Year 4 Weekly blog. Friday 19th December Merry Christmas everyone!

What a beautiful week we have had in Year 4 and as a whole school! It has been a week of Christmas fun and also really deep reflection about the birth of Jesus and what this means for the world. In RE this week, children have thought about the type of King Christ is and how unlike a typical earthly king He is. Children recognised him as our ‘Servant King,’ who was full of humility and compassion for others. He taught us to lead is to serve. The conversations we have in class often leave me in awe of their deep understanding of their faith. They truly use Jesus as their role model.

Speaking of awe again, children sang like angels on the altar in their carol concert on Tuesday. What a team effort - they have been so calm and focused on giving this gift to you.

We have been on our pilgrimage with Year 2 around our nativity stations - and again children were so reverent.

The rest of the week has been so JOYOUS! The Christmas party rocked! The Christmas cards made are beautiful! Christmas spirit was in abundance at the raffle and in class with our Christmas film and crafts.

It is a privilege to serve your children and their growth in one term has been astounding. I cannot wait to see what is next!

Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to our dear Miss Slater, who I know is so popular with the children because of her calm, kind manner. She will be very missed. We welcome back Mrs Carragher, who the children had in Year 1. She has spent the week with us this week, re-acquainting herself and cannot believe how independent your children are now!

We will also be welcoming a student teacher after Christmas - Miss Cardwell. Lots of new faces in the New Year.

Here is a video of our Christmas fun!

Conversation starters

RE

What kind of King is Jesus? What would His kingdom on Earth be like?

Let’s Celebrate

This week, the certificate winners were chosen by the children in class. They voted for Jude Cl who they said has improved so much in his work - especially with his writing and he is such a responsible, kind person. They also voted for Isla who they said is a role model. She is always instantly ready to learn and gives 100% focus to everything. She is kind, funny and tries her best all the time.

Have a lovely Christmas with those beautiful children of yours. Thank you for all your support over this term.

Mrs Lyons, Miss Slater and Miss Carragher

a.lyons@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

It's party time!!

A week full of Christmas party fun! We are all exhausted. We kicked off with the Christmas Raffle with LOADS of prizes. Well done to the lucky winners!

The Christmas party on Thursday was FANTASTIC! We all came dressed in our finery and played party games and had a jolly good dance. We even had a visit from Father Christmas…he also brought us a little gift because we were all on the good list…yay!

At snack time we had Christmas buns to celebrate Baby Jesus’ birthday. We sang happy birthday and gave Him three ‘quiet’ cheers.

For party day afternoon we joined KS1 for a movie afternoon in the hall

Take a look at our wonderful photos.

The fun continued on Friday with the annual staff panto! It’s the children’s favourite even of the year. It’s the best have looked all year!

On behalf of all the nursery team may I say a HUGE thank you for all your kind words and generous gifts this Christmas. It is truly overwhelming. Thank you.

All the staff love your children so much and it is a privilege to be able to play a part at the start of their education journey. The fact that each one of you trust us implicitly with the care of your child is a reward in itself.

This term has been joyous and full of challenges and learning. Each and everyone of us have grown our brain and I for one cannot wait for 2026, to see where our learning will take us

Have the the most wonderful Christmas and New Year.

May God bless you and keep you safe.

Barbara

Year 1 Weekly Blog 19.12.25 - "When they saw the star they rejoiced with great joy." Matthew 2:10

In this weeks Gospel we heard how Joseph was visited by an angel in a dream. The angel told Joseph to take care of Mary, that she was going to have God’s Son who would save the people of their sins. Joseph showed great faith in God and did as the angel had asked. We thought about Mary and how she too showed great faith and joy in God’s will. Our reflection this week was to think how we could be thoughtful, kind and bring joy to others during this final week of Advent. This week we also met with our Year 5 partners and together we went on a pilgrimage around the school, stopping and reflecting at each prayer station. It was such a special time watching our older children take such a caring role of their partners as they guided our children around the school and read so beautifully each piece of scripture.

Going deeper in conversation

During RE we have had a great time creating our own artwork to show the night of Jesus’s birth. We have decided that it is so important that our artwork should include Jesus, Mary, Joseph and really show what the night of Jesus’ birth looked like. We also thought carefully about how we as Christians prepare for the birth of Christ. We looked at our parish news letter and saw the events that our community are holding to help us to prepare. We saw that today at 7:30pm there is Christmas tree decorating at church and on Monday at the parish centre we can join in with carol singing. The children created wonderful posters to let people know about these events, so that everybody can feel prepared for Jesus’ coming!

We have had such a special week in school! We had great fun on Monday with Mrs Harrison for Enrichment, she taught the children a wonderful Christmas dance! I wonder if they can remember it? On Tuesday we watched the junior children in their carol concert which was the most beautiful afternoon! Not only that but we also had the very exciting Christmas raffle (what a lucky bunch we have!! So many winners!), a delicious Christmas dinner, our Christmas party and DVD afternoon and finally the teachers Panto! We are definitely all in the Christmas spirit!

Magic moments

Coming together as a EYFS and Key Stage 1 team was a real magical moment for us this week. The children had a wonderful party with lots of Christmas songs, dance moves and fun to be had. We even had a special visit from Father Christmas who came to visit us in our classroom to give each gift a child. It was wonderful way to come together to celebrate the end of our Autumn term and to continue the Christmas festivities!

Let’s Celebrate

This week our awards were selected by the children who each voted for someone in the class who they felt had demonstrated our Learning Characters and virtues. The children thought carefully about who their vote was for and could give specific examples as to why. They all had such wonderful things to say about one another.

A huge well done to Adele. Adele, your classmates had the most wonderful things to say about you. They spoke of your focus and hard work, how you try your best in every lesson. As well as these wonderful qualities, they spoke highly of your consideration towards others; how you help them to focus, to make good choices and to try their best too. What a wonderful role model you are and how lucky we are to have you in our school!
Well done Adele!

A huge well done to Isabella. Isabella, your classmates had wonderful things to say about you and spoke of your bravery towards new activities and challenges in school. You are a wonderful friend Isabella and you treat others with kindness and compassion and that is why your classmates spoke so highly of you. They have noticed how brave you are and how you are stepping forward to try new things. Your friends said how proud they were of you and how much they enjoy being in the class with you. Thank you for reminding us all to be brave, to have a go and why it is so important to be a good friend! Well done Isabella! 

Reminders

Please can you check your child’s uniform as we are missing a few pieces! Please be on the look out for some black leggings and a school cardigan (size 28), both are labelled and have Maggie’s name on. We are also missing a school hoody, again labelled with Rosalie’s name. Thank you!

Emails:

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

s.hartley@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Finally we wish you all the most special and Holy Christmas! Thank you for being such a wonderful and supportive bunch! We are such lucky teachers who get to be a part of your child’s learning and their journey through school. It truly is such a privilege! We will be thinking of you all on Christmas day, we hope you enjoy all of the celebration and fun together, making memories and enjoying that precious quality time together.

We look forward to welcoming you back on Monday the 5th and hearing all about your special two weeks together.

God bless.

Miss Bassett, Mrs Hartley and Miss Hennessy.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 19.12.25- ' For God loved the world so much, he gave his one and only son'

What a magical week is has been! Tuesday evening really was the epitome of this wonderful week as the whole of KS2 sang their hearts out in front of a capacity audience at Church. The children were rewarded the following day with their KS2 Christmas Party, which included lots of energy, excitement and laughter. Throughout the week, the children have continued with their festive activities such as taking our buddy class around the travelling nativity stations, Christmas crafts, Christmas films, quizzes and much more! We ended our week together as a school in the hall , as it was the children’s turn to become the audience in the traditional staff panto! In which the children took great joy in watching their teachers look very silly on stage. The children have worked super hard this term and they really do deserve this break. Recharge those batteries, make lots of wonderful memories and have a safe and happy Christmas- we can’t wait to see you in January!

Conversation Starters

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year because it is spent making memories with loved ones. What are you going to remember about your build up to Christmas in Year 5. What happy memories will stay with you for a long time?

Riddle of the Week

If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me.

What am I?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Term: Our awards this week have been voted by the children, for whom they think has displayed our virtues continuously throughout the entire term. The class have voted for… Phoebe

Learner of the Term: Our awards this week have been voted by the children, for whom they think has displayed all of our learning characters continuously throughout the entire term. The class have voted for… Liam

Notices

• Homework- Please check the homework blog for your child’ weekly homework, including the deadline date.

• School will reopen on Monday 5th January. Have a magical and Merry Christmas

• Bikeability will be on Friday 16th January and Friday 23rd January. You will need to bring in your bike and your helmet. If you have informed us on the sign up sheet that you require a bike or helmet, then you will be provided one.

  Mr Cornwell and Mrs Johnson

Year 6 Weekly Blog 'It's the most wonderful time of the year'

I think you will all agree that Tuesday’s concert at church was so magical and a real thought-provoking evening for us all. We were so unbelievably proud of the children; the way they spoke and the way they sang was just so beautiful - it really started Christmas for us all. Thank you for coming and joining us in this celebration.

Amidst all of these performances and our own rehearsals, the children have continued to work incredibly hard. We have have been analysing biographies, using adjusting to subtract decimals and large numbers and been learning learning all about volcanoes and earthquakes!

Our Tudor morning was really fun, we retreived what we had learnt from our History work last hald term and learnt much more! We looked at artefacts from Tudor times and guessed what they were used for, we tried a spot of Tudor dance and re-enacted the Spanish Armada! Thank you to Professor Tuesday for your expertise…

---

On Wednesday was our well-deserved Christmas Party, where we danced, played games and laughed …ALOT! It was so lovely to relax and enjoy this time together as a class, followed by a nice treat, relaxing in front of a film!

We loved our Christmas themed Forest school treat on Thursday …

Thank you to all of the children for their hard work this term, make sure this Christmas you get plenty of rest and re-charge those batteries ready for a busy, hard-working next half term- they are more than ready!

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 …

Matilda and Finley

Helpers in the mornings:

The first week back after Christmas we have the following children helping to take the younger children to their class:

Hugo Poppy Tommy Isioma

Reminders:

Bikeability has been rescheduled for Wednesday 7th January- please remember to bring bikes, helmets and coats this day!

Have a lovely Christmas full of fun, family-time and relaxation.

Year 5 Christmas Holidays Homework

Compulsory Homework

Maths

We have been working so hard on our short multiplication in Maths by multiplying 3 digit by 1 digit numbers. We will be moving on to division, which as we know is the inverse of multiplication, therefore lots of TTRS practice is needed to keep on top of our tables facts.

Reading

All children have gone home with a reading book in which they can either finish their book or make some really good progress.

Spellings

Due to all of the festivities during Christmas memory week, we forgot to do our spelling test. Keep practicing these spellings ready for the spelling test when you come back to school.

Practice writing these words three times on the line in your BEST handwriting. Make sure to complete lots of mini spelling tests in preparation for our weekly test on Friday.

1. actually

2. gently

3. accidentally

4. wrinkly

5. differently

6. occasionally

7. greedily

8. critically

9. easily

10. beautifully

11. strangely

12. giggly

13. frantically

14. basically

15. dramatically

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas!

What a fabulous half term we have had! From fun and games to artistic creations, we have all been very busy at ALL Stars both mornings and afternoons alike! The children have had a ball! With the darker nights, we have donned high vis vests and head torches so that we can get that much needed fresh air after a hard day’s work. The children have got creative with junk modelling, Bonfire Night, poppies for Remembrance Day and of course the run up to Christmas.

Whatever we have been up to, the children have shone bright with their kindness, formed new bonds with others and have been role models to their peers. It has been an absolute pleasure to look after your children this term.

From Monday 5th January 2026, we will be using the Year 6 side gate (in the carpark), as a means to enter and leave. We have had a new light fitted and door bell, which will make things a lot easier.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support.

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

The ALL Stars Team

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas!

Textiles- Cushions

What a term of perseverance, determination and patience! Sewing is such a tricky skill to master and master they have! From learning running and cross stich to embellishing their cushions with applique, they have all done so well. With Christmas just round the corner, the children designed a Christmas cushion. I am so proud of every single child of how hard they have worked to achieve their goal. Well done Year 3 for such a wonderful term!

Next half term, we move onto Painting and Mixed Media.

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas!

Painting and Mixed Media and Electrical Systems.

It has been so lovely to share our thoughts and opinions on varying artists. Sometimes thinking about very tricky topics, with each topic and artist, the children have shown such maturity and depth in responding to these. The children chose their artist of inspiration, the media of which to use and a topic to base their artwork on. The results were super! Well done children!

We have now turned our attention to Design Technology and electrical systems, where they have been planning a steady hand game, ready to make in the Near Year.

We will then be moving onto Drawing.

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Wish You All a Merry Christmas!

Structures and 3D – Pavilions and Craft and Design – Egyptian Scrolls

What a busy term of learning! We started off the term by exploring making frames using sweets and cocktail sticks, thinking about the weak spots to the structures, then looking at various Pavilions around the world. The children then went on to plan and design their very own. I introduced the children to hot glue guns to enable them to make strong and sturdy structures.

Egyptian Scrolls have finished off this term. It was so lovely to go on the trip to Bolton with them, I had a lovely time! The trip really helped embed their previous learning and enhance their artistic decisions when recreating Hieroglyphics. We have even had a go at making modern day papyrus paper using the ancient techniques of the Egyptians.

Next half term, we move onto Electrical Systems.

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas!

Mechanisms- Pop up Books and Craft and Design- Architecture

My goodness, how much have we packed in this half term! The children’s Greek Myth pop up books were super! We thought about and used varying mechanisms which best suited the story line and illustrations. The children could use horizontal or vertical sliders, a pivot lever or a pop up to create an exciting book to share with their Year 1 partners. The Year 1’s loved it and could even retell their partners Myth. Well done Year 5!

We have now moved on architecture, where we have been using our observational skills to recreate accurate and detailed drawings. Then going onto to develop these into prints. We will continue this after the holidays.

Wishing you a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Wishing You All a Merry Chistmas

Textiles and Structures and 3D- Hand Puppets and Pencil Pots.

Oh how time flies when you’re having fun! What a busy term we have ha! The children have been an absolute delight, as we have explored how we can join fabrics together using different tools. The children tried joining using safety pins, glue and staples, then had to make the choice of which was the easiest to do and how effective each was. The children then went on to design a hand puppet, with Christmas just around the corner, we based them on the Nativity Story. The children did a fantastic job!

We then moved onto structures and 3D in Design and Technology. We thought about and discussed what stability means, using our own bodies to explore unstable balances and stable balances. This then led onto the children designing a pencil pot, thinking about how we could make it stable. They all had great fun making these!

Next half term, we will be moving onto Painting and Mixed Media.

Wishing you all a very happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas!

Craft and Design- Clay Houses

What a wonderful term we have had! We certainly got our hands mucky with our art! The children had a fabulous time exploring clay and learning techniques to aid them in their craft. From pinch pots to clay tiles using the score and slip technique to join clay together. We also thought about impressing and adding embellishments to create negative and positive spaces.

To finish the term, we have enjoyed the run up to Christmas by doing an array of Christmas activities.

Next half term, we move onto

Wishing you a Happy and Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Year 5 Weekly Blog 12.12.25- ‘Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas everyday’

What a final week of full learning it has been- the festive spirit has certainly ramped up as we lead towards our third Sunday of Advent. Our week has been filled with numerous trips to church to practice for our Christmas Carol Concert. In RE, we have been looking at the O Antiphons and reflecting on the deeper meaning behind these pieces of art. Later in the week, it was the children’s turn to create these pieces of wonderful and spiritual art and the results were fantastic! The end of our week has been very festive, starting with an invitation from Mrs Tierney to join her in forest school for a festive lesson on the forest symbols of Christmas. We then finished our lesson with a story of the ‘Winter’s Solstice’ around the campfire. Christmas week had truly began today with Christmas Jumper and Bake Off Day! Myself and Mrs Johnson were blown away with the festive bakes on show and they tasted amazing!

Conversation Starters

In Geography, we have been comparing biomes around the world and the animals that live within these environments. We finished with a ‘what is your favourite and why’ question about biomes. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

Riddle of the Week

I lose my head every morning but I get it back at night.

What am I?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtues for this half term are faith-filled and hopeful. Our winner this week goes to Myles. In the midst of all of the festive madness and the lead up to our final week of advent, you have such a calmness about you Myles that is needed in times like this. Your calm and composed nature allows you to focus solely on your task at hand and to remain faith- filled throughout this special holy time of year.

Learner of the Week: This week, our learner of the week goes to Isaac for being a determined and focused learner. You have really impressed me with your article writing this half term Isaac. You have applied your creativity along with our newly learnt grammar skills and layout. You were super focused during our independent writing of this and determined to finish every single feature of your article. Transfer this into all aspects of your learning.

Notices

• Homework- Please check the homework blog for your child’ weekly homework, including the deadline date.

• Travelling Nativity has started to go home so please use this as a special time to connect with Jesus and to get you in the Christmas spirit! This will need to be brought back in the following school day.

• We have began to prepare for our KS2 Christmas Carol Concert which is taking place on Tuesday 16th December. Song lyrics and recordings of our songs are on the homework blog for you to practice.

• Christmas Raffle- This will be taking place on Wednesday 17th December. Tickets are to be bought at the office.

• This is also the day of our KS2 Christmas Party. Children can come into school in their own clothes and are allowed to bring one chocolate bar and one small non fizzy drink.

• The final day of term is Friday 19th December and we will be finishing at 2pm