The Chronicle

Dear Parents

Welcome to this week’s Chronicle, the last edition for this term.  You will probably agree that this has been another full week encompassing the spiritual life of the school, along with learning, music and drama, sport and testing.  The unusual weather has also been a topic of discussion in classes this week, as children took part in ‘cold’ cross-country races and played outside in the snow flurries.

Father Kevin has visited school three times this week: on Monday for the Junior 3, 4, 5 and 6 Reconciliation, on Wednesday for the Junior 5 Easter production and yesterday, when Junior 6 took part in the Stations of the Cross.  I am incredibly grateful to Father Kevin for giving his time to school and guiding our pupils on their spiritual journey.  My thanks are also extended to Mrs Simmonds and Mrs Horan who have helped on both of these occasions.  My thanks are also extended to Father David, who was also here for Reconciliation on Monday.

Wednesday was the busiest of days, with an inter-school cross country challenge on our school field and Junior 5 performing ‘Three Trees’ to families at the end of the school day.  Children from local primary schools were invited to take part in the cross country and, despite the cold weather, the afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed and well supported.  Staff and children work incredibly hard preparing, rehearsing and training for events such as these and I would like to thank everyone involved, particularly the sports, music and drama departments.  There are some wonderful photographs of both events which were captured by Mrs Stephenson from Princethorpe College which you will be able see later in this edition.

During assembly this morning we were able to enjoy a super performance from Lily in Junior 6 and celebrate handing out certificates to our Stars of the Week: Sebastian, Ciara, Ted, Xanthe, Remy, Thea, Charlotte, Daiya, Sara, Jenson, Sebastian, Andrew, Rosie, Theo, Leo and Jack.  There was a ‘bumper collection’ of Junior Da Vinci’s today, acknowledging the exceptional work of our Reception, Junior 1 and Junior 2 pupils.  Silver Merit Awards were presented to Ciara, Ella, Grace, Ted, Oscar and Jovan; all of J2B, Katie and Elliot achieved their Bronze Award today too.  Congratulations to everyone who has received a certificate or award and I look forward to seeing your continued efforts next term.

I was delighted to see so many families in school this morning for our Celebration Assembly and that parents had also used the school field for parking which, in turn, alleviates congestion in the residential area.  If you are visiting school for a performance, assembly or a meeting, may I respectfully ask that you either report to the main reception area and register your attendance or stay within the Hall and Gables area.  This is to ensure we can maintain our health and safety policies.

Term will end on Tuesday, 5 April and holiday club will then open on Wednesday between 8.30am and 5.00pm.  At present, there has not been sufficient take up from families to operate on every day and will therefore need to cancel any bookings made for Monday 11 to Thursday 14 April.  If you have made a booking for this day, you will be emailed on Monday to confirm the cancellation.  Holiday club will operate between 19 and 22 April.

Next week will be a short week for the children and we will be starting the week with a non-uniform day on Monday.  There will not be a theme or cost attached to this day.  On Tuesday we will celebrate Holy Mass for Key Stage 2 and children will also be able to have their end of term assemblies and class celebrations during the afternoon.  Sadly, on Tuesday, we will be saying farewell and good luck to Mrs Chauhan (Miss Anupa) who works in Little Crackers Nursery.  Mrs Chauhan has worked in Little Crackers for 10 years and will be greatly missed by staff and children alike.  We wish her the very best in her new role.  We also say farewell well to Mrs Rai who has worked on a part-time basis in Junior 4 for a few months and we wish her well for the future.

We keep our Muslim families in our thoughts and prayers as they begin their Ramadan journey this weekend and think of one particular family who have just begun their pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca.

As we prepare for the most important week in the Christian calendar, Holy Week, we continue to consider others in prayer and financial giving, as well as reflect on our own lives and spiritual journeys as we look to ‘say sorry’ to God and to continue to strive to be better human beings. Following Holy Week, we celebrate Easter and I would like to wish you all a wonderful Easter, when it arrives.  I hope that you are all able to have some relaxing family time together over the holiday period.

Thank you to all our families for their support over a busy term, well done to the pupils for their hard work and involvement in school life, and a big ‘thank you’ to all my super staff for their tremendous efforts over the term. Pupils and staff all certainly deserve a very well-earned rest.

God bless,

Mr Duigan