The sun has most definitely shone at different points this week. Flowers are starting to bloom, the field has been open and there have been more bikes being ridden to school. When popping into Reception, I was immediately taken outside to see a busy team of gardeners getting Reception garden ready. God’s world is beginning to show its vibrant colours once again. Our new virtues for this half term are grateful and generous. We are extremely grateful for the world which we have been given. It is now our responsibility to look after it. We are always trying to find acts of kindness and generosity in our every day school life. I will be on the hunt next week to see what I can find.
With Spring, also comes the Lenten journey to the cross. On Wednesday, Father Peter visited us in school and led two liturgies for Ash Wednesday. The children discussed how our school badge showed that we all belong to our school family. When we receive the cross in ashes on our forehead, this shows that we belong to God’s family. Throughout the week, the children have been swapping their Lenten boxes with their class partners. Such care and thought has gone into each of them - they are really special. We are going to use the boxes to be generous in the giving of time to help one another and the collection of coins to support CAFOD. Each class will also be running a sponsored event. I have heard that a cake sale is being organised.
Parent involvement
We are continuing to welcome parents back into school with a range of workshops that help you to support your children. This week, Year 1 parents came into school to listen to Miss Drummond speak so passionately about phonics. They were then whisked off to class to play some games with their children. It was lovely to see the excitement from all of the children as they tried to trick their parents and catch them out with some funny phonics games. Thank you to you all for getting so involved.
Next week, we will be starting our class book looks. Each child has selected some work that they would like to share with you. Keep an eye on the calendar for your class’s date and times.
Monday 27th February 9am - 9.30am - Year 3
Tuesday 28th February 9am - 9.30am - Year 2
Wednesday 1st March 2.30pm - 3.00pm Year 1
Wednesday 1st March 2.10pm - Reception Group 1 Stay and Play in the classroom
On Thursday we also started our Holy Communion programme in school. All of the children, as well as children from other schools, started to prepare for the sacraments alongside their class teachers and adults. Father Peter and myself met with the parents in another room to explain the programme and continue their own journey of faith.
Parents Evening - don’t forget to book - 60% already have!
Next half term there will be two opportunities to find out how your child is engaging with their learning. We are taking a hybrid approach to hopefully include everyone - a mixture of in school and virtually. Firstly, there is an invitation to come into school to look at books alongside your child. This will be a lovely opportunity for you to spend some time in school with your child showing you work of which they are really proud.
Secondly there is an opportunity for parents to meet virtually with your child’s teacher. We would like to invite you to a virtual parents’ meeting to discuss your child and to celebrate their achievements. We will be using the same system we used in the Autumn, called SchoolCloud. This will allow you to access the meeting from where ever you are, with no need to wait in school. This can always be tricky, especially if you have multiple children.
This platform has no app for you to install, you simply use your web browser, and you will be automatically connected with the teacher at the time you have booked in the appointment schedule. Each appointment will last ten minutes and start at the allotted time. You will then see the time and count down on the screen. Please note: when the countdown ends, the meeting is automatically closed and the next appointment is started, we have no control over this. Please log in and check the audio and visual before your appointment starts.
Within the program there is a facility to add a note when you book. If there is something specific which you would like to discuss, this will enable you to communicate it to the teacher before the meeting.
The available appointments will be on Wednesday 15th March and Wednesday 22rd March, from 2.00pm-5.30pm. Appointments can be booked from 4pm today by clicking on this link:
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 school asap and we can help.
Our Learning and Virtue Role Models
Please visit each class page to see which learning characters these children have demonstrated this week, they really have embodied all of our characters. We are really proud of you!
Role Models who have demonstrated virtues this week.
Our Whole School learning Role Models for this week.
Attendance
Office News
We do so appreciate you letting us know when your child is being picked up by someone else - now that we are running more clubs and after school activities, we can get a little flustered if we are told that a child is going home with someone else’s parents and we haven’t been notified. If we have advance notice, it makes life so much easier and avoids us making anxious phone calls to check. Sometimes it can be very hectic in the office at the end of the day and getting messages to class can take a little longer.
Dinner Money for this half-term is £81.60 - that is for 34 meals - each is still £2.40.
Well done Year 5!
This week, our whole school attendance is 97.7%.
Coming in and leaving school each day
Thank you so much for your approach to the end of the day routines. It has been really lovely to welcome parents and grandparents onto the playground each night. Community spirit is essential and what we all live for - it is something that we craved for so long during the pandemic. Based on the success of this week - I am just going to tweak things slightly:
We are reducing the time between the two picks up to keep it in line with the stagger in the morning. Therefore Harcourt and Marsden will be picked up at 3.20pm. Plessington and Bamber will be picked up at 3.25pm. This should give enough time for the roads to be quieter before the second group leave. The teachers know to let the first group of children leave before the second. Please be prepared to wait a little bit longer if you arrive early.
All bikes and scooters need to be taken to Kenilworth Road in the morning and then picked up from there at night. I would be really grateful if we can avoid bringing the bikes and scooters onto the playground. The paths are narrow in and out of school and it helps to avoid any accidents. Can we exit via Kenilworth Road on bikes and scooters. Thank you.
The bike shed is open first thing in the morning. If your child is attending a club before school, please drop off anything with wheels there first.
Book Week
World Book Day always brings so much excitement. We cannot wait to celebrate reading with all of the children. The book fair has been a real success this week; there is another opportunity on Monday morning from 8.15am - 8.30am to view and buy books. We are missing a number of our school library books. Please can you check all of your books at home and bring into school any that you know belong to our school library.
The sun has most definitely been shining this week. Let’s pray that the sun continues to shine and the spring brings lots of happiness. Have a lovely and restful weekend with your families.
God Bless
Mrs Gregan