This week in assembly, we revisited our Curriculum Drivers.  So far this year, we have looked at how we can be resilient, independent and aspirational in our learning and daily lives.  Our focus this half term, is aspiration.  We recalled our physical challenge on the inflatable assault course, at the beginning of the school year, which set the tone for a year of “Aspire for Higher”.  We reminded ourselves that even though that challenge was tough for some of us (and some of us got stuck on the ladders!), we showed the resilience and determination to complete the challenge.  This half term, we are focusing on being the best that we can be.  We talked about what this will look like in our classrooms and on our playgrounds.  Children came up with some excellent examples, and have reflected on it throughout the week. We have considered that Christians believe the Bible encourages believers to aspire towards our goals and dreams, emphasising trust in God and alignment with His will.​

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Happy new year!  I hope that you all had a lovely and fun filled Christmas.  After this week, I am sure that it feels like a distant memory for us all.

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school, this week.  I am very grateful for your support and patience as we have muddled through a week of such difficult weather.  We have worked hard to try to keep the site open for as much of the week as possible. This has meant that the children have had to spend more time indoors than usual.  The children have done us proud with their sensible and thoughtful behaviour.  Thank you to our year 6 Buddies, who have done a sterling job in keeping our younger children entertained during indoor lunchtimes.  I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at the photos of the snowmen that have been made, today.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week, when hopefully we will have less disruption!

This half term’s school value focus is ‘respect’.  We recalled what we learnt last term about self-respect and not being too hard on ourselves for mistakes that we make.  When we make mistakes in lessons, we talk about ‘my favourite mistake’ and what we can learn from it.  We also recalled what we learnt last term about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is put back together to make it stronger and more beautiful.  It was a good time to remind ourselves that Christians believe that we are all created in the image of God and are inherently valuable.

On Thursday, Mr Bradley carried out our Behaviour Reset assembly.  We reminded ourselves of our 3 simple, school rules – be ready and responsible to learn; use kind and respectful words; use kind and respectful feet.  The word ‘respect’ features heavily in our school rules so we considered what respectful behaviour and attitudes looks like in our daily lives.

This has been a week that has made me incredibly proud to be part of such a wonderful school community.  Key Stage 1 performed a wonderful play, The Innspectors and kept us all very entertained with their singing, dancing and comedy.  The play also reminded us of the true meaning of Christmas.  Our Key Stage 2 Carol Service was truly wonderful and allowed  calm and peaceful reflection during this very busy season.  Today, our Worship Leaders led a fabulous service for us, in church.  The service gave us a lovely reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.  Well done and thank you to all of our children, from reception to year 6, who have participated so well in our Christmas events over the last few weeks.  We thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the Dudley Performing Arts Christmas sing-a-long today, too.

We sadly say goodbye and good luck to Mrs Walley, today.  We are extremely grateful to Mrs Walley for her unrelenting service to the school.  The dedication and compassion that she has shown to our whole school community is very much appreciated and will be missed greatly.  We know that Mrs Walley will continue to thrive in her new role and we wish her all the very best at her new school.

On behalf all of the staff, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing you on the 5th January, in the new year.

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.