New Online Shops!

We're pleased to announce three new online stores here on the Friends of English Martyrs Blog.

Coming soon...
We hope to be able to feature 'John Lewis' on our site within the next few months. So, keep coming back to see what's new or alternatively sign up to our FREE email bulletin service and have all the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Just enter your email address in the box provided on the right hand side and follow the instructions when you receive a confirmation email.

WANTED - Book Reviewers of all ages!

If you hadn't heard, 2008 is the Year of Reading! So, Friends of English Martyrs have decided to do a number of things to help the Year of Reading go with a "....shhh...we're reading!"

First of all we wanted to know what everyone is reading at the moment. Is there a book you want to rave about or one that perhaps you didn't like? Is there a book you'd like to recommend for children or perhaps there's one you'd like to suggest for grown-ups?

Please take a little time to help your children write a book review for us and in return we'll publish it right here on our Blog and on our notice board at school.

You can either leave a comment after this post, email us (joanna at sayersmedia dot co dot uk) or hand in your reviews at school.

We'll keep you posted on all the events coming up this year.

2008 School Term Dates

For those of you that have requested information about dates for the school term, please read the following:

TERM 3 - School opened Thursday 3rd January 2008; School closes Friday 15th February (for 1 week)

TERM 4 - School opens Monday 25th February; Good Friday 21st March; Easter Monday 24th March; School closes Friday 4th April (for 2 weeks)

TERM 5 - School opens Monday 21st April; May Bank Holiday Monday 5th May; School closes Friday 23rd May (for 1 week & 1 day due to Teacher Training on Monday 2nd June)

TERM 6 - School opens Tuesday 3rd June; School closes Tuesday 22nd July

Chicken Out Campaign

The children at English Martyrs Catholic Primary school, here in Oakham, have been very proud of raising their own chicken, 'Flapjack Henny Penny'. They have been fascinated with her development from egg to hen and delighted to see her lay eggs.

Currently on Channel Four, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is campaigning to improve the lives of thousands of chickens in the UK. Unfortunately, huge numbers of chickens don't have the idyllic life that Flapjack Henny Penny leads.

If you would like to know more about the Chicken Out Campaign click here. The final episode airs tonight on Channel Four at 9pm.

Blog Fundraising Update!

It's time to give you another update of how much money this Blog has raised for our school.

The Friends of English Martyrs Blog started on the 9th October 2007 and has raised a magnificent £53.05!

Your online shopping has helped generate oodles of commission - it really does work! If you shop by clicking on any of our hand-picked online store adverts we raise cash for our school and what's more it doesn't cost you any extra.

Keep up the great work!!

Tell all your family and friends to log on to the Friends of English Martyrs Blog and do their online shopping through us! Why not send an email to everyone in your address book to let them know about our Blog and what we're all doing for our school.

Keen to know where we've generated commission? Here's a few of your most popular online shops:

• Marks & Spencer


• Letterbox


• Early Learning Centre


• Amazon


• LookAtMyCrazyShoes


• Majestic Wine


• Brightminds


• Boden

Please visit our Blog regularly as it is constantly being updated with news and new online shops for you.

Don't forget to let us know what you think of it and whether you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see here.

Happy New Year

Friends of English Martyrs would like to wish everyone a very happy new year!

We hope you all had a splendid Christmas and look forward to bringing you lots of news and fun activities to get involved in during 2008.

If you have a snippet of news or something you'd like to see featured on the blog, please get in touch. We'd also like to feature any blogs or websites run by parents or friends of English Martyrs - perhaps you'd like to nominate a site that you think others would be interested in ... Here's to a busy year of blogging!

Pope Benedict XVI

The Pope's Christmas message concentrated on the 'light' that God shines into the world. Quoting St. John, he said ‘When the light of God shines in us, there can be no shadows.' Benedict addressed the crowd from the balcony of St Peter’s basilica, and the whole of St Peter’s Square was illuminated with bright sunshine!

Addressing the crowd of around 150,000 people, the Pope gave Christmas blessings in 63 languages which started in Italian and ended in Latin. Unusually, he also included a blessing in Mandarin and Guarani, an effort to reach out to people in China and the South American country of Paraguay.

Pope Benedict prayed for peace around the world and called for an end to terrorism. He appealed for 'just and lasting solutions' to be found to end suffering.

To see a video of Pope Benedict's Christmas address in Rome, click here