St Thomas More Catholic Primary School
Aspire and Flourish
Friday 16th October
Aspire and Flourish
Friday 16th October
In Sunday's Gospel, Jesus shows that people have responsibilities in the world, but they also have a responsibility to God. His words remind us that while money and earthly rules matter, our relationship with God matters even more.
Value of the term: Forgiveness
This week our Year One children have enjoyed a fantastic trip to Hammerton Zoo; this will really support children's learning in school, but is also a fantastic experience for them!
This week classes have been starting to share their work on Catholic Social Teaching. This term our focus has been on 'Stewardship - caring for God's creation'. Children have built bird feeders, bug hotels, written letters on the importance of climate activism. It has been a joy to see the children being inspired by the Gospel and by Pope Leo's message of climate action being a matter of faith. Please do take time to discuss with your children the impact of our Catholic Social Teaching work and listen to the incredible work that they have done and the links that they can make to their RE learning, particularly from the Book of Genesis.
As we come to the end of the half term, I want to thank you all for your continued support for everything that we do in school. Please do remember that our last day is next Thursday; school is closed to children on Friday.
Finally, if you claim universal credit, you may be eligible for free school meals for your child/children. If you have not already, please do speak with Mrs Neal and Mrs Smee in the office who can assist you in applying.
20.10.26
EYFS Peterborough Today Photo
21.10.2026
EYFS 2027 Parent Tours (to book please visit our website)
23.10.26
Staff Inset Day
October half term begins
02.11.26
Flu Vaccine day all years (information has been sent by Vaccination UK for online sign up)
02.11.26 & 05.11.26
Parents Evening (Please see link in our email to book)
This week, the children have been exploring the process of making bread by identifying ingredients and equipment, following simple instructions, and joining in with repeated actions and words. They have been developing their understanding of food preparation while practising fine motor skills, following routines and building independence through hands-on cooking activities.
This week, we have been reading the story Beegu and exploring the adventures of a little alien who finds herself on Earth. We have been discussing the characters and thinking about how Beegu might feel during her journey.
To bring our learning to life, we have been getting creative and designing and making our very own spaceships! The children have been using their imaginations to create some fantastic designs and thinking about how they might travel through space.
This week, we are becoming more confident in comparing groups of objects in Maths, using the language of more than and fewer than to explain what we notice.
In Phonics and Writing, we are continuing to practise writing our names and using the sounds we have learnt to help us write words. We are also enjoying Dough Disco, which helps to strengthen our fingers and hands and develop the muscles we need for writing.
In RE, we are thinking about how God created our wonderful world and discussing the different ways we can care for His creation, including looking after plants, animals and our environment.
In History, we are exploring how we have changed as we have grown, sharing what we could do when we were babies and comparing this with the things we can do now.
This week, we have been becoming more confident writers in using adjectives. We love the story of ‘Funny Bones’ and this has given us lots of new words to help us in our writing.
In Maths we have continued our work on part whole models. We have started to use these to write addition number sentences. We have found out that you can write addition fact families.
In handwriting we are continuing to work on our correct letter formation starting our letters in the correct place. We are also focusing on writing ascenders and descenders correctly.
We have had a celebration of the word in RE. We gathered together to listen and respond to the story of Creation. The children sat beautifully and were able to share with each other what they are thankful for.
We are also on our Trip today!
In Year 2 this week we have been working on counting up in 2s and 5s. We have learned how to use number squares to help us work out which number comes next.
In English we have been learning about headings and subheadings, and how they can help us to divide up a text and make it easier to understand. We have been able to write our own subheadings based on an existing text.
In History we have been learning about jobs in mediaeval castles. We have learned that castles needed lots of people doing lots of different jobs to keep them running smoothly. We thought about what it might be like to be a cook or a blacksmith, and how that would be different to being a lord or lady.
In Science we have been looking at Charles Mackintosh and how his invention of the waterproof coat helps to keep us dry when it rains!
This week in Year 3, we have been busy drafting our Bewilderwood story retells, putting into practice the writing skills we have developed, including using direct speech and powerful verbs. It has been wonderful to see the children growing in confidence as they create some fantastic pieces of writing.
In Maths, we have started our new unit on addition and subtraction, building on our knowledge of number bonds within 10 and applying this understanding to multiples of 10 up to 100, for example, 3 + 2 = 5 and 30 + 20 = 50.
In Science, we explored the process of pollination and identified the main parts of a flower. As part of our learning linked to World Mental Health Day, we discussed the importance of kindness and how our actions can positively affect the wellbeing of others. In Computing, we continued developing our understanding of branching databases.
Another fantastic week of learning in Year 3, with some particularly lovely story retells taking shape!
Congratulations to Singapore Class, who won last week’s TTRockstars battle against KS2! A special well done also goes to Seoul Class, who came in second. In English, we are putting all of our research and writing skills to use as we now create our end piece of writing: our own non-chronological reports. The children have been gathering information, organising their ideas and thinking carefully about how to present facts clearly for the reader. We are looking forward to seeing the finished reports. As part of being a Catholic school, and linked to our Catholic Social Teaching focus of stewardship, we are now putting our knowledge into action. Year 4 are creating an assembly that they will share with the whole of KS2. The children are working together to develop their ideas and prepare a meaningful presentation about how we can care for our world and take responsibility for our shared home
This week, Year 5 have been busy developing their learning across the curriculum. In Maths, we have been concentrating on solving multi-step calculations, choosing the correct operations and working carefully through problems. In RE, we have been exploring virtues and vices, thinking about how we can apply positive virtues in our everyday lives. In English, we are continuing to develop our descriptive writing, using prepositions of place, time and manner to add detail and bring our writing to life. In History, we have been adding more significant events and information to our space travel timeline. In PSHE, we marked World Mental Health Day by focusing on the importance of receiving kindness and positive words, and recognising how these can help us feel valued and supported.
It has been a slightly different week in Year 6 as the children have experienced their first taste of what SATs week will look and feel like! We have been incredibly proud of their positive attitudes, resilience and determination throughout our mock SATs. We want to reassure both children and parents that there is absolutely nothing to worry about – these assessments are simply a valuable opportunity to practise, build confidence and help us identify the next steps in our learning. In RE, we have been exploring Laudato Si', Pope Francis' important message about caring for our common home, and reflecting on the responsibility we all share to protect God's creation. We have also enjoyed getting creative in Art, producing striking Blitz silhouette artwork using chalk, bringing our World War Two learning to life. Well done to all the children for their hard work this week – they should be very proud of themselves!