DATE: Friday 14th May

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the day when we remember the return of Christ to heaven. It’s very important that we realise that we are not celebrating a departure so much as a new way of being present. This feast then is not just about Jesus but about us too. We are reminded Christ is with us until the end of time. It was such a special Mass yesterday and I was thrilled to hear Parishioners praise our children for their reverence and the quality of their responses during Mass. Today during assembly we learnt Jesus gave his disciples power and confidence to do incredible things so this weekend everyone is going to follow Jesus and do INCREDIBLE THINGS. I can't wait to hear about the incredible things on Monday!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

PARISH, SCHOOL AND HOME PARTNERSHIP

CULTURE CAFE

As a Catholic commmunity, one of the most important lessons we will ever teach is about diversity. Teaching about the Importance of Celebrating Different Cultures and Diversity will help grow children of Saint Ambrose to have the best start in life . Did you know that being culturally aware can have a significant affect on success? "Diverse classrooms promote creativity, high level thinking, and collaboration." All classrooms represent different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicity, language, religion, and physical ability. Being diverse is defined as all the ways we are alike and different. For this reason every half term we will be celebrating a different culture with members of our school and parish communities. On Friday 9th July from 2pm - 5pm at the Parish Centre we will be celebrating the Filipino culture with members of our school community and parish. Please keep the date free and if you would like to be involved in organising the event please contact E.Brocklesby via email ebrocklesby@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

SAVE THE DATE: FRIDAY 9TH JULY - 2pm

CENSUS DAY SPECIAL MENU

On Thursday 20th May we will be having a ‘Hungry Caterpillar’ lunch day. We would like all Reception and Key Stage One children - Year R, Year 1 and Year 2 – to have a school dinner on this day. This is because it is census day in schools and funding for universal free school meals for our school for next year, is dependent upon how many Key Stage One children have a meal on census days.

We would like to invite the children to come into school in non-uniform on this day. If your child has P.E. on this day, please ensure that their clothing and footwear is suitable for this.

Please complete the lunch form that your child brought home or you can come to the school office where you can complete a dinner form there. You can send in a packed lunch in addition to ordering the cooked meal if you so wish.

Please see the menu below.

TEAPOT TIME

Mrs Wallace is pleased to announce that Teapot time will be returning to school on Tuesday 18th May at 9am - 10am 

She is very much looking forward to seeing parents for a good catch up. It will initially be in the parents shelter to begin with and then will hopefully be moving back to the parish rooms towards the end of June.

TAPP: SMARTIES CHALLENGE FUNDRAISING

Thank you to those parents and children who have already returned their fundrasisng smarties tubes. Can we please ask that you continue to sned the filled smsarties tubes into school. This is a fantastic fundraising project for our school in order for TAPP to provide extra support and activites for our children.

STARS OF THE WEEK

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

Year Group Star Learners
Reception Olivia and Cody
Year 1 Cody and Jack
Year 2 Isabella and Leighton
Year 3 Macey-Mai and Jason
Year 4 Casey, Isla and Charlie
Year 5 Alex W and Artur
Year 6 Poppy and Lacie-Mae

WEDNESDAY WORD

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

THIS TERM'S VIRTUES: COMPASSIONATE AND LOVING

Our virtues for this half term are compassionate and loving. We are compassionate when we feel sympathy and concern for other people who are in difficulty, whether they are near to us or far away. Loving: We are loving when we show our sympathy and concern for other people by our actions and by our words. Please let Miss Holtom know if your child demonstrates these virtues at home (year6@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk) as we would love to reward them for this in our end of term celebration!

COLLECTIVE WORSHIP LED BY Y4

Year 4 led this week's collective worship and they focussed on the Gospel where Jesus tells us that there is 'no greater love' that a person can have than to 'lay down his life for his friends'. Their chosen theme was 'family' and they reminded us that we are all part of different families - but one family: we are all part of the family of God. They also reminded us that one way we can show others love is to pray for our family members so we were invited to make a prayer chain in our classes. Here are Year 4's prayers:

ASCENSION MASS REFLECTIONS

Year 6 reflected on the solemnity of the Ascension, where we remember that whilst Jesus ascended into heaven, he is still with us and walks beside us each day. They really enjoyed being creative about what stood out for them the most. What do you think?

KS2 HORRIBLE HISTORIES WORKSHOP

On Tuesday morning, we joined Martin Brown, the illustrator of Horrible Histories, for foul facts, savage stories and some deadly drawing! Can you work out who we drew?

PARENTS EVENING QUESTIONNAIRE

Please complete the questionnaire below to help us plan future parents evenings and review the provision for this year.

Y3 FIRST HOLY COMMUNION: JUNE 2021

We are very much looking forward to celebrating your son or daughter’s First Holy Communion on Saturday 26th June at 12.00 pm. Our preparations began in school last week and we were really impressed with how engaged the children were with the first three chapters of the programme.

Father Lamb’s information Zoom Meeting for parents will be held on Monday 7th June at 6pm outlining the importance of this sacrament and the role you play in supporting your child to be a practising Catholic. There will be opportunities for you to ask any questions about the programme and details of how your child can make their First Confession will be shared.

To log in to the Zoom meeting, please use the following log in details:

Meeting ID: 7139023157

Passcode: @mbro5e

On the special day, girls should wear a white dress and may wear a veil if they wish. Gloves should not be worn during Mass. Boys should wear dark trousers and a white shirt. They will be given a red sash from school to wear and they can also wear a red tie. Some red bow ties are available for those who would like to borrow them – please complete the form on letter that has been distributed to your child if this is required. Further practical arrangements of the day will be given in due course.

We are very much looking forward to helping support your child with this important moment in their lives.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

Club Year Group Day/Time
Multi-Sports Y4, Y5 and Y6 Tuesdays 3.10pm - 415pm
Kidderminster Harriers Football Y2 and Y3 Tuesdays 3.10pm - 4.15pm
Cricket Y4, Y5 and Y6 Thursdays 3.10pm - 4.15pm

MUSEUM OF CARPET PHOTOGRAPHY OPEN CALL

Please see the PDF documents below detailing a photography open call to all budding photographers.

RARING 2 GO SUNFLOWER COMPETITION

Raring 2 Go are holding a Sunflower Growing Competition that they would like our children to participate in. It was very popular last summer and they had some fabulous entries.
 
Children could have a go at growing sunflowers at home, in the garden, or on a windowsill.
All they need to do to enter is email a photo (s) of their sunflowers to:
kidderminster@raring2go.co.uk by 30th June 2021.
 
The winning child will win a lovely bundle of gardening goodies from Webbs Garden Centres.

CROSS COUNTRY

Please see the poster below detailing entry information for a children's cross country event.

STARTING WELL GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE IN RECEPTION 2021-2022

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. 

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, 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

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS ON REGULAR RAPID TESTING AND COVID-19 VACCINATION

Please see the following documents from NHS Test and Trace and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group 

GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE TO HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF CORONA VIRUS

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.

LATERAL FLOW TESTING KITS AND SELF ISOLATING GUIDES

Please see the following covid documents from Public Health.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Brocklesby

Emmaus CMAC
St Ambrose Catholic Primary School Ofsted
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