First Communion celebration on June 16th was a great occasion for children and their families, the children worked very hard to make sure they read well, that they danced well and that it was a joyful service.

· On Wednesday 4th July pupils in Years 5 and 6 will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, which we also hope will be a joyful occasion for all, please keep the pupils in your prayers.

· Thank you on behalf of the catechists for the beautiful bouquets we received from the parents, they were much appreciated.

· A Thank You to parents and pupils who have taken the issue of School Meals as a concern and contributed comments, suggestions and their support to the action we have taken. We are continuing to work on improvements and will keep parents informed.

· The visit to Kingswood for Year 6 pupils the week of 18th June was a great opportunity for the pupils to work with instructors on challenging mental and physical tasks, co-operating and developing team building skills, although the week was tiring for both pupils and teachers Miss Hunt and Mrs McMillan were very pleased with the behaviour of our pupils during the week.
We have provisionally booked Kingswood (Dukeshouse Wood) for Yr 6 residential next summer. A savings plan will be offered to parents as a means of spreading the cost throughout the year.
The response of parents to the possibility of having a residential outdoor activity at Blaithwaite House in Cumbria for 29 year 5 pupils was 11 in favour, 1 did not agree and 17 did not respond.
The response of parents to the possibility of having a residential activity for 34 year 4 pupils was 20 in favour, 2 did not agree and 12 did not respond.
· As we have two opportunities for parents to meet their child’s teacher in the Autumn and Spring Terms we do not have a formal appointment during the Summer Term. End of year reports for all pupils will be sent out from school with your child in an envelope on Monday 16th July. If there are any issues arising from the report please do not hesitate to contact school.

· On Monday 9th July the parents of Year 2 pupils are invited to attend “An Information for Parents Session� at 6 p.m. in the School Hall. The aim of the meeting is to outline the structures and routines in Key Stage 2 and answer any questions you may have. Any other parent in Key Stage 2 is also welcome to attend if they wish. To give an indication of numbers can you please complete the tear off slip at the bottom of this Newsletter.

· Sports Day is planned for Tuesday 10th July. Although we remain positive about Sports Day, it is obviously dependent on the weather. So far we have been unable to practice or mark out the school field, so we will have to wait to see what the weather brings! The reserve day is Tuesday 17th should the weather let us down.

· Year 5 and Year 6 are working on an end of year production of Robin Hood. An evening performance on Wednesday 18th July at 6.00 p.m. and an afternoon performance on Thursday 19th July at 2.00 p.m.

· There is a whole school Mass on Thursday 19th July at 9.30 a.m. to which ‘all are welcome’.

· There will be no swimming or P.E. on the last day of the school year, which is Friday 20th July.

· We are delighted to have achieved the newly recognised National Healthy School Award for 2007. Pupils from Year 2, attended the award ceremony last week and performed a skipping demonstration, they were wonderful.

· We have also achieved the requirements to be awarded the Impetus Award; this is a relatively new award. The presentation of this award will be made on Tuesday 10th July at the Civic Centre. Pupils who represented the school at the assessment session are invited to attend the award ceremony. The aims of the Impetus Award are:-

1. To highlight three chosen areas of the UNICEF Children’s Charter, focussing in particular on Rights, Roles and Responsibilities.
2. As a whole school to revisit specific articles of the Children’s Rights and Responsibilities in particular 8 of the Millennium Development Goals.
3. To focus on the impact of these goals both globally and in our own school.
4. For all pupils to have an increased awareness of their own place within the world and how they can contribute to global issues and improvement.
5. To extend and develop our current buddy system.
6. To develop our main focus for this year which is to introduce an improved opportunity for all pupils to feel safer and happier in the yard or when playing outside.

To achieve this award, points 3, 5 and 6 have had an impact on the newly created Playground Pals system, which all pupils are aware of and benefit from.

· The Rights Respecting School Award is a newly launched award from UNICEF and we have worked closely as a school with the UNICEF team since 2001. Therefore we were happy to take part in the pilot preparations over the last two years for this award. We were formally assessed on Friday 29th June and we are one of only three schools in the country to achieve this national award. It will be presented on Wednesday 4th July, Mrs Ostell and Mr Robson (Governor) will attend the ceremony to collect this award.

· The Comenius Project for this year has been particularly successful with our new partners in Germany, Spain and Italy. The focus has been on artists of each region. Mrs Kelly, Mrs Norman and Mrs Armstrong visited ATRI in May “and were treated like royalty�, with a brass band to welcome them, the Mayor to receive them and acted as host to them with a television report on the local news. So pupils in Italy know all about St Mary’s School, have examples of their artwork and knowledge of Ivan Lindsay the local artist based in Tynemouth. We will host the Comenius visitors in the Autumn term.

· The Global Partnership Project continues to grow in strength and is now embedded in our school curriculum. Mr Wachira, Miss Mubuthia, Sr Sylvia, Mr McCarthy, Miss Hunt, Mrs McMillan and Fr Humble have all taken part in mobility visits this year. The pupils in both schools gain from these visits and the partnership will continue in the future. Sr. Victoria and Sr. Joyce are due to visit St. Mary’s and the parish community from 12th July to 12th August. I am sure you will make them welcome. We visited the Mbogini Water Project, which is a three-parish partnership development and to which our pupils contributed last year when they took part in the sponsored swim. The first part of the project is complete but the funding was insufficient to lay piping in the second stage. The communities of the three parishes, St. Mary’s, Immaculate Heart, and St. Philip’s would like to raise sufficient funds to take the water pipes to the bottom of the hill. As a contribution from school we would intend to have a Sponsored Swim on Friday 13th July, when the sisters are here and they can help to count lengths for Key Stage 2 pupils and a sponsored skip for Key Stage 1 pupils. As with the event last year it will be an accumulated total to which all swimmers, whatever their ability can contribute. We look forward to your support.

· The Friends of St Mary’s carry out an amazing amount of fund raising efforts to benefit all pupils, I have always been very impressed and grateful for the work they do. Over the last 3-4 years the efforts have been OUTSTANDING and I would like to thank on everyone’s behalf those parents of year 6 pupils who will leave our school for their support and dedication.

Toy Day

On the final day of term we normally have a toy day in each class. Your child/ren need(s) to bring a toy that they can play with throughout the day. A game they could share would be a good idea. Any item that requires electricity/batteries or makes a lot of noise is not really appropriate on this day. Any toy/game with very small parts could also be dangerous so please choose carefully. Remember precious items could be lost or broken.

Information Meeting for Yr 2 Parents (all parents welcome)

I/We…………………………………………………………. will/will not be able to attend the meeting for pupils moving from Year 2 to Year 3 on Monday July 6th at 6.00p.m.

Signed……………………………………………………………………………