Good Morning,

I am thinking about you all and I hope you are all well during this difficult period. Home schooling can be difficult and it is really important that schoolwork does not have a negative impact on family life. For this reason I want you to know we are HERE FOR YOU ALL, please contact us if you need any support. Next week (week beg 11th May) please use Home Learning Plan for week 6.

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Miss Holtom as our new Vice Principal.

I know the whole St Ambrose community will want to join me in congratulating Miss Holtom on this appointment.

I am so pleased to inform you that Father Lamb will be saying Mass every day at 9am via a live stream from the Prayer Room. You can celebrate Mass with Father by following the link below and selecting the 'Live Stream Masses' tab from the menu on the left hand side.

Please note that the Mass on Tuesday 12th May will be at 1pm.

Last week we set a VE Day challenge for you to make your own spitfire. Please see the entries below. The children have worked so hard and we are really impressed!! All entrants will receive a VE day gift in the post next week.

The winners of the challenge are:

Click on the link below to see the video of all of the entries.

Below is a link to a VE Day activity pack that contains lots of fun and interesting things for you and your child to do.

Please send any pictures of your VE Day celebrations to office@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Please see the above flyer for this week's challenge. We look forward to seeing the wonderful photography that you send in. All entries will be displayed in school.

Some parents have requested information regarding the transition to High School for their children and I just wanted to assure you that we are working hard with all of the High Schools to ensure all transition procesdures still take place.

Please see the letter below regarding the Year 6 leavers hoodies. Once we have collated information on who would like one and finalised design details we will send out an order form to all parents of children who are interested in purchasing one.

THANK YOU for sharing your views. Please continue to share your views by joining Mrs Wallace for her virtual teapot time next week. If you are free to join on Tuesday please email office@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk and the meeting details will be emailed to you

Dan and Emily from One Life Music are kindly continuing to record a weekly liturgy for schools and home. It is such a wonderful way to bring us together as a community of prayer and I am sure that we will all be strengthened by it.

Weekly Worship & Song Week 6 is now available:

So many children are feeling worried and anxious right now, the books below will help alleviate some of their fears. 

https://www.flipsnack.com/CSKidsBooks/what-s-going-on.html

https://nursedottybooks.com/dave-the-dog-is-worried-about-coronavirus-2/

We would like to invite children and families to take part in Islands in the Sky, a new online #CreativeConnections arts project. Severn Arts and Worcestershire County Council have selected 20 Worcestershire artists to be part of #CreativeConnections which is a new initiative where each artist is receiving a small grant to create a piece of work in response to our current situation and which can be shared digitally.

Artist Andrew James Round is working on his project called Islands in the Sky. He is creating a game where you can explore a series of interconnected islands floating above the city of Worcester. These islands will be made up of rooms created (we hope!) by children and their families from Worcestershire and the surrounding areas. Players will be rewarded as they explore.

Andrew would like the rooms/islands in the maze to be designed by other people and so has created templates for children and families to add their designs to. Information about the project along with instructions about how to create a room design and the templates can be found below. It would be great if you could get involved!! 

The deadline for artwork is 15 May 2020.

The plan is for the completed game to be available to play at the end of May.

The school nurse team are putting out daily tweets and information for parents and young people to help with their activities and emotional health during lock down.

Please see the link below for information and activities to share with your children.

https://twitter.com/SN_Kidd

My name is Claire and I am part of the Severn Trent Education Team. To date I haven’t yet visited your school and as we’re currently unable to organise a visit, our team wanted to share a selection of the free online resources we’ve put together. We hope these resources will ensure children can continue to learn about all the things we are passionate about: our sewers, the importance of keeping hydrated, looking after our wonderful water and protecting our environment.

Our online page is packed with fun activities that include core school subjects and more. Most of the activities children can do independently but where adult support is needed, we will ensure that it is made clear in the instructions.

We will be adding new content each Monday over the coming weeks so be sure to regularly check out our page for new resources. All resources can be found at www.stwater.co.uk/kidszone.

We really appreciate the work schools are doing to ensure our vulnerable children and children of key workers are looked after. During this challenging time, we hope our resources will help you to engage the children in purposeful, fun activities.

With many children having been home schooled for over a month now, we are aware that Internet Safety may not be at the forefront of their minds.

Therefore, we have created an Internet Safety Video, specially for Primary aged children, which we are giving to you now, completely free, with all our best wishes.

You can access the video by cliking on the link below.

Thinkuknow is an education programme from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command.

Since 2006, Thinkuknow has been keeping children and young people safe by providing education about online abuse.

Thinkuknow aims to ensure that everyone has access to this practical information – children, young people, their parents and carers and the professionals who work with them.

We're excited to tell you that our third #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack is now available with new activities for parents and carers to use at home! Access them here: 

You can still find all of our previous home activity packs on our parents and carers website. These can be downloaded at any time you choose.

A message from SIFA Fireside (Homeless charity)

'The Big Brummie Campout is here an we are very excited for everyone to get involved.
Tonight, Friday 8th May, we are asking friends and families to set up camp in their back gardens, build make-shift dens on balcony's or cushion castles in their front rooms to raise money for SIFA Fireside.

To sign up as a ‘camper’ we are asking supporters to donate a minimum £5 to the appeal, in return for access to an exclusive Activity pack filled with fun activities including stargazing and leaf printing. The pack will have everything needed for an evening under the stars, including family-friendly recipes and craft activities. The evening will also help bring people together, with a hosted live stream, music performances, and the chance to share camping experiences on social media.

https://www.sifafireside.co.uk/pages/181-big-brummie-camp-out-2020

The campaign is being launched as part of our emergency #SIFASurvives appeal, launched in response to a reduction in support due to the Coronavirus epidemic. We're looking to raise £50,000 over the coming months so that we can continue providing homeless and vulnerable adults access to key services such as showers and health clinics, whilst also helping them to work towards a brighter future.

Thank you so much for your support to SIFA Fireside and the work that we do.'

If you'd like to find out more and donate to this very worthy local cause please see here...

https://www.sifafireside.co.uk/pages/181-big-brummie-camp-out-2020

Worcestershire County Council have launched a new public campaign called Here2Help. Please follow the link below to access their website.

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/Here2Help 

The types of additional support available to people through Here2Help is as follows and the aim is to prevent families/households getting to crisis points:

This is a useful link for us all as also on their webpage they have a keeping kids entertained section and five ways we can look after ourselves and others.

Please see the link below that will take to their webpage with links to a number of activities and educational support links.

Please see the useful documents below detailing how to reduce stress and anxiety for you and your child during Covid-19.

These are worrying times for anyone but it can be particularly hard for children, some of whom will struggle to comprehend why they can no longer see their friends at school.

With schools across the UK closing and people being urged to step up social distancing, communities are rallying round to bring a little brightness to young ones amid the gloom.

Please brighten your community by displaying the beautiful rainbows in your windows at home.

Send us a photo of a rainbow in your window to office@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Kind regards,

Mrs Brocklesby