Torches

This half term we have been exploring electrical systems and how they have developed over time. The children were tasked with making a torch to fit a set design criterion. They could either; design and make a torch for a police officer or someone who enjoyed caving. They had to decide on the relevant style of torch, taking the specific criteria for each person into consideration. This could be either in the form of a hand held or a head torch. The children were very creative in completing their torch with an off/on switch and were all successful in making a fully functioning torch!  We have now started our next topic of Sculptures and 3D.

Year 5 Easter Homework- Due Thursday 24th April

Reading

So many children have smashed their reading target this term! Let’s get off to a great start to Summer 1 with lots of reading and ready to quiz when we get back.

Maths

To be completed on IXL;

Y13- Find the area of rectangles and squares

Grammar and Punctuation

On IXL:

H1- Using action and dialogue to understand characters

Q4- Choose the best transition

Sculpture and 3D - Paper Play

This term, the children have been looking at the different ways they could use paper. From 3D drawings through to sculptures. We have had so much fun manipulating paper into tower sculptures, the tree of life 3d art and a collaborative whole class spider sculpture! The children have shown so much resilience when the paper would not bend the way they wanted it to. This topic has been perfect for their fine motor skills and building up their finger muscles by rolling an array of different sized cylinders to produce their tower sculptures. Their imagination has run wild with this topic and they produced fabulous work!

Fabric of Nature

This half term, the children have been learning all about textiles. From traditional methods such as Batik and William Morris to learning the process of developing their own ideas for repeated patterns, inspired by the rainforest. With such wonderful vibrant colours and unique wildlife and plant life, the children have let their imaginations flow to produce samples of print ideas. We have so vey much enjoyed, creating mood boards and using the prominent colours to create detailed drawings to use in our pattern making. It has been wonderful to watch the children develop their skills and I cannot wait to continue their creative learning journey with them.

Year 4 homework to be completed over the Easter holidays

Maths

You have a small maths sheet to complete on column addition and subtraction - YOU WILL NOT HAVE YOUR HOMEWORK BOOKS - they are in class.

Going for Gold!

Over the holidays, it is my greatest wish that we turn our heatmaps green if we have not already done so.

We have learned all common multiplication facts and so many of you know them instantly. One thing that has really helped us to learn them is the times tables songs we have learned along the way. We decided as a class to collate these into a video so you can practise our songs at home - especially those of you still struggling to remember those key facts.

Everybody - please practise your TT rockstars every day over Easter - and practise singing along to these songs with your class friends to help the times tables sink in.

Year 2 Home Learning for the Easter Holidays

Dear Parents,

Thank you for all your support and help over the Spring Term it is greatly appreciated. We wish you a Happy and Holy Holiday this Easter. There is no formal homework over this special break but we’ve ensured all the children will be returning home with books to read - from class and the school library. Please continue to enjoy reading - it is the gift that keeps on giving!

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If you find yourself with time to spare on a rainy day. You could complete one of the optional homework tasks or find out who Shakespeare was. When we return we’ll complete a two week block of learning on Shakespeare and the play “The Tempest”. On Tuesday 29th April we’ll be off to the Grand Theatre in Blackpool to watch the RSC close encounters version of the play! This trip is on parent pay £8.

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Have a lovely break- God Bless

Sponsored Walk

Tomorrow -

We will be joining the whole school for the Last Supper assembly then setting off around 10am. The weather is forecast to be very sunny all day. We will all require SUNCREAM - applied before school. Please dress in PE kit - nice comfy trainers. All children need a hat preferably one that protects ears and neck. I hope to be at Fairhaven Lake for an early Lunch/Picnic - school packed lunches provided. We will have visiting the churches on the way to stand outside their holy doors. Returning on the bus around 1’ish. Thank you to the volunteers who will be joining us - we have the right ratios but if want to join us - you are more than welcome. The bus fare has been sorted so you don’t have to think about that.

Backpack - required to carry lunch and water bottle.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 04.04.25- 'Let your faith grow stronger throughout Lent as you seek divine love'

And just like that, holy week is upon us as we start to come to the end of our Lenten journey. This has been a big focus for us in Year 5 as we celebrated this in mass with our lovely Year 1 partners and to use God’s love to guide us into next week. We have continued to prepare for our holy week liturgy next week, with our focus being on the crucifixion. The children have been working so hard in preparing their lines and understanding the importance of what they are portraying. In our RE lessons, we have looked at Mary, our mother, and how she always forgives us and helps untangle our knots. Find a piece of string at home and explain to your parents what the string and knots represent in our lives.

This week has been a very practical week in Year 5, with practical lessons in Maths and Science, to stage practices for holy week and also our fourth enrichment afternoon of the year. The children found themselves in Year 1 with Miss Hanlon looking into the world of photography, to where they were sent out on a scavenger hunt to find pictures of things important to them. This week also started the launch of forest school for Year 5 with our first group taking part this morning.

This week, we have been learning…

• Maths- We have finished our topic of division and have moved to our new shape topic of area. We have been looking at what it means to explore the area of a shape and have been getting practical by measuring the area of some of our classroom items.

• Science- It has been all things gravity this week in science as we recapped what we knew about gravity from our space topic and have been discussing the differences between mass and weight. We then used our newton meters to measure the force of gravity on classroom objects to compare them with their mass.

• English- We have finished writing our first newspaper article on the story of the crucifixion and I have been blown away with the level of writing on our first attempt. We have been learning about parenthesis and are looking to apply this into our next article.

Conversation starters

• RE- What is the process of forgiveness like for you? Are there certain steps that take place? Do these look different to how your family members forgive? Discuss with your family to share stories of when you have forgiven someone and also asked for forgiveness.

• English- We have just began to plan our second article to write. Have any of your family members been in an article before, either a newspaper or magazine? Did their name get used in a headline or caption?

Let’s Celebrate

Learning Certificate- Teddy for being a brave and enthusiastic learner. Performing on stage is not easy and it is common for children to not like doing this. You have broken out of your shell and have lived within your role in our assembly Teddy- and for this we thank you because the performance would not be the same without you. You have also shown lots of enthusiasm throughout some of our practical lessons this week, particularly in Science and Maths.

Virtue Star of the Week- Our star of the week goes to Ciaran. You are such a generous person Ciaran. So many times we see you put other people’s needs before your own- you do this because you care and love the people around you. Whenever anything is asked of you, you do this without hesistation and to your highest of quality. Thank you for being such an important and loving member of our classroom.

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.

• Lenten Boxes- To be returned (hopefully with lots of pennies) and exchanged on Wednesday 9th April.

• Year 5 Easter Assembly- Our Year 5 worship of the Crucifixion will take place on Thursday 10th April at 9:15am

• Easter Egg Raffle- £1 a strip for raffle tickets. Bring your money to the office for Mrs Nel for a chance to win an Easter egg on the last day of term.

• Easter Bunny Raffle- Would you like to win our giant Easter bunny? Bring a £1 into the office and guess the name of our bunny. The name will be drawn on the last day of term.

• End of Term- We will finish at 2pm on Friday 11th April. School will reopen on Tuesday 22nd April.

Year 6 Weekly Blog - 'For God so loved the World.'

And so, we approach Holy Week in school. As we have continued to learn in class, the whole school has been busy putting together their depictions of the passion. The hall has been filled with song, emotion and wonderful drama. Next Monday, we will start our journey with the Palm Sunday. This week in liturgy we looked at John’s gospel, where he called people without sin to cast the first stone. We reflected on Jesus’ response and how God calls us to be like him. To talk with kindness, without judgement and most importantly to forgive. We related this to our own lives, how often we are quick to react, and how like Jesus, we should suprise people with our answer of love.

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Next Friday, we will be performing our interpretation of the resurrection. I am excited for you to see it and for you to share it with us. The children need to bring into school on Monday a pair of black leggings/trousers/joggers for the assembly. Thank you. Throughout next week, we will be discussing and writing about these events in our RE lessons. I would love to show the children clips from the film ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, as this is a fantastic resource to fully comprehend the feelings and emotions involved which will impact their writing. This film is a PG however, we will start next Tuesday, so if you have any objections with this then please do get in touch. If I do not hear from you, I will assume you have given consent. Many thanks.

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What have we been learning this week?

Learning has been full on and fast paced this week. I am so impressed by the attitude of the children and their desire to make progress.

English - The children have been busy analysing and collecting vocabulary, connectives and cohesive devices from discussion texts- next week we will be writng a shared discussion text on whether Friar Lawerence was to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet.

Maths - We have enjoyed maths this week, and have now completed our percentage work! Ask us to find any percentage of an amount and we can do it! We will be looking at some word problems and reasoning around this on Monday!

We loved our enrichment afternoon gardening with Mrs Hotchkiss earlier this week…

You will see from the homework this week that we are really gearing up to the final weeks of teaching. Please continue to keep asking questions and I will help you wherever I can. Over Easter we will be sending a number of practice papers home to have a go at over the holidays, all of these will be due back the first day back after the Easter holidays. 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.

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Delving deeper through talk …

Can you find a topic that you feel strongly about and give the arguements both for and against? Such as: is it ever ok to lie? Should Year 6 have SATs? Can you use the debate language we have collected?

My Happy Mind…

How can you bring the suprise and gift of love to someone around you next week?

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Leading Learners

Well done to Ella this week.

Ella, we are so proud of how hard you are working. We appreciate your resilience and determination every single day!

Grateful and Generous stars…

This half term we will be on the lookout for all the children that show our two virtues of the half term in their actions. Children who show gratitude for all of their own and other people’s gifts- also regarding other people as precious gifts themsleves, reflecting our school’s mission statement. We will also be spotting children who are generous, who show generosity in their service for others. These children are the role models of the school. This week we thank Millie for being Grateful and Generous.

Helpers in the morning

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

Michael Ben Erin Afrthur

Notices

• Year 6 Resurrection Assembly- Friday 11th April at 9:15, please arrive a little earlier to be seated.

• Bikeability - PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM VIA THE QR CODE FROM THE LETTER. This has been booked for Monday 16th and 23rd June. If you would like your child to take part in this crucial trainng before they go on to high school then please complete the consent form via the QR code on the letter.

• Next Wednesday 9th April- Lenten boxes to be returned.

• EASTER EGG RAFFLE- tickets are now on sale- £1 a strip- please send money in an envelope with your child’s name on.

• Would you like a chance to guess the Easter Bunny’s name and win the teddy? £1 per name- please nip in to see Mrs Nel or send child in to school to choose!

• We break up at 2pm on Friday 11th April.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Harrison, Mrs Webster and Mrs Barker

This week...

A fabulous but bust week at nursery…again! The sun has been shining and we have enjoyed every minute of it! We even got the BIG water play out in the garden, it was so much fun!

Mrs. Tierney from year five brought us some frog spawn this week…and we made a pond! Already, the eggs have started to hatch into tadpoles. We have been watching very carefully for when they grow their back legs…then front legs…their tails to shrink… and their lungs to develop. We watched a short video which explained the life cycle of frogs. Click here to watch at home.

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone. It has been another great week for learning in the sunshine.

We are super excited about our new visitors in the nursery garden. We have a family of tadpoles! A big thank you to Mrs Tierney for bringing them for us.

We have continued to explore Lucky Number 7 this week. The children have been making rainbows in our floor book representing the 7 colours of the rainbow. We have also noticed that each colour of a rainbow matched the colours which make up ‘7’. The children also have been practicing writing number 7.

Here's a number 7 game. Click on number 7 to start the game have fun. Click here.

The children have been very busy in the garden, building with LARGE bricks and Waffle bricks. They have built tall towers and short towers as well as houses. They used their structures to retell the story of The Three Little Pigs! The brick house gave them somewhere to hide from the wolf!!! We also played ‘Wolf’s Coming’…our favourite story! We also played Wolfs Coming in the school castle.

 I cannot believe we have only one week left at nursery before we break up for Easter, see you all on Monday. Have a lovely weekend everyone. 

Emma 

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog 

The sun has definitely been shining this week which has meant much of our learning has taken place outside in the garden.

We continue to be meteorologists as we discovered our shadows only come out in the sun. We will explore more next week.  

We were excited this week as we now have frogspawn in the garden. We are learning about the lifecycle of a frog and this made us think about babies, and how they all have different names. We were surprised to find out that a baby rabbit is called a kitten. We have been painting our own baby animals.

We met number block lucky number 7 last week and this week we continue to practice writing numbers and counting up to 7.

Here is the rhyme if you would like to have a go at home " A line in the sky then down to the ground, that's how lucky 7 can be found". Don't forget your duck fingers!

 Have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week.

Michelle

Worship

This week we have continued our pilgrimage to the cross by going tot the chapel. We took our rosary beads with us to hep us to focus our thoughts. We are trying hard to learn the Our Father and Glory be prayers. Our prayer leaders are a great help.

Next week will be Holy Week in school. Each assembly will be portrayed by year 2 to year 6.

Monday- Palm Sunday

Tuesday- The Last Supper

Wednesday- The Garden of Gethsemane

Thursday- The Crucifixion

Friday- The Resurrection.

They start at 9.15am each morning if you would like to come and join us.

During our final week of the term, we will be joined in school by statues that belong to the Pilgrims of Grace. This special initiative involves three statues of Our Lady of Lourdes, patroness of our diocese, visiting every school in the Diocese of Lancaster. The tour culminates in October with representatives from all our schools gathering at one of three diocesan sites: St. Mary’s, Cleator, St. Mary’s, Ladyewell, or Sacred Heart, Blackpool. During the week we will be coming together to worship alongside the statues before taking them to their next school; St John Vianney. The statute will be positioned in the Worship Area if any of you would like to come and pay your respects.

Also, this Sunday is Family Mass, 9.30 am at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church. We look forward to seeing you.

Lenten Boxes

All Lenten boxes to be sent in by Wednesday at the latest. Thank you for your support.

Easter Egg raffle

Our Easter egg raffle will take place next Friday. If you haven’t yet sent in your money for raffle tickets, don’t worry it’s not too late…remember, you have to be in it to win it!!!!

Easter Holidays

Nursery will close for the Easter holidays next Friday (11th April) at 2 pm and reopen on Tuesday 22nd April.

I’m hoping that the sunshine shines on us all this weekend. Enjoy spending time with loved ones.

Stay safe and God Bless.

Barbara

Year 5 Homework- Due 10th April

Maths

To be completed on IXL;

H14- Divide 3 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers: word problems

Y8- Select figures of a given area

Grammar and Punctuation- Parenthesis

We have been learning about parenthesis, which is using brackets, dashes and commas to add extra information to a sentence.

TOP TIP- If you remove the extra information (inside the punctuation) then your sentence should still make sense. Make sure to cover the parenthesis with your finger and read the sentence out loud to check if it makes sense.

There are 5 questions to complete in their books. Read each sentence carefully and use our top tip to help you out.

Spellings

Can you remember the theme in this weeks spellings. Remember the little tricks we learnt with some of our homophones.

1. board

2. pear

3. farther

4. serial

5. heard

6. stationery

7. steal

8. lead (heavy metal)

9. led (past tense verb)

10. aloud

11. passed

12. guessed

13. allowed

14. guest

15. past

Mrs Barkers group

1. pair

2. hear

3. weak

4. knew

5. our

6. pour

7. whole

8. night

9. which

10. sea

Year 4 Weekly blog Friday 4th April "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin." (St. Teresa of Calcutta)

This week’s worship has centred around the story of the woman who had broken the law and was sentenced to be stoned. Jesus’s message was that anyone who had not sinned could throw the first stone. Children have reflected on this message in class - how we should not judge or sentence others - instead look towards ourselves and treat every day as a new start towards God’s love.

This week, the children have been taught by Miss Smith who has been so impressed with the children’s kindness and their focus. They have also loved their assembly practice with Mrs. Gregan. The children have created a formidable liturgy set in Gethsemane - they cannot wait to share it with you on Wednesday at 9:15am. Please can all children bring in a black pair of leggings for the assembly.

This week in English, children have got creative! They have learned how to write a character description using lots of Year 4 features. They created two of their own Brer Rabbit characters and described their appearance and personalities.

In History, this week, children have learned how Christianity came to our country in Anglo-Saxon times. They have looked at evidence which proves Christianity took root in these times and learned the chronology of events - from St Aidan at the top of our country - converting the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and St Augustine at the bottom of the country - sent by Pope Gregory in Rome to convert the English in Kent, Suffolk and other Southern areas. All fascinating stuff and very apt with the children’s deepening of their own faith.

In maths this week, children have been focusing on understanding fractions which are greater than one whole. We need a real push at home now for times tables - so please keep up with TT Rockstars and fire multiplication questions at children at every opportunity!

On Monday afternoon, the children had enrichment in Reception where they completed a beautiful art challenge.

Conversation starters

English

Which character did you create? What was it like? How did it move? What was its appearance like?

My Happy mind

How many things can you be grateful for this half term?

Let’s Celebrate!

This week, it is yet another double whammy certificate! Well done George L. for being an enthusiastic and co-operative learner. You listen to others’ ideas carefully and explain your own ideas clearly to the class. You are kind and considerate when working with others and you always ask if you dont understand! Well done

Virtues

This half term are virtues are Grateful and Generous . Grateful for themselves, for others and for their experiences in life and generous to others. This week Louie gets our star. Louie you always wear a big smile and you are such a positive chap. You bring joy to people. Well done!

Notices

Easter egg Raffle - you can now purchase tickets at £1 per strip

Family mass Sunday 6th April

Class assembly The Garden of Gethsemane - Wednesday 9th April at 9:15am

Please bring Lenten boxes back by Wednesday - so we can count up and see how you have done with your chores!

Break up Friday 11th April 2pm

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Lyons, Miss Smith and Miss Bray