ST THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX CATHOLIC MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST SAINT HUGH’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY VOLUNTARY ACADEMY WOODFIELD AVENUE ~ DODDINGTON PARK ~ LINCOLN LN6 0SH TELEPHONE ~ 01522 501137 FACSIMILE ~ 01522 501145 EMAIL ~ enquiries@st-hughs-pri.lincs.sch.uk WEB ~ http://www.st-hughs-catholic-primary.co.uk

GREGORY HUGHES ~ Headteacher

TO: ALL PARENTS AND GUARDIANS 19th December 2019

Dear Parents/Guardians

CHRISTMAS 2019 NEWSLETTER

We have enjoyed a very successful and exciting festive period.

JOINT CATHOLIC SCHOOL ADVENT SERVICE

The choir and children from St Hugh’s, Our Lady of Lincoln and St Peter and Saint Paul’s Secondary School combined for a special Advent Service at St Peter and St Paul’s Church. The drama and music was a fitting tribute to the Christmas story. The children received many compliments for their performance. Thank you to all the staff from the three Academy schools for their excellent preparation.

END OF YEAR CHRISTMAS LITURGY

Year 6 and the Choir finished the term with a Christmas Liturgy. Parents and friends of the school were invited. Thanks to Miss Blood and Year 6 for their preparation.

MUSIC, DRAMA AND CHRISTMAS NATIVITY

The infants performed the Nativity play “It’s a Baby” to packed audiences over the Christmas period. The children performed wonderfully and it was a joy to see them all involved in such high quality performances. This was no mean feat by the teachers, teaching assistants and parents who made the event so memorable. If you would like a copy of the DVD please contact the school office. (£6 for one copy and £10 for two copies) Thank you to Mr Berezin for organising the photographs to commemorate the occasion.

The Choir have had a very busy Christmas period. They recently performed at the Lincoln Cathedral Co–op Carol Service with the Market Rasen Band, Fosse Way Academy, St Peter at Gowts and Sir Francis Hill School. The Cathedral held over 1000 people who enjoyed a very special Christmas Service. Many thanks to Mr Ballard for his hard work and preparation.

The choir sang at St Peter and St Paul’s Church with St John’s and Our Lady of Lincoln choirs raising £1100 for Age UK. Well done to Mr Ballard and all who took part and supported this worthy cause. Once again we have had tremendous support for the Christmas Children’s Masses at St Hugh’s and SSPP. Numerous children have expressed an interest in being part of the celebration at St Hugh‘s on Sunday 22nd December at 10.00 am. Thanks to Miss Blood for organising the nativity. We look forward to the Christmas Eve Mass on Tuesday 24th December at Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s Catholic Church.

SCHOOL MASSES We celebrated All Saints on Friday 1st November at 2pm in the School Hall. The chaplaincy team led the

Mass. The Feast of St Hugh saw Miss Noor’s class organising the Word and the Gospel drama.

Representatives from the charity ‘Apostleship of the Sea’ which looks after seafarers from around the

world spoke in Assembly time. We are in the process of collecting items for their shoebox appeal.

CATHOLIC LIFE

This Year’s focus is The Year of the Word. We have launched this with children during our Advent

term. Encounter remains an ongoing theme and we will be working with the Diocese to celebrate the

Eucharist this Advent. We will be introducing a bible challenge initiative with the children to be

incorporated into assembly celebrations. The children will have a quote to investigate and a challenge to

solve. The children in Year’s 3 and 4 have had the opportunity of visiting Lincoln’s Mosque as part of

their other faith studies.

Our school won the Vocations Competition Trophy for Lincolnshire, producing as Fr. Jonathan Cotton

@Fr_JCotton put it “a very good Video on Vocations & Poster”. It is now on the Vocations Website

http://nottinghamvocations.co.uk .

FOOTBALL

The football A team have had a successful start to the season. They have won their first 3 games 7-1, 3-0

and 11-2 matches respectively.

The school took part in the Lincoln City 6 a side finals held at the Priory City of Lincoln.

St Hugh's football team won all 6 of their games today without conceding a single goal! Some excellent

performances. Through to the next round on the 25th Jan in Skegness against the rest of Lincolnshire's top

teams.

We also played in the Lincoln City Sports championships in November. We won every game reaching the

final of this mixed tournament losing in sudden death penalties. Well done to all our footballers. We also

had a B team game against South Hykeham and 14 players took part in a competitive game which was

enjoyed by both sides.

NETBALL

It has been great to have had such a large number of enthusiastic children attending Netball Practice. The

season will resume after the February half term break.

FENCING

Mr Gosling and Mrs Hargrave –Nanton’s classes have been taking part in a Fencing programme.

The children are thoroughly enjoying their sessions.

OUTINGS

We had an action packed first two terms with the following exciting trips:

Mr Gosling’s class enjoyed a special Viking day linked to their History studies.

Mr Ballard’s class went on a walk round Roman Lincoln, Mrs Hargrave-Nanton’s class have visited the

Work House in Newark as part of their Victorian Topic and Mrs Cook’s and Mrs Kendall’s class went to

Creswell Cragg to learn about the Stone Age.

Year 6 have been particularly busy with trips to Newark Air Museum, RAF Scampton and RAF

Waddington as part of their World War 2 topic. They attended a Construction Day where they learned

about various trades and skills such as being a plasterer, electrician, financial advisor and builder.

DRAMA

The children enjoyed seeing and participating in the drama production of Beauty and the Beast.

ANNIVERSARY PHOTOGRAPH

As part of our 25th Anniversary on the Woodfield Avenue site we had a whole school photograph taken.

We have now received the finished version which will have pride of place in the school.

PTA NEWS

A special thank you must go to Mrs Shaw and the entire PTA who have begun this year’s fundraising.

Many thanks to the PTA for their hard work organising the end of term Halloween themed disco, as well

as raising funds for the school.

The Christmas Festival and the supporting events made a fantastic amount of nearly £2,500. Once again this is a phenomenal figure and many thanks go to Mrs Shaw and the entire PTA who worked so hard to make the Festival such a success. Also, a big thank you goes to parents and friends who supported the Christmas events. Well done to the Infant Choir who began the proceedings with excellent performances expertly arranged by Mrs Garcia.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Cross Country season starts in the New Year. Children will be notified if they have been selected to represent the school.

SWIMMING Next term Mr Ballard’s class will be swimming. Please note they will start on Wednesday 8th January. Well done to Mr Gosling’s class for making excellent progress during their time at the pool.

FOUNDATION UNIT INTAKE 2019

The closing date for applications for next year is Wednesday 15th January 2020. Once again the school has received a high interest for places. Parents will be notified in April if their child has been accepted. If you know of any children who are new to the area please ask the parents to contact the school as soon as possible.

HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME

I would like to clarify the position on requesting holidays in term time. Under the current Government directive no holiday time can be authorised in term time by any school unless there are exceptional circumstances. Doctor or hospital appointments will need to be verified with a medical note.

It is very much appreciated if any exceptional circumstance absence can be kept to a minimum to maximise pupil learning. Please feel free to discuss any extended time off school with myself to clarify the directive. Currently the overall attendance for the school is 96.5 % which is above the National Average. Thank you for your support with attendance.

SCHOOL PARKING

Thank you for observing our new parking drop off area. This is designed to keep traffic flowing and to a minimum. Can I please respectfully ask all car users to observe the 5 mile per hour sign and the double yellow lines indicating no parking. The pathways need to be kept clear for pedestrians. There are a number of pre-school children as well as our own young pupils who are crossing the car park area at the start and end of the day. I am sure we would all agree that the safety of our children is paramount.

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES

For Mass times over the Christmas period please see: http://www.sthughslincoln.org.uk http://www.peter-paul-lincoln.org.uk

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

The clubs starting the first week back are: Drama Club - Monday 6th January 2020 Dance Club - Tuesday 7th January 2020 Choir - Wednesday 8th January 2020 Football - Infants and Year 3 - Thursday 9th or Friday 10th January 2020

The clubs starting the second week back are:

Cookery Club - Tuesday 14th January 2020 (Year 5) Snooker Club - Tuesday 14th January 2020 (Year 5) Art Club - Thursday 16th January 2020 Film Club - Thursday 16th January 2020

FINALLY

Thank you all for your attendance at recent Parent teacher meetings. Your continued interest and support is greatly appreciated. Academically the teachers continue to set realistic and challenging targets for all children. I would like to thank the children for their enthusiasm and endeavour. I would also like to thank each Governor for the time they have freely given. I am also grateful for the considerable extra time given by the Teaching Assistants, Administrators, Cleaners, Midday Supervisory Assistants, Site Manager and Bus Drivers who all contribute to make St Hugh’s such a successful school.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all who are involved in making St Hugh’s Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy the happy and caring school it is.

On behalf of Mr John O’Connor our Chair of Governors, Staff and Governors, I would like to wish you all a happy and relaxing Christmas and New Year and look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 6th January 2020. Please keep in touch with our latest news and information using our website and twitter page. https://st-hughs-catholic-primary.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/sthughspri

Yours sincerely

Gregory Hughes

Gregory Hughes – Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES:

Monday 6th January 2020 School reopens for the start of Term 3 Wednesday 15th January 2020 Closing date for Reception September 2019

applications Thursday 13th February 2020 Break up for half term. School closes at normal

time. Monday 24th February 2020 Children return to school and half term break Thursday 2nd April 2020 Break up for Easter Monday 20th April 2020 Children return to school after Easter break. Mon 11th May–Fri 15th May 2020 KS2 SATs week. It is important that Year 6 pupils

are in school all week. Tuesday 21st July 2020 Last day of Academic Year