Obedient to Christ
In Gospel worship this week, we encounter Jesus calling his first disciples. Crucially, he begins with an instruction, “Let out your nets for a catch.” The fishermen respond, “If you say so, I will do it.”
We have learned this week that the word ‘disciple’ shares the same root as the word ‘discipline’. To be a disciple is to be obedient to the teacher’s rule. Obedience is an essential element of learning to live a happy and healthy life, a life that practises self-control.
This week offers us the opportunity to revise the value of our school rules (we respect, we follow) as well as agreeing the importance of the rule of law as a fundamental British value: it's not just children who are called to be obedient!
A paper trail...
There was a crime in Reception! - Someone had stolen all the paper in each Reception classroom.
The children were great police detectives and found clues in their class. They found fingerprints on the door, bin and teacher's desk and they managed to match them to staff on the 'fingerprint database'. The classroom CCTV captured Miss Green poking her head around the door, Miss Baranowicz at the teacher's desk and Mrs Galvin looking into the recycling bin - which matched where we found the prints. The children watched 3 suspect videos and then they had to guess who had stolen our paper! A paper trail led us to Mrs Galvin's office, so she was our prime suspect.
Before lunch, a video appeared from Mrs Galvin confessing she had committed the crime. She said she wanted Reception to understand the importance of not wasting paper, and throwing it away if it had a little mark on it. This led us to learn about how paper is made!
Parts and Wholes
Year 4 launched into their fractions topic in maths this week. They began by examining the real life applications of parts and wholes all around us in the classroom. There are so many ways we can use fractions to represent the relationships that we see every day.
Learning to "see" part/whole relationships like this all around us help the children to understand that fractions are far from abstract; they are a very normal part of our daily experience.
The denominator represents the total number in the group - the whole.
The numerator represents the part you are focusing on.
Making an Impression
This week in Year 5, it has been the highly anticipated 'Art week'! The children have been studying form with an interest in sculptures. The week started by evaluating and appraising famous sculptures from around the world such as 'The Angel of the North' and 'Field' by Antony Gormley. After a recap session on clay techniques (such as rolling, pinching, pulling and smoothing), the children were given the task to create a sculpture to portray an abstract noun (SPAG lessons get everywhere!) With four original designs, prototypes were made using plasticine as part of the design process. Together with the process of peer assessment, these allowed the children to choose and annotate a final design to make and evaluate once dry.
Self-discipline
In Witness Worship this week, Mrs Portelli explored with us the many different scenarios in life (and from the Bible) where discipline and obedience have been valued - stories like Abraham's test to sacrifice is son Isaac. She shared with us the powerful life-story of Marcus Rashford, a young man from humble beginnings who, thanks to his commitment and self-discipline, has gone on to represent his country, champion disadvantaged children and inspire millions with his life-guide book: You Are A Champion. He explains how being obedient and disciplined in your thinking and behaviours can help you grow into the person you were born to be. His mum also confirms that he was a very well-behaved boy!
Netting a Catch
During their Class Worship this week, Year 4 took some time to make their own fishing net. They explored how the knots in the net could represents those tricky times in our own lives, when we have been called to obey and failed to respond.
However, children when on to reflect that when we work together we can support each other to make healthy, disciplined choices. It's great to see that Year 4 are ready to net a great catch this week, just like Simon Peter when he obediently responded to Jesus' call.
February’s ‘Right of the Month’ and ‘Wellness Warrior Challenge’ is:
Article 31: You have the right to play, relax and take part in a variety of activities.
During this month, many celebrate ‘Time to Talk’ day on the 6th February. Sitting down for a meal and talking with your family is really important as it allows you to discuss feelings and worries. Why don’t you try cooking a new recipe together and enjoy eating this as a family? Let us know what you cook! We would love to see some pictures too.
Alternatively, you may like to send in pictures/certificates or trophies of activities you like to take part in or your favourite toys at home.
Remember, Article 31- It brings you FUN!
Year 2 are finding their way...
Year 2 have been busy this week learning about aerial maps and creating their own maps of our school. We then found North using a compass, added this to our maps and tested them out to see how accurately we had drawn the school. Feedback from the children was that compasses really are a lot of fun and we should use them more often in our everyday lives!
Spreadsheet Party!
This week in Year 6 we have been learning about spreadsheets in Computing. We have been thinking about all the different reasons that spreadsheets are used and we have been amazed by the ways in which we can manipulate, calculate and formulate data using them!
We’ve learnt some really good skills and a few shortcuts and tricks along the way! We put all our new knowledge to good use creating and planning spreadsheet for a party in which we had to consider budget, costs and a variety of different party components.
Layers and layers
This week in Year 3's Geography topic the children revisited their understanding of the layers of the Earth and applied it practically making models using plasticine. They tried hard to replicate the layers and represent the different depths of each. They loved the big reveal when their models were cut open and they could see how successful they had been.
Models of Obedience
Congratulations to all these wonderful young people from across the school. Every single one of them has been recommended for a Witness Award for their commitment to this week's theme - obedience.
It is such a joy to be able to celebrate their contribution and share in their success! Well done and God bless you all.
Reception: Olivia
Year 1&2: Aria, Azaan, Alex, Josiah, Esma, Emma
Year 3&4: Joanna, Isabella, Reggie, Grace, Brianna, Finn, Ayla, Sarah, Jake, Sian, Sophia
Year 5&6: Lena, Arko, Thabo, Sami, Benny, Rebecca, Sylvie, Mikayla
Lessons in Obedience
Congratulations to 6A for their confident and inspiring assembly on the theme of obedience this morning.
It was an engaging reminder of the fact that obedience is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. From God's covenant with Abraham through to Jesus calling his disciples - obedience was asked of them all.
St Andrew's Class helped us to appreciate that the law of our land also binds us together in a common understanding of "the rules" that we live by. Even Goldilocks would have had a hard time justifying her behaviour in the eyes of the law!