Dear all,

We are in need of developing our  outdoors area. This area will be used by children in breakfast and after school club, baby and toddler groups (which will hopefully start soon  in school), all children in the school and children of the Parish on a Sunday. It will not be restricted to infants only. We hope that this will be at the back of Father’s garden, where the EYFS and infant outdoor access areas already are. The fenced in space for Pendle Class is limiting and is simply not big enough. We would turn that space into one big messy play area and the Pre-School children would share this communal area too. We use all school grounds for outdoor learning but the children deserve even better.  Big ideas need to be put into reality for all of our children and we need help. Behind Father’s garden  is a huge space and our children deserve the very best.  We want to have outdoor art spaces and create zones for messy play, bird watching, physical development and everything that is creative! A few years ago, Mrs Kerr visited Melbourne to explore and learn about their outdoor spaces and the pictures are incredible. I will put some of these pictures on another post for you to see our vision. Our outdoors are beautiful and we want to create natural areas in keeping with school. There are a few examples below of projects other schools have completed. I have put a bid in for The National Lottery in hope we are granted £10,000. The last bid I put in was refused due to where our school is located. We were told that not enough people from the community would benefit from this for it to go ahead. If our new bid is successful, the entrance to after school/ breakfast club will be through this new area and not through school anymore. They will use this as their outdoor space daily. We will have lighting and seating areas in this space for all to enjoy. The PTFA are supportive of this and I hope that you will all understand how much this is needed to move our school forwards for our children. When we created the Pre-School secure entrance, I could not extend this space any more than it is due to the oil tanker that needs access to the back of Church. This is why the Pre-School space is situated where it is. It would be wonderful for them to use a rich and diverse learning area close to their classroom.

We are reaching for the stars!

This morning as I was happily gritting, I was called a ‘Jack of all trades!’ A couple of you had commented that it was quite a comical blog yesterday as it highlighted just how diverse my job actually is. Being a head teacher is far removed from the days of teaching. You really do have to know things about things you didn’t even know existed. I was speaking to Mr. Gilmour about this today because the drains in the playground had flooded again. For that job, the animal net remained redundant and the long prodding stick came out. It was not glamorous in any way but it got the job done. Playground safely gritted and drained-for now!

Emergency! There is a bird in Pre-School!

st-francis-catholic-primary-school-goosnargh-official-ofsted-letter

When I told some of our younger children today that we were going to welcome a very special visitor into school, I had to sadly disappoint one little boy by telling him that is wasn’t Bob the Builder who was coming.

At this time of year I am always so humbled to spend quality time with all of the children as they remind us what a special time of year this is. Spiritually, we have been preparing ourselves for God’s greatest gift-Jesus. Last night, we joined other small schools at St. Antony’s Church in Fulwood for an Advent Service. Some of our children sang ‘Are You Ready for the Light’ and it was beautiful. We are very proud of them and I thank you for bringing your children to the service. Through assemblies, prayer and liturgy, we understand the true meaning of Christmas. We hear of such sadness in the world and think about the less fortunate in particular at this time of year. The thing that makes a school so special is the loving care that all show towards one another. At St.Francis’ we work together as a community to support one another as we grow in faith and, even at this busy time of year, we continue to be thoughtful towards each other’s needs and never stop moving forwards. Next Wednesday, Preston College are coming to school to perform ‘Puss in Boots’ pantomime. On Thursday, Year 5 are carol singing at Bushell House Rest Home, our Christmas Fair is on Sunday 11th December after Family Mass, our Aladdin trip is on 13th December and on the same day our Pre-School children  will be singing Mini-Carols around the tree with parents, School Christmas Dinner is on 14th December, Carols around the Tree is on 15th December at 2.00pm and the KS2 Advent Service is at 6.00pm that evening. Christmas Jumper Day is on Friday 16th December and KS1 Nativity ‘Sparkle’ is at 6.00pm on 20th December. The children are working very hard to learn lines and songs. The Advent Service and Nativity will be very special events and it is so important that we come together at this time of year as a family unit. Please bring your children to take part in these events although they are after school. Every smile, voice and speaking part is important.