On Tuesday 23rd September, Year 5 walked to St Albans Cathedral for a Viking and Saxon workshop and history was brought to life for us. No sooner had we sat down in the Cathedral a burly Viking named Bone Crusher came bursting in banging his axe against his shield. Bone Crusher and his assistant then spent time with the class in two groups showing the children through role play, artefacts and replicas about what life was like in Viking and Saxon time. Did you know St Albans at the time of the Vikings was part of the Kingdom of Mercia?
The children learned about how the Abbey’s monastery and a nearby convent were set up during the Saxon times. They also learned about the crimes and punishments of that time- both Viking and Saxon who were for a time living side by side. I think it’s safe to say, we prefer how society is conducted today!
It was a great trip, which the children wrote about once they got back to school.
The Year Two children came back to school with great enthusiasm and it has been lovely to get to know them better. The children have all worked hard, reflecting on our Mercy tradition and the values that shape our time together at school, as we all return to school ready To learn, To love, To live, as a community of God, with Christ as our teacher.
Our ‘meet the teacher’ meeting is on Wednesday 10th September, this week. I look forward to welcoming you to our classroom and sharing with you some of the highlights of the year ahead. Please feel free to join Mrs Porter in the hall for a quick cup of tea or coffee ahead of the meeting, which will start at 9 o’clock.
We all had a lovely last day today. The children did some lovely accurate sketches of the History resources we have. They took their Art books home today so you can see them.
We said a very special good-bye to Aoife and wish her all the very best in her new home. We hope she comes back to see us too!
The children enjoyed an end-of-year treat ice cream.
(I have some photos to upload but apparently the storage limit has been reached! I will try and overcome this technical problem later.)
Thank you for all your support this year. I have really enjoyed the time with your wonderful children, who have all learnt and progressed in more ways than learning facts, which is just a tiny part of learning. Wishing you all a very safe, happy – and hopefully sunny! – summer holiday, wherever you are and whatever you do.
On a lovely sunny, fresh Tuesday morning year 4 set off on the ten minutes walk to St Stephen’s Church of England Church. As has happened before, two lovely Mums appeared at the school to accompany us. Priest Charlie met us at the church and answered all the questions the children had through of and also told us some fascinating stories about the baptismal font and eagle lectern in the church. The children were very respectful and impressed the priest with their religious understanding. They also wrote thoughtful thank you notes with fantastic illustrations.
On Thursday morning the Nursery children spent the morning with Mrs Solakova who read them stories, played games and helped them to find activities and resources around the classroom. They all told me they had a lovely morning.
Apologies, I am unable to upload photos for some reason. I will keep trying.
Important Dates
Tuesday 15th July – Teddy Bears Picnic – Please bring in a teddy bear/soft toy for our picnic
Friday 18th July – Reading Morning
Tuesday 22nd July – Last day of term – school finishes 11:45/13:30.
This year has seen a revamp of the infant prayer garden. Last autumn, overgrown grasses were removed and replaced with perennials that are now ready to flower. The children have planted up shade loving ferns to surround our statue of Mary and decorated the area with beautiful butterfly prayer cards that reflect their study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he talks about the fruits of the Spirit. The prayer garden is a wonderful place to take time out from a busy day, sit and spend time with God.
This week we have enjoyed the sunshine and have been paddling in the trays of water. We continued our work on ‘The Fox and the Star’ and have been creating paper plate foxes and stars. On Wednesday afternoon Mrs Solakova took Nursery to the prayer garden to do some planting.
Reminders
Sun cream needs to be applied before coming to school. Sun cream can be kept at school and the children can top it up at lunch time. The children need to be able to apply and rub it in themselves.
All children need a named sun hat (school one please, can be purchased on arbor and collected from the office).
Important Dates
Friday 27th June – Reading Morning
Tuesday 1st July – EYFS Sports Day – 10:00 (1 hour approx) – Children will need to wear their white polo shirt, a pair of shorts and trainers.
This year, the prayer garden has received a much needed revamp. The year started with overgrown ornamental grassses being removed and replaced with tall perennials, which are just about the flower. The children have worked hard to make the area around our statue of Mary spiritually uplifting. They have planted shade loving ferns around her and created beautiful butterfly prayer cards that reflect their study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he writes about the fruits of the Spirit. The prayer garden is somewhere that the children love to visit to take a break from their busy day and spend time with God.
The Year 2 children all had a wonderful visit to Lee Valley Park. The weather was glorious and we were rewarded with lots of minibeasts in a range of habitats including walls, trees, grassland and a stream filled with coot, moorhen, Egyptian geese and mallard ducks. The children had many questions and the air was filled with excited voices as the children found so many interesting creatures. A fabulous time was had by all and we are very grateful for all of the parents who accompanied us on the trip as we could not have gone without you!
