Autumn 2, 2023
I hope you all enjoyed a restful half term break...
WELCOME BACK TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE AUTUMN TERM.
On Friday, we held a special Remembrance Collective Worship, including a silence at 11am. We learned about Boy (1st Class) John "Jack" Travers Cornwall, who was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in September 1916, when he would have been aged just 16. It was a moving story delivered by Mr Hawkins, you may wish to read about Jack yourself - follow the link to the Imperial War Museum below.
With the start of a new term comes the start of new topics of work - Art is no exception. After a DT project in Autumn 1, this half term we are looking at the works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser who was famous for his distaste of the straight line and turned to the patterns of nature to inspire his art.
Although long, Autumn Term 1 flew by, with the last week being taken up with the Year 6 residential and Year 5 bike ability course. Well done to you all for taking part and really living our school values.
Some of us "on top of the world" in Longtown, Herefordshire
Week 2 flew by...
On Monday, we were treated to a very special performance by the Pilgrim Puppets in Collective Worship. We heard the message that God loves us all and were entertained by a lively retelling of the parable The Lost Sheep, showing us that God cares enough to bring everyone into his fold. Great fun was had by all and, what was especially lovely, is that our vey own Theo from 5/6A, is a part of the group.
The whole of UKS2 enjoyed a trip to the Tower of London on Tuesday. Despite being a long and wet day, it was an invaluable experience that really brought our learning in English and History to life. In addition to this we marvelled at the Crown Jewels, were impressed by the River Thames, much swelled by our recent weather, and were excited to take in a whistle stop tour of the City of London sights (thanks to the local traffic jams which allowed us to take our time admiring each landmark!).
Well done to HARMONY who was the worthy recipient of this week's award for showing the values of kind and brave - in fact she could be awarded this EVERY week. Harmony empowers us all, children and adults alike, with her kind and caring comments and actions even when times are challenging. Thank you for being you Harmony, don't ever change!
Thank you for supporting our Winston's Wish Fundraising Day - everyone looked super in their rainbow of colours!
In week 3...
We have begun teaching our Taking Care programme across the school this half term - this scheme promotes approaches to help safeguard children and is a curriculum delivered by staff trained in Protective Behaviours. This is all staff at St Paul's. The programme has 2 themes:
WE ALL HAVE THE RIGHTS TO FEEL SAFE ALL THE TIME
WE CAN TALK WITH SOMEONE ABOUT ANYTHING, EVEN IF IT FEELS AWFUL OR SMALL
This year 5/6B also based our classroom expectations at the start of the year around the 1st theme of we all have the right to feel safe all the time. We unpicked each word and created colourful posters to highlight what this looks like in our learning environment, whilst also taking into account our school values.
Well done to LILIANA who was really BRAVE and CHALLENGED herself in swimming lessons this week. So much so, she was a great role model to everyone in her group and very much deserved this week's VALUES AWARD.
5/6B also had the HEADTEACHER AWARD this week! Congratulations to MAX who went to the front to collect his certificate, sticker and prize from Mr Bown. Myself and other staff members have noticed how kind and supportive he has been with others recently - well done and keep it up!
Week 4 ... December has arrived!
This week we have celebrated both No Pens Day and St Andrew's Day across the school.
Our St Andrew's Day activity was to make Scottish Chocolate Tiffin and then along with enjoying a square ourselves, create a small box to gift a piece, with kindness, to someone else. We also create a card decorated with the phrase - When kindness is shared it grows... - with our message of kindness inside.
Scottish Chocolate Tiffin - When Kindness is shared, it grows...
Congratulations to GABRIEL who received this week's school values award for CHALLENGE and THOUGHTFUL. Every week he engages further, outside of the classroom, to extend his learning and then kindly shares the information he has discovered, books he owns, pictures he's drawn - to name just a couple of things - with the whole 5/6B team. Following our Tower of London trip Gabriel drew this fantastic picture of Tower Bridge as a gift for his friend. Well done and thank you Gabriel.,
Our Hundertwasser Style Artworks....
On Wednesday 29th November, it was NO PENS DAY - much to the children's delight! This is a time where we focus on communication as a lifelong skill and we had lots of fun enjoying speaking and listening activities.
During Week 5...
We are still busy working hard to finish all our work before the Christmas festivities really begin to kick in. Although, on Friday I was treated to a wonderful array of colourful jumpers as we celebrated Christmas Jumper Day. It was the 1st of a number of dates the children will have the opportunity to wear their festive attire in the remaining weeks of the Autumn term.
This week's award went to GRETEL for showing the values of BRAVE and THOUGHTFUL. She had to be really brave after breaking her collar bone and, upon her return to school, Gretel has been as hard-working, kind and thoughtful as ever! She is AMAZING and we are proud to have her as part of the 5/6B team.
During the penultimate week...
On Monday we were treated to the KS1 Nativity performance - what a great job they made of it too! Parents are in for a spectacular show later this week when they arrive to watch their children on the stage. We hope you all enjoy it as much as we did! Thank you to all of the KS1 children and staff.
In Science this half term, we have been Exploring Materials and States of Matter. We have really tried to make our lessons as practical as possible, with a real focus on the scientific skills.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed a lesson all about separation of materials, learning lots of new scientific vocabulary and exploring what it meant practically.
Christmas themed PE went down well...thank you Mr Barnes and Ava for setting it all up for us!
This week's award went to LARA for showing the values of CHALLENGE (and BRAVE). She has been putting her hand up in maths and confidently using verbal reasoning and stem sentences to explain her answers. Well done and keep it up!
Well done to our Year 6s who completed their Bikeability Course this week. Certificates and badges have now been sent home. Great life skills learned and good preparation for their onward educational journey so they can make their own way to secondary school and home again safely.
And it wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to the Panto...
Twas the final week before Christmas...
And a very busy week it was too!
On Monday, the whole school were treated to the EYFS Nativity performance. It was lovely and there were lots of "oohs and awws" as our youngest pupils delighted us all. Very well done to them all and thank you to their dedicated staff team.
On Tuesday, we welcomed Laura Bartle (Wyn's mum) to come and talk to us about her recent visit to COP28 as part of a 10 strong team representing her employer, National Grid. It was interesting to hear what they did, who they met, what they experienced and what the outcomes of this important gathering were. It all linked in very well with our Geography topic this half term entitled Enough for Everyone, where we have learned about using natural resources responsibly and non-renewable and renewable energy. Laura, then talked about her education and career - a valuable experience for our year 5s and 6s as they near their transition to secondary school. A BIG THANK TO LAURA for giving up her time to share her experiences with us all.
Spreading Kindness with these beautiful Christmas Cards 5/6B made to send to a charity who distribute them where they will be well received...
We based our Christmas cards for home on our Art focus from this half term - Friedenreich Hundertwasser...
A big thank you to those children who religiously complete their Mathletics homework every week and who received their certificates this week.
Last but not least...our end of term TROPHIES were awarded!
In our 5/6B team the following children were awarded the coveted prize:
Reading - Lucien
Writing - Emily
Maths - Lara
Many congratulations to these children who have shown a consistent effort and focus in their work which has resulted in great achievements! It is always very difficult to pick just 3 children each half term, as they all make it a hard choice ! Keep working hard in 2024 and your turn could come at the end of Spring term 1.