New partnerships, new friends, new horizons… and now a new minibus!

St Francis Catholic Primary School in Melton Mowbray took delivery of its first minibus this week.  The minibus was kindly donated to the School by Ratcliffe College.  Ratcliffe Headmaster, Mr Jonathan Reddin said, “I made friends with Mrs Anderson and her team in June this year following my visit to their wonderful school.  During our discussion on possible ways to celebrate our shared Catholic faith through future partnership work, one of the potential stumbling blocks was transport, as St Francis did not have a minibus. Fortuitously, Ratcliffe was about to update part of our fleet, so I offered St Francis one of our minibuses, which Mrs Anderson was delighted to accept.  I am thrilled that we were in a position to help a fellow Catholic school, and I know that the minibus will support the children in their learning.”

The minibus will be a valuable resource for St Francis, enabling students to participate in additional local sports fixtures, as well as transporting students and staff to activities off-site to support their curriculum.  St Francis and Ratcliffe hope to collaborate further this year supporting the spiritual growth of the children in both schools with opportunities for shared collective worship and RS lessons.  The minibus will enable children from St Francis to travel to Ratcliffe College for such occasions as well as Ratcliffe children attending St Francis.

St Francis Head Teacher, Mrs Jo Anderson said, “Our new friendship with Ratcliffe College is going to be a very exciting venture for us as Catholic schools to share our faith.  We are so grateful for the generosity of Ratcliffe College and the Headmaster, Mr Jonathan Reddin.  The minibus is a fabulous addition to our school resources and will be of enormous benefit to our school curriculum and the children’s faith journey as we link together.”