We hope that you have had a lovely summer meeting up with friends and family that we have missed for so long. We are very much looking forward to having a more normal year where we can build on our learning and have lots of fun along the way! Our initial main focus is to spend lots of time talking to each other and building friendships, finding out about likes & dislikes and recognising skills and strengths. We will build routines and develop a familiar timetable once again - children love routines and familiarity. The children's well-being is our priority. 

Thank you for your support and understanding yesterday, I was really disappointed that it was necessary for us to close and offer remote learning. The advice from the Fire Service was for Kidderminster residents to keep their doors and windows closed. This advice posed a risk as the risk assessment for Covid-19 requires ventilation in schools / colleges.  

Over the summer and the next few weeks we will be making a few changes to our school site to improve safety for all our pupils:

1. An intercom security system has been fitted in our main reception. 

2. New fencing has been fitted in the car park

3. Two new signs have been fitted

3.. The main gates will be refurbished and moved to the Parish boundary line. This will prevent cars parking on the pavement outside school. Due to a lack of materials this has been postponed until the end of September.

4. A pedestrian guard rail will be fitted along the pavement to prevent cars parking or turning on the pavement preventing access for emergency vehicles.

Thank you to everyone for remembering the car park is not available for use at the start or the end of the day. If you have a car park pass for health reasons please drop off at 9.10 am and collect from the car park after 3.20 pm. Mrs Downs will contact families who currently have a pass and if you would like to apply for one please contact the school office.

Father Lamb has also nominated Filip and Olaf from Y6 to receive special certificates this week for being excellent altar servers and serving the parish community so well.

Miss Gawthorp is so proud of all the children who have started in Reception this week. They have bounced in through the doors each morning and we have had lots of smiles for the rest of the day. They have loved using the outdoor area and riding the bikes along the track. What an amazing start and welcome to St Ambrose!

Letters have been sent home with the Year 6 children this week regarding applying for their High School place in September 2022. Please ensure that you read the letter carefully and follow the instructions for the application. If you require any help then please speak to the school office.

Please see the flyer below detailing Hagley's upcoming open day.

The Parish have asked if families can bring in donations for their Christmas Bazaar.

If items can be brought in as follows:

At St Ambrose, we are passionate about teaching our pupils to become fluent and confident readers who love reading. This year, we will be focussing on reading and will continue to provide lots of opportunities for our children to develop their reading skills.

This year, we are delighted to be working with Sooper Books, who have kindly donated award-winning fairy tables, bedtime stories, fables and poems for kids for you to read and share at home. Please see our reading for pleasure resource under our school tab on our website. More stories will be added throughout the year so please keep checking what's new!

This week we are launched 'Go Read' at St Ambrose, a digital reading diary to record pupils' reading journeys. Thank you to everyone who trialled the app last term, the feedback from parents, pupils and staff were very positive and we have taken onboard all the feedback provided. This will now replace the paper reading diaries we have used in previous years.

If you already have 'Go Read' then all you need to do is carry on using it. If you are new, then you will find all the details as to how you can download the app on the letter below. Your child should have come home with your log in details and their personal code for you to use, please see a member of staff if you did not receive this. Once accessed, you can then log what pages your child has read and pupils also have the option to log what they have read by themselves (particularly KS2 pupils).

In addition to any books your child is reading from school, Go Read' has the option to add on their own personal books they are reading from home. We would love to see what books your child is interested in reading. Please note that when your child has finished a book, do not click the tab where it says complete book as this is just for teaching staff.

'Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things.'

As a reminder, our reading expectations are for all children to read at least 5 times a week at home. How regularly and how much pupils are reading will continued to be monitored by staff each week on the 'Go Read' app. It is recommended that: children read for at least twenty minutes a day; that they are listened to by an adult and that time is dedicated to discussing what has been read and any new vocabulary discovered. Pupils will also continue to be listened to read each week by members of staff and this will be logged on the app as well.

On Monday, we will be celebrating Roald Dahl's birthday and will be focussing on his wonderful book 'Matilda' across the school. Watch out for next week's newsletter with details of what we got up to!

If your child took part in the summer reading challenge then please let us know so that they can be recognised in school. Please can you also email us a photo of your child reading for pleasure in a location of their choice.

The Emmaus Directors have agreed that for the Autumn Term that children can wear P.E. Kit on their P.E. days. 

Please ensure that your child comes to school in their correct P.E. kit. The P.E. uniform is as follows:

• Black shorts, black leggings, black track suit bottoms (unbranded if possible)
• Maroon round neck T-shirt with embroidered badge
• P.E pumps or black trainers
• Bag to hold pumps, T-shirt and shorts.

PLEASE NOTE: P.E. HOODIES CAN ONLY BE WORN ON P.E. DAYS.

We are delighted to announce that swimming will be starting again this term from Tuesday 14th September. This will be for Year 4 and Year 6 at Holy Trinity School.

Your child will have received a letter today. Please can you ensure that the  consent form is completed and returned to school by Monday morning.

We are excited to announce that Miss Crumpler will be running a gardening club for children in Reception class, Year 1 and Year 2. 

The club will start on Tuesday the 21^st September.  

We will have fun learning how to weed, water and grow plants. 

This club is free and it will be every Tuesday lunchtime. 

A consent letter will be sent out next week for those who wish to register an interest.  

To register your interest please email the name of your child and their class to Miss Crumpler at: 

year2@st-ambrose.worcs.sch.uk 

Can we kindly ask that parents do not smoke or vape on school premises. This includes the car park area. Thank you for your continued support.

Father Lamb extends a warm welcome to all families to continue to attend Mass over the summer. Please click on the link below which will take you to the Parish website where you can view newsletters and get information on Mass times.

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

Kind Regards,

Mrs Brocklesby