We would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for joining us for our Nativity, “Lights, Camel, Action 2 – The Sequin” performed by our Reception and KS1 children this week.

We are sure from the laughter and applause that a good time was had by all! The children did an amazing job and looked fantastic in their beautiful costumes.

We would like to thank Mrs Abellan for painting the absolutely fabulous backdrops for us. They were quite stunning! Also, a huge thanks to the parents for providing the delightful costumes. 

Here are a few pictures of the cast! Please click on the thumbnails for a larger view.

On Tuesday 10^th December Faith Team led Collective Worship. Faith Team lead Collective Worship once a term. This year Faith Team decided that they would like to base their Collective Worship on parables, as some of the best Bible stories are, of course, the parables of Jesus. Jesus used these special stories to challenge his listeners to think again about life, about themselves and their neighbours, and about the ways of this world and those of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Faith Team chose to tell the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. This story is a well-known parable of Jesus, found in the Gospel of Luke. Told in chapter 16 of Luke, Jesus shares the story of a notably wealthy man, who lived a life of extravagant luxury. Laying outside the entrance of this rich man’s house, though, was an exceptionally unfortunate man called Lazarus who only hoped “to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.”  The rich man was very unsympathetic to the dilemma of Lazarus, offering him no love, help, or compassion.

This parable is all about how we use our wealth. The love of money can lead to all sorts of selfishness. Through this Collective Worship, the Faith Team touched on a whole host of questions such as: Does what we do in this life matter? How do we find our way to Heaven? What is important to God? Does God care about those who suffer?

We are proud to announce that our choir has been invited to perform Christmas Carols next month at various venues, including Kings Lodge Care Home, Priory Farm, Kentwyns and at our Christmas Fayre! Thank you to Mrs Cordey and Mr Green who have worked so hard to grow the choir over the last couple of years.

We also look forward to a special performance at our Christmas Service at Christ Church on Friday 20th December, 1:30pm.

We are very much looking forward to enjoying our annual school Christmas lunch on Wednesday 18th December. Children who normally receive a school lunch will automatically be included in the numbers but children who usually have a packed lunch are also invited to join us for this special meal.

If your child usually has a packed lunch but would like to have Christmas dinner, please see the attachments to this newsletter for further information. Do note, the office must receive all replies by Wednesday 27th November at the latest. It is not possible to accommodate late requests owing to catering restrictions.

Our community Christmas tree is on its way! Thank you to Priory Farm Nursery for donating the tree again this year and for their continued support of our school. We have a tradition of all contributing to the decoration of the tree and so ask all children to bring in a bauble, this can be shop-bought or home-made. Our tree is decorated class by class, prayers are shared and the children are reminded that just as each bauble is unique and precious so are they.

The tree towards the final days of the term is always so moving to me – all different – all precious and all together in one community!

Sunday 1st December 2019 marks the first Sunday of the season of Advent. We will be learning about Advent in our Collective Worships. Next week we will light the first candle as we count down the weeks to Christmas! Traditionally, the Advent wreath symbolises the passage of the four weeks of Advent. It is typically a circular candle holder that holds five candles.

During the season of Advent one candle on the wreath is lit each Sunday. At School we light one each week on a Monday until all of the candles are lit. Each candle customarily represents an aspect of the spiritual preparation for the celebration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Advent wreath we use in school has three colours of candles – purple, pink, and white.

• 1st CANDLE – (purple) THE PROPHECY CANDLE or CANDLE OF HOPE
• 2nd CANDLE – (purple) THE BETHLEHEM CANDLE or THE CANDLE OF PREPARATION
• 3rd CANDLE – (pink) THE SHEPHERD CANDLE or THE CANDLE OF JOY
• 4th CANDLE – (purple) THE ANGEL CANDLE or THE CANDLE OF LOVE
• 5th CANDLE – (white) CHRIST CANDLE