It’s been glorious weather for the past few weeks and strangely (for us anyway!), we have managed to have our sports days without the weather being too dreadful. The children really enjoyed all the activities and it was wonderful to see them all working as teams and houses with a real spirit of camaraderie. Thank you to all the parents and relatives who came along to support and watch – the children do love seeing you!
Fr Ross came and celebrated the feast day of Ss Peter and Paul with a Mass in the school hall, led very reverently by 4CC. Fr Ross reminded us that being a disciple like Peter and Paul is not always easy, but that we are called to do so as Christians. The children read and sang so well and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of one of the parishioners who donated a significant amount of money to us to buy some better microphones for Mass.
Lots of other things have been going on! Year 6 had a spectacular WWII Day where they dressed up as people on the Home Front and lived in the 1940s for a day. It was lovely to see them entertaining parishioners in the church hall with the war songs. Both Year 3 and Year 4 classes had their retreat day at Sway with the Dominican Sisters, which they found very reflective and thought-provoking amidst the beautiful scenery of the New Forest and then they entertained parents with their musical prowess on their cornets and clarinets! Year 5 loved their Heroes Day at St Georges’ School (none more than Miss Tansey and Mr Travers!) and Mrs Hales and Mr Travers took a group of children to represent the school at the Diocese Mass at Portsmouth Cathedral. Photos below and on Twitter.
School Choirs Sing Shanties!
Both our Upper and Lower School Choirs have had an eventful few weeks! First they entertained an excited local audience down at Weston Shore, singing sea shanties about the local area and then last week, the older children took part in an amazing joint event at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, making up a choir of over 800 children and even getting on the BBC local news! You can see them on the souvenir video here:
including Mrs Thomas’ inspiring conducting! Thank you so much to Mrs Thomas, Miss Chambers and Miss Flanagan for giving up their time to teach the children and to Mrs O’Toole for all her tireless organization.
Willkommen!
To our 4 young students from Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, who are spending 2 weeks in our school helping out in the classrooms and seeing what life is like in England. They were particularly helpful with our Sports Days last week and it amazes me that they are fluent in 3 or 4 languages!
Governing Body Update
Two of our long-serving governors have come to the end of their terms this year:
Louise Payne has been associated with St Patrick’s School and Parish for many years, as have her whole family. Louise has been a governor for over 10 years and in that time has given dedicated service, including taking on the role of Chair of Governors and being English lead governor. We are very grateful for her time and dedication to the role.
Antonio Lopez-Bustos has also given great service to the governing body, serving for a time as Chair of the Finance Committee and helping us with his business acumen and advice.
We thank both Louise and Antonio for their service to the school and wish them well for the future.
We welcome Mr Paul O’Driscoll as one of our new Foundation Governors. Paul is a former parent of the school, having all 3 of his children here as pupils in the 1990s. As part of his “retirement”, he is looking forward to giving his time to help the school.
There is still 1 vacancy for a Foundation Governor – this is reserved for practising Catholics and must be nominated by Fr Ross. If you feel it could be you, please come and speak to one of us.
Online Safety News
When children turn 11, they can open their own children’s bank account. This is great for teaching them about money, budgeting and finance but it comes with its own risks. This week’s Online Safety newsletter is all about ‘Money Muling’. This is when a child is persuaded to transfer funds into and out of their account. This is very likely to be funds obtained illegally and the child’s account is used to ‘launder’ the money so that it can be used again without the criminal activity attached to it. The child is told they can keep a small amount for doing this ‘favour’, not realised what they have got themselves embroiled in. The attached poster gives helpful tips and ideas to keep your children safe in the world of digital money. Please share widely with anyone you think would benefit.
Mrs Claridge
This Sunday's Gospel tells us about Jesus’ selfless act of giving his life for his friends: while we might never be called upon to make this ultimate sacrifice, we can nevertheless show this love in our welcoming and hospitality towards others.
Have a lovely weekend.
Michael Lobo