Pastoral letter from Bishop John

 

Please find attached a pastoral letter from Bishop John.

PASTORAL LETTER OF  THE RIGHT REVEREND  JOHN ARNOLD
 BISHOP OF SALFORD  

To be distributed in June 2020
 
My dear brothers and sisters,

I want to write to you and assure you that my thoughts and prayers are with you all, at this time. There are many resources available on the Diocesan website and being circulated among parish communities, by Catholic organisations and among small groups. It has been very encouraging to see so many positive and practical initiatives during these difficult times – not least in the live-streaming of Masses, liturgies, and devotions. My thanks and sincere appreciation to all who have been so imaginative in minimising the impact of physical isolation and allowing people to feel included and a part of community in so many different ways. This includes the contact by phone and other initiatives for those who do not have access to the internet and live streaming.  All churches were closed in March by government directive out of concern for the safety and well-being of people. Public gatherings were banned as an attempt to limit the danger of contagion. And safety must continue to be our priority as we move towards the re-opening of churches.

Even when churches are allowed to re-open on Monday 15th June, not all churches will be able to re-open at once. It is intended that several named churches, spread around the Diocese, will be ready to open for private prayer, and are currently being prepared. Other churches will follow as quickly as it can be assured that they are able to fulfil the conditions for cleanliness, and social distancing. All parishes will be assisted in these preparations. It is likely to be several more weeks before we will be able to celebrate Mass publicly and, even when that is possible, social distancing will limit the numbers of people able to attend – even in our largest church buildings. We must all be patient. We are under no obligation to attend Mass during this time, and making spiritual communion is a powerful way to welcome Christ into our lives at home. During this time, we have every reason to be grateful to all who have been working on the frontline, in hospitals, care homes, in the community and emergency services and all those ensuring vital supplies. Many of them are our own parishioners.

It is real faith in action.
It is important that we continue to remember those who have died and those who have lost loved ones during this time. It must be particularly difficult to have the funeral of a loved one under present circumstances. In addition to any individual Requiem Mass or Memorial Service for those who have died during this period, it will be important that each parish has some form of special Memorial Services to which all the bereaved are invited as an opportunity to support each other in faith. The limitations on our personal freedom should not restrict, in any way, our lived practice of our Faith.

On the contrary, we are being called to re-visit and develop our private prayer, our understanding that – wherever we are – we are the Church, members of the Body of Christ. We are invited to build that sense of “Church at home”, renewing the reality stated in St John’s Gospel “Remain in me as I in you” (Jn 15:7), and “He is with you, He is in you” (Jn 14:17). Christ lives in us wherever we may be. I am so impressed by the many creative ways that people have found to encourage each other in prayer. Hopefully, this will continue in our journey ahead, centred on Christ and guided in prayer.  Pope Francis is adamant that we are best able to express ourselves as Church when we can come together for the celebration of the Sacraments, to pray together and then to go out as missionary disciples, especially to the poor and the marginalised. But Pope Francis also recognises that this is not always possible but that does not restrict us from being Church and “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor 5:20). And during this difficult time of not having access to our churches and while we are unable to participate fully  in Mass and other liturgies we can be in solidarity with those many Catholics throughout the world who, because of persecution or military conflict, are unable to receive sacraments for years on end. There are many people, in the squalor of refugee camps, who have no access to a place of prayer or sacrament. But they are very clearly Catholics to be admired for their strength of Faith. We must now be absolutely sure to think globally and understand the impact that we have on one another throughout the world, and how we depend on others as they depend on us.

We can no longer simply look inwards to our own needs and welfare. In these last three months many of us have been living our lives quite differently with our walking and cycling, reduced shopping. Is this a sign of a “new normal”? The pandemic has taught us that we are all so closely connected, across all nations, which is a lesson that Pope Francis has been teaching, particularly in his encyclical letter “Laudato Si”, where he appeals to us all to recognise our duties to all our brothers and sisters and our care for our common home. It is said that we are the first generation that has learned about the damage that we are doing to our environment and we may be the last generation to be able to avoid irreversible damage for future generations. The recent violence in the United States is a further reminder of our need to think globally and to recognise the dignity of every person of whatever colour, creed, or gender. We are privileged to be entrusted with the challenge which, with the grace and power of God, working in us and through us, we can achieve for our children’s future. Let us make the pandemic a steppingstone to a brighter and safer world for all. Governments will need to collaborate, globally. Industry and technology must develop in more environmentally sustainable ways.

Every one of us must be determined to promote that global thinking and care in our homes and parishes and communities. “Stay with us, Lord, on our Journey” We ask the intercession of Mary, Our Mother, in a prayer of St Pope John Paul II ‘Mary, woman clothed with the sun, help us to fix our gaze on Christ amid the inevitable sufferings and problems of everyday life. Help us not to be afraid of following him to the very end, even when the cross seems unbearably heavy. Make us understand that this alone is the way which leads to the heights of salvation. And from heaven, where you shine forth as Queen and Mother of Mercy. Watch over each one of your children.’

Yours devotedly,

Bishop John

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to Roll

We are looking forward to welcoming our Year 6 children back into school on the 8th June (hopefully!).

Following the safety guidelines set out by the Government, school has been prepared and is ready for the children to return.

Class Dojo – Years 2,3 and 4

This week Class Dojo has been rolled out to parents and children in years 2, 3 and 4. Year 5 have been trialing the app for the past week and it has proved extremely successful. It is an excellent tool for communicating between school and home. Teachers are able to answer questions and queries relating to home learning and children can also upload their work to their own portfolio so teachers can have a look and provide feedback. 

All parents in years 2,3,4 and 5 should have now received an invitation to join Class Dojo and have also received a QR code so the children are able to set up their personal portfolios. Follow the instructions, download the app and you are ready to go. If you haven’t received your invitation or QR code please contact the school office. 

Posters, poems and comprehension!

More fantastic work from Year 5 submitted to Class Dojo. Cody has written a wonderful poem about his time in lockdown, how much he misses everyone and his frizzy hair! Amelie has designed an excellent poster encouraging everyone to stay happy and demonstrating social distancing with monsters! Finally, Ella has been hard at work completing extra comprehensions and maths work. Well done and keep it up.

Yr 5 Class Dojo protfolios

Members of Year 5 have begun uploading their work to their portfolio on Class Dojo for Mr Whittle to check, comment and feedback. They have been exceptionally busy with their home learning which is great to see. Cody has been busy with his maths and English and his Amazon research; Anna has been working hard on her grammar and writing and keeping up her running; Beth has got stuck into the art unit and produce a Monet style painting and Ruby has been having a go at Year 5′ D&T topic and making some delicious burgers.

If you haven’t already please follow the link in the invitation you have received and download the app. You will also have had an email with the QR code for your child’s portfolio so they can upload work too. Year 5 are trialing this for the rest of the school so please sign up if you can.

Year 5 Class Dojo

 

We have signed Year 5 up to Class Dojo. This an interactive tool which allows communication between school and home and we feel would be particularly useful at this time. You will hopefully have received an email which contains an invite to join and a link to download the app. Within the app all conversations between yourself and the class teacher (Mr Whittle) are private but there is also a whole class message board as well. We feel this will be particularly useful in providing feedback for children’s work as you are able to upload pictures for Mr Whittle to see and provide feedback, ask and answer any questions and queries and also to keep up-to-date. In addition, children can also login to their own portfolio and upload work for feedback or ask any questions.  Children can follow the QR code which will be emailed out as soon as possible. All is completely private and only the class message board is visible by all. 

We believe that this is a very exciting way of us staying connected and means we will be able to provide feedback to children and on the wonderful home learning that we know has been taking place.

If you have questions please contact school.

 

Jack and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks

Before school closed children in F1 took home a seed and planted it. Ellen has sent in this photo of hers which is now 45cm high! Each morning she is counting the leaves t see if it has grown. also, Lottie has been enjoying reading about Jack and the Beanstalk, rearranging jumbled sentences, making story maps and written her own idea for the story. Finally, Frankie has been acting Goldilocks and the Three Bears, putting them to bed and feeding them porridge and looking at different sized chairs, beds and bowls.

Year 3 Hard at work…

Year 3 continue to lead the way with their exceptionally hard work. Raymond has been working hard learning about the parts of a plant and keeping up with his RE work; at home Connor has been concentrating really hard and produced some brilliant work;  whilst Fern has written a wonderful poem about walking in the PE district; Logan and his brother Hadley made decorations to celebrate VE day, which looked wonderful and Noah has been learning about British inventions, heiroglyphics and keeping up with his reading. Well done to all of you.

VE day poem

Year 4 have put together a wonderful video to celebrate VE day last Friday. The children performed the poem VE Day by Angel Barrow. It was beautifully read and put together and was an excellent tribute. Well done to all involved. All the staff at school are very impressed with your efforts and are very proud of you all.

Video – Year 4 VE day poem

Heartsmart PSHE

In school we use the Heartsmart scheme of work to help children during PSHE lessons. They have produced a range of videos featuring Boris the Robot, that can be used at home and a range of fun family activities. They also have a live video each day on You Tube. Follow the link below.

Heartsmart Family

 

 

Helping the local food bank

Gracie ad Charlie have been hard at work helping out their local food bank. Last week they set up a family food bank at home, raising donations to deliver to St Mary’s food bank. Gracie and Charlie decorated a box with posters and left the box in their garden each day for all their local family, friends and neighbours to donate food items. They advertised the food bank by posting letters through our neighbours doors and with the help from mummy, posted on social media. The response over a week was amazing and they delivered our donations to the food bank. A brilliant way to help out the local community. Well doe to you both.

Anne Frank’s diary

Anne Frank’s diary has been the topic for Isabella. She has put a lot of time and effort into creating a very detailed timeline of Anne Frank. She has also researched her life and read parts of her famous diary and wrote about her life. Very detailed and interesting work.

Delicious burger!

William has been hard at work on his DT project researching different food groups and calories and their benefits to the human body.  He has then written a set of instructions for making a burger before following them to produce this delicious meal. Apparently, the best part was the eating. Being a burger expert I can agree that it looks amazing!

VE Day celebration

Jessica and Mollie have been hard at work learning about WW2. To help celebrate the girls decided to organise a ‘Stay At Home Street Party’ to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of the war. They wrote a letter and posted to their neighbours to encourage them to remember our heroes. they even had a reply from one of their neighbours. We think this is a wonderful idea girls and would love for you to let us know how your party goes. Well done.

Wonderful reading and maths

Our Year 3 pupils continue to be busy, which Mrs Farrell is most impressed with. James has continued to work very hard at home and has especially been enjoying reading the The Midnight Gang by David Walliams and has completed lots of maths work including work on fractions and using part-whole models. Brilliant work and keep it up.

Year 1 have been very busy…

Some more brilliant home learning this time from the children in year 1.  They have been finding out Eugenie Clark and the fascinating underwater creatures, producing magnificent artwork in the style of Kadinsky, finding out about old toys by asking Grandparents what they used to play with in the 1960s

and getting well under researching everybody’s favourite food for their science work. Miss Davies is extremely impressed with your hard work. Keep it up.

Eugenie Clark Information Video

Amazing Artwork

The children in school have been showing off their artistic sides this week. We have some Monet impressionist style paintings by Aiden, Nathan, Tyler and Mr Whittle, a few examples of abstract art and some Manchester skyline sunsets inspired by Mrs Farrell.

Virtual Netball

The children and staff in school today took part in the TCSSA virtual netball competition by throwing socks into a basket from 2 metres away. The children showed great aim and technique to contribute towards a score of 216 in total. I’m not sure how much of a help the staff were though!

Pyramids, the digestive system, mini-beasts and teeth!

Another array of brilliant examples of the home learning taking place by the children of St. Mary’s. Some of you are getting really stuck and look like you are really enjoying yourselves. Miss Davies, Mrs Farrell and Mr McQuillan are really impressed with your work and effort you have put in. Ethan has been busy making pyramids and sunflowers linked to his science and English whilst Jasmine looks like she has been having fun finding out all about mini-beasts. In year 4 Florence has produced some fantastic work on the teeth and Isabelle has also been finding out the human body but this time the digestive system. She has also produced some brilliant writing making use of expanded noun phrases.

Even more brilliant home learning

We have even more fantastic examples of your home learning being sent in. Matteo has been hard at work with his maths and English, whilst Caleb and Luca have bee hard at work planting seeds, drawing sunflower pictures and finding out funfacts. Finally, Bobby and Aria have been producing some fantastic artwork and enjoying their maths. Keep up the hard work.

TCSSA Virtual Netball Competition

 

This week would have been the annual TCSSA Netball competition which we as a school normally do exceptionally well in. However, due to the current situation it obviously can not take place. Therefore, in its place TCSSA have put together the Virtual Netball Competition. The rules of the competition are below. Please send in your results alongside pictures or videos so that we have a shot at winning. The more who take part the better. Good luck!

Virtual Netball Competition 2020

Plants, seeds and St. George

More brilliant examples of home-learning from the children of St. Mary’s who are getting thoroughly involved with the work set on the school website. From planting and observing seeds, looking at the differences between leaves and also finding out about our patron saint to celebrate St. George’s day. Fantastic work by all of you. Keep it up and keep the pictures coming in.

Amazing Home Learning!

Wow! The children of St. Mary’s are certainly getting stuck into their home learning and producing some amazing English, maths and lots of other amazing activities. Orlaith and James have been busy getting stuck into their maths and English work whilst the Days have been exceptionally busy making, baking and creating. Meanwhile, Josh has just received his caterpillars in the post and is looking forward to see their life-cycle first hand to match this terms topic of Spring and growth. Keep up the hard work and sending in your brilliant activities. All the teachers and staff love finding out about what you have been up to.

Home Learning

We have enjoyed looking at the photos coming into school showing children engaging in Home Learning. Nanci has really enjoyed her Art unit learning about Barbara Hepworth. She particularly liked making a sculpture in the style of this famous Artist. Well done Nanci!

 

Home Learning

Those children coming into school have also been enjoying their home learning activities. Today they have been doing some White Rose Maths, reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and answering questions about The Cat’s Journey. Well done children!

 

Thank You Key Workers!

Today the staff and children at Saint Mary’s wanted to show their gratitude to all key workers. We worked hard to create pictures and posters to thank those helping our country during this difficult time. The children talked about their parents and how they are helping the country. Thank You to all Key Workers!

 

Home Learning

Home learning for all year groups is now available on the class pages. Some of the work may need downloaded to look at but the majority should be able to be completed within the children’s home learning books.

For maths there are also links to both the Power Maths scheme of work which we follow in school and has been adapted for use at home and also the White Rose Hub which is very similar, easy to use and navigate.

Please continue to use Times Tables Rockstars (we can see who has been using it regularly) and reading on a daily basis.

Finally, don’t forget to keep fit and active with PE with Joe Wicks each morning.

Amazing Home Learning

More fantastic examples of what you have been up to at home. We have examples of home PE lessons, English and maths, shadows in science and some fantastic art work. Thank you to Amelia, Jasmine, Mollie and Aria for your work and sending in your pictures. Please keep sending in your work. We are especially keen to see the brilliant ways that you have been saying thank you to the NHS and key workers for their amazing work. Remember the email addres: pupils@stmarysdenton.com