Birthdays
Happy birthday to those who
celebrate their birthday this week:
Kyanna (Y1), Joji (Y2), L‟Shae (Y3)
and Lucas (Y4)
Lets hope they enjoy their
special day.
City Mission / Parish Visit
The following is a report from Lisa, one of
the year 6 School Council representatives
about their visit to both City Mission and the
parish of St Catherine’s delivering the
harvest collections to venerable people in our
community:
‘Recently every pupil gave some food as part
of the Harvest collection in aid of the poor in
the community. Firstly we started packing up
all the different foods including baked beans,
pasta, rice soup and much more—the parcels
were so heavy! Then some of the council reps
took it to City Mission Resource Centre
(which helps the poor, homeless and needy in
our community) they showed us what happens
to the food—they sort it by date and give it
out when people are in need. Amazingly they
also havefurniture, pots and pans and basic
essentials which they also help people with.
The people there are the best! Helping
people who are also out on the streets.’
Other parcels were handed over to our new
parish priest Fr. Jeremy who will also be using
to help the poor in the local area. You can visit
the website to see photos of pupils sorting
and delivering parcels.
BBC WM RADIO Visit
St Catherine’s!
Well done to our 7 pupils who
were selected to help radio WM
discuss a variety of new TOP 10
TOYs out this Christmas! Annicia,
Zelda, Adesire, Tayla, Meroe, Tanastwa and
Amelia W were live on air telling the public
about their favourite toys.
Listen to the BBCWM i-player to hear what
they had to say!
Disability Awareness Day
On the final day of half term pupils and staff
received a visit from John McCorkell who suffers
from cerebral palsy, It was the first time pupils
and staff had experienced meeting someone
with this disability in school and this is what our
pupils had to say about the visit:
Maya Year 6 ‟ I found out that John can achieve
and do anything - just because he is in a
wheelchair it does not mean he cannot do what
we do, you just find a way. I learnt that it is OK to
be different‟
Mekhseb Reception’ I liked going in the
wheelchair‟
Sarah Year 1’ I liked it when Believe was sitting
in the wheelchair and Ange had to push him
blindfolded‟
Josh Year 2 „I liked sitting in the wheelchair and
people having to push me. We found out lots of
interesting things about John‟
L’Shae Year 3 „ I learnt that you should treat
disabled people the same‟
Taya Year 4 „ It explained to me the differences
between being able and having disability‟
Zelda Year 5 „ Now I feel I know more about
what it feels like to be disabled‟
Benjamin Year 6 „ I really enjoyed today
because we got to learn how it would feel to
have disabilities
Punctuality
Week 1
Attendance
The attendance figures for this week
1st Y4 99.3%
2nd Y6 98.7%
3rd Rec 98.5%
1st
Y4
97.8%
2nd
Y6
97.3%
2nd
Y3
96.9%
4th
Y1
95.2%
4th
Y5
90.3%
This is A very good attendance.
6th
Y2
89.9%
Thank you for your support in ensuring
that children are not taken out of
school during term time.
Average Y1 - Y6 = 94.6%
This is getting better!!
BE SAFE BE SEEN COMPETITION
Year 1 an 2 have competition sheets to design
a poster for the ‘Be Safe Be Seen ‘Campaign.
Please hand all entries to Mrs Kenny by
Thursday 14th November .
All Saints / All Souls Mass
Father Jeremy celebrated mass in school
today. We had a lovely mass and the children
responded really well to Father Jeremy who is
enjoying his new role in St. Catherine‟s Parish.
Black History Month Speaker
Lisa Solan spoke to Year 6 pupils on the
24/10/13 about Dr Maya Angelou - a famous
African American woman who is world
renowned in many areas: poet, author,
dancer, actress and civil rights activist. It
was an interesting presentation that
charted her life and her accomplishments
despite the many hardships she faced.
The Year 6 pupils learnt that Dr Maya led an
amazing life and is still inspiring many people
today. Year 6 were fascinated by this
courageous lad and thankful to Parece’s mum
for her time and hard work in helping them
to learn and be inspired by Dr Maya Angelou.
School Sports
Wash out AGAIN
Due to heavy rain the Football
Tournament for this afternoon
had to be postponed. Hopefully
we‟ll get some drier weather soon.
Av attendance (YR-Y6) - 96.3%.
As our beards grow for a good cause - raising
awareness and money for male cancer charities
- please sponsor Mr Minchin, Mr McNamara and
myself or just send in a donation.
Every £1 counts
Year 5 / Year 6 Girls Netball
The girls played their first league
game against Allen Croft and had a
superb 13 - 1 win. Unfortunately in
our second game against Wheelers Lane we lost
9 - 3. Our passing was very good but our
shooting was not on form. The girls all played
well but particularly Sharon, Renee, and Mercy.
Our netball team is Alliyah, Hawanatu, Sharon,
Renee, Lisa, Mercy, Sherquan and Ahleysha.
Children in Need - Friday 15th November
This will be a £1 non—uniform day next Friday.
You can wear something spotty, pyjamas, a
onesy or just something funny!!!
Please could we have donations to use as Bingo
Prizes at the OAP Christmas Meal on Dec 7th.
Thought for the weekend
“When you know better you do better.”
Dr Angelou
During November Mr Fadden, Mr McNamara and Mr Minchin will be taking part in the
‘Movember’ fundraiser. This involves growing a moustache and or beard to raise awareness
and money for Men’s Health. The three main targets for fundraising are Prostrate Cancer,
Testicular Cancer and Mental Health. We are asking for a donation of just £1, or more if you
are able. This way we get to raise money for a worthy cause and you can see what we look like
with a moustache or beard. Who will look like Hagrid from Harry Potter or Mr Stink? Or maybe
the more sophisticated look of Poirot? Please send in your donations from now and
throughout November. Maybe you can persuade your dad to do the same.
Singing Playgrounds
A great day was had by our new
singing playground leaders who attended their first training day this
week: Saana, Joe, Jamar, Monet,
Amelia J, Taya, Chyna, Alliyah, Akshat,
George, Amelia W, Raven from Year 4
and Enzo, Che, Nathaniel, Ibrahim, Annicia,
Camarlo, Natalia and Tanatswa. All pupils were
thoroughly engaged in a day of learning new songs
and actions with pupils from other schools in the
area. Everyone had fun whilst learning how to
encourage our younger pupils to participate in song
and action during break times. We look forward to
seeing them on the playgrounds after half term
delivering their newly found skills! As always our
children were a credit to the school and fully
involved themselves in a range of challenging tasks!
Here is what a few pupils thought about the day:
George: ‘It was an interesting day. I liked it because
I got to know new children and learn new songs!’
Joe ‘ I felt really excited about learning the new
songs and actions and making new friends from
other schools’
Enzo ‘I was elated when I danced with pupils from
City Road school. I liked playing the games and
look forward to teaching the kids new songs’
Che ‘ I enjoyed learning the new songs
especially the class song and am looking
forward to going into the playground and
teaching everyone what fun they can have enjoying
the actions and singing’
Secure Post Box for parents
A secure post box was put in the KS2
playground following requests from parents.
The take up and feedback has been really
positive. We are pleased that this has made it
easier to pay monies and pass information to
the school office.
Family Learning
This week a lady from Family Learning visited
school regarding the range of opportunities on
offer to parents who are willing to spend time
with their children working on a variety of
activities from arts and crafts to, sewing,
creative play and learning and many more. This
programme is a 6 week programme where
parents work with up to two of their children
during the week for up to 2 hours a week.
Presently we are looking at what is on offer and
deciding what might be best for our parents and
children. Please look out for further details
after half term .
Family Photographs
The photographer was in school on Tuesday to
take children‟s photographs. We hope that you will
be pleased with these special memories of your
child‟s time at school.
As part of our work in Black History Month, year 5
were lucky enough to take part in a workshop based
on the famous Shakespeare play ‘Othello’. We made
our own masks and also acted out a scene from the
play wearing Tudor costumes. Here are some of our
thoughts…
Victor; I liked it when we role played the story of
Othello because I got to
dress up in Tudor costumes as Iago .
Moria; I liked making a mask of Desdemona, it was fun and
enjoyable.
Meroe; I liked it when
we made masks of the
characters from
Othello. I love art and
decorating.
Deneya; I enjoyed it
when we did the scene from Othello. He was the
only black person made into the hero in Tudor
times.
Kyesha; I liked it when I dressed up as a rich Tudor woman because I got to wear a
golden dress and pearls.
Limbo Workshops in school
On Thursday and Friday last week every class had the
opportunity to take part in a limbo dancing workshop. This
culminated in an assembly on Friday afternoon, when some
children showcased what they had learned. All the children
enjoyed their dancing immensely (but perhaps not quite as
much as Mr McNamara. This activity was part of our
celebrations for Black History Month. If you would like to find
out about some of the other work we have done on this topic,
please visit our school website. Also, well done to the children
who entered our Black History Quiz - prizes were awarded in
Friday‟s assembly.
Black History Month Meal
Thank you to Patsy and her
staff in the school kitchen for
putting on such a wonderful
meal today. It was a wonderful
way to celebrate the end of our
Black History Month activities.
A big thank you to Mrs Holmes
for organising our Black History activities as well as all our
other exciting History visits and
visitors each year. History is
FUN at ST. Catherine‟s.