Good afternoon,

Next week Mass will be offered in church every morning at 10 o'clock and on Sunday it will be live streamed from our Prayer Room at 9 o'clock and at 11 o'clock on the school playground. If you would like to attend the 11 o'clock Mass please bring your own chairs and contact the Presbytery on 01562 822839 if you will be attending a week day Mass.

We are very excited to announce that next week (WB 6^th of July) the children in 'Love' Bubble have come up with some amazing ideas to raise money for the NHS both inside and outside of school time. 

One of their wonderful ideas is that the children are going to complete a sponsored run around the school playground. 

The children are aiming to run 100 laps collectively as a group all the way round the playground throughout the week. 

It would be wonderful if you could sponsor us, as the money raised will go to the NHS. 

 We are so proud of our pupils – well done!

Please support our children in this wonderful venture by sending in your donation in a sealed envelope marked 'NHS Sponsorship'.

This week we sent an email to all parents regarding a 'Relationships and Health Parent Consultation'. You can view the letter and survey link below and you can also access them on the RSE page and news section of the school website. Can we please ask that you compete the initial consultation tool and survey by no later than 13th July. 

Please see the PDF document below to order school uniform. You will be able to order online from 1st July, alternatively you can print, complete and return the form to Hagley Sports at your earliest convenience.

Please click on the link below to complete the survey regarding your access to the internet and IT equipment at home.

School Reports will be available on Wednesday and to ensure we distribute them efficiently, please complete the survey on School Life or click the link below. This year we will be delivering reports by email, post or giving you the opportunity to collect it in person from the school office.

Please remember to book your son/daughters parent consultation appointment via the School Life app. These will take place over the telephone and your child's class teacher will call you at the time you have booked. The appointments will last no more than 10 minutes and can be booked betweem 8.45 and 4.30pm. I know it will be a great opportunity to discuss any concerns and celebrate your son or daughter's achievements.

September is always a pivotal point in our young peoples lives but this year it will be extra special. I am so looking forward to starting the new school year and being together (following Government Guidance) to help develop and challenge our children to achieve their hopes and dreams. As you can see from our staffing list below, we are welcoming a new member of staff to Saint Ambrose. Mrs Goodsir is joining us after working in Sandwell for many years and as you will read in her letter, she loves teaching and is looking forward to meeting her class. You will also notice Mr. Pitt will be teaching Year 5 and Miss Crumpler will be teaching Year 2. Please can I ask you to let your son or daughter know the names of their teacher, teaching assistant and share their welcome letter or factfile. On Wednesday Mrs Leak and Miss Crumpler will be sharing videos on the website about their classes and Year 3 -6 (September 2020) will be able to take part in a zoom call. Information to access the zoom call will be sent out via push notification on Tuesday (see timetable below).

In order to ensure that all of the children feel ready and prepared for September, please share with your son or daughter the school video (see link below), the video will give your son or daughter an insight into what school is like now. 

On Wednesday 15^th July we will be celebrating Mass on the playground with our Y6 leavers at 2pm. Family members are welcome to join us. If you would like to join you will have to socially distance and would need to bring your own seating. Please can you let the office know how many family members you hope to join us by Tuesday 7^th July in order for us to be able to plan for this. Please note that we may have to restrict numbers but we will advise, as soon as possible, if this is necessary.

Thursday 17^th July will be our Year 6’s last day with us and we are busy planning how to make this day as memorable as possible. Year 6 are welcome to wear their own clothes on this day and Mr Garvey will be making an appearance to help us with some activities. Should they wish to do so, we will be giving the children the opportunity to ‘leave’ their school uniform that they no longer require on their tables before they go as a rite of passage for High School. This is not necessary if they have younger siblings.

As things have been a little different this year and our goodbye won't quite be the same, we would like to invite our Y6 pupils and their families to a BBQ on the school playground on Saturday 5^th September. We thought this would be a nice chance to all see each other again and share their experiences of their first week at High School. Please put the date in your diary and we will send out further information in due course.

I am looking into organising summer activity camps at St Ambrose and I now need to determine the demand. 

Please complete the survey by no later than Friday 10th July and I will then inform you on Monday 13th July if we will be able to run an activity camp. 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/StAmbrosePrimary

I would like to create a garden of hope by our main entrance which will have seven planters arranged in a rainbow. Each class will have the responsibility of growing flowers, plants or vegetables and I feel this will enable our young people to work together with each other and members of our local community. If you have some spare time and would like to support us to develop this area, please speak to a member of school staff or email office@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk. 

This week in our Year 6 bubbles we enjoyed researching all about the Archbishop of Birmingham and celebrating ‘The Good Shepherd’ Mass. We tackled scale factors in Maths lessons and looked at Banksy’s artwork in English lessons. The “Peace’ bubble enjoyed playing football with Mr Garvey and the ‘Faith’ bubble chose to do some creative writing in response to a picture stimulus. For the West Mercia police, we all designed posters for their seatbelt campaign and learnt about the importance of ensuring we always wear our seatbelts. 

If you require provision for your child because you are a Key Worker, please complete the booking form on the school website for the days you require by the Wednesday at 12.30pm for the following week. We cannot promise that you will be successful in your request, but we will do our best to support you. Bookings for week beginning 29th June will need to be made by Wednesday 24^th June.

I thank you for your unfailing support during this difficult and challenging time.

Resilience Calendar for July: 

Action for Happiness have created a calendar with some wonderful ideas to help us all be more resilient, try to use the calendar throughout the month of July . You can download a pdf copy here https://www.actionforhappiness.org/jump-back-july

Family learning has designed some short Signalong workshops for ‘adults - parents and carers’. Each workshop is over one week and contains one 30 minute zoom session per day Monday – Friday. All workshops are free for all (no eligibility criteria) and have limited spaces. 

Adults – Parents, Carers and Grandparents

Signalong 1 Starter Workshop ONLINE

Course Description: Signalong is a key word sign-supported communication system based on British sign language and is used in spoken word order. It uses speech, sign, body language, facial expression and voice tone to reference the link between sign and word. This 5 day (one 30 min session a day) course is a "starter" course for parents, grandparents and adults wishing to learn a few signs to support communication for children and adults.

Start date 06/07/2020 End date 10/07/2020 Start Time 2pm End time 2.30pm Cost Free

https://capublic.worcestershire.gov.uk/coursebookingpublic/CourseBooking.aspx?Login=False&CourseId=5705&CustomerRequestGUID=

Signalong 2 Progression Workshop ONLINE

Course Description: This workshop is for you to progress with Signalong after you have completed Signalong 1 starter workshop. This includes bespoke signs for your personal needs and will cover topics such as money, colours and animals and we will base the teaching very much on your own needs as a group to be able to use signalong in everyday life. 

Start date 20/07/2020 End date 24/07/2020 Start Time 14pm End time 14.30pm Cost Free

https://capublic.worcestershire.gov.uk/coursebookingpublic/CourseBooking.aspx?Login=False&CourseId=5712&CustomerRequestGUID=

Kind regards,

Mrs Brocklesby.