Christ's Instructions

We took the theme of following instructions as this week’s focus, looking ahead to the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We are told how Jesus instructs Simon to put out his nets for a catch. Initially, Simon protests, explaining that he has been working hard all night and returned to shore empty handed. However, he soon relents, “But if you say so, I will do it.”

Of course, Simon is not disappointed by what happens next…His nets are soon full to the point of sinking his boat! He recognises Jesus as the Christ and commits to following him.

We have celebrated with our classes this week the surprising joy and satisfaction that can come from obediently following the demands placed upon us. If we can respond to Christ and others with this attitude of obedience, we are promised a life overflowing with blessings.

C - 5th Ordinary

Pop it in the Post

It's been a busy few weeks down in Reception with a police visit last week and today we went on a little trip to the post box!

We have been learning all about how postal workers help us send letters. To help us understand the process we wrote our own envelopes and added a stamp. We looked at who was on our stamp, and noticed that some stamps had a 1 on them and some had a 2. We investigated to find out that this means how fast it will get to the destination.

Finally we made a piece of artwork to go on our envelopes and walked to our local post box. We loved our journey and spotted other people who help us too, like the bus drivers and all the people who work in the local shops.

We wonder how long it will take the letters to arrive at our house!

Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do

Every Thursday afternoon, each Year 3 class takes part in a 30 minute singing session led by Fraser Ellson, Choral Director for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. The Schools Singing Programme supports the National Curriculum Music objectives and begins with a fun, energetic vocal warm up. The children then look at two or three songs a session, exploring pieces of sacred music such as hymns, psalms or carols. In every session, the children are fully engaged and eager to become Mr Ellson's Singing Superstar!

Rydes Hill Netball Tournament

On Saturday 25th January, some children attended a netball tournament at Rydes Hill, playing 6 other teams. All children improved with each match and although the weather was very cold, the children were enthusiastic and determined to play to the best of their ability. They represented the school wonderfully and showed real perseverance against some very challenging opponents!

Digital Literacy!

In Computing this half term, Year 1 have been learning the basic skills of digital writing. We reviewed our previous learning on using a trackpad and used this to help us with our new learning on creating a word document all about ourselves! The children put into practice the new skills of creating the document, naming it appropriately, writing a title, inserting a picture using the camera, writing sentences and inserting pictures from the web. Their perseverance with these new skills was extremely impressive and their support towards each other was beautiful to see. Some children even went home and created another document to continue practising their skills. Well done, Year 1!

Master Readers

The new reading scheme is working wonders in Year 5 as we focus each week on a different reading skill. Recently, we've turned our attention to summarising skills and have been working hard to increase our understanding of what makes a key point and how we identify the most important details to include in our summary. It was fantastic to see all the children working so productively together in groups, scouring the text and engaging in lively discussion together. Our book, 'Holes' by Louis Sachar, is proving to be a great stimulus.

Jubilee 2025

We have shared with the children this New Year the theme chosen by Pope Francis for Jubilee 2025 - Pilgrims of Hope. We explored how our faith journey can be seen as a lifelong opportunity to grow closer to God and each other. Linking this to our call to Catholic Social Teaching, we have explained to the children how we can work towards the common good by respecting and listening to each other and working together to support the most vulnerable people in our society this Jubilee year.

Pilgrims of Hope (C - 3rd Ordinary)

Golden Tickets!

This week in Year 2, we have started a new English unit about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We kickstarted the week with some drama activities. The children were assigned a character from the story and had to freeze-frame their reaction to finding a golden ticket. Can you work out who is who from the photos? This was a great way to lead us in to our writing of character descriptions, and then the children discussed ideas of a new child who came to the factory - what would they be like, who did they come with, what happened to them in the factory? We are looking forward to a few more weeks on this!

Inside Our Insides!

As part of their human body unit, Year 6 have been learning about the circulatory system, in particular, how and why blood is pumped around the body. To help aid their understanding of the different components of blood; the children were delighted to be told they would be making their own! Can you see what we used to show the different elements - red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma? A fantastic afternoon - keep up this fabulous work Year 6!

2A's Instructions

Our thanks to St Andrew's Class for leading a beautiful whole school worship this morning. The children explained with confidence why following instructions is important to keep us safe and help us to succeed. They described many examples of figures from the Bible who were asked to follow instructions, even when they seemed impossible or bizarre. And yet, without fail, every example led to a conclusion that was better for all involved because of someone's faithfulness to following instructions. We will be sure to take your advice 2A!

Obedient Witnesses

Congratulations to this host of obedient witnesses, all of whom have made our school a better place this week by their readiness to follow instructions as soon as they have been asked. We celebrated together how our community works best when we are ready and willing to obey the rules and instructions that adults provide. Fantastic work children!

Olympic Aspirations

This week, in our PE lessons, we have been learning how to develop control in performing and landing jumps in Gymnastics. We learned that we should bend our knees when landing and land in a position with our arms straight ahead, and look forward to help maintain our balance. We practised a quarter turn, half turn and a full turn on mats, benches and agility tables and then thought about how we could link our jumps to our previous learning of balances and using both jumps and balances within a sequence. Los Angeles Olympics 2028 might have some future stars to contend with!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Last week saw the Nursery children learning about the Luna New Year story and how the animals crossed the river to gain a year named after them.
The children have really enjoyed exploring some Chinese role play foods as well as having the opportunity to taste some real noodles, rice and prawn crackers. We have also been dressing up in some traditional clothes and making a class dragon head to help us with our dragon dance.

Throughout the activities on offer, the children have been busy developing those important muscles in their hands and fingers which help to support their fine motor skills. We have done this by mark making with chopsticks in coloured sand, using scissors to make our slinky snakes and making a Chinese lantern.

This was a lovely festival to celebrate with the children and supports their learning about how other cultures may have different celebrations to the ones we celebrate.