We have been inspired by Laudato Si', a letter from Pope Francis about caring for our common home.  The Live Simply Ambassadors are developing a culture of 'buy less, share more' through a book swap. 

From Monday 10^th June, there will be two boxes (chosen by the Year 2 Live Simply Ambassadors) in the school entrance for both Parents/carers and children to come and swap books.

In the Church calendar the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and today we celebrate the feast day. The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents Jesus Christ's divine love and compassion for humanity manifested through his death on the cross to redeem humanity from sin. The image typically depicts Jesus revealing his heart, often surrounded by flames, thorns, and a cross, symbolising his suffering and sacrifice. Catholics believe that through devotion to the Sacred Heart, they can draw closer to Jesus and experience his love and mercy more profoundly.

The Liturgical Leaders led our Celebration of the Word, which was based on the prayer Jesus gave us, the Our Father. Following this, the whole school completed various activities based on the special prayer. Artwork was created, own prayers were written and actions for each line were designed. The children had a lovely morning and when I met with the Liturgical Group on Tuesday, they expressed how they had enjoyed the morning and they thought of other ways we could explore the Our Father as a school in the future.

On Monday, as a whole school we gathered for the special feast of Pentecost.  We heard the scripture reading from the Acts of the Apostles and remembered how the gift of the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to continue Jesus’ work and so the Church was born.

As a whole school we gathered together to think of Our Lady. Due to the unpredictable weather we decided that the May Procession would take place in the hall and it was a wonderful occasion. The Year Six children led us through saying the Rosary for the Joyful Mysteries. 

As a school we have been learning about Mary, her apparitions, titles given to her and prayers that are dedicated to her. 

Nursery and Reception - Mary the Mother of Jesus

Year One - Our Lady of Lourdes

Year Two - Our Lady of Guadeloupe 

Year Three - Our Lady of Knock

Year Four - Our Lady of Fatima

Year Five - the prayer of the Magnificat

Year Six - titles given to Mary and the Regina Ceali 

Yesterday, as a whole school we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension by attending Mass. At the Ascension we remember Jesus returning to his Father in Heaven. Well done to all the readers who read so clearly and to all the children for singing so beautifully and joining in with the responses. Two members of the parish spoke to me at the end of Mass and said 'Pass on my thanks to all of the children as their singing was lovely and their behaviour was impeccable' and another said 'Well done to all involved, especially the readers'. Thank you to Canon Lamb and to all the altar servers for helping him.

It was lovely today to see such an array of trainers, sandals, wellies, boots and shoes all in aid of Father Hudson's Care. Each child was asked to donate £1 for the charity. The prime purpose of Father Hudson's Care is to provide a range of services to people across the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, an area encompassing Oxford, Stoke-On-Trent, Coventry, Warwick, Worcester and Wolverhampton. They work with people from all walks of life, offering friendship, care and support.

Altogether we have raised £202 for Father Hudson’s Care.

The winners of the best odd shoe pairing were:

Nursery – Alaina

Reception – Elwood

Year One – Florence W

Year Two – Anna

Year Three – Harriet

Year Four – Jack

Year Five – Ruby

Year Six – James

Staff - Mrs Shevas and Mrs Laskey

Well done and enjoy your chocolate buttons!

Today (22^nd April) we started the day beautiful Mass in Church with all the Reception and Key Stage One children. Canon Lamb spoke to all the children about the Good Shepherd.  He explained how the shepherd represents Jesus and as his sheep we are to follow Him. The Good Shepherd guides, protects and comforts us in times of need.

 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me,” John 10:14

Well done to all the readers for reading so clearly, and to all the children who were excellent with their responses. Thank you to Canon Lamb and to the parents who were able to attend.

As a school we gathered together today for the One Life Easter live stream where we all sang and prayed together during this special season of Easter.

Year R: I liked the singing.

Year 1: It made me feel relaxed. I loved the songs.

Year 2: I liked gathering with everyone.

Year 3: It was happy and joyful.

Year 4: We really enjoyed singing. We learnt about Spring and Easter/

Year 5: We enjoyed singing to God. It was joyous.

Year 6: It was nice that we all came together.

Over the past two terms, all the children have been very active in planning, preparing, leading and evaluating prayer and liturgy sessions in their classrooms for their friends.

The children and staff at St Ambrose would like to invite parents and carers to one of these sessions in the coming weeks. Please see below the date of your child’s class ‘Come and Pray with Us’ sessions.

In the afternoon, please come to the School Reception (Office) and sign in. Grandparents and younger siblings are welcome to attend.

In preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year 'Pilgrims of Hope', 2024 has been designated a Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. There is a particular focus on the Our Father, and this presents us with a great opportunity to go back to the basics of prayer.

The Liturgical Group have met and thought about different ways that we could celebrate the Year of Prayer. One idea is to use Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer and to celebrate this through designing posters. The Liturgical Group presented this idea today to the children during assembly and your child will have brought a leaflet home explaining what they have to do. All poster designs need to be in school by Monday 29th April 2024 ready to be displayed around school.

Today we started the new term with all the children and staff gathered together for an Easter Liturgy.  During the liturgy we remembered the key events of Jesus' resurrection and recalled how in John’s Gospel account Mary Magdalene says to Jesus' disciples  'I have seen the Lord'. We all thought for a moment about that first meeting of Jesus and how we are to celebrate that Christ is alive and speaks to each of us by name. Over the coming weeks we will hear about the other sightings of Jesus that shows he truly is the Risen Lord.  

During Lent we could not say the word Alleluia and so now that it is Eastertide, we use it as a word of great celebration.  During the liturgy, we shared the acrostic verses of positive attitudes and activities that we can do through the Season of Easter.  

A - Always be thankful for what God gives you  

L - Love one another as Jesus has loved you 

L - Let other people know you are a follower of Jesus by your actions 

E - Everyday during Easter remember to pray to the Risen Lord 

L - Listen to Jesus speaking in your heart 

U - Understand that God is interested in everyone 

I - I am a child of God and God loves me 

A - Always make some time for God 

During the liturgy we presented our Liturgical Leaders with their golden cross badges which they all wore very proudly. This is to make it clear to us all who they are in school and to celebrate the important role they have in the schools Catholic life. They have since met and are creating the new prayer areas for the children around school and are planning for the month of Mary during May and considering how we should, as a school, should learn about the important prayer that Jesus gave us, the Our Father.  I look forward to meeting again with them next week.  

On Wednesday we celebrated a whole school Mass together.  Thank you to all the readers and servers who helped Canon Lamb. Thank you also to Canon Lamb and the parish for their very kind gift of a Paschal candle so that we can have it displayed in school. The Reception children led us beautifully out of church as we processed with the candle while singing ‘Alleluia, Alleluia’.  

What a lovely start to the Summer Term! 

Every day this week we have gathered as a school to remember the key events of Holy Week.

On Monday we started with Year Four and the event of Palm Sunday. The children acted out Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem by shouting hosanna, hosanna. 

On Tuesday, Year Five reminded us of an event that is often forgotten, the destroying of the temple. As Jesus entered the temple he was angry at the fact that the market traders had taken over and that the temple was no long a house of prayer. Year Five portrayed this through acting, singing and prayer. They asked us all to think about, does temptation get in the way of worship?

Year Three led the prayer and liturgy on Wednesday about the Last Supper which is significant to their learning in class and for those who are preparing to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist.  They helped us to remember that the Last Supper was the first Mass and the importance of the words ‘Do this in memory of me’.

Yesterday Year Six took us all on the journey of the cross. Through prayer, singing and freeze frames all children and adults took time to remember the true sacrifice that was made by Jesus. All children showed great reverence and responded to ‘We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you’ by saying altogether ‘Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world’.

Some of the children’s thoughts about the week were,

Florence H- ‘I liked when they read from the Bible’.

Paddy- ‘It was a really special meal. Jesus held up bread and wine’.

Grace- ‘I liked the freeze frames of each station’.

Lily- ‘The song made us think of Jesus during Holy Week’.

Well done to all the children in Key Stage Two for their dedication to the roles in portraying the significant events.

Year Six represented the school today at the World Day of Prayer service that took place in Church.  The service itself was prepared by the Christian women of Palestine, the land in which Jesus was born, ministered and died, where the Christian faith began and is rooted.  Thank you to all of Year Six who all had responsibilities such as, welcoming the guests, handing out the booklets, singing and reading the prayers for peace.

Today (Friday 1^st March) all the children from Saint Chad’s House (yellow) went to church to celebrate Mass as tomorrow is Saint Chad’s feast day. Thank you to the servers who helped Canon Lamb and to the excellent readers.  You were all very clear in your voice and took care. Today all the children in Saint Chad’s house have brought home a yellow topped cupcake, made by AIP to celebrate the feast day.  Happy Feast Day St Chad!

On Monday morning the whole school were introduced to the new virtues for this half term, these being faith-filled and hopeful.  The virtues tree that is known as the Catholic Schools Pupil Profile is created by several sets of virtues and values and upon the tree is a goldfinch.  I showed the children several pieces of religious art that has the goldfinch in them and explained to the children that it represents Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It is said that as the goldfinch eats thistles and thorns the red marking on their head is from a bird taking a thorn from the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on his head during His crucifixion.  We now have pictures of goldfinches displayed around school to remind us of Jesus’ presence. Following the prayer and liturgy the children went back to class to think about how they can demonstrate the values of being faith-filled and hopeful.

Tuesday 6^th February was a very special day for the Parish of St. Ambrose as it was the installation of Father Lamb as an Honorary Canon of the Metropolitan Cathedral of St Chad. Myself and Mrs. Brocklesby joined the parishioners of St. Ambrose at St. Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham. the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, the Archbishop of Birmingham presided over the Mass and it was a wonderful celebration of recognition of Canon Lamb’s work within our parish and beyond.  During the Key Stage One Mass on Wednesday the children presented a card and present from all the children and staff.  

We continued our house feast day celebrations on Tuesday for all the children in blue house as it was Saint Nicholas Owen’s feast day.  The children attended the parish Mass in the morning and ended the day with a blue topped cupcake made by AiP.  It was lovely to have so many children say thank you for their special cake. Happy Feast Day St Nicholas Owen!

All the children in Saint Wulstan’s house went to church to celebrate Mass as the 19th January is Saint Wulstan's feast day. Father Lamb spoke to us about how Saint Wulstan was the Bishop of Worcester and was very wise and faithful. Thank you to the servers who helped Father Lamb and to the excellent readers.  You were all very clear in your voice and took care. Today all the children in Saint Wulstan’s house have brought home a red topped cupcake, made by AIP to celebrate the feast day.  Happy Feast Day St Wulstan!

Thank you to everyone that made a donation on Christmas Jumper day. We collected £95 in total which will be donated to the amazing charity Winstons Wish.

On Friday evening the Mini-Vinnies supported the parish with the maintenance fundraising. The Mini-Vinnies held a quiz night and Kian, Robyn and Ruby from Year Five, happily led the quiz and between them they were fantastic hosts. It was an enjoyable evening had by all and £60 was raised for the parish. Thank you to Kian, Robyn and Ruby and to Mr Pitt for supporting the Mini-Vinnies.

During the past two weeks the children have had the opportunity to go to Milton Hall for the Christmas Tree Festival.  The children all contributed to St Ambrose’s Christmas trees with bee decorations (KS1) and class saint’s decorations (KS2). The children thoroughly enjoyed this experience and had the opportunity to ask questions about the church and its importance to the Baptist community in Kidderminster.  When Year One visited they said seeing the Christmas trees and being in the church was ‘exciting, brilliant, joyful, amazing, relaxing and peaceful’.  Thank you to Mrs. Strong for supporting the organisation of it and welcoming us, and to Mrs. Strong (senior) who bought refreshments for the children and to the number of volunteers who gave their time in making this a special Christmas memory for the children at St Ambrose.