Friday 23rd September 2022

We have had a number of complaints from residents who live on Leswell Street regarding parents using their allocated parking spaces and blocking their driveways. Please can we ask that you do no block anyone's access to or from their property or use their property to park your car. Thank you for your continued support.

We will be holding our ‘Open Day’ on Friday 21st October from 9.30-11.00am and 1.15-2.45pm. Please spread the word to parents of children who will start school in September 2023. Parents and children will have the opportunity to have a guided tour seeing the school in action , chat to staff and look around the school. Please feel free to come along and take advantage of this opportunity and encourage any friends or neighbours with school age children to come along too. As I have said before there can be a misconception that only Catholic children can apply to our school. We welcome applications from all families of all or no faith. If you know of any families who are presently preparing to apply for a school place please encourage them to attend the Open morning or contact me to arrange a visit and tour of the school. Applications for Reception Class 2023 must be completed online by 15 January 2023.

It was a pleasure to welcome Mr J Hodgson , Principal of Hagley Catholic High School, into school today. Mr Hodgson came to speak to our Year 5 and Year 6 children as they look forward now to preparing for High school. The children were extremely impressive in their attentiveness and in the questions they asked.

Hagley Catholic High School will be holding their annual Open Morning on Saturday 8 October from 9.00am to 12.00pm. If you have a child in Key Stage 2, it is never too early to start thinking about High Schools. The vast majority of our children transfer to Hagley at the end of Year 6, so do take this opportunity to take a look at the school. Our Year 6 children have now received their High School transfer forms.  If you have any queries regarding transfer please do not hesitate to speak to us. Please see the Hagley Open Day flyer below

We would like to invite the parents/carers of our year 2 children to attend a SATS information workshop on Tuesday 15^th November.  You are invited to come into school at 9am – 10.30am. As you will be aware, your child will be sitting their SATs tests in the summer term 2023 and therefore, this will be a wonderful opportunity for you to take part in activities with your child, get more information about the tests and for you to ask any questions, raise any concerns and allow us to give you advice on how you can help support your child in the preparation for the tests.

Please read the following tips to share with your son or daughter about staying safe online:

• Never give out personal information. This includes online people you know as well. Keep them private!
• Never send pictures of yourself because once it’s online, it’s there forever, and it could get into the wrong hands.
• Don’t make friends with people you don’t know. People are not always who they say they are.
• Tell your parents/carers what you’re doing online so they can act fast if there are any issues and can vet whether the website is safe for use
• Leave the website and tell a trusted adult immediately if you see something that concerns you or makes you feel unsafe
• Never show your real name, age or where you live in your username
• Use strong passwords which have a mix of numbers, letters and symbols
• Do not share passwords with others
• Don’t open an attachment unless you’re 100% sure it’s safe
• Don’t let strangers into your video calls. Blur your background so you don’t give away any information about where you are.
• Be careful who you webcam with
• Don’t meet up with someone you’ve only met online
• Be nice online
• Think before your post! This applies to when you send or forward content.

On Friday, 30 September the UCM group will be holding a ‘Tea and cake’ morning in the Parish Centre from 9am until lunchtime. They will be providing all the cakes and all monies donated will go to the Macmillan Charity. Please go along and enjoy being waited on by our Mini Vinnies pupils from year 5 from 9.30 am. It will be a lovely opportunity to sit and chat in a relaxed atmosphere. We also hope to see many of our parishioners. Please support us in this worthy cause.

On Thursday 6th October at 2.45pm in the school playground Father Lamb will be leading an animal blessing. Next week you will receive a letter inviting you and your pet/pets to the blessing.

On Wednesday 28th September at 9.05 am and 2.30 pm I am looking forward to welcoming reception parents to a phonics workshop led by Miss Brewer. It will be an opportunity to meet other parents, staff and Governors and learn about how you can support your son or daughter.

Next week children in every class will be baking bread rolls for the Parish Harvest soup and roll celebration. All families are invited to attend Mass at Saint Ambrose Church on Sunday 2nd October at 11am and they join parishioners in the Parish Centre to enjoy delicious soup and rolls. Any donations of white bread flour, yeast, caster sugar and sunflower oil would be welcomed.

Several vacancies have become available to become a governor of our school where you can work with our principal to help support and develop an excellent Catholic curriculum at our school!

Our school mission statement is: ‘We do our best by following Jesus’ and we live it out in everything we do. Also, we follow our three main school rules: ‘be safe, be ready and be respectful’. We are respectful to the staff and to other pupils. We stay safe by listening to the staff and by following the rules. We are always ready by practicing lockdowns yearly and fire drills bimonthly.

We do many fun things such as going on trips and residential trips as well as life skills such as cooking, first aid and cleaning every half term. Thanks to grants and contributions to the school we have an outdoor gym, a small climbing frame and an Astro-turf football pitch to use during PE and breaktimes. The staff organize many after school clubs to go to and events all year round.

You can become a governor and help ensure that many more wonderful opportunities are provided for the students.

Written by a former Y6 pupil (July 22)

Please click on the link PDF link below for more information on adult learning provided by Worcestershire Council.

SPORTING OPPORTUNITY

Please see the flyer below for an exciting opportunity for you child to take part in a fantastic sport. 

Please see the poster below for information on a charity concert that is being held in the Parish Hall this evening. Tickets can be purchased by calling the numbers on the poster.

On Tuesday 18th October at 7pm, Father Lamb would like to invite you to a guided tour of the Church to introduce or re-introduce you to the Catholic Faith.

 Would you like to join the Parish flower  group?

Any help you can give will be much appreciated. Whether you already have flower arranging experience or are just a beginner. They are very short and helpers and any assistance would be very welcome.  Training and guidance will be given to any beginners. Please phone or text Elaine Yates on 07951 535843 if you are interested. Many thanks.

Please see the confirmed term dates below for 2022/23. 

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

Children are to come to school wearing their P.E. kit on the day(s) listed above. Thank you.

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

Kind Regards,

Mrs Brocklesby