Year 6 Weekly Blog 'A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new' Albert Einstein

This week in the teacher’s liturgy we reflected and carried out some quiet contemplation, focusing our thoughts on this illustrations which shows Jesus’ life here on earth and the new commandment Jesus gave to us, telling us to love one another just like He loves us. This means being kind, caring, and thinking about others before ourselves. During His life on earth, Jesus showed this love in amazing ways—He healed people who were sick, calmed scary storms, and helped anyone who needed Him. These miracles showed God’s big heart and His desire to bring goodness and hope to the world. When we follow Jesus’ example, we try to spread that same love every day, making the world a brighter and more loving place.

We have also spent time reflecting on this week’s gospel, John 11: 1-45, when Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. This showed everyone that His love is stronger than fear and even stronger than death. Many people were amazed and began to believe in Him, but some leaders felt worried and angry because so many were following Jesus. We have looked closely in our RE lessons how this miracle set the stage for the events of Holy Week, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, shared His love with His friends, and prepared to give His life for the whole world. Lazarus’ story reminds us that Jesus brings hope, new life, and light even in the darkest moments.

Thank you to the following children who led us in prayer and reflection on St Patrick’s Day…

Wow we have been a class full of Isabella Insects this week: listening to advice, celebrating the things we have achieved, looking forward to the things we want to develop next and most importantly not comparing ourselves to others. Such vital skills when we are teaching our children to be independent learners; giving them the confidence to take risks, try different skills and most importantly, be allowed to make those crucial mistakes and learn from them. We have had some more feedback from our first practice grammar paper and next week we will continue with this journey. This is a huge learning curve for the children, and a crucial one, as it allows them to celebrate their achievements but also, to see for themselves the areas they need to work on. The first paper is never a full reflection of what your children are capable of, but we must celebrate them whatever mark they got as it is the first hurdle of a journey together. They now fully understand this process, as we have talked at length about how our feelings/ emotions can take control, preventing us to see or read questions carefully, the silly mistakes we make when we feel like we are being timed, the way the questions are worded and decoding ‘what does it want me to do?’ and then the strategies they can use to allow them to become more accurate or efficient. These are just SOME of the barriers, or as we would say, ‘learning opportunities’, that the children need to learn or overcome, before they even then, apply all of their knowledge. I am so proud of the way Year 6 have approached their feedback. They have faced these sessions with such resilience, determination and maturity. This is why it is so crucial to do these papers at this time as they are ready and have the skills to face these challenges. The children have laughed and celebrated at their silly errors, know exactly where they have gone wrong, know what they need to work on and are, dare I say it, even excited to do it again and ‘beat’ their score.

We have loved our tennis lessons in the sun this week! thoroughly enjoyed our PE 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.’Don’t forget we also have ANTON log ins now, which is an excellent tool for both grammar and maths. 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 to read together. Below also is the timetable just so you know what SAT’s week looks like.

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD

Delving deeper through talk …

What is the difference between simple, perfect and progressive tense?

My Happy Mind…

What are you grateful for this week?

Leading Learner

Well done to Beth this week.

Beth, you could get this certificate every single week for your attitude towards learning. You are enthusiastic, curious, determined and in every piece of work you ALWAYS do your best, putting time and effort in to this. Your books are delightful to mark and always show your deep understanding and enjoyment of learning!

Intentional and Prophetic stars

This half term we will be on the lookout for all the children that are intention in their actions. Children who make conscious decisions for the greater good. We will also be spotting children who are prophetic, who choose the right decisions with integrity and who display them publically. These children are the role models of the school. This week we thank Louis for being intentional and prophetic to help others.

Helpers in the morning

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

Louis Beth Isioma Tommy

Notices

  • Date for the diary- Year 6 Resurrection Assembly is on Thursday 2nd April.

  • FINAL CALL FOR SCHOOL LEAVERS HOODIES - For those that have not been to Top Marques to check sizing. Monday is the deadline to get to the shop to try on and order your prefered size. Payment can be made at a later date, but please do check the sizing.

  • MEDICAL FORMS have also been sent out today for our upcoming residential. I know you have completed these back in Autumn, however, we need to ensure no changes have been added so if you could complete these again we for next week we would be very grateful as I need to start sending information over. Please ensure any conditions and food or other allergies are mentioned in this form.


Have a lovely weekend.

We will see you on Monday.

Year 1 weekly blog 20.3.27 - "Compassion for the suffering is the beginning of holiness." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

In this Sunday’s Gospel we focus on being COMPASSIONATE just as Jesus shows us. We hear about the time Jesus discovers that His dear friend Lazarus has died and how Jesus weeps for him and his family. Jesus shows great compassion towards them and therefore we look to do the same towards others. In Year 1 we have been trying to be compassionate to each other, just like Jesus wants us to. The children have been thinking about each others feelings and trying to go that extra mile to help. In RE we are journeying to the cross with Jesus, the children led a beautiful prayer and liturgy all about the Last supper linking to their learning the previous day, we passed around the bread and gave thanks you Jesus for taking away our mistakes and always helping to be the best that we can be.

Going deeper in conversation

In My Happy Mind we are learning all about APPRECIATION. Who do you appreciate and why? How do you show your appreciation for them? Is there anything extra you could do to let them know how much you appreciate them?

Magic moments

Today we have had such a special morning. We are half way through Lent so it was a perfect time to celebrate mass together to reflect on our Lentern journeys so far. Following mass we went and shared a wonderful coffee morning in the parish centre. We met such lovely parishioners who the children sat and spoke to and drew special easter pictures for them.

Certificates

A huge well done to Rupert H who has been awarded our Enthusiastic award this week. What a delight to teach you are Rupert! Each and every day you try your absolute best and always astound me with your work! Not only do you try so hard to do your very best, you are also a beautifully behaved boy who we are all so proud of. You are fantastic!

A huge well done to Lillie who so rightly has been awarded our Star virtue award for being Intentional and Prophetic. Lillie is always so thoughtful to others around her and her incredibly special charity work is testimony to the wonderful little girl that she is. We are so proud of you Lillie!

Reminders

PE days: As we began the new half term our PE days have changed. Our outside PE will continue to be on a Monday afternoon, however indoor is now on Wednesdays. Thank you!

Sponsored Walking: Please continue to walk and encourage family and friends to sponsor you!

Own clothes day: This Monday (23rd March) we will be having an Own clothes day. We ask for an Easter egg donation on this day to help us with our annual Easter Egg raffle (one of the most egg-xciting events of the year!)

Have a wonderful weekend!

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Year 5 Homework- Due Thursday 26th March

Compulsory Homework

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.

Maths- ANTON

We are trialing out a new online homework system called ‘ANTON’. The children have been given a demonstration of how to website works and all children have their QR code stuck on the inside of their homework work to log in.

There are 6 tasks that have been set in their to do list under ‘Multiplication and Division with powers of 10’. The children need to complete the first 3 tasks.

  • Multiplying whole numbers

  • Dividing whole numbers

  • Multiplying decimal numbers

Children can earn coins for completing tasks. Children can attempt the final 3 tasks if they feel confident.

English- ANTON

There are 6 tasks that have been set in their to do list under ‘Synonyms and Antonyms’. The children need to complete the first 3 tasks.

  • Matching synonyms

  • Replacing synonyms

  • Matching antonymns

Children can earn coins for completing tasks. Children can attempt the final 3 tasks if they feel confident.

Spellings

We are looking at the prefix ‘in’ and ‘im’ which means ‘not’, ‘in’ or ‘into’.

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. impossible

  2. invisible

  3. immature

  4. incredible

  5. immortal

  6. independent

  7. impatient

  8. inaccurate

  9. impolite

  10. inappropriate

  11. impressive

  12. insert

  13. imbalance

  14. incorrect

  15. immobile

Easter Assembly- Wednesday 1st April

Children have been given their scripts for our holy week preparations. Make sure to practice your lines and to really focus on the expressing this with emotion.

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our ‘Desert to Garden’ topic with ‘Holy Week’. Our key words this week were HOLY WEEK, JESUS and GOOD FRIDAY.

During our lessons this week we discussed Holy Week and how Jesus must have felt. We watched this video, click here, that showed us a simplified version of key events in Holy Week, in particular Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

We also watched this video all about Holy Week: click here and looked at some images to help us discuss key points to remember.

Our child led worship this week focussed on Good Friday. We spoke about how it was such a sad time. The children remembered that Jesus had a crown of thorns, they saw the blood on his hands and also remembered that Jesus died and was placed in a tomb. We thought about the questions,

Who helped Jesus to carry His cross?

Which day did Jesus die?

Where did they place Jesus’ body?

We finished our worship session listening to  a hymn click here to listen.

The children said they found this one calming, and one child said it made them think of Jesus and being sad.

Learning Landscape

A week full of sunshine, fun and learning. We started the week by finding out about the artist Monet. We watched a short Powerpoint to find out some key facts. Click on the button to watch at home.

Claude Monet

We then recreated his style using a computer programme and also paint1 take a look at our display.

Inspired by Monet

We have also been very busy designing a Guatemalan carpet for Holy week

Completing some extremely tricky puzzles…they really did need some fathoming out

Practising our sounds AND writing them!

Visited Forest School

Making Easter cards

Growing flowers on the Touch TV

Practising numbers on the IPad

Fairy filling using tiny bottles and spoons

Replicating Monets garden using our flower building game

and much much more!

Own Clothes Day and bring and Easter Egg

Monday 23rd of March is own clothes day where you choose your clothes (nothing too extreme please) and donate an egg to our Easter Raffle!

Easter Pottery Event

Also, don’t forget next Thursday (26th) is Easter pottery event at 3.30pm. Each piece of pottery is £10. You will need to complete your order form on Mrs. Gregan’s blog and then payement will be on Parent Pay.

I’m really hopeful that this glorious sunshine stays for the weekend, I may even fire up the BBQ!

Have fun!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

Netball this week…

We have a match on Tuesday at Heyhouses v St Thomas and Heyhouses.

The girls needed for the match this week are:

Year 6 - Tilly, Isioma Year 5 - Bea, Lena, Phoebe, Ava, Alana

Please can the girls be picked up from school and taken to Heyhouses. They will need to be in full PE kit.

School Photographs are taking place on Wednesday 25th March - sport team photographs will be taken on this day.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 13.03.26- 'For judgement, I have come into this world so that the blind will see'- John 9:1-41

What a lovely flowing week it has been in Year 5. We have ramped up our Holy Week preparations by getting into the hall to practice our Easter assembly of the crucifixion. The children have really been getting into their role and have understood the importance of what they are betraying- we can’t wait for you to see it! In RE, we have reflected on previous knowledge to combine both conscience and sin and how we use these together. This led into our next lesson of ‘Heaven’, where we reflected on what we think heaven would look like and thinking about life in holy paradise.

Learning has continued to flow in Year 5. We haver been tackling lots of tricky arithmetic questions in Maths by multiplying and dividing decimal fractions. In English, we have created sci-fi specific extended noun phrases to help construct story openings. In Geography, we have gone old school by using OS maps to find the exact location of places on the Fylde Coast using 4 figure grid references. In RHE, we have been discussing the feeling of ‘Under Pressure’ and sharing our experiences of this, whilst looking at lots of different ways we can feel under pressure and also put children under pressure. We then role-played different scenarios of pressure as we had to guess which group had each pressure.

Conversation starters

Geography- We have gone old school, in a time where google maps did not exist, by using OS maps. Go on a scavenger hunt around your house to see if you have any OS maps and tell your parents how to find 4 figure grid references.

RE- When was the last time you used your conscience? We have been discussing how we use our conscience to make choices in our day to day lives, whether they are good or bad. Can you remember a time where you used your conscience to prevent yourself from committing a sin?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star: Martha

You are just so intentional and prophetic in your actions every single day Martha. You show so much love, kindness and patience towards your classmates. I have seen you provide a lot of love and support for your friends this week when they have needed it the most. Keep being that beacon of love and kindness throughout our school Martha.

Learner of the Week: Alice

I have loved your super focused attention this week Alice. You have been a woman on a mission when it comes to independent tasks and you are determined to complete the work to the best of your ability. This is especially seen when there is an artistic element to the activity, which we know you absolutely thrive in.

Notices

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

  • Monday 23rd March- Bring an Easter Egg to school. Children can come into school in their own clothes with the small cost of donating an easter egg for our easter raffle.

  • School Photo Day- Wednesday 25th March

  • Year 5 Easter Assembly- Wednesday 1st April

  • School closes on Friday 2nd April at 2pm

Year 1 Weekly Blog 13.3.26 - "Prayer is certainly the most wonderful medicine in the world" - St Hyacinth

In this weeks Gospel we have focused on Jesus bringing healing and light into the world. We listened to the piece of scripture of Jesus healing the blind man. Jesus brought light into the mans life and He can does this for us too! The children have reflected on ways Jesus brings them healing, “he helps me to make good choices” “he helps me say sorry” “he teaches me to be kind” - the children all felt that Jesus helps them and guides them to help others.

Going deeper in conversation

In RE we have used drama to retell the moment Jesus entered Jerusalem. What can you remember? How did the crowds react to Jesus arriving? What did they do with their cloaks? Can you remember what special word they shouted?

Magic moments

We have had a super week in school and have really enjoyed discovering more about patterns and shapes in maths. It has been a real joy to watch the children so motivated to create patterns and for us as teachers to observe them exploring their spacial reasoning through, rotating, moving and fitting different shapes together. The buzz in the classroom has been fantastic!

A huge well done to Roxie who has been awarded our Determined certificate. Roxie your effort and determination is fantastic! Seeing your self confidence soar is just brilliant and one of the biggest joys to watch! This greater self belief is having such a wonderful impact in your learning and you are now such an independent little writer who has a go and doesn’t give up. We are so proud of you Roxie! Well done!

A huge well done to Ralph how has been awarded our star this week for being so intentional all everything he does. Ralph your actions towards others are so kind and thoughtful, you really are a calming friend for others. You use words of encouragement when you see someone in need, making sure everybody feels precious, you really do live our school mission statement.

Reminders

PE days: As we began the new half term our PE days have changed. Our outside PE will continue to be on a Monday afternoon, however indoor is now on Wednesdays. Thank you!

Sponsored Walking: Please continue to walk and encourage family and friends to sponsor you!

Own clothes day: On Monday 23rd March we will be having an Own clothes day. We ask for an Easter egg donation on this day to help us with our annual Easter Egg raffle (one of the most egg-xciting parts of the year!)

Have a wonderful weekend!

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our ‘Desert to Garden’ topic with ‘Lent around the World. Our key words this week were CARE, LENT and WORLD.

We were very excited to open up some letters this week! We had 4 letters to open that told us all about how different people celebrate Lent around the World. We heard from Luca in Italy, Sean from Ireland, Anaya from India and Sofia from South America. It was so interesting to hear about the things they did.

Our final letter was from South America. Sofia told us all about what they do at the end of Lent, just before Easter. They make beautiful flower carpets using colourful flowers, leaves and dyed sawdust and work together to make beautiful pictures in the streets. We also watched a video that showed us the Holy Week processions in Guatemala. Click here to watch.

We made our own beautiful carpets in Nursery. They look amazing! The children really enjoyed choosing different colours and adding flowers.

Our child led worship this week was about Palm Sunday. The children remembered lots of our previous discussions and knew that the people waved palms, shouted Hosanna and one of our friends even remembered that we use the palms to make the ashes for next year!

We used our little people and set up Jesus’ procession through the people on his donkey.  We all said, Hosanna! Hosanna! Finishing with singing ‘Sing Hosanna!’. We love this song! We spoke about how joyous it must have been when Jesus arrived on his donkey. 

Learning landscape

Another week of finding out and experimenting.

We have continued with our investigation of heavy and light using balance scales, we are get good at predicting what will happen and how to rectify problems

We have been exploring ‘capacity by using lots of different sizes containers and jugs to measure water from one container to another, using the words full, empty, nearly full and nearly empty . The children have also been designing their own boats and testing them to see if they float or sing in the large water trough (with mixed results!).

As always we have enjoyed our number work! I am amazed at the mathematicians we have in nursery! I have really tried to trick them with some difficult games, but I can’t.

Mummies I hope you liked you Mothers Day card and biscuits. The children have been very eager to give them to you.

In the garden we have started to plant seeds ready to create a array of colourful flowers in our garden this summer.

The children that visited Forest School with Emma made some beautiful threaded hanging decorations.

To accompany our theme of growing we have made a fruit and veg shop…it’s rather expensive though…hundreds of pounds for an apple!

Food bank donations for March - Biscuits. The foodbank have seen a significant surge in demand at their food bank over the past few weeks, making it increasingly challenging to meet the needs of those who rely on their services. Let’s help where we can!

Easter Events in School

Easter will soon be upon us and in traditional Our Lady’s style we have a new event for the occasion, as well as our Easter Egg Raffle.

On Thursday 26th March we have organised another Pottery Event after school where you will have the opportunity to paint Easter themed pottery. There will be refreshements too. Just like Christmas, it is £10 per person. Please complete the form below booking for this event.

On Monday 23rd March, it is own clothes day but to bring an Easter Egg for the raffle!

Lastly, I think everyone has earned a good rest this weekend! Enjoy the time you spend with your loved ones.

Stay safe and God bless.

Barbara