are able to help and support.

Our wonderful Year 1 helpers who braved the windy weather on St Beach this morning; all for the good of a spot of geography fieldwork.

Thank you to all of the parents who attended our first parents’s evening this week. The conversation between school and home is so important. There are so many ways in which we can help the children become the best versions of themselves; the conversation that you have with your child’s teacher will help that. The staff team in this school are remarkable and go above and beyond for the children and families here. We are incredibly blessed.

In the final week of the term, I will be sharing our new approach to homework. This follows on from the comments that we receive at the end of the academic year when reports go out. We hope that this new way will allow you to focus on the skills that the children need, whilst allowing the wider curriculum to be acknowledged too.

I am so proud of the things that the children do beyond school and the confidence that they show in lots of different ways. Next weekend, a large number of our children will be performing in Alice in Wonderland at our Parish Centre. If wasn’t away with netball, I would be requesting a front row seat as I know how brilliant this performance will be. If you are able to attend, please do. Click on the link below to take you to the booking’s page.

Don’t forget about the number of events that are taking place this half-term to support you with the wrap-around care that you may need. CN Active are running their sports camp at Heyhouses School, with places really limited now. Do book if you need a space.

In assembly today, we had a fabulous display of irish dancing by Rosa. In celebration of St Patrick’s Day, Rosa performed beautifully for us all to The Lord of the Dance.

Have a lovely weekend and happy St Patrick’s Day to all of you who commemorate it.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

What does the word rejoice mean to you? What do you rejoice about? What brings you joy and how do you share this joy with others? These are the questions that we have been exploring in assembly today and that will form discussion as part of our prayer and liturgy next week. This week in church is Laetare Sunday - which means to rejoice. It marks the half-way point in Lent and we know that Jesus’s resurrection is not far away. I have loved hearing how the children are collecting money at home for their lenten boxes; there has been allsorts going on. From car washing, to setting the table, to reading to siblings; all of those little acts of kindness will go a long way to supporting the work of CAFOD.

Last night, we welcomed the parents and grandparents of our Year 4 communicants into school so that they could meet with Father Peter and discuss their own faith. The focus of the session was forgiveness and confession. Together, they discussed their own experiences of confession and why forgiveness can sometimes be tricky. Thank you to all of those who attended. We hope it gave you time to reflect and enabled you to have conversations with your family at home.

World Book Day

It certainly is one of our favourite days of the year! A day when all of the work that we do around reading comes to life and we have a little fun along the way dressing up. Reading is the central spine of our curriculum - the more we read the more we know and the more we can apply to other areas of the curriculum. But, there is so much more to just the words. A story can be told through images, through words and through emotions. In the afternoon, our storytelling ambassadors visited each class to hear the wonderful stories that had be written by them. Please visit each class page to see the fun that was had. The photos below are just a snippet of the fun that we all had over the course of the day!

To celebrate World Book Day, we invited Mrs Newell in from the local library to present our GOLD winner! We are so proud of you and the 50 books that you have read at the age of 5. To achieve this is remarkable. I believe you are starting the trail all over again.

Being creative is something that we love here in school and celebrating the arts is something that we are passionate about. On Tuesday afternoon, our choir headed off to Lowther Pavillion to join a number of other schools in The Big Sing. It is the first time that we have taken part in the event - it was beautiful. Together with the other choirs, our children sang songs from around the world in preparation for this Summer’s Olympics. Thank you firstly to the children for commiting your time to make sure that we could send children to represent us. Thank you to Miss Drummond and Miss Woodend who have worked with the choir this year and to Mrs Carter who supported the children on the day. In fact, our staff were singled out for being the most enthusiastic and for getting fully involved. Thank you to all of the friends and family who came to support the children; I hope you had goose-bumps, just like I did!

Parents’s Meetings and Book Looks

There was another group of book looks this week as we welcomed parents and grandparents into school to share the wonderful work that their children have completed this year. There has been a journey through school from Reception to Year 6 and clearly so much work to be proud of. We hope that you have enjoyed sitting with your child and for them to talk about their work. If you didn’t get chance to attend, please do contact your class teacher and they will arrange a time for you to come and have a look at your children’s books.

Next week, parents’s evenings will start and the teachers are very much looking forward to sharing your child’s learning journey with you. Thank you to everyone who has made an appointment, there is still time if you haven’t and class teachers will be touching base with you to do so.

The available appointments will be on:

Wednesday 13th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (for all classes)

Wednesday 20th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (for all classes apart from Year 4 due to Shakespeare)

Tuesday 26th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (just for Year 4 parents)

Appointments can be booked by clicking on this link below.

School Cloud

When booking, it is crucial that you use your child’s legal forename and surname – those recorded on our school management system. If any part of your child’s name is hyphenated, again it needs to be so when typing in their name. Your own name on Sims is now recorded with one of the following titles Miss, Mrs, Mr or Dr. The system will also ask for an email address so that a reminder can be sent out.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learners of the Week

Demonstrating our virtues - loving and compassionate

Nursery Consultation Request

We are incredibly lucky to have a nursery attached to our school. Every single day, I see the beauty of this environment and how it is a place where the children are encouraged to be, to explore and to grow. It is pure magic! As long as the nursery has been here, it has been a private nursery, but very much part of school life in how it operates on a daily basis. We have therefore made the decision that we would like to bring nursery into school officially, rather than remain as a private setting. From September 2024, we are planning on lowering our age range to include 3 year olds from nursery. I have attached a consultation letter below that explains what we are planning to do, and therefore opening to consultation window. The benefits that we have of having a nursery within the school can only be greater by this inclusion. It is a really exciting time and another opportunity to grow our school community further.

Summer is coming

With the arrival of the daffodills in school, there is a clear indication that spring is on its way - with summer soon to follow; this often means a change in uniform. I really love seeing the children come to school in shorts and summer dresses. Towards the end of this term, we will hold a Summer Uniform Sale at school, to get ready for the warmer weather. Over the next couple of weeks, can you have a look at home to see if there is uniform that no longer fits - summer ones. We will then collate in school ready to hold the sale in the final week of term on Monday 25th March.

With so many activites taking place in school, our school PE uniform is really useful, and very smart. The hoodies seem to have been a welcome addition to our uniform list. If I was a pupil here, it would certainly be my choice of uniform on a daily basis if I was allowed. For some classes, the wearing of the PE kit is creeping into days where the children do not have PE or there is a club after school for which they need to get changed into a separate kit. It is becoming a weekly uniform rather than PE kit.

Please can you make sure that:

  • School PE kit is worn on PE days for your child’s class.

  • School PE kit is worn if your child has a sport club before school or after school that does not require them to get changed. For example; multi-skills, judo and netball would allow the children to be in PE kit as they need trainers. Football training is school uniform and then changed into a football kit - it is separate to PE kit and needs boots not trainers - therefore PE kit does not need to be worn during the day.

  • When wearing trainers, the colour is predominatly black, white or blue. There is lots of neon colours creeping in that is not inline with our uniform policy.

I am really proud of our uniform, and whenever our children are out and about, the children look incredibly smart; they are always commented upn. We need to preserve that and also prepare the children for life beyond Our Ladys where there is really high expecatations of school uniform. I really appreciate your support with this so that we create consistency across the school and maintain the very high standards that have been set.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 1 & Year 3 - 97.3% Our whole school attendance this week is 95.8%

Office News

It is hard to believe that we are hurtling towards Easter as some speed. There is only three weeks to go before we finish again for the Easter holidays.

Trips are being planned and teachers will put on their websites the key information that you will need for this. All of the children enjoy trips and they are essential to give opportunities to the children beyond the classroom. We are really lucky to live where we live - our local area is stunning so the more we can get out into it the better.

Trips are the perfect opportunity for you to get involved as parents and grandparents. Our classes need a certain number of adults for ratios, and we need you to make that happen. If you see a trip pop up on your child’s class page and adult support is needed, please do get involved. Trips are magical and the children have so much fun. We have a number of grandparents who support all trips in school. If you are someone who could do that and be a support for trips beyond your child’s classroom - or you have a grandparent who could - please complete this form below so that we can add you to our school contact. Thank you all so much.

Last week, I shared with you that Mrs Marshall had started her much-needed maternity leave. Well, this week our school family has grown by another 10 little fingers and 10 little toes. On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Marshall’s little girl arrived, weighing 5lb and 14oz - she is beautiful. On behalf of us all, I have wished Mrs Marshall and her family a huge congratulations on the birth of Poppy Wren Marshall. I know you will keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. We cannot wait to see them in school soon for cuddles!

Have a wonderful weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan

The Bible shows the way to Heaven

The Guiness Book of Records says that The Bible is the best-selling book of all time! More than 5 billion copies of the Bible have been printed and the New Testament has been translated into over 2000 languages. In today’s assembly, as we prepare for World Book Day next week, we have been looking at some of the greatest stories that have ever been told; what are your favourite stories? Are they ones that involve a hero or a heroine? Maybe a story that is set in a place of fantasy? How about a character that show humour? There are so many wonderful story books out there; sometimes it is impossible to choose. But there is one book in particular that I have asked the children to really look at each day next week - THE BIBLE. This book is littered with stories that bring our faith to life. It is a collection of messages to us from God; he makes sure everything we need to know is in His word. I like to think of it as a letter from God and a message of how to live. Next week, the children will be focusing on the bible as part of their prayer and liturgy, exploring the many wonderful stories that are part of it. Don’t forget to keep going with the acts of kindness at home so that we can fill our Lenten boxes for CAFOD.

Last Sunday, the church was filled with the families of our Year 4 children who are making their First Holy Communion this year. Father Peter welcomed them into church and told them that they were giving of themselves in order to receive Jesus in the eucharist. Please pray for our children as they continue through their programme. Next Thursday, we will be welcoming the parents of the children as they start their programme of faith in support of their children.

Parents’s Meetings and Book Looks

We have had a wonderful week in school welcoming parents and grandparents to have a look at the children’s work. I love hearing the conversations that are taking place about learning and which pieces of work the children are most proud of. Thank you all for coming and spending 40 minutes with your children celebrating the achievements that they have made. The knowledge that you now have about your child’s work and their progress will be implemented into the parent meeting scheduled for later on this half-term. There really is so much to celebrate.

Next week’s book looks

Monday 9am - Year 5 Book Look

Wednesday 9.00am - Year 4 Book Look

Wednesday 2.00pm - Year 6 Book Look plus residential talk

In addition to Book Looks, it is now possible to book appointments for Parents’s Evenings; which many of you have done already.

The available appointments will be on:

Wednesday 13th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (for all classes)

Wednesday 20th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (for all classes apart from Year 4 due to Shakespeare)

Tuesday 26th March - from 2.00pm until 5.20pm (just for Year 4 parents)

Appointments can be booked by clicking on this link below.

School Cloud

When booking, it is crucial that you use your child’s legal forename and surname – those recorded on our school management system. If any part of your child’s name is hyphenated, again it needs to be so when typing in their name. Your own name on Sims is now recorded with one of the following titles Miss, Mrs, Mr or Dr. The system will also ask for an email address so that a reminder can be sent out.

There are two links below which provide support on booking an appointment and how to access the virtual meeting. Please click to find out more.

A GUIDE TO BOOKING APPOINTMENTS

If you are struggling, please contact the school office after half-term and we will be happy to help.

Learning Role Models of the Week

Learners of the Week

Demonstrating our virtues - loving and compassionate

Personal development

School life happens at lots of different times of the day. Part of this is the opportunity for personal development and growth in our pupils. Through our extra-curricular timetable and lunchtime clubs, different groups of children have the chance to support younger pupils in school. This week, Mrs Naylor started board game club where our Year 3 children are helping our Year 1 children. In judo, our Year 2 and Year 1 children are being role models to our reception children. Our sense of the Our Lady Community really is living and breathing.

Our Weekly Attendance

Well done to Year 2 & Year 3 - 99% Our whole school attendance this week is 96.6%

You may have seen some work that has been taking place around school in the nursery garden and on our field. We have a number of wooden structures that are in need of some repair. Hopefully, they will all be spruced up and replaced ready for the better weather of Spring. Many of you will not have been in our school chapel. Once the repairs have taken place, and as we approach Lent, there will be a prayer station in there for the community to use. It would be lovely for you to visit the chapel and to see what a special space it is.

Our lovely Miss Lavelle, is starting her own baby book club for babies who are 8 weeks old to crawling. She has a new class starting on Tuesday 12th March here in St Annes. If you are interested or know someone who is interested, please do look into it.

Finally, today we say goodbye to Mrs Marshall for a little while as she starts her maternity leave. Mrs Marshall works tirelessly in school to ensure that the children receive 100% of her care and attention; it is now her time with her family to prepare for the arrival of their new baby. On behalf of us all, we wish Mrs Marshall and her family all the love in the world. WE can’t wait to meet them and congratulate them all. I have said this before, the Our Lady family never gets smaller, infact it only grows. Mrs Marshall, we are sending you all so much love. Thank you for what you give to our school community.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Book Fair tonight - don’t forget that it is on Monday and Tuesday evening as well.

Have a wonderful weekend with your families.

God bless

Mrs Gregan