Head Teacher’s Update
At the end of what has been a fantastic term, we have had another busy week! I very much enjoyed a visit to the farm, with our reception children. We had a great day in the sunshine, learning about farm life and seeing all the baby animals. Our reception children had a great time and were a pleasure to spend the day with.
Well done to our Year 4 tri-golf team who took part in a competition this week. Thank you for representing our school so well. Well done also to our netball team for your incredible win, this week!
Thank you all for your continuing support with managing rubbish and recycling in school. Our children are being very responsible and resourceful in supporting school with its recycling commitment.
A date for your diaries – we have had to change the date of the Key Stage 2 Sports Day due to clashing commitments. It will now take place for Key Stage 2 pupils on Tuesday 24th June. Key Stage 1 Sports Day remains on Tuesday 1st July.
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter! I very much look forward to seeing the children on Monday 28th April, and hearing all about the Easter egg hunts!
Collective worship
Easter – a very special time
This week, we have considered Easter Traditions. We have looked at traditions from around the world and also thought about our own, family traditions. Lots of children enjoyed telling us about Easter egg hunts!
Easter is a very special time for Christians and we very much enjoyed the Easter Services led by our Worship Leaders, today at church. They reminded us of the symbol of the cross and everything that it represents to Christians. They also reminded us of Easter as being a time of forgiveness and new beginnings. Thank you to our Worship Leaders for such an inspiring and thought provoking service.
School Meal Price Increase
Thursday 10th April 2025
Dear Family
Following many discussions between the Trust and AIP, we are writing to inform you of an upcoming change to school meal prices after the Easter holidays. Starting from Monday, 28th April, the cost of a school meal will increase to £2.65.
This adjustment reflects increases in National Insurance and the minimum wage, which have impacted overall costs. We understand the challenges that family budgets face and have worked hard to keep this increase as minimal as possible while continuing to provide nutritious and high-quality meals for our children. To further support this, we have used feedback from parents, carers and children and collaborated closely with AiP to design new menus that we hope will appeal to children’s tastes while meeting national nutritional standards. These menus are available to view on the school website and we hope you will have a look at them with your child.
We would also like to remind you that all children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 are entitled to a daily school meal, free of charge, under the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme. We strongly encourage parents of children in these year groups to take advantage of this provision. There is no requirement to register, simply book a meal using the school meal ordering system.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Yours sincerely
Mrs L Mason
New Lunch Menus
Please see the new menus below which will be available after Easter:-
Friends of Dudley Performing Arts Tesco Vote
Exciting News!!
We need your help – vote for
Friends of Dudley Performing Arts at Tesco.
The Friends of Dudley Performing Arts are one of the chosen charities for ‘Tesco Stronger Starts’ from now till the end of June.
To vote, you will need to make a purchase within a Tesco store of any value, and you will receive one token per transaction. Please then pop your token in the Friends of DPA section of the voting unit near the exit of the store.
The stores taking part are as follows –
Lye Top Bell Express DY9 8AS
Oldswinford Express DY8 1RD
Stourbridge Crown Centre Extra DY8 1YD
Stourbridge Audnam Express DY8 4YR
The project with the highest number of votes across the region will receive up to £1,500. Let’s make the Friends of DPA the winners of the public vote so the funds will go into providing music opportunities for children in the Dudley borough.
So please help support us next time you visit Tescos!!
Holy Week and Easter Services
The following services are taking place at Church of the Ascension during Holy Week and Easter:
13th April: 10:30am – Palm Sunday
Eucharist starting at St. Andrew’s URC and processing to Church of the Ascension
14th April: 5pm – Evening prayer with reflection; 5:30pm – Eucharist
15th April: 5pm – Evening prayer with reflection
16th April: 10am – Eucharist; 5pm – Evening prayer with reflection
Maundy Thursday: 7:30pm – Eucharist of the Lord’s Supper, followed by The Watch until 10pm
Good Friday: 10am – Soul Food
2pm – The Liturgy of the Cross including Holy Communion
Easter Saturday: 7:30pm – Easter Vigil and Eucharist of the Lord’s Resurrection
Easter Sunday: 10am – Eucharist
4C Self Portraits
In years 3 and 4, we have been looking at Hans Holbein for our art topic this half term. Did you know he was known as the camera man of Tudor times? We even had a go at painting our very own self portraits using water colours. See our fantastic work below!
3N Brass Concert
3N have been working really hard with Mrs Tobin to play either the trumpet, euphonium or cornet. We enjoyed learning to play, read music and understand musical vocabulary. Today, we were really excited to share our pieces with parents and family members and we hope you all enjoyed our concert.
Design and Technology
Timber Houses
In DT children have talked about and made a house that looks like those in London a long ago. They have explored simple hinge mechanisms for a door and understand which tools they need to make their product. Have a look at our creations below…
Henry VIII visit
In years 3 and 4, we have been learning about significant British monarchs in our history topic this half term. We were lucky enough to have a visit from the brilliant King Henry VIII.
We had a fun filled day. We learnt about: how Henry VIII became king, his six wives and what happened to them, what it was like to live in the Tudor times and Tudor sports (jousting and foot wrestling).
Here are some pictures of our day:
Experience Easter for Reception led by Worship Leaders
A huge well done to our Worship Leaders in Years 5 and 6 for planning and organising an Easter Experience for our youngest children in Reception. Each group told a part of the Easter story and planned some very creative activities including coin rubbing, plasticine and play people, sticks and even pin the tail on the donkey! Thank you so much to Reception who were so attentive and willing to try everything. As always, thank you also to Sian, Father Chris and Mother Sarah at Church of Ascension for their time, guidance and enthusiasm!
Flying High Gymnastics Competition
15 children from KS1 took part in a local gymnastics competition last week. As a school we entered 3 teams: Beginners, Intermediates and Active. All children representing the school made us extremely proud and behaved impeccable. We are delighted to inform you that each team has been placed into the finals, which will take place in June.
Beginners
This team placed 1st in their group with Lyla placing 1st as the best gymnast amongst all teams competing, and Ava and Olivia being joint 2nd individuals and Tilly being 3rd.
Intermediate
Our intermediate team competed really well and placed second in their group.
Active
This team came 1st in their group with Ivy placing 3rd best gymnast, Keira placing 2nd and Arabella placing 1st.
We are so proud of the medals and trophies that the children have all achieved!
Easter Church Service
What a lovely way to end our Spring term! Thank you Worship Leaders for creating, writing and delivering another wonderful service for us in church today. Happy Easter everyone!
Cross Country Success, 2025
Our cross country runners competed at Summerhill in March. Our teams performed brilliantly to finish 5th overall, with our girls finishing 3rd.
Individually, Isla stole the show, winning the raceway ahead of the field of over 100 runners…what a wonderful effort!
Tri-golf in the sun!
Some of our Year 4s enjoyed an afternoon of sun, drives and putts at our Tri-golf event at Ellowes Hall Secondary School. Rory McIlroy beware…we will be after you in a few years time!