Update - 18th June

Last time I wrote to you about all the joyful music-making going on, so this week it is a chance to tell you about the amazing art activities that the children have been doing! Y6 have been "mark making" and "line drawing" lizards to tie in with their class novel "holes" by Louis Sachar; Y4 have been "magazine collaging" to enhance their Rainforest learning; Y3 have been learning about warm and cool colours and have been using watercolours to paint a lion head to link in with their novel "The Butterfly Lion". Monty the Monkey visited Y2 who were busy making costumes - watch this space!

Congratulations!

To our new Year 5 Pupil Chaplains, who were interviewed for the job a few weeks ago by Fr Ross and Mrs Hales. They are Mia, Nevan, Lola, Ciaran, Maria, Kai and Aiden. I have no doubt they will be inspiring ambassadors of the faith throughout the school community.

Eco-Committee

This is the brainchild of Mr Balaam, who has been wanting to get this up and running for a while, but has been thwarted by Covid. Thank you to the staff who have joined: Miss Taylor, Mrs Comarmond, Ms Alexander and Mrs Nott and we now await the pupil representatives! Watch out for details soon of what they will be doing to make the school a greener and cleaner place

Reminder

I know that quite a few parents and children do have to wait outside school for a while now due to the staggered timings. Please could I ask you to remind your children to wait in a sensible way, even when you are not with them – this morning a small group of older children were not showing off our PATRICK attitudes as we might expect. They have also been spoken to by their phase leader.

Covid-19

I have no doubt that you are all as frustrated as we are by the extension to the lockdown situation: it has meant unfortunately that we’ve had to re-think quite a few of the events that we were planning. The number of cases seems to be on the rise again and we must all continue to follow the guidance and stay alert. We have had no cases in our school for several months now – let’s not tempt fate.

Message from the Council

The number of COVID-19 cases in Southampton have doubled this week, and national cases have also continued to increase, as have hospital admissions. COVID-19 still poses a risk to our health. As the Delta variant — which is more transmissible than other variables — is now dominant in the UK, it’s especially important that younger people aged 18 and over now book their COVID-19 vaccine.

• Please ensure you get the right test: if you have COVID symptoms, self-isolate immediately and get a PCR test.

• It is also important to get tested even if you do not have COVID-19 symptoms to help protect yourself and others. If you don’t have symptoms, you will need an LFD test.

Remember the basics: hands, face, space and fresh air to keep safe and Get Southampton Moving.

This Sunday, the 12th in Ordinary Time, we hear that wondrous story of Jesus calming the wind and the waves, to the astonishment of his disciples: often we feel like we are sinking into the mud and water that is daily life and we must remember to put our trust in the Lord who is there to save us.

Have a lovely weekend.

Michael Lobo