Humble King
We looked ahead this week to Palm Sunday - the start of Holy Week. We heard how Jesus rides triumphantly into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey. Crowds shout, wave palm branches and sing, "Hosannah - your king is coming!"
We learn that Jesus' kingship is one of humility and gentleness. Despite not being royalty ourselves, it is easy to see that we too have power and authority. Whoever we are and whatever role we play in the life of the school, our words and actions have the power to affect and influence others.
We have encouraged the children to use their powerful words and actions this week to serve the community with gentle kindness.
Nursery News
This week in Nursery we have celebrated and learnt about Saint Joseph and his work. The children recognised that our Nursery was called St. Joseph’s and we discussed where he is celebrated around the world. Nursery also held a lent book sale on Thursday in aid of CAFOD.
This week has also been full of Easter activities. As well as making a traditional Easter card, the children made patterns on paper egg templates and played in the Easter sensory tray. This will continue next week as we will be singing some Easter songs and a big highlight of the nursery year, learning about the Easter story and acting out the last supper.
The children were very lucky on Wednesday to have Scarlett, the school therapy dog come in to show us some of her tricks.
The Write Stuff!
After a very rainy term, the children were excited by the dry weather this week. It was wonderful to see the children exploring using the whiteboards outside and even writing some wonderful captions and phrases. Our topic 'Once Upon a Time' has led us to lots of story language and now some writing! Look at the fantastic castles and dragons being drawn. We can't wait to continue this writing bug next term too!
Blue Sky History
Last week, linking with our learning on the history of flight, Year 1 visited the FAST Museum in Farnborough. We were lucky enough to see a replica of the Cody Flyer (the real one broke as it had no brakes!), experience an air raid shelter, sit in the pilot's seat of a helicopter and make and fly our own paper aeroplanes! The children were a fountain of historical knowledge on their return to school.
Penalty Shootout
Congratulations to the Year 5 and 6 football team, who performed spectacularly at this week's Guildford schools' football tournament, securing 2nd place overall after a nail-biting penalty shootout!
Beside the seaside, beside the sea...
This week Year 2 ventured down to Southsea in Portsmouth to visit the aquarium and see some of the human and physical features of the city that we have been learning about. When we arrived we found the coastal path was closed due to essential maintenance works. The water level has risen so much in recent months that it is breaking the banks so large rocks have been relocated to help with drainage. It was fascinating to see how even physical features need human intervention. We enjoyed a talk about sealife and a walk around the aquarium before playing on the beach and enjoying a refreshing ice cream. The weather stayed sunny all day!
Lenten Reflections
In Year 3, we have started our next topic: giving all. We started by looking at the three pillars of Lent - praying, fasting and giving - and linked them to the Lenten scripture, when Jesus was in the wilderness and was being tempted. Following on from this, we discussed how the three pillars of Lent were still relevant to our lives and wrote down what we could do to live them out. Here are some examples of our work...
Netball Know-how
Congratulations to the Year 5 netball team, competing in a local tournament and narrowly missing out on overall first place in a close call 2-1 final. Fantastic result!
Bakery Lessons
Year 4 has been enjoying learning about a balanced diet and how our meal plate should contain items from each type of food group. Our focus has been the carbohydrate food group, in particular, bread and how it is made using wheat grains. We learnt how different breads contain different parts of the wheat grain and that wholemeal bread contains all three parts of the grain which means it is the healthiest and most nutritious.
The children then tasted five different types of bread and evaluated their taste, smell, appearance and texture. Fruit bread was the clear winner! In pairs, the children then made a sweet or savoury bread and personalised their bake with additional ingredients. We had some delicious cheese, onion and thyme rolls and raisins, honey and cinnamon! The children were able to taste test their bread, evaluate what went well and what they would change before taking some rolls home to share and enjoy with their families.
A very successful D.T. week had by all in Year 4!
Awesome Olivia
Thank you to Olivia, who raised £121 for the Little Princess Trust this week. She had a whopping 15" taken off her hair, which will be used to create a wig for a child in need. See these amazing before and after photos, together with her hair donations!
You can donate to Olivia's fundraising cause here:
Spectacular Art!
Have you ever wondered who designs the costumes for football mascots or how Pudsey's (from Children in Need) costume is made? We were lucky enough to have character costume designer - Nichola Joseph - come into school and work with a selection of our most creative children. Nichola led a session where she spoke to the children about her job, what this entails and shared work from her portfolio. She also spoke about her most recent project - designing and creating the Pudsey head for the Children in Need costume. The children then looked at more designs and then had a go at designing either their own character costume or their own version of Pudsey.
Catalina in Reception made a cheeky Pudsey poking out its tongue and Fleix gave his a jet pack and boots! In Year 2, Jake created a hybrid frog-bear and Helena created a beautiful polkadot fairy bear. Harry in Year 2 had a real eye for detail and took immense care over his bear. The imagination ran wild in Year 6 and, inspired by Nichola's designs, they created werewolves and dragons with Florence designing the most impressive lynx character. A HUGE thank you to Nichola (who is a parent at the school) for giving up her time to share her passion, the children were inspired!
Be Hockey Ready!
On Monday 18th March, The Year 5 and 6 Hockey Club played in a fast-paced tournament against local schools at Charterhouse - What an experience!
All three teams played exceptionally well, playing up to six matches back-to-back; their teamwork, stamina and spirit were highly commendable!
One of our teams made it to the tense final and came second overall in the whole tournament - CONGRATULATIONS!
We are very grateful to the awesome Mrs Helen Currie and Mrs Caroline Peedell who voluntarily coach the team every week and were there to expertly guide and support the teams at the tournament too.
Our thanks also go to Charterhouse for hosting us and Guildford Hockey Club for organising the event.
Well done to all our hockey players who were definitely 'Hockey Ready'!
Happy Easter from Sign Language Club!
Easter signs .movCelebrating Life
This week, Year 6 have received their relationships & sex education. As part of this topic we talk about the gift of new life and how this is created through the ultimate act of giving. We look at the incredible journey of a fetus and how they develop into a beautiful baby. We take time to reflect on their own memories as a young child, either from what they remember or fond anecdotes their family recall, such as Poppy in 6J calling magazines 'zagazines' (adorable!). Each child is asked to bring in a baby photo which we display and have great fun matching to their owner. Take a look at some of these gorgeous photos and see if you can tell which of our Year 6 children they are? Don't be fooled by the red-herrings - the children noticed the 'old-fashioned' photographs straight away!
What's on locally?
Family Learning Flyer.pdfHockey 2024.pdfWSVCC Junior Cricket A5 Portrait.pdfEaster Trail Poster - Sime.pdf