All Saints

In our All Saints reading this week, we returned to the text of the beatitudes - sometimes used as the blueprint for pinning down what "Gospel Values" actually are. This year, we take the theme of happiness as our focus. Scientists tell us that smiling is really important - when our brains are happy, we smile. When we smile, we help our brains to feel happy! It's a beautiful, perpetual cycle.

One of the big challenges of our modern world is the degree to which we make our lives very comfortable and convenient. We are not so used to hardship as our ancestors were and we can find it difficult when situations are outside of our control. A beautifully supportive message we can take from the beatitudes is that the way we respond to challenges in our lives always remains within our control - we can face difficulties with a smile. Finding opportunities to be happy and grateful, in all the challenges life throws at us, is a great way of pointing others to Christ.

All Saints 2023

Fireworks in Nursery

This week in nursery we have been celebrating Bonfire Night! The children have celebrated this through many different activities such as making firework pictures on black card using paint, chalk and sand. We also listened to various sounds and spoke about what we could hear. The children used the dark tent and lights to make their own firework displays. As an extra treat, everyone got the opportunity to make their own edible sparkler using breadsticks chocolate/ icing sugar and sprinkles.

Batten down the hatches!

Storm Ciarán did not stop Reception from exploring the outside! The children have been enjoying transporting water in many different ways. Bottles, scoops, ramps, buckets, wheelbarrows.... All this transporting is excellent for our gross motor skills. Developing coordination in big ways will eventually help our fine motor skills for writing... watch this space!

Grandpa Mouse

You wouldn't believe what Year 1 have discovered this week! A very small, and very cheeky mouse has been visiting our classrooms and leaving us letters.

Great Grandpa Mouse has been telling us all about the toys that he played with when he was a child, and we have been busy writing replies to these.

Then, we found out he has been sneaking around the school, too! Great Grandpa Mouse has been reading on the Infant Field, eating cake in the staffroom and even sitting on Mr Collins' desk! Take a look at our wonderful writing to see more about what Great Grandpa Mouse has been up to...

A world of pure imagination...

This week the children were amazed to return to school to see that the classrooms had been transformed into rooms from none other than Mr Wonka's chocolate factory! It was a great opportunity to hook the children in for their writing. They had the opportunity to visit different rooms and collect vocabulary about what they saw in there. We had magical pipes, hardworking squirrels, fizzing potions, melted chocolate river and many more! The children used their findings to assist in their descriptive work later in the week.

Stone Age Detectives

This week, Year 3 have been finding out more about life in the Stone Age. The children became history detectives with the opportunity for some hands-on learning with the aid of a very special box of Stone Age artefacts. Much discussion ensued, as they examined a range of objects, including small flint scrapers, a heavy hammer stone, an animal skin and even a large axe! The children had great fun working out what they might have been used for and the part they would have played in Stone Age life.

Living in the light

Year 4 have ended their unit about Being Called this week with a beautiful lesson, reflecting on how we can live in the light. This follows a unit learning about the Sacrament of Confirmation, a challenging topic for children who may not start thinking about this Sacrament for another 5 or 6 years! It was wonderful to see the way the children were able to make links between the Sacraments of Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation, many drawing from personal experiences.

We have seen some powerful responses to this week's learning, when the children thought about how we can live in the light, looking at inspirational figures who can teach us to do this. We also discussed what could happen if you turn away from the light, and how the Holy Spirit can help us in these moments.

Next week, we will be learning about Judaism, before looking further ahead to our Advent unit at the end of the year.

In the know about numbers...

This week in Year 5 the children have been working extremely hard to build their understanding of prime, composite and square numbers. From the sieve of Eratosthenes, to mazes and arrays, the children have showcased some great mathematical knowledge!

A Rainbow of Emotions

This week Year 6 completed a wonderful Art unit on colour, drawing upon their sketching skills and use of colour to express emotions. We started the week by building on skills from previous years and how to draw facial features and then completed a half portrait of ourselves. We had to take great care with detail and shading and created some incredibly effective outcomes. We then thought about how colour can be used to reflect emotions, perhaps a yellow for excitement and red for frustration. We looked at a range of artists' work and how they used colour in that way. We then applied these skills and knowledge to our final piece creating a portrait of a person we admire, using colour to express this. Year 6 produced some truly astonishing work, we have some budding artists among us!

Project Committee

A team of eager Year 6s, who have joined together to form our Project Committee, are busy building up a head of steam as their ideas and endeavours begin to take shape. The aim of this group of motivated and selfless individuals is to run projects which benefit the school and inspire younger pupils. Projects range from running clubs to helping with homework and from offering exciting curriculum-based presentations to fundraising activities.

This half term has got off to a flying start with a fundraising bake sale after school on Wednesday and a lunchtime homework support session for some excited and very grateful year 4 children!

November’s ‘Right of the Month’ is:

Article 38 - You have a right to protection in times of war. If you are under 15, you should never have to be in an army or take part in a battle.

During this month we celebrate Remembrance Day on the 11th November.

This day commemorates the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany at 11 am on 11 November 1918 – the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

What can you do at home?

You may like to have a discussion about countries where children are affected by war such as Ukraine and Iraq. How do you think war affects children? What could we do to help?

You may like to try a painting of some poppies.