Make a crib together…
Last weekend in the Bishops Pastoral Letter - which was read out at church; Bishop Paul asked all families to make a crib at home during Advent, a special way to get ourselves ready for Christ’s coming.
There is an old Mexican custom where, during Advent, people dressed as Mary and Joseph and travelled around their villages knocking at peoples’ doors to see who would give them hospitality.
This custom has been adapted around the world through the idea of a ‘Travelling Crib’, which involves the model figures of a nativity scene being passed from house to house each night during Advent, before being brought to Church on Christmas Eve. This journey symbolises Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. On their designated night, host families set up the crib in their homes and use the opportunity to stop what they were doing and think as a family about the true meaning of Christmas. It is a unique way to help families prepare for Christmas, that schools and churches have been facilitating for years.
The buttons below have a link to the website (larger button) and a copy of the slides (in case you cannot access the website, and also the ‘cut-outs’ which are templates of all the nativity figures which you can decorate and cut out together ready to read the story together with your child/family. You can then take a photo of your family’s complete crib and send it to the class either through your class email or Dojo. Your teachers would love to see what you have made!!!!
Go on… try to make your own crib this year!
Keeping everyone safe.
You will have heard on the news about the new variant of Covid which is now spreading throughout the world.
All Blackpool schools have been advised by Dr Arif Rajpura - our Director of Public Health, to take extra precautions in the run up to Christmas "In order to reduce the risk of COVID and other winter-borne viruses we are advising schools to carefully consider and risk assess non-essential activities.” As a school we are therefore putting back in place the protective measures we had during and between lockdowns, in the hope that we can try to keep our children and staff as safe as possible and mitigate any risks present. In this way you will know that we have taken the decision not to have any public performances of our nativities & concerts, but instead to film them and have them available on the website for families to view as we break for Christmas.
We do urge parents however, to take all symptoms seriously and book a PCR test if in any doubt. We have also increased mask wearing for adults in school and also handwashing for the children. It would also be advisable for parents to wear masks when picking up at dropping off times as these are the times when we are at most risk. Please do not take risks with your health at this time!
E-Scooters
E-Scooters have been in the news over the past months as an eco-friendly method of transport.
Some parents may have been considering one of these for a Christmas present so I wanted to share with you the latest information we have received from Lancashire Police…
“…Currently it is illegal to ride an E-Scooter on a public road or pavement in Lancashire. They are classed as a motor vehicle and subject to the same legal requirements such as MOT, Tax, Licensing and Insurance.
The attached leaflet explains in more detail what the situation is regarding E-Scooters; the fact that they cannot be ridden on the public highway and so should not be ridden to school. We would appreciate it if you could make your students and parents/guardians aware of this information prior to the end of term, especially if they are considering these as Christmas presents. “
Please see attached leaflet:
Christmas Cards
A quick reminder about our school policy regarding Christmas Cards for our new parents/families or anyone who has joined school this year.
At Our Lady of the Assumption we are trying to cut down on waste in our environment & for many years of children giving each other cards, we found that they would be left at school, lying all over classrooms corridors etc; in other words… WASTED!
For the past five or more years, if children want to bring a card, we now simply ask for 1 card to be written for the whole class and teacher displays that and celebrates the child for their kindness. If you feel you would like to ‘give’ anything more, then we ask that a £1 donation is sent in and this is put towards a local/national charity ie CAFOD or Brian House.
Thank you all for your support with this.
Christmas Holidays
School closes at 2pm on Friday 17th December and we re-open for Spring Term on Tuesday 4th January 2021.
*Please note that After School Provision is available on this date from 2pm - 4.30pm when the club will close for Christmas.
Wishing you a lovely safe weekend & we hope you can get some rest and relaxation with your child/children. The children all appear very tired at the moment - so perhaps a few early nights are in order so we can all enjoy the celebrations of the rest of Advent.
Take care of yourselves
Miss Haggerty
