Borwick Hall Day 1 - and we got sunshine!

What a glorious first day! We arrived to heavy rainfall and by the end of it, the sun is shining! After becoming familiar with our surroundings and getting used to our bedrooms, the children met their instructors and headed off to explore the grounds. We are so lucky to be in a beautiful part of the world - surrounded by nature.

The three groups have all had very different experiences today; tree climbing, canoeing and scrambling. The tree climbing and caving was fantastic - a group of very brave children (and teachers) who managed to ring the bell at the top of the tree. A spot of indoor caving too which will prepare them for the real thing tomorrow. The canoe group had fun on the water - after some raft building and team building games, the highlight was sliding down the canoes into the freezing water! Then finally, the last group headed off site on a hike. Check out the photos!

Tonight we have sat down to tea of pizza, chips and salad; with sticky toffee pudding for dessert - absolutely delicious! We have just sent the children off on an orienteering challenge before Mrs Tierney (who has joined us for the evening) lights the camp fire for an evening reflection.

Good night everyone!

Year 5 Weekly Blog 15.05.26- ‘To be a saint is not a privelege for the few but a vocation for everyone’

What a week it has been in Year 5! We have been super focused throughout our Maths and English topics this week, with us diving into some tricky Year 5/6 fractions work by finding equivalent fractions and using this to add fractions with different denominators. In English, we have been planning and writing our final disucssion text of our half term, looking at whether school uniform should be banned or not? In RE, we have reflected on the saints of our Catholic community and analysed what a saint is and how someone would become a saint. Next week, we will be looking at the saint of our school, our mother Mary, in finer detail and depicting pieces of artwork of her.

The highlight of our week was our trip to Lancaster on Thursday, to visit Lancaster Castle and Police Museum. The children loved taking steps through history and seeing what we have learnt in lessons in the flesh. The children particulary enjoyed the unifrom department of the police musuem and dressing up as officers. We ended our week with a short walk to our parish center to spend the morning with our parishioners to come together as a community in the good old spirits of a ‘pub quiz’

Conversation starters

History- What do you remember about our trip to Lancaster? Tell your parents some interesting facts that you learnt on your day out.

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtues for this half term are attentive and discerning. This week, the star of the week goes to Phoebe. You are always so discerning Phoebe, especially when it comes to other people’s feelings and making sure they feel respected and included. You are so attentive to their needs and are always on hand to offer both emotional and physical support when needed.

Learner of the Week: This week, the learner of the week goes to Fletcher. You have absolutely loved our history topic this half term. You have gone about our learning in a mature manner, with the nature of the information, and have loved sharing your own knowledge during our discussions. You impressed our tour guides a lot with your answers to their questions and also adding in your own facts.


Notices

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

  • Forest school takeover day Thursday 21st June- We will be spending the afternoon as a whole class outside. Please come wearing the appropriate clothing for forest school (no shorts and a coat will be needed). Children can come into school wearing these clothes to save time for them to get changed.

  • Swimming Gala Friday 22nd May- details are live on the sports blog of the school website for those children who have signed up for the competition.

  • Gym Jam Jog Friday 12th June- This will begin at 8am.

  • Sports Day Wednesday 17th June starting at 1:30pm

  • St Bedes Taster Day Wednesday 1st July- Children will need to come to school in full school uniform (no PE kits) with their own pack lunch.

Year 1 Weekly blog 15.5.26: "There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship" - St Thomas Aquinas

In this weeks Gospel we listen to the time Jesus spoke to his father to tell Him that he has done what is was sent to do. He then prays for his friends the Disciples. We are encouraged to think about our friendships and what a gift they are. The children have spent time thinking about all of their friends and how they can help them. We discussed the question, “What makes a good friend?” The children all gave their own opinions but the main thoughts were: someone who helps us, care for us, and make us feel special! We have also been learning more about the Holy Spirit, exploring artwork and creating our own Holy Spirit crafts.

Going deeper in conversation

Can you share stories together about times you have felt loved and cared for because of a friend?

Jesus is our friend too. He cares and loves us all. Think of a way you could show Jesus that you are His friend too.

Magic moments

This week we have started each day with a special prayer for our Year 6 friends who have been working very hard completing their SATs. We have also welcomed back the wonderful Mrs Lavelle, who has returned back from her maternity leave and will now be spending each Thursday in Year 1. The children made her feel very welcome and are very excited to see her again next week! We have finished our learning about the great fire of London and the children worked in small teams to design a new London, which would help to make sure the great fire would not happen again. The children were full of knowledge and made sure that the London they created had buildings that were not made of wood or too close together, bridges to help the people of London move around safely, and that the firefighters were much better equipped! Well done Year 1!

Let’s celebrate!

A big well done to Adele who has been awarded our star award this week! Adele you are SO attentive towards others and to our classroom too! You are so kind and caring, always wanting the best for others. You are the most wonderful learner whose beautiful behaviour helps the rest of your friends in class to learn too. You are a real joy!

Another huge well done to Willow who has been awarded our Determined certificate this week. A huge well done Willow! You blew our socks of with your independent writing this week You were so focused and determined and we are so proud of your wonderful effort! You put the biggest smile on our faces Willow! Each day you come running into class to share with Miss Hennessy and I something that has made you laugh or something you are very excited about. Never change Willow, you brighten everyone’s day!

Reminders

Forest school take over day! On Wednesday 20th May Year 1 will have their afternoon out exploring our forest school. This is a 2 hour session so please make sure that your child has suitable clothing, baring in mind how varied the weather is currently.

Half term: We break up for the half term on Friday 22nd May and we return on Monday 8th June.

Sports day: It is Year 1 and 2’s sports day on Wednesday 10th June at 1:30pm. We hope you can make it!

Bamber have won this half term’s house points and so the children in this house can wear their house colour on Friday!

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were Christian, community and Sunday. Our child-led worship on Thursday focused on Ascension and Pentecost.

We looked at a picture of some people with flames above their head. The children said the words disciple, Jesus and fire. One child also said, ‘Jesus went up to Heaven’ which led us into our discussion about Jesus going back to Heaven, and the start of the Christian church. We heard that Pentecost was the ‘birthday of the Church’. After Jesus returned to Heaven a rushing wind and tongues of fire appeared, filling them with joy and courage to spread good news.

We watched this video: click here.

We started to make people in the workshop area to look just like ourselves. We thought about our eye colour and what we like to wear. We discussed how we are all God’s children and connected in God’s family. We all look different but God loves us all. We are going to attach them around our picture of the world, holding hands to show how we share God’s love with one another, just like the first Christians.

This week we have been having prayer and liturgy in the chapel too!

Learning Landscape

A different sort of week. To help our wonderful Year 6 children have quiet and stillness during SATs week we have been exploring the rest of the school and all our shared spaces.

We have:

  • held prayer and liturgy each day in the chapel

  • practised our climbing, crawling and balancing skills on the trim trail

  • had outdoor PE with Mr. Nay, where we have been getting ready for Sports Day!

  • played and did our learning in after school club…we loved it!

  • visited Forest School, which we always love. Mrs. Tierney put out lots of activities for us to do

  • continued our learning adventures in nursery too

  • discussed David Attenborough’s 100th birthday and created some collage animals for our display. We even had our picture taken with him!

  • for the month of Mary we have all made Mary decorations and a giant Rosary for our Worship area.

Sports Day

On last weeks blog I mistakenly said that Sports Day was on June 3rd…we are on holiday then, oops, sorry. Sports Day is in fact on June 10th 9.15 am. All children to be in nursery no later than 9 am! If it is not your usual session please collect your child immediately afterwards. Please make sure your child is wearing shorts, t-shirt, trainers and has a water bottle and sun hat!

Silly Hat and Sock week is next week!

Have you got your hats and socks ready! Remember that everyone can pay £1 (or more) for each day you attend nursery and come dressed in outrageously silly hats and socks. We are hoping to raise lots of money for the Lymphoedema Support Network, please help us.

Can you help out?

Next half term we are hoping to create art using natural resources. We would welcome donations of any picture frames (minus the glass) to make the designs we make more ‘professional’. Thank you in anticipation.

Half Term

Don’t forget that we break for the half term holiday Friday 22nd May until Monday 8th June.

Have a fabulous weekend and hopefully the sunshine will make and appearance!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

Year 5 Homework due Friday 22nd May

Reading

New reading targets have been reset so lets get reading to beat those this half term! Remember, we are also trying to beat our 15 million word target for the whole year- we can do it! Minimum of 20 minutes per day is vital in our reading and writing progression.

Maths

To complete the two questions sheets stuck in their homework books. Question 11 has been crossed out due to a printing error.

Spellings

These are the next 10 spellings of the Year 5 and 6 spelling list that we are working towards as we get closer to Year 6. Use a variety of our spelling games to help you practice at home such as square spellings, stair spellings and mock spelling tests.

  1. exaggerate

  2. excellent

  3. existance

  4. explanation

  5. familiar

  6. foreign

  7. forty

  8. frequently

  9. government

  10. guarantee

Year 3 Homework- To be handed in Tuesday 19th May



Spellings

This week we are focusing on words ending with ‘ture’


1. nature
2. future
3. picture
4. feature
5. pasture
6.scripture
7. adventure
8. agriculture
9. furniture
10. temperature

Maths - Please complete the questions in your homework book.


Reading

Only one week left to reach this half term’s reading targets! Please continue reading at home for 15- 20 minutes each night, it really does make a difference. Ask questions about wht has been read - why do you think that happened in the story? How do you think the character felt? How do you know - which words in the text told you that they felt that way?

Summer 1 Optional homework

Year 5 and 6 Swimming Gala- Friday 22nd May

This will be taking place at Palatine Leisure Centre in South Shore.

207 St Anne's Rd, Blackpool FY4 2AP

This event will be taking place in the morning so parents will have to take their children straight to Palatine- WE ARE NOT MEETING AT SCHOOL.

Arrival time is between 8:30am-8:45am. We will be getting changed at 8:50am so please arrive before this time.

Parents are welcome to stay and watch as there is a seating area up above the pool.

The event will end between 12:00-12:30 so parents will have to take their children back to school ready for lunch and the afternoon at school.

Please make sure you have your swimming costume, goggles (if needed), a towel, and a swimming cap (nessessary for girls) and any medical requirements if needed.

The children taking part are;

Year 5

Lettie, Phoebe, Emilia, Ellie-Rose, Mia-Grace, George C, Jackson, Nathan, Hugo H

Year 6

Charlotte, Rose, Beth, Logan, John Paul, William, Louis, Jacob, Rory, Tommy

Year 2 Home Learning to be handed in on Monday 18th May

Dear Parents,

I have apolgised to the children for confusing them and yourselves when placing my division films onto the homework page. I inadvertantly added the same film twice and I thank Mrs Cronin for her kind email to inform me. Not only that, I had a typing error on the questions and this led to a remainder and this was not my intention. I have given the same type of questions again for maths with the correct film. Sorry

MATHS

Division - sharing (partitive structure) using tallying and skip counting. See problems in books

READING

Lots of children reaching their reading target this week - we are all on a mission! Please read everyday.

SPELLING and HANDWRITING

Apostrophes for possession. We have introduced the apostrohes for possession this week in our spelling and grammar lessons. Please complete the two worksheets in your homework book. Make sure you use your best handwriting

Worksheet is double sided.

Year 2 optional home learning Summer 1

Year 5 Weekly Blog 08.05.26- 'The natural word is the greatest source of excitement, visual beauty and interlectual interest'- Sir David Attenborough

What a week it has been in Year 5! A shorter week in days but still feeling like a long week in activites. Learning has continued to flow with us finishing off our focus of apostles and the apostolic mission in RE, as we looked at the stature of the church and where hiarachy of the laity and apostles in our Catholic Church. On Thursday, we took a grip to the Grand, along with Year 6, to see ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’. This is a powerful novel, based on a true story and current real life events, that the children will read in Year 6 next year. We ended our week in celebration of Sir David Attenborough. We came into school in our earth coloured clothes and we wrote biographies about our chosen icon. We finished this off by watching some of his classic documentaries from ‘Planet Earth’. Well done to chose children who entered the arts and crafts competition for this, your creations were beautiful!

Conversation starters

RE- If you wanted to become the next Pope, which 6 other roles within the Catholic Church would you have to have first? Can you remember the order of the stature of the Church?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtues for this half term are attentive and discerning. With no whole school assembly today, the winner of star of the week was voted for by the children. This week, the stars of the week are Myles and Scarlett- both recieving the most votes.


Notices

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

  • Trip to Lancaster Castle and Police Museum 14th May- Please go over to this blog to complete the lunch options and also to see for departures and arrivals.

  • Swimming Gala Friday 22nd May- details are live on the sports blog of the school website for those children interested in taking part in the Lytham St Annes swimming gala.

  • Gym Jam Jog Friday 12th June- This will begin at 8am.

  • Sports Day Wednesday 17th June starting at 1:30pm

  • St Bedes Taster Day Wednesday 1st July- Children will need to come to school in full school uniform (no PE kits) with their own pack lunch.

Year 1 Weekly Blog 8.5.26 - "Let your Holy Spirit be your helper and guide" - Pope Saint John Paul ||

In this weeks Gospel we hear Jesus telling his Disciples to let the Holy Spirit to be their helper. We have reflected on how the Holy Spirit is our helper too as we continue to spread the good news, that God loves us all. In RE We have been thinking about the church’s mission and how it is our job now to share the church with everyone. Year 1 thought of lots of ways that they can do this, such as by helping people who are sad. They each completed a checklist with ways they are going to share our church’s mission and throughout the week they have been ticking their kind actions off.

Going deeper in conversation

How will you be God’s helper at home? What kind actions can you do that will help somebody in your family?

Magic moments

This week we have celebrated David Attenborourgh’s 100 Year birthday! To celebrate we watched clips of his documentaries and the children then all thought about their favourite living creatures. We then created our own artwork to celebrate our beautiful world.

Certificates

This week we say goodbye to our wonderful student teacher Miss Charnley. Miss Charnley has been such a wonderful part of the children’s learning over the term and she has really loved being a part of their learning journey. We know you are going to have a wonderful teaching journey!

PE days - PE days are back to usual next week. PE will be on Monday and Wednesday. Thank you.

Monday 11th: We have our phonics drop in. I have created a little pack which I will be giving to you. It is for you all to use during the half term.

c.bassett@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Year 6 Weekly ‘the future of life on earth depends on our ability to take action’ David Attenborough

In this week’s gospel,John 14:15–21, Jesus teaches that loving Him means keeping His commandments, and He promises that God will send the Holy Spirit to guide and be with His followers forever. This reading reminds us that our relationship with God is built on love, trust, and obedience, and that we are never alone because God is always present in our lives. It helps us understand that by following Jesus’ teachings, we grow closer to God and reflect His love in the way we treat others.

Sir David Attenborough is one of Britain’s most loved naturalists, famous for his inspiring wildlife programmes that help us understand and protect our planet. As he reaches his 100th birthday, we felt it was really important to celebrate his life’s work, which has encouraged many generations to care about nature and the environment. Today, Year 6 marked this special occasion by creating artwork inspired by his documentaries and taking part in a special live assembly. We were even joined by a fun guest appearance from Mrs Marshall’s monkey teddy, making the celebration even more memorable!

We had some wonderful entries in to our competition, where children had clearly spent a lot of time and effort making their creations- it was so difficult to choose our overall winner! Well done to our winner… Tilly!

We had a wonderful time at The Grand on Thursday to watch ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ …

After working with the children this week, we feel nothing but pride. The way the children have come in to school every day and giving their absolute best, no matter how they are feeling on the inside, is truly amazing! Each one of them are overcoming barriers and challenges, no matter how big or how small and this process is making them see, that hard work, over a long period of time, really does pay off. This week we celebrated all the children, not on their marks of their final practice papers, but on the progress they have made and for some, this has been huge! We have worked SUPER hard this week on the areas we needed to, and the children couldn’t do any more, other than remember what we always say in class… YOUR BEST IS ALWAYS GOOD ENOUGH.

Going Forward …

Monday will be the start of the children’s SAT’s journey and they are extremely ready for this! There will, of course, be some nerves and anticipation this weekend on the run up, but the most important thing to do over the next few days is to relax, exercise, have plenty of sleep and eat healthily. We need those brains ready and raring to go! It would be a good idea if the children, did a little revision (small doses) to keep their learning ticking over a punctuation revision map and spelling task to prepare them for their grammar on Monday, they need to keep their reading going over the weekend and a short arithmetic task ready for Wednesday- if they wanted to do a bit extra on the areas they find most difficult then they could always have a look at ANTON or ‘maths is fun’ for their maths. It may just give them a bit of practice and confidence before the week begins. On Friday, the children set up the hall ready for Monday, so they all know exactly what they are walking in to and where to sit - I think there was even some excitement by the time we left the hall!

At the end of the day today we shafred this important poem, SAT’s is only one snapshot of your child and while we urge them to do the best we can, we celebrate way more about each and every one of your children than any test results…

Next week’s timetable is as follows so that you know which each day holds. Please ensure that your child is in school on time after a really good night sleep and a substantial breakfast…

 Monday am: Grammar, punctuation and Spelling test.

 

               pm: Reading revision focus

 

Tuesday am: Reading test

 

                Pm: Maths revision focus

 

Wednesday am: Arithmetic and Reasoning 1 test

 

                      pm: Maths revision focus

 

Thursday am: Maths Reasoning 2 test

 

                  pm: read through of script (yey!)

Friday am - auditions for the play!

The following week is residential and Thursday will be the interview for jobs around school (dress to impress)

Onwards and Upwards…

The following Monday, of course, is their forthcoming ‘holiday’ to Bowrick Hall. The teachers are all getting ready and looking forward to spending a few days with Year 6, it is the perfect way to end this half term- making memories, with the class and teachers, they have gone through school with, as well as pushing themselves to do things they have never done before. These children are capable of great things and I know we are going to have a great time away with them.

I have listed some essential information below which you will need to think about and know. Again, if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

  • On Monday 18th May, the children need to arrive at school through the normal way (playground) at 8:45am. Please bring all bags and drop them off in the ‘All Stars’ room, next door to Year 6. Parents on this day are able to bring the children in to school via the playground with their bags where they can then say their goodbyes. There will be members of staff there to help and direct you. The children will need one case/bag with their main clothes in and a back pack for the coach with any smaller items in.

  • All children must bring a packed lunch with them for the first day. Please make sure there is plenty of water and no fizzy drinks please. The packed lunch box they will use on this day, will then be re-used to put their sandwiches in on Thursday. So please make sure you pack a proper Tupperware.

  • If your child needs any medication for the week, this needs to be in a separate bag - clearly labelled - and given to the member of staff who will be at the medicine table in the ‘All Stars’ room. The form below needs to be completed which will indicate the medication, when it needs administering and how much needs to be administered. Please bring this with you on the day with the medicine (not before).

  • Talent Show - Next week, I will be asking the children what their talent show act is and if they have any music etc. Please can you ensure that the act your child is doing is totally appropriate. I will be checking this next week. Anything that the children need for the talent show needs to be brought in on the morning of departure. If it fits in your child’s case - brilliant! Please ensure that they have any music that they need too.

  • Final balance - please ensure that the final balance has been paid please- any difficulties please speak to Mrs Nel.

medication form
kit list

On the Wednesday, our coach will be picking us up from Borwick Hall at 2pm, so we aim to arrive back between 3-3:30pm at the latest. However, this is traffic dependent, so therefore, we will be in contact with school to give a more accurate time and then you will receive a text message, so you know when to come and collect them.

I know you have a kit list list which I am sure you have all studied, but just a couple of reminders of the vital items:

  • no valuable or electrical items please (apart from a hairdryer if necessary)

  • make sure all clothing items are labelled with names

  • does your child suffer from travel sickness, if so they are able to take travel sickness tablets to avoid illness but please make sure it is added to the medical form.

  • packed lunch box and refillable bottle

  • indoor and outdoor shoes

  • sun cream and sun hat!

  • a book or a notebook to write in for quiet time.

  • talent show- if music is required, then please send the song either as a mp3 file, USB stick or a CD as their is not a great Wi-Fi connection at all.

  • bags will be carried by the children and have to be lifted up stairs by themselves up to their rooms, so please make sure you pack lightly.

Delving deeper through talk …

What have you done this week to make you feel proud of yourself?

What are you looking forward to most in these final weeks of Primary School?

This week we will take a break from helping in the mornings and start again after the half term!

Have a lovely restful weekend ready for a busy couple of weeks.

The Year 6 team