Horbury Bridge CE J&I Academy
Living by our Christian Values: Together in Faith, Hope and Love
January 28th 2022 : Newsletter 18
School-Church Service
Instead of the usual Friday service in St John's Church, today Father Christopher led a special joint school and church mass as part of the continued celebrations of Epiphany. In assemblies last term, he explored the meaning of each part of a traditional church service which helped the children to be able to understand the relevance of the different parts as they joined in this morning. Class 1, 2 and 3 all contributed with prayers, readings and even bell ringing.
The congregation were very impressed with the children's respect and participation and everyone agreed it felt a very special time together.
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In case you missed it
INSET Days
We will be closed for 2 INSET (staff training) days on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26 July. This means that school will close to children on Friday 22nd July.
Class News
Lower Nursery
This week the Lower Nursery children have been working alongside Upper Nursery and Reception, doing their own planting. Our main aim with this activity was to develop the children's language and use words we wouldn't use everyday. We learnt what seeds need to grow and we talked about how the soil feels. Matilda described the soil as bumpy and warm. Matthew said ''We need to give them some water and they will grow big and big!''
Upper Nursery & Reception
Our Story Box revealed some cress seeds, pots, cotton wool and water on Monday. The children figured out that this week we would be doing our own growing and working out what plants need to grow healthy and strong. Before starting the activity, the children made some great predictions about how long they thought it would take the cress to grow. Reception also learnt about the things that plants need to grow. Hattie explained "We will put them on the window so they get lots of light, it needs to be warm and we will water them everyday!" The children are eagerly waiting to see some changes in their plant pots and are hoping very soon we have our own cress.
Class 1
At the beginning of the week, Class 1 spent some time learning about 3D shapes building on our previous exploration of 2D shapes. We discussed that 3D are solid shapes, not flat like 2D shapes. The children were challenged to complete several activities including, making 3D dough shapes, constructing 3D shapes using cocktail sticks and sweets, sorting 3D shapes according to face type and going on a 3D shape hunt. We learnt about faces, edges and vertices and enjoyed playing the 'Guess my shape' game where we had to think carefully about questions to ask our partner in order to guess the correct shape.
Commando Joe set Year 2 a mission to rescue Nala from the other side of a fast flowing river. They could not step in the river because it was full of hidden crocodiles! The children worked in teams discussing what equipment to use and how to get across. Each group worked well together and congratulated each other when they completed the mission. They had a team chat at the end to review what went well and how they might work even better together next time.
Class 2
This week Class 2 were joined by our local Christian Group, Hand 2 Mouth. The children followed a reflective 'Journey' in church, thinking about our wider world and how we can look after it.
All the children thought carefully about the ways in which we can care for God's creation and how beautiful it is.
In the afternoon, the children continued their work with Hand 2 Mouth and explored the ideas and values of Fairtrade and how it helps many people in the world. They investigated ways we can promote Fairtrade in order to make sure people get a "Fair pay for a fair day's work".
We are so proud of all the class for being so mature and thoughtful throughout the whole day. Well done everyone.
Class 3
In RE this half term, Class 3 are learning about Islam and how Muslims in Yorkshire follow their god, Allah. This week, they visited a Mosque and, with the help of our guide, Fatima, found out how Muslims wash so they are ready for worship, the direction they face to pray and why and learned all the different ways that the building serves the community! They even learned some Arabic!
In Art, the children have been exploring Allah's 99 names. Because it is disrespectful to draw Allah, Muslims represent him using calligraphy, colour and pattern. Class 3 chose the name that meant the most to them and produced beautiful pieces of artwork accompanied by Arabic calligraphy.
Achievements
Foundation Stage
Lower Nursery-Matthew
growing in confidence to speak to others
Upper Nursery- Amelia
becoming an independent learner
Reception- Connie
for showing so much effort with your reading and writing.
Headteacher's Award: Well done to the whole school for excellence in your attitudes, behaviour, manners and learning on Monday.
This was an important day in the recruitment process for our new headteacher and all the candidates and Governors who were here for the day, were very impressed with the children. They certainly made us so very proud of each one of them and of our school.
The Governors continue with the final stages of their recruitment process and will be able to inform you of the outcome in due course.
Important Dates
Diary Dates can be found below.
Term Dates can be found on our website https://www.horburybridgeacademy.co.uk/diarydates/