Year 5 Weekly Blog 06.02.26- 'You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others that may see your good deeds'- Matthew 5:13-16

The week has certainly flown by as we edge closer to the halfway mark of the academic year. We had a lovely worship this week, with so much reflection and input from the children. The children were given just two simple words and two famous phrases from the bible as Jesus asked us to be ‘the salt of the earth’ and to ‘be the light of the world’. The interpretations behind the deeper meanings of this scripture was so delightful to hear and these inputs were really taken in by the rest of the class. In RE, we have been retrieving the theological virtues and beatitudes. We looked deeply at the virtue of ‘hope’ and what it means as Catholics to be hopeful and what we hope for in our faith. Mrs Gregan then set the children on an important task for our school display- to use their knowledge of the beatitudes to create their own versions. These will be displayed in the school hall from next week so please take the time to see these whenever you are present in the hall.

It has been independent writing week during English as the children created their own legend story, based on our class text of ‘The Legend of Gelert’. In Maths, we have explored area of shapes and used counting squares strategies to efficiently calculate area. In Science, we have looked at the different types of friction as we experimented with rolling friction by testing different surfaces.

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star: Myles

You are so eloquent and wise with your actions Myles. Your consistent pattern of always making the right decision just shows how truthful you really are. You treat all of your classmates with such calmness, kindness and love that your eloquence really does spread across the classroom.

Learner of the Week: Liam

You are just super focused Liam! When it comes to independent work, you are a man on a mission. You take all of your teachers instructions on board in order for your writing to be at the expected standard. This is also present in your maths lessons as well! Keep up the excellent work Liam!

Notices

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

• PE days for this half term: Outdoor PE will be on a Tuesday and Indoor PE on a Thursday

• We will be taking an eco trip to the sand dunes for our annual Year 5 Christmas tree planting on Wednesday 11th February. Children will need to come to school in their PE kits (school hoody and long trousers). You will need a coat in order to attend the trip.

• Parents Day will be held on Friday 13th February. Email me which time you would like as this will be done on a first come basis. The sign up sheet will also be available outside the Year 5 classroom during pick ups at the end of the day.

Year 6 Weekly Blog 6.2.26 “You are the light of the world.”

In our teacher’s liturgy this week we have listened to this week’s gospel, Matthew 5:13–16 which teaches us how Jesus wants us to make the world a better and brighter place.

We reflected on the meaning of this gopsel and how when He says we are the “salt of the earth,” it means we help bring goodness, kindness, and love into the world—just like salt makes food taste better. And when He says we are the “light of the world,” it means our actions can help others see what is good, just like a light helps you see in the dark. Jesus tells us not to hide this goodness. Instead, we should let our kindness, honesty, and love shine so brightly that others notice and feel encouraged. By doing good things, we help people understand what God’s love is like. The children then all shared the ways that they will bring God’s light in to the world…

Thank you to the following children who led us in a truly beautfiul liturgy earlier this week to celebrate the feast of The Presentation of the Lord which remembers when Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, where Jesus was presented to God. This feast is also known as Candlemas, because for many centuries people celebrated it with blessed candles, symbolising Jesus as the “Light of the World.”

Lenten boxes

We soon will be starting our journey to the cross, preparing ourselves for a time of solemnity and self-reflection where we recognise our failings and resolve to live a more Godly life based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. During Lent, we are going to be focused on "almsgiving," which means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity.

As in previous years we ask that each child to decorate a Lenten box which they can swap with a child from our partner class (Reception). Then, during the Lenten period your child can perform acts of kindness, helpfulness and generosity for a donation into their box. We will then return them to school straight after half term and donate the money to Cafod.

Year 6 will be holding a liturgy together Monday morning and afterwards they will share their likes and favourite colours to help us design the book for their partner. It is important that each child decorates and brings in a Lenten box to ensure that each child in Reception will receive a box. Thank you as always for your support.

---

Wow we have fit so much work in to one week… in Science we have been comparing the digestive system to the circulatory system, which we studied last half term; we have been developing our hockey skills in PE, learning long division in maths and started our classic fiction topic in English, where we have been analysing the opening to the class book… Wizard of Oz.

This week the children have attemped grammar SAT’s whole papers. The children have of course attempted example questions since September, but this is the first time they have seen them as a whole paper. This is not a benchmark for their learning, and their score is not relevant at this time, as we have not yet covered the whole Year 6 curriculum. This was simply to give the children an insight as to what the papers look like, the style of questionning, to come across misconceptions sooner, rather than later, giving the children the time and space to reflect and evaluate in a safe space. They will be getting a bit of feedback on these after half term, but please do not at this point focus on scores, instead please ask that important question … what did you learn? We have to teach the children to see beyond the immediate scores and instead see this as a process, a journey of self-reflection and learning.

---

Delving deeper through talk …

1. How can we let our light shine in our every day lives?

2. What makes a novel a CLASSIC novel? Why not start reading one together to enhance our English topic? Here is a website of the best classic novels for children…

---

Leading Learners

Well done to Jacob this week.

Jacob we are so proud of your resilience and determination to improve in all areas of the curriculum! We love your ‘I CAN’ attitude and the way you ask for help when you feel you need it, but most importantly you never give up, you try your best and reflect on how you can improve. Well done Jacob!

Eloquent and Truthful Stars

This half term we will be on the lookout for all the children that are eloquent in their words, that show the language to ask questions, express emotions, speak beliefs, talk about matters of faith and hope, debate points of view, and engage in conversation. Those who are truthful, who speak the truth about themselves and others. These children are the role models of the school. This week we thank Joseph for being eloquent and truthful.

Helpers in the morning

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

Beth Tilly John Paul Lorenzo

Notices

• Please do continue to keep up to date with your child’s homework (particularly spelling). The vocabulary that the children are being asked to spell are getting more complex and they will need your support to figure out the best strategy to use. Learning them over time, rather than bulking them the night before, always seems like the best route to use.

• On Friday 13th February it is Parents Day - please email your preferred time at k.harrison@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk.

Have a happy weekend.

Mrs Harrison, Mrs Tierney and Mrs Barker

Year 4 Weekly blog. Friday 6th February "How good God is! In His goodness, He seeks only our happiness."

It has been a very reflective week in Year 4. At the beginning of the week, we learned about how Jesus reached out to the margins of society and showed people that we should love everyone - celebrating differences rather than being afraid of them. Our HRSE lesson backed this up - as we learned about laws in our society - especially the Equality act which celebrates diversity. We looked at British values and how these compare to our Catholic Social Teaching values. Then Bella, Sasha and Bonnie did a beautiful worship about The Presentation of Jesus in the temple, where Simeon recognised Jesus as the ‘Light of the World.’ Our word of the week has been light, and in the gospel this week, Jesus asked us to let the light of the Holy Spirit shine within us. Children made promises to let the goodness of Jesus shine through them. Today, they started learning about the sacrament of Reconciliation and what to do if they forget to follow the light of Christ.

In other news, children have been doing many Shakespeare scenes together about the love between Hamlet and Ophelia. Very complex but children performed with such understanding and their reading comprehension is coming on in leaps and bounds! They have learned about digestion in Science and different environmental regions in Geography. Maths is all about Perimeter. Here are some pictures of last week in forest school and our lovely week this week.

Conversation starters

HRSE/RE

Why do we have rules and laws? Why is it important for everyone to have rights? How did Jesus treat everyone?

Geography

Can you remember the environmental regions? Which one do we live in?

Let’s Celebrate

Our certificate this week is a Reflective and Focused learner. This goes to Patrick. You listen to every word I say and you are so focused in class. Your RE work this last few weeks has been so thoughtful and reflective. You try so hard.

Our virtues this half term are being eloquent and truthful. Eloquent by expressing their thoughts, feelings and beliefs clearly and truthful by reflecting on oneself and speaking with integrity. This week, Elsie receives our star for being so keen to do the right thing and for using her eloquence to give great answers in class. You are always kind to others and always try hard.

We are now having a ‘100% focused learner of the day’ in Year 4. This week we have chosen: Xander, Sasha, Isla, Henry S and Heidi

PE champs this week were Dexter and Jude Cu and Heidi and Eliza for making great sequences.

Music stars this week were Marla and Henry S. for super effort

Notices

St Bedes Pantomime trip - this is Wednesday 11th February and is now payable on parent pay.

Holy Communion resources - these are now payable on parent pay.

Holy Communion. Below are the lists of children making their Holy Communion on these dates. Please email me if there are any issues.

Shakespeare and Oracy

On Tuesday 18th March, children will be going to the Grand Theatre for an Oracy morning. They will have the opportunity to take part in debates, find out avout accents and improve their speaking and listening skills.

On Wednesday the 19th March Children will be ‘Speaking Shakespeare’ at the Grand theatre. We will be given a speech from Hamlet, which we will learn and perform. There will be an opportunity for parents to watch in the afternoon (I think at around 2:00)

This will be payable on parentpay today.

Please fill in the photo consent form below:

Parents Day:

On Friday 13th February it is Parents Day - please email your preferred time at a.lyons@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk.

Please refer to the parents day blog for your time and book if you have not done so already. Thank you. I will send a link for the appointment next week if it is virtual.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Lyons, Mrs Carragher and Miss Cardwell

a.lyons@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

This week...

Worship

This week in Worship we have continued our ‘Galilee to Jerusalem’ topic. Our key words this week were LOAVES AND FISH, BASKET and JESUS.

We listened to the story of Feeding the 5000, John 6: 1-14. The story reminds us that Jesus wanted everyone to be fed, not just His friends. We passed round a basket of paper fish to represent Jesus feeding us all and then decorated our fish for our worship book. We remembered our word from last week – miracle. It was a miracle that there was enough food for everyone.

Our child led worship focused on looking at an image of Jesus. We noticed that Jesus was with some children. Some of us said that Jesus looked like he was helping the children. We thought about the question – ‘What do I want to say to God?’. Some of us thanked Him for family and friends, another child asked Him to look after the world. We also asked the question – ‘What scripture does the image remind you of?’ I explained that scripture is words from the Bible and teachings about God. The children said, Amen, The name of the Father, love and caring for each other.

Learning Landscape

A fun week at nursery. We have:

• made gooey slime-sorry is your child came home messy and sticky, but it was good fun. We made up our own recipe!!

• been completing tricky puzzles, we even did some on the Touch TV (space themed of course)

• visited forest school for more water colour paintings

• completed our Alien display

• had a sneaky peek at our new set of phonemes….ooooh it is so exciting, we can’t wait!

• completed lots of number and shape challenges

• wriiten our own story all about and alien called Jessie, ask your child all about it!

• and met number 8!!! Numberland is rocked by the arrival of superblock Eight, known to his friends and fans as Octoblock. Click here to watch. For an extra challenge discover ways to make eight with the Numberblocks. In the video the terribly naughty Terrible Twos are making custard pies and Octoblock is all tied up. Can his friends save the day? Click here.

Lenten boxes

We soon will be starting our journey to the cross, preparing ourselves for a time of solemnity and self-reflection where we recognise our failings and resolve to live a more godly life based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. During Lent, we are going to be focused on "almsgiving," which means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity.

As in previous years we ask that each child decorate a Lenten box which they can swap with a child from our partner class (yr3). Then, during the Lenten period your child can perform acts of kindness, helpfulness and generosity for a donation into their box. We will then return them to school and donate the money to Cafod.

It is important that each child decorates and brings in a Lenten box to ensure that each child in year three will receive a box. Thank you as always for your support.

I fear its going to be wet and chilly this weekend so wrap warm and get those wellies on!

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

Year 1 Weekly blog 6.2.26 - "Happy are the young because they have time before them to do good." - St Philip Neri

This week we have discovered the moment when Jesus calls His disciples. Together we retold the story through drama, we had Jesus, Simon, James, John, fishermen, and a large crowd. Jesus was teaching the crowd and asked Simon to take his boat out to catch fish. Simon wasn’t sure it was a good idea because he had been out all night and hadn’t caught a single fish, however he had faith in Jesus and did as he was asked. They caught lots of fish!

Jesus asked Simon, James and John to follow him - and that is just what they did!

Going deeper in our learning!

Next week we will be collecting information about Learie Constantine… Can you find out some facts about him that we could share in class next week.

Magic moments

We have had so much fun rehearsing for our assembly which is on Tuesday next week! We have been on the stage, have our costumes ready and everybody knows their parts! We cannot wait for you to watch us!

Let’s Celebrate

A huge well done to Rupert who has been awarded our focused learning certificate this week. You really are such a focused learner! We are always so proud of how carefully you concentrate during each and every lesson. You always want to do your very best and we see this in everything that you do! It is a real pleasure to be teaching you this year and seeing you achieve many, many goals!

A huge well done to Lily who has been awarded our star this week. Lily you always show such kindness and love towards others. You really care about how people around you are feeling and always want them to be happy. In your words you are always truthful and full of grace towards those around you.

Well done Rupert and Lily!

Reminders

Our class assembly: On Tuesday 10th February it is our class assembly starting at 9:10 / 9:35.

Parents meetings: Thank you to everyone who has already made an appointment. For those who have not yet, please email with some preferred times. Parents day is on Friday 13th February.

Cold weather: Remember to bring all those warm layers: coats, hats, gloves and scarfs!

Snacks: A gentle reminder that as a school we are trying to reduce waste. At the start of the year we set out on a mission to bring any snacks into school in reusable containers. Please continue to help us with this, sending all snacks in reusable plastic containers. Thank you!

Emails:

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

s.hartley@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Year 5 Homework- Due Thursday 12th February

Compulsory Homework

Maths

We have been very experimental in our new shape topic, by measuring area of shapes by counting squares and triangles. Complete both shape tasks in your homework book.

Reading

Reading targets have been set for the new half term so lets get quizzing so we can smash our targets. 20 minutes minimum a day.

Spellings- Apostrophies for contraction and possession

Our spellings have a huge grammar focus in using and placing apostrophes correctly for both contraction and possession. Discuss what the uncontracted version of these words are.Teach your parents our new ‘square spelling’ activity along with our ‘triangle spelling’. Use this to help practice those tricky words.

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. I’d

2. you’d

3. he’d

4. wouldn’t

5. hasn’t

6. couldn’t

7. he’ll

8. won’t

9. wasn’t

10. weren’t

11. haven’t

12. guard’s - the guard’s uniform wasn’t labelled correctly.

13. Daniel’s- The class were relieved when they found Daniel’s pencil case.

14. monster’s- Be careful when you enter the monster’s secret cave.

15. teachers'- Children are not allowed to go in the teachers’ lounge.

Year 6 Home Learning 6.02.26

Homework to be completed and handed in to school on Thursday.

Reading - Can you go to the library, borrow one from school or perhaps you have one from home - which classic novel could you read next? Maybe you could read one alongside your parents? This would be a great way to expand our vocabulary and practise reading at a higher level.

Maths- Take a look at the video below to remind yourselves of the steps involved with long division and then have a go at the following divisions in your books. I have kept with the same divisor, but you may want to have a go at the optional challenge questions.

Spelling-Please complete the speeling sheet, collecting words and practising, ready for a spelling quiz and dictation next Thursday.

Year 4 homework to be handed in on Thursday 12th February

Maths

Please complete the two sheets in your homework book all about perimeter.

Keep practising your TTROCKstars for 10 minutes each day

Spelling

- Group 1 Spellers: Irregular past tense verbs.

To show that you can use irregular past tense verbs, please use these below in sentences. Best handwriting please and punctuate your sentences.

Group 2 Spellers - do these key words practised with Mrs Carragher this week:

Mr Mrs path plant one past

Then please do a word collection as Mrs Carragher has show you in your homework book for the following sounds - air and ir, highlighting the sound in each word you write like Mrs Carragher has done in your book.

Optional Home Learning - Spring 1

Please have a go at some of these tasks over the half term:

Year 3 Homework- To be handed in Tuesday 9th February

Spellings

This week we are focusing on the prefixes ‘mis’ and ‘dis’

1.dislike
2. disagree
3. discomfort
4. disinfect
5. disappear
6.misbehave
7.misplace
8.misread
9. misunderstand
10. misuse

Maths - Please complete the questions in your homework book.

Reading - The children have now completed their latest Star Reading assessments and their ZPD’s have been altered. Mrs Carter will be updating our reading rocket display on Monday to show the children’s progress towards their reading targets this half term.

Year 1 Homework to be handed in 9.2.26

Thank you once again for this weeks homework. Next week we have our class assembly so please focus on practising your speaking parts and actions.

Below we have this half terms optional homework. It has been lovely to see this start to trickle into class!

Year 5 Weekly Blog 30.01.26- ' When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountainside. His disciples came and he began to teach them’ - Matthew 5:1-12

It has been a fantastic and reflective week in Year 5. In our liturgy this week, we have looked at the blessings Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon of the Mount, which were to be called the beatitudes. We discussed that a blessing is God’s offering of favour and protection towards someone as we reflected who in our lives deserves to be blessed. We have then looked into creating our own beatitudes in our RE lessons, along with recreating the story of the Good Samaritan through drama.

Thursday was certainly all things Science as we continued learning and experimenting with different forces, with us looking at air and water resistance. The children created their own parachutes and dropped these to show how the force of air resistance slows down the force of gravity. We then transferred our knowledge to the water and looked at how changing the shape, size and texture of an object will impact the level of water resistance.

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star: Alana

You are so eloquent and wise with her words Alana and more so with your actions. You treat all of your classmates with such kindness and respect, along with all of your staff members.

Learner of the Week: Louie

You just shine when it comes to creative writing tasks Louie, you bounce ideas off your classmates and blend this together to create some wonderful description.

Notices

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

• PE days for this half term: Outdoor PE will be on a Tuesday and Indoor PE on a Thursday

• We will be taking an eco trip to the sand dunes for our annual Year 5 Christmas tree planting on Wednesday 11th February. Children will need to come to school in their PE kits (school hoody and long trousers). You will need a coat in order to attend the trip.

• Parents Day will be held on Friday 13th February. Email me which time you would like as this will be done on a first come basis. The sign up sheet will also be available outside the Year 5 classroom during pick ups at the end of the day.

This week...

Worship

This week in Worship we have continued our ‘Galilee to Jerusalem’ topic. Our key words this week were BLESS, GLORY, EARTH and PRAY.

We heard the story of how Jesus welcomes the little children. You can watch it here: Jesus welcomes everyone, and we can be like Jesus by being kind to everyone we meet. We looked at some pictures and spoke about the meaning behind them:

Jesus in a manger –This highlights that Jesus was born into humble circumstances and visited by people from different backgrounds.

Star – A shining star in the night sky. The star guided the wise men to Jesus, symbolising that His birth was for everyone, even those from distant lands.

Children around the world – Representing the idea that Jesus was born for all people, regardless of where they come from.

Jesus with open arms – Symbolising His love and acceptance of everyone, showing that He is the Son of God who welcomes all.

The children remembered this story when we came together for child led worship on Thursday. We had a picture of Jesus with many people and the children thought it might be Jesus with the children. We then took out 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and we realised it was a different story from the Bible. We discussed if it would be possible for Jesus to feed lots of people with just that amount of food? We listened to the story and Jesus made the food feed 5000 people! We spoke about a new word – miracle! Jesus performed a miracle! Jesus thanked God when he did this, just like we do before we eat our lunch at Nursery. How can you help people just like Jesus did?

Learning landscape

Wow, what a week! We have had great fun doing our numbers and exploring shape space and measure! We have:

• used our funky fingers to help astronauts escape the tangle of wool, we found this difficult

• used number patterns to seven to fill the numicon boards…this is getting easier

• used tweezers and pom poms to complete number boards to 7

• practiced our writing of sounds and numbers

• painted all kinds of aliens. We have made a fabulous display, take a look when you come to parents’day!

• made gloop (cornflour and water) and had messy hands moments…great.

• groups of children joined story dough and made aliens

• made alien words and sounds using the kareoke microphones…very funny

• started to write our very own alien story

• danced with the cherry tots in the hall. This week we were quick and slow cherries

Parents’ Day

Don’t forget Parents’ Day on Friday 13th February! Have you booked time slot yet?

Jewellery

In line with school policy, could you please make sure that your child is not wearing any jewellery for nursery please.

Neli to build children’s vocabulary, listening and storytelling skills

It has come to my attention that Coastal Community Hub are offering ‘Story Explorers’ sessions - The Short Sighted Giraffe will be held at Park View 4U on February 4th. Suitable for ages 2+, take an interactive walk around the park, crafting, discovering and singing! Message The Coastal Collective page or email Sarah.schofield@thecoastalcollective.org.uk for bookings or more details. Check availability as it gets booked up quickly!

We start a new book today at Neli Preschool Storytime! Posy is invited for a sleepover at Pip's house, but has she forgotten to pack anything important? Monday, 1 till 3, Park View Pod. Suitable for preschoolers and older toddlers.

All our community activities are free of charge! We'd love to see you there!

World Book Day

2026 is the National Year of Readin with every child knowing their reading identity- what is it that makes them excited about reading?

For World Book Day your child can come to nursery dressed as their reader identity. Your favourite book or character…you choose your reading super power!!

Also, that week we will be having a Julia Donaldson story week, lots of rhyming and lots of fun!

Snacks

I know that a hot snack on a cold day is a great thing but we have noticed that some of the children are struggling to eat their lunches. If your child has a small appetite it may be an idea just to provide fruit, i will leave the decision up to you!

Book Bags

A quick reminder that it would be useful if yopur child had an Our Lady Star of the Sea blue book bags. It is becoming increasingly difficult to store back packs and they are a tripping hazard.

I thinks thta’s everything for this week. Have a great weekend and see you on Monday

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

Year 5 Homework due Thursday 5th February

Compulsory Homework

Maths

We have been working so hard on short division by dividing 3 digit numbers, using our new found method- the bus stop method. We have began to look at calculations that cannot be divided equally and will require regrouping and remainders. Please read the example question carefully and complete the questions on your sheet.

Reading

Reading targets have been set for the new half term so lets get quizzing so we can smash our targets. 20 minutes minimum a day.

Spellings

Very tricky spellings this week- will require daily practice in order for these to become sticky spellings. Teach your parents our new ‘square spelling’ activity along with our ‘triangle spelling’. Use this to help practice those tricky words.

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. unfit

2. unsafe

3. unequal

4. uncertain

5. uncommon

6. untidy

7. unusual

8. unfair

9. unimportant

10. unfinished

11. unexpected

12. unfold

13. uncomfortable

14. unfortunate

15. unknown