I am incredibly proud of our school, and I want to share that with as many people as possible. We are a special family who has a firm place in the wider community of St Annes. Over the past few weeks, we have been thinking about our global family; and where we fit into it; how we can contribute to it and how we can make it grow in love. Today in assembly, we have been looking at God’s call to go out and spread the Good News. We don’t have to be like Mother Theresa, Oscar Romero or Francis of Assisi, we can do the little things in life really well. Sometimes is it is really hard to do the right thing, it is much easier to do the wrong thing - we can only try.
Last Saturday, on a soggy morning, we had a great turn out for the Carnival Procession. Thank you to all of the children and parents who braved the conditions, with big smiles on faces, and represented our school and parish. We did have a lot of fun collecting sweets and collecting money on route.
Over the past few weeks, I have asked the Student Council to complete a mission in school; to explore with their class what it means to be a STAR. Today, all of the councillors brought back their designs and thoughts ready to share and create a consistent vision across the school. Being a star is going to be the focus of our year next year in terms of behaviour, expectations of work, contribution to school life and catholic life. Our pupils will drive this and decide just what is possible. More will come on this next week.
Looking forward to next year…
Transition tasks have taken over this week! On Wednesday, we welcomed our new Reception children into school for the first time, and all other classes moved up to meet their new teachers and see their new environments. It is always such an exciting day and enables the children to feel more relaxed about what is coming; and the staff too! Not only has transition happened within school, but in other schools as well. Our Year 6 children headed off to St Bedes to see what life will be like there, and our Year 4 children too. They went to St Bedes yesterday to take part in a prayer day with our other Catholic schools. It really was a beautiful day, full of song and prayer, and ending in a mass. Next week, Year 5 will be heading to St Bedes for a PE day; I am sure that they will have lots of fun.
The children all know who their teaching team will be next year, but with any year there is an element of change. One thing I know about our staff is that they are master plate spinners. Not only do they do what they do in school each and every day, but they are parents, coaches, Brownie leads, children themselves, all with a life beyond Our Ladys. For the past few years, Miss Neves has been completing an art degree alongside her work here in school. Ultimately she wants to be a secondary art teacher; which we know is right up her street. Next year is her final year of her degree, and for that she needs time. Time to concentrate on her work and time to complete the degree to her highest standard, alongside the other plate spinning that she does. Miss Neves will be leaving us at the end of this year to pursue her dream! We cannot thank her enough for what she has given to our school community and for the passion that she has instilled in our children, and staff! We know that whatever Miss Neves goes off to do, she will always have our support and pride - she is truly precious in our eyes!
There will be a few tweaks and changes to school life in September, nothing too major and always to enhance what we do. I don’t want to overwhelme you all at once so will be dripping it into my newsletters over the coming weeks.
As part of our School Improvement Plan next year, we will be looking at the Ethic of Excellence. How can we ensure that the offer we provide for our community is excellent and what does this look like at Our Ladys. We all have a responsibility with this in terms of the expectations that we have. Even though we have not finished this academic year, I know you will already be thinking about uniform for next year. There are no changes, I just want to reiterate our uniform expecations. The full branded items are still available at Top Marques if you require them; including the badged polo shirt. These can be requested as I know many of you prefer them. I have attached the uniform PDF for you here.
We have tried to ensure that only a few of the items are school badged, the rest can be bought easily from most shops. There has been an increase in football shorts and black creeping into school as of late. Please can you ensure that when you are buying uniform for next year, that it is blue. Navy PE shorts, plain navy jogging bottoms and navy leggings please.
Another thing to think about and solve is water bottles. We have seen the size of these mulitply in recent months, and as you can imagine, the size can interfere with the space that the children have on their table when they have their books and resources out. All children in school have a sleeve that we have had made on the back of their chair. In the sleeve, the children store their reading books, pencil cases, white boards and water bottles so that they can be accessed throughout the lesson and without any disruption to classroom routines. When purchasing new water bottles for next year, please can smaller ones be bought that fit into the space at the back of the chair. We used to have these, but they seem to have grown! All classrooms have sinks where the children can refill them. Space in classrooms are so tight, organisation is definitely key. 30 perfectly sized water bottles that fit into the back of chair sleeve would be amazing!
Next week I will share the changes to attendance, curriculum and Catholic life that we are implementing.
Our week in school…
There have been so many opportunitites in school this week, here is a flavour of what has been happening.
Our final enrichment session of the year took place on Monday across the school. The fact that every child in school has been taught by every teacher is just amazing. New skills beyond the curriculum have been taught and everyone has had a wonderful time.
Year 4 had a visit from some parents who told them about the jobs that they do. It is so important that our children can dream big and know what is possible. Thank you to the parents who gave their time so generously. We are really grateful.
Today our Year 5 & 6 children were visited by Natwest Money Sense Programme. Year 5 linked their session to Crime and Punishment and Year 6 to Saving our Planet. Natwest offer a whole host of sessions and we will be looking how to implement them across the school next year.
Plea from School
We are still looking for the following items for school. How can you help?
Scooters: do you have any old scooters at home that your children no longer play with or use, maybe they have grown out of them? We could use them in school at play times for our new scooter zone.
Board Games: our new Wrap Around Care Offer is in the planning stage and we are looking at our resources. We could do with some board games. Have you got any board games at home that you no longer play with? Could they be donated to school?
Learning Role Models of the Week
Learning role models of the week
Virtue butterfly award winners
Office news…
Thank you so much for everyone who has settled their dinner money balances this week. We started the week with an outstanding balance of over £1500 and we are now down to just over £500. Can you please check Parent Pay this weekend for any payments that need to be paid. I will send letters out on Monday for anything that need paying before the close of the year.
Play tickets have been steadily leaving the office this week ready for The Greatest Show in just over a week’s time. If you are a Year 5 or 6 parent, please come and get your tickets sooner rather than later. A waiting list has been established for additional tickets. All tickets are £3 each.
Our Weekly Attendance
We also need your help! We have a missing scooter that has been taken off the school site this week at the end of the day. When Jacob went to collect it, it wasn’t there. We are hoping that someone has accidentally taken the wrong scooter. Please can you all check at home? Hopefully we will be able to return it to its rightful owner.
Next Friday, 12th July, Year 5 are organising a Sports Fest. This will be a sponsored event so that you do not need to worry. You can bring 20p to £20 - there is no minimum to get involved. Sponsor forms will be going out on Monday. On the afternoon, all children in school will be out at the same time taking part in a range of activities designed by Year 5; from dancing to racing, to football and everything in between. For the event, they would like the children to come in a kit or uniform that they belong to. For example: St Annes Football Kit, NW1 Academy t-shirt, Clifton Academy, CN Sports, Rainbows, Scouts, Sea Cadets - whatever you belong to, that is your uniform for the day. Please keep it appropriate, especially with gymnastics wear.
The class are also planning a cake sale in the morning and a tombola too! I am so proud of Year 5, Mr Cornwell and Mrs Mather for their initiative with this. We want to do what we can to support them and have lots of fun whilst doing it! Cakes will be available to be bought during morning breaktimes for 50p a cake. If the children would like to buy one, they can bring 50p in on the morning. I am assured that all dietary requirements have been catered for!
It has been lovely to see everyone in red, white and blue today with the hope of instilling some national good luck for the English Football Team tomorrow. It is always nice to have a whole-school initiative and the children look very patriotic, having fun at the same time! Last week, we also had a familiar face visit school. You may remember that last year, Stuart Robinson (wheelchair rugby superstar) visited our school to talk to the children about his sport and put them through their paces. Well, Stuart was visiting St Peters this week, and popped into school for a brew and catch up. He filled me in on his preparation for the Paralympics and his excitment at going for the gold again. We could not let the visit pass without warm wishes from us. A card was whipped up and good luck wishes sent.
I hope those who are going to festival have really enjoyed it. Fingers crossed again for England tomorrow (although I am a secret Spain fan due to the staff sweepstake). Let’s hope they can do themselves justice and overcome Switzerland!
Mrs Gregan
