Whole School Christmas Church Service
This morning, our whole school enjoyed a joyful and reflective visit to church to celebrate the Christmas season together. During the service, children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 confidently shared the work they have been doing in class, exploring the true meaning of Christmas and the special joy, hope and kindness that Jesus brought to others. Their contributions helped everyone to pause and reflect on the importance of love, generosity and togetherness at this special time of year. We also enjoyed singing a selection of our much-loved Christmas carols, filling the church with festive cheer. A highlight was watching our whole-school Christmas video, which captured many of the wonderful activities and celebrations from the past couple of weeks. The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing themselves on screen taking part in the festivities and were especially delighted to see members of the school staff joining in and having fun. It was a warm and uplifting celebration that truly reflected the spirit of Christmas and brought our school community together. A huge thank you to Parents and to all who attended to celebrate with us. We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Year 3-Living Life in All Its Fullness- Christmas Party
What a spectacular morning! Year 3 had a brilliant time joining up with Year 4 for our big festive celebration. The hall was filled with colour as everyone showed off their wonderful festive clothes. The highlight of the day was definitely dancing to festive tunes and singing at the top of our lungs! There was so much laughter as we played exciting games together. A huge congratulations to Mila and Eli, our lucky winners of Pass the Parcel.
Year 3- 3D Christmas Cards in the making
Year 3 Elves have begun creating their 3D Christmas cards. From pop-up trees to 3D snowmen, the Elves are working so hard on their designs. We are sure our busy little Elves will finish them all in time for Christmas!
Year 3’s Young Authors levelling up their writing
We’ve just finished our class version of The Last Bear, and the writing is looking fantastic. The Year 3 authors have been busy "levelling up" their sentences by using expanded noun phrases to describe the icy Arctic and adding fronted adverbials to make their story openings really exciting. They’ve also included subordinate clauses to add extra detail and making sure their speech punctuation is great to help the characters' voices come through. They writers have used their purple pens to edit and improve every sentence. It’s been brilliant to see their work become so much more descriptive and exciting!
Whole Class Worship - Joy
This week of advent, our focus is Joy. We began by recounting the advent themes we have explored so far: Hope and Peace. Mrs Ham chose Lyla from Year 4 to come to the front to light the three advent candles and she highlighted some of the ways our school family have brought joy to others over the past few weeks. It was heartwarming to hear about some of these, including the Reception class nativity, Year 1 and Year 2’s Christmas Cracker, the choir singing at Acer Lodge care home, and Year 4 writing letters to the residents, plus all of those who have been supporting our latest charity campaigns. We reflected on what true joy looks like and how we can sometimes forget about the simple things when our minds are preoccupied with expensive gifts and the hustle and bustle of the season. Our focus was brought back to the gift God sent - his only son - and how Jesus’ incarnation was the joyous gift that changed our world forever.
Year 3 - Class Worship- A Journey of Reflection and Joy
In our class worship today, Year 3 explored the life of John the Baptist and the responsibility he was given to prepare the way for Jesus. We talked about how John had to make some big choices, turning away from his own "wants" to focus on exactly what he "needed" to be ready for the King’s arrival. To bring this into our own lives, the children shared some of the exciting things from their own Christmas wish lists. We then had a really thoughtful discussion about human needs vs. wants. This led us to a discussion about how we can prepare ourselves for the future. Instead of just thinking about money, the children suggested that being a "grown-up" means sharing kindness every day, being a helpful friend, and spreading joy to those who might be lonely. We decided that by practicing these small acts of love now, we are preparing ourselves to be the best people we can be as we grow.
Author Visit to KS1 and Year 3: Janek Puzon
We had a special visit from an author this morning, Janek Puzon. He read his new book “Dean the Baked Bean and his Karaoke Machine”. It was about a baked bean who loves singing on karaoke. The children sat amazingly whilst listening to him read the story and enjoyed it. They also asked some fantastic questions such as: How many books have you written? Do you enjoy being an author? Where do you write the books? How do you write a book? Which is your favourite book that you have written? We are very excited for our delivery of his books to our school library!
Year 3 Meet Author Janek Puzon
Today, the children had the pleasure of meeting an Janek Puzon an author. He read out loud the story Dean the Baked Bean and His Karaoke Machine. This picture book tells the story of Dean, a small but mighty baked bean who doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his tin. While all the other beans are content to sit quietly in the sauce, Dean has a big dream and an even bigger voice. The central themes are: Embracing individuality: Learning that it's okay to be different from everyone else in your "tin." Following the reading, the children engaged in a Q&A session, by asking about the author's journey, his creative process for generating new ideas, and the role of his illustrators. He concluded by mentioning that his works are available on various platforms, including on Amazon. The children are super excited about getting hold of one of his books which will be available at our school library soon. They were particularly fascinated to learn about the editing and proofreading process (which they recognise from using their purple pens), understanding how crucial it is to polish a book before it's published.
Year 3- P.E- Dance- Movement Through Moore's Masterpiece
In P.E. today, Year 3 immersed themselves in the festive world of Clement Clarke Moore's classic poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," through an exciting dance and movement session. The children began by setting the scene, transforming into snowflakes and then growing tall and majestic like Christmas trees, establishing a winter context. They used movement to become the inhabitants of the Christmas house, demonstrating the quiet and stillness before the main event. The children then created fantastic dance sequences to show the arrival of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) and practiced galloping and soaring as his reindeer flying through the night sky. The second half of the session focused on the act of giving. The children used collaborative movement to help Santa Claus unload his sleigh and carefully fill the stockings with presents. The session concluded with a flourish: we watched Santa’s final, swift departure and enjoyed one last exhilarating ride across the floor as Santa's magnificent reindeer. Amazing listening and dancing from all the children. Well done!
Year 3-Design and Technology: Busy Elves and Festive Pouches
In Design and Technology this term, our Year 3s have been transformed into busy elves, expertly working on a practical textile project: creating their own festive and functional pouches. This unit has allowed the children to build successfully on the foundational sewing skills they learned in KS1. They have carefully designed their pouches and mastered the running stitch, ensuring they sew with regular-sized stitches and that both ends of the thread are securely knotted. They accurately prepared and cut their fabric using a template, then used a running stitch to join the two pieces. Finally, they creatively decorated their finished pouches using the materials provided. We are incredibly proud of the hard work from our busy elves and are thrilled that their functional and aesthetic pouches will be showcased and ready for purchase at the upcoming school Christmas Fayre.
Year 3- R.E- Nativity Story Reflection
This afternoon in R.E., Year 3, focused on the Nativity story, reminding ourselves of the sequence of events. We paid attention to the moment the world first heard the news: when angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields, who then hurried down to visit the special baby. The children then used their imaginations to become investigative reporters, brainstorming and recording the imaginative questions they would ask the shepherds about what they saw, how they felt, and what it was like to meet the baby Jesus. It was a wonderful exercise in empathy and curiosity!
Design Technology Products
Good afternoon parents and carers, our children have been working really hard on their design and technology skills over the last few weeks to create products that can bought at our Christmas Fair. They are available to purchase on parent pay for £2.00 each, which will help to cover some of the cost of the materials used. Reception: Wooden christmas decorations Year 1: Christmas moving books Year 2 : Christmas puppets Year 3: Christmas pouches Year 4: Christmas stockings Year 5: Christmas cushions Year 6: Christmas loop games