Swimming Gala Trials

The Year 5 and 6 swimming gala has been scheduled for Friday 23rd May at Palatine Leisure Centre. We now need to hold trials for any of the children wanting to take part.

These will take place the Friday before, Friday 16th May during school time. The triallists will walk down to the pool and back again during the day. We will then let the children know who has been successful. Those selected will represent the school the following Friday from 8:30am - 12 midday. On this day, the team will be dropped off at the pool - parents can stay and support - they can then be brought back to school. Thosw wishing to trial will need to bring their swimming costume, swimming shorts, googles and towel into school on the 16th - they can also wear their PE kit.

Please complete this form if you wish your child to trial. More details about the gala will be available nearer the time for those selected.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 25.04.25- 'We must live in faith, not only by our words but with our actions'- Pope Francis (1936-2025)

What a beautiful first week back it has been in school. So much reflection has taken place with us as a school coming together to celebrate the life of Pope Francis. Both in worship and in lesson, we have reflected on his life as Pope and have looked at the roles and responsibilities that this brings. We have also been lucky enough to have the Our Lady of Lourdes statue with us during the holy pilgrimage. We have reflected on the story of Mary and Bernadette and have created some lovely prayers and art work to resemble this.

Our second week of forest school is now underway, with all three groups now experiencing the wonders of outdoor education.

This week, we have been learning…

  • Maths- We have been using our mental maths to calculate the area of rectangles and also going beyond 12 x 12 by using written method.

  • Science- We have continued with our forces topic by discussing our understanding of motion. We have looked at historical scientists who first developed theories around movement and we have been testing their hypotheses.

  • Music- It is all things musical theatre this half term! We began by learning about the make up of MT such as its three components along with the roles within MT. We began to create a history timeline of how musical theatre has changed throughout time and listening to different types of MT.

  • Reading- We have started our new class novel of ‘The Suitcase Kid’ by Jacqueline Wilson, where we look into the life of a 10 year old girl handling big changes within her family.



Conversation starters

  • RE- We have been looking into the life of Pope Francis and discovering how Pope’s are granted a coat of arms, which is a badge/emblem to represent your name. Talk to your parents and grandparents and see if your family name has a coat of arms.



  • English- We have began our discussions text topic and have been creating points of view for our school themed questions.

    Are class council sessions necessary?

    Should homework be doubled or banned completely?

    discuss these with your parents and see what they think.



Let’s Celebrate

Learning certificate for being focused and cooperative goes to Logan: Over these past couple of weeks, we have seen a change in your attitude and choices Logan. You are reflecting on the advice given to you and are really making sure that you are making the right choices. This has been seen all throughout our first week back as well!

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtues for this half term are active and curious. Our winner this week goes to Beth. You are always so active Beth, especially in small creative tasks that are set, you just go above and beyond.



Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog to keep on track of your child’s SPAG, multiplication and division practice and also their reading.



  • Forest School- This will take place every Friday for this half term. You will be sent a text the previous night to make aware who is doing this on which day as the class are split into groups. The children will just need to bring in a change spare of clothes- ones suitable for outdoor activities and working within a forest environment. Long clothing will be needed (no shorts).

    The groups are;

    Group 1- Daisy, Grace, Isioma, Jacob, Lilly, Logan, Matilda, Seth, Teddy, Toby

    Group 2- Amelia, Beth, Finley, Hudson, Hugo, John-Paul, Joseph, Poppy, Sean

    Group 3- Charlotte, Ciaran, Gus, Josh, Lorenzo, Louis, Rory, Rose, Tommy, William

    Each group will have four sessions of forest school spread out across the rest of the year.



  • Extra Curricular Activities- Please check the sports blog for new and existing sports clubs taking place this half term, including game and tournament dates.




Year 5 Homework- Due Thursday 1st May

Maths

We have just began our multiplication topic where we are going beyond 12 x 12 and using methods to help multiply bigger numbers. To keep super sharp on our times tables, complete the sheet stuck in their homework books independently so we know which times tables we need to work on.

Grammar and Punctuation

To complete the sheet stuck in their books. Follow the set of instructions to help present your work.

Spellings

Can you remember the theme in this weeks spellings. Is there a pattern with lots of these words?

  1. quiet

  2. muscle

  3. guilty

  4. recently

  5. amazing

  6. urgent

  7. different

  8. magnificent

  9. obedient

  10. intelligent

  11. independent

  12. innocent

  13. ancient

  14. patient

  15. frequent

Mrs Barkers group

  1. great

  2. amazing

  3. strict

  4. own

  5. calm

  6. recent

  7. every

  8. strong

  9. missing

  10. quiet

This week...

A sad start to our new term. We have all been saddened by the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. It was only fitting as we returned to school on Tuesday that we began the Summer term with a dedicated prayer and liturgy, led by Mrs. Gregan. We have opened a book of condolence for both staff children and parents to contribute.

Nursery have been drawing pictures of Pope Francis to add to the book along with their individual finger print. We also wrote: ‘we offer our condolences to sisters and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church . We pray God’s blessing on us all and on all, who like Pope Francis, try to follow Christ in the strength of the Holy Spirit.’

If you can cast your mind back to before the Easter break you will remember that we welcomed the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes into school. She will remain with us until Monday, and this week we have been celebrating the visit by praying in the worship area and by making individual statues of Our Lady of Lourdes to take home. We have tasked each child to place Our Lady next to their beds as they say their prayers each evening. Keep a look out in your child’s school bag this week.

On a happier note we have thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine this week and have been inspired to crack on with our planting. Justine has been taking the gardening club in small groups to the poly tunnel to plant, pumpkins, lettuce, cucumber, radishes, peas and sweetcorn!

The children gave also noticed our meadow seeds are growing and we have flowers on our raspberry canes and strawberry plants! We are hoping for a bumper crop!

Number 8

Numberland is rocked by the arrival of superblock Eight, known to his friends and fans as Octoblock. At the beginning of the episode Eight is formed from combining One and Seven.

Throughout the episode Eight counts his legs saying the number names from 1 to 8. The children should recognise the cardinal principle of counting that the last number counted represents the entire set of objects counted. Click here to meet Octoblock!

Year 5 Charity Donut Sale…mmmmmmmmm

Please give Year 5 your support!!

Who doesn’t like a donut, yummy!!!!!!

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone, 

Welcome back. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

 The children have got right back into nursery with their learning and having lots of fun.

 The children have been recognising sounds we have learnt in their names by using a name card. This will give the children confidence to take ownership of their personal belongings, their trays as well as being able to write their names.

This term’s learning is entitled ‘Once Upon a Time’. We kick started our literacy based learning by turning the treehouse into a wonderful castle, we even made a dragons lair in the dungeon underneath the castle! The children have really enjoyed dressing up and role playing in the castle. The children’s imagination has been wonderful. They have made up so may amazing (and scary) stories!

Everyone helped to design a flag to go on the castle. Of course, we came up with the idea of a dragon, the children love dragons. It had to have fire coming out of his mouth! It looks great flying proudly on our castle. 

At the end of last term, the children showed great interest in looking for mini beasts, and they came across a very large cocoon. The children were really excited and wanted to know what it could be, but we didn't know. This week, the children have found it again. We are going to keep our eyes on it to see what its going to be. Watch this space. 

It has been a fun packed week, and I can't wait for next week. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

 Emma.

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome back after the Easter break. 

Our learning continues as we are still on our journey to reception.

First I would like to give a big warm welcome to our new starters. We are so happy to have you in our nursery family. We hope you have a wonderful time. Just a couple of things to let you know about. All children should have a blue book bag, as these are just the right size for storage and also bringing home children's work. We just don't have the space for big back packs. Also, all children should bring in snacks, one for each session, so they will need two if they are here all day. We promote healthy eating, so a piece of fruit or veggies is perfect. Thank you 

This term we are focusing on literacy and story telling. We have all used our imaginations to retell our favourite stories this week, we might even write one of our own!

We are continuing to practice our writing, concentrating on the sounds that make up our first name. We are getting really good at hearing the which sounds are in our names, moving on from just initial sounds. I can tell the children have been practising their writing at home. Thank you for your support. When your child is writing please remember to tell them to use their "duck fingers". This is the tripod grip.  Click here for more information.

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

I hope the weather stays sunny for the weekend and everyone can make some lovely family memories.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

Summer 1 Extra-Curricular Opportunities

It is such a short half term, but there are some extra-curricular opportunities in place for the children at school. With the arrival of the summer term, cricket, rounders and athletics will feature once again. Some of these clubs will run over into the second half of the summer term.

There are also a number of tournaments coming up for some of our sports teams, we will communicate these to each team individually.

Please sign up to the clubs using the buttons below.

This week....

Another glorious week in the garden! Our meadow seeds have started to germinate and after the holidays we have lettuce, sweetcorn, radishes cucumber, beans and peas to sow, Mmmm all those yummy veggies, we have also noticed our raspberry cane and strawberries are getting flowers on them!!! Watch this space!

Worship

This week it has been Holy Week in school. We have attended the school assemblies which have depicted Jesus’ journey to the cross. Classes 2-6 have represented the Easter story so movingly using dance, music and words. When we discussed what we had watched the children said they found each depiction very “sad”, but we know it was God’s plan and that Jesus would “come alive again”.

We talked about how the world can be a very strange place at times. Things that we take for granted, simple things like visiting friends, going to a café, sometimes are are no longer possible.  At these times it is easy to become afraid, to feel isolated, to feel the world will never be the same, yet we are called to be a People of Hope. We wondered; How can we hope in these situations? The children said to pray and to believe in Jesus, he would never leave us.

A visit from Rachel

Our friend Rachel came to school on Tuesday to explain the Jewish celebration of the Passover, this was something the children were really curious about during her first visit. We found out that Passover is a major Jewish spring festival commemorating the Israelites' liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt, marked by the avoidance of leavened foods and a special meal called a Seder. We all had a taste of matzah, a flat, unleavened bread which looked and tasted a bit like a cracker.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone.

What a very busy week we have had. The children are definitely ready for a rest.

The children have been practicing their cutting skills this week, and they have made good progress and have much better control when using scissors. The children have been busy cutting all sorts of objects, like tubes, boxes and bits of craft paper. They have been coming up with their own ideas and creations, for example, telescopes, phones, and even birthday candles. Such fun.  

 In PE this week, Mr. Nay and Mr. Murray introduced golf to the children. It was brilliant! The children really enjoyed using the golf putters, trying to hit the ball between two cones. It was tricky but we kept practicing to get our hold and technique correct. We also have been practicing our running skills, having a go at running in lanes on the field. This was tricky, hopefully, with lots of practice, we will have mastered it by Sports Day!

We have been keeping a keen eye on our tadpoles, looking for any changes. Guess what?! we have noticed that some are starting to get their back legs! It’s amazing! I wonder what they will look like by the time when we return to nursery after the holidays. 

 I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and enjoy your week off.

 Emma 

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog 

We have had a very busy week, as we gathered with school each day as we watched the children tell the Easter story. The children were mesmerized as the watched and listened. I'm sure your child will tell you about the performances if you ask them.

We continue to investigate animals and their babies as we took part in a quiz. We got them all correct! Click here to have a go at home.

We also continued our investigation of shadow. We used shadows to draw pictures of our friends and then toy dinosaurs.

We had a lovely picnic on Wednesday as we shared hot cross buns with Reception.

Have a peaceful and restful Easter and we will see you at the start of next term 

Michelle 

After the Easter break we will be introducing our new learning threads ‘Once Upon a time’ and ‘Minibeasts’. Such a lot of learning!!! Take a look at what we have the planned.

Forest School

Last Friday we all went to Forest school with Miss Lavelle. We made clay faces on tree trucks by using natural resources we could find around the garden. There were some scary faces!!!! We then baked bananas and marshmallows on the firepit and had a drink of juice! Mmmmm, thank you Miss Lavelle.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone and Happy and Holy Easter. Have the most wonderful week off and I will see you all on Tuesday 22nd April.

Stay safe and God Bless.

Barbara

Year 6 Weekly Blog - 'He is risen. He is not there.'

What a way to end a wonderful term together! I am sure that you were all moved by the children’s depiction of the Resurrection this morning - many a tear had to be wiped from the eye. This morning is what education is all about. The children having the opportunity to think outside of the box, be creative and to express themselves. We are incredibly proud of them all.


Continuing to learn

We have continued to really push ourselves to learn in the last week of this term. In addition to focusing on the Easter assembly, the children have been writing their own versions of Jesus’ journey to His cross. This piece is being written in 1st person so the children really have to focus on the emotion of the event. I can’t wait to share these with you after half term. In maths, we have done lots of percentage work and to make sure children remember everything they have learnt, it’s important to keep this ticking over during the Easter break- please keep practicing finding percentages of numbers!

All of the children have revision resources and some past SAT papers for over half term for them to practice and have a go at. They have worked so hard and we are now onto the final push. Support your child the best way you see fit, these will not be assessed by me, so whatever level input you feel is necessary then please feel free. If you click on the button below, it will take you to the section on the Year 6 web page ‘How to Help Your Child.’ I have updated the page with lots of useful sites for the children to access. If you see there is an area that children need more practice, then these sites should help, but remember one of the most crucial ways is through books. So please make sure you set aside time of Easter to read together. The final weeks after half term will be focused on revision and helping the children in each of the different areas.


LEARNER OF THE HALF TERM…

Voted for by your classmates for being an excellent learning role model within our classroom. The class think you have shone this half term …

Ruby

Grateful and Generous STAR of the half term …

Voted for by your classmates who think Ella deserves the STAR award, for being a kind friend.

Helpers in the morning for after Easter

This week we have the following children helping to take the younger children to their class:

Liam Jacob Ella Niamh

Notices

Back to school on Tuesday 22nd April

On behalf of the Year 6 team, I wish you all a restful and holy Easter. Take time to spend with each other and to enjoy the beautiful weather- let’s hope it remains.

Mrs Harrison, Mrs Webster and Mrs Barker

Year 5 Weekly Blog 11.04.25- 'You shall be with me in paradise'

What an amazing yet emotional week it has been in school. Each and every year, the children make holy week even more memorable and this week is certainly one to remember. Watching all of the younger children portray their chapter of the Easter story was moving as this led up to Year 5’s performance of the Crucifixion. Regardless of the nerves, the children lived within their roles and performed with such emotion and meaning.

In addition to this special week, the Our Lady of Lourdes statue had arrived at our school as she continues on her pilgrimage around the diocese. We all came together in worship on Wednesday to celebrate this, along with St Peter’s school who had kindly passed on the statue from their pilgrimage.

In between all of our holy week preparations, we have been finishing off our maths and English units. In English, we have been writing our second newspaper article, with the first being about Jesus’ crucifixion, we now turn to his resurrections two days later.

In Maths, it has been all things shape this week with us focusing on calculating area of shape. We have been looking at combination of shapes such as rectilinear shapes (practice again saying this out loud) and using our area formula calculate bigger shapes.

We finished our week with fun and celebrations. Our second group got to have their first experience of forest school out in the shining sun whilst the rest of the class completed a class Easter hunt! There were plenty of chocolates to go around, especially in the Easter raffle, along with some other class prizes.

Conversation starters

  • RE- One of the big learning points from Jesus’ journey to death was sacrifice. Has there been a time in your life that you have sacrificed something for the greater good?

  • English- We have just finished our class novel of the Windrush Child. In the final chapter of the book, it focuses on the injustices around equal rights throughout history and how we aim to solve these issues. If you were the Prime Minister, what would you do to make the world a better place?

Let’s Celebrate

As it is the end of term, the certificate and virtue star have been voted by the children for whom they think has displayed those characteristics throughout the whole term.

Learning Certificate Winner of the Term goes to Matilda

Virtue Star of the Term goes to Louis

Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog to keep on track of your child’s SPAG, multiplication and division practice and also their reading.

  • Forest School- This will be starting on Friday 4th April. You will be sent a text the previous night to make aware who is doing this on which day as the class are split into groups. The children will just need to bring in a change spare of clothes- ones suitable for outdoor activities and working within a forest environment. Long clothing will be needed (no shorts).

    The groups are;

    Group 1- Daisy, Grace, Isioma, Jacob, Lilly, Logan, Matilda, Seth, Teddy, Toby

    Group 2- Amelia, Beth, Finley, Hudson, Hugo, John-Paul, Joseph, Poppy, Sean

    Group 3- Charlotte, Ciaran, Gus, Josh, Lorenzo, Louis, Rory, Rose, Tommy, William

    Each group will have four sessions of forest school spread out across the rest of the year.

  • School will reopen on Tuesday 22nd April