Chaplaincy team

We are proud to introduce the Chaplaincy Team for 2023-2024. The children were blessed and welcomed into the service of our school in the Mercy Mass by Father Francis in September. They were also privileged to meet a previous Head teacher of St Adrian’s, Sr Margaret. Sr Margaret shared with the Chaplaincy Team the history of the Sisters of Mercy and what an honour it is to serve our school by helping others.

The Chaplaincy Team will be taking part in the masses and liturgies throughout the school year.

Thank you children for your dedicated service.

This year, the Chaplaincy Team have visited Feed, the Food Bank in St Albans to find out more about this charity. As a result of this visit, they helped to organise our Harvest Appeal and a great deal of items were collected to support families in need in St Albans.

On Sunday 5th February, Racial Justice Sunday will take place. The Chaplaincy Team led our assembly thinking about what it means to be fair and just and how we should treat everyone with kindness. We talked about us all being part of the human race and we are all united! We also sang a lovely song called ‘ Children United’

Some events which the Chaplaincy Team lead throughout the year:

Praying the Rosary for the Month of October

Leading a Harvest Assembly to encourage donations for the local food bank

Remernance Assembly for November

Advent Assemblies leading up to Christmas

Dressing of the Tree and the Advent Celebration Ceremony

Lenten assemblies

Stations of the Cross and Easter Assembly

Crowning of Mary Celebration

Praying to Mary in the Month of May

Throughout the year the children also lead Masses both in school and at St Bartholomew’s Church.

In the Summer term, we will aim to write a school prayer as well as lead assemblies about Catholic Social Teaching.

Moving on to Year 4

Hello Year 3, 

It was great to meet so many of you at our ‘Meet the teacher’ meeting last week. Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it – I’ll look forward to getting to know you in September. 

Last week, Mr Bedford wrote to your parents about returning to school in September. One of the things that he wrote about was the equipment we use in school. Mr Bedford said that for the equipment we use all of the time, like pens and pencils, we should try to keep our own items. He asked that, if possible, we bring our own pencil case to school. 

It would be helpful if your pencil case included these items: 

  • a pencil
  • a pencil sharpener (tub-style to catch sharpenings)
  • a rubber
  • a short (15cm) ruler
  • a glue stick
  • a set of colour pencils (12 colours should be fine)
  • a pair of children’s safety scissors

You will need to keep this pencil case in school and you will be able to leave it in your locker at the end of each day.  

Don’t worry if you are not able to get a pencil case. We will do our best to ensure that our school equipment is not shared. 

Have a lovely summer holiday and I am really looking forward to seeing you all back in school in September. 

Best wishes, 

Mr Hayes

Year 4

The children have been exemplary this week as we have worked our way through the uncertain times in which we find ourselves living. Each day, the children have remembered their absent friends in their prayers and cheered those who have been present to answer their names on the register.

From Monday, I will publish a new post at 9am each day to direct the children towards the planned learning activities for the day. My intention is that the majority of these should be shared via our Google Classrooms, which can be accessed here.

Some of the planned learning will need to be ‘turned in’ for marking whilst some of the challenges will not need to be submitted – unless you would like to add a photo of your work to the Google Classroom. None of the work that I am setting will need to be printed.

I will not ask the children to use any technical skill that they have not already practiced at school but, just in case, I will add a simple guide to completing some of these ‘admin’ tasks in the ‘Useful Stuff’ folders that I have added to each of my classrooms. I have also included a reminder of the login details needed to access some of the resources that we may use.

If you have any technical problems accessing the Google Classroom, or with any of the resources that I share, you can email googleclassroom@stadrians.herts.sch.uk . I will answer as soon as I can, but this is not a 24/7 help desk.

It is a sad and uncertain end to the term, but I wish you and all of your families health and every blessing.

Richard Hayes

How to access our Google Classroom

To access Google classroom, children will need to sign in using their school Google account.

Visit google.com and click ‘Sign in’ in the top-right of the webpage.

If you, or someone using the same device, already has a Google account, you will need to add your child’s school account and switch between them before accessing the Classroom.  

How to add Google accounts

  1. Open the Chrome web browser.
  2. On the top right, select your profile image or initial.
  3. On the menu, choose Add account.
  4. Follow the instructions to add your child’s Google account.
  5. Children’s school Google usernames all end with the domain, @stadrians.herts.sch.uk
  6. Your child should know the first part of their username and the password.
    For security, I cannot add that information here. It might be worth phoning a friend if in doubt!

Once you have, set up your child’s Google account. You may need to switch between accounts for them to access the Google Classroom.

How to switch between Google accounts

  1. In the top right, click your profile photo or email address.
  2. Click the account you want to use.
  3. A new window will open for this account.

How to access our Google Classroom

To access Google classroom, children will need to sign in using their school Google account.

Visit google.com and click ‘Sign in’ in the top-right of the webpage.

If you, or someone using the same device, already has a Google account, you will need to add your child’s school account and switch between them before accessing the Classroom.  

How to add Google accounts

  1. Open the Chrome web browser.
  2. On the top right, select your profile image or initial.
  3. On the menu, choose Add account.
  4. Follow the instructions to add your child’s Google account.
  5. Children’s school Google usernames all end with the domain, @stadrians.herts.sch.uk
  6. Your child should know the first part of their username and the password.
    For security, I cannot add that information here. It might be worth phoning a friend if in doubt!

Once you have, set up your child’s Google account. You may need to switch between accounts for them to access the Google Classroom.

How to switch between Google accounts

  1. In the top right, click your profile photo or email address.
  2. Click the account you want to use.
  3. A new window will open for this account.

Accessing the Google Classroom

Visit classroom.google.com or follow the link in the side bar.

Happy Christmas, Year 4!

Thank you to all of the Year 4 children and their families for the kind gift bag. I hope that you all have a happy and peaceful Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the new year. Merry Christmas!

Key stage two – Christmas carol service

The countdown to Christmas has begun and the children are all working hard to learn the words to the carols for our Christmas carol service.

Please encourage your child to practise – they will need to know all of the words by heart. The words can be downloaded using the link, below.

We hope that you will be able to join us on Wednesday, 18th December for this special celebration.

Welcome to Year Four

I hope that you have all had a lovely holiday. It is good to welcome the children back for the start of a new school year.

We have not set maths and English homework this week. School reading books have been sent home today and I ask that you encourage your child to read regularly at home, supporting them to develop the habit of reading for enjoyment. It may be that your child is already reading a book from home or from the library. If this is the case, I would be grateful if they would note this in the school reading record.

I have updated the RE home learning section with details of our current topic. In the first of our themes, People, we will be learning about the family of God in Scripture. 

During the next month, I would like you write a special prayer for your family. Your prayer will form part of our class prayer book – Take time to decorate your prayer and make it look wonderful. Your neat handwriting might help persuade me that you are ready for your pen licence! You will need to hand in your RE homework by Wednesday, 2nd October.