Thank you to Year 3W who shared their wonderful prayerful liturgy with parents and carers this morning. The theme was on ‘Listening and Sharing’ and they certainly helped all there to reflect on the true meaning of this important statement.

Just a quick message to let parents know the children have arrived safely to FORD Castle. They are all excited and are currently meeting staff, preparing their rooms and having lunch. The exciting activities begin this afternoon so we can truly say the adventure week has begun!  I will let you know mid-week how things are going. I have created a further link regarding FORD Castle on the school website  (under ‘Pupil’ section) – please check this out for further information.

Mr L J Duncan (Headteacher)

Congratulations to some of our Year 2 children who took part in the Year 2 Hoopstarz Festival.  They worked very hard to showcase some super hula hooping skills!

Our Year 2 children enjoyed a fascinating talk from a real life WW2 evacuee, Mr Les Smith, and were able to ask lots of interesting questions. The children are currently learning all about ‘Great Britain’ as part of their creative curriculum topic in school. Year 2 would like to say a BIG thank you to Les for making the afternoon so special and helping us to understand why ‘Great Britain’ is so GREAT!

School had a lovely visit from Mr. Willcock on Friday morning, who spoke with the children about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVP). Our children will be getting involved in supporting this society through a ‘Mini Vinnies’ club set up in school. More details will follow outlining what ‘Mini Vinnies’ do and their role within school and our community. A ‘Mini Vinnie’ page will shortly be added to our website in the ‘Pupils’ section but if you would like to find out more about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and their good works then please do check out the following website link : http://www.minivinnies.org.uk

Enjoy the half term break! I hope all staff, children and families have a lovely, relaxing and refreshing half term holiday. School re-opens on Monday 22nd February – I look forward to seeing you all then!

(Mr. L. Duncan – Headteacher)

Repent and believe the Good News: Our school began the season of Lent by attending mass with our local parishioners for the Ash Wednesday service. It was a very special time that helped our children to reflect on ‘turning away from sin and having faith in the Gospel’. A focal point in school will be on display throughout the season of Lent to reinforce this message.

Year 3 had a fantastic ‘Roman’ day today. The children dressed up in Roman clothes and learnt lots of new facts about Roman food. Even Mrs Wilkinson and our Chair of Governors, Mrs Jubb, dressed up for this special occasion. Mrs Jubb helped the children to make real ‘Roman Bread’ and our kitchen staff helped the children to bake it in our very own kitchen – Jamie Oliver would have been proud!

Once all the cooking had been done, Year 3 enjoyed their very own Roman banquet consisting of many Roman foods – they particularly enjoyed the Roman starter meal of mice dipped in honey!

Last week our children enjoyed working with members of the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS). The CDDFRS community safety team worked with the whole school in promoting fire safety, with a particular focus on Pancake Day. Our Key Stage 2 children learnt safe cooking skills within the kitchen and even managed to make some delicious and ‘safe’ pancakes! St Mary Magdalen’s would like to say a big THANK YOU to the community safety team who did a great job in getting the message across to the children.

Front Page News!! – find out more about what our children got up to on the CDDFRS news web page.