holy family catholic primary school keeping in touch ... · a prayer to the holy family o god, may...

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Holy Family Catholic Primary School ‘Keeping In Touch’

Friday 11th May 2020

At Holy Family Catholic School we will inspire our children to achieve personal excellence for themselves and for the glory of God.

Dear Parents I hope you have all got to see the videos that the teachers have uploaded for this week. You may notice that they have changed a little. Our Phase Leaders have been working hard to provide a little more guidance to teachers as part of our commitment to trying to make our provision the best it can possibly be. I can see that the videos are becoming a more effective tool for assisting you and the children. The guidelines given to teachers form part our response to the feedback that we received from you. I always value your feedback and while I may not always be able to offer everything that parents ask for, it is always carefully considered. Thank you. If you would like to see the most joyous video, please watch Giovanni’s video in the Reception videos (Giovanni Clock and His Amazing Learning). He is a delight and the video will make you smile. Thank you Giovanni! I have been sent so many pictures of prayer spaces/tables that have been set up in homes to honour Our Lady during May. Here is Maika with her prayer space. Thank you for the picture Maika. When I was a much younger teacher, I do remember getting into trouble with my Headteacher during the month of May. In Uxbridge it was referred to it as ‘Flowergate’ and we nearly ended up in the Gazette! I had invited my Year 2 class to bring flowers in each day to honour our Lady. There was one boy who was bringing an extraordinary number of flowers in. We had so many that I didn ’t know where to put them. Never has Mary been more honoured! Unfortunately, he had been uprooting them from the beautiful, well kept front gardens of the houses next to the school. Near the end of his flower stealing spree, he was challenged by a home owner. Without a moments hesitation, he told them, “It is for Mary and Mr Doherty told me to do it.” Well who could possibly argue with that? Unfortunately the neighbour did and they promptly came to the school to complain. While talking to the Headteacher, they recognised that the vase of flowers in her office had indeed been in her garden the night before! So children, honour our Lady with flowers but please - no theft! This week some parents have been to collect some of the additional learning packs. I just wanted to remind you that these are optional. They are uploaded fortnightly and you can collect a pack from school. Please let the School Office know, via email, if you would like to collect a pack. If you do use

the additional learning packs, please do let me know if they are useful. The aim of these is: to allow children to work independently with no input from adults; give children the chance to work for a sustained period on their own and to give them additional practise of key skills. I also hope that they will be a great support for parents who are having to work from home and teach their child or to those parents that were finding home schooling becoming increasingly challenging. We have listened to you and hope it helps - do let me know. Unfortunately was unable to get my assembly filmed today but it will be uploaded tomorrow morning. Thank you for your patience. Together in prayer Mr Doherty

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A Prayer to the Holy Family

O God, May the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph be our example and guide,

Bless all in our family, Bind us together

and keep us in your peace.

We remember all family members who have gone before us.

May they rest forever in your love.

And may we always know that we are united as one family through your son,

Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

Happy Birthday! Look at this wonderful photograph! Kouta (3Year 3B) enjoyed his birthday last week and shared this delicious cake with his family. Thanks for sending the photo in Kouta We wish Faye (Year 4P) a very happy birthday for tomorrow. Have a fabulous day, Faye!

Collecting Learning Packs from School

If you are collecting learning packs from school, please email the school office in advance so that we have a chance to prepare them for you. Email is the best way to contact the school office as there will not always be someone in the office able to answer phone calls. We ask that you come to the school to collect packs during the times below. Thank you

Monday 11am - 12pm & 1pm - 3pm

Tuesday - Friday 9am - 12pm & 1pm - 3pm

Updates

I am sure that we all listened to the Prime Minister’s update last night. There seems to be a proposal for Years 6, 1 and Reception to return in June. Although there seem to be numerous conditions placed on this. I currently have as much information as you. I am sure that Ealing Local Authority will be consulting with Headteachers and Chairs of Governors in the days ahead and further guidance will be given. As soon as I know more, I will of course let you and staff know. At the moment all we can do is pray for our leaders, that they may make the right decisions. They have a difficult task.

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‘Keeping In Touch’

Parent Support - Miss Sweilam

We have been receiving lots of emails with similar phonics-related questions. I have recorded a quick video in response, discussing when and how to introduce Set 3 sounds to children. The video can be found in the Reception playlist in the Video Resource Centre. I hope it helps!

Competition for Years 4 and 5 - Mr Doherty

Last week I shared Mia’s fantastic R.E. work with all of you. It was entered to a competition that has extended its deadline. I realise many of you will have already entered this competition but if you haven’t, please do so. At a time when we are not able to attend Mass, maybe your work will be even more inspired. You have until the end of this month. You have to reply to this question, ‘Why do we go to Mass?’ Now I know children at Holy Family will have plenty to say in response to this question! Your response needs to be hand written and illustrated in any way you like. They suggest each entry should be no more than 2 sides of A4 but don’t worry if it is a little longer. All entries must have your full name (include surname) and be sent to: The Presbytery, Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Michael, Osborn Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1UE. The winning entry will receive £200! If you do answer the question, please send a photo of your work to me before you post it off. I would love to see it and include it in the newsletter. Good luck children - go win the competition for Holy Family!

Help and Support - School Nursing Service

Due to COVID-19 the Ealing 0-19 Health Visiting and School Nursing service is offering a 7 day a week advice line between 9am - 5pm. Please call 0208 102 5888 to access this advice line if you have concerns regarding your child's health and well - being and development such as eating, sleeping, behaviour, talking.

Music - Mr Brown

Sing with the BBC Singers...

Learn to sing the beautiful melody from Jean Sibelius’s epic piece Finlandia.

Members of the BBC Singers will teach you the tune line by line and then sing with you in a virtual choir performance. You can hear the BBC Singers performing on Radio 3's Afternoon Concert every day this week!

Song of the Week...

"It's getting too hot for monkeys" is a fun topical song delivering a serious message about global warming. There are also follow up activities including actions, making up your own lyrics, and learning more about this topic.

https://www.singup.org/singupathome/song-of-the-week


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This week I was so pleased to receive an email from Marcel (Year 3V). As you can see he has been very busy since school closed. The time away from school has given home the chance to spend time learning about minerals - a passion of his. He has also been doing his best to complete work set by Miss O’Connell. I am so pleased to see Marcel achieving the right balance - well done!


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A big thank you to Melissa (Year 4P) for emailing me with an update of how she is getting on at home. Both Miss Fernando and I were delighted to see her working hard to complete the Year 4 work that has been set but we were also pleased to see her having fun. You can see she is busy completing a 1000 piece jigsaw in one of the photos! Thanks for the email Melissa!

This week Faye (Year 4P) emailed me. I am delighted to hear how much reading she has been doing at home. She is a big fan of David Walliams and has read lots of his books. She has designed a front cover for one of his newest books below. Thanks for getting in touch, Faye.

Christina (Year 3B) sent me in this fantastic and very clever piece of art work. Look what happens when you unfold the fish! Like all of us, Christina is missing school - especially her friends - but she is working hard to complete the learning that has been set for Year 3. I also hear that her brother Samuel (Year 6T) is working hard. This week he would have been doing his SATs with the rest of Year 6 but that has not stopped him learning at home. Well Done Samuel.


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Sofia (Year 6T) has been learning about the Second World War. As part of her learning, she interviewed her Grandparents who lived in East London. I couldn’t think of a better way to learn about the events of that time. How fantastic! I was fascinated to read what they said - you can see it below. If you have any older relations that you can talk to, ask them loads of questions about the past. You will learn lots and it is fascinating!

Sofia was also kind enough to send us some photographs of Sheldash. Look how happy he is! I think Sheldash is the luckiest tortoise in the world - he went to the most wonderful home. Thank you Sofia for letting us see our dear friend.


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Keeping In Touch

I am delighted to tell you that Roxanne (Year 2 Peter) has finished….wait for it…..wait for it…. 165 books from Epics! Incredible! Well Done Roxanne! In one of the books she read about an experiment you can carry out on an egg shell. It involved leaving the egg on white vinegar and waiting for 24 hours. Look what happened! The shell completely disappeared! Thank you for sharing your experiment with all of us Roxanne

Tony (Year 1F) has been working hard completing some tasks online. I know that he is enjoying the maths and English activities. Well Done Tony and thank you for sharing the photo with us.

Look at this work that Luca (Year 3V) has been completing. I can just about remember being in Year 3 and I know that I was not doing work like this in maths! Were you? Miss O’Connell is certainly challenging her children. I know that Luca thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and solving the different puzzles. Well Done Luca!


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Keeping In Touch

Sara (Reception Joseph) has written her very first diary! What a special moment. I know she has been working very hard at home. She is improving her handwriting with lots of practise and I have seen that she is able to form her numbers beautifully. I am very impressed. Well Done Sara!

She also designed her very own clock and is learning from it every day by telling the time. Sara has learnt about subtraction and is making sure that she finds time to do lots of reading each day. She loves reading! Every day she also has fun outside. We know this is very important too. On the 3rd May, Sara and her family celebrated Polish Constitution Day and below you can see her with the flag. The best news of all is that on her birthday she learnt to cycle independently without stabilisers! Well Done Sara!


holy family catholic primary school keeping in touch ... · a prayer to the holy family o god, may...

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