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?'

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!

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.'

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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!

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.