A - Epiphany

Powerful Presents

Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I pray you and your family enjoyed a blessed Christmas holiday.

We have been thinking about today’s celebration of the Epiphany of the Lord in worship this week. Just as the wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - all with significant meanings - we too have the power to make presents meaningful.

The children were full of excitement about the treasures they received this Christmas. I have challenged them this week to make their presents powerful by using them to make our world a better place: a musical instrument can brighten up the lives of others, a game can bring the family together, a chocolate treat can be shared around. Let’s offer our gifts to Jesus this week by the way we use the treasures we have been blessed with.

Music to our ears...

In Year 6's music lessons this week we had our first experience of using keyboards. There was plenty of fun to be had as we explored the keys, learnt how to identify the location of the notes, discovered how to play a scale and learnt the difference between the black notes and the white notes. We built on our improvisation skills using two new pieces, Bacharach Anorak and Meet The Blues, and our day culminated in the composition of our very own 12 bar blues! With opportunities to perform throughout the day, we really honed all of our musical skills.

Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty

This new year has seen Year 2 start a new book in English 'The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty'. We kickstarted the topic with an experience lesson, where we read the lovely story about a girl who tries desperately hard to find her mother a present that she will love. We spoke about how handmade gifts are a very personal touch and mean so much to somebody. They children then made cards and chocolate cornflake cakes for someone they care about, to show them how much they mean to them. This topic is going to lend us some exciting writing opportunities where the children will be introduced to some new suffixes, conjunctions and descriptive language!

Feelings

Nursery have been looking at feelings and emotions and how we identify and manage them. We have used the beautiful picture book ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas to help us explore this. We have discussed what we could do if we were feeling sad, angry or scared.

We have enjoyed different activities linked to the Colour Monster, including: making Colour Monsters, making feelings jars with collage and making a papier-mâché Colour Monster. The children have also explored sorting items into the correct colour feelings jars, and making playdough feelings faces.

Taste of Success!

Year 4 enjoyed being introduced to their new English topic, Feast, a short Disney animation by trying a range of healthy and not so healthy food. After analysing and mind-mapping adjectives to describe the smell, texture and appearance, they then got to taste the food. They enjoyed tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, crisps, Greek yogurt, flavoured yogurt and Maltesers. Surprisingly, many children liked trying the spring onion! We are looking forward to using the adjectives in our writing over the next few weeks.

Indoors PE

Year 3 had to brave a PE lesson in the rain this week. Unfortunately, it was so wet that we couldn't venture outside, so we made the most of our wonderful indoor spaces to continue with our Gymnastics, Dance and a slightly different OAA (Outdoor(!) & Adventurous Activities) lesson.

Whilst Gymnastics and Dance could continue as usual, OAA had a strong focus on the teamwork element, as the children worked in groups in an attempt to build the tallest tower from just 13 pieces of sugar paper. We were astounded at the creativity and ingenuity of the children, who were able to work together to construct some incredible designs.

What will I be when I am older .mov

When I grow up...

This week in Reception we have started our new topic 'People Who Help Us'. On Tuesday children came to school dressed up and what they would like to be when they grow up. It was so wonderful seeing the children dress up in different roles and jobs. We had bakers, artists, teachers, doctors, F1 drivers, jewellery makers...

The children spoke to their class about their chosen job and why they wanted to do it. Lots of children wanted to be teachers because 'they get it tell people what to do!'

To infinity and beyond!

This week in Year 5 we have been so impressed with the solar systems created by the children. Not only has their knowledge been showcased fabulously but the classrooms are also looking out of this world!

January’s ‘Right of the Month’ is:

Article 14: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

During this month, many celebrate World Religion Day on the 15th January. This is a day to recognise, respect and accept the hundreds of differing faiths across the globe.

We are so lucky to have a common faith that binds us together at St Joseph’s. However, we recognise that we are a diverse global community, and we welcome and celebrate our differences.This month, you could research a different religion and share it with your friends or teacher.

The ‘Wellness Warrior Challenge’ is:

Every year I am sure you set yourself a new year’s resolution. Why not take up a new sport or try to go for a walk every single day.

Responsible Role Models

Congratulations to this week's Witness Award winners who have demonstrated such maturity and responsibility in their work and behaviour this week. They have responded to God's call in their lives: Elizabeth, Benhail, Ollie, Josiah, Manasha, Martin, Dylan, Ixia and Zofia.

Winter Wonderland

With the cold weather returning, Year 1 have dived into Winter Week this week with the text 'The Snowy Day' by Ezra Jack Keats. It's surprising to note that many of the children haven't had many experiences with snow, so we created an 'Ice Cave' for them to explore on Tuesday, filled with pretend snowballs for a snowball fight and howling sounds for an imaginary blizzard. From this, we began to collect vocabulary to describe a winter cave, using our five senses. This experience day will provide children with replica experiences that they need to create some wonderful winter writing.

Responsible 6S

Our thanks to St Stephen's Class for leading a fantastic worship this morning. We heard all about the myriad of responsibilities the children have at home, from loading dishwashers and folding clothes to feeding pets and hoovering the house. The class went on to explain that we can be "called" to even greater responsibility in our work and family lives and that there are models of responsibility we can look up to, like Saint Joseph himself.

Thank you 6S for inspiring us to relish these responsibilities.

Congratulations Jake!

Jake in year 4 has been chosen to represent England in the Dance World Cup Finals in Portugal this year. The squad are trying to seek sponsorship and raise money to help with the running and entry fees as everything mounts up. There is potential for advertising for your business so if anyone is interested please email Jake’s mum Kerry on advkerry@hotmail.com and see more details below...

Street Vibes Sponsorship Letter v3.pdf

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