2 months ago Posted on 21st Nov 2025 by Katie Bingham Creative Christianity – Enrichment Friday During the first Creative Christianity session we looked at Christmas in Mexico. We learnt that they decorate with nativity scenes and pinatas. For nine days they celebrate Las Posadas that symbolises Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter. Families go from house to house singing carols and asking for lodging, often ending with a party. However, the main focus of our session was the poinsettia flower known as ‘nochebuena’ (Christmas Eve) flowers in Mexico. They flower in Southern Mexico during the winter. They are significant in Mexico around Christmas as a young girl, who was poor, wanted to gift Jesus at Christmas. She had nothing to give so she picked some green plants from the roadside and took them to the church. When she put them by the altar, the plants turned into beautiful red flowers! These flowers are called poinsettias, and now they are a special Christmas flower in Mexico.
2 months ago Posted on 07th Nov 2025 by Katie Bingham Enrichment Friday – UK Ukraine Partnership Today the UK Ukraine enrichment group created posters about St Mary’s. We discussed everything that makes our school so great: attendance monopoly, student roles, values, subjects and the whole school community. Once we have finished the posters we are going to send them to our friends in Poltava.
3 months ago Posted on 24th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Enrichment – UK Ukraine Partnership Today we had a video call with our partnership school. This call allowed the children to response to each others letters. It sparked lots of conversation between all the pupils and enabled them to learn more about each other. This included their shared interest in playing Roblox. They even got to share their usernames with each other.
3 months ago Posted on 24th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Science – Dissection of hearts and lungs Today Year 5 and 6 pupils took part in an unforgettable hands-on science lesson, dissecting real hearts and lungs to explore the inner workings of the human body. With gloves on and curiosity sparked, the children examined the organs up close, identifying key features such as the heart’s chambers, valves, and thick muscular walls, as well as the lungs’ spongy texture and branching bronchi. When they dissected the hearts, they were able to see the chambers of the heart, identifying the aorta and putting their fingers through to each ventricle. After dissecting the heart, they explored a lung and used a pump to pump air into the lungs, seeing them expand.
3 months ago Posted on 22nd Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham NSPCC Speak out Stay Safe Today years 2,5 and 6 took part in a workshop with the NSPCC to learn more about their speak out stay safe programme. The workshop was tailored to the ages of the children. The programme aims to equip a generation of children with the knowledge they need to stay safe from abuse and neglect.
3 months ago Posted on 17th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Arthog Day 5 To end our unforgettable experience at Arthog, all groups enjoyed a morning on the beach. They collected plastic, created a piece of beach art and then played in the sand. Everyone is now enjoying their lunch before the journey home.
3 months ago Posted on 16th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Arthog Day 4 Today was an unforgettable day as all three groups came together to raft build. They worked in their individual groups to build their raft, working together as a team to ensure the knots were tight and tied correctly and to ensure the raft was sturdy enough to hold everyone. Once all rafts had been built, it was time to race across the water. To end the session, children got to splash through the water or relax on the banks. Each group spent the morning hill walking. Mrs SJ’s group enjoyed a toasted marshmallow before they travelled to the lakes. Here they explored the nature that lives around the lake and learnt about the surrounding local area. Miss Longland’s group got to climb one of Arthog’s smaller mountains where they explored the different rock types. Mr Matthew’s group walked through the forest area near the estuary. They completed a treasure hunt as they explored, ending with a hot chocolate and biscuit. Tonight, the children have visited the Arthog shop, took part in Mr Matthew’s music quiz and relaxed with a film before bed.
3 months ago Posted on 15th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Arthog Day 3 Today has been a packed day of rocking climbing and rock scrambling for Mrs SJ’s and Miss Longland’s groups. They travelled over to Barmouth in the morning to begin their day of climbing. They spent the day scrambling around the lower levels of the mountain. After building their confidence, they climbed higher up to rock climb the taller slopes. They enjoyed working as a team to ensure everyone reached the top, ending the day at the top of the mountain taking in the beautiful views of Barmouth and Fairbourne. Today was Mr Matthew’s groups turn to experience the gorge walk and canoeing. They enjoyed climbing up the gorge through the gushing water and sliding down the natural water slide. They canoed around one of the local lakes, working together as a team to manoeuvre their canoe in different directions. Tonight, all three groups completed orienteering around the centre. They worked in pairs, using a map, to find specific check points to complete their orienteering card. After this, the children enjoyed a hot chocolate and board games before bed.
3 months ago Posted on 14th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Arthog Day 2 What an amazing first day we have had! Mrs SJ’s and Miss Longland’s groups tackled the gorge walk and canoeing down the estuary today. They had a fabulous exploring the rock pools before climbing up towards the natural water slide. This was everyone’s favourite part of the day. The children worked in teams to canoe down the estuary, this required collaboration and team work to ensure the canoe was steered successfully. Mrs SJ’s group even got to stop and on the bank and enjoy a hot chocolate and biscuit in the Welsh sunshine. Mr Matthew’s group tackled the hill walk and rock climbing today. They enjoyed the gorgeous views and conquering some of their fears. They worked incredible well as a team to support each other during the climb and even managed to get Mr Matthew’s to the top. This evening all groups completed the night walk along the beach front. This was a enjoyable way to reflect on their days together. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
3 months ago Posted on 13th Oct 2025 by Katie Bingham Arthog – Day 1 What an exciting start to the week! The journey was smooth and everyone was enjoying the beautiful views as we arrived in Wales. All groups completed team building tasks after their lunch. These involved working as a team to complete different obstacle tasks. They had to collaborate with each other to share strategies, show resilience to be successful and patience. Then, all groups visited the beach to explore the sand dunes and paddle in the sea. After dinner, children took part in a night line activity, having to guide each other through an obstacle course in the dark. This was a lot of fun and the children laughed the whole way round. Before bed, they enjoyed a hot chocolate and biscuit in their pyjamas.