UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO UPDATED GDPR GUIDELINES WE ARE UNABLE TO PUBLISH ANY PICTURES OF THE CHILDREN THIS WEEK.

Good Afternoon,

Thank you to everyone who joined us in school today for Mass to celebrate the Feast of Saint Ambrose. It was a wonderful occasion to come together as a community and celebrate. The children have all enjoyed learning about Saint Ambrose today.

Aurelius Ambrosius (340 CE–397 CE) was born in Treves (Trier), Gaul. He trained as a lawyer and became governor of Milan before he was appointed as the city’s bishop in 374 CE. He wrote about the scriptures, composed many hymns, devoted his time to studying theology and gave his possessions to the poor.

St Ambrose was known for denying church entrance to emperor Theodosius I for his massacre of about 7000 people in Thessalonica in 390. He also had considerable influence over St Augustine, an early Christian Saint whose writings were widely read.

Year 4 have been busy making origami candles in honour of St. Ambrose Feast Day.

The Year of the Word is an exciting opportunity focusing on celebrating, living and sharing in God’s word.    There are 3 themes for the year: Celebrating God’s Word, Living God’s Word and Sharing God’s Word.

We will be focusing on one theme each half term this year and then continuing from September. Up until February half term we will be focusing on Celebrating God’s Word. The children will be looking at ways of discovering and renewing a genuine love for the word of God and nurturing their relationship with Christ; meeting Christ through the Bible and listening to him speaking to us and guiding us in our daily lives.

From next week each class will be sharing their favourite Bible story and what it means to them and the Y6 Liturgy Leaders will be reading Bible stories to groups of children at lunchtime in the Prayer room.

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.

Our Year 6 children have been working hard to prepare for their Family Mass on the 8th December. They have been preparing to talk about their chosen Confirmation Saint and how they are inspired to be like them in their lives and how this saint will help them in their journey of faith. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Mass on Sunday.

'The Lord is coming. May we await him with open hearts'

Dear Lord Jesus, please help us to prepare our hearts to receive and to share more of your love as Christmas approaches.

Amen

Last Sunday marked the beginning of the Liturgical year, with the season of Advent and the children have already started learning about how they can prepare for the birth of Jesus by thinking of others.

This year each class will be creating a reverse Advent Calendar to collect items to donate to the food bank. Your child should have come home with a letter last week detailing the day they have been allocated to bring in an item for their class box. Please see your child's class teacher if they have not received a letter.

On Tuesday the children all enjoyed completing circuits in PE as their sponsored fundraising event for the NSPCC. Could you please kindly send any sponsor money into school by 13^th December so it can be passed on to this wonderful charity that support our children every year. Many thanks for all your continued support.

It would be much appreciated if you would support the children with their Advent commitment to help the NSPCC by completing the sponsor form.

A primary school trip remains one of the best first experiences children can have of spending time away from their families and developing confidence, social skills and independence.

The trip to Pioneer is a fantastic outdoor learning experience that allows child to grow. When I visited it was wonderful to see the Teachers enabling the pupils to excel in a safe, fun and friendly environment through a series of activities including caving, abseiling and climbing. I am sure the children have created wonderful memories that will stay with them.

Hagleys Principal, Mr Hodgson extends a warm invite to all parents to attend their Christmas Celebration Mass being held at the high school on Thursday 19th December. The evening will begin with carols played by the school orchestra at 6.45pm and the Mass will commence at 7pm. If you are able to attend please follow the link below stating how seats you will require for the evening

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!!!!

The children who received an award are:

Anthony P, Macey-Mai M, Leela-J B, Layla-Rae C, Isabella S, Rosie B, Ruby-May M, Matisse M, Emily M, Gianni B, Katie H, Thomas R & Amelia M.

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. 

The Chaddesley Corbett Clangers visited school today and coached our Belle Plate group. The Belle Plate group were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with this talented group. Thank you to everyone who came to the performance at 3pm. I am sure you would agree that the children and Mrs Lloyd were fantastic.

Raffle tickets are now on sale for the staff Christmas hamper. They cost £1 per strip and all the money raised will be donated to the Parish Christmas Bazaar.

Well done Mia for your beautiful winning Christmas card design!!

Everyone involved in organising the Christmas Card competition has asked me to thank everybody who entered. Apparently it was not an easy job to choose the winner but after a lot of deliberation Mia from Year 6 was chosen. See the winning card above.

TAPP have been busily selling raffle tickets for their Christmas raffle at a cost of £1 per strip. All proceeds from the raffle are used to buy resources or Christmas gifts for our children.

Please see below the wonderful hampers that you could win!

Thank you to all the children who sang at the Parish Christmas Bazaar. I was so proud when a number of Parishioners commented on the wonderful conduct of our pupils.

Father Lamb and the parish would like to extend a huge thank you to all the parents and carers that have generously contributed towards the bazaar.

With our help they have raised over £1200.

Thank you to everyone who swapped a nativity costume. What a great idea! We do still have some costumes so please speak to the school office to see if we can accomodate your request.

We will be organising a swap shop again in the New Year but this time it will be with school uniform.

Thank you to all the parents who attended the workshop on Wednesday. I am so pleased that we have managed to build enough spaceships for the aliens to travel home.

We had a very short meeting to feed back on the rules for lunchtime from all of the year groups, which has been given to Mrs Stewart to discuss with the dinner ladies.

We have been given new books for each year group so that we can make a note of discussion points to take back to class. The books will be taken to each meeting.

As a treat for all of their hard work this term, Mrs Brocklesby asked the school council to decorate the Christmas tree.  I'm sure you will all agree that it looks great!!! 

Our next meeting date has been set for Wednesday 18^th December

We have places available in Years Reception, 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6. If you know of anyone who would be interested, please refer them to the School Office in the first instance.

The Confirmation Celebration Mass will be held on Wednesday 11th of December at 6pm. If you would like to take a photograph of your child we will have a backdrop set up in the Parish hall before the service.  If you wish to use the backdrop please arrive at the Parish hall at 5pm.

Remember to wear your Christmas jumper to school on Friday 13th December.

We are now on Twitter you can follow us and keep up to date with all our latest news and events. You will need to register for a Twitter account first of all and then if you search for us at ambrose_primary.

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.

Well done Year 6!!

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.

Mrs Wallace is continuing with her 'Teapot Time'. Please come along from 9-10am on Tuesday 10th December for an informal chat and to help form a group that could support you and your children. We look forward to welcoming you. Should you require any further information please see Mrs Wallace.

We can do Paediatric first aid for one hour a week for 3 weeks on a Tuesday during tea pot time.

If you earn £16,000 or less its free and you can bring young children along. If you earn over this, its a small cost of £18 for the whole course. Tea and coffee will be provided. If you would be interested please register your interest with the school office and Mrs Wallace will update you on a start date asap.

We look forward to seeing you there today from 4pm-6pm.

Can we please remind you to make payment of £2 towards the cost of the 'Mad Science' pantomime for KS2 children. They will be in school on Friday 13th December and after the performance the children will be having a party in their classroom with party food supplied by the TAPP team.

TAPP have sent out letters for your child to complete and return by Friday 12th December.

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 (start date will be confirmed in January 2020). Father Lamb will lead the evening meetings for parents and the start date and time will be confirmed in January 2020.

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.

Please see below the Mass dates for the Autumn Term.

PLEASE REGULARLY CHECK THE DIARY DATES FOR ANY UPDATES.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

St Ambrose

Sunday 11am & 6pm

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