La Salette Catholic Primary School

As part of their geography fieldwork skill. Year 3 set off for a walk around our local area. The children had to note significant landmarks and buildings. It is hard to think that in the past Rainham was a small ferry port on the way to London, surrounded by farms and orchards!

Year 4 Visited the Victorian Ragged School Museum in Mile End this month. It was a great chance to experience what life was like in Victorian times for children attending school. It was a very different style of education compared to our modern system and it’s safe to say the children prefer our classrooms and teachers! It was a very wet day but didn’t dampen the experience. Thank you to our parent helpers.

Year 6 made ther way, via Rainham Station, to the Imperial War Museum. The children had a great time exploring the musuem as part of their history topic on WW2. Visits like this really help children explore what they are learning and retain that information. The children particularly liked seeing the Spitfire and dressing up as WW2 soldiers.

We are really pleased to have launched our first training sessions for our girl’s football team. While we have long had a boys’ team, we had not had enough girls interested in the sport. That has changed in the last year and so we are pleased to say that we have signed up for our first girl’s tournaments and will be arranging matches with our local schools. The girls have been so keen and enthusiastic and it has been a joy to see them playing!

This January saw the close of the Jubilee Year for Catholics. The Pope asked us to be signs of hope for others, by putting Catholic Social Teaching into action through Caring for Creation, and supporting our sisters and brothers who are experiencing war, hunger or poverty in our Help for the Poor and Vulnerable focus.

Over the last year the R.E Leaders and Eco-School Council raised charity donations to purchase Gifts of Hope for people around the world less fortunate than us – from temporary shelters, micro-loans, health services, beehives and a whole range more. The children worked really hard on promoting the idea that we are all one big world. I am pleased to say that we raised over £1100 for CAFOD World Gifts and that money will meaningfully change the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our world.  A big thank you for all your support!

Parents will have received our letter detailing the Havering Emotional Support Team partnership at La Salette. This is the next step in our work on better supporting our neurodiverse and vulnerable children. There is also a new noticeboard by the main entrance which has all the lastest parent support workshops and drop-in clinics to help families better understand and support their children. Please do have a look when you are next in school!

Message from the HEST Team:

“We’re excited to be joining La Salette as the school’s Mental Health Support Team (MHST), locally known as the Havering Emotional Support Team (HEST). HEST is an NHS service that works with schools to support children and young people with their emotional wellbeing. We will be working closely with staff, pupils, and families to offer early support, advice, and guidance around mental health. We are looking forward to being part of the school community and supporting wellbeing across the school. Please follow us on our Instagram for regular updates and offers we currently have on @nelft_hest.”

Year 4 led a beautiful assembly on the importance of advent and how we can prepare for Christmas. It was great to be reminded of the joy of this special season and to hear about different countries traditions.

Our School Choir attended Brentwood Cathedral to join with other local Catholic Schools to celebrate the nativity. The children sang beautifully and it was wonderful to hear the Cathedral full of their voices.