A huge well done and thank you to our year 6 pupils who have completed their SATS tests, this week.  They have been absolutely fantastic and had a great attitude towards completing the tests.  Thank you also to our year 5 pupils who have relocated so sensibly and done some super, creative work, while the tests have been taking place. Well done, all!

Our reception children had a fantastic time at Experience Church, yesterday.  They did get caught in the rain on the way back but that didn’t dampen their spirits and they were full of excitement when they got back.  Well done and thank you for listening so carefully and showing such respect in our church.

I am very much looking forward to seeing you at the Family Festival, this afternoon.  Members of the HSA have been working incredibly hard to organise and set up what promises to be a great festival with lots to see and do.  Thank you to the year 6 pupils who have kindly volunteered their evenings to run games and stalls.

We are very excited for our school’s annual Ascension Day celebrations on Friday 22nd May. We will all be heading over to church for a service lead by our Worship Committee, in the morning.  We will then be doing some art work for a competition to help Bishop Hugh to decorate his new office, followed by the children celebrating their own and each others’ talents.  This is one of our favourite events in the school year and we are very much looking forward to what I am sure will be a great day.

Mr Bradley has asked me to pass on the following message to our school community –

I would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents and children who have sent me best wishes, cards and gifts on my retirement.  I have been overwhelmed by the kind messages and sentiments.  I look back on my career with pride, remembering the many good times and smiles on faces we generated.

Mr Bradley

Thank you to Father Chris, who led our Collective Worship, this week. With Ascension Day officially being on Thursday 14th May, Father Chris reminded us of what Ascension is a celebration of.  Ascension Day is also called the Feast of Ascension and it is the day that Christians celebrate Jesus’s ascent into heaven.  Father Chris reminded us of all of the good work that Jesus carried out during his time on earth, but that his ascent into heaven meant that God’s word could be spread further and wider.  Father Chris compared Jesus’s work on earth to a torch, shining light into darkness. However, once Jesus ascended into heaven, God’s message is like the torch shining on a disco ball – reflecting the light across the whole world.

We are very much looking forward to our own Ascension Day celebrations, on Friday 22nd May, when our Worship Committee will be leading us in a service at church and the children will demonstrate their skills and talents.

It has been a bit of a disjointed week, but as a staff, we have made the most of the time that we had in our INSET day,  thinking about behaviour in school.  Thank you to all of the parents who have contributed thoughts and ideas.  We have sought the opinions of the children, too, via our School Council and have had lots of productive conversations about behaviour in our classrooms, on our playgrounds and generally in our school.

With the warmer weather now upon us, please can children ensure that they bring a water bottle to school, with them. In addition, please could all uniform, most importantly jumpers and cardigans be labelled with your child’s name.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

This week, we have been celebrating David Attenborough’s 100th birthday.  We have been finding out about where his passion for conservation and wildlife came from and the significant impact that he has had on the behaviour of many.  We thought about how our own words and actions can be inspirational to others.

It was great to have so much to celebrate in praise assembly, this morning, including some incredible writing from our year 2 pupils.

Thank you very much to Open the Book, who hosted our assembly, on Monday. We enjoyed watching the team and some of our children acting out The Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:22-28).  We reflected on how the decisions that we make have an impact on others and the importance of making the right decision and sticking to it.

In Thursday’s assembly, we revisited the power of words and actions and how we can use them to inspire others. We thought about all of those who participated in the London Marathon and looked at some of the inspirational stories of those taking part. We thought about how brave some of the participants were and we were also in awe of the speed at which the winners managed to complete the course!

We have really enjoyed all the lovely weather, this week and lots of opportunities to be outside.

Hopefully, you will all have received a letter from our Chief Education Officer, Vickey Shelley regarding the consultation with parents of a potential merge of our trust, Elements, with another Diocese Multi – Academy Trust, DOWMAT.  We look forward to meeting with Vickey on Wednesday 20th May at 5pm, where she will give an over view of the potential merge and answer any questions that you may have.  Please do let the school office know, if you are able to attend.

We are very proud to be able to work closely with Wall Heath in Bloom and are very grateful for all of their hard work and commitment to keeping our community looking so vibrant and colourful.  They will be holding a plant sale on Saturday 2nd May, at 11am on the Co-op car park.  This morning, we spoke in assembly about how lucky we are to have such a lovely environment to live in and asked that the children do not walk along the raised, walled garden area, that runs alongside Wordsley Carpets.  Unfortunately, some of the plants have been trampled and had to be removed – your support with not allowing children to walk along the areas that plants and flowers are growing, is very much appreciated.  Many thanks.

I hope that you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 5th May.

It has been an incredibly busy week for us in school and a week of demonstrating the variety of skills and talents that our children have.

Well done to all of the children who participated in the Dudley Gymnastics Competition.  We had teams representing all of our year groups.  Mrs Clarke was incredibly proud of how brilliantly all of the children represented our school.  The teams returned to school with lots of medals to celebrate in today’s Celebration Assembly.

Huge thanks to 3N, who started our morning today with a brass concert.  The children played with great skill and confidence and it was a pleasure to see the progress that they have made, over the term. Thank you also to some of our older children who demonstrated their skill and talent in singing, violin, trumpet and euphonium.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

This week, we thought again about the core value of honesty and how this also links to our core value of forgiveness.  We  considered how Peter felt when he had betrayed Jesus and how the relationship between Peter and Jesus was restored through forgiveness.

In Thursday’s assembly we revisited our behaviour rules and the importance of using kind and respectful words. We learnt the acronym, THINK to remind us of the importance and power of the words that we use.  As a school, we have agreed to consider whether  what we are saying is:

True

Helpful

Inspiring

Necessary

Kind

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and it has been lovely to welcome the children back to school, this week.

You may have noticed that we had some work done on the school site, over the holidays and the peace garden has been resurfaced to make it accessible in all weathers.  Thank you very much to Greenscape for carrying out the work at a discounted cost and to the HSA for their fundraising that has allowed us to have the work carried out. It really has made a difference to our outside area and the children have very much enjoyed using the outdoor space.

Please could I remind families that communication with school should be sent to the info@chur-ascen.dudley.sch.uk rather than emailing teachers directly. This then allows us to ensure that any queries are passed on to the appropriate person and responded to as soon as possible.

As a reminder regarding PE Kits, children will continue to need pumps appropriate for indoor PE, this term. Our uniform policy is available in the parents’ area of the website.

Hopefully you will have all received a letter today regarding key dates for this term.  We endeavour to keep the calendar on the website up to date, too.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Honesty is our core value, this half term and this week we have been considering the saying, “honesty is the best policy”.  Our children gave some very thoughtful responses about why people sometimes lie.  We then thought about how Peter lied and denied knowing Jesus, 3 times.  We also considered that Peter lied because he was afraid and that Jesus understood this and showed compassion.

In Thursday’s assembly, we had a behaviour reset.  We reminded ourselves of the school’s 3 rules: use kind and respectful hands and feet; use kind and respectful words; be ready and responsible to learn.  We all reflected on how our behaviour impacts on others.