Summer Term News!

As we are nearing the end of the Summer Term there are many things to inform you of which will be happening over the next few weeks...

Fond Farewell to Mrs Chandler

Our Lady's is so upset to be saying goodbye to Mrs Chandler, our Year 3 teacher at the end of this academic year. Although she was with us for only 12 months, Mrs Chandler has become a wonderful part of Our Lady's community and we will be so sorry to see her go. However, Mrs Chandler has an exciting new venture which, although taking her away from the classroom, may well lead to some very exciting adventures in the future - so with a heavy heart we wish her every success in the future. We hope you come back and see us very soon!

From September we have appointed a new teacher - Miss Heim-Sarac. She will be joining us in Year 3. She has met the children already, but will be coming to spend an afternoon with Year 2 on Thursday this week. I'm sure Year 2 parents will be able to meet her and welcome her then.

Up and Coming Events...

There are so many events and activities coming up in the next few weeks including Sports Day (July 4), Music Evening (July 6), 100% attendance party (July 11), Leavers Mass (July 21)  to name but a few - check out these and more on our 'Dates' section of the website for more information. Also we will send texts closer to each event.

Stranger Danger

Just a word of warning as we know there are many children now walking home alone after school due to the great weather - however, always be aware (especially when you are with your friends!) that you should always be vigilant, keep those eyes and ears open, as we want to make sure you keep yourselves safe when you are out and about. Remember not to 'dawdle' and not to talk to people you do not know. Always be sensible and listen to parents advice! We want everyone to have a safe and happy summer!

Congratulations Clifton House!

A huge well done to everyone from Clifton House as your house won the housepoints trophy and therefore won a treat- to come in your own clothes tomorrow (Friday 9th June).

This means that everyone from Clifton House (from Year 1 - Year 6) does not have to pay to come to school in your own clothes tomorrow! This is due to all the points you earned for your houseteam by working hard in class, great manners, teamwork etc.

We look forward to which team will win before the end of the year???? Good Luck everyone!

NB: this does not apply to current Reception Class who have not yet been assigned to a particular house. You will come in school uniform as normal.

First Communion

Congratulations to our children who made their Sacrament of First Holy Communion for the first time this weekend.

Our Lady of the Assumption Church was full of happy and excited families all there to celebrate this wonderful event with the children.

Fr Burns has a link to the children who took part this year on the Church Website. (You can find the link on the left)

The children and their families are also invited to mass at 10.30am this coming Sunday when the Parish will be holding their May Procession. This will be another opportunity for the children to attend mass in their beautiful communion outfits and receive the Eucharist again. This is a wonderful opportunity to develop their faith and understanding of Jesus better. The more often the children attend mass, the more they will grow to understand this wonderful sacrament.

Happy Easter

Easter is such a wonderful time of year! Not only is it the time when the seasons do begin to change (thank goodness for the light mornings again!) but through the death and resurrection of Christ - hope has returned. The angel’s message is one which brings wonder, joy, awe and fear. However, far from being debilitating, this fear energises. The women at the tomb are commanded not to be afraid but to go quickly and tell the disciples. The emphasis here is on the word ‘quickly’. Do not hesitate in bringing this great news to others: Jesus Christ is Risen!

I wonder how quickly we will be able to spread this message..? Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for life to 'take over' and the beauty of this wonderful season to be lost. Let us pray that this year we can hold on to the miracle of Jesus' resurrection through our thoughts and actions towards others!

As we begin this Summer Term, it is hard to believe that two thirds of our school year are now over... the coming term brings us the chance to build upon all we have learned and to get ready for the new opportunities and possibilities ahead of us. This term our Y6 children will take their SATs tests and then undertake a residential visit to Waterparks. They will also have their 'Moving Up' day when they visit their secondary schools.  Many of our Y3 children will make their First Holy Communion and the class will be celebrating with other Y3 classes from Blackpool Catholic Schools as we celebrate an open air mass at St Mary's on the feast of Corpus Christi.   We will have a visit in June from the Life Education Bus, be auditioning for a 'Pop Idol' for this year as well as enjoying our celebrations of all our successes through the year. (See dates section for these in detail)

As you will have heard in the news, many schools are facing severe budget cuts this year and I'm afraid Our Lady's is among those experiencing a loss to our overall budget amounts this year. Although this may not adversely affect us this new financial year, we may have to face changes in the future. This may mean that things such as payments for music lessons etc will have to be paid in advance for the term/half-term, as no arrears in payments will be able to be managed by school/no subsidies for trips will be able to be paid for etc.  We will of course let families know of any changes in advance.

We have some new sports clubs beginning this term - a 'track & field' club for Y2 & Y3 and a cricket club for Y4 & Y5. We look forward to being able to take some children to events at Blackpool Youth Sports week at Stanley Park later in the year.

Again if I could remind parents about the front car park... we cannot allow for parents to be driving here to drop children off for clubs etc. This car park is for staff and deliveries only. If your child is coming to a club then they can come into the normal playground and the door to the hall will be open there to meet their coach in the morning. The gates to the car park will be closed with access only for staff in morning. I'm sure you will support us in this as we try to ensure safety and clear access for everyone.

I wish you all a very Happy Easter Season as we move towards Pentecost and the end of the school year. I know the children will be ready for the term ahead and we look forward to working with them in this term to help them achieve all they can. 

Thank you for all your support.

Our Lenten Journey continues....

We are now over half way through Lent 2017 (I don't know where the time goes???) and of course this weekend we are not only celebrating Mothers Day but also (unfortunately) losing an hour of sleep as the clocks go forward on Sunday. This, as we know, signifies the change into Spring - and it really does seem like Spring, with the beautiful weather over the past few days!

In school the children have all made their Lent promises and we are trying together to use this Lent as a time to reflect and hopefully 'change' the actions (habits) which lead us away from God. Last week many of our Year 3 children celebrated their first Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) at Our Lady's Church as they reflected on the actions & words which had led them to upset others and through this wonderful sacrament they were able to build their relationship with God and with others and take a further step towards their next sacrament of First Holy Communion: We wish them all every prayer and blessing.

It is also a time for us to stop and think about our journey to Easter...  many of the staff and children are thinking about the 'Little Extra's' they can do during Lent: one member of staff when thinking about the terrible events currently, stated that she was thinking about the people around the world who were suffering and so she would try to go to an extra mass and offer this for all who were suffering at this time.  What a lovely thing to do!  Fortunately we are currently holding our 'Lent Challenge Mass' each Friday in our school hall at 8.15am. We only have a couple of weeks left - so please, if you would like to do something extra yourself this Lent, come along and join us! (We also have tea and toast afterwards - so it's a nice chance to have a chat with other parents and parish too!)

Lent Acts of Worship

Before we break up for Easter we will also be thinking about the last journey of Jesus as he travelled to Jerusalem and was met by the crowds on Palm Sunday and then after celebrating his last supper with his disciples was arrested and gave his life for us all. As we usually do in school, we will remember Christ's journey by remembering that first Palm Sunday - done by our Key Stage 1 pupils at church on Monday 3rd April.

Then our Key Stage 2 classes each reflect on the next part of Jesus' journey each morning at an assembly, beginning with Y3 who depict the Last Supper, then Year 4 who describe Jesus being arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane. Year 5 then lead us in a sorrowful reflection of Jesus' crucifixion and finally Year 6 show us the beauty of the Resurrection.

Easter Raffle

Many, many thanks for all your donations of Easter Eggs and gifts for our Easter Raffle. Their will be a letter coming out this week with a strip of raffle tickets for every child. If you want to buy a ticket they will cost 20p each (£1 a strip) and if your child wants to buy any more, the Year 6 pupils will kindly come to each class every break time (beginning on Wednesday this week) and will be available to sell further raffle tickets for anyone who wants them. The Big Raffle will be held on the last day of term when the whole school will be in the hall for the 'grand draw'. Well done everyone and thank you for your generosity - The proceeds from the raffle will be used to  extend our library and class reading area (in every room) by purchasing more exciting books for the whole school.

Choir of the Year

A huge 'Well Done' to our amazing 'SINGING SENSATIONS', who performed wonderfully at the 'Choir of the Year' event held at the Tower Ballroom. It was an incredible venue and an incredible evening of truly brilliant performances from primary schoolchildren from across Blackpool schools. Our Lady's children made us all so proud and I was delighted to hear positive comments from organisers of the event telling me how well behaved and polite our children were. Thank you to everyone and special thanks to Mrs Bird who works hard to rehearse with our choir each week. You are all special stars!

School Parking

I want to ask you for your help if you drive your children to and from school. Our school is located in a residential area on a very busy road and some of our neighbours (and parents) have contacted school a number of times to talk to us about parking along the road and in particular outside their properties.

Despite residents telling me they are being insulted when asking people not to park, they are keen to resolve this situation amicably and, like us, they do not want to be left with no alternative but to take more direct action for which they are fully entitled to.

I am very aware that the vast majority of you respect the rights of our local residents and thank you for your support in this matter, however there are still some people who do not.

We do have the church car park available to drop students off, but I do realise that for many of you, drop off is part of your journey to work and this needs to happen as smoothly, and as quickly as possible. Can I please ask though, that care is taken when pulling over, so that driveways and access to properties are not blocked. Also, in the church car park, can you please show respect for other users of this space too. In fact the same courtesy we would expect of the pupils within class. You would not appreciate someone using your private property for their own needs. Please do not do the same.  Please help us to be a school within a harmonious community.

I would also ask those parents who are using the staff car park when dropping off or collecting their children from school to refrain from doing so. I must remind parents that the school car park is private property and only employees are permitted to use it as they are the only ones that are covered by School Insurance. We must ensure the safety of our children and also the easy access to our school for both staff and deliveries, and it is therefore necessary for us to restrict the amount of vehicular access to the school grounds. Should you require emergency vehicular access at anytime (ie to collect a sick child,)  then arrangements can be made with the school office. 

We realise that everyone wants to save time, but please can we ask that you DO NOT use the staff car park either in a morning or after school.  Many thanks in anticipation of your co-operation in this matter.

March News!

YOUNG SEASIDERS

Many of our children's pieces of artwork are now on display at the annual 'Young Seasider's' exhibition at Blackpool and Fylde University Centre on Park Road Blackpool.

This is a great celebration of artwork from all Blackpool primary and secondary schools across Blackpool, with the prizewinners receiving their certificates at the Blackpool Tower Circus! 

Well done to everyone who has had their work displayed.

EASTER EGG RAFFLE

Our PTA will be holding an Easter Egg Raffle on the last day of term.  School will have an 'Own Clothes Day' on Friday 24th March. There is no cost - but everyone is asked to bring in an Easter Egg (or an Easter themed prize) for the raffle. The tickets will then go on sale the following week. Year 6 children will sell the tickets in each class at break times each day during the week.

Hopefully everyone will buy lots of tickets and be able to win an Easter Egg before we break up! The funds raised will go towards funds for extra books for our library & reading areas in class!

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The RSC performing Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in our school!!!

We are so excited and privileged to have the Royal Shakespeare Company coming to perform "First Encounters: The Tempest" in our very own school hall on Tuesday 28th February. They will perform during the day for Years 4, 5 and 6 who will be studying the Tempest this half term, but there is also the opportunity to come and see it in the evening at 7pm.   If you do not have your ticket yet, then log on to the Grand Theatre website where you can purchase a ticket for £6.50 (All tickets must be purchased through the Grand Theatre). This is a once in a life time opportunity to see the RSC up close and personal, so don't miss out!

Photos by Elle de Burgh

Darren Raymond (Prospero)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Laura Cairns (Trincula)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Darren Raymond (Prospero)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Sarah Kameela Impey (Ariel)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Matthew McPherson (Caliban)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

l-r, Elly Condron (Miranda) and Oliver Towse (Ferdinand)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Sarah Kameela Impey (Ariel)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

l-r, Caleb Frederick (Antonio) and Sarah Kameela Impey (Ariel)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Laura Cairns (Trincula)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Alison Arnopp (Stephana)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

l-r, Darren Raymond (Prospero) and Elly Condron (Miranda)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Darren Raymond (Prospero)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

l-r, Alison Arnopp (Sebastienne), Laura Cairns (Alonsa) , Darren Raymond (Prospero) and Sarah Kameela Impey (Ariel)

Photo by Elle de Burgh

Congratulations Mrs Ormerod!

Our Lady of the Assumption has some very exciting news this week!

Yesterday the Governing Body appointed Mrs Ormerod as the new Deputy Headteacher at Our Lady's.

We are all thrilled at school and know that Mrs Ormerod will touch the hearts of many children and families now and in future years. We are all now looking forward to a new chapter in our school's life and pray for God's blessings on all we continue to do.