Newsletters

Easter Approaches!

Well, we're almost at Easter, and we can almost silently celebrate, without hubris,  giving the kids a good 3 week run in. Please continue to be massively vigilant in supporting us in trying to keep COVID out of school for as long as we can. We do that by strictly following the guidelines, and at times being devilish and fastidious with the latest detail and by being punctilious with regard kids symptoms. 

If your kid has any of the major symptoms of COVID found in children (Fever, cough, runny nose/nasal congestion, muscle aches all are major indicators of COVID in kids) please keep your child, and any siblings off school, and book a PCR test. If any adult in your house has any of the major symptoms of COVID found in adults (Temperature, Cough, Change to taste or smell) please keep your child, and any siblings off school, and book a PCR test. Really, in both these cases the whole household should self isolate until the results of the PCR are in. 

A day or two inconvenience for a household is preferable to 10 days isolation for 30 households. 

many, many, many thanks for your cooperation, support and understanding (if not always full agreement) from where I'm coming from. Appreciate it. 

Covid Catch Up Plans (CUP!) 

Well let's take our time, let's make plans, lets begin to plug the gaps. We'll be taking our time in this, using common sense, using our skills for the benefit of the kids. It requires careful thought, humility, flexibility, but it's not rocket science. We know what's been missed. We know the gaps. We'll sort it. Easily, calmly and subtly. 

For the rest of this academic year we will focus on Year 6, who will be leaving us in July, and our youngest kids - reception and Year 1.

Year 6 have been invited to stay in school for the 1st week of the Easter holidays. This is a unique opportunity in my eyes. An opportunity where the stars have aligned. The kids  only been in school for 3 weeks, so are not overly fatigued, it's a 2 week holiday, meaning they can chill and play during the 2nd week, and staff are willing to run them. So we're on. We will also be running after school boosters for year 6 kids similar to what we normally run for SAT's, but they will be open to all, and will run later in the term. We have that flexibility with SATs being cancelled nationally. This will plug some, not all, of the gaps created during the 2 lockdowns these kids have faced, giving them the very best start in secondary education. 

We welcome back Rachel Steel, who has reverted to her maiden name now of Smith following her very long maternity! Rachel will be working with small groups of kids from Reception and Year 1, once again teaching units of work that they have missed during lockdowns. Rachel will work with reception in the mornings, and year 1 in the afternoons until summer. This will mean, potentially, that after September the new reception, new year 1 and new year 2 kids will be there or there abouts, meaning we can focus on the Junior kids after summer. After summer Michelle will not be class based. We will be appointing two new teachers for after summer to release Michelle, and NIc (who will be on maternity until around Christmas time) Michelle, and Nic when she returns, will team teach in the morning, boosting kids, plugging gaps, and allowing teachers to share their teaching brilliance. in the afternoon they wil teach groups of kids missed learning. this will be done in groups of 6. In essence the same session will be taught to each group, meaning over the course of the week all the kids will have had teh same gaps plugged, whilst being able to continue their education in other subjects. It won't be perfect, the plans will change, but it's a starting point. 

JOB OPPORTUNITIES – WELFARE.

We have a vacancies, working 12.00pm – 1.30pm.
If you have made it this far in the newsletter, you will now realise that we have couple of job vacancies. Are you interested in joining the team here at St George’s? We are look-ing for new welfare staff to increase the size of the team, which will allow the children to make even more of our amazing grounds at lunchtime. You will work from 12 until 1.30 Monday to Friday during term time. If you are interested in this delightful role, send me an email please, and we will meet up over Easter for a chat. head@st-georges.lancs.sch.uk  (£9.30 per hour salary)

The Easter story, upon us quite pacely will hopefully bring a welcome break from COVID. The season brings many challenges to us relating to faith and the attitudes with which we face our lives. Perhaps one or two of you are ‘mature’ enough to remember a Pepsi ad’ with the tag line; ‘Come Alive with Pepsi!’ Apparently when translated into Chinese the interpretation comes out as ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!’ I wonder how the people in Beijing, passing the billboards with this ad’ on, reacted? Presumably, they had to decide whether the claim was true or not.

How many of us have learnt the hard way that it’s impossible to eat 6 cream crackers in a minute with no water; yet I plan this year in our final assembly to prove that it is possible to step through a playing card. Some things that seem possible are impossible and, likewise, some things that seem impossible are possible, but unless we witness them first hand we have to decide whether to have the faith in what we’re told about them. Over Easter we celebrate the belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead (without the aid of Pepsi!). Over two billion people on our planet choose to believe this, despite the fact that none of them were there at the time. How far we each believe is our choice… but if we do have faith in the resurrection of Christ, what does it mean for the way we live our lives?

Back to Pepsi… if a Pepsi bottle is full to the half-way point is it half-full or half-empty? Of course, it depends on how you look at it. This is a good image, I think, for how people look at life: some focus on all the things that are going wrong and wake each day with a sense of dread, while others focus on the things that are going right and give thanks for the things that they are grateful for. It was like this for the characters in the Easter story; as the disciples and followers of Jesus lost hope and saw their world crashing down around them only Jesus could see the positive side of events as they unfolded. He faced his death with serenity because he knew that his suffering was part of a bigger plan and that he would rise again.

We believe that on the first Easter Sunday, Jesus rose again. He came back to life, defying the expectations of his friends and his enemies. We also believe that in this event good overcame evil, life is stronger than death, light shines through the darkness and the half-full bottle is superior to the half-empty bottle.

And that’s the challenge for us: if we believe in the resurrection we need to take the half-full approach to life. Life undoubtedly has its challenges for each and every one of us - the last 12 months hahas more than proven that, but with a belief that the bottle is at least half-full we can tackle those challenges head on and overcome them.

The Easter story provides us with the hope and inspiration to take a half-full approach to the teaching of your/our children.

I wish you all the love, hope and inspiration of the season…. And may I conclude by reminding you that….. Other Colas are available.