Come and visit us next Saturday at the Goosnargh and Longridge Show.  We will be promoting the Pre-School and we always welcome help to distribute flyers.

Each Friday afternoon, children in our junior classes are given a variety of exciting learning experiences to choose from. These are planned for and led by staff, who use their skills and interests to deliver enrichment experiences to our curriculum. The children apply to partake in these experiences and have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. This half term, the children have been offered a community care experience and they have been busy planning for and preparing to open our school to the residents of local care homes. They have held planning meetings and have written letters of invitation to the care home residents. This will remain a part of our school day each Friday afternoon from 1.15pm onwards. The invitation has offered the opportunity to stay to watch the Golden Award assembly also to make an afternoon of time spent in our school. The children will offer bingo, dominoes, lots of chatter, smiles and refreshments to the experienced members of our community.

It has been an emotional week for me which ended with proud tears in assembly today. I was asked to complete some questions for the Year 6 children’s leavers books and it was the first time I had thought about the year end in such a final way. Miss Taylor formally left to begin her maternity leave yesterday but we were delighted to see her again today as she brought her little girl to our Pre-School stay and play session. It only really sunk in that she had left at the end of the day when I had my first chance to sit down and reflect upon the day as a whole. We will miss her very much and wish her every best wish as she becomes a new mother again.

It is amazing how a pair of colourful trousers can transform your whole look. It is the first time I have been described as a ‘big butterfly’ but I have had many firsts this past school year. I am glad that, when this happened, we were off to the Butterfly House in Lancaster because I must have blended in well! We had a great day. The children were wonderful and it was a delight to watch them enjoy learning and playing in a different environment. It has been a long time since I had to put a children’s car seat in my car. The mechanics of different car seats amazed me and having three small children in the back seat was a revelation! I applaud the parents who do this on a regular basis-you are truly wonderful.

As I write this blog, I reflect upon the many transformations St.Francis’ has had throughout the year so far. I have just submitted an article to ‘The Guide’ about our Pre-School and, when I look at all of the things we have achieved together in such a short space of time, it really makes me so very proud to belong at St.Francis’ School. Yesterday, a teacher told me how happy staff are here and I have to say that it shows each and every day. I just don’t know how we are now in our last half term of the year. It stills seems like yesterday when I was only visiting school. We continue to thrive on our ‘onwards and upwards’ approach.

Everywhere I have looked this week and everyone I have seen has been very busy indeed. I walked into Fairsnape this morning to find an Egyptian tomb. I can never keep up with Mrs Kerr and her absolutely out of the box ideas for lessons. I taught in Fairsnape Class on Tuesday and when I saw rotting apples on the desks I did wonder. I had a brilliant morning in class with the children and was in awe of their Egyptian lap books. I would urge you to have a look at their Web page for the exciting apple explanation!  The children have been wowing me with their musical skills and Parlick sang ‘love shine a light’ in assembly today with only hearing it for the first time earlier that afternoon. We have children from Reception class in the choir and I counted half of the school there today.

As I haven’t had chance to see the parents to thank them again, I write this as a thank you. Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome some little pre-school stars into school. We took some pictures of our soon to be new starters or pre-school children and it was brilliant! The children had a wonderful time and it was just lovely to see them so happy in school. Thank you parents who helped in the making of our latest pre-school brochure. I attach some pictures to make you smile…

I haven’t been in school today as I have been on a course. This comes with benefits and problems as I always miss school when I am not there and wonder what the children are doing. After my course, I returned to school to catch up on anything I had missed and to return emails and phone calls. I was met with three perfectly arranged Ipads on my desk and no one in sight-no one until Mr Gilmour appeared to tell me all about the exciting assembly I had missed. The Year 5 children led a WWF reflection as a reminder for our ‘Wear it Wild’ day and parents joined in with singing ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’- and that was only the beginning. When I asked what the Ipads were doing on my desk, I was told they had been put there so I could see what had been going on in school throughout the day!