Free play gives children an outlet to express their emotions and feelings and helps them develop a sense of who they are. = Joan Santer and Carol Griffith =

I cannot believe that I am writin, not only my third All Stars Blog, but our half way point of the school year! I cannot thank you, the children and staff for all the support you have given us since September. The club, is growing and growing, as we welcome new members. We have had Mr Nay and Mr Murrey join us this term, to provide physical activities. Not to mention, our youngest members of the Our Lady family Nursery, it has been an absolute joy to have them with us. They have joined in so well with the other children and settled in so quickly, it is as if they have been with us since September!The children are such a delight and it is wonderful to have those moments at the end of the school day to relax, wind down and “just be”. Breakfast club, with those chilly,early mornings and the smell of warmed pancakes and toast and a calmness for the start of a new day. We quite often have staff bobbing in to say good morning to the children, whichn is so lovely- we really are one big family.

We have had an action packed half term, starting off with Burns Night- I have to say, I was surprised how many children enjoyed the Haggis! Next came Chineses New Year, where we decorated snakes, had a selection of foods for the children to try. We have developed our Under the Sea display which is looking fabulous! But more importantly, the children can just be, relax and have that all important down time before and after a hard days work.

Merry Christmas!

My goodness, how the term has flown! I cannot thank you, the children and all the staff for making the All Stars Wraparound Care a huge success. We have had so much fun, both in the mornings and the evenings. From celebrating Divali to remembering the fallen for Remembrance. Christmas activities have been a plenty, ranging from making tree decorations, wreaths to decorating biscuits and writing letters to Santa, alongside and array of games. It certainly has been an action packed term! The children have been fantastic and we cannot thank them enough!

If you need to book your childs place for next term, please do so using the form on the All Star page. Place are going fast! We look forward to welcoming your children back on Monday 6th January for breakfast club.

Have a wonderful, magical, Holy Christmas

God Bles

The All Stars Team

All Stars - Sessions and Payment Information

What a brilliant week we have had with the new All Stars Club in school. It is always daunting setting something new up, especially when the one at St Thomas’s was so successful, but I think we have made a really good start - and I cannot thank the staff enough for what they have done. The children are great and are giving us more ideas about what they would like to do. I am sure that it will continue to evolve over the next term. Some of our sessions are already fully booked - which is just wonderful!

As we are a new club, and could only register as of the 1st September, things are taking a little while to finalise. Things like being a tax free childcare provider is in process; we are just waiting for our registration number. So here are a few pointers for you:

• Mrs Nel is in the process of working out what each child needs to pay for the club. This will be put on Parent Pay this week. We have decided to charge half-termly, rather than termly, to give families greater flexibility and to also ensure that you are being charged for the sessions that you will be attending over the half-term. Payment will still need to be made at the beginning of each half-term so that costs for the club can be covered. If you are not paying via Parent Pay, and instead via a different method, please just send an email to Mrs Nel. You will be able to see via Parent Pay what you owe for each half-term. This will be smoother going forward. The summer holidays and being a new provider has stalled this.

• One of the main drivers for bringing All Stars here is so that children can access before and after school extra-curricular sessions. Now that the timetable has been finalised, you need to let Mrs Nel know by email whether your child will not be attending All Stars due to them attending another club in school. For example, if you have signed your child up for multi-skills and they are arriving at school at 8am, then you can relinquish your All Stars place for that morning and you will not be charged. However, if you child arrives at school at 7.45am for All Stars, and then they go into the club at 8am, we will need to reserve payment for their space. Please can you let Mrs Nel know by email if your child is attending a sports club for the specified time, therefore will not need an All Stars place. I hope this makes sense. If you can do that ASAP, then costings can be calculated.

All payments will be on Parent Pay by Friday of this week.

Please continue to bare with us. Some of the set up is beyond our control and we are waiting on other organisations to send information to us. We will continue to communicate with you throughout. Please do ask any questions if you have them and we will get back to you when we can.

Mrs Nel’s email is bursar@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk