Following the announcement from Buckingham Palace of the death of our sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a period of National Mourning has started and will continue until the end of the State Funeral. This is a period of time for reflection in response to the death of the Sovereign.
The official date of the State Funeral is 19 September 2022. This day will be a bank holiday and St Alban’s will be closed as a mark of respect on this day.
Thank you,
Mrs Gurner
Today in collective worship, we will be gathering to remember Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. All of our teachers are prepared to answer children’s questions, in an age appropriate way.
In collective worship, there will be a twin emphasis both on sadness at the death of the Queen and also thankfulness for her long life and reign. Marking 70 years of reign this year she became the longest serving monarch. We will mention that the Queen had a really important job earlier this week, as it is the monarch who asks a party leader to be their Prime Minister, and the Queen made a point of doing this final duty.
Any such event will possibly engender conversations in the classroom. Here are some pointers that have been shared with staff but I thought maybe useful for parents too.
Children will want to talk – and they can be asked both to share what they know about the Queen and also any talk about the day of her death and how they heard the news. We will bear in mind there may have been sadness in homes at this time they will want to relate.
We use the terms ‘death’ and ‘died’ and avoid euphemisms.
We are mindful of those particularly affected, allow children to say what they want and need to say and listen carefully.
Staff should feel totally free from any pressure to offer any answers to questions around ‘death’ and ‘dying’, it is ok to not have the answers.
We will make it clear that being sad is natural, as is not knowing what to feel or say.
Here is a prayer that will be offered for children:
God of love,
We thank you for the life of The Queen,
for her service to our nation,
and for her faith in you.
Be close to all of us who mourn,
that we may we find comfort and hope in your love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
An online Book of Condolence has been started – we will be explaining that this is a way in which the Church has arranged for everyone to write a note of sadness or thoughts for King Charles.
https://www.churchofengland.org/remembering-her-majesty-queen
At school, we have lots of books that explore death in an age appropriate way. If you wish to borrow one of these books, then please let me know.
Mrs Gurner
Today, in collective worship, we found out more about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A jubilee is a special celebration of a queen or king’s reign. They take place after the monarch has ruled for a certain number of years and each one is associated with a different type of precious metal. No other British Monarch has reigned for long enough to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, which is why many believe that this year’s celebrations are so special.
What are you going to do from 2nd to 5th June to celebrate?
Meet our new Gratitude Tree
At St Alban’s we often say, ‘Gratitude is an attitude.’ We try to appreciate the small and big things and be grateful for what we have.
Next week, as part of our end of day prayer, we will ask the children to think of three things that they are grateful for and think about these things.
Next to the tree will be a golden leaf. If any child would like to share what they are grateful for, then they can write a note and place it on the leaf. Each week, I’ll check the leaf and read out the things that the children are grateful for in collective worship.
Today I am grateful for the sunshine, listening to the children sing in collective worship and the blossom tree in our infant yard. I feel very blessed to work in such a special school.
I’m also grateful to one of our very talented parents, Joanne Openshaw (Blooms and Posies), who created our blossom tree- thank you.
Mrs Gurner
This week is Autism Acceptance Week.
Please see the poster attached for ways that people can help and support others with Autism.
The children will be learning about Autism Acceptance week in Collective Worship tomorrow.
Today many of our children came to school asking questions about Ukraine. For this reason, in collective worship we talked about worries and the importance of sharing these worries with people that we trust.
Here are some reading resources to help parents think about how they can support children with what they are seeing or feeling during these challenging times.
https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/24/how-to-talk-to-children-about-whats-happening-in-ukraine-16163133/
https://www.childnet.com/blog/supporting-your-child-with-upsetting-content/
Thank you,
Dear Children,
Exciting news! After half term, we are selling prayer bracelets. If you would like to order a bracelet then please complete the order form attached and hand in to your Sinai house ambassador, who will pass it on to us, your House Leaders. Please hand in by Friday 18th February.
Prayer bracelets remind you to pray about certain things. You can order more than one bracelet and we will be selling them all half term so you can order additional bracelets if you miss the deadline. We’ll keep order forms in classrooms.
All bracelets cost £1.50 and money raised will go towards updating the gratitude tree. Children can bring the money to school when they receive their order.
Thank you,
Ariella and Lexi (Sinai House Leaders)
P.S. We are sending home order forms tonight.
Today we were so proud of Sinai, who delivered a fabulous assembly to the whole school. Sinai have a team of children busy making prayer bracelets to sell and raise money for the school. All money raised will go towards updating our reading tree in the school library.
We are hoping to hang blossoms from the ceiling and make it more enticing for the children. Our big idea, is to transform the tree into a gratitude tree. An action that we continuously try to promote at school.
At the end of this week, Sinai are sending prayer bracelet order forms to classes and ‘hopefully’ the bracelets will be ready to purchase after half term. I’ll pop an order form on dojo for parents to see.
Well done Sinai, you were organised, entertaining and truly excellent role models to the whole school- thank you.
The children had an amazing time at the Oakes.
They took part in many activities, games and collective worship.
This morning in The Main Event, Year 5 thought about What Christians believe.
We asked questions such as:
Do you think there is a God? Why or why not?
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
According to Christianity, where do people fit into God’s world?
What could Jesus do to convince people that he was telling the truth?
What do Christian’s believe was achieved by Jesus’ death?
Later, we tried more outdoor activities with our friends.
