At Saint Ambrose we have implemented a curriculum that aims to provide all pupils with awe and wonder, knowledge, memorable experiences and challenge. Over the next few weeks all pupils will be working with a graffiti artist to create symbols to represent our intent of awe and wonder, knowledge, memorable experiences and challenge. The artist will also work with each class to create a piece of graffiti on our playground wall. During the summer term we will be asking parents to support us with our curriculum development to ensure children are being taught the lifelong learning skills to know more, remember more and do more. 

We will be celebrating St. Nicholas Owen's feast day on Tuesday 22nd March and would like to invite all children to wear something blue alongside their school uniform.

This week I have been made aware of  a great resource for parents linked to online safety. Please visit the website below.

The website has advice for you whatever the age of your child. The resources can help you to find out more about what children might be doing online and give you practical advice on the steps you can take as a parent to keep them safe in their digital world.

https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/

On Monday morning, we will be celebrating children from each class who have followed our Catholic Mission: 'we do our best by following Jesus' in our Celebration assembly. The children receiving a certificate are:

On Monday 28th March we will again be inviting parents to attend the celebration assembly at 9:10 am. If your son or daughter is receiving an award, notifications will be sent out via a push notification and email from the school office on Thursday 24th March.

At Saint Ambrose everyone recognises regular school attendance is an important part of giving children the best possible start in life. To ensure all our children get the best start in life, we will contact you and support you if we feel your son or daughter's attendance is below an acceptable level.

Attendance will be celebrated weekly in our Gospel Assembly on a Friday and the winning class will be able to select a treat from a list devised by the school Ambassadors. 

Thank you to everyone for remembering the school gates open at 8.45 am and close at 9.00 am as we now no longer have a staggered start. If anyone arrives after 9.00 am they will need to come into school via the main office. Arriving before 9.00 am ensures no learning time is lost-thank you for your support. Today 97% of our school has received a Saint Ambrose bee rubber for arriving on time. Next week each class will have on one day a surprise delivery of toast for children who are in school between 8.45 am and 9 am. This will be very exciting for the children as they will not be told what day toast will be delivered. It would be great if everyone gets this treat.

For our charitable work this Lent, our House Captains have decided they would like to run a Readathon and would like all pupils to take part. They would like to raise money for the charity Read for Good which provides new books for children who are in hospital.

Please support your child’s sponsored readathon by helping them record all they have read on the Go Read app.

Should you wish to sponsor your child, you can do so by visiting the following website: https://readathon.secure.force.com/sponsor  and family and friends can use it too.

 Please ensure all sponsorship money is donated by Monday 4^th April.

For more information, check out your child’s sponsorship card and visit www.readforgood.org.

Thank you for your support.

Our theme for this term is 'being creative and using the outdoors'.

Year One became Paddington Bear and they had to write a letter to Aunt Lucy. The letters were put into envelopes. Then we put the addresses on the envelopes and attached a stamp. Finally we walked to the post office to post our letters. T

In Year 5, our life skill was photography. We enjoyed experimenting with different depths of field and editing our images. 

An athletics team from Year 5 and Year 6 took part in a 17-team athletics tournament. The children took part in both track and field events including an obstacle course and a range of high jumps. As a school we picked up plenty of 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd places.  Well done to St Ambrose for an excellent athletics outing!

Yesterday it was wonderful to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day by wearing green and make a donation to support the Ukraine Appeal. Yesterday  the children learnt lots of fun facts including: 

Saint Patrick  is the patron saint of Ireland, and a day of cultural and religious celebration for Irish people.

It is celebrated on March 17 all over Ireland and everywhere in the world where Irish people live.

Green is the color that is associated with Saint Patrick's Day as it is the national colour of Ireland. People often wear green on that day or have some type of shamrock on their clothing.

A tradition of the day is to pinch those who are not wearing green.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Waterford in 1903. New York City has a large parade on Saint Patrick's Day

Please see the term dates below for 2022/23. We have yet to confirm our staff training days.

Please ensure that you have booked your parent's evening appointment using the school life app. The appointments are on either Monday 28th March 3.30pm-6pm or Monday 4th April 4pm-6.30pm and you need only book for one of these dates. (If either date is difficult please speak to a member of staff and we will arrange a meeting on a day and time to suit). I am delighted to say we will be holding the meetings in school but a virtual or telephone appointment can be requested by adding a comment/note when you book.

If your child is SEN you can also book an appointment with Mrs Price on the same dates. Again if you can stipulate if you would like a face to face, virtual or telephone appointment in the comments section and we will accommodate this for you.

To ensure we look after each other and keep everyone safe, please remind your children to stand with you at the end of the day. This ensures all children are safe and no accidents can occur. Thank you for remembering not to use the car park at the beginning or end of the day unless you have permission to drive in after 9:10 am or 3:20 pm. Thank you

Mrs Farmer is kindly offering her time to do a gardening club with some of our children. Could we please ask for any gardening donations such as seed trays, plant pots etc to be brought into the school office. Any donations will be gratefully received.

Well Done Year 3, your assembly sharing your knowledge about the Stone Age was fantastic. The children demonstrated they have certainly developed lifelong learning skills to know more, remember more and do more.

Next week we look forward to welcoming Year 4 parents into school at 9.10 am. Please see the assembly dates for other year groups below:

This half term Father Lamb will be celebrating Mass in the school hall to enable him to discuss the parts of the Mass. Parents are welcome to join us.

Please see the flyer below for information on how to get tickets for a piano charity concert that is being held in Kinver. 

We would like to wish one of our pupils, Sammy, all the very best as he will be performing in the concert.

The Parish are holding a fundraising auction and have kindly asked if any parents could make any donations. i.e do you have a business that could offer vouchers, meals, discounts? Also if you have any unwanted/new gifts that could also be donated the Parish would be very grateful to receive them. 

Please click on the PDF document below to view the parenting and community booklet from Barnardo's.

The Church is currently following a directive from Pope Francis to focus on reflection and sharing of the whole church. Pope Francis states,

"By walking together, and together reflecting on the journey made, the Church will be
able to learn from what it will experience which processes can help it to live
communion, to achieve participation, to open itself to mission."

At Saint Ambrose we aim to enable families to experience the wide parish Community and for us to reflect and learn please complete the survey, see link below. The results will be shared with the parish to enable us to grow and learn together.

PLEASE EMAIL ebrocklesby@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk if your son (years 4-6) would like to train as an altar server or your son or daughter (years 3-6) would like to read at Parish Masses.

Father Lamb extends a warm welcome to all families to continue to attend Mass. Please click on the link below which will take you to the Parish website where you can view historical newsletters and get information on Mass times.

Please also click on the PDF to view the most recent Parish newsletter.

Please ensure that your child comes to school in their correct P.E. kit. The P.E. uniform is as follows:

• Black shorts, black leggings, black track suit bottoms (unbranded if possible)
• Maroon round neck T-shirt with embroidered badge
• P.E pumps or black trainer

PLEASE NOTE: P.E. HOODIES CAN ONLY BE WORN ON P.E. DAYS.

Please follow the link below to access this week's Wednesday Word.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Brocklesby