Wow! What a week! Advent is a lovely time to be in school, with all the preparations for Christmas underway! This week we had the joy of the Years 1-3 Nativity plays. Both performances were really well attended (definitely an argument for tiered seating in our new hall extension!!) and it was lovely to see how excited the children were with all their special visitors. At both performances, the children sang and played their instruments beautifully and the actors were so loud and clear, telling the story of the Nativity for all to hear. It was a joy to watch them and many parents and grandparents told me how much they enjoyed the show! Well done to Years 1-3! Next week, it will be the turn of Years 4-6 in the Carol Service at St Erconwald’s Church.
Huge thanks to the Parent Association – and especially to all those who co-ordinated and oversaw the big event of the Christmas Fair last Saturday. It was a lovely family occasion and I know that lots of families really enjoyed the different activities which had been laid on! Olaf and Elsa were a big hit with the little ones (and some of the big ones too!) while the fire engine fascinated big and small alike. It was lovely to see so many former pupils who had come back to visit (and told me the school was much smaller than they remembered!) The Governors were delighted with all the interest in the Buy a Brick scheme for the hall and they answered lots of questions about the project. Thank you to everyone who came and volunteered their time, spent their money and contributed to the wonderful atmosphere. We raised around £4,000 which we hope will go towards kitting out the new hall (Watch this space for that tiered seating!). Thank you!
It was a week of visits from former pupils, as we had a musical spectacular from the Salesian Jazz Band on Tuesday afternoon and we were delighted to find that 5 of the members were former pupils of Cardinal Newman, including one from last year’s Y6. Both key stages thoroughly enjoyed listening to the band and there was a lot of dancing in and out of the hall through the afternoon. We hope the experience may inspire some of our keen musicians to continue their practice and work towards coming back to perform at Cardinal Newman themselves one day!
We heard a heartwarming story this week from the charity “Sal’s Shoes” who collected the shoes we donated at the end of the Summer Term. You may remember it was a very wet July day and the children left their school shoes on their desks and came out to the playground barefoot. The experience itself was very powerful for the children, but I have also shared with them today the feedback we had from the charity. They sent us a photo of one of the pairs of shoes (Lily’s) and told us that her shoes are now being worn by a little girl called Maria who sent a message to say “Please tell Lily I got the shoes she sent me.” Maria lives in the “dry zone” in Nicaragua and they have to walk 2 hours every day to get water for the village (and 2 hours back). What a great use of the shoes you all donated!
Finally, looking ahead to next week, we are eagerly anticipating the Christmas pantomime and Christmas lunch on Tuesday - please remember to send your children in their Christmas jumpers on that day to make it extra specially festive.
All best wishes
Catherine Burnham
