Dear Parents
Another whirlwind week in the life of the school and it has been great to see the children making the best of the good weather we are enjoying. From the “Newman Mile” daily runs, to reflection on the wonder of creation in the Prayer Garden, from creative play in the EYFS outdoor area to exploring the insect houses in the Environmental Area – we are truly blessed at Cardinal Newman with lots of opportunities for outdoor learning. On Monday evening it was great to see the whole field full of sports: Tag Rugby, Football and Cricket, all being enjoyed by the children in the sunshine. Long may it continue!
At the moment, the forecast for Sunday’s Start of Year Mass is (just about) holding up to be dry, though the rain seems to be getting closer and closer to the time of the Mass! If necessary, we will move Mass (and the picnic afterwards) into the school hall, but let’s hope we are lucky! We are looking forward to celebrating the start of the school year with the whole school and parish community. Father Richard will also be presenting the new Prayer Council members with their badges and blessing the representatives from our school who will be attending the Canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Rome next month. Do come and join us at the Mass and bring your friends and family along with you! The more the merrier!
There will be a whole programme of school events for the Canonisation of Cardinal Newman coming out in next week’s newsletter, so keep an eye out for that. If you are interested in following national and international events relating to the canonisation or finding out more about our school patron, a good website is: www.newmancanonisation.com.
As Roisin and Maya have written elsewhere in the newsletter, we have started the year with some training for the children in online safety. Although this is covered in our Computing and PSHE Curriculum, it is very important that we keep refreshing the children’s knowledge as the challenges change each year! The Key Stage 2 children took part in a workshop, which Roisin and Maya have described. The link for the parent information section of the Internet Legends website is here: https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_uk/parents. The NSPCC website has the most up-to-date information for parents on parent controls, how to get the right settings for your children to use Minecraft safely and the age restrictions on sites like Fortnite and Musically which are not aimed at Primary children. Every family will have different needs and boundaries, but it is helpful to be fully informed and to train your children from the very start of school to follow the SMART rules:
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Our huge thanks once again go to Air Products for sponsoring the Spectacular Science Show which the children have enjoyed so much today! Air Products are very supportive of our school and we are blessed to have their patronage to enable us to provide even more exciting opportunities to the children in their Science learning.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend and hope to see many of you on Sunday for the Mass.
Catherine Burnham
