DATE: Friday 20th December 2019

Good Afternoon,

All of the staff would like to thank children and parents for the Christmas gifts that they have received. They are very much appreciated and we wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

'May the joy of the Gospel be always in our hearts, especially this Christmas'

Pope Francis.

As this is our final newsletter for the term, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for your continued support for myself and for Saint Ambrose School. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful children, dedicated and hardworking staff and a supportive governing and parent body.  As always, there have been many highlights this term-just a glance at the weekly newsletter shows you how much goes on in school in any one week.  Our Christmas Production and Carol Concert are events  I will never forget; from start to finish the children were  fantastic. Finally, on behalf of all the staff, I wish you all a very happy and holy Christmas. School reopens for children on TUESDAY 7th JANUARY.

CATHOLIC LIFE: YEAR OF THE WORD

DISCOVERING THE BIBLE THROUGH ART:

To help enrich our spiritual journey further, Cardinal Vincent Nichols launched ‘The God Who Speaks’ in the National Gallery London, reflecting throughout the year on 3 devotional and dynamic paintings by different artists. On September 30th his short talk focused on a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio titled, 'Saints Jerome and John the Baptist'. On December 1st the focus for the first week of Advent was The Nativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans and on 26th February for Ash Wednesday, the painting will be The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano. The paintings can be accessed on the National Gallery website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/ . This website also has a zoom facility so that you can explore the paintings in detail. The accompanying videos for the paintings by Cardinal Vincent can be found at www.godwhospeaks.uk.  A Nativity Trail can also be found in Birmingham Art Gallery & Museum.

Saints Jerome and John the Baptist

The Nativity at night

SOMETHING FOR THE ADULTS TO THINK ABOUT:

Scripture Seekers "How do we make sense of something as big as the Bible?"

For your own personal development try reading the Bible in a year using an app such as Bible in One Year.

REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR:

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed items for the Reverse Advent Calendar. A representative from the Kidderminster Foodbank came to school yesterday to collect a box of food from each class. Your generous donations will make a difference to local families over Christmas. In the New Year the Junior SVP will be starting their Foodbank Friday again. Watch this space!

MESSAGE FROM SANTA:

It was so wonderful to meet you at school yesterday! I'm not able to visit every school in the world, so it was extra-special to me that I was able to stop by yours.

I am so proud of you and all! I could tell that you are eager learners. Your teachers mentioned how impressed they are with all of you. I must say, not all little boys and girls behave so well during the excitement of my visit.

Thanks for letting me know what you want for Christmas! It makes everything go so much more smoothly when I'm able to get the orders in to my elves early. Boy, is that sleigh going to be full!

Please keep writing me your wonderful letters. Your handwriting is getting better and better, and I love your creativity.

THANKYOU TO TAPP FOR ORGANISING THE VISIT FROM SANTA

Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets for the hampers, that were won by two parents on Wednesday.

SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING: 18TH DECEMBER 2019

We went through the suggestion box and some of the key ideas that will be fed back to Mrs Brocklesby in the New Year are:

More equipment at lunch and play times

A snack bar run by children

More board games for wet play

The rainbow table to come back as a treat for good behaviour.

Year 5 have kindly agreed to be in charge of the suggestion box.

Thank you for all of your hard work this year and I hope you enjoy your little Christmas treat!!!

Our next meeting date has been set for Wednesday 15th January.

PANTOMIME TIME FOR A YEAR 6 PUPIL:

We are very proud of Millie from Year 6 who is taking part in Snow White at the Artrix in Bromsgrove from December 14-22nd.

Please see the flyer below for more details and for information on how to book tickets.

Good luck Millie!!!!

CELEBRATION ASSEMBLY:

AWARDS ASSEMBLY WILL RECOMMENCE ON MONDAY 13TH JANUARY.

If your son or daughter is selected to receive an award at a Celebration Assembly this year you will receive two invitations from school on a Thursday. The first invitation is a push notification and the second invite is a slip in your son or daughter's book bag.

Please pop into the school office at any time if you are not receiving the push notifications. 

APPLICATIONS FOR RECEPTION 2020:

If your child is due to start Reception in September 2020 then you will need to fill out an online application form by 15th January 2020.

SCHOOL PLACES:

We have places available in Years Reception, 1, 4, 5 & 6. If you know of anyone who would be interested, please refer them to the School Office in the first instance.

ATTENDANCE:

Year Group This Week This Term This Year
Whole School 90.4 93.9 95.0
YR 95.2 95.5 95.0
Y1 98.0 94.8 94.2
Y2 92.5 95.0 95.8
Y3 87.9 92.1 94.5
Y4 89.2 92.9 94.9
Y5 87.0 93.0 94.9
Y6 83.4 94.1 95.4

Well done Year 1 !!

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION:

First Holy Communion Day next year is Saturday 13th June 2020.

The preparation classes this academic year will be an after school club on a Wednesday 3.10-4pm (see below for the dates).

DATE
Wednesday 12th February 2020
Wednesday 11th March 2020
Wednesday 1st April 2020
Wednesday 22nd April 2020
Wednesday 29th April 2020
Wednesday 6th May 2020
Wednesday 20th May 2020
Wednesday 10th June 2020

Father Lamb will lead the evening meetings for parents with the first one being on Wednesday 29th January at 6pm. 

Parents meeting only - in Parish Hall Wednesday 29th January 6pm

MESSAGE FROM THE LOCAL POLICE:

Scam Alert ! Please tell elderly and vulnerable friends, neighbours and family who may not have social media or have seen the news that fraudsters are telephoning in this area. They are pretending to be the police and have them withdraw money from their account and give to a courier who will come to their home. This is a scam! No police officer will ever do this so please tell them to hang up, wait 10 minutes and call the police on 101 or tell a family member so they can call us.

TEAPOT TIME:

If any more parents would like to sign up for the first aid course please speak to Mrs Wallace who will register you on the course. It is being run by Worcestershire County Council, Family Links and is FREE if you earn £16,000 or less.

The course will be held in the Parish rooms at 9am - 10.30 on Tuesday 25th Feb and  Tuesday 3rd March 9.am - 10.30 am, free tea and coffee and a certificate of attendance.

There will be no teapot time on 7th or 14th Jan, however parents with any enquiries can always book an appointment with the office to see Mrs Wallace.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHILD PROGRAMME:

We are pleased to be hosting another 2 taster sessions for the 'Understanding Your Child' programme. Please see the flyers below with more details of.

Thank you to all of the parents who brought in nativity costumes for other children to borrow. It was a great success and we will be doing it again next year. All costumes should now have been returned.

BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS COMPETITION:

We are taking part in The Sun's 'Books for Schools' campaign, which gives primary schools the chance to get their hands on more than 100 books for FREE - but we need your help. Please help us to collect 3500 tokens from The Sun and The Sun on Sunday newspapers between Saturday 23rd November, 2019 and Saturday January 18th, 2020.

WE ARE HOPING TO COLLECT AS MANY TOKENS AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER FOR OUR SCHOOL TO BENEFIT FROM THIS WONDERFUL SCHEME!

PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN YOUR TOKENS.

SCHOOL MASS:

Please see below the Mass dates for the Spring Term.

Date Time Year Group
8th January 2020 9.30am Whole School Mass
15th January 2020 9.30am Y6
22nd January 2020 9.30am Y5
29th January 2020 9.30am Y4
5th February 2020 9.30am Y3
12th February 2020 9.30am Rec, Y1 & Y2
26th February 2020 (Ash Wednesday) 9.30am Whole School
4th March 2020 9.30am Y6
11th March 2020 9.30am Y5
18th March 2020 9.30am Y4
25th March 2020 9.30am Rec, Y1, Y2 & Y3
3rd April 2020 (Friday) 10.30am Whole School
22nd April 2020 9.30am Whole School
29th April 2020 9.30am Y6
6th May 2020 9.30am Y5
20th May 2020 9.30am Y4
3rd June 2020 9.30am Y3
10th June 2020 9.30am Rec, Y1, Y2
17th June 2020 9.30am Y6
24th June 2020 9.30am Y5
1st July 2020 9.30am Y4
8th July 2020 9.30am Rec, Y1, Y2 & Y3
16th July 2020 (Thursday) 6pm Y6 Leaver's Mass
17th July 2020 (Friday) 10.30am Whole School Mass

THE ALTAR SERVERS' ROTA HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED. IF YOU REQUIRE ANY FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT THE SCHOOL OFFICE.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

PLEASE REGULARLY CHECK THE DIARY DATES FOR ANY UPDATES.

CAN WE PLEASE REMIND YOU THAT VIOLIN LESSONS ARE ON A MONDAY AND CLARINET LESSONS ARE ON A FRIDAY. PLEASE CAN YOU ENSURE THAT YOUR CHILD BRINGS THEIR INSTRUMENT INTO SCHOOL WITH THEM ON THE RELEVANT DAYS. MANY THANKS.

DATE TIME EVENT
20th December End of Autumn Term
2020 2020 2020
6th January Ted Day
7th January School returns for Spring Term
12th 2pm Reception Phonics Workshop
13th February Y5 Pyramid Concert
17th - 21st February Half Term
5th March World Book Day
9th - 13th March Science Week
23rd March 5.30 - 7pm Parents' Evening 1
30th march 3.30 - 6pm Parents' Evening 2
2nd April 2pm Easter Performance KS2 School Hall
6th - 17th April Easter Break
8th May May Day Bank Holiday
25th - 29th May Half Term
1st June TED Day
13th June 12pm First Holy Communion
14th July 9.15am KS1 Sports Day
12.45pm KS2 Sports Day
15th July Back Up Sports Day
3.30-6pm Drop in Parents' Meeting

TOAST:

Toast is available to the children on the following days:

KS2 will only be able to buy toast on a Tuesday break time.

KS1 will only be able to buy toast on a Thursday break time.

The cost per slice will remain at 20p which is to be given to the class teacher in exchange for a token that the children will use to get their toast.

Thank you for your support in this venture.

PARISH BABY AND TODDLER GROUP:

If you or anyone you know would be interested in going along to the Parish's Baby and Toddler group, the sessions are held on Wednesdays in term time from 9-11 am (except the last Wednesday of the month). We welcome newborn up to pre-school children and their parents. Your first session will be free of charge and thereafter will be 80p. This cost includes refreshments for you and your child. We have an array of toys and activities for you and your child to enjoy and this is also a great opportunity to meet and socialise with other families. If you have any enquiries, please see the Facebook page 'St Ambrose Toddlers Kidderminster'.

PARISH 200 CLUB:

This initiative allows vital funds to be available to our Parish in order to meet its financila obligations. There is a total prize fund of £2,500 equating to monthly prizes of £75, £50 and £25 along with the 'Big Christmas Draw' with prizes of £400, £200 and £100. The cost for this initiative is £24 per annum, payable monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually in Jnauary. We would love to welcome many more new members. If you wish to join the 200 club please fill in a form that will be available from the school office or at the back of the Church and return to either the office or the rectory. 

For further information please contact either Janine Nicholls or Martin Grovenor using the details on the application forms.

MASS TIMES AND PARISH INFORMATION:

St Ambrose

Sunday 11am & 6pm

CONFESSION:

Saturday 11:45 am - 12:45 pm, and by request.

Please see the attached poster detailing the Montini Group meetings for 2019/2020.

Kind regards,

Mrs Brocklesby

Emmaus CMAC
St Ambrose Catholic Primary School Ofsted
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