The Coventry Telegraph, in association with National Express, have launched the Schools Awards for the third time and are now welcoming your entries. The Schools Awards are designed to recognise the fantastic achievements being made by our schools across Coventry and Warwickshire.

There are 10 award categories in total in addition to the School of the Year Award. A panel of judges will assess the nominations for each category.

Eventually they will short list two schools/individuals for each award category who will be invited to attend the Schools Awards luncheon ceremony to be held in March. This prestigious luncheon and awards ceremony will certainly be a day to remember.

The event will be hosted by Brody Swain, Presenter at 96.2 Touch fm, Brody has hosted this event for us twice before and he said "I just love this event".
They cover both community and curriculum based projects, as well as individual excellence, and will honour whole schools, classes and individuals.  

AWARD CATEGORIES (Closing date Friday 10th February)

(Photographs, Scrapbooks, videos, project books DVDs CDs can support the nomination)

Individual awards

Inspirational Teacher: This award is for a teacher in a school that goes the extra mile to give children the best opportunities in their education. For a teacher in any key stage school who goes above and beyond the call of duty to get the best out of their children, regardless of ability.

School Support Staff of the Year: This award is for any member of non-teaching school staff, who play a vital role in the running of the school and the happiness and security of the children. It may be a caretaker whose dedication makes them an invaluable member of the school community. Or maybe a teaching assistant or any other member of support or administrative staff who makes a real difference to individual children, classes or the whole school. Perhaps you would like to nominate your child's lunchtime supervisor who has been instrumental in their schooldays.  There is a separate category for Caretaker of the Year

The award categories are as follows: PROJECT AWARDS - these awards are for projects that are to be carried out within the school, its grounds or the local community. The projects can either be ongoing or an idea for the coming academic year. They can be carried out by a class, year group or even the whole school.

School Newspaper/ School Website Award This award is supported by IKEA. Open to all schools that have produced a newspaper/website in 2011/12. To qualify, schools must produce a publication/website that contains relevant news for their audience.

Go Green School Award This award is supported by Lower Precinct. For a school that has made or is making changes to the amount of waste they produce.  For a school that is committed to recycling and re-using wherever possible, controlling litter, etc. These might be changes made by the efforts of one class, the whole school or an eco-committee. We would like to see how you have managed to raise awareness and instigate  changes within the school, for example, using poster campaigns, research, setting up recycling-committees, class environmental champions, etc.

Healthy Living Award This award is supported by Lloyds Pharmacy For a class or whole school who makes it a priority to have healthy lifestyles. This could be by exercising more, drinking more water, eating healthy foods, having an antibullying campaign or growing vegetables to use in the kitchen. We would like to see how you have managed to raise awareness and instigate changes within the school, for example, using poster campaigns,

200 days to go...................
It is hard to realise that after over 3 years we are nearing the end of our journey to the Olympic Games in London . The site and buildings are reaching completion and we are following progress on the news . Each day in school we count down the days and we would like to share with you what we have done.  

Over the past few years we have prepared by first looking at Bejing and the wonderful spectacle it presented to the world.  We used our corridor and stairs to display photographs of the developments at Stratford.  Last year we appointed some Olympic Ambassadors.
 
Then we started to investigate the start of the Modern Olympics . We had a  visit  from William Penny Brooks of  Wenlock  who  explained all about the Wenlock Games. We invited four other schools to listen to him.  
 
It sounded lovely so we decided to go and visit-All five schools. Chris Cannon (Alias WPB) met us and we had a fantastic day around the town following the Olympic Trail . We went to Linden Fields where we had lunch and admired the new monument . We finished our day with a  visit to the Priory nearby which has links with Coventry and Lady Godiva. 

As we start a new year and reach for the stars into 2012, we share with you our vision for the next twelve months through a visual presentation. Our vision for 2012 focuses on promoting reading, Steps to success in mathematics and challenge across all areas of the curriculum.

The presentation highlights the ways in which we will reach for the stars in the next year in partnership with Governors, parents, pupils, staff and the wider community, helping children to realise their God-given potential. We shared this movie with parents at our Curriculum evening and our children through an assembly. It can also be found on our screens in school.

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We are looking to have an even healthier Lunchtime - Mrs Swan has been in touch with Helen Murusali to give guidance and fresh ideas on how we can make our lunchbox more healthy or different.

A workshop will be held for parents with lots of ideas and advice on Wednesday 25^th January from 3.30 until 4.30 in the staffroom. A crèche facility will be provided for pupils. For further information see Mrs Swan.

• A form for tickets can be obtained by clicking here or call into the office. Discounted match tickets for the game; Adults only £15 and Concessions/ child only £7 (Usually £24 and £18). Save even more with a family ticket (2 adults, 2 juniors) only £40!

Welcome to a new term!

The children will be looking to the start of a new term and they have exciting learning opportunities ahead.

The lunchtime will be from 12pm - 1pm each day now, slightly earlier due to timetabling changes.

What can we look forward to in 2012!

• New build - the steels are going in and we will start to see the shape of our new classrooms taking place
• Olympics theme running through Spring and Summer as we prepare for this wonderful national event. Click here for the Get Set website
• Morning of Music for Year 2 and Year 5 (which will take place at another school due to the build) on the theme of transport
• Diamond Jubilee - joining in with the celebrations to mark 60 years of the Queen's reign. Click here for more information

We are welcoming parents to join us for our Achievement Awards to celebrate the achievement of the children in our school.

The dates are:

• Wednesday 14th December at 9am for Year 3 4 5 6
• Thursday 15th December at 9am for Reception Year 1 2

Hope to see you there!

We have now launched our Parent Mail. To email the newsletter costs nothing and saves paper. We will be emailing newsletters out each Friday. If we have an additional announcement - we will use Parent Mail to get the message to you first.

Our first week is showing us that many parents have given us mobile numbers not email addresses. Each text message costs so this will only be used in emergencies e.g. closure of school.

Most communication will be through email, so sign up now and be up to date with developments at Sacred Heart!

Thank you to all parents and carers who have registered emails and mobile phones so far.

On November 1st, the Feast of All Saints, we held a Kite Festival similar to the villagers of Huehuetenango in Guatamala, to remember our loved ones in heaven.

The Kite festival took place after Mass on the field.

Each child attached a little tag to remember a loved one to their kite.

To see the photos from last year go to our Gallery or click here.

We are getting ready for our annual celebration of talent - Time To Shine on Wednesday 9th November at 7pm. This is open to children in Key Stage Two and we invite children to showcase their singing, dancing, acting, playing talent or anything else that may be appropriate (e.g. jokes or magicians act).

All auditions will be held on Tuesday 1st November in the afternoon PLEASE remember your CD!