Good afternoon,

I am so pleased to be able to say that Saint Ambrose School is open to all children. We have longed for this day so that we can be reunited again as one big family.

We ask that you continue to support us to ensure that we remain open by following social distancing, ensuring that only one adult collects no earlier than your staggered start and finish times, wearing a face mask and not attending school when/if anyone in your household shows symptoms. Although we are starting to see a 'ray of light', we still need to approach the next months with caution and continue to follow the rules to keep each and every one of our school family safe.

I would like to wish all mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures a happy happy day for this Sunday. May those little rays of sunshine –your children – bring you great joy for the day, and for every other day of the year too!

Thank you for ensuring your children are always ready to learn.

Today  the focus of our Assembly was Pray, Stop and Go. Please see the reflection sheet below from Year 3, I feel their thoughts really convey the message to make the right choices. This links with our Behaviour Policy and our three rules: Be ready, Be Respectful and Be Safe. Today I have been really impressed with children making the right choices around school for themselves without being  prompted and reminded. Next week I will share details of Teams meetings for parents to update you regarding our Behaviour Policy.

Do you know of any prospective parents who may be interested in their child joining us in September? If so, please do encourage them to call school for more information and encourage them to follow us on social media. Next week, Miss Ballard will be filming a virtual tour of our school which we are very excited about and will add it to our website as soon as it is ready.

We are also looking to promote our school further. Please review us on google if you have a google account and we would be very grateful if you could send us a testimonial which we can add to our promotions work and website. If you are happy for us to share your testimonials please follow the link provided on the news section of our website.

Each Wednesday at 2.45pm, starting next week, Miss Brewer will be sharing a story with Reception children and we are inviting you to join this at home on Zoom too. If you have young children at home or know of any other families who would like to join us for this please share the following details:

Meeting ID:4974976598 Password: ambrose123

We are extremely proud of how hard ALL pupils have worked in school this week. On Monday morning, in our whole school virtual celebration assesmbly, the following children will be receiving a certificate for their fantastic efforts:

This half term, we are focussing on the virtures: attentive and discerning. We are growing to be attentive to our experience and to our vocation; and discerning about the choices we make and the effects of those choices. Please do let us know if your child shows these virtues at home by emailing Miss Holtom: year6@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk. Thank you

This week, Year 5 and Year 4 joined virtually to watch Father Lamb celebrate Mass. Reception have been working hard to make sure they are fulfilling their Lenten promises and Year 6 have been learning about the parable of the sheep and goats. We are very proud of how engaged are pupils are in preparing for Easter during this important season of Lent and we are looking forward to providing our pupils the opportunity to give alms next week for Odd Shoe Day - see details below.

Please also see the following poster, detailing family activities that can be carried out during Lent to support you at home.

From 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021, Pope Francis has proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” and on Friday 19th March, we will be celebrating Saint Joseph's Feast day. According to ancient tradition, Saint Joseph watches over and protects the Church; he is considered the model of perfect Christian life and the patron of a happy death and as a school we will be spening time learning even more about him.

Also, on this very special day, we will be encouraging all our pupils to 'put their best foot forward' and wear odd shoes to help support our chosen Lenten charity: Father Hudson's. We are asking for pupils to donate up to £2 to support the amazing work this wonderful charity does to help people in need, improving their quality of life.

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

Super Science Week March 2021. We have had a wonderful Science Week at St Ambrose Catholic Primary School. The theme of Science week this year is 'Innovating for the future'. On Monday morning, we launched Science week with a live Science Magic Show Assembly lead by Science Magician Dr Matt Pritchard. We all watched the assembly as a school virtually along with our partnership schools in the Ogden Trust.

1. Dancing Raisins. We did an experiment to find out what happened when we dropped raisins into different types of water. We observed that the raisins ‘danced’ when they were in the fizzy water because the air in the bubbles made them float a bit.

2. Engineering with Spaghetti and marshmallows. We found it really tricky to start but then we made the bottom of our buildings wider and it worked. We made a square or triangular base and built up.

3. We learned about The Life Cycle of a Butterfly. We made a life-cycle circle on paper plates with pictures of eggs on a leaf, caterpillars, chrysallis and the beautiful butterfly. 

In Year 2 we were learning all out lifecycles in Biology. In the morning, we found out about frogs. We could explain, describe and order the lifecycle of the frog. We explained how we know that a frog is a living thing.

In the afternoon, we thought scientifically and tried to answer the question, 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' We also watched a virtual lesson from NFU education. In this lesson, we joined Deb to find out where eggs come from, how they develop into chickens and how newborn chicks are cared for. We had front row seats to watch some chicks hatching from the comfort of our classroom. We could explain, describe and order the lifecycle of the chicken.

We cannot wait to use our new knowledge in our writing lessons over the next few weeks. We will be writing riddles and reports about frogs and chickens.

1. We started Science Week by watching a magic science assembly on Zoom! Matt Pritchard showed us some amazing magic tricks that were all linked to science, then we got the chance to ask him some questions!
2. We found out all about famous inventors and made posters!

In Year 4 we were being aeronautical engineers for the day. We created our own paper aeroplanes and tested them for accuracy by trying to fly them through differently sized holes. Then we tested them to see how far they could fly. The record was 11m.

In Year 5 we created structures that could withhold an earthquake and we have looked at how oxidisation works by bruising the banana skin.

In Year 6, we learnt about four fantastic inventors: Steve Jobs, Alexander Graham Bell, Maria Telkes and Thomas Edison. We also watched some videos of child inventors and were challenged to design our own machines for the future.

Did you guess the answer?

Well done to Hannah in Year 2 for an amazing riddle.

Can you guess what it is?

In Year 2 we read the book 'While We Can't Hug' by Eoin Mclaughlin. We thought about the ways that we can spread happiness around school and wrote them down. Then we painted a rainbow using watercolour paints. We have made a lovely display in our classroom showing others we can all spread happiness.

At St Ambrose, we believe that reading is extremely important. Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance and therefore their futures. As children start to learn to read at school, you can play an important role in helping to keep them interested in books. Find out what interests them, help them to find books that will be engaging and fun, and spend time reading the books they bring home from school together. We have put the following links together to support you to help develop and improve your child's love of reading:

We are now set-up for online payments via Parentpay and all payments to school will need to be made online after Easter with the exception of School Lunches. Letters were sent out to all parents with set up and individual user details and we have re-sent the letters today for thos parents who haven't already activated their accounts.

Please can we ask that upon receipt of your letter you activate your account as you will not be able to book any clubs, trips or other activities without doing so.

Until the end of term, children can have a packed lunch at school with a choice of cheese, ham or tuna sandwich filling. Children in Reception, Y1 and Y2 do not need to make payment nor do children in receipt of free school meals. If you would like your child to have a packed lunch and they do not fall into the above categories you must notify the school office of their sandwich choice and make payment of £2.30 per meal.

We anticipate hot dinners to be phased back in after Easter. Anyone who had paid for hot dinners before lockdown will have a credit balance.

We will be sending out menus for after the Easter break over the course of next week. Please can we ask that everyone who would like a meal (universal free school meals, free school meals and paid meals) to complete the menu and return to the school office. If we do not receive a menu for your child we will assume that you do not want them to take a meal.

Please contact the school office should you need further clarification or support with this.

If your child has a food allergy or intolerance that has been medically diagnosed, please can you complete and return the form below. Even if your child only takes school dinners occassionally or on themed days it is imperative that Class Catering have this information so that they can create a bespoke menu if and when needed for your child.

Please see the flyers below detailing webinars for you to access. These webinars are produced and delivered by the children's charity, Barnardos.

Maybe you have heard about the online courses for parents, FREE for residents in our area?

The Solihull Approach (NHS) have launched a NEW online course!

How do I access?

www.inourplace.co.uk

 What’s the code?

Ø  If you haven’t used it already here is the access code for all the online courses (funded for residents of Worcestershire): SOLIHULLKPPROVWHWCS

Ø  If, like many parents, you have already used this code, log into your account here and this course will be ready in your dashboard to start whenever you are ready.

 Can I tell my family and friends?

Absolutely! Share the news with other families in the area so that they too can take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

 How long is it?

There are 7 modules which each take about 5 minutes to complete and will benefit from time to digest in between. 

If you like this…

…you might like the bigger ‘Understanding your child’ or ‘Understanding your child with additional needs’, or other courses in the series. www.inourplace.co.uk

Latest update on testing and isolation periods.

• If a child or member of staff tests positive, they now have to self-isolate for at least 10 days, even if they feel well.
• If they are NOT a known contact of a confirmed case they can return to school if the result is negative, providing they feel well and they have not had a fever for 48 hours.
• If they are a contact of a confirmed case, they must stay off school for 14 days isolation period, even if they test negative. This is because they can develop the infection at any point up to 14 days after being in contact a confirmed case. This would apply to pupils and staff who have been in a bubble with a positive testing child.  School Leadership will decide which members of staff have come into close proximity with the bubble and therefore also need to self-isolate for 14 days.
• Please be aware that anyone admitted to hospital is likely to receive a test for Covid, whether they are showing symptoms or not.  
• Covid symptoms are now being classed as: a persistent cough, high temperature, and/or loss of taste and smell.
• No action needs to be taken as a school until a test result is shared with us.

Please also note that we cannot request test results, parents have to approach us with results.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Brocklesby