Dear Parents

Book Week 

Thank you for your amazing support for our Book Week over the last few days!   Our children have thoroughly enjoyed thinking about their favourite books and completing lots of activities and challenges relating to them.  Hopefully this will have inspired them to find new book characters to meet or new authors to explore.  Please see below / in our News and Events tab for some great photos from Book Week:

• KS1 Author Visit
• KS1 Library Visit
• Book Character Potatoes (on display after school this evening!)
• Poetry Festival
• World Book Day Costumes
• Illustrators Artwork Padlet  click here
• Book Week 2022 Padlet click here

Alongside all these amazing activities, it is great that so many children have found lots (and lots!) of opportunities to read and be read to!  Thank you so much for supporting the Parent Association Sponsored Read - the fantastic total raised so far is: £3500!  If you haven’t yet sent in your child’s donations, the link to do so is scopay.com.

Lent

Thank you to parents who joined us on Ash Wednesday to mark the start of Lent.  It was a prayerful and humbling experience for our Year 6 Prayer Council children who administered ashes to all who presented themselves: children, parents and staff.  The ashes, with the words, “Remember Jesus loves you,” remind us to spend the 40 days of Lent in preparation for Easter.  Children have made their Lenten promises in class this week

Year 5 parents and children made a good start to Lent this week with their attendance at early morning Mass in St Erconwald’s parish with Fr Ruslan.  Opal Class had a visit from Fr Richard as part of his regular Friday class visits; he will also be saying the class Mass for Opal Class next Friday afternoon, to which all parents are invited.

On Wednesday, we are holding our whole school Lent Lunch with the theme “live simply.” Especially given the world situation at present, it is a good time for us to give thanks for what we have and to remember those who have less than we do.  The Lent donations will go to the Pope’s children’s charity “Missio.”  School dinner on that day will be a simple pasta dish and fruit.  Children in KS2 are invited to bring in a cup-a-soup and eat simply together in their classrooms with their teachers.  It would be great if all KS2 children were able to take part.

Support for the Ukrainian People

For Refugees: Thank you for your charitable donations to the appeal for Ukrainian refugees now in Poland.  These will be collected by ACS Cobham on Monday and will be shipped to the Polish boarder by their Polish charity partners.

For those in Ukraine: As advised previously, Fr Ruslan (Ukrainian parish priest of St Erconwald’s parish) has family and friends in Ukraine and is co-ordinating donations for contacts direct in Ukraine itself.  There is a collection of goods at church this weekend. The items needed are:

Children food

Military cloth

Boots

Coffee

Socks

Cans of meat or fish

Soap

Toothbrushes

Face Flannels

Jumpers/Coats Hats/Scarves/Gloves

Ladies and Gents Underwear

Sleeping Bags

First Aid Kits

Paracetamol

Sweets

or financial donations can be made to the Parish Account: Sort Code 40 05 20 Account No 01126393, payable to RCD A&B St Erconwalds Walton on Thames.  ref Ukraine.

Show of Support:  There are daily gatherings for peace in Trafalgar Square at present.  Fr Ruslan is hoping to co-ordinate a local group to travel to Trafalgar Square to show support for peace in Ukraine between 2 and 4pm on Sunday 6^th March - he would appreciate your support.

Prayer:  As a Catholic community, let us remember in prayer all those who are afraid or suffering at this time.  There will be a Prayer Vigil held at St Erconwald’s at 8pm on Thursday evening to show our support for peace.

The CAFOD prayer for Ukraine reads as follows:

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.  

We can also pray the Hail Mary for Ukraine, as St John Paul the Great did in 2001 before the icon of Our Lady of Zarvaniza in Kyiv.  He prayed:

Holy Mother of God,
spread your maternal mantle over all Christians
and over all people of good will
who live in this great nation.

Talking to the children about War in Ukraine:  As a school community, we have a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  Some have family members fighting on the front line in Ukraine; some have family in Russia who are struggling to comprehend the news, still others have family in Poland who are supporting the refugee crisis there.  Some of our children have close experience of loss in their own family; some of our children struggle with anxiety even in good times. 

All families have different needs and approaches; if you want to, we would encourage you to talk to your children honestly but calmly and factually, especially if they have questions about the situation. The UK Government has also addressed this topic with advice for parents here:

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/02/25/help-for-teachers-and-families-to-talk-to-pupils-about-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-and-how-to-help-them-avoid-misinformation/

There are some news sources written especially for children and these may be the most appropriate place to start, for example:

First News (6-page Ukraine special - free access)

https://subscribe.firstnews.co.uk/ukraine-special-report-free-access/

As we go forward into Lent, let us give thanks for all the blessings in our lives and let us do what we can to support those in need with prayer and good works.

All best wishes for the weekend

Catherine Burnham