Our Pod

We are progressing well with the new Pod where our old pirate ship once was. The Pod will be used to create a quiet space for children to work either 1:1 or in a small group, in particular to help us to support their emotional wellbeing. As a school, we pride ourselves on the support we provide for children to support their emotional and mental health-either through work with Mrs. Madgwick, our Learning Mentor, through our Playtherapist, Evelyn or through external agencies. We hope to announce an opening date shortly.

Pirate Ship News and Forest Schools

As part of the programme of works or the Pod we hope to replace the pirate ship elsewhere on the grounds-watch this space for updates. We are also developing an area by the totem poles which we will be using for internal Forest schools; this is work in progress and the area will be out of bounds for a short while. Please work with us to ensure that your children keep away from this area before and after school.

Growth Mindset

Are we all born with natural intelligence/ability, or can we develop it? As a school, we strongly believe that success is a combination of natural ability/talent (what we are born with) and mindset.

What is “Growth Mindset”?

· Intelligence is not set in stone

· The belief that we can all improve

· Knowing that our talents can be developed

· Knowledge that we can be better

As a school we have been doing a lot of work with the children about “Growth Mindset”. We spend time identifying the attitudes and behaviours we need to work on in order to improve. This term we will focus on:

· Overcoming obstacles (keep going if we get stuck)

· Taking risks

Please continue to encourage and praise your children when they persevere, in particular, with their home learning.

Congratulations to Anna who has written a beautiful poem about Advent:

I have a gift from God above,

Sent with lots and lots of love.

Wrapped in blankets, laid on hay,

And to Him all of us must pray.

God gave us all this little gift,

In hope that our souls it would lift

Up to heaven, up to Him,

Where our hearts’ love cannot dim.

We need this gift for he’s our saviour,

He saved us from the hard labour

Of carrying with us our hate, our sin,

He gave us love, love within.

God gave us all His mighty Son,

For He’s the saviour, He’s the one.

For this gift we must prepare,

By spreading love into the air,

And using a wreath to count down,

To the day when He’ll give his crown

To Jesus, Lord of all the earth

As we celebrate Christ’s time of birth.

Give your views about our school at any time via the Ofsted Parentview portal

Follow the link

https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/

Charity Day

Thank you all of you who sponsored the children to complete their Mile for Children in Need and our Deanery Charity, FEAST India.

The children all loved being in sportswear and really got into the spirit of what the day was about, some ran, some jogged, some walked, some skipped, some wheeled and several wheezed including a few teachers! So far we have raised nearly £3000.00 and the total continues to rise. Thank you for all of your enormous generosity.

St.Richard's is an outstanding Catholic school because:

The school's Mission Statement is fully embedded in school life

Leaders are excellent role models and an inspiration to all

The quality of teaching,learning and assessment in Religious Education is outstanding

The explicit Catholic ethos is visibly evident from the point of entry to the school

Congratulations to all our staff and children on an amazing achievement!

On Friday the 16^th November we will be holding a Charity Day in school to raise money for two charities: Children in Need and FEAST India (Our Deanery Advent Charity). The money raised will be split equally between the two charities.

On Friday, Children will be running or walking a sponsored mile around the school field. Please do sponsor your child by recording on this form, and then sending sponsorship money with the form into your child’s CLASSROOM on Friday 16^th.

We are inviting children to wear sports clothing all day. This could be:

• Tracksuits

• Football kits

• Leggings and jumpers

Please do consider that it may be cold outside, so appropriate clothing must be worn. Your child will need to wear trainers on the day as well.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to St. Richards after a wonderful summer break. We welcomed the children to their new year groups during a school assembly this morning and everyone seems very happy and settled already.

We have a busy term planned so we shall keep in touch via Parentmail, our weekly newsletter and our reception video. Please remember you can arrange to speak with your child's teacher whenever you need to, just ask to arrange an appointment.

Clubs will be starting shortly and these will be announced in this weeks newsletter, all forms can be found in the folder in the reception area.

We look forward to a busy and successful term culminating in all of our festive Christmas activities.

Please do visit Mrs. Farrands in the office if you have an questions.