The Prophet Newsletter 13.3.20

Mission statement: As God’s family we nurture and inspire our children by broadening their horizons as they learn.

Through rich and varied experiences, we enable them to be a loving, caring, influence on our world.

School Values: Love, respect, forgiveness, courage, peace, hope

Catholic life

Saturday Mass 5.00 pm: Our Lady Star of the Sea

Sunday Mass 10.30 am: Our Lady Star of the Sea

Sunday Mass 9.00 am: St Nicholas Church

Thursday Mass 9.15-9.45am - St Nicholas Church- a different class attends each week - all welcome

Parish Priest: Fr Paul Chanh

Deacon: Stephen Pomeroy Tel: 01502 572453 Web: www.ourladylowestoft.com

Paper copy of Prophet Newsletter available from the School office.

Please pass on Newsletter information to Grandparents or any other interested adults.

Many thanks to PTA for our new Goal Posts

Thank you all so much for supporting the PTA and enabling

them to purchase such high quality Goal posts. They are so well

made, the children will enjoy using them for many years to

come. THANK YOU

Walk to School

We have launched our Walk to School Initiative to encourage children to be more active in their journey to

school. We have seen a great response and many children are well on their way to achieving their badges at

the end of the term! If you drive to school then perhaps you could park a little further away and walk the last

section of the journey? Mr Cross is even taking part- so be sure to look for his car further away from school!

ArtsMark Announcement

We are delighted to announce that St Mary’s has been awarded a Silver Level ArtsMark by the Arts Council! ArtsMark is an award for creative arts within schools. This is a very big achievement and something we will be celebrating along with other schools in our Multi Academy Trust who have been working towards an award.

St Mary’s has been working towards this for the past two years and has participated in projects at The Marina and Seagull Theatres, The Grit Project, Latitude Festival and currently Year 3 are working with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Looking ahead, we will be taking a more active role in the First Light Festival this summer and Miss Wharrier will be introducing an Arts Award project for children in Year 2 and Year 4 in the Summer Term.

To find out more about ArtsMark go to www.artsmark.org.uk and to find out more about Arts Awards go to www.artsaward.org.uk

More creative updates to follow!

Please note time changes to ensure children receiving the 4.30pm Sacrament of Reconciliation will have time to attend the Theatre project at 6pm

First Holy Communion Group 24th March 4.30pm First Reconciliation at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Lowestoft. Afterwards attend Marina Theatre project.

Y3 Fairy Queen Marina Theatre project 24th March 6.00pm evening performance.

World Book Day Thursday 5th March -The children and staff were delighted to welcome Alice Taylor - Lowestoft Mayor in her ceremonial dress, to celebrate World Book Day with us. We all enjoyed listening to our special guests read her poem ‘Because I Can Read’ the poem talked about all the things she can do because she can read, including composing her own poetry. Children also talked about their favourite stories and how they had been inspired by them. The children and staff dressed up as their favourite book character and activities took place in classes throughout the day to celebrate our love of reading and books.

Careers Week - Game of actual life - Children in year 5 enjoyed exploring careers this week, they had an action

packed, challenging day on Thursday engaging with great activities as they played out ‘The Game of Actual Life’

All of the children learnt a great deal about preparing now, for their future.

Part-time Secretarial Assistant vacancy M-Th 8.30am - 11.15am, 38 weeks per year. Application form and job description can be downloaded from www.stmarysrcps.com. Paper copies are available from the School Office.

Closing date: Monday 23rd March Interview date: Friday 27th March

Sporting Events this week On Wednesday 11th March a group of Year 5 and Year 6 girls took part in the 'This Girl Can' Event which took place at Waterlane Leisure Centre. The girls all represented our school with determination and pride and it was a pleasure to see how much they enjoyed their afternoon! Keep up the good work girls!

On Thursday 12th March, a group of children from Year 5 and Year 6 represented St Mary’s at a swimming gala which was held at Waterlane Leisure Centre. Our wonderful competitors performed magnificently achieving some fantastic results and narrowly missed out on bringing back a medal! Well done to all of our representatives- we are all so proud of you!

Promoting Reading - Special Awards from Monday 2nd March - We are introducing a reward system from Monday 2nd March to encourage children to read everyday. We need Parents to help us with this, by signing the home/school log or homework diary and writing the page number your child read to, each day. Badges will be awarded every half term to the regular readers - Further details about how the reward system will work, will be sent to parents. Many thanks for your help.

Reading Award Below is the % of children reading at home last week in each class. The reading trophy was presented to Year 2. Well done! YR Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 57% 76% 90% 77% 65% 40% 69%

Coronavirus - Update for parents Please see separate letter sent 13.3.20

A new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows: Phone: 0800 046 8687 Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk Parents Evening - Wisepay available from 9/3 for Y5/6 Parents to book appointments 3.00-5.00 pm 25/26 March (alternative appointments available by direct arrangement with Mrs Wright and Mrs Merriott). Parent survey will also take place. Thank you

Feed Waveney Community - Local charity providing hot food and all essentials. If you are interested in finding

out more about their work you can contact them on 07540 937 121

School Uniform - PE Kit Could you please ensure your child has black shorts, white T shirt and black plimsolls with their name on. The PE kit is sent home at the end of every term/half term for washing. PLEASE ENSURE ALL ITEMS OF UNIFORM ARE NAMED, SO THAT WE CAN RETURN THEM TO THE CHILD IF THEY LOSE THEM.

Equipment at School We supply pens, pencils, paper etc. Your child does not need to bring their own items to school. When they do bring items to school and they get lost, it becomes a problem. Please ensure your child leaves their own items at home. Thank you.

Improving Lining up procedure - Could parents leave the playground as soon as the bell is rung at 8.50am. When all parents have left and the gate is locked, we will check the children are lining up in the correct manner before they go into the school. Thank you

No Chewing gum in school please

JIGSAW APP - Have you downloaded the school app? We use the school app to send out lots of information including school news. Please download by:

1. Go to the app store/play store 2. Search for Jigsaw School App 3. Within the app look for St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School 4. Start using straight away and you will get notifications as soon as they become available.

After School Sports Clubs 3.30 - 4.30pm - Spaces available Sports clubs are now available to book on Wisepay, Monday - Cricket/Rounders, Tuesday - Dodgeball,

Wednesday - Indoor Hockey and Thursday - Gymnastics.

Safeguarding on the Internet -Could you please be very vigilant when your children are accessing the

internet. Some children are viewing Tik Tok and learning about how to play disturbing games that can cause

serious injury to others. There are also sexually explicit images on Tik Tok as well as the use of vulgar

language. No children at St. Mary's should be accessing Tik Tok. Thank you for your support

Please pay particular attention to inappropriate comments shared with others on ‘live’ games.

www.saferinternet.org

Online Safety - Please remind your children:

1. Only talk to people you know and trust in real life

2. Don't give away personal information to strangers - like what street you live on, or where you go to school.

Say "no" if they ask you to share photos or videos of yourself

3. Set your profiles to private

4. Be 'share aware' - once you share something online, you've got no control over what anyone else does with

it. And it's illegal to take, share or view sexual images of under-18s, full stop

5. Be mindful of your digital footprint - it could come back to bite you

6. If you see something upsetting, or someone bullies you, tell an adult you trust

7. Don't assume everything you see is true to life. People often make their lives look more exciting online

8. Watch out for hoaxes and scams, like messages you're asked to pass on or that as you for payment details or

passwords

9. Be wary of schemes that promise easy cash in return for you receiving and transferring money, and don't be

fooled by anything that glamorises gang lifestyles

10. Watch out for loot boxes or other ways that games get you to pay - before you know it you can spend a lot

on them.

No appointments during school hours please Children should not be out of school for medical appointments or other reasons during school hours. Please

arrange appointments for after 3.30pm. Very occasionally there may be no other option for an appointment,

other than during school hours, in which case, a ‘request for appointment during school hours’ form should

be completed prior to the appointment date and authorised by the Head in advance. Evidence of the

appointment will be asked for. Many thanks.

Attendance We aim to have over 95% attendance in each class. Last weeks attendance was: YR

YR Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6

96% 95.4% 95.73% 95.18% 93.83% 95.3% 95.33%

The class with the best attendance are so delighted when they are awarded the attendance cup for the week.

Morning Snack - Healthy eating Many thanks to the school council and to the parents who took part in the Healthy snack survey. As a result

morning snack Y3-Y6 fruit, vegetables or cereal bar only-Thank you

(YR-Y2 have fruit or veg morning snack supplied by the school)

Key dates: 2020

16.3.20-19.3.20 Year Six Mock SATs (mornings only).

25.3.20 and 26.3.20 Year Five and Six Parents Evenings 3-5pm (Book on Wisepay from 9.3.20)

26.3.20 9.15 am Y6 Mass at St Nicholas church followed by Key stage 2 confession - Lent reconciliation

30.3.20 1.00pm Class group photos

2.4.20 last day at school this term - 9.15am Whole school Mass in the hall - all welcome

3.4.20 - 17.4.20 Easter holiday

20.4.20 Children back in school

8.5.20 Bank holiday - Children not at school

11.5.20 Children back in school

11.5.20: KS2 SATs Monday-Friday mornings

22.5.20 last day at school this half term

25.5.20 - 29.5.20 half term holiday

1.6.20 Children back at school

1.7.20 and 2.7.20 Year Six production at Seagull Theatre 7pm

8.7.20 Year Six Leavers' Assembly 2.15pm.

17.7.20 last day at school this term (Yr6 Latitude trip).

3.9.20 Children back at school