It’s been lovely in the sunshine today and the children have been playing so many different games in the playground with all the equipment, but their favourite seems to be the old-style games marked out on the ground, especially 4-Square! We’ve had St Patrick’s Day yesterday, with a wonderful liturgy and celebration by Year 3 (video on the website), red noses today and also Year 2’s Great Fire of London experience (you may have noticed them looking very old-fashioned as they came in today).
Y1 had a great time at the Treehouse Centre in the New Forest on Monday and we were so proud to receive an email from the education officer there telling us that they were “fantastically behaved and enthusiastic for the entire trip”
Fr Ross is on holiday but will be back next week to give the sacrament of reconciliation to our older children and to start preparing us for Holy Week.
Covid Update
Unfortunately cases are rising steeply across the city at the moment and at St Patrick’s we currently have several staff ill and isolating. We are awaiting some further guidance from the local authority, but in the meantime, please do continue to be vigilant and test regularly; although the legal requirement to isolate has been removed, the official guidance still tells us to isolate for 5 days and then have 2 days of negative tests before stopping isolation.
Welcome
We welcome Mrs Meghann Viney and Mrs Paula Gill, who have joined us as teaching assistants, mainly working in KS1. I am sure they will quickly settle in to the St Patrick’s family.
From Mrs Claridge
Here’s this week’s instalment of staying safe online. This week we focus on an app called Yubo.
Yubo is a social media platform aimed at children over the age of 13. Users can connect with others based on their location, with a ‘Tinder’ style swiping mechanism to accept or reject someone based on their profile picture. Whilst the app claims to monitor inappropriate content, an investigation in early 2022 found young users being exposed to sexual harassment, racism, bullying and conversations with adult themes.
I’ve attached a poster that explains the risks in more details and gives advice for parents.
Do you want to help in the local elections this May
The council elections team are seeking staff to work at the local city council elections on Thursday 5 May. These are paid roles and they are currently short of 39 Poll Clerks and 7 Presiding Officers to staff the polling stations across Southampton. If you are interested, please contact natasha.kelly@southampton.gov.uk.
This Sunday we hear the parable of the fig tree which wouldn’t grow, but the gardener did not give up on it; in the same way, God is our “gardener” and is patient with us, giving us ample opportunities to grow and flourish: do we always accept them with an open heart?
Have a lovely weekend.
Michael Lobo
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