It has been a very difficult week for all of us at school this week. Our wonderful Mrs Comarmond has been suddenly taken from us and we are all at a loss. The children in Y2, led by Miss McNabb, celebrated a beautiful liturgy in her memory earlier in the week and we have all been praying for her and her family. Thank you to all of you for your wishes and cards – it means a lot to the family to know how much she was loved by the school community. More details to follow about how we will be celebrating and commemorating her presence in our lives.
Staff Changes
At the end of the year, we’ll be saying farewell to the following staff:
Miss Sarah Watkins, our Assistant Headteacher, is leaving us, having been at St Patrick’s for 6 years, firstly as a class teacher and latterly as our Assistant Headteacher. She has played a big part in leading and improving the teaching of English across the school and has taught in several year groups. The children will miss her focused and patient approach and we wish her and her family all the best for their big move.
Mrs Cathy Anderson, is retiring after over 20 years service to St Patrick’s. In that time she has taught many different year groups and countless children and showed herself to be a dedicated and caring teacher, who many past pupils look upon fondly. She has been a supportive colleague, who many of the staff have turned to for advice and will be sadly missed by children and staff. St Patrick’s will be a strange place without her!
Mrs Anne French-Bell, is retiring after a long and distinguished career in teaching. She has been with us for 3 years now, supporting booster groups and teaching Year 6. She has also been our RE leader and has guided the staff and children in their spiritual and worship life. We wish her all the best for a happy retirement.
Mr Pablo Alonso is relocating slightly further afield to Switzerland! He came to us as our PE and languages specialist (being fluent in several languages) but this year has stepped in as a Year 3 teacher as well. He has done a lot of work to raise the profile of sports and PE in our school and even managed to achieve the Sports Mark at Silver Level for the school. Good luck to Mr Alonso in his move abroad.
Mrs Ewa Pabis is taking up a post as an EAL Specialist Assistant at St George’s School. She has worked as a teaching assistant for several years and before that as a midday supervisor and has been a great support to all our teachers and children. We wish her the best of luck in her new post.
We welcome the following new staff to our team:
Miss Amber Hobbs, Year 1 class teacher
Miss Sophie Chambers, Year 2 class teacher
Miss Ciara Flanagan, Year 3 class teacher
Mr Matthew Travers, Year 5 class teacher
Mr Adam Porter, Sports Leader
Teachers and Classes for Next year
Mrs Thomas, Ms Alexander, Mrs Vaughan, Mr Porter and Mrs Bignell will be doing specialist teaching across the school.
Parents of children in the current Years 4 and 5 will receive an email later today to say which class their child will be in next year.
Next Wednesday 7th July, we will be having a transition morning where the children will meet their new teachers and we are hoping to have some further opportunities for this over the last weeks of term, depending on what we can safely do within Covid rules.
Holiday Club
We have so many children interested that we need to recruit more staff in order to be able to run this for everyone. If you know anyone that might be interested in this work over the summer holidays, please encourage them to apply – details on the school website:
SPSA
A big thank you to the SPSA who continue to work in the background for our children. They are currently buying each year group a large box of playground equipment, are finishing off delivering the fabulous tea towels and are also planning a special day for the children for the end of term.
Year 6 Sculptures
Year 6 have finished their fabulous sculptures in the style of Giacometti – see photos attached!
Parent Carer Forum
The Southampton Parent Carer forum is a group of parents and carers of children with special needs or disabilities. If you would like to get involved with them, or would like to know about receiving support from them, they are holding an open day - details in the flyer attached. Parents/carers and children can attend.
This Sunday’s gospel tells us that Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith amongst the people of his home town: we must try to put all our hope in the Lord, particularly in times of difficulty and hardship. Mrs Comarmond’s loss is felt most deeply by those of us left behind, but she was a person of great faith and is no doubt smiling down at us all now.
Have a lovely weekend,
Michael Lobo
