The strength of any community lies within its members. And my, what strength we have within ours. This week has shown, in many different ways, just what a precious community we have. What a week it has been! We’ve had all kinds of weather and so many busy activities in school. It has been wonderful and I think that the children and staff are going home today for some well-earned weekend relaxation.
On Tuesday we had another powerful and thought provoking assembly, this time from our lovely Year 5. They performed so movingly, asking us all to think about God’s beautiful world and our environment, to be filled with gratitude for what we have and to work together and strive to take care of it and to thoughtfully and mindfully, preserve it. The singing too was so beautiful, thank you Year 5. Later that day, there was much excitement as some of our Y5 and Y6 children went off to perform their dance in the evening on stage at the Winter Gardens in a Fylde Dance festival for primary and secondary schools. Our dance team were wonderful, so keen and enthusiastic and everyone gave their absolute best. Miss Bassett and Miss Liddell who’d prepared them for this event were, along with the families, so proud of what they’d achieved and also their patience and excellent behaviour during a very long afternoon and evening. Mrs Hotchkiss who’d gone there in support, was very excited!
The theme of resilience has run through everything that we have done this week. On Wednesday we were thrilled to welcome our Paralympian Athlete from Sports for Schools, Stuart Robinson MBE, who visited us to inspire the children and set them sporting challenges. As a gold medal winning Paralympian, representing our country in the last Olympic Games, we were honoured to have him with us – Stuart’s presence is so commanding and his resilience and love of life and sport so apparent and he completely won the children over. As you know, he delayed his visit to us due to concussion - wheelchair rugby is a very full on sport! All the children completed sporting challenges and we are very grateful to the many people who sponsored them and we greatly appreciate their donations towards supporting sport and activity in school and raising money for GB athletes to inspire the next generation.
Please do watch the video attached. I cannot apologise for its length (9 minutes) as there were too many wonderful moments not to include. It is the ideal time to sit and watch the film alongside your child; relive the moments with them. The messages that the children received from Stuart’s visit will stay with them for a lifetime.
CURRICULUM EVENING
One of the hardest aspects of the pandemic was the lack of contact and face to face communication which we crave so much as human beings. As a school, we yearned for that too with our families and we greatly missed having you visit school and sharing events. On Thursday evening we saw the hall filled to the brim, conversations with many familiar and a few newly joined members of staff and families sharing special learning moments with their children. It was great seeing you all being guided around by or with your children, seeing you engage with the various activities we had laid out and being able to see learning through your children’s eyes! We loved meeting you all, welcoming old and new faces and sharing what was on offer during the evening, we hope you all found something new and that it whetted appetites for what lies ahead in your child’s learning journey through school. The whole school community appreciated your support, we’re so grateful for the levels of interest shown and say a big thank you too to all the children who helped make this evening such a great success. It was important to us that the key messages from the evening centred around the Jesuit Virtues which we follow within school. We all strive to be the very best versions of ourselves, to follow in Jesus’s footsteps and to bring the Kingdom of God alive on earth.
Many photographs were taken on the night. We will collate these over the coming week and put a montage together to share and celebrate with you.
On Friday, bringing this busy week to a close, we had Pyjama day – we all came in wearing our cosiest pyjamas and bringing a cuddly toy and with our pound donation, helped raise some money for Brian House and some very vulnerable children who need our support.
Parents, this week you have been magnificent and supported us in so many ways, thank you!
OFFICE NEWS
We’ve really loved seeing so many of you at the Y5 assembly this week and then at the Curriculum evening.
As you know, our Foundation Stage Nativity Play is being staged on Wednesday 7th December and Thursday 8th December at 9:30.
Each Nursery and Reception family may have up to 4 tickets at £2 each across 2 performances (no more than 2 tickets per performance). We need the form—link attached—to be completed by you no later than Friday 25th November. Tickets will only be allocated to people who have completed the form and will be sent out in envelopes via classes, the week beginning 28th November. Payment for tickets should be made on ParentPay for Reception children (Parents you will need first to activate your account using the log in letters which we are sending today). Nursery parents can pay for tickets by sending cash in a named envelope please, to Nursery.
We must point out that we have a maximum capacity of 120 ticketholders in the hall and with the stage plus 60 children, staff and audience, the Hall will inevitably be hot and somewhat crowded. We know how much everyone loves seeing their little ones but advise you, particularly if there are any vulnerable family members, to be aware that this is a confined space. We shall of course be arranging a professional digital film to be made of the play, details will be sent later.
Attendance
Wednesday Word
Please take time to reflect on the Gospel alone or with family. God Bless
Finally
All we can say after such a fantastic, busy and successful week is thank you so much everyone – what a wonderful community this is, we are truly blessed.