This week in assembly, we took the gospel from last weekend and thought about all of the names that Jesus is called in the bible; there are so many. All of them have a different meaning and come at different times in Jesus’s life - some even before he was born. In the gospel, we were told about how Jesus started to recruit his disciples; men who had a mission to bring the Kingdom of God alive here on earth. We all have names and our names all have a different meaning. In assembly we explored some of these: Jacob; which means to follow. Millie; which means gentle strength, to name but a few. I have tasked the children with exploring the meaning of their own names to share in the worship area next week. Maybe you could do this as a family?
Mrs Gregan’s Week Around School
This week, I have the one of the loveliest weeks in school; meeting lots of people on my wanders. On Monday, I have the pleasure of teaching in Year 5. This week’s icy snap certainly helped my lesson as we started a unit of work on negative numbers. We discussed how negative numbers fall below 0 - which was evident in the snowy conditions outside. Tuesday saw me venture to Preston to meet up with other Catholic leaders in exploring the new RE curriculum which we are slowly rolling out in school. I spent the day listening to Father John Miller explain in detail, the passion of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We discussed how we can enable our children to encounter other world faiths and engage in dialogue too.
Our main purpose of a school is being a Catholic school and bringing the children closer to God through what we offer in school and their engagement with the church at the weekend. On Wednesday I held two workshops. One with children and governors and one with staff where we started to look at our purpose and what makes Our Lady Star of the Sea a special school and community to be part of. This is the start of our journey and evaluation; it is so important that everyone has the chance to contribute. Under the photographs, I have attached a button with the same questions that we looked at on Wednesday. I would be really grateful if you could spend 10 minutes at home considering the same questions and completing the form so that everyone’s voice is part of our Catholic identity.
Today, I have experienced pure joy. Being an upper junior teacher, I very rarely had the chance to teach the younger members of our school - I am trying to get into every class. Today I taught art to Reception. I asked them to think about Mary and what Mary looks like. We explored a range of images that showed Mary in different ways. The children then created their own paintings ready to be displayed in the hall. It was an hour of magic!
I have also received a letter from Damien Hinds, Minister for Schools, this week congratulating us on our school’s outstanding achievement of 100% pass rate in the 2023 phonics screening check. This puts us in the top 1% of primary schools across the country. We are incredibly proud of the work that we do on early reading and the dedicated team who deliver phonics to our children daily.
Role Models of the Week
Leading Learners
Virtue Role Models
Weekly Attendance
Sport in School
A whole host of opportunities have come since the children returned after Christmas. Last Friday, our Year 5 & 6 girls football team headed to AKS to complete in the cluster football tournament. There was some tricky games, but the girls were fantastic. Their attitude and desire to compete were exemplary. On Tuesday, our Year 5 & 6 Athletics team competed against other schools in indoor athletics. It is always such a wonderful event - very loud - but wonderful. Fencing has also started for our KS1 children. I was so impressed watching them have a go this morning and how they listened to their coach. After half-term, it will be archery!
How can we be a good neighbour?
Thank you so much for taking much more care on the roads around school, it has appeared calmer on my gates in the morning. We are still looking for families who cross over Church Road to get to school - please can you complete this form if you haven’t yet done so. The student council will be meeting over the next couple of weeks and writing a letter to our MP requesting a meeting about the results. We desperately want the make the roads around our school safer and for our pupils to be able to walk to school safely, crossing the major roads with ease. After half term, we will be launching the walk to school campaign to quieten the roads down around school more.
Have a lovely weekend with your families
God bless
Mrs Gregan