Dear Parents and Carers

Our final full week of the school year has arrived and once again there is much to celebrate from the previous week.  On Friday 1^st July our Upper Junior Girls Cricket Team took part in the Chesterfield Girls Cricket Tournament held at the Northern Club.  Mr Parry took charge of the team and we were delighted when they reached the final but were narrowly beaten by the team from Merchant Taylors.  As you would expect their behaviour was fantastic and I know that the girls currently in Year 5 will enjoy these events in the next school year.

Last Monday saw us welcome our work experience students who have been busy helping the teachers and staff.  They were particularly helpful during our school sports day and it was truly amazing to see such a wonderful turn out for the infants in the morning and juniors in the afternoon.  I have passed on the many positive comments to both the children and teachers and I am sure that you will agree that all of the children’s behaviour was exemplary and this has added to the enjoyment and fun that all the children had.

The infant department welcomed our new reception intake each afternoon on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and I am sure that this helped both the children and parents to look forward even more to the exciting challenges ahead of them. 

Our Year 6 children had a wonderful day out at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and I would like to thank Miss Rogers who stepped in at the eleventh hour to help out.  I know from talking to the children that they had a wonderful time.  On the same day Mr Parry and I took our Year 3&4 Quad Kids Athletics teams to Litherland Sports Park.  Their competitiveness was fantastic and they thoroughly enjoyed this competition.  Our Year 4 team came second and our Year 3 girls and boys were outright winners, but the most important thing to take was the way that they supported and encouraged each other. 

On Wednesday our Year 2 children enjoyed a day out at the Blue Planet Aquarium and once again they had a most enjoyable time with the Blue Planet Management commenting that our children would be welcome back anytime.  Both Mrs Meehan and Mrs Stockwell were extremely proud of their behaviour and also their enthusiastic participation. 

Wednesday afternoon saw our Upper Juniors participate in the Maghull and District Kwik Cricket Tournament which was held at Maghull Cricket Club.  Our Team of four boys and four girls put on a tremendous display with some superb batting and impressive over arm bowling.  They won all four of their matches and came away as tournament winners with a shiny medal each.

Our Final Full Governing Board meeting took place on Thursday evening and the governors were pleased to see just how well our children have achieved in the academic subjects but equally proud of their wide range of afterschool activities and indeed morning activities as well as the extensive participation in inter school tournaments.  I am pleased to be able to announce that the school remains full with waiting lists in many year groups and our budget remains strong.  This means that future school improvement plans will be able to be developed and in particular we are looking to expand our outdoor gardening and growing area to allow all of our children to experience these exciting activities throughout the year and particularly during periods of poor weather.  The governors are looking forward to coming into school in the new school year to work alongside our teachers to further develop our curriculum.

I do hope that you have been able to enjoy our latest updated website which should make navigation much easier.  Please take your time to look at the curriculum and classes tabs where you will be able to see in some detail the sequenced subject areas that your child will be enjoying in September.

Friday was blessed with a fantastic summer fair and we were so fortunate with the weather which was pretty much perfect for the event.  Can I thank the Friends of St John Bosco for helping to organize this exciting and happy evening and again to you and your families for contributing and attending and making it such a fun event.  I know that both myself, Mr Mainwaring, Mrs Stockwell and my daughter Rhian eventually ran out of everything to barbecue and it is hard to believe that we cooked 120 beef burgers and 100 jumbo sausages.  Guess what, there were none left for us, perhaps next year we will remember. 

I had a most enjoyable Saturday morning, welcoming several new families who wanted to view our school facilities for September 2023.  Some of them I actually taught when they were in Year 6 and they were amazed at the school development and improvements to so many of the school facilities.  We look forward to them joining our school family in 2023.

And so, to today, clearly the weather this week is going to be glorious but please ensure that your child has had sun cream applied and has a hat if necessary.  We shall encourage the children to take regular water breaks and instruct them to have time under the shade during lunchtimes. 

Can I remind you to pay all outstanding payments, especially your families school levy contribution.  School has already paid over £1500 on your behalf and needs to have this payment covered.  The school levy is a small family contribution which goes towards the upkeep and maintenance of our school building and associated facilities.  Without this our school improvement programme may be compromised.  The donation is £10.00 per family and can be found on Iris Parentmail – other payments – shop.  All dinner money, breakfast and after school club payments should be paid in advance.  Dinner Money is £11.50 per child per week (£2.30 per day), Breakfast Club is £3.30 per child per day and Stjbkidzone After School Club is £10.00 per child per day.  Remember that there are only two days next week.

Our school librarian has informed me that we currently have over 70 library books from our new library that have not been returned.  The system has listed the names of the children but I would much rather that they return them themselves.  Can I ask that you help us by checking and returning any books.  All our school library books have a St John Bosco bar code at the front which logs your child’s information.  Any other books that you feel belong to school please return to their class.  There are still a small number of boys and girls football kits that have yet to be returned.  Please ensure that this is done so that we have kits ready for our boys’ and girls’ teams when we return to school.

Our Year 6 children will be presenting their production of Porridge to their family members on Tuesday and Wednesday in the school hall at 7.00pm.  Mrs Bretherton has instructed the children to arrive at school at 6.15pm.  Entrance will be through the family room.  I shall have the school hall windows open all day but fear that it may be quite a warm performance in more ways than one. 

Afterschool Clubs will finish this Friday and early morning cricket will stop on the same day.  I can also inform you that Junior Dance has now ended for the year and will not take place this Thursday.

We shall inform you at the beginning of September of the after-school clubs on offer which will begin on Monday 5^th September.

As I leave to do my lunch duty, I hope to see you at the summer music concert, after school on the junior playground.  This is for the parents of children in the school choir or who have enjoyed either violin or piano tuition throughout this year.

Yours sincerely

Mr D MacAreavy - Headteacher