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This week in our school community: 05 July
Our staff prayer group this week reflected on the theme 'a busy day' and indeed it has been a busy week and term so far so this felt very apt.
We listened to a beautiful hymn with the words: 'Drop thy still dews of quietness/till all our strivings cease/take from our souls the strain and stress/and let our ordered lives confess/ the beauty of thy peace.' These words of poetry help to still us when we are surrounded by the busyness of modern living and remind us of the transformative power and healing of taking time out for prayer. Peace is a core principle of Catholic Social Teaching and sometimes it can help to start with finding peace inside ourselves so that we are better prepared to tackle any discord and disharmony around us.
In assemblies this week, Miss Thomas Stone taught us about 'Dignity in Disability', an important theme as 1 in 5 people in the UK have a disability. She informed us about the different types of disabilities - both visible and invisible - and how disabilities have been viewed at different points in our history. The key message is one that is familiar to all in our community: each human is made in the image and likeness of God and therefore deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Thank you Miss Thomas Stone for leading this assembly with such wisdom, compassion and sensitivity.
This week, I was delighted to receive a very special email from a local headteacher who had taken time out of her schedule to commend Malaya N in 7R. Malaya saw a boy from a local school upset and injured on her school journey this week. She showed great care and compassion by looking after him and taking him to his school to get the help he needed. Well done Malaya for showing such incredible St Gregory's virtue and being a beacon of excellence when out and about in our community.
Our Year 7 girls' rounders team performed brilliantly this week at the BANES rounders tournament, hosted at home. Despite several players being away on a trip, the team rose to victory and were crowned joint winners of the whole tournament. Congratulations to all who played and thanks to the PE team for hosting the event. This is always a special week for us because we get to meet our new Year 7 students in their Transition events. Thank you to Miss Bendall, the new Year 7 tutor team, the Inclusion department, Estates and Admin team, as well as SLT and the PTFA, for making the events so positive and welcoming. The pre-loved uniform sale raised funds for the PTFA. The comments I received from families and students was that they were made to feel incredibly welcomed into the close family that is St Greg's. It was also lovely to see older siblings come along to support their younger brothers and sisters. A big thanks to our incredible student ambassadors from Years 7, 9, 10 and 12 who helped out in our Transition events and were excellent role models for our new Year 7 cohort.
Our final PTFA Coffee and Cake event on Monday focussed on all we do at different stages of the school journey to prepare our students for their next steps and thanks to all families who attended. Due to popular demand, these PTFA Coffee and Cake meetings will continue next academic year so please do make a note of dates in your diary when the calendar is released.
And as election fever finally culminates in a new government and Prime Minister, we pray for our new leaders so that they may have the grace to be filled with knowledge, wisdom, integrity and unity. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that he will focus on "working people, young people, vulnerable people, the poorest in our society" and, as a Catholic school, where one of the core Lasallian principles is that we have concern for the poor and social justice, we take hope in the fact that there will be a strong focus on our precious young people and all those on the margins and who may be suffering.
May you enjoy a wonderful weekend and keep in mind our students and staff who are off to enjoy the annual Lasallian Camp at Kintbury Retreat Centre this weekend. I am sure Mr Robinson and the students will provide a write-up in next week's newsletter which we will look forward to reading!
