A very Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to school. I hope that you all enjoyed the holidays and are looking forward to the year ahead. The children have all settled back into their school routines very quickly and have been very well behaved. I look forward to your continued support throughout 2022.

Yesterday, we celebrated the visit of the Wise Men to the stable to honour Jesus. The word epiphany means a 'sudden realisation' and in this event the Wise Men have a sudden realisation that Jesus is God in human form.

The whole school celebrated by joining in with Mass virtually and with Year 5 representing the rest of the school in Church. Well done to Year 5 who participated so well and to the readers who read so beautifully. Father Lamb was also particularly impressed with Filip who read the biddings prayers so eloquently and Oscar and Olaf who helped serve on the altar from Year 6.

Thank you so much for joining in the fun and hosting your very own Rudolph Run at St Ambrose Catholic Primary School.  I’ve loved seeing all the photos and videos, You are all so fabulous!

This half term, we are focusing on the virtues: Curious and Active. We are growing to be curious about everything; and active in our engagement with the world, changing what we can for the better. Miss Holtom introduced these virtues to us in assembly on Wednesday and in our classes our first piece of work this year was based on them. At the end of the half term, we will vote for who we have been demonstrating these virtues consistently and they will be rewarded with a special certificate.

Year 2 have had a great start back to school after Christmas. This term our new PE topic is yoga. Today the children really enjoyed Yoga. Can you guess which move was the seaweed move and which move was called the seal?

Year 6 were challenged to work in small groups to write their own hymns about Christ coming into the world. Take a look at the examples below:

O Come, O Come, Prince of Peace

O Come, O Come, Prince of Peace
And fill us with your love,
Forgive our trespasses
Grant us peace, O Lord.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! O Prince of Peace
For he has come to save us.

O Come, O Come, Wisdom of God
Help us to understand your greatness
Make us your humble servant
Grant us peace, O Lord.

O Come, O Come, Son of the Father
You are the shepherd, and we are your flock
Free us from sin, O Holy Lord
Grant us peace, O Lord.

Lawrence, Ted, Charlie & Oscar S

O Come, O Come, Prince of Peace

O Come, O Come, Prince of Peace,
Shine your heavenly light,
Across the dark night,
Save us from the darkness,
The darkness of sin.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Prince of Peace
Give us the world that was made for thee

O Come, O Come, our Holy Saviour
Guide us through the life,
The life without end.
Save us from the darkness
By giving thy brightness.

O Come, O Come, O Heavenly King
Help us give the poor what they need
Help us save the world from greed
Help us spread the love we gather
While we spread all our laughter.

Jayden, Ethan & Ricky

Please see the job advert below. Home Instead are a company that offer care work and are recruiting a number of people in the new year. They offer flexible hours that can fit in with school.

On Monday morning, we will be celebrating children from each class who have followed our Catholic Mission: 'we do our best by following Jesus' in our Celebration assembly. The children receiving a certificate are:

This term, Father Lamb has kindly offered to celebrate Mass in school with our pupils. These will be special Masses where he will go through each part of the Mass with the children and answer any questions they have about it. This will enable all pupils to show the virtues of being curious and active and will be a wonderful opportunity for them. Unfortunately due to current COVID guidance parents/carers will not be able to attend Mass in school.

Please see the assembly dates below for this year:

Here are the January – March 2022 New Family Learning Courses that are being delivered by Worcestershire County Council. The courses start at the end of January so please book a place quickly as they do fill up.

Parents and carers living in Worcestershire can attend any course below for FREE with the following eligibility:

• FREE if they are unemployed and on benefits or they earn less than £17,000 per year.
• FREE if their child receives a Free School Meal or is known to their school SENCo.
• FREE if any of these courses would improve their health and wellbeing.  

All Family Learning courses can be found at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/courses and you will need to book your places online ASAP before the end of January in order to enrol with time to start each course.

Family Learning January 2022 Courses:

Cook with your Family for Parents and Children Sundays 3.30pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/CookWithFamily

Maths in Early Years for Parents Wednesdays 1pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/MagnificentMaths

Phonics in the Early Years for Parents Wednesdays 10am online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/PhonicsEarlyYears

SEND – Managing Mindfulness Tuesdays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/ManagingMindfulnessSEND

SEND – Strategies for Positive Behaviour Tuesdays 6pm in Fairfield Centre, Warndon Worcester

https://rebrand.ly/SEND-PositiveBehaviour

Maths in Key Stage 2 & 3 for Parents Mondays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/MathsSecondarySchool-FL

English in Key Stage 2 & 3 for Parents Tuesdays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/EnglishKeyStage2and3

Family Wellness Course for parents and carers Mondays 10am online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/FamilyWellness

Communicating with Deaf or Hearing-Impaired People Mondays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/CommunicatingWithDeaforHearingImpaired

Art for your Child – Ideas for Parents Thursdays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/ArtForYourChild

Art for Parents and Carers Thursdays 1pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/ArtforParentsandCarers

Art in Key Stage 1 and 2 for Parents Thursdays 11am online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/ArtKs1and2forParents

SEND – Understanding Dyslexia Mondays 7pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/UnderstandingDyslexia

English & Maths in Key Stage 1 for Parents Wednesdays 1pm online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/FL-EnglishandMathsKeyStage1

Cooking Creatively Tuesdays 10am online via Teams

https://rebrand.ly/CookingCreatively 

Please Book your place online at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/courses or ring 01905-728537 for support in booking on.

All courses are FREE if:

You earn Less than £17,000 per year

You are unemployed and on benefits

Your child is known to the school SENCo

Your child receives Free School Meals

Your Health and Wellbeing would be improved by taking a course

If you have a child that was born between 1st September 2017 and 31st August 2018 you need to now make an application for a reception school place for September 2022.

The deadline for the application process is 15th January 2022 and you are encouraged to do this online.

If you require any assistance with your application then please speak to the school office in the first instance.

Swimming for Years 3 and 5 will start on Tuesday. Please make sure that you have completed and returned the consent form as without this your child will not be able to partake in this activity.

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 trainer

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

Father Lamb extends a warm welcome to all families to continue to attend Mass. 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