ECO-CLUB

For the next 4 weeks we are going to concentrate on BEE-ING AWARE!

As part of our Ecological Charism we are going to learn about bumblebees and try to improve the habitat for bees in our school. We also want to raise awareness amongst the other children that bumblebees are very important and are not dangerous animals.

Bee nests and bee-friendly plants

Some of the eco club members gave up their playtime and dinnertime on Friday to make bumblebee nest boxes and plant bee-friendly plants. The whole eco team will be learning more about bees and their importance on Thursday in eco club.

Catholic Social Teaching Award

Twice a year we are going to award the 'Caritas Catholic Social Teaching Award' to a deserving member of the school community. This could be a child, member of staff or a parent who in the words of the diocese, 'shows outstanding achievement in putting love into action'.

We will link the recipient to one of our 2 charisms-ecological or pastoral. 

The winner will be someone who shows care of others and/or the environments. We are looking for someone who doesn't do things for recognition or gain, but who gets on with being a great example of Jesus' teaching in a quiet and unassuming way. 

Congratulations to Sair Hussein, in Year 6, for being the first recipient of the CARITAS award. Sair shows great care and compassion for other people and is a living example of our Pastoral Charism. Congratulations to Sair who is a credit to himself, his family and our school community.

Lent

Lent begins during February half-term. Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season. Lent is traditionally a 40-day fast — a reference to the time Jesus spent being tempted in the desert. It is a time when we can prepare our hearts for the solemn remembrance of Jesus’ death. It concludes and is followed by the Easter Sunday celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The six-week period (excluding Sundays) is dedicated to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for the great celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery in the Easter Triduum.

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for March – For victims of abuse - We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering

Please find some information below to share with your children about Ash Wednesday and ideas that you could do as a family during Lent. 

THANKYOU KS2 and all who contributed to our fundraising appeal. No matter how little, everything we can do will help those who need it most! We managed to raise £230 by the end of the week.

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria February 2023

(Kahramanmaras earthquake)

As you may have heard this week, there has been a devastating earthquake in the countries of Syria and Turkey. We want to do something at St Thomas' to help our brothers and sisters in these countries, who are currently going through unimaginable circumstances. 

Next week (13th-17th Feb) Mr Deane will have a collection in his office, which we will donate to one of the appeals set up to help those in need. Please donate what you can next week. Anything from 10p - £10 is going to help in some way. 

Catholic Social Teaching

At St. Thomas', we feel that it is the right thing as Christians (and other caring faiths) that we try and help improve things in all of the different communities that we belong. 

In Year 6, we are trying to learn how to be leaders of our local community and change things for the better, both locally and globally. In English we are learning about the problems of plastic pollution and how we can cause issues for others in the world. 

Dear Parents,

We are writing to inform you about the plastic and rubbish that ends up in the oceans and our concerns. Because we are a catholic community, we learn to look after others and our environment, Helping our environment is what we do.

Pope Francis also helps; he wrote a letter called 'Laudato Si' which is about eco things.

As respectful parents, we want you to bring in some plastic items  for us next week On Monday and Tuesday (30th/31st Jan) and we will collect, sort and take them to the local recycling centre. Also, please help recycle at home and also in our school

Yours sincerely,

Bridget and William.

Thankyou once again to all of the staff for their donations for our 2023 Advent Hampers. The lucky winners couldn't believe how jam-packed their hampers were. Merry Christmas everyone!

As we enter our first week of Advent, our school focus is about 'Hope'. This week, we would like everybody to consider these questions;

• How are we people of hope?
• Who brings hope?
• Who do you look towards for hope? 
• How can we bring hope to others?

For our second week of Advent, our school focus is about 'Faith'. This week, we would like everybody to consider these questions;

• How are we people of faith?
• Who gives us faith?
• Who do you look towards for faith? 
• How do we show faith?

Year 4 had a festive film night in December in the name of charity. Our aim was to raise £200 but we managed to raise £305 which will be donated to Mind in Salford. Well done year 4! Thank you for your endless generosity. 

Year 5 Visit Newlands Care Home 

The Year 5s visited Newlands care home this week and entertained the residents with some beautiful renditions of popular Christmas carols, as well as presenting them with Christmas cards made by other year groups. It really was heart-warming to see the joy on both the children’s and residents’ faces.

Sacramental Programme Information

SCHOOLS – DATES OF ACTIVITIES FOR SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMMES AND MASSES

PRESENTATION MASSES

30th Nov                      Preparatory Meeting with parents – St Thomas in school 3.30pm 

4th Dec                        Presentation Mass - St Thomas Primary School in Church 11.00 

Reconciliation

MARCH

 Wed 8^th                     Preparation Meeting - St Thomas in school   3.30

Sun 12th                     Reconciliation – St Thomas church 2.30pm 

 MAY                                                 HOLY COMMUNION

Wed 17th May                Preparatory meeting with parents in St Thomas school – 3.30pm 

Thurs 18th May              Confessions St Thomas in church – 2.30pm 

Sun 21st May                 First Holy Communion Mass – St Thomas 2.30 

  Please note the dates of the sacramental programme this year. This is open to all year 3 to 6 children. The children cannot make their 1^st Holy Communion without already having been baptised and then making the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

  The 3 meetings in school are with Father Alphonsus, our new parish priest. If you have any questions about the sacrament programme, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I am usually outside the year 6 annex before and after school.

  The children in year 3 will be receiving instruction in the sacramental programme by their class teachers as part of their weekly religious lessons and will have prayers to learn and we will ask the children to read at the 3 masses.

Mr Stenton 

Mr Deane and some of the Year 6 children loaded up the mini bus with the mountain of food collected by the children from all the classes. It was full to the brim! They took it down to Salford loaves and fishes, who were delighted with our generosity.

So….

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to everybody that donated. Our food donations will go a long way to making sure a few families do not go hungry over the coming weeks.

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for November 

Children Who Suffer 

We pray for children who are suffering, especially those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war; may they be guaranteed access to education and the opportunity to experience family affection.

November is a month of remembrance

We begin the month with All Saints. All Saints celebrates all those who have entered heaven, including saints who are recognised by the Church and those who are not. This is a good opportunity to learn about some key saints and it also allows us to look at how we are on the road to sainthood. Look at the link to the Mark 10 mission page below to find out more...

The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls, whose feast is celebrated on November 2nd. In our prayer room, we have two prayer trees where children and staff are welcome to add their prayers of remembrance. We are also looking at how Holy Souls are celebrated around the world. There is a small display on the 'Day of the Dead'. Can you research and see how they celebrate and remember their loved ones who have passed in Mexico?

October is the month of the Holy Rosary

All the children in Years 3 to 6 have been set a 'Rosary challenge' this October.

Pope Francis has recently said,

“ I invite everyone to rediscover, especially during this month of October, the beauty of the prayer of the rosary, which has nourished the faith of the Christian people through the centuries,”

The children can use the Mark10Mission website to help them pray a different mystery of the Rosary every night. We will be saying a decade every week in school too. 

Each decade provides an opportunity to meditate on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which recall events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary.

At the end of October, the children can bring in their sheets and a draw will be made to award a child in each class with a set of Rosary beads.

​​​

Our new House Teams

After a consultation with our parents and children, we can now announce the names of our 4 house teams.

We have had the 4 teams of;

• St. Bede
• St. Ambrose Barlow
• St. Margaret Clitherow
• St. Thomas More 

 for many years now.

These were chosen over 20 years ago and we decided we should let the parents and children choose the new saints that we name our house teams after. After counting the votes, the results are in. 

Our new house teams are;

• St. Josephine (Bakhita)-Yellow
• St. Teresa (of Calcutta)-Blue
• St. (Pope) John Paul II -Red
• St. Francis (of Assisi)-Green

The year 5 and 6 chaplains are going to produce biographies about each of our new house team saints. Keep an eye open for them coming soon.

2022 Harvest mission

Again, this year, we will be supporting the local charity, Salford Loaves and Fishes with their harvest appeal.

With the Harvest period almost upon us, Salford Loaves and Fishes would like to let their supporters know that this year they will once again be running their Harvest Appeal, which has been so successful in previous years. They are finding now, more than ever, that people are struggling with even the most basic of provisions and they anticipate this need will grow over the coming months ahead.

In school, we will be collecting donations over the next few weeks, for the children to deliver to the charity. Please find below a list of items, which are particularly useful in supporting the work of the centre. Please give what you can, no matter how little.

There will be a collection box in reception or alternatively you can send your donations into your child’s class.

There is also another way to support their Harvest Appeal You can text ‘HAR22VEST’ to 70085 to donate £3 to Salford Loaves and Fishes.  Texts cost £3 plus one standard rate message.

Thank you for your support.

The RE team

Our gift to the future communities of St. Thomas of Canterbury and Higher Broughton

Isaiah 61:3 says, “So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” A tree so planted will not fear when heat comes, it will not experience damage from the blazing heats of summer, its leaf remains green, and it will yield fruit in season.

On Friday 30th September 2022, the year 6 children each planted an

acorn in the school garden. 

The English Oak (Quercus robur) support an astonishing 2300 species, of which 326 depend on it for survival; 716 lichens; 108 fungi; 1178 invertebrates; owls; bats butterflies.......

We planted not a, hopefully, single tree, but a community to be, a world in waiting.

In July we will choose the strongest 5 saplings and plant them on the school field. These will be our gift to the future generations. They will have a named engraved plaque with the child's name and the date of planting. The other saplings will be planted in other locations in the countryside. 

This a part of our Ecological Charism.

Thank you Father David McFarlane! 

Father David retired in July 2022 after 33 years of service to our Parish. We say a sincere thank you for  his help, kindness and wisdom over the years. We wish him well in his retirement.

Good luck Father David! 

Wednesday 20th July 2022

A big thank you to all our Year 1 families who kindly donated much-needed items for Salford Loaves and Fishes drop-in centre. Mr Deane, with the help of four Year 1 children, delivered the donations this afternoon.

Great work Year 1!

Caring for our common home

In July, the children in Year 5 discussed what they would like to do to help in our community. They had noticed that some of the areas around school needed a little TLC so we headed out to clean up an alleyway we share with our neighbours. Two hours later, we think that we made a big difference!

Summer visit to Newlands Care home

The children completed their final visit of the year to our local care home. We went to find out about the residents, their lives and their pasts. The children chatted whilst sharing a snack and drink with the wonderful residents. We will be back in the Autumn term to catch up again!

We would like to thank our incredibly generous parents at St Thomas' who found the time to make some delectable food for us to sell and those who donated money during Holy week. Year 6 raised over £400 for St Joseph's Penny!