Year 5 February Half Term Homework- Due Monday 23rd February

Compulsory Homework

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 (Year 1). 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.

Your lenten box can be made out of anything- egg cartons, milk bottles, food cans- lets get creative. Make sure your box is decorated, ready for your Year 1 partner to receive when we come back.

Essential Learning

There is no official homework but please make sure to keep on top of your essentials, your reading, handwriting, spelling and times tables. Test your children on their times tables knowledge. If there are any tables they are struggling with, they are the facts to practice over the half term. Make sure we are reading for at least 20 minutes a day, ready to quiz on our new targets when we get back to school.

Optional Homework

Many of you are excited about our new Space topic in Science. You could make a ‘Space Poster’ with facts about our planet, moon and other planets in our solar system.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 12.02.26- 'The Lord God took man and placed him in the garden of Eden to care for it'- Genesis 2:15

What a final week of the half term it has been! It’s amazing to think that today, we are already at the half way point of our Year 5 journey. Apologies for my absence for the first half of the week, a combination of illness and infection came at once. On Wednesday, we faced to harsh weathers and strapped up for our eco trip down at St Annes sand dunes. The children worked extremely hard by planting Christmas trees in order to protect our wonderful town from the sea.

We have also raced through what felt like one hundred pages of our class novel- on a mission to finish this before half term of our book the Windrush Child. The children were shocked and fascinated to learn about the history of Britain during the 1950’s and beyond in relation to people with different coloured skin. They may want to ask you some questions about why certain things happened and how to law has changed now.

Notices

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

  • On Wednesday 4th March, we will be taking a trip to UCLAN Young Science Centre to prepare ourselves for our next unit of Science- The Solar System’. Payment for this trip is live on parent pay.

  • School reopens on 23rd February at normal time. Have a lovely half term.

Lancashire Sings 2026

It’s that time of year again!
The choir has been working incredibly hard in preparation for their performance at Lowther Pavilion on Wednesday 11th March. On Monday, we were delighted to welcome one of the event organisers, who rehearsed the songs with us and helped us perfect those all‑important finishing touches!

Important Information

The event will run throughout the day, beginning at 9:30am and finishing at approximately 2:15pm. Transport has been arranged both to and from school, so children should arrive and be collected at their usual times.

Throughout the morning, the children will take part in rehearsals to prepare for their big performance for parents and carers at 1pm.

Tickets

Please note that this is a ticketed event.

Due to venue capacity, each school has been allocated a limited number of tickets based on how many children are performing, and families will only be able to purchase 1 ticket. Unfortunately, capacity at the venue does mean that organisers cannot guarantee that every child will receive one ticket for a family member.

To allocate tickets as fairly as possible, I have created a form for parents/carers who wish to attend the 1pm performance on 11th March. The form will close at 9am on Monday 23rd February. After the form closes, names will be drawn at random, and those selected will receive the ticket link.

I completely understand that this may feel frustrating, but this decision is beyond our control. I have also been informed that any remaining tickets will go on general sale on Monday 9th March.

Enter into the ticket ballot

What should children bring on the day?

Children should come dressed in their full school uniform, looking smart and ready to perform.

They may bring a small backpack, which will stay under their seat. Inside their backpack, they will need:

  • A packed lunch

  • A drink (no fizzy drinks, please)

  • A filled water bottle

  • A book or small colouring book for quiet moments

For one of our songs, each child should also bring an item that represents sunshine and happiness, such as:

  • Sunglasses

  • A sun hat

  • Yellow ribbon to wave

  • A small sunshine design attached to a stick

This item should also fit inside their backpack.

Photography

Organisers may take photographs for social media and publicity. If you would prefer your child not to appear in these images, please let me know.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email:
l.woodend@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you
Miss Woodend

Year 6 Home Learning 12.02.26

Maths

Long division- Please complete the division questions using our new long division strategy. This week our focus is just on 3 digits divided by 2 digits without a remainder. Thanks to our wonderful helpers who have made a short video to help you remember the strategy …

You may need extra practice with short division and you will have a sheet for this, but if you would like to have a go at the long division over the holidays then please do!

Please complete the following IXL strands:

L6 Write fractions in lowest terms

Reading

Please do lots and lots of reading over half term- read independently and read with an adult! Some of us are very behind on our quizzing!

Spellings

We have reflected and the spellings last week were tricky! We are going to give you over half term to learn these …


LET’S GET CREATIVE

Two creative tasks for you to do over half term:

  1. Can you design and make a special lenten box for your Reception partner. This needs to be a specially designed and decorated container that you can give to your partner the first week back after half term ready for them to take home and collect money during lent for our chosen charity. Think about what your partner likes and what their interests are, this may help you when planning what to do- refer to your partners card they wrote for you. You could make your box out of any plastic container, cardboard box, it is up to you- just make sure it is fully cleaned out first!

  2. Start thinking about what character you want to become on World Book Day! Be creative with what you have!

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…

classic novel list

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

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 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.