Author: Mr Hayes

It was great to see so many dressing up and taking part in this year’s World Book Day.

We joined with Year 2 to read together and share poems.

We are now in the church season of Lent. For Christians, Lent is a time of solemn reflection as we seek the Lord in prayer; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We joined the wider church family at Mass on Wednesday for the imposition of the ashes: a sign of our penance and a reminder of our own mortality.

Back in school, we reflected on how we can bring our lives closer to God during the season of Lent, ready to share in the joy of the promise of new life at Easter.

We made Lenten promises, remembering that we are called, not only to give up luxuries, but to make our lives better by following Christ more faithfully. We wrote our promises and sealed them in golden envelopes on our RE display.

Looking after ourselves is really important. It is also important to remember that we are surrounded by a network of people who are always looking out for us: our families, friends and adults at school.

This week, we have had a great time taking part in the Taskmaster Education Treasure Hunt. Each day we have completed different challenges and worked together to solve the clues: we’ve invented new games, created portraits from things found outside and fashioned inspirational hats.

We also took part in a carousel of activities working with our house teams: Mr Hayes taught us a morris dance. Everyone has good days and less-good days, but we learnt that there are lots of things we can do to make us feel good and that we are surrounded by people who we can talk to and ask for help.

We all enjoyed a great afternoon yesterday with Electric Umbrella – an organisation that creates amazing live music experiences with learning disabled people, and in doing so, helps to change the way the world looks at them – and others.

Through song and dance – and a record-breaking number of high-fives – we learnt the value of singing as if no-one is listening, dancing as if no-one is watching, give as if no-one is counting and laughing as if no-one is judging.

This Sunday is Racial Justice Sunday. Following an assembly led by our chaplaincy team, we shared and reflected upon Kwame Alexander’s poem, ‘The Undefeated’, a reminder that we all have the power to affect the change that we want to see in the world.

Year Six are back in to the swing of the new term, and what a busy term it promises to be.

It is good to see the children working every day to learn more and respond to the teaching and support we are able to give them in school.

In our Relationships and Health lessons this term, the children are looking forward to learning about themselves, their bodies and their health. We began by reminding ourselves that each one of us is creared and loved by God. Take a look at some of our self-portraits we drew as we thought about this.

In Art, we are learning about some of the significant artists of the Rennaisance. We have used images of Michelangelo’s David to inspire and develop our own sketching and drawing skills.

In RE, our theme for our first topic of this term is Sources. We are learning more about the Bible, but began by reflecting on how so many kinds of book enrich our lives.

Happy Christmas to you all!

Thank you so much for your kindness, Christmas wishes and gifts. It is very much appreciated. 

I hope that you and your families have a wonderful Christmas, fully of health and happiness. 

Enjoy your Christmas holidays, have a rest, be really helpful at home and read lots of good books. 

See you in 2023!

Mr Hayes

Our fantastic Eco-leaders were busy last week, planting a tree as part of our school’s contribution to The Queen’s Canopy.

We will look forward to seeing our sapling shoot in the spring and its growth in years to come, as it adds to the beauty of our school grounds and becomes a home for a wealth of life in the eco-system of our school grounds.