Dear Parents, Carers, Grandparents and Parishoners,

During lent, Pope Francis tells us ‘you are responsible; you have to choose.’ We often live life in a rush

without noticing what the path is like. In school, we have been preparing for Easter in a variety of ways:

class prayer, silent reflection, whole school collective worship, changing the cloths on our prayer areas to

name a few. Please see below for information about joining our Easter celebrations in school.

Holy Week Reflections

We will be celebrating this very special time in the Liturgical calendar in school.

Each class will be leading the school in an act of Collective Worship during our final

week of term where we reflect upon Jesus’ journey during the last week of his life

in Holy week. From his triumphant entry into Jerusalem to his death and resurrec-

tion; this will be a chance for the children to deepen their understanding of the life

of Jesus and to lead the whole school community in prayer and reflection. Parents

are invited to celebrate with the children. We look forward to welcoming as many as possible into our

school.

e-Safety advice: Minecraft & Snapchat

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety

message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe

and behave appropriately online. With social media and gaming sites continuing to grow in popularity,

particularly with younger children we want to support parents in understanding these. Please find

attached to the newsletter two useful Parent Guides produced by National Online Safety for Minecraft

and Snapchat (both applications we know to be popular with our children). Both guides provide useful in-

formation to support parents understanding of these applications.

Trauma Dolls

A parent has asked for donations of wool to help a local charity provide trauma dolls and bears. If you

have any spare wool can you please hand it in to the school office . This is a wonderful cause and some-

thing the school supports fully. Thanks in advance for your donations and generosity.

St Mary’s RC Primary School

Newsletter - Issue 12 - March 2018

Headteacher: Mr D Miller

Acting Deputy Headteacher: Miss S Hughes

Chair of Governors: Mrs M Harris

Telephone: 01207 502657 First Day Response No: 07845788957

E-mail: blackhillstmary@durhamlearning.net

Website: www.blackhill-st-marys-rc.durham.sch.uk

Attendance

Our whole school attendance is currently running at: 95.5%

Easter Crafts & Raffle

Easter is fast approaching and we will be holding our Easter crafts and special

raffle events as usual.

This year every child in the school will have the opportunity to design and make

an Easter Egg in a special crafts session. All materials will be supplied by the

school and the children will be making them throughout the school day. The

children will be bringing their crafts home with them.

Alongside the crafts the children will be bringing home raffle tickets with them.

The school has a wide selection of Easter Eggs which we would like to give out as

prizes for those lucky winners. Tickets cost £1 per strip. Can we ask that you put

your name on the back of each individual ticket as it will be individual tickets and not strips which will be

drawn.

The prize draw will be held in school on Thursday 29th March. Thank you for your continued support.

Nut Free School Reminder

Please be aware that all Nutella products - Nutella spread and Nutella biscuits - con-

tain NUTS and SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT INTO SCHOOL, nor any other products con-

taining nuts.

These products are extremely dangerous to some members of the school community,

who have severe allergies. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Our attendance target for the year is to be above 97%

Class

Spring Term

Attendance

so far:

% of Pupils

above 97%

R 94.1% 51.7%

1 94.8% 43.3%

2 96.3% 63.3%

3 96.9% 70%

4 95.3% 53.3%

5 94.6% 56.6%

6 96.2% 46.6%

It makes such a difference

to your children’s academic

and personal development

by coming to school as

often as possible. Thank

you for your support in

helping us to achieve our

97% - we still have work to

do but together we will

achieve our goal.

We are now below

95%

WE MUST IMPROVE!!!

2018 - 2019 School Term Dates

Governors have agreed all term dates for next year. The children will re-

turn to school on Tuesday 4th September 2018. Please have a look on the

school website for exact term dates and holiday periods.

Reading

Please remember that your child should be reading a little every day and if you have

the opportunity to listen to them read this makes the biggest difference to their learn-

ing. Asking questions such as: What do you think happens next? Why did the charac-

ter do that? What is your favourite part and why? Helps to develop your child’s un-

derstanding and helps promote a lifelong love of reading.

Rights Respecting School

Article 24:

“You have the right to healthy food and clean water”

LINKED WITH THE BEATITUDE

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied”

Fundraising Super Star

A special thank you to Bobby Watson whose climb of Ben Nevis raised £215 for the school.

Date Event Time Parents Invited

Thursday 22nd March Year 5 Maths Cafe 9:30am - 10:30am Yes

Friday 23rd March Interim report distributed 3:15pm N/A

Friday 23rd March Yr 1 & 2 Palm Sunday liturgy 2:30pm Yr 1 & 2 only

w/c Monday 26th March National Autism Awareness Week AM No

Monday 26th March Yr 3 Last Supper liturgy 2:30pm Yr 3 only

Tuesday 27th March Yr 4 Garden of Gethsemane liturgy 2:30pm Yr 4 only

Wednesday 28th March Yr 5 Crucifixion liturgy 2:30pm Yr 5 only

Wednesday 28th March Parents evening 3:30pm - 6:00pm Yes

Thursday 29th March Yr 6 Resurrection liturgy 2:30pm Yr 6 only

Thursday 29th March Parents evening 3:30pm - 6:00pm Yes

Pencil these into your diary!

Golden Ticket Winners

Fancy a Good Read?...Year 6 Recommend…

I have chosen to do a book review on Romeo and Juliet because

the story is suitable for young readers such as Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

This book will inspire you to be a better person in life and put other

people before yourself. The story is full of lots of critical infor-

mation about true love. It even gives some facts about the Globe

Theatre. Not only is this story a romance, it also includes fighting,

death and a little bit of betrayal. Through reading this book, I have

learnt an important lesson. I would give this book 5 stars; I really

hope that you all get the opportunity to read Romeo and Juliet too.

Ultimate School Trip

Unfortunately we did not win first prize in the competition. Congratulations to Newburn Manor Primary

School on their success. As a school we are all immensely proud of Marlie-Leah for making it this far - her

poem was wonderful and would have been a worthy winner. Thanks are extended to all who voted for St

Mary’s and encouraged others to vote. We will shortly receive £1000 as a consolation prize.

Here’s a quote from Stephen Hawking to ponder

‘Remember to look up at the stars not down at your feet. Try and make sense of

what you see and wonder what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And how-

ever difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed

at. It matters that you don’t just give up.’

As we embark on our own challenges in the weeks ahead, let’s celebrate the po-

tential of our children and continue to develop a sense of competence and resili-

ence to succeed. Best Wishes.

Reception

Amelia, Heath

Year 1

Sam, Adam, Shay

Year 2

Faye, Ava, Ewan, Grace H, Toby S, Bobby, Isabelle,

Archie, Eva

Year 3

Nathan, Joseph McCabe

Year 4

Year 5

Ebony, Bethany, Natalia, Lilly, Emma

Year 6

Leon, Lauren, Jessica, Matthew, Liam, Marlie-Leah,

Tyler

Well Done to all those children who have received

individual Golden Tickets.

A-Z of give it up ideas Give it up for a day and donate what you would have spent, or be sponsored to give it up for the whole of Lent. Pick your challenge!

Apps—get sponsorship to give up all your apps for Lent, or just your favourite app. See our animation at cafod.org.uk/schools of your apps turning into taps!

Nail polish. Run a nail bar instead and take do-nations for CAFOD.

Biscuits. See them turn into beans at cafod.org.uk/schools

Over-indulging! Eat only as much as you need, then stop.

Chocolate! Yes, that old favourite! The most popular thing to give up for Lent.

Pennies—pledge not to use pennies in Lent and collect any that land in your pocket.

Dresses (and trousers, coats, hats…) - not all of them, obviously! Clear out your wardrobe. Run a second-hand stall.

Quality Street—other varieties of sweets are also available to give up!

Eating cakes. Go the extra mile and do a cake sale—without indulging yourself!

Reaching into the cookie jar. Ban cookies for Lent and give 5p for every time you would have eaten one.

Fast food—see your burgers turn into fresh food for families who need it: Footy—watching a game played by your team. Ouch! If it helps, remind yourself that you’re giving up a footy game to help a lot of people who can’t ever watch one.

Speaking—a sponsored silence is a great way to raise money. Parents and teachers love this one!

Going to the cinema. Prices vary, but one movie may cost you £8. That could buy five tree saplings to help a family grow and sell fresh fruit.

Treats. Turn them into toilets—see our anima-tion at cafod.org.uk/schools

Hurrying everywhere. Bike or walk instead of taking the bus - extra time to think, more ex-ercise and money for others!

Using plastic bottles. We use up to 15m a day 1 in the UK! Carry a flask instead. Put aside 10p every time you would have bought a plas-tic bottle.

Imported fruit and veg. Eat locally sourced. Work out how many air miles you save and get sponsored per hundred.

Videos. Make one instead, to explain how ‘giving it up’ can help others grow food. Post it on social media.

Jewellery. Go sober for Lent! You could even have a jewellery sale of all that old stuff you never use—profits to CAFOD!

Wasting food—create meals from leftovers. Give the money you save to help people who don’t have enough food.

Kettles! Forget hot drinks and drink water in-stead. (Also see U…)

X-box or other games console—give up a fa-vourite computer game for Lent and get spon-sored.

Lunch on Fridays—or swap it for a simple bowl of soup.

Your choice! Be creative!

Meat. Another popular one! Go veggie—you’ll be helping the planet too!

Zzzz… Sleep on the floor in solidarity with the many who have no bed.