Thank you so much to our reception pupils and staff for starting our week in such a spectacular way.  The performances of the Wriggly Nativity were outstanding and very much enjoyed by all who attended.

We also enjoyed Christmas jumper day, this week.  Thank you to the AIP staff who gave us such a lovely Christmas lunch.

We hope that those who were able to attend, enjoyed the Christmas Fayre, on Friday evening.  Despite the awful weather, there was a really lovely atmosphere.  The grotto was truly magical!  Thank you to our HSA who worked so hard to put the event together and raise such valuable funds for school.

We look forward to the KS1 performances on Monday and Tuesday of next week, starting at 2pm.  As the performances will end close to the end of the school day, we will not be releasing the children early at the end of performances.  Parents who attend the productions are welcome to wait in the hall until the appropriate time to collect the children.  KS2 carol concerts are also taking place next week, on Thursday at 9:30am and 2pm.  Again, children will leave school at the usual time.  We are very grateful for your support in ensuring safety by not exceeding the ticket numbers of each performance.

During the afternoon of Wednesday 17th December, we will be holding our class Christmas parties.  Children are welcome to wear their party clothes for the day.  School are providing drinks and snacks.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

We are very much looking forward to seeing those of you who are able to attend our Christmas Fayre, later on today, from 5 until 7pm.  School is already looking magical!

Christmas lunch will be taking place on Wednesday 10th December.  As is tradition at Church of the Ascension, pupils can wear their Christmas jumpers with their school uniforms, on this day.  The following Wednesday afternoon, 17th December, it will be our Christmas party days so children may wear their party clothes to school for the day.

We have been notified this week that we raised over £450 for the British Legion through our Poppy Appeal.  We are very proud to have raised such a significant amount of money and been able to contribute to the overall amount for our community.  Many thanks for all of your support and a special thanks to the year 5 and 6 pupils who gave up their playtimes to sell the poppies.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

This week, we lit our second advent candle.  While lighting the second candle, we thought about the faith that Mary and Joseph had to have on their journey to Bethlehem.  We also considered the faith that the shepherds showed on their own journey.  Our reflection this week has focused on what faith means to Christians and what faith means to us as individuals and as a community.  We started to think about the peace that the birth of Jesus represents to Christians and how in such a busy season, and a month of chocolate calendars and naughty elves, it is important to find some time for peace and faith.

Heavenly Father, you sent your messengers to tell of the birth of your Son so that people might believe in Him. ​

As we draw near to Christmas, wrap us in Your perfect love. ​

Help us to love others with patience, kindness, and grace, just as You have loved us. ​

May our lives reflect the heart of Christ. ​

Amen.

It has been another great week in school.  I am so impressed by our children braving the cold and having such a great time, in Forest School. Thank you to our gardening group who are doing such a good job on our school site.

Thank you for the responses to the parent questionnaire, regarding the new start of the day arrangements.  The responses have been predominantly positive and we are grateful for the contributions and suggestions.

We are very much looking forward to our Christmas Family Event, next Friday.  There is a lot to join in with and we look forward to seeing those of you who are able to join us.  Thank you to the HSA for all of your hard work in organising what promises to be great evening.  For safety reasons, please ensure that your children remain with you, under your supervision, while attending the event.

Well done to the children that participated in the Sports Hall Athletics.  You represented the school brilliantly and came 3rd out of 12 schools participating.  I am very proud of your efforts and thank you for being such positive ambassadors for the school.

Father Chris led our termly Eucharist, this week.  It was a lovely service and it was great to welcome members of the church community, to take communion with us.  Father Chris explained all of the elements of the service.  Children listened very carefully and responded thoughtfully.  Thank you to our Worship Leaders who led us in prayers and contributed so positively with the service.

What a busy week we’ve had at Church of Ascension Primary School! Our Year 2 students had a meaningful experience visiting the church to Experience Advent, which I’m sure will have been both educational and spiritually enriching. Feedback from the church community who led the experience for us were very impressed by our children’s engagement and responses – well done, year 2!  I’m particularly proud of our girls’ football team, who represented our school magnificently during their recent matches.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our non-uniform day and made generous donations for the Christmas Fayre. Your continued support makes such a difference to our school community. We’ve also enjoyed fantastic school discos this week, which brought so much excitement to our students!  It also raised very much appreciated funds for the school.  These events are always a highlight in our school calendar.

I would also like to share an important staffing update. Mrs Walley, who is a very valuable and long-serving member of our team will be leaving at Christmas, to pursue further career opportunities and personal interests at another school. While we will miss her significant and hugely valuable contributions to school life at Church of the Ascension, we wish Mrs Walley every success in her future endeavours.

While I am aware that we are a little early, this week we began our focus on Advent.  We thought about how we feel when we are made to feel welcome and how we know that we are welcome somewhere.  Children gave some very thoughtful responses about a time when they have been made to feel welcome.  We thought about how we are getting ready for a very special time, both in and out of school.  For Christians, this is a particularly important time and we thought about the significance of Mary welcoming the news from the angel Gabriel that she would be having a very special baby.  Lighting our advent candle, while we held Mary in our thoughts, is always a special occasion for us, at Church of the Ascension and I am very grateful to the children for their sensible and thoughtful reflections.

Next week, will be our termly Eucharist Service.  Members of the church community are very welcome to join us, in taking communion, at school.

Well done to all of our children who have been so sensible and helpful on such a wet and windy day!

It has been a very busy week, with children representing the school in football and gymnastics.  As always, the children represented our school brilliantly  – thank you to all of those who took part.

It was a privilege to be invited to lay the wreath at the Wall Heath Cenotaph, on Sunday.  I was so proud to see so many of our children there in their uniforms to participate in the parade.

Staff and pupil feedback to the change to the start of the day arrangements has been positive.  Please ensure that you are still supervising children in reception and years 1 to 4 into the school grounds and to the relevant doors.  The prompt start to school day at 0850 provides very valuable learning time, in the classrooms.  It has provided us with time to practise maths fluency as well as spellings. Your assistance with ensuring that your child is in school on time, is very much appreciated so that they do not miss this valuable learning time.

We look forward to next week, when we have non-uniform day and school discos to look forward to!

Our thanks to Father Chris who led our act of worship, this week. Father Chris taught us a new hymn, which he led us in with his electric guitar.  We then learnt about Joseph, The Dreamer.   We thought about Joseph’s capacity to forgive his brothers and how he was able to show the value of generosity, despite having been treated so badly, by them.  Father Chris asked us to reflect on the story throughout the week, and think about how we can show patience, forgiveness and generosity in our thoughts, words and actions.