Christ's Counsel

Our Celebration of the Word this week focused on the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) where Jesus emboldens his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” Whilst we stressed to children that we don’t have too much salt in our diet these days, we also celebrated that salt brings out the flavour of food - it makes things taste their best. In the same way, as disciples of Christ, we are called to bring out the best in others.

We focused this week on the Tool of St Joseph - counsel. We explained that sometimes others will provide us with the guidance to be the best that we can be. At other times, we need to be that counselling voice for others. As a community of Christ, we are all called to bring out the best in each other. Children this week told us how feedback from adults in class can embolden them in their learning, helping them to see how well they're doing and where they can improve next. In turn, adults reassured children that their feedback to each other can be a powerful tool in improving their outcomes too.

A - 5th Ordinary

Mastering Sentences

Year 1 have been working really hard on their sentence writing recently, thinking about all of the components that make up the perfect sentence: a capital letter at the beginning, spaces between words, hearing all of the sounds in words and a full stop at the end. We have been using pictures to help us think of simple sentences to learn, repeat orally and then write. Well done Year 1 - you are working so hard on your writing and your ticking and fixing is impressive, too!

Exploring the Wonders of Blood

This week, our Year 6 scientists immersed themselves in one of the most fascinating parts of the human body unit: the remarkable composition of blood. Using a hands-on, imaginative approach, the children built their own “blood models” with Cheerios standing in for red blood cells, mini marshmallows as white blood cells, rice grains for platelets and a splash of orange squash to represent plasma. The classroom buzzed with curiosity as pupils explored the proportions of each component and discussed how they work together to keep our bodies functioning. What stood out most was how confidently the children could explain the role of each part - from oxygen transport to fighting infection and helping wounds heal - showing not only their enthusiasm but a deepening understanding of the science behind our bodies.

Feeling our Feelings

The Nursery has been a splash of colour for the past 2 weeks as we have been exploring the story; The Colour Monster, written by Anna Llenas. This book is a lovely introduction to understanding our feelings. The Colour Monster and his friend, identify 7 different feelings and link them to a colour. For example; Yellow is feeling happy and blue is feeling sad. Along with identifying how we feel, we thought of different ideas we could do when we are feeling sad, mad or worried to help us feel better. Blowing bubbles, deep breathing and dancing were among the most popular suggestions.

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Salt of the Earth!

This week's gospel reading inspired 4C as we reflected on Jesus' words calling us to be the "salt of the earth." In the reading, Jesus reminds us that, just as salt enhances food, we are meant to bring goodness and light to the world around us. The children were moved by this powerful message and were eager to think about how they can bring kindness, compassion, and love to those they meet.

During our journaling session in Worship this week, we also listened to a beautiful song about the Beatitudes. The children really enjoyed how the song brought the message of the Gospel to life, and we decided to record our own version.

We hope you enjoy the Beatitudes song as much as we did!

Music Maestro!

Music lessons have been very exciting in Year 3 this term. The children are learning the basic techniques of glockenspiel playing and have practised the notes G, A and B so far. Ensuring they hold the mallett correctly, the children have been doing beautiful work in pairs, sharing the instruments so that everyone gets a turn and playing the songs displayed on the board. Future lessons will include creating their own rhythmic patterns. In our Thursday singing sessions, Mr Ellson is focusing on written music and has shown the children how notes are displayed on a stave. They quickly learned the acronym Every Good Boy Does Football to remember the order of the notes E,G,B,D,F and show them on a stave.

Self-Regulating

In Year 2, we have had a PSHE focus this week and have been learning more about our feelings. We identified basic feelings and then dived deeper into these. We learned about how we may want to act in the moment when we experience negative feelings, and what we should do instead. After many discussions, group work and hot seating, we learned that the right thing to do if we experience negative feelings is to talk it through with someone, give ourselves time, take a breath, maybe walk away and then try to resolve the issues. We realised that these actions will have much better and happier consequences.

Making Melodies...

So far this year, Year 4 have been making fantastic progress in music, with lots of exciting activities and new instruments. In the Autumn term, the children mastered the glockenspiel, learning to play melodies and developing a solid understanding of rhythm and pitch. Spring has been all about the recorder - we've been learning to play simple tunes, using the interrelated dimensions of music, and building on everything we've already achieved.

A highlight of this term has been composing and performing our own accompaniments to the song Lean on Me. It's amazing how quickly the children have embraced this classic, and it’s now become a real favourite in the classroom. The children love the uplifting tune and it’s wonderful to see them working together to create something so meaningful.

Looking ahead, next term brings a new challenge with the ukulele. It’s always a hit with the children, even if their fingers are sore! And don’t forget, we’ll be returning to recorders in the Summer term, so keep practising at home if you have one!

People who help us...

Reception enjoyed a trip to the local postbox this week. Some of us even spotted a postal officer in action. It was great to see the children recognising different people who help us on our walk, including a police officer, a bus driver, and the pharmacist.

5P's Counsel

Our thanks to St Patrick's Class for a beautiful worship this morning, all about the Spirit's gift of counsel. The children explained how we see the work of counsel in the world around us, including in courts of law. The children went on to retell examples of Christ's counsel to those seeking to live the best life possible - Jesus told the rich young man to sell his possession and become his disciple. We learnt a great deal from 5P this morning as we celebrated the need to give and receive counsel to make the world a better place.

Witnesses to Counsel

Congratulations to this week's Witness Award winners - this host of children have demonstrated the gift of counsel in their words and actions this week, bringing out the best in themselves and others. We are so grateful for your use of the Tools of St Joseph to build God's Kingdom. Well done and God bless you!

Writing for Holes

Our current text in Year 5 is the novel Holes, by Louis Sachar. It has been an enthralling read and has provided plenty of fabulous content for both reading and writing lessons. Our most recent writing piece was a character description about the Warden, who certainly is a force to be reckoned with! The children worked really hard on bringing together their ideas for vocabulary, including adjectives and adverbs to add detail and figurative language to increase the reader’s engagement. These children are rightly very proud of their finished pieces!