Holy Week
St.Francis’ prepares for Holy Week
St.Francis’ prepares for Holy Week
Read MoreI just received an email with a picture of our children this afternoon. We share so many common goals but this picture, for me, highlights our school mission-working together for the better. It struck me today that life is so fast paced that we don’t often sit back and reflect upon what great moments take place. It was only when I watched, and listened, to the children performing and sitting in the audience that I fully appreciated the best moments you enjoy working in a school. Luckily, we appreciate these often. There may be many changes in education but childhood occurs once in a lifetime and we have to get it right. This will always remain to be our fundamental approach at St.Francis’ and we are proud to be the school we are!
Read MoreI seem to find myself, yet again, not knowing where to begin with this week’s blog. That is because we have fit so much into today that I can’t remember much prior to yesterday. Yesterday was incredible because our infant children led a wonderful and truly humbling Palm Liturgy. My life is full of ‘wow moments’ at St.Francis’ and I must try to expect that these can happen at any time. I didn’t quite realise what today was going to hold because I had delegated the ‘Conga’ and ‘Sport Relief’ work to the Sport Captains and some children in Year 6. Beth and Ilayda had sent out a letter a few weeks ago (that I had forgotten all about) and I was bombarded with questions about the afternoon Conga. It must have been my incredibly blank face that said it all as it was (another) one of those moments where I wondered what I had signed us up for! The day began with our ‘Coffee Morning Fairtrade Concert’ and it was amazing! 3/4 of our school sing or play a musical instrument and it makes me so proud to watch them perform. The children held a Fairtrade Stall and a Sport Relief stall to raise money for worthy causes. Thank you to sponsor money that has already been given in. Parents and visitors were in awe and it was a lovely opportunity to come together to celebrate talent and enjoy each other’s company. I am a firm believer that children need a purpose and something to work towards that will continue and develop their motivation. I can’t wait for our ‘Music Showcase Evening’ that we will hold one evening at the end of the Summer Term-more to come on that nearer the time. After lunch, the whole school went outside to undertake cross country running and a giant Conga. The stamina of the children was amazing and the greatest part of this time outside was the amount of laughter that could be heard-not just from the children. I know I have said this before, but the staff here really do give so much of their time and efforts to go above and beyond for the children. I thank you all. When all this had finished, the children in the juniors came together to have a talk from two very special visitors who had spent three weeks in Ghana. They showed the children a powerpoint of what life is like there and what school is like there. I have put this on our ‘Year of Mercy’ area as it gives us chance to reflect upon global needs and our own Year of Mercy fundraising to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Science Week has been fantastic and we thank Mrs Gornall who came with her expertise in this field and led the children in some fun and inspirational experiments. The children in Parlick class have come home with a sunflower plant to grow and have undertaken some exciting Ink blot experiments. The egg cracking was Mrs Kerr’s fault and not Mrs. Gornall’s! Speaking about eggs-we also had a visit from Catherine who brought chickens and eggs into school to prepare us for our own chickens. She is lending us some incubators and scanners to help us watch the chickens grow and nurture them. We thank Mr Eastham who organised the removal of some old netball posts and helped us clear the chicken coop area next to the Willow Dome.
Read MoreWe have had some fantastic developments in school this week. On Friday, we had two new CTouch screens installed in Fairsnape and Beacon class. Mrs Kerr and Mr Gilmor are delighted! These have replaced our old whiteboards and they are fantastic. The other classrooms will be fitted with this new technology soon. Miss Stewart has been very busy on chicken duty and has organised not only eggs to be hatched in school but also a scanning machine to enable children to see what is going on inside the eggs! We can’t wait to have the chickens. These will be homed next to the Willow Dome area.
Read MoreThe week all started with our INSET day on Monday and since then I just haven’t caught up. In fact, the following days at school seem to have merged into one because we have been so busy. Our new CTouch whiteboards are being fitted in Fairsnape and Beacon (junior classrooms) in a couple of weeks and we have new laptops coming. Mrs Kerr and the children are delighted with the new carpet in Fairsnape class and I am thrilled with how our school entrance area looks with new carpets (and displays) also. Fencing began in Fairsnape and the children had a brilliant time. We can’t wait for cricket and Judo to begin after the Easter break. Mr Gilmour is already organising his cross country runners for a competition coming up soon. We will give you some more information on this soon. Do have a look on our ‘Enrichment Activities’ section on our homepage-you will find pictures of clubs taking place in school and much more.
Read MoreWhat a busy week we have had. Yesterday, we had a brilliant open afternoon and it was great to see so many parents joining in with their child’s learning. You will soon be able to see Beacon’s rocket attempts outdoors, which will be under Beacon class area. It was a truly enjoyable afternoon. Fairsnape were coming to the end of their Rock n Roll timelines and Parlick were engrossed in their Spring topic. Pendle were making puppets and the whole school was alive with excitement. I have put a few pictures on this blog for you to see just a few of the exciting things we have been up to in school this half term. Don’t forget, you can always look on the class pages to see what learning is taking place in the classes on a weekly basis. We had a wonderful ‘Ash Wednesday’ Mass over in Church and it was great to see so many parishioners joining us. Today, your child is coming home with a wrapped up bin bag and a little note attached to tell you about our ‘Clothe the Naked’ Act of Mercy. You can visit ‘The Year of Mercy’ section on our webpage to find out more.
Read MoreI don’t usually get much peace and quiet in school but today was an exception. It had reached 2.30pm and I was wondering why I was all alone in the school hall when assembly was due to begin. Not just any Golden assembly-but the showing of our video for any parents who had not yet seen it. Not a single child or adult could be seen so I went to investigate! Wellington boots, gardening gloves, Ipads and smiles could be seen through the window. It was one of our UFA groups in the Willow area creating bug hotels and generally having a great time gardening. As I looked on, a class arrived and sat down quietly discussing what they had just been doing, also smiling. The baking group had a wonderful time and all children had fun.
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