Good afternoon,

On Monday, we will be celebrating the Feast Day of Saint Ambrose with a virtual whole school Mass at 9.30 am. Saint Ambrose was called by God to be the Bishop of Milan and on his special day, we will be thinking about what God has planned for us and who he is calling us to be.

In the afternoon, Year 6 have a Virtual Vocations Workshop arranged exploring the questions: 'Does everyone have a vocation? What's the difference between a vocation and a job? How do I discern my calling?'. The rest of the school will be taking part in virtual Zoom calls with Sister Margaret (Sisters of Charities from St Paul the Apostle) about her calling. This is an important day for us all and it would be wonderful if you could talk with your child about what God has called you to be and help them think about their vocation too.

We are very much looking forward to celebrating with our Year Six pupils on Monday evening who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. Due to COVID guidance, Bishop Evans has delegated the responsibility to Father Lamb to administer the sacrament (cannon 884 of the Code of Cannon Law). I am sure you would like to support our pupils by remembering them in your prayers. All pupils making their confirmation have received a letter outlining the arrangements for the Confirmation (see below).

Next week all the children will be taking part in their 'Life Skills' activity for this half term. Our theme this time is cooking so please look out for our photos on next week's newsletter where you will find out what we have been busy making. On your Marks, Get Set, Bake!

This week winter seems to have arrived and the weather has been much colder. With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to remind parents of our arrangements for possible school closure because of severe weather conditions. If the decision is taken to close school, a scrolling banner message will appear on our website homepage. We will also send a push notification and we will Tweet. We will make this decision as early as possible and no later than 7:00am. We will not close school once children have arrived, however, if during the school day weather conditions deteriorate significantly, we may ask parents to collect their child/children early but only when it is safe and feasible for the parent. Finally, can we please ask for all children to come to school in a warm coat and ideally with a warm hat and gloves. Thank you.

On Tuesday 8th December we will celebrate the hardwork and achievements of our pupils in a virtual celebration assembly. The following children will receive a certificate:

If your child would like to send Christmas cards to their class friends only they can bring them into school to be sent out.

On Thursday we celebrated Christmas Jumper Day and filmed our Christmas production. I know when you see the production you will be so proud of all our children.

We know many of Santa’s Grottos will be closed this year, but we have exciting news! We can confirm Santa will be visiting Saint Ambrose during week commencing 14th December! Santa’s elves have asked school to ensure there is a grotto for Santa where he can meet children, with social distancing measures in place of course - they don’t want Santa to have to isolate on Christmas Eve! TAPP are on the case and they plan to convert the Parent Shelter into Santa’s Grotto. Over the next few weeks your child will have the opportunity to write a special letter to Santa which they will be able to give to Santa when they meet him in school.

If you would like your child to begin or continue with online music lessons provided by Severn Arts please follow the link below to book your child a place for the Spring Term.

Thank you to everyone for all your support this week ensuring we arrive at our collection times ensuring we do not have any queues.

Please can I remind you of the collection times below and ask that only one adult collects, children are collected at their allocated time or at their siblings latest collection time. If you are collecting from more than one class at the same time, please collect your youngest child first-THANK YOU.

Thank you, our children have all looked so smart this week. If you are struggling to get hold of any uniform at the moment due to the National Lockdown please contact the school office.

We are hosting bookable school tours for children due to start Reception in Septemer 2021. 

Please can everyone share this information with family and friends and use the below link should you wish to book a tour.

Currently the tours are postponed until further government guidance regarding national lockdown. However, as it stands you will be able to resume booking from 3rd December.

You can also view the flyer by clicking on the PDF link.

Thank you to everyone for supporting us with all the new necessary changes to keep safe.

Can we remind you that only 1 adult or family bubble enters the school reception area at a time.

Hagley Sports are now selling St Ambrose hoodies. You can order them from their website by following the link below.

Embroidered Burgundy Hoodie £13.00 all sizes.  + £2.00 if you would like your child's name embroidered opposite the crest.

Age 5-6 = 28 inch

Age 7-8 = 30 inch

Age 9=11 =32 inch

Age 12-13 = 34 inch

Age 14-15 -36 inch

Small adult =36 inch also

Medium Adult -38/40

Large adult = 42/44

As we are unable to hold face to face meetings between teacher and parents we have set up year group email addresses for you to communicate with staff. Please note that emails received after 6pm will be answered the next working day and none over the weekend.

General enquiries: office@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Reception:Reception@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 1: year1@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 2:year2@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 3:year3@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 4:year4@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 5:year5@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Year 6:year6@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk

Applications for Reception Class 2021 have now opened and must be completed online by 15 January 2021. We welcome applications from all families of all or no faith. If you know of any families who are presently applying for a school place please encourage them to contact school. Again, if you have any queries regarding applying please do not hesitate to speak to us.

Starting well is an NHS backed support service for families, parents, children and young people across Worcestershire to lead happy, healthy and fulfilled lives. Please click on the PDF link below for more information on the services and support that they provide.

Please see the PDF document regarding short courses/workshops for Nov – Dec 2020 to support families during this latest lockdown for the last part of half term this year. All our Family Learning courses are free for every parent or carer at the moment.

You can also click on the course links below to enrol.

Lockdown Elevenses for any parents/carers feeling lonely or isolated https://rebrand.ly/LockdownElevenses

Christmas Craft Workshop for Parents and Children https://rebrand.ly/ChristmasCraft

New Year Calendar Making Workshop for Parents and Children https://rebrand.ly/CalendarMaking

Fabulous Family Food Workshop for Parents https://rebrand.ly/FabulousFood

Due to the new national restrictions in place, Teapot time will be cancelled until these restrictions are lifted. We will notify you in due course of the next meeting.

Kind regards,

Mrs Brocklesby.