Hearing our prayer

We looked ahead to the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year A) this week, where we heard the dramatic account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus explains that he is speaking aloud for the benefit of the crowd when he says, "Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer." Faith really can move mountains! - Anything is possible for God.

Whilst there are traditional prayers in the life of the Church, our own prayer life is something completely flexible. We can all find our comfortable way to pray. We have supported children this week to consider the many different forms that prayer can take: singing, writing, drawing, standing, sitting, kneeling, indoors, outdoors, alone and with others. Prayer is a beautifully creative opportunity to talk to God and to "hear" his response in our lives.

A - 5th Lent

Watts On?

The Year 3 and 4 Creative Club were lucky enough to be invited to spend some time at Watts Gallery in Compton this week. We began the day by working on a collaborative piece "en plein air" (which we learned meant "outdoors") just as James and Mary Watts liked to work over 100 years ago. Using our senses, we drew directly from the nature around us and used a variety of different media to create a huge piece of artwork. As the weather turned against us, we headed indoors to view the studios where Henry and Mary worked, observing that they drew on their many travels and their love of nature to create a magnificent living space. After lunch, we settled into a modern, well-equipped art studio to create individual interpretations of frog habitats inspired by a paperweight which we had seen earlier in the day. The resident artist at Watts Gallery will turn our individual creations into a collage of a frog which will be displayed in the woodland at Watts Gallery on April 22nd, just in time to celebrate Earth Day. Each of us was given a special Golden Ticket so we can go back and view the finished artwork. We can't wait to see how it turns out!

Learning FAST

Linking with our History topic on the History of Flight, Year 1 had the exciting opportunity to visit the FAST Museum in Farnborough this week. We consolidated our learning about Samuel Cody and The Cody Flyer and got to see it in real life! Along with this, we also learned about the different parts of aeroplanes and the different directions in which they can fly.

We enjoyed going underground to an air raid shelter and learning about flight in WW1 and WW2. We also got to sit in the pilot's seat of a real helicopter, as well as be the passengers in the back! To finish off the trip, we were challenged with making our very own paper aeroplanes and flying them in a competition.

Using this experience, our History topic will now move into learning on another significant individual - Amy Johnson (the first female pilot to fly to Australia!)

Prayer Hands

This week, the butterfly class has been reflecting on their thank-you prayer.

Following on from British Sign Language (BSL) week, we have talked about the use of Makaton: symbols, signs, and speech, which supports communications skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall, and organisation of language and expression.

The following video shows the children demonstrating their prayer at afternoon snack.

VideoNursery.mov

Seize the Data!

This week Year 6 has been delving into data. We asked the children to collect discrete data of their choice from the class (some chose favourite food, favourite subject - they decided their research question). Once the information was collated, the children had to visually represent this data as a bar chart, pictograph and bar graph. They then had to explain which was the most effective way to represent their data and explain the reasoning behind the scale they had used (based on their data range).

Balancing Act

In PE this half-term, Year 3 have been working on their gymnastic skills. The children have practised balancing on different points, jumps, and rolls and then put them together in a sequence, working on a clear start and finish. After commenting constructively on each other's sequence, the children were asked to refine their sequence. In this week's lesson, the children were given a hoop to incorporate into their sequence. We had some wonderfully creative ideas.

Pants at the allotment!

Reception children have been visiting the allotment to look at how things grow and where some of our food comes from. This week, the children planted something a little odd.

The Country Trust is asking families, schools and nurseries across the UK to bury a pair of cotton pants for a few months and together, explore the world beneath our feet. Burying pants is a technique that’s been used by scientists the world over to engage people in the science of soil health. The healthier the soil, the more disintegrated the cotton pants will be once they are dug up. It’s a way that children can discover life, both visible and invisible, in any patch of earth - from planters to parks, gardens, schools and farms.

We can't wait to dig up our pants in the summer to find out how good our soil is.

Guildford to Portsmouth

This week Year 2 enjoyed a trip to Portsmouth as part of their comparison study in Geography. The children spent time on the beach collecting different shells and stones and then we had a tour and talk in the aquarium. It was interesting to see how Portsmouth compares to our local town of Guildford.

Finishing off with a delicious ice cream, the children returned happy and tired. And the best bit - we missed the rain!

Funds for Cafod

To raise money for our Lenten charity, Cafod, Year 3 and 4 children donated a vast quantity of their pre-loved books. This enabled us to have two successful book sales, raising a grand total of £145. Thank you to everyone who helped at the book sale and to those who purchased a new book. We hope you are enjoying reading them.

Our Father

Year 4 celebrated St Joseph's Day last Friday by using their creative skills to build a beautiful art piece by each developing their own mosaic and then putting the pieces together to form the picture of Jesus looking up to his father, Joseph. As our school hymn reminds us, "Father to us all."

Muffins for sale!

This week the children in Year 5 have been designing, baking and evaluating muffins. At the start of the week, they were given the brief to create a savoury muffin for people to enjoy during Lent as many give up sweet treats. The children researched flavour combinations and taste tested some muffins made by the wonderful Year 5 team (thank you Miss Basham, Miss Hall and Mrs M). Next up was looking at the seasonality of the vegetables available to us and what famous chefs have said about seasonality. Each class had the chance to make and create their own muffins and hone in on their knife and cutting skills, measuring and mixing skills. It has to be said that there were some wonderful and original creations over the three classes and all combinations were received well by the children. The final result of the week was a bake sale for each class selling the muffins to raise money for the School’s Lantern charity - CAFOD. We would like to thank everyone for their generosity.

Prayers with 1H

Our thanks to St Helena's Class for a beautiful worship, helping to demonstrate the power of a prayerful life. The children explained that Jesus prayed and that he also taught his followers how to pray - he gave them the words of the "Our Father". 1H helped us to understand that there are so many different ways we can pray - speaking and listening to God to grow closer to him. Thank you 1H for inspiring us to pray more!

The Power of Prayer

Congratulations to our prayerful witnesses this week, all of whom have made a difference to the life of the school through their commitment to facilitating prayer in their classrooms:

Agatha
Leila
Esme
Grace
Norah
Zara

What's on locally?

Kids School Club Flyer.pdf

SYG prim.pdf

WSVCC Flyer 2023.pdf

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