In this week’s Gospel, we hear the story of the Good Samaritan - someone who stopped and helped - even though he didn’t know him. It was an act of pure kindness and selflessness. We challenge the children all of the time to think of others, and what actions we can do to make others happy in their time of need. On Monday I shared an event with the children that made us incredibly sad. A special school and a mainstream school, where some of my friends work near Wolverhampton, had been broken into and an enormous amount of damage was inflicted; to the amount of £100,000. Broken classroom screens, toilets and sinks, all technology damaged and their vending machine, which contained fidget and sensory toys for the children was shattered and the contents stolen. All week, the children the children have been coming to my office suggesting ways in which could help our neighbour. From sending them new toilets, to laptops we no longer need, to collecting fidget toys - they had so many wonderful ideas. So on Monday, there will be a box in my office for a fidget toy amnesty. Any spare fidget toys that the children have at home that we can send Green Park School something to make their children smile. This is Catholic Social Teaching in action.
It is St Annes Club Day tomorrow; it is going to be a scorcher! For those of you who are walking with school, we will be meeting on Clifton Drive, outside Ashton Gardens at 9:45am; our usual space. The children need to be in school uniform or school PE kit - smart please and with comfy shoes on. Hats, sun cream and water are essential - there will be ice pops at the Parish Centre. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow. A huge congratulations to Mrs Mather and her art team who have won first place in the Primary School Art Competition for the Carnival. There will be a presentation at 1:15pm at the marque in Ashton Gardens. If you are around at time, please do come down with the children. Lots of our children contributed to it. We need lots of adults to walk with us - so please do!
STAR Charter
The nominations for the STAR Charter Distinction Award will close on Monday. Please do nominate your child if you think they have achieved any ONE of these criteria beyond school. We really want to celebrate the wonderful acts that our children have done this year.
Attended at least 3 family masses over the year.
Raised money for a charity through their own actions.
Contributed to looking after our common home - our local area.
A sustained period of volunteering to help someone in need.
Celebrating Learning
Coming home with your child tonight is their end of year report. There is so much to celebrate from the wonderful year the children have had, it is always hard to capture it in a report. Together with the weekly blogs, you will have a complete understanding of your child’s year in school, the experiences they have had and areas for development moving forward. The reports take the teaching team such a long time to write, and I then read all 210 of them and comment on them - it is honestly my favourite task of the year! I hope you enjoy reading them with your child this weekend as they look ahead to the next part of their journey, remembering just what they have achieved this year but also knowing that non of us are complete yet! As always, there is an opportunity for you to share your reflections on your child’s year - to celebrate all that has been achieved.
Leading Learners from across the school and STAR Virtues
This week, we received the final statutory data for our children this year; our KS2 Year 6 SATs results. The results are exceptional and significantly above national average - I beyond proud of the children who worked so hard, and all of the staff team who have played a part in their Our Ladys journey. In September, all of the statutory data for this year will be collated and available on the website. Next week, we will be fully celebrating our Year 6 children and their contribution to Our Ladys. On Monday and Tuesday it is the Year 5 & 6 play - PETER PAN - if you are wanting a ticket, please visit the school office. Thank you everyone who is donating air conditioning units. We will have some back stage for the children and then some in the hall so the audience doesn’t melt! Then on Wednesday, the whole school community will head to Mass where we celebrate our year together and our leavers from this year; children and staff. We will be leaving school at 9.05am to walk to church and we need walkers to help our children; please do join us if you can.
On Friday, school closes for Summer at 2pm for all children - there is no All Stars on Friday. In previous years, the school has been collected at 2pm, with our Year 6 children slightly after to allow them to come out onto the playground. What I invite you all to do this year is to collect your child at 2pm and then make your way to the playground outside Year 6 where we will applaud our Year 6 children out of school for the very final time. No matter what year, it would be lovely to see you all there.
Office News
As we approach the end of the year, and start to look ahead to next year, the All Stars booking form is now open. This is for the next academic year, from September. Please have a think about what provision is needed and complete the booking form accordingly. All children who currently use the wrap around care will be prioritised so please do not worry - we just need to know sooner rather than later.
Uniform Pre-Loved Sale - On Monday and Tuesday next week, there will a uniform sale at school. Thank you for all of the donations for uniform; it really does help so many families.
Lunches are slightly different next week as Jacqui uses up everything in the kitchen before the summer holiday. The menu will look like this:
Monday - Chicken Meatballs & Noodles or Jacket Potato
Tuesday - Salmon or veggie fingers or Pizza Panini
Wednesday - Chicken Roast Dinner or Sandwiches
Thursday - Pasta Bolognaise or Jacket Potato
Friday - Fish & chips or Pizza
Whole School Attendance - Yearly Totals
I have attached the newsletter for this month’s online safety newsletter; please do have a read to keep in touch. There has been a lot of talk in school about “skinwalkers” over the past couple of weeks; resulting in others in the class becoming upset and frightened. We have had a big talk with the children about this, but it still seems to have continued, please support us in talking to your children and letting them know it is an inappropriate thing to be discussing in school, at home even.If you don’t know what this is, it is a big hype on Tiktok at the moment and its something used to scare others. It also brings up scary pictures if you search this on google. This is something that I had to learn about and not heard about before, so please do be aware of it. Some of our younger children are aware of it. Thank you for your support with this.
Thank you to everyone who bought a Mini-Vinnie raffle ticket this week. They will be doing the draw after school on Monday at their club and then distributing prizes on Tuesday around school. All of the sports extra-curricular clubs have now finished in school this week - there are no clubs next week.
See you all this weekend at St Annes Club Day!
God bless
Mrs Gregan