The sacramental journey is a very special one that continues to delve into our relationships with God even more. Over the past two Saturdays, the sun has shone, as our Year 4 children received Holy Communion for the very first time. It was a lovely morning all about the children - just as it should be. The children looked so beautiful and had come together with other members of the parish. An enormous thank you must go to the team of dedicated staff who have supported the children since January with their preparations. We are blessed with your kindness and generosity.
You may remember that during Lent, we raised money for CAFOD through our Lenten Box collections. Unbelievably, a staggering £1300 was raised and has since been donated. Today, Diane from CAFOD, has visited school to teach us all about how the money will be used and Catholic Social Teaching. Each class has had a workshop on CAFOD. Catholic social teaching (CST) is rooted in Scripture, formed by the wisdom of Church leaders, and influenced by grassroots movements. It is our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world.
The principles of CST are: dignity, solidarity, common good, option for the poor, peace, creation and environment and dignity of work and participation.
Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God. We will be continuing this work next year and looking at how we can all make a contribution to our world through our actions. I cannot wait to share with you our plans!
Caring for our Common Home and making it EXCITING…
A few weeks ago, I shared with you the idea and plans for developing the outside area at school into a forest school. We know that this process will take some time to develop and our plans need to be put in place - but we have cracked on! Fraser, our Fylde Ranger, responded to our plea for help. Bringing tools and rakes, he has helped us clear the land ready for the next stage of development - we can’t thank him enough for the generosity of time. Our next stage is lining the area and covering it with woodchips. This is where we need your help…
Do you know where we can get our hands on lots of woodchips?
Do you have a contact who will support us?
The canopy area isn’t being built until October, so we have plenty of time to make the area just how we want it to be. Today, our new reading library has arrived for outside too. After-half term, our Year 6 librarians will get it ready for a grand opening.
Learning Role Models of the Week
Learning role models of the half-term
Virtue butterfly award winner
Out Year 6 children had job interviews within school this week. After half-term, they will each have a job around school as part of their opportunity to give back to the community who has given them so much.
Office news…
There is a group of people in school who work quietly behind the scenese supporting me and the vision we have for the school at Our Ladys - our governing body. In recent years, there has been some retirements and changes to the body which has meant we have needed to recruit further. Mr Davies has worked tirelessly as a Parent Governor for the past two years, becoming vice-chair for the resources commitee. Due to new work commitments, Mr Davies reluctantly has to step down from his role in school. We want to thank him for all of his hard work and know that if we need any support in the future, we will of course be in touch.
We are therfore in need of a new Parent Governor for the new academic year. If you are someone that would like to get involved with school-life and support us as we transition through new chapters, please do apply. You will need to write a biography of 150 words about yourself and why you would be the right person for the role; emailing it to bursar@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk by Friday 7th June. All biographies will be collated and shared ready for voting the following week.
We really do need you!
All dinner money accounts are on Parent Pay. There is currently over £1000 outstanding across all families that needs to be paid. Please can this be cleared asap so that the new half-term can be started with a clean slate.
Our Weekly Attendance
Wrap Around Care
Don’t forget to book onto the CN Active Sports Camp if you need childcare for the second week of the holiday.
Thank you to everyone who has submitted expressions of interest for wrap around care that will be starting in September. Please do fill it in if you think you will need some support. Plans are being formulated and I will be able to give you some more information in Summer. We are really excited with this new adventure and what it will mean for our school.
All of our extra-curricular clubs for after half-term are now on the school website - sport or news around the school. Please book on the clubs using the buttons provided on those pages.
Finally, the most important message of the half-term…
This year has been one that has been full of challenge in lots of different ways; more of a challenge than we have ever had before. In the final half-term, we are trying to recognise these adversities and tackle them head on; providing support however we can for the people who have looked after the families of our community. Last week I announced that we would be raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and The Fire Fighter’s Charity via the Jim Jam Jog, in honour of Harrison Bretherton who was killed in a car accident in September. On the day, his parents, Kerry and Bryan, will be joining us in school to cheer the children on and to celebrate Harrison’s life at the school where he started.
On Friday 12th July, we will be hosting the Dominic Sports Fest; a festival of sport designed by Year 5 and Dominic to raise money for The Manchester Children’s Hospital who have looked after Dominic during his cancer treatment this past year.
Please do read the following words that has been written by Helen, Dominic’s mum, who will share with you his story:
“In August last year, at the age of 8, Dominic was given the devastating diagnosis of a malignant brain tumour. Dominic was rushed to Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital and within 4 days of diagnosis, Dominic underwent 9 hours of life saving surgery to remove the tumour. Three days after surgery Dominic and his twin brother turned 9 and celebrated their birthday on the neurology ward in Manchester. As part of Dominic’s treatment plan, he was to undergo a year of treatment, following the brain surgery. Dominic was fitted with a Hickman line and began 6 weeks of daily proton beam therapy at the Christie Hospital. Dominic was required to lie perfectly still in a scanner for an hour every day, with a radiotherapy mask on and completely alone in the scanning room. A big ask for a 9 year old, but he was a trooper and spent every session listening to the soundtrack from Disney Cars!
Once the radiotherapy part of treatment was finished, Dominic began 8 cycles of chemotherapy, over a period of 34 weeks, at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. He is due to complete his treatment at the end of August. The cancer journey is hard, especially for a young boy. But Dominic has faced every challenge with absolute determination and courage. He has spent 40 nights in hospital since diagnosis and countless days in various clinics within the hospital setting. He has had blood transfusions, emergency ambulance rides, surgeries, scans, infusions, injections and more investigations than it’s possible to explain. As a family we owe everything to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Our team of doctors and nurses have saved Dominic’s life on more than one occasion and we thank God each and every day that, in the darkest of times, they were there.”
For every treatment Dominic has received over the past year, he has been given a bravery bead. You can see from the image above, just how many treatments Dominic has had in the past year - we are beyond proud of him, for what he has gone through and how he has tackled it with such bravery. As a school, all we want to do is look after our children and in time when we haven’t been able to do that, we thank The Manchester Children’s Hospital for what they have done for our Dominic, and his family. It seems only appropriate that we raise money for them as we finish for summer knowing that when we all come back together in September, we hope Dominic will have finished his treatment and will be back with us where he belongs. At each Sports Day, Year 5 will be there with buckets collecting any loose change (or notes) that you have to kick start our campaign, this will be followed with the Dominic Sports Fest on Friday 12th July for every child in our school - this will be a sponsored event. Let’s get behind Dominic, the very building and people who have saved his life in this last year!
Have a lovely half-term with your families. We will see you on Monday 10th June. Sports Afternoons start that week, please check the calendar for more information.
God bless
Mrs Gregan