Community
We have come to the end of our second full week of ‘lockdown’ restrictions and look to Jesus for our support through these difficult times. We also are aware that in the church’s calendar we have also reached the end of one liturgical year in the Feast of Christ the King which we celebrate this Sunday.
Reflecting upon this, I found myself thinking about a hymn I used to love that we would sing on this Feast… some of the words in the chorus read ”….. Light of the world, you have helped us to see; That we are one people…” I truly hope that as a community of faith we can continue to work together ‘as one people’ to give each other strength and hope in keeping one another safe through our words and actions during this time.
Lets work together as a community of love!
One way we can do this is by wearing our masks…
Another is by ensuring that we ‘look out for each other’ to keep others safe. I am particularly thinking about our roads around school and the way I have seen families park cars, reverse when children are around, stop on zig-zags to drop off children and just generally show little regard for others around when driving, parking and crossing roads. Governors and myself have sought help from local council, from traffic safety and from challenging people ourselves when we see any potentially dangerous situations. Unfortunately however, these situations seem to be increasing rather than decreasing. Please, please have thought and consideration for others and DO NOT block our neighbours driveways/entrances. Fr Jim couldn’t get out of his garage to a hospital call this week as families cars were parked right up to the cones he places outside his garage entrance/exit. I have had to ask several parents not to stop to drop off children on zig-zags outside the gates. When driving to & from school we MUST show consideration for others. It is vitally important for the safety of other families, our neigbours and our children.
Christmas Cards
As you have read above, we are coming to the end of the church’s year and next week the season of Advent will begin. Even with the restrictions which are in place throughout our country I’m sure many of your children will be thinking about bringing Christmas cards for others at this time, but PLEASE DON’T as we are trying our best to ensure that we are making things as safe as possible for everyone at school and restricting what comes in. Instead, why not write a Christmas card for people who are in hospital, in our hospice or nursing homes… and the people who are working there? I had a letter this week to ask if the children could write, draw or make cards for people confined to hospital during this time to cheer them as usually the children would sing, play or visit some of our local care homes for Christmas. Of course we are unable to do this during COVID restrictions. Instead we can put a box in school for any cards/pictures that children do want to bring in. These can then be quarantined and sent out safely to our hospitals and care homes before Christmas and will hopefully brighten the day of someone who is suffering during this time.
In the same way, many of our classes are trying to make recordings of some simple liturgies, poems, music and even Christmas jokes which we can send to the hospital over the coming few weeks. As you will also see on your childs class pages, there are several up and coming events which our school PTA have organised for our Advent Time. Please try to ensure that you follow the guidance given to ensure that we have fun, but also keep our children and others as safe as we can during this time.
Lancashire Day
On Friday, the annual Lancashire Day is celebrated. We have been asked by the Active Blackpool team to take part in a Mile Challenge throughout the day as part of a Lancashire Challenge which is happening during the week. This is an ideal opportunity to get as many children, young people and adults moving whilst celebrating our red rose county.
So, as part of our continuing ‘keeping active’ drive, we are going to participate by seeing how many ‘miles’ our classes can run/walk - using our daily mile track - throughout the week! We can also win prizes for school if we record our ‘miles of activity’! Let’s see what we can do! If families want to see more Lancashire Day events, quizzes, features etc then you can find out more on the Visit Lancashire website.
So, remembering that this weekends Gospel tells us that every act of kindness done to someone else is also done to Jesus Christ. We are encouraged to remember that our actions speak louder than words. We hope that by working together each one of us can be doing our best to be mindful of our own and each other’s safety and well-being.
God Bless
Miss Haggerty
