C - Pentecost

At home in Christ

In our Gospel Worship this week, we looked ahead to this weekend's feast of Pentecost. We celebrated the message that Jesus shared with his disciples - "Another advocate will come and we shall make our home in you." Jesus describes how God's Holy Spirit will help the disciples to transform the face of the Earth.

We've reflected on how we can make our hearts a home for God's Holy Spirit this week, and how we can fill our school "homes" (our classrooms) with the joy and energy of Pentecost. Children were challenged to share their God given gifts with the class and design their own representations on Pentecost.

Mastering Metric Maths!

In Year 5 this week, Maths took a practical turn as we investigated how decimal numbers complement to 1. It's amazing what you can do with a metre ruler and some strips of paper...

Xavier Young Musician of the Year Award 2025

The Xavier Young Musician of the Year Award took place on Thursday 22nd May at Cardinal Newman Catholic School. Each school in the trust were allowed to submit two musicians to take part in the competition. The competition aims to give children the opportunity to perform in front of a supportive audience and to enjoy listening to others perform. Jake and Ariana were chosen from a highly competitive field of auditioning musicians to participate for our school.

What a night it was! Twenty-five children played a range of instruments to a very high standard. There were a few nerves, but each child coped well with being in front of a packed school hall. Jake played ‘Song 2’ by Blur on the drums and received many positive comments from the judges, parents and other performers. Ariana's performance consisted of a guitar and vocals to Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On.’ She also received many compliments, as it was a beautifully played piece with heart-warming melodies.

Well done to our St. Joseph’s Musical stars!

Signs of Christ

In RE this week, Year 1 have been learning all about the Christian faith and the symbols related to this. As part of our lesson, we went over to St Mary's Church and explored the different symbols that we could see that related to Christianity. The children spotted symbols like crosses, a Bible, candles, a dove to represent the Holy Spirit and, of course, Jesus himself! They were full of awe and wonder for the beautiful stained glass window in the church, some saying they hadn't noticed this before! We then looked in more detail and noticed that Jesus was there, too!

Saving Lives

We are always so delighted to hear that our children have dedicated their time and efforts to help others. During half-term, we were very impressed to learn that the Fishburn family spent time hand-making bracelets and sweet bags to sell to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The charity is close to the family's hearts and they often raise money for them in memory of their Gramps. Thomas, Joseph and Amelie, together with their cousins, raised an impressive £111.11! The vast majority of RNLI people are volunteers - as they say, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We hope that the Fishburns feel proud to be part of that group of people doing something extraordinary by helping others - we certainly are!

Have a Heart!

This week in Year 6, our young scientists had a truly fascinating and thought-provoking science lesson exploring the anatomy of the heart. Using real pig hearts, pupils were able to identify the different chambers, vessels, and structures, gaining a hands-on understanding of how this vital organ functions. We extended our learning by discussing the use of animals that have been medically modified to provide organs for human transplants - an ethical and scientific topic that sparked some very mature and insightful conversations. Pupils considered whether it is right to use animals in this way and explored the life-changing impact organ transplants can have on patients and their families. It was a powerful session that blended biology, ethics, and empathy, and gave our pupils a glimpse into the complexities of modern medicine.

Very Hungry Caterpillars

Reception children have warmly welcomed some furry friends this week! Each class is caring for five caterpillars, learning about their fascinating life cycle. This exploration has inspired beautiful life cycle drawings and plenty of writing, including signs for the caterpillars' homes, such as ‘Do not touch’ and ‘Please do not shake.’

Watch this space for the butterflies—we will be setting them free when the time is right!

Prodigal Pictures

As part of our RE topic on Choices, Year 3 read the story of The Prodigal Son and discussed the choices the two sons made. Children were then asked to illustrate the story in their own, creative way. After enjoying a gallery time to look at each other's pictures, the children described what their picture was showing. We were particularly impressed with, 'The son has a guilty face. This shows he is very sorry and wants to be forgiven,' and 'The younger son is wearing ragged clothes to show he has been working hard'. Lots of very thoughtful work in Year 3.

Pearly Whites

Over the next two weeks, the Nursery children will be focusing on oral health. As part of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, the Nursery should promote good oral hygiene. For children so young, the best way is through first hand experiences and through role playing. With this in mind, the children will have the opportunity to play with our dentist role play resources, in addition to learning about healthy eating habits by playing games and watching short video clips of their favourite characters going to the dentist.

Oral health is very important, even with baby teeth; it helps them to bite and chew correctly, supports speech and language, makes space for and guides the adult teeth through as well as helping the children to feel confident when they smile. Furthermore, helping the children stay free from infections and tooth decay.

STEM Family Marble Challenge

Over the last few weeks, many families have been working hard to create marble runs that needed to be:

At least a metre high
Have one tunnel
More than two turns

Then, for a further challenge, the families could add a drop. The results are awe-inspiring! Well done!

Fifty house points have been awarded to each of your house teams for your hard work and perseverance.

Marble Fun.mov

Do you believe?

This week in Year 2, we have been deepening our learning on unicorns. On Monday we had a fantastic unicorn experience, where the children brought in all sorts of toys, books, stationery and other goodies. This helped us to understand a bit more that unicorns can be of all shapes and sizes and colours! The children then designed their own unicorns and began to write reports all about their chosen animal!

In the eye of the storm...

Year 4 have got off to a marvellous start with their topic on William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and have learned all about Prospero and why he summoned a raging storm to cause a shipwreck. We focussed on powerful verbs and adjectives to create personification of the weather to make it clear to the reader, just how vengeful Prospero was feeling!

RH Shining Bright

Basking in the glow of our newly installed stage lights, RH were shining bright for their class worship on Pentecost. The children retold the famous account of the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit as tongues of flame and their remarkable new gift in speaking many languages. Through song and dance, the children described how our lights can also shine brightly this Pentecost when we too respond to the tug of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. A fabulous message St Hugh's Class - so uplifting!

Witness Awards

Congratulations to our host of Witness Award Winners - all from Year 2 this week - for responding to our Gospel message in their work and play. All these children have made space for God in their hearts this week, making progress and improving their skills as they responded to the Holy Spirit in their lives.

What's on locally?

mail out for entries Show Saturday 19th July 2025.pdf

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