When March arrived, I think we all felt that Spring was most definitely on its way; the dark mornings and evenings would be a thing of the past and all of the bulbs that we had planted would start to bloom. Little did we know that snow would fall and the temperatures would plummet. Despite the bitterness of the weather outside, school has continued to be a place of warmth and light. In this week’s gospel, we are told about Jesus’ Transfiguration. It was through this revelation that Jesus revealed His glorious identity as the Beloved Son of God. In our assembly this morning, we have discussed how God the Father wants us to listen to Jesus and shine with the light of His love. We too can shine during Lent by making time to GIVE, ACT and PRAY.
How ironic, that having talked about the brightness of The Transfiguration, we then woke up this morning to the brightness of a fresh blanket of snow. This caused such excitement and led to a magical time in school. The children had such fun at break time, before the snow melted! We had to make some memories.
Today I have met with the class council to hear about the thoughtful ideas that each class has had in order to raise money for CAFOD. The children have been tasked to be creative and to think of an activity that contributes to the good of our community. We have also got our FOOD BANK up and running in the entrance to school. If you are able to contribute to it, please do pop in and add it to the display. If you have a need for a little extra support, you are very welcome to come and choose some useful items. Just come in as the bank is by the entrance, there is no need to ask anyone, just bring a bag and help yourself to what you need.
Celebrating learning in School
It has been lovely to welcome so many parents from every class into school for ‘book looks’ over the past two weeks. We hope that you have found the experience enjoyable, especially being able to sit down next to your child and for them to share their work. Parents’ Evenings will now be taking place over the next two Wednesdays. There is a still a small % of parents yet to book - please do let us know if we can help in any way. For those children who have an additional learning challenge and are part of our SEN group, Mrs Hotchkiss will be making time to arrange separate appointments on another day. This will give you the opportunity to talk directly to her and share any updates or concerns that you may have. If you feel that you need to speak to Mrs Hotchkiss, please complete the form below. Mrs Hotchkiss will then contact you directly to arrange a time.
Giving the children the opportunity to be creative and expressive is something that we value here in school. Great learning opportunities for now and for later life come from drama, art and music. This week we have had a visiting artist come into school to work alongside our Reception and Key Stage 1 children in the art of origami.
The children had to follow a set of precise instructions in order to make their various projects. Moving into the summer term, we will be holding a painting and print making workshop for our junior children.
‘We are the stuff that dreams are made of.”
Yesterday, our wonderful Year 4 class joined a host of other schools to perform at The Grand Theatre in Blackpool as part of their Shakespeare festival - Sandgrown Shakespeare! They were all just fabulous. The creativity, confidence and resilience of all of the children shone through in their words, actions and facial expressions. We are so very proud of you Year 4!
Role Models of the Week
Role Models who have demonstrated virtues this week.
Our Whole School learning Role Models for this week.
Attendance
Office News
Please bear with us if you ring in towards the end of the afternoon to report changes in pick-up arrangements, delays etc. We go around school delivering messages and updating Class teachers with changes so might not be in the Office to answer the phone. We don’t always get the chance to listen to voicemails after 3pm so it’s best to keep trying to speak to someone to ensure that messages are passed on.
We are finding that some parents are struggling with keeping up to date with activities, clubs, finishing times etc and these should always be accessible on the school website, either under classes or sports or extra curricular activities. If there are last minute changes, we would send a text to update families but we don’t always send texts when it is routine and general information. That will be found on the website and we can only urge you to check it and keep checking it as we have a lot of extra curricular activities and it’s essential that you and your children do not miss out. It also greatly helps staff who are running activities if you can be there promptly to collect the children.
We have been using Forms to get bookings for some clubs - if you find that you can’t book, generally this is because the places have been taken - once the bookings reach the optimum number for that activity, the booking system closes and no further places can be booked.
Extra-Curricular Update
This week, our sporting teams were back up and running for their Spring fixtures. Both the netball and football teams represented the school v St Peters. Both Mr Nay and Miss Lavelle could not speak highly enough about the attitude of the children. Next week, we are playing Hall Park. The netball match will be played at our school - please come and support if you can.
Choir for next week (one week only) will be on Thursday 3.30-4.00pm. This is because the staff have first aid training on Monday night. The choir will be preparing for an event in June where they will be performing at the North Pier - watch this space!
There are a number of holiday clubs happening this Easter. Mr Nay will be running his usual half term club and Antony at Judo Education is running one at Ansdell Primary School on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th April 2023. Activities include: Judo, Fencing, Archery, Softball plus much much more. Times are from 8.30am - 5.30pm. If this is something that you want to think about or look into, please contact antony@judoeducation.co.uk
Finally…
After ten long and happy years at Our Lady’s our lovely Colette in nursery has decided to hang up her early years boots and seek new challenges away from education. Over the past 10 years Colette has loved and nurtured so many children, it will be a great loss to both early years, education as well as our nursery and wider school community.
I am sure that each and every one of you will feel as upset as we are at losing such a fabulous and valued member of the team, but as Colette says “now is her time” to try something new. We are in awe of her bravery and would like to wish her every success and happiness as she opens a new chapter. I know that you will want to wish Colette the very best of luck as she starts her new adventure. We will miss her dearly and look forward to celebrating her on her final day - Friday 24th March.
Have a lovely weekend with your families
God Bless
Mrs Gregan