Handwriting and Spelling Workshop

I would like to say thank you to all the parents who attended the recent spelling and handwriting workshop. A packed hall!. I hope you found it informative and gained insight into the high expectations and aspirations we have for all the children here at St Mary’s. This was a huge success and would like to hold another workshop in the near future focused on Mathematics. This will look at the importance of children having key mathematical facts ready to be retrieved from
long term memory to apply facts and methods to wider problem-solving.

Nursery Weekly Update

Hello everybody!

Thank you all for another amazing week in nursery.

The children are thoroughly enjoying our new topic ‘All aboard’. They have been using some phenomenal new vocabulary in their discussions and have even led their own enquiry this week! We looked deeper into how wheels rotate on vehicles, with some children suggesting that wheels are glued to the side of a vehicle and some children arguing that this was not the case, stating that the steering wheel or engine is responsible for them turning. This led to us learning more about wheels and axles and eventually creating junk model vehicles with moving parts.

On Tuesday, the children brought their bikes and scooters into school for us to experience some other types of road transport. The children had a wonderful time riding in the outdoor area. They learnt about the role of lollipop people and traffic officers and even took turns to regulate our roads!

We were also extremely fortunate to have had two special visits from some of our wonderful parents who were keen to provide the children with some real-life experiences of land transport vehicles. On Thursday the children were able to see a tractor up-close and were amazed to realise the sheer size of the vehicle, with several children commenting on how ginormous the wheels were and how high-up they felt! All children were given the opportunity to climb inside the cab to see some of the features and pretend to drive. On Friday, the children were again extremely lucky to have a lorry cab arrive at nursery. Again they each had the opportunity to climb inside and see what features were inside. The children asked some wonderful questions about the vehicle and were again amazed at the size! Thank you so much to both parents for providing the children with such amazing experiences.

Next week we are very much looking forward to visiting RAF Shawbury to see even more vehicles! I was extremely impressed with the children’s listening and attention skills this week whilst they were patiently waiting for their turn. They were all extremely ready, respectful and safe which I am sure will continue on Monday.

In maths, the children have been revisiting subitising. Again they have blown me away with their knowledge and skills, all confidently able to subitise to 2 and beyond. Some of the older children have been developing expert reasoning skills to subitise larger quantities of up to 6! Amazing work.

In the forest, the children have been using natural resources to create a road suitable for road transport vehicles.

Notices:

RAF visit – Monday. We will be leaving school around 9:10am and expect to return for 11:30am. Please ensure that children are dressed suitably with comfortable footwear, a warm coat (preferably with a hood) and cold weather clothing such as a hat, gloves and a scarf. 

PE – Tuesday and Thursday

Show and tell – Friday

Have a great weekend!

Many thanks,

Mrs Jones.

Class 10 Weekly Post

Class 10 have worked so hard this week during assessment week. They have shown excellent resilience and has been a good opportunity to settle some nerves about SATs. This week Class 10 were lucky enough to have Rackeem Reid from Bouncing Statistics come and deliver a Growth Mindset Workshop. This was an inspirational workshop that enabled the class to think about positive characteristics and how these enable us to learn and be successful. Also, helping some children approach each test paper this week with a more can-do attitude.

In Geography this week, Class 10 continued their work around European settlements. They focused on Madrid and explored the human and physical features of the capital city and explained the differences they could see, considering which settlements the features would be found in.

In PSHE this week, Class 10 explored “being normal” and what this means. This lesson allowed them to discuss that everyone has a different perception on what normal is, and that what seems normal for some children isn’t the case for other children.

Next week, Class 10 are going to be taking part in Bikeability. Remember to bring your bike and helmet to school on the days you are taking part. The groups should have been emailed home so you know when your bike is needed in school. On Monday 4th December, Class 10 will be going swimming for their year 6 swimming assessment. Please sign the consent slip and send it back to the school office as soon as possible if you haven’t done so already.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Miss Bingham

LKS2 Weekly update

Apologies for not posting an update last week, I have included the things we have been up to over the last 2 weeks. 

Pencil Clipart Images | Free Download | PNG Transparent Background - PngtreeIn writing, we have been learning about D-day, the day that marked the beginning of an operation in World War 2. The children used powerful and emotive vocabulary to write letters as if they were soldiers involved in the D-day landings.

Numbers clipart. Free download transparent .PNG | CreazillaIn Maths, we have begun using our knowledge of place value to add and subtract. We are learning the different methods we can use to add and subtract from given numbers (up to 100/1000). We have talked lots about what an ‘efficient’ method is and why we may choose one method rather than another. We are continuing to practice times tables and encourage the children to continue accessing times tables rock stars at home so that they can develop and apply their knowledge of times tables in all areas of our maths learning.

Biology Stock Illustrations – 710,453 Biology Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime In Science, we have just started our new topic of sound. We have been  thinking about how children or adults that have hearing difficulties communicate in ways other than speaking and listening and to demonstrate our understanding, we have learnt songs using British sign language which we hope you enjoyed in the Class 8’s assembly.

The Fastest Boy in the World : Laird, Elizabeth, Peter Bailey: Amazon.co.uk: BooksIn whole class reading, we have begun our new book ‘The fastest boy in the world’ written by famous author Elizabeth Laird. We are really enjoying the book so far and are looking forward to what we will find out next about how / if Solomon achieves  his dreams of becoming a running hero in Ethiopia.

Clip-on Poppy | Buy a Poppy | Poppy Shop UKTo mark Remembrance day, we went to church for a remembrance service delivered by the Year 5s. It was such a lovely service and we spent the morning reflecting, remembering and giving thanks to those who served.

We have also been busy with additional learning opportunities over the last two weeks such as an exciting and informative visit for the Year 3s from the Hodnet/Wellington fire department to learn about fire safety. The children (and staff) got to try on a helmet which very heavy and made it difficult to hear, they also practiced the ‘stop, drop and roll’ manoeuvre.

We also had a Picture News assembly that was about British values, we listened to ‘Pop n Olly’ who talked about how everyone should have a voice and be treated equally. We thought about the importance of being ready, respectful and safe in school and how when we follow the school rules, no one is discriminated against.

Thank you for the continued support.

Miss Taylor, Miss Hodson, Miss Wade and Mrs Cartwright.

 

LKS2 Weekly update

There have been lots of interesting and exciting things going on in Lower Key Stage 2 this week.

On Wednesday, we went to visit St Mary’s church. We have been to the church lots of times for school celebrations and events, but this time we spent the afternoon exploring the church itself, looking at different parts and objects and learning about what they are used for or what they represent.  A big thank you to the team of adults that provided a wonderful visit for us.

On Friday during our morning of Science, We continued our Biology learning about the digestive system by acting out the processes and roles of different organs throughout the process. We then split into smaller groups to complete two different activities. One of them was creating a model to represent parts of the digestion process, using a pair of tights and crushed ‘food’. All children will get a chance to this next week if  they didn’t today. We hope the children can tell you (using scientific vocabulary) the journey food takes once we eat it.

Please continue to encourage your child/children to read to/with an adult as much as possible at home and to practice their spellings and times tables.

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Taylor, Mrs Cartwright, Miss Wade and Miss Hodson.

LKS2 weekly update

We were so lucky to be visited by young archer, Max Oakley. He talked to the whole school about his archery journey, his accomplishments so far, his hopes for the future and encouraged the children to look for local clubs and attend ‘have a go days’ to try out archery. We have all been inspired after learning more about this interesting sport.

KS2 were able to go outside to watch an archery demonstration, we thought it was amazing!  

Pencil Clipart Images | Free Download | PNG Transparent Background - PngtreeIn LKS2, we have continued our writing based on The Lost Thing, we are really getting into the story and are intrigued to find out what the ‘thing’ does next. We have been choosing and using ambitious and powerful vocabulary to improve our sentences.

Numbers clipart. Free download transparent .PNG | CreazillaIn Maths, we have reached the end of our Place value unit and are ready to move onto addition and subtraction, we will be using our knowledge and skills learnt over the last few weeks to help us add and subtract numbers.

Biology Stock Illustrations – 710,453 Biology Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - DreamstimeIn Science, we are continuing to learn about digestion and the children have asked (and we’ve answered) lots of questions about POO! They will be able to tell you about where digestion begins and ends and the jobs of different organs during the digestion process.

Please continue to encourage your child/children to read to/with an adult as much as possible at home and to practice their spellings and times tables.

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Taylor, Mrs Cartwright, Miss Wade and Miss Hodson.

LKS2 weekly update

We’ve had another busy week in Year 3 and 4.

In History, we have been exploring different sources and developing an understanding of what a reliable source of evidence is. We are continuing to learn about the History of St Mary’s and how it has changed over time.

The children in Class 7 and 8 are really enjoying French lessons and are keen to practice and apply some of the French greetings and conversation starters that they have been learning whilst Class 6 are enjoying their weekly music lessons.

We have learnt about the European day of languages (26th September) and have been thinking about how people communicate in different ways and why language is important.

We looked at the results of our Science experiment today, some of the liquids had caused some drastic changes to the egg shells (teeth enamel). We are sure that the children would love to tell you about what we observed and found out during this experiment.

As always, we encourage the children to read at home as much as possible, practice their times tables on times tables rockstars and practice their weekly spellings that come home in their logbooks.

books-book-clipart-clipart-cliparts-for-you-2-clipart-books-385_293 –  Gleeson Gleanings

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Taylor, Miss Wade, Mrs Cartwright and Miss Hodson.

 

Nursery Weekly Update

Wow nursery, what a wonderful first week we have had together!

It has been fantastic to spend the week with you, getting to know you and your families. We have had lots of fun together as I learn more about your unique interests and personalities. I would also like to say a massive congratulations to our new starters who have settled in amazingly! It has been so special to see each and every one of you come into nursery with a big, beaming smile!

This week we have started our first topic ‘nursery rhymes’. We have used the nursery rhyme puppets to sing the children’s known favourites such as Old MacDonald and Twinkle Twinkle and learn some new rhymes such as ‘Polly put the kettle on’. We love singing and dancing in nursery, experimenting with different ways to change our voice and move our bodies. The children have loved enhancements such as twinkling playdough, a farmyard tuff tray and flavoured tea in the water play to re-enact their singing and learning. Finally, we made our own musical instruments today and were able to play as a band, singing the nursery rhymes we have learnt – we were FANTASTIC!

The children also love playing in the home-corner. I like to use real resources for the children so have started to add empty egg boxes, hot chocolate powder pots and juice bottles for the children to use. If you have any clean, empty containers at home that the children would like to bring in to use in their home-corner that than would be very gratefully received (plastic or cardboard only please). To make our house more homely, I would also love you to email in a family photo that you would be happy for us to display in our home-corner. This is a great way for children to make connections, learn more about each other and improve communication and language skills.

Have a fabulous weekend and I will see you on Monday,

Mrs Jones.

Class 10 Weekly Update

On Monday, we have our trip to Ironbridge Museum which will be a fantastic day out. Hopefully it remains dry for us!

Please can community project reply slips be returned tomorrow so we can start organising tasks for Tuesday. I will provide further details tomorrow with regards to clothing etc.

The countdown has begun for Thursday’s prom and everyone is really excited for the big event!