Receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation - Thursday 7th December

On the afternoon of Thursday 7th December, Year Six welcomed Bishop David Evans and Father Lamb into school to talk to them about Confirmation.  Bishop David was very impressed with the children’s knowledge about receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation and felt that they were all very well prepared.  He spoke at length about the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how we can use them effectively in our lives.  The children asked Bishop David some very interesting questions which I felt showed how attentive and interested the children were in his life and the choices he had made for his vocation to the priesthood.

In the evening the children received the Sacrament of Confirmation at that Parish Mass held for celebrating the Feast of St Ambrose.  The Mass was beautiful, and it was a lovely celebration of the children continuing their journey of faith.  They all showed great respect and reverence. 

We thank those children who didn’t make their Confirmation but came to support their friends.  The Mass was followed by a joyful celebration in the parish hall with pizzas for all.  These were provided by Father Lamb. Thank you also to the UCM for the refreshments.

‘’Confirmation was important to me because it was my third step into becoming part of the Catholic Church and God’s Family. It was important because the Bishop put the oil of Christ on our forehead, plus you get to meet him!’’ Charlie

 “Confirmation was great yesterday because we renewed our baptism promises and we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Also, we saw all our friends and family. It was a good time.’’ James

 “Confirmation was so special to me because I felt happy and joyful with my friends and family, and as the Bishop sealed me with the Holy Spirit I felt good and I had more courage about my faith.’’ Katie

 “Confirmation was special to me because I got to see my friends, get confirmed and see my journey through confirmation. I felt nervous but I got more confident when I saw my friends and family, who came to see me renew my baptismal promises and watch me get confirmed!’’ Fia-Bella

“I enjoyed it very much. I did get a bit scared whilst being stood up in church but being confirmed gave me much confidence! I have learnt a lot about each Saint, and I am really glad I did it, and I loved the after party!’’ Niamh

Ambrosefest - Wednesday 6th December - Friday 8th December

On Wednesday 6th December each year group was invited to an assembly led by Mr Thomas, who is the Lay Chaplain from Hagley RC High School.  He spoke to the children about the life of St Ambrose and how from an early age he was faith-filled and had the courage to talk to people about the church and his faith in God.  St Ambrose was a Doctor of the church because both of his writings and teachings were so important and had a significant impact on the early church.

Following the assembly, as a school we celebrated Mass together in church.  All the children sang beautifully, and the readers read with such reverence. Thank you to Father Lamb for celebrating the Mass with us and to the altar servers who helped. 

On Thursday all the children welcomed one another by saying ‘Happy Feast Day’ and enjoyed using their gained facts about St Ambrose in their work.

 In Reception the children were very excited and eagerly found out lots of information about St Ambrose.

 “A swarm of bees went in his mouth” - Evie

“As sweet as honey” - Summer

“We have bees on our jumper because of Saint Ambrose” - Louis

 Mrs Gawthorp asked the children ‘Why do we have bees on our school jumper?

“because they dropped honey in his mouth” - 

“because he said words of honey”

“they went in his mouth and drop some honey”

The children noticed the bees on our school jumper and designed their our own beehives as St Ambrose was the patron saint of beekeepers. 

When Year One entered the classroom they all said 'Happy St Ambrose Day'. They made their own St Ambrose bees and said why they love coming to St Ambrose Catholic Primary School. When they went to Mass on Wednesday they stayed behind to look at the wonderful St Ambrose Statue. They saw the shepherds crook and the honey pot that St Ambrose was holding.

“I love coming to school to see my friends.” Florence H

“I like coming to school because the teachers are kind.” Charlotte

“I like St Ambrose because the classroom is nice.” Nicole

“I love St Ambrose because I learn lots at school.” Thomas B

“I love Art at St Ambrose.” Henry 

Year Two had a lovely time learning about and celebrating the life of St Ambrose. They really enjoyed of the Mass lead by Father Lamb and the assembly from Mr Thomas. In class they each made a peg doll St Ambrose and wrote their our own class litany to the St Ambrose.

“A bee was in St Ambrose's mouth and then he could speak good, sweet words” 

“He would go around the city telling them that God loves them”

“St Ambrose spread the word of God in Milan and he was the Bishop of Milan”

“St Ambrose is good because he was the Bishop of Milan”

“St Ambrose says sweet words and he was full of love”

“St Ambrose is the patron saint of beggars, Milan, bee keepers and learning”

“St Ambrose talked about God and he spread the word of God. He loved God. He is the Patron Saint of beggars, bee keepers, Milan and learning”

“St Ambrose was a loving and compassionate person he gave away his money to the poor.” 

“St Ambrose was a sweet-talking person. A bee stung his tongue and then he could speak sweet words about God”. 

In Year Three the children enjoyed watching a video all about the life of St Ambrose.  They then created a class collage of images and words relating to his life.

“When St Ambrose was voted in as the Bishop of Milan, he ran away and hid!' Abel

“St Ambrose is the patron saint of bee keepers, because when he was little a swarm of bees landed on him, but none of them stung him!” Isla

Year Four spent the afternoon learning and celebrating St Ambrose on his feast day. We made posters all about him and his life and when he was canonised.  

‘I liked making the posters because it was a fun activity’ Jack 
‘He was the patron saint of Milan, bees and candlemakers’ Cody 
‘A swarm of bees came into his mouth when he was a baby and left him a drop of honey’ Austin 

Christ and King and Getting Ready for the Season of Advent

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, escorted by all the angels, then He will take His seat on His throne of glory. Matthew 25: 31

We celebrated the Feast of Christ as King and remember Jesus’ promise to return in glory. In these prayers, children are reminded that God is with us now loving us and guiding us in every part of our day. Children were introduced to the concept of freedom and how we make different choices in life and, through the analogy of an outing to a park, they were invited to reflect on how we can listen to God guiding us when we feel stuck, scared, discouraged, or frustrated.

On Friday 1st December the children have been busy preparing the class prayer tables for the Season of Advent that starts on Sunday 3rd December.

 

Advent OneLife Stream

We also joined Dan, Emily and thousands of other children across the country as we celebrated the start of the beautiful Season of Advent, through prayer and song! We sang Awake Awake which we had been learning as a school in preparation for Advent.

Our Prayer Response was: Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Alleluia! Alleluia! Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Alleluia! Amen.

We all enjoyed this reflective session and it was a lovely start to the liturgical season of Advent.  Please see some quotes from the children.

I really like when Dan and Emily sing the songs because they sing them with meaning. Also they show how much they love God. Y4

I enjoyed the shout outs Dan and Emily do. I feel ready for Advent. Y4

I loved singing Awake Awake-Y1

I really enjoyed that we could enjoy lots of songs and celebrate an important time in Advent.  Y5

It was great to hear that St Ambrose had a shout out during the livestream. It made us feel closer to other communities. Y5

The livestream made me think more about what Advent actually is and why it is so important. Y5

Mini-Vinnies - Bingo Calling - Monday 13th November

The Mini-Vinnies supported the parish Union of Catholic Mothers (UCM) on Monday afternoon with their chocolate Bingo afternoon.  The children were very clear Bingo callers and the ladies thoroughly enjoyed them being there. Well done to those Mini-Vinnies who took part and thank you for your continued work in our parish community.

Remembrance - Friday 10th November

Today the children and staff all gathered in the hall for a Remembrance Service which was led by Year Six. Year Six reminded us of the history behind remembrance day and that it is an important time to remember those who have fought and died in war. 
 
As a community we remembered in faith all those who have served and continue to serve in our armed forces. Every child then held a poppy that they had made and prayers were said. The final prayer focused on the centre of the poppy and we asked for God's help and support in playing our own part in working for peace in the world. 
 
Thank you to Year Six who led our service which such reverence.
 
Through the Poppy Appeal the Royal British Legion raise money for men and women who have served and those that are serving in the armed forces.  Thank you to all those who have bought a poppy or another item from the children this week.  Thank you to Macey, Katie, Jakub, Niamh, James, Charlie, Anthony and Isla who kindly volunteered to sell these at the end of the school day. 
 
A Prayer for World Peace

O God of the nations,as we look to that day when you will gather peoplefrom north and south, east and west,into the unity of your peaceable Kingdom,guide with your just and gentle wisdom all who take counselfor the nations of the world,that all your people may spend their days in security, freedom, and peace,through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Year 3 enjoyed learning all about the history of Remembrance Day this morning - they made some beautiful artwork!

"Red poppies symbolise all the soldiers who died in the Great War" (William)

"Purple poppies represent all the animals who died in the Great War" (Nikodem)

"Black poppies symbolise all the black soldiers who died in the Great War" (Cody)

"White poppies are a promise that we will try to live in peace" (Isla)

The Catholic Schools Pupil Profile - Attentive and Discerning - Monday 6th November

On Monday, during Gospel Liturgy the children were introduced to the two new virtues that will be the focus for this half term.  These virtues are Attentive and Discerning and are very important virtues for us to explore in our lives and especially during the season of Advent which is fast upon us.  During this time we are asked to be attentive and wait for Jesus' second coming. 

When the children returned to their classrooms, they explored what the virtues meant to them and throughout school life we encourage the children to be attentive to their experiences and to their vocation; and discerning about the choices they make and the effects of those choices. We look forward to seeing these virtues lived out.

The Mouth of October - Dedicated to the Rosary

During the month of October, we say the rosary.  Throughout this month all the children and staff have been working together to complete the Mark 10 Mission which challenges us to say every decade of the rosary during the month.  On Thursday 19th October members of the Union of Catholic Mothers (UCM) came into school and said two decades of the rosary with all the Key Stage One children. They thoroughly enjoyed their visit, and we look forward to welcoming them again. On Tuesday 24th October Father Lamb joined the whole school to say the decades of the Glorious Mysteries.

The children have enjoyed completing the Mark 10 Mission Rosary Challenge.   

Year Four Class Mass - Wednesday 18th October

On Wednesday, I attended the parish Mass with Year Four.  They showed great reverence throughout and read clearly.  It was the feast day of St. Luke, one of the Gospel writers and Father Lamb explained about his role in promoting the early church as a key writer. The children had the opportunity to explore the pulpit where there are some beautiful mosaics of the gospel and letter writers (St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, St. Peter and St. Paul).  

Harvest Mass - Friday 13th October

On Friday 13th October we celebrated our Harvest Mass as a whole school in church. It was a lovely Mass where the children showed great reverence throughout. The readers read clearly and the altar servers showed great service. 
 
The Harvest Raffle was won by Jamie in Year 1 and we raised £35 for CAFOD.  
 
CAFOD is a Catholic Agency for Overseas Development and they ask for us to 
 
Give to help us reach people who are still in need of help.

Act by making your voice heard through our campaigns 

Pray for our brothers and sisters living in poverty

Thank you to everyone that brought in Harvest contributions. We donated 105kg to the food bank in Kidderminster for local distribution. 

This truly displayed our current virtues of being generous and grateful.

Confirmation Meeting - Tuesday 10th October

On Tuesday evening Mrs. Bodlovic and Mrs Laskey joined the Confirmation meeting with Father Lamb and the children who are preparing to receive the sacrament with their parents. They all learnt about the presence of the Holy Spirit and the gifts that we receive through receiving the sacrament. Every child has been given a prayer sponsor from the parish and during the meeting a few children met their sponsor. It was a lovely gathering and we ask you all to keep these children and their families in your prayers during the coming months as they continue their journey of faith.

Blessing of the Animals Service - Wednesday 4th October

Saint Francis of Assisi is a very important saint in the life of the Catholic Church and school.  The children all know that Saint Francis loved and cared for the natural world and the animals within it.  

On Wednesday afternoon we welcomed of variety of different breeds of dog, a rabbit, a tortoise and an African snail to school for the blessing of the animals service. It was a wonderful service and the children were all very excited to sing and pray for the animals. Thank you to Father Lamb and for all those who were able to attend from the school and parish.  

This day also brought Pope Francis' Season of Creation to a close. 

LiveSimply

We are delighted to announce that we are taking part in the LiveSimply award from CAFOD.

The LiveSimply award is earned by communities and schools who can show how they have been living:

  • simply
  • in solidarity with people in poverty
  • sustainably with creation.

The LiveSimply award is an opportunity for our Catholic community to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si' to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”

The award celebrates what we have already done and inspires us to do more. It helps our community to live, not just more simply, but also more fully. 

Miss Crumpler is our LiveSimply Lead. 

Mini-Vinnies - Macmillian Coffee Morning - Friday 29th September

Today Year Five Mini-Vinnies demonstrated true discipleship by supporting the parish group the UCM (Union of Catholic Mothers) who held the Macmillan coffee morning.  They helped to collect empty cups and plates and then washed and dried them. There manners were impeccable and we are very proud of all of the pupils who participated. Thank you Mini-Vinnies.

Year Five Class Mass - Wednesday 27th September

Today Year Five attended the Parish Mass together and it was particularly special as it was the feast day of their Class Saint, Saint Vincent de Paul.  Saint Vincent de Paul was a man who dedicated himself to the evangelisation of the poor, the unfortunate and the suffering. Father Lamb shared how impressed he was with the children’s reverence and how beautifully the children read. Well done Year Five. They ended this special day with a piece of cake and a mini party.

House Captain and Vice Captain Elections

Today we started the school day with a lovely excited atmosphere as the children from Year One to Year Six attended their House Meeting to vote for their House Captain and Vice Captain (Reception Class will join next half-term). 

St. Ambrose has four house teams that are named after local saints.

All children and staff are allocated a house team and over the course of the year there will be half-term meetings, interhouse competitions held and other events that will focus on being part of a team. 

Congratulations to all of the children who were elected as House Captain and Vice Captain. We hope you are looking forward to this important role within our school.

House House Captain House Vice-Captain
St Nicholas Owen (Blue) Niamh Frankie W
St Wulstan (Red) Isla Fia-Bella
St Chad (Yellow) James Mihaela
St Richard (Green) Charlie Katie

Confirmation Enrolment Mass - Sunday 17th September

It was lovely to celebrate Mass, on Sunday evening with the children and their families for those who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in December.

The Catholic Schools Pupil Profile - Generous and Grateful - Monday 11th September

On Monday morning during whole school prayer and liturgy the two virtues of Generous and Grateful were introduced to the children.  The virtues of Generous and Grateful are the focus for this half term and the children then spent time in class exploring how they could demonstrate these virtues in their own lives.  These virtues are particularly important as we are currently in the Season of Creation.  This season was created by Pope Francis and he asks us to remember and pray for the care of our common home.  

St Peter & St Paul's Feast Day - Thursday 29th June 2023

Today was a Holy Day of Obligation and as a whole school we all went to church to celebrate the feast day of St Peter and St Paul.

Parishioners feedback:

'The children's responses were clearly expressed and confident. The little ones were particularly clear.'

'The children were very enthusiastic in their praise and worship. The teachers are very dedicated in their role.'

'I thought that the children's responses and especially their singing was excellent. Well done.'

'The readers were particularly good. Spoke slowly and could be heard from the back. It was appreciated having the words to the hymns given to use before Mass. The organisation of the children coming into Mass continues to be an improvement. An area for consideration is the attitude of the children having received the Blessed Sacrament. They could be more prayerful - not looking around at their friends.'

'It was good to see the entire school attending Mass on a Day of Obligation.'

'They all did very well. Well done.'

Staff feedback:

'Very strong readers. It is both enjoyable and helps us to understand the teachings in Mass when it is delivered so clearly and appropriately. It might be nice to have sung responses in the future.'

'Children followed Mass well with their red booklets and responded clearly. It was nice to see the Year 3 children, who have just recently received their First Holy Communion, be so well prepared during Mass to receive the Eucharist. Could some of the responses be sung at futures Masses?'

First Holy Communion - Saturday 17th June 2023

In preparation for our First Holy Communion Display, we learnt about transubstantiation – the Holy Spirit changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

To celebrate and share our learning about the Eucharist, we made our own monstrance's to share with the parish for our First Holy Communion Display.

We had a fantastic day celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. We were respectful, reverent and very grown up.

We worked with our parents and teachers to ensure we were ready, and we definitely showed we were!

We then finished the celebration with a shared lunch in the Parish Hall!

Back at school, we had a lovely afternoon celebrating the children in Year 3 who received their First Holy Communion at the weekend!

Reception - Adopt an orangutan fundraising - Friday 16th June 2023

Inspired by Freddie's book, 'There a Rang-Tan in my bedroom' children in reception discussed that they wanted to take action and help save these creatures. They spoke to the rest of the school about the importance for caring for God's gifts and asked for everyone to bring in donations to help them adopt an orangutan. They raised an excellent £118.54 for this worthy cause.

St Richard's Feast Day - Friday 16th June 2023

Today, everyone had the opportunity to come to school wearing something green to mark the feast day of green house's saint: Saint Richard.

Rosary Service - Friday 26th May 2023

This morning, a team of Y6 pupils helped Miss Holtom organise a wonderful Rosary service honouring Mary. It was wonderful seeing everyone process around school and using their hand-made rosary beads to help them say the Hail Mary so beautifully in the glorious sunshine. Father Lamb thought it was lovely too.

Y5 - I liked going round to the different parts of the school with Mary, saying 10 Hail Mary's to honour her. I am looking forward to leading a rosary service next year.

Y5 - I liked that we made our own rosary's to help us focus; it was nice seeing the younger children using them too.

Y5 - I was able to really keep count of how many Hail Mary's I had said and could really focus on the words of the prayers.

Super Learning Day - Thursday 25th May 2023

Made in the Image and Likeness of God' was the theme of our special Super Learning Day. Everyone came into school wearing clothes that express themselves/their personality and we will took part in different activities throughout the day. We will even had Hagley band visiting us during the morning to help us with our celebrations! It was a fantastic day learning all about how we are made in the image and likeness of God.

Careers Day - Vocations - Friday 28th April 2023

Today we had the opportunity to come to school dressed as what we want to be when we grow up. What is God calling us to be?

Easter One Life Music Celebration - Friday 21st April 2023

This morning, the whole school joined in with Dan and Emily from One Life Music to celebrate the joy of Easter. It was lovely joining in with other children all across the country to celebrate this very important time in the Church calendar.

Pupil Voice:
 
Reception:
Florence W: I thought it was good because I liked all the songs about Jesus. We said Alleluia lots.
Bowie: We celebrated Jesus being alive.
Thomas N: I loved the songs and it made me feel happy.
Sylvie: It made me feel joyful as we said the Alleluias.
Jamie: I liked dancing to the songs and doing the actions.
 
Year 6:
Next time, it might be nice to celebrate all together in the hall as the last few times we have done our One Life celebrations in our classes.

Virtues - Learned & Wise - Monday 17th April 2023

This morning, we started our first day back after the Easter break by celebrating the pupils who had been spotted showing the virtues Learned and Wise by their peers and teachers.

Pupil Voice:

Y6 - I voted for this pupil because he always works hard to understand how Jesus wants us to live our lives and he makes the right choices.

Y6 teacher - I voted for this pupil because she has been a shining example to others, she has put others first before herself on several occasions (making good choices) and works hard in school and at home.

Y2 pupil - I enjoyed the assembly because it was nice to all join together at the start of term. I really want a special certificate next time.

Y4 pupil - I like that we vote for who we think has been learned and wise. It is nice to see them get a certificate.

Y5 - I think it would be nice if more teachers could choose who has shown these virtues, not just the pupils in their class.

Actions:

In response to pupil voice, next assembly we will have more teacher votes for pupils across the school.

Holy Week Services - WC 27th March 2023

As Holy Week falls in the Easter break, we marked the events that took place in school the week before. It was lovely to have been able to invite parents into school for these services, which is something that children had wanted (pupil voice feedback) to see return after Covid restrictions.

On Monday, Year 3 showed us the events that took place on Palm Sunday; on Tuesday, Year 5 shared the events that happened at the Last Supper where Jesus celebrated the passover with his disciples. On Wednesday, the whole school attended Mass in the morning. On Thursday, Year 4 acted out the events that took place at the Garden of Gethsemane and on Friday, Year 6 depicted the events that took place at Jesus' crucifixion.

Pupil Voice:

Y6 pupil - my favourite part of our service was 'when we sand the hymn as we were all together and singing well'...'I remember feeling as if I was there as it made me think of the pain Jesus went through. It was a nice moment when everyone in school joined in with the hymn'.

Y6 pupil - 'I remember feeling like I was actually there and feeling really proud at the end when everyone clapped.'

Y3 pupil - 'The whole school could have joined in for the first song'... 'It made me feel happy to remember that Jesus is with me all of the time.'

Y3 pupil - 'I feel confident about my knowledge of Palm Sunday.'

Year 5 - 'We could of included the audience more'

Year 5 - 'It went well because we could show people how the Last Supper was like I liked that parents came.' .... 'We could have had some more lines for the children who didn't have one.'

Actions:

Ensure more audience participation where appropriate
Encourage whole school to join in with songs (like Year 6 did)
Y5 ensure more speaking lines are given where appropriate

WC 27th March 2023

This Lent, the whole school supported CAFOD and joined other schools around the country to help support our global neighbours.

Each class walked 5km across the week in support of people living in poverty in some of the most hard-to-reach places in the world.

We did this as part of our Live Simply Award to live in solidarity with others.

Fair Trade Fortnight - WC 27th February - 12th March 2023

We have been focussing on the subject of Fair Trade as a school over the past two weeks as part of our Live Simply pledge.

Year 5 and Year 6 enjoyed playing the banana split game after watching a video all about making bananas fair.

They learnt all about Fair Trade and that it helps banana farmers and workers build a more stable future by offering three important advantages: a minimum price, a top-up and good working conditions.

Year 6 decided that we are going to buy food that have the fairtrade logo on and do their bit to help to help our global neighbours!

This is part of our CST of living in solidarity with others!

CTA Football Tournament - Friday 3rd March 2023

We were extremely proud of our Year 6 and Year 4 Football teams, who used their God-given talents on the football pitch!  They showed resilience, teamwork, faith and good sportsmanship to all other teams.

Catholic Social Teaching Workshops - Thursday 2nd & Friday 3rd March 2023

Over the past two days, we have been very fortunate to have Petula from CAFOD in school running Catholic Social Teaching workshops for us. They have really inspired us and help us further to understand how we can incorporate these principles into our daily lives.

St Chad's Feast Day - Thursday 2nd March 2023

Today, everyone had the opportunity to come to school wearing something yellow to mark the feast day of yellow house's saint: Saint Chad.

Pupil Voice:

Y4 pupil - I really like that the whole school can wear something yellow not just children in St Chad's house. It just reminds me that we are all part of God's family.

Action:

Keep inviting whole school to wear something of the house saints colour on feast days.

Virtues - Eloquent & Truthful - Monday 27th February 2023

Today, we celebrated the pupils across the school who have demonstrated last half term's virtues focus of being eloquent and truthful. Well done to all those who were voted for by their peers and teachers!

Year 4 Prayer Service - Friday 17th February 2023

Year 4 led the whole school in a poignant Ash Wednesday prayer service today to help us prepare for the start of Lent, which begins during half term. They gave everyone a little cross to help them pray during Lent and it was wonderful having parents join us for this important service.

Pupil Voice:

Y4: 'We could have improved the cross we made i the centre so that the focus was more on the symbol of the cross'....'I liked the handing out of the crosses and the presentation because I was able to connect to other children.'

Y4: 'I liked when we made the cross out of candles because it represented Jesus - how he is the light of the world.'...'I am living out the 'go forth' message.'

Y4: 'I thought about Jesus' suffering and about satan trying to tempt him.'... 'I have lived out the 'go forth' message by giving up crisps and by praying more. Also I have given £20 to the poor.'

Worcester Cathedral Trip - Monday 23rd January 2023

On Monday, pupils in Saint Wulstan's house had the opportunity to find out more about their house saint by visiting Worcester Cathedral. When they arrived they had a guided tour of the Cathedral and took part in two workshops - one about the life of St Wulstan and the other about the monastic life in Worcestershire. They really enjoyed taking part in an immersive drama and their freeze frames have been turned into wonderful stained glass window art-work!

They came back to school telling everyone how great the trip had been and told others what they had learnt in assembly. Children in the other houses are very excited about their trips!

Pupil Voice:

The trip was great because we got to learn a lot about Saint Wulstan and it was special that it was only the people in our house who got to go. The best part was when we did some acting and I performed the miracle when Saint Wulstan healed someone who had fallen from a great height. It was lovely that Father Lamb came too. - Y6 pupil

We acted out different scenes from Saint Wulstan's life. My group did when he became vegetarian - a fact that I didn't know before. In the area where we started we got to do a jigsaw puzzle of the local area and we saw what the monks of Worcestershire used to do. We also had to match props with labels that detailed the jobs they did. - Y6 pupil

I enjoyed all of it but the thing that really stood out to me were the 3D models of the cathedral which were super detailed and told us all about how it was built. The inside of the cathedral was amazing! I liked that we were learning about something that was important to us - our house saint! - Y6 pupil

When I saw Worcester Cathedral for the first time I couldn't believe how big it was! My favourite part was how beautiful the stained glass windows were - each one told a different story! We had to walk really carefully because the stairs were really big! - Y3 pupil

I remember that Saint Wulstan saved someone from falling off when building the cathedral. I really liked acting out the story of Saint Wulstan's life. - Y3 pupil

Reverse Advent Calendar - Friday 16th December 2022

Our Mini-Vinnies have worked really hard this Advent. They decided to task the school to take part in creating a reverse advent calendar and asked each class to bring in certain things on their given day. They asked Reception to bring in notebooks/colouring books; Year 1 to bring felt tips/crayons/colouring pencils; Year 2 to bring in hair bobbles or a hair brush; Year 3 to bring in bubble bath/shower gel; Year 4 to bring in toothpaste; Year 5 to bring in toothbrushes and Year 6 to bring in chocolate or a small bag of sweets. Today, they helped load Mrs Joyner's car and she went with Miss Holtom to the Food Bank to drop off all our donations. The ladies at the Food Bank were very grateful for our donations.

Hope-filled & Truthful - Friday 16th December 2022

This half term, we have been growing to be faith-filled in our beliefs and hopeful for the future. The children who were nominated by their peers and teachers in class for having demonstrated these virtues were congratulated in our end of term assembly.

Whole School Advent Retreat - Friday 8th December 2022

The whole school enjoyed taking part in a lovely Advent retreat afternoon led by Dan and Emily from OneLife Music. It was important for us all to stop in this busy season and put all our focus on preparing the way for the coming of Christ. We loved singing, learning all about the charity work that takes place in the Midlands during Advent and we finished with a meditation session. What a perfect way to prepare for Christ to come into the world very soon at Christmas.

Pupil Voice:

Y6: I learnt about people doing marathons to show that people can do whatever they want to do if they put their mind to it. We sang some songs with actions about passing on gifts to other people to spread love to others.

Y3: I enjoyed singing songs because it made me feel calm and happy. 
 
Y4: I'll take away that Jesus is in our hearts and gives us peace when we need it, and if anything gets in our way we can just let it go.
 
Y6: The meditation made me feel calm and closer to God.
 
Y4: Singing songs made me feel closer to God and helped me feel like we were really getting ready for Christmas.
 
Y4: I will take away that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He can give us peace when we need it most.
 

Mini Vinnies in action - Thursday 8th December 2022

Some of our Mini Vinnies were busy this morning selling chocolates at Pre-School's nativity - all donations will be going to Kidderminster Food Bank.

Confirmation Mass - Wednesday 7th December 2022

This evening, our Year 6 pupils, received the Sacrament of Confirmation - they have been preparing to receive this sacrament over the last few months with the guidance of their parents and teachers. We are very proud of how hard they prepared themselves for this sacrament and commitment to their faith.

EYFS & Key Stage 1 Christmas Story Time Evening - Wednesday 7th December 2022

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 were so excited to come back to school on Wednesday after school in their pyjamas for a Christmas story time session with their teachers. They were each given a bamboo toothbrush to brush their teeth with afterwards so they would be ready for bedtime when they got home. They were reminded that it is important to look after their bodies because they have been uniquely made by God and because we are all made in the 'image and likeness' of God.

Bishop Visit to School - Wednesday 7th December 2022

On our feast day, we welcomed His Grace, Rt Rev. David Evans who visited our school and parish for the first time. He spent time asking our Year 6 pupils all about their preparations for receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. His Grace was impressed with how well our pupils answered his questions and they enjoyed having the opportunity to ask him questions about his role in the church.

Saint Ambrose Feast Day - Wednesday 7th December 2022

Today was a very important day for us in school because it was the feast day of St Ambrose - the patron saint of our school and parish. We all went to church to celebrate Mass and in the afternoon made Christmas tree decorations which we are invited to put on the Christmas tree in church during Christmas Eve Mass. It was also Christmas dinner day and we wore out festive jumpers for the occasion.

Milton Hall Visit - Monday 5th December and Wednesday 7th December 2022

This week, we all had the opportunity to visit our 'bee' Christmas tree, which we had been tasked with making decorations for. We also got to see the other Christmas trees, which have been decorated by other groups in our community. We chose to make a bee tree because bees are important to use at St. Ambrose. This is because legend has it that when our Patron, St. Ambrose, was an infant a swarm of bees settled in his mouth and left behind a drop of honey. His father thought this was a sign of his eloquence and they left him honeyed tongued.

SAINTS EXHIBITION - Friday 11th November 2022

After school, we held our first Saints Exhibition to showcase the fantastic project work that pupils have completed on their chosen saints. It was very hard choosing winners but our RE Link Governor chose the following winners for their creativity - well done.

Key Stage Winners
EYFS/Key Stage 1 Florence & Isla
Lower Key Stage 2 Summer & Lydia
Upper Key Stage 2 Annabelle & Woody

Remembrance Service - Friday 11th November 2022

Today at 11am, the whole school community gathered in the hall to mark Remembrance Day and commemorate those who have given their lives in the defence of our country.

Our Year 6 pupils led the poignant Remembrance Service and shared of the names of the local men from Kidderminster who died after noticing them in church on Wednesday. They also asked everyone to make a special poppy to look at during the service.

At 11am we paused to observe two minutes' silence and paid our respects to all of the people who have died in war.

Stakeholder Feedback:

Parent: 'It was an excellent service and I am glad I was invited by my son and the school to come in for it.'

Parent: 'I was impressed that the children had researched the names of the soldiers from Kidderminster who had died in the Great War and then we could remember them by name during their service. I thought this was a really lovely touch and brought it home how many people died locally for us.'

Parent: 'It would be really nice to keep being invited back into school for more services like this again like we used to before lockdown.'

Y3 pupil: 'I liked the two-minute silence.'

Y4 pupil: 'I liked that I got to hold my poppy that I had made before and it helped me concentrate and think about the soldiers who had died.'

Miss Holtom: 'I am really proud of how hard these Liturgy Leaders worked to prepare this Remembrance Service. We should have thought more about what music could have been playing as pupils entered the hall as someone tried to help us set up by putting on one which didn't really match the ambience of the service.'

Y6 pupil: 'Maybe next time we could have sang a remembrance song all together as a whole school.'

Actions:

Continue inviting parents back into school for prayer services.
During Holy Week include music/hymns in prayer services.
Ensure appropriate background music is being played when pupils enter the hall.

 

Remembrance Tree

Because it is the month of November, we have been remembering all our loved ones who have died. We written their names down on a red ribbon and tied them to our remembrance tree. May they rest in peace.

Compassionate & Loving - Thursday 3rd November 2022

This morning, we celebrated the pupils who have stood out as having shown the virtues compassionate and loving last half term. They have been compassionate towards others and loving by their actions and forgiving words. By showing these virtues, they are doing their best by following in Jesus' footsteps - Our Catholic Mission.

Whole School Mass - All Saints Day - Tuesday 1st November 2022

Today, we celebrated All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, where we commemorated the lives of holy men and women who have been recognised by the Church as people of virtue. Pope Francis has said saints, “are not perfect models, but are people whose lives God has crossed,” and can be compared with the stained-glass windows of a church, “which allow light to enter in different shades of colour.” Our Y6 pupils read beautifully in church and Max, Sonny and Darius were excellent altar servers.

'I was in school yesterday morning and accompanied the children to Mass. They were reverent throughout and were also very well behaved going to / from Holy Communion, needing little staff guidance to follow the timing and correct route.
I thought the Readers of the Liturgy were exceptional. Not only were they very clear and seamlessly handled all the language, but they also had an excellent meter to their delivery. Their confident delivery to a full Church with many adults is also a tribute to their confidence in public speaking.' Chair of Governors.

Harvest Mass - Friday 14th October 2022

Our community - school and parish came together this morning to celebrate Harvest Mass. All food donations were then loaded into cars with the help of some Y6 volunteers and taken to our local foodbank. This was a wonderful example of everyone coming together to help those in need and for the common good. We were overwhelmed with the amount of donations!

Rosary Service - Wednesday 12th October 2022

As it is October, the month in which the Catholic Church dedicates to the Holy Rosary, some of our Y6 Liturgy leaders planned and led our Rosary service to honour Mary. They decided to celebrate the Joyful Mysteries to remind us of the happy times Mary spent with her son, Jesus.

Pupil Voice:

Y2 - I like that we all were in the hall together for the Rosary prayers.

Y6 - 'Yes, it was good because of the time of the year to be in the hall together but I think we should go outside when we do the next one in May when the weather is better.

Action:

May Rosary service to be outside, weather permitting.

Livestream Saint Bernadette Relic Tour - Monday 10th October 2022

We joined Archbishop Bernard Longley and schools from across the Archdiocese of Birmingham and beyond, for a time of prayer and reflection in the presence of the relics of St. Bernadette. 

Animal Blessing Service - Thursday 6th October 2022

This afternoon, some pupils from Y5 and Y6 led us, alongside Father Lamb, in an animal blessing service. Our pets from home were invited and we rejoiced in the wonder of God’s creation by singing All Things Bright and Beautiful together.

Year 3 Prayer Service - Saint Francis of Assisi's Feast Day - Tuesday 4th October 2022

For Year 3's class saints feast day, they led the school and parents in a lovely prayer service to remember the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Mini Vinnies - Macmillan Coffee Morning - Friday 30th September 2022

This morning, our Year 5 Mini Vinnies were busy serving teas, coffees and cake in the parish centre supporting the UCM who organised a Coffee Morning to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. They really enjoyed the washing up part! They were a credit to our school and thoroughly enjoyed their first mission to follow in their Class Saint's footsteps - Saint Vincent De Paul who served others so well. Well done, Year 5!

Little Way Week - WC Monday 26th September

Our Year 2 pupils did an excellent job of leading a Whole School Collective Worship Assembly to introduce Little Way Week on Monday. Little Way Week is inspired by St Thérèse of Lisieux (the Year 2 class saint). She did ordinary things in an extraordinary way by showing love and kindness to others. KS1 and KS2 pupils were then challenged to think of 5 acts of kindness they could do this week. It has been wonderful to see so many examples around school.

Whole School Mass & Virtues: Attentive & Discerning Assembly - Thursday 21st July

We finished off this academic year with a lovely Mass in church celebrating the past year and with an assembly in the afternoon where we found out which pupils our teachers and classmates had voted for as demonstrating the virtues attentive and discerning this half term. We also wished Miss Ballard and Miss Wright all the best for their weddings over summer!

Leavers Mass & Graduation - Tuesday 19th July 2022

This afternoon, our wonderful Y6 pupils, parents and staff and all joined together for Mass together to remember their time at Saint Ambrose. Afterwards, we had a graduation ceremony together and they sang their leavers songs. We are going to miss you!

Mission Statement - Thursday 14th July 2022

Today we had a super-learning day all about our mission statement: 'we do our best by following Jesus'. Following work staff and pupils have completed throughout the year, in our classes we worked together to showcase how we can live out our mission and presented it in an end of day assembly. Reception showed us the importance of praying and Year 1 highlighted how we can be kind and helpful. Year 2 sang a wonderful song about how we can be loving and Year 3 talked about the importance of forgiving people like Jesus did. Year 4 shared their gifts and talents and Year 5 highlighted how we can show understanding and be faithful. Year 6 wowed us with a mission impossible sketch teaching us that we should trust and be respectful. It was a fantastic learning experience!

Y6 Pupil: 'It was fun working together as a class to think about how we could get the message across to the rest of the school about trusting and being respectful like Jesus. It was nice seeing what the other classes had been up to as well. My favourite presentation was ours!'
Y3 Pupil: 'Our assembly was really interesting because we got to be creative and think about how we can do our best by following Jesus. We taught everyone about forgiveness that we should forgive people because this is what Jesus wants us to do.'
YR Pupil: 'In assembly we said 'we do our best by following Jesus' by praying.'
Y1 Pupil: 'We told everyone that it is important to be kind and helpful. I can do this by loving people.'
Y5 Pupil: 'It is important we listen to what Jesus is telling us to do and we drew some pictures in class to show how we can do this and be faithful and showed them to the rest of the school.'
Y3 Pupil: 'Our assembly was really good because we learnt how to follow Jesus' footsteps by praying, forgiving, loving, being kind and respectful and it was great seeing what everyone had done in the day to be ready for the assembly. I think everyone understands our mission now.'

Whole School - Talent Bee Competition - Wednesday 13th July 2022

To help raise money for Saint Ambrose Parish funds, Miss Ballard organised a whole school talent show. We were so impressed with the God-given talents that our pupils showcased in the glorious sunshine. We had dancing, singing, joke telling, poetry recitals, football skills and so much more! We raised £105.

Father Lamb's 30 Years Service - Friday 8th July 2022

At our school fete, we presented Father Lamb with a gift made from by each class to thank him for his 30 years dedicated service to Saint Ambrose parish. What a talented bunch we are - putting our God given talents to good use!

Year 6 Altar Servers Talk to Y1 - Thursday 23rd June 2022

Ricky and Filip from Y6 volunteered to come and talk to Year 1 all about their important vocation as altar servers on Thursday afternoon. Year 1 were captivated by what they had to say.

Year 3 Benediction - Thursday 23rd June 2022

On Thursday afternoon, Year 3 celebrated that they had made their First Holy Communion on the weekend all together. First, they went to church for Benediction and then they had a party in the hall.

Year 3 First Holy Communion - Saturday 18th June 2022

Our wonderful Year 3 children made their First Holy Communion on Saturday. It was a wonderful occasion where they joined the rest of the faith community at God's table and received the same Eucharist which all the saints also received. Thank you to Mrs Holder who prepared the children so well for the day.

Parent comment: 'Thank you for all of your hard work preparing the children from their First Holy Communion. My son enjoyed the lessons, the Mass and the party.'

Our feedback questionnaire indicated that all parents felt their child was well prepared to receive the Sacrament of First Holy Communion, that their child speaks positively about their experience of preparing for it, that the Mass was well organised, prayerful and had a holy atmosphere.

Y5 Mini Vinnies Bingo Event - 8th June 2022

On Wednesday 8th June, our Year 5 children hosted a bingo afternoon for parents and parishioners as part of their Mini-Vinnies project to raise money for charity. The children did everything, from waitressing and making drinks, to bingo calling and even explaining a false call. Watching the children descend on tables in the breaks to offer drinks, biscuits, cakes and raffle tickets was similar to watching a swarm of bees land on a daffodil - we were so proud of them and how hard they worked. In one afternoon, they managed to raise an amazing £316.10. They will be donating half the money to their chosen charity and half to St Ambrose Parish funds.

Rosary Service - Friday 20th May 2022

Our Year 6 pupils, led the whole school in a Rosary service to honour Our Lady in the month of May. They chose to say the Glorious Mysteries and led the procession around the school. It was a lovely sunny afternoon where we prayed for peace around the world.

Grateful and Generous - WC 25th April 2022

Year 6 have demonstrated the virtues of grateful and generous this week on their residential to the Pioneer Centre. They used their God given talents to challenge themselves to overcome fears and to work together as a team to achieve their full potential. They showed that they were grateful for these talents, for the two nights their teachers spent away with them and for the opportunity to be able to go away with their friends after the pandemic.

Good Friday - 15th April 2022

During their Easter break, some of our Year 6 pupils depicted the Stations of the Cross in St Ambrose Church to their parents and parishioners. It was a very poignant service and we are really proud of how hard they worked on their freeze-frames and readings. Well done, Year 6!

Governor: 'what a thought provoking Stations of the Cross. The children showed reverence throughout and delivered a very meaningful message. It was good to see so many families in church. Well done.'

Holy Week Services - WC 4th April 2022

This week, KS2 led prayer services to help us prepare for Holy Week which is in our Easter break. Y3 started by sharing the events of Palm Sunday with the whole school on Monday. Next Year 5 depicted the Last Supper on Tuesday where we saw Jesus breaking the bread and Judas leaving to go and betray Jesus. On Thursday, Year 4 shared with us the events that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane where we learnt about the importance of praying to God in times of need. Then Year 6, shared the events leading up to Jesus' death in a Stations of the Cross service.

Governor A: "The children of Year 6 delivered a most memorable portrayal of this solemn Holy Week service on the last day of the Spring Term.
Whilst they enthusiastically conveyed the story of Jesus' final journey and crucifixion through prayer, readings and song the children demonstrated that they had a clear knowledge and understanding of the occasion.
Many of the children have long passages to read our loud to their peers sitting in front of them. They articulated their words with clear annunciation and at a good pace that made it easy to hear from my position, right at the back of the hall.
This most memorable service will inevitably remain within the minds of all the children as they progress through life's journey and come to this time in the Church's calendar - it certainly will with me!"

Our thoughts and prayers for Ukraine - March 2022

Charlie in Y6 wanted to do something else to show our support for the people of Ukraine at this difficult time. With Miss Holtom, he has organised for everyone to colour in a flag, created a prayer ribbon station and a prayer tree. We are really impressed!

Ukraine Appeal - March 2022

As a school, we desperately wanted to help the people of Ukraine. Mrs Wallace, Mrs O'Hara, Natalia, another student in Year 6, Katie and Charlie have been busy making and selling Yellow and Blue Ribbons to help the people of the Ukraine. 

Thank you to everyone who also donated clothing, bedding, towels, medical supplies, personal hygiene products etc to school. We are very grateful to Mr Horemski, a parent, who collected our donations and drove them over to Poland to deliver the items for the people of Ukraine.
 
We also wore something green for St Patrick's day and donated money to this worthy cause.

Emmaus Pyramid Concert - 17th February 2022

We are so proud of our Year 5 pupils who have worked really hard over the past few months to learn different songs to perform in our Emmaus MAC Pyramid concert. They learnt a range of hymns and Brit Pop showcasing their amazing God-given talents.

"We really enjoyed working as a team and signing with our friends all day. It was a brilliant show."

"We really enjoyed the Brit Pop songs and loved to see the parents get involved in the audience."

"I really liked performing our own song which was Catatonia's Road Rage."

Life Skills - WC 14th February 2022

As part of their Life Skills curriculum, Year 6 were tasked to be teachers for the week. They planned activities for each other to share about their hobbies and different skills sets. We had fantastic teaching sessions on learning to speak polish, how to perform martial arts, how to create artwork from hama beads, how to be a competent swimmer, how to safety perform rugby tackles and how to improve goalkeeping skills to name but a few. Year 6 shared their God-given talents with each other and demonstrated our Catholic Mission of doing their best by following Jesus' example (by sharing and helping one another to grow) expertly. Well done, Year 6.

Our Catholic Mission - 27th January 2022

Miss Holtom challenged us to think about our Catholic Mission: 'We do our best by following Jesus' and what this means. In our classes we all discussed what this looks like and how we can be like Jesus and put our ideas onto a thought-shower. We understand that we need to be kind to each other because Jesus was kind to everyone he met. We know that we need to show love to others and help those in need because Jesus helped many people who were blind, sick or outcasts and we can do this by supporting lots of different charity work. We also know that we should say our prayers regularly because Jesus taught us to pray and it is a way to be close to him. Take a look at some of our mind maps!

Y1: 'I enjoyed doing this because I liked thinking about how we can be like Jesus. Jesus is really important because he made us.'

Y1: 'I liked working all together.'

Y3 Mass - 26th January 2022

Today, Father Lamb held a special Mass for our Y3 children where they had the opportunity to be 'curious and active' - our virtues for this half term. Father Lamb spoke about the different parts of the Mass with them and answered their intriguing questions.

Eco Day - 20th January 2022

This morning, Miss Crumpler led a wonderful assembly all about how we can take care of our planet - our common home. We thought about how we are guardians of God's creation, how we can live sustainably and enhance the wellbeing of our planet - so after assembly we turned all the electricity off for an hour! During this time, we were challenged to create our own mini world inspired by the artist Kandinsky using the colours that remind us of God's beautiful creation.

Y1: 'This was fun because we had to colour in the circles from God's world.'

St Wulstan's Feast Day - 19th January 2022

To celebrate our red house patron saint's feast red we all wore something red to school today and spent time exploring Worcester Cathedral - where St Wulstan was Bishop of Worcester for many years. Do you like our pictures?

Y6 Pupil - 'I enjoyed drawing the picture of Worcester Cathedral and celebrating St Wulstan on his feast day.'

Y4 Pupil - 'It was interesting to listen all about St Wulstan and learn some new things.'

Y4 Pupil - 'I enjoyed drawing the cathedral because it was fun and challenging.'

Bambinelli Blessing - 10th December 2021

The Blessing of the Bambinelli is a Roman tradition, celebrated by the Pope each year on the third Sunday of Advent. This week we made our own Bambinelli's, which Father Lamb blessed for us this afternoon. Now we all have a baby Jesus to take home with us to remind us that he is coming to be with us.

Santa Dash and Christmas Jumper Day - 10th December 2021

Y6 Confirmation - 10th December 2021

This evening, our Year 6 Confirmandi were confirmed by His Grace, Archbishop Bernard. We are extremely proud of how well they all prepared for this important stage of their life.

Parent Comment: 'Thank you for all that you did to support my son to prepare for this important Sacrament'.

Parent Comment: 'It was all very well organised and very special that the Archbishop was there.'

Questionnaire Feedback:  100% of parents agreed with the statements: 'My child speaks positively about their experience of preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation', 'The Confirmation Mass was prayerful and had a holy atmosphere' and 'My child was supported, if necessary, to choose a confirmation saint.'

Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Y5 Prayer Service - 9th December 2021

To mark this very important day in the Church's calendar, Year 5 led the whole school in a prayer service about Mary. We were asked to think about Mary and the type of person she was and together we gave thanks to God for all she did and still does for us. Afterwards, we were challenged in Key Stage One to make a black out prayer from the Hail Mary and in Key Stage Two an illuminous prayer to mark this very special day when Mary said 'yes' to God.

St Ambrose Feast Day - 7th December 2021

Today was the feast day of our Patron Saint: Saint Ambrose. We all came to school dressed in black and yellow to remind us that Saint Ambrose is the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. Legend has it that when Ambrose was a baby some bees settled in his mouth but did not sting him. Instead, they dropped honey in his mouth and from that day he spoke sweetly and everyone loved listening to him.

In the morning, Year 5 went to Church and the rest of the school joined in virtually. We then had the rest of the day off our normal timetables to do fun activities. In Key Stage Two, we translated key words about St Ambrose into italian because he was the Bishop of Milan and had a go at making our own printing blocks of a bee which we then used printing ink to print! In Key Stage One, we made a word art collage from words we thought were important about Saint Ambrose and printed our own beehives using bubble wrap.

We all had a lovely day celebrating the life of Saint Ambrose. 

Year 6 Vocations Workshop - 19th November 2021

This afternoon, Tharushi visited Year 6 to share about the wonderful plan God has for everyone. She reminded us that we are all called by God and we had fun learning about the different vocations in the church.

'It was really fun to think about what our vocation might be e.g. whether I might get married or be single or have a role in the church.'

Anti-Bullying Week - WC 15th November 2021

This week, we raised aware of bullying prevention in school and wore odd socks at the start of the week to remind ourselves that it is ok to be different. Our theme for the week was: 'One kind word'. We thought about how we can live out our Catholic Mission: 'we do our best by following Jesus' by being kind to others and saying nice things. Miss Holtom challenged us to cause a ripple effect of kindness around the school. Year 6 decided to write not just one kind word about someone else but several. They put these in kindness balloons and these will be popped and shared over the next few weeks.

Y2 Pupil - 'This week was nice because there was no arguments and we all tried hard to not do bad things. We tried our best to be nice to others and share God's love.'

KS2 Pupil Voice: 97% of pupils enjoyed Anti-Bullying Week and 99% of pupils understand that bullying is something that happens over a period of time and is on purpose.

Remembrance Day - 11th November 2021

Year 6 led a poignant Remembrance Service and asked each class to share their own class prayer after we observed two minute silence to remember all those who have fought to keep us safe.

Year 6's Prayer:

Dear Father,

May we remember the people who have recently died – not just today but all those in war who gave their lives generously for us.We ask that they may have great lives in heaven with God.If it was not for them our lives would be very different today and for this we are so grateful. We pray that they all rest in peace in God’s arms.

Amen

Year 5's Prayer:

Dear Lord,

May the world be silenced,Today we take a moment to remember and give thanks to those who took the ultimate sacrifice.Where there is fighting let there be peace,Where there is sadness let there be smiles,Show us how we can all get along and live beside each other and in your image,

Amen

Year 4's Prayer:

O God

Today we remember all those brave soldiers who gave their lives to protect our wonderful country.Please help us to remember that we are made in Your image and likeness.Let us always care for each other and show peace and love to everybody, just like You want us to.

Amen

Year 3's Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for the soldiers who have made sacrifices to protect us.We remember those soldiers who have died in the wars.We also pray for their loved ones and their families.Please keep our brave soldiers safe today.We remember those we have lost and those who are injured.Amen

Year 2's Prayer:

Dear God,

We remember all of the people who fought in war for us.Please bless the families of the soldiers who died in the war to fight for their country.Look after and bless everyone who is in the armed forces today.May you watch over them and protect them.We hope for peace in the future.

Amen

Year 1's Prayer:

Dear Lord,

We remember the war.Thank you for looking after our country.We pray for all the people who died.Let’s hope everyone in countries with a war are safe. 

Amen 

Reception's Prayer:
 
Dear God, 
Let us pray for all those people who fought in the war and gave their lives for us.
Thank you. 
Amen. 

Y3 Pupil - 'I really liked taking part in the two minute silence. Because 1 it helped me remember all those who had died for us and 2 it was nice to have a quiet classroom which gave me time to think.'

Y4 Pupil - 'I loved it because it was one day of the year where you can properly remember all those who have died in the war. We learnt a lot of things about the war and we found out all about why poppies are around on Remembrance Day.'

Eloquent & Truthful - 22nd October 2021

Today, we celebrated the children in our school who have been noticed demonstrating the virtues eloquent and truthful by their friends and teachers.

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary - 15th October 2021

Our Year 6's led their first Rosary Service as a class at 2pm on Friday afternoon and their chosen theme was caring for God's creation. They chose to share the Joyful mysteries with everyone and we all joined in together to ask Mary, our Mother, to help us care for our common home.

Y3 Pupil - 'I enjoyed saying the Our Father because it was of my favourite prayers and I like saying it in church on Sundays.'

Y2 Pupil - 'I liked praying to Mary because we were praying to Jesus' mother.'

Y6 Pupil - 'I enjoyed being part of leading this service and we got to read to the whole school.'

Y4 Pupil - 'I quite liked it because we got to pray to Mary and knew she was listening to us. We asked her to help us make our world a better place.'

Saint Francis of Assisi's Feast Day: Animal Blessing Service - 4th October 2021

On the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, we had a lovely animal blessing service on the playground led by Year 6. It was lovely welcoming pets into school for Father Lamb's blessing.

Y3 Pupil - 'I liked this very much because I love animals and it was nice seeing Father Lamb bless them. It was the feast day of St Francis who is my class saint - we did a bit of writing about him and I also drew a picture. I enjoyed the day.'

Y4 Pupil - 'It was really nice seeing all the animals being blessed because we couldn't do it last year because of COVID. It was special because God made animals and He asked Adam to name them all carefully.'

Harvest Celebration - 1st October 2021

It was the time of year again, where we got to show our generosity and celebrate Harvest! It was a fantastic opportunity for us to share our St Ambrose values and community spirit by supporting local families. We were really impressed by the number of donations that came into school and know that this will make such a different to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Y4 Pupil - 'Every morning when I came in I saw the amount of food being donated doubling which was amazing. It is really important that we did this because it's not just people who are poor who need food its also people who had to give up their jobs because of COVID.'

Little Way Week - WC 27th September 2021

This week, Year 2 led an assembly all about their class saint: Saint Terese of Liseux. They explained how we can all make a difference like Therese by being kind to others. Everyone was asked to reflect on how we can do this and we wrote on kindness flowers. These all look lovely on our entrance display!

Father Lamb also came over to talk to Year 2 about Terese and they really enjoyed celebrating her Feast Day together in their own clothes on Friday.

'Go Green' for CAFOD - 16th September 2021

This summer, top climate scientists around the world said:

“Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth are projected to increase with global warming of 1.5°C and increase further with 2°C.”

2021 Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Today, we joined in with CAFOD's national assembly and learnt about some amazing people protecting the Amazon rainforest. After, we all made a pledge to help protect our environment and to do our bit to help save God's creation.

'Leaves of the Trees' - Week Ending 2nd July 2021

This week, the whole school took part in a 'Leaves of the Trees' initiative by Worcester Cathedral. They asked us to reflect on the past year and everything we have been through as a community. We then wrote our hopes for the future on some leaves which are now displayed around school. A photograph of our leaves can be seen in Worcester Cathedral!

St Peter and St Paul's Feast Day - 29th June 2021

Today, we celebrated the feast day of two important saints: St Peter and St Peter. Year 6 went to church and the rest of the school joined in virtually.

'Walk A Mile' for Father Hudson's Charity - Week Beginning 24th May 2021

Throughout the week, everyone at St Ambrose has taken part in a 'Walk a Mile' challenge to raise money for Father Hudson's. Each class decided how they were going to come to school looking a bit different and it was lovely to see everyone enjoying themselves on their walks. In total we raised: £246.

Rosary - The Glorious Mysteries - 26th May 2021

On Wednesday, we gathered virtually as a school to honour Mary. We choose to focus on the 'Glorious Mysteries' and asked Mary to listen to our prayers. Year 2 - Year 6 each had a mystery to share and produced some artwork for the rest of the school to see during the service. Please take a look at some of the chosen examples below:

KS2 Collective Worship - 20th May 2021

This morning, some children in Year 3 helped Miss Ballard to lead a KS2 Collective Worship session about the Olympic and Paralymic Values. We discussed all seven of them and thought about how we can show these values in our own lives and when playing sport. Then each class were give two values to think about and we filled in the Olympic rings with examples of how we could show that we follow each value in our own lives. Below you can see what Year 3 wrote:

Solemnity of the Ascension - 13th May 2021

Today we remembered that whilst Jesus ascended into heaven, he is still with us and walks beside us each day. To celebrate the feast of the Ascension, Year 3 and Year 2 went to Mass and the rest of the school watched virtually from their classrooms. Year 6 produced some lovely creative reflections on the Mass. 

Collective Worship Led by Y4 - 12th May 2021

Year 4 led this week's collective worship and they focussed on the Gospel where Jesus tells us that there is 'no greater love' that a person can have than to 'lay down his life for his friends'. Their chosen theme was 'family' and they reminded us that we are all part of different families - but one family we are all part of the family of God. They also reminded us that one way we can show others love is to pray for our family members so we were invited to make a prayer chain. Here are some of Year 4's:

Saint Richard's Celebration Day - 6th May 2021

Today, we celebrated the life of our green patron house saint: Saint Richard and all came to school wearing something green to mark this speical day. Father Lamb kindly filmed a reflection of Saint Richard's life for us where we got to found out lots of interesting information about him.

After, we all watched a virtual tour of Droitwich's Sacred Heart Church where we got to see its stunning mosaics and sculptures. We were inspired to create our own mosaics and here are some examples from across the school:

 

Stamp Heroes Competition: Compassionate the Loving - 26th April 2021

This week we thought about all the people who have shown the virtues 'compassionate and loving' throughout the pandemic - our heroes. We then designed our own stamp to honour these heroes for a national competition by the Royal Mail. Mrs Rowe, our Chair of Governors, was so impressed with them when she came into visit school that she chose a winner and a runner up from each class to receive a prize! Our school winners were:

CAFOD's 'Eyes of the World' Assembly - 22nd April 2021

Today, each class watched CAFOD’s ‘Eyes of the World’ assembly.
While the eyes of the world are on the UK this year for the COP26 meeting being held in Glasgow (November), we are going to be watching to make sure that decisions are made to make sure a stop is made to the climate change crisis and help is given to the world’s poorest communities.
We thought about how we can make a difference and what changes we can do to help save our planet. Some suggestions were: make sure we switch off the lights in our classroom, make sure we reduce waste, recycle our plastic and spread the message about the effects of climate change to others.
We discussed how if we do these things we are showing the virtues compassion and loving to our brothers and sisters around the world.

Holy Week: Stations of the Cross 2021

This week, all classes worked hard to produce some fantastic pictures of Jesus' journey to the cross inspired by the Stations of the Cross at St Chad's Cathedral. Each station was depicted by the following classes: 

Station 1: Reception
Station 2: Year 1
Station 3: Year 2
Station 4: Year 3
Station 5: Year 4
Station 6: Year 5
Station 7: Year 6
Station 8: Reception
Station 9: Year 1
Station 10: Year 2
Station 11: Year 3
Station 12: Year 4
Station 13: Year 5
Station 14: Year 6.

We shared the following presentation of the children's work along with the readings and prayers read by Year 6 with our families and friends of St Ambrose:

Year 6 also spent some time reflecting on why Jesus died for us and produced some wonderful art-work for display:

Attentive and Discerning - 30th March 2021

This half term, we have been focussing on the virtues attentive and discerning. As a school, we joined together on a virtual assembly to celebrate the children receiving a certificate who have been nominated by their peers and teachers for having demonstrated these virtues. 

Saint Joseph's Feast Day - 19th March 2021

From 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021, Pope Francis has proclaimed a "Year of Saint Joseph" and today we celebrated his feast day. According to ancient tradition, Saint Joseph watches over and protects the Church; he is considered the model of perfect Christian life and the patron of a happy death as a school we spent time learning more about him. Father Lamb also recorded a lovely reflection for us all to watch on the day.

We also 'put our best foot forward' and wore odd shoes to school to raise money for our chosen Lenten charity: Father Hudson's. We managed to raise £210.60 to support this amazing charity who help people in need and work to improve their quality of life.

Our Thank You Tree

Each class spent time thinking about the past year and all the things that they are grateful for in their lives. We then updated our Thank You tree, for all to see.

Saint Chad's Feast Day/ Day of Adoration and Prayer - 2nd March 2021

We celebrated yellow house saint's feast day today by all wearing something yellow. Father Lamb kindly taught us all about the life of Saint Chad, which we all found really interesting.

At 10.00am, Father Lamb celebrated Mass for the whole school and this was live-streamed from our school hall. Afterwards, pupils in Year 6, Year 3 and Year 4 had the opportunity to adore the Blessed Sacrament, experiencing the real presence of Jesus Christ in their lives. It was an uplifting opportunity to offer our own thoughts and prayers for vocations in quiet reflection. In the afternoon, Year 5, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had the opportunity to do the same with Mr Moran and Father Lamb.

Saint Valentine's Day Bake Off - 12th February 2021

To celebrate Saint Valentine's day, we held a community bake off event. We were delighted with all the entries and it was clear a lot of joy had gone into the baking. What a lovely way to celebrate God's love for us all.

Grateful and Generous - 11th February 2021

This half term, we have been focussing on the virtues grateful and generous. We have been growing to be grateful for our gifts, developing them to the full so that we can be generous in the service of others. Well done to all the children who were nominated by their teachers and parens who received a certificate today.

Reception and Year 1 Virtual Mass - 3rd February 2021

Reception and Year 1 joined in with Mass virtually this week and listened carefully to what Father Lamb talked to them about. Take a look at some of Reception's reflections:

Saint Nicholas Owen - 28th January 2021

It was Saint Nicholas Owen's feast day on the 22nd January, who is blue house team's patron saint. We celebrated his life today by starting our morning learning about his life from Father Lamb and in the afternoon for 'Well-being Wednesday', Miss Holtom challenged us to take part in some activities. Can you guess from the photos what we had to do?

Our Home Prayer Tables

Now that we are back in Ordinary time, Mrs Brocklesby asked our children to send in some photos of their updated home prayer tables.

Saint Wulstan's Feast Day - 19th January 2021

Anti-Bullying Week - WC 15th November 2021

As a school, we started off celebrating one of our school's house saints by listening to Father Lamb talk about the life of Saint Wulstan and leading us in prayer.

All pupils we then encouraged to design their own Catholic church because Saint Wulstan believed that country people should have the opportunity to go to Mass so he encouraged the building of churches on rural manors. Some pupils were in school designing their churches whereas some were in at home learning remotely. Here are our winning entries:

Next, we created a whole school reflection prayer book. We got to choose to either write a prayer or to choose our favourite Bible quote and decorate it for our special book. Here are some examples of the chosen quotes:

In the afternoon, Miss Holtom challenged us all to take part in at least one of the following activities: go on a walk and spot things that are red (Saint Wulstan is the patron saint of red house team), bake something red, design a Saint Wulstan inspired stained glass window or create a fact-file about his life. We were blown away with everyone's enthusiasm whilst taking part in these activities.

A Silent Night - Our Christmas Celebration 2020

This year, each class learnt to sign a Christmas song and this was collated into a video for our families to watch. We wanted to spread a little Christmas joy after a difficult 2020 of not being able to see our loved ones so we learnt the following songs:

Reception - Little Donkey

Year 1 - Frosty the Snowman

Year 2 - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

Year 3 - When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney

Year 4 - Mary's Boy Child

Year 5 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Year 6 - We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Each class also wrote a prayer together which was shared in the performance. Here is an example:

Dear Lord,

Please help us this Christmas time to remember the real meaning of Christmas and to help us prepare for your coming. We pray for those families affected by COV-ID 19 that they experience your love and are comforted by it.

Amen

Y6 Vocations Workshop - 14th December 2020

This afternoon, Y6 took part in a Vocations workshop where they learnt lots about the different vocations in the Church and what people have been called to do by God in their different roles. They had the opportunity to ask lots of different questions and had a fun afternoon.

Bambinelli Sunday - 13th December 2020

Bambinelli Sunday is a beautiful tradition that was started by Pope St. John Paul II and is celebrated on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. Thousands of people usually come to St. Peter's Square bringing the Baby Jesus figurines from their creches and nativity scenes; then, at the time of the Pope's Angelus address, he blesses all the little figures of the Child Jesus.

In preparation, all our children made their own special Baby Jesus figurines, which Father Lamb blessed virtually. These were then brought home so that our children could find a special place for their Baby Jesus in their homes to serve as a reminder of the real meaning of Christmas.

St Ambrose's Feast Day/Vocations Day - 7th December 2020

Today was the feast of our patron saint of our school: St Ambrose. Miss Holtom led the school in a virtual assembly all about his life and introduced us to the theme of our day: 'Who is God Calling us to be?' We spent time reflecting on this and our work is celebrated on our entrance corridor windows.

 

Year 6 also spent time doing their own research about his life and created some artwork to celebrate his life.

In the afternoon, in our classes. we were fortunate to take part in zoom calls with Sister Margaret (Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle) and enjoyed learning about her calling from God and her life as a religious sister.

Y6 Confirmation - 7th December 2020

This evening, our Y6 pupils received the Sacrament of Confirmation at 7pm. It was livestreamed for all our families who were not able to join us in the church in person due to COV-ID restrictions.

Remembrance Service - 11th November 2020

Today, five Year 6 pupils led the whole school in a virtual Remembrance service ending in a two-minute silence where we remembered the sacrifice of everyone who has fought in the wars. They also shared with us why poppies are important and why we should support the Royal British Legion. Afterwards, the whole school had the opportunity to make their own poppy on a wooden disc to commemorate the day.

Red Wednesday - 25th November 2020

Today, we wore something red to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and all those who suffer for their beliefs. We spent time thinking about these people and focussed our prayers on them.

Did you know that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world?

Rosary Service - 23rd October 2020

This afternoon, we came together as a whole school to honour Mary in a virtual rosary service. Three of our Y5 pupils along with two children from Y5 and Y4 led the service.

Emmaus CMAC
St Ambrose Catholic Primary School Ofsted
A School Life Website
School Life iOS Mobile Application
School Life Android Mobile Application