Rev Ben's Collective Worship- Moses
Collective Worship - 19.09.24 During this week's worship session, Rev. Ben shared the story of Moses and the burning bush. He explained how, when God gave Moses a mission, Moses initially struggled to obey, feeling unsure and inadequate for the task. However, God revealed his power and presence to Moses, showing him the way and helping him develop trust. With God's guidance, Moses was able to achieve far more than he ever thought possible. The children engaged in thoughtful discussions, exploring questions like: What might it look like for you to recognise God's presence in your life? Some children reflected on seeing God's presence in acts of kindness, through nature, or in moments of peace when they feel supported by their friends and family. Others spoke about sensing God during quiet times or prayer, feeling that God is guiding them in difficult situations. When asked, Why do you think Moses was hesitant to follow God's instructions? The children expressed that they could relate to Moses’ fear and uncertainty. Some mentioned how Moses might have felt unworthy or scared of failing, while others said that like Moses, they too sometimes feel afraid when they are asked to do something new or hard. The group agreed that trusting God, even when they feel unsure, can help them overcome their fears. The final question, How does it change things for you, knowing that God is always with you? brought a range of responses. Some children said it gave them comfort to know they are never truly alone, even in hard times. Others felt it gave them courage, knowing they could rely on God’s strength when facing challenges. Many agreed that just like Moses, having faith in God’s presence helps them feel more confident in the tasks they are given, knowing they have divine support.
Year 1 Writing
Year 1 have been working hard on their writing, particularly their letter formation. In their handwriting lessons, they have learnt how to form the precursive i, l, t, a, o and c and they have been practising this in both their handwriting books and in the writing area. They have also been working hard in their phonics and English lessons to apply their knowledge of the Phase 3 phonemes to their writing. Well done Year 1.
Whole School Worship: The Good Shepherd
Today, we were learning about Jesus’s parable of the Lost Sheep. We discussed why Jesus said 'I am the good shepherd', and how he will always come to us when we feel lost. Thanks to Mr Bloomfield and some of our younger children for acting out the story so brilliantly. We reflected on how we can life live in all its fullness knowing that Jesus is always watching over and protecting us, just like a good shepherd does for his sheep.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our first celebration worship of this academic year by signing the trinity and talking about our extremely busy couple of weeks in school, especially focusing on our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school values. We then presented Thomas and Fletcher in Years 1 and 2 and Alfie, Eliza, Ella and Leonora in KS2 with certificates for being our value award winners this week. Well done to these children for starting the academic with an amazingly positive attitude, demonstrating fantastic behaviour for learning and consistently displaying our school values. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Harry for completing the Summer Reading challenge and being awarded a huge trophy for demonstrating kindness at SportsCool Summer club, Albie, Samuel, Renee, Carmen, Olivia and James for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Grace for being awarded the lyrical and jazz winner of the week, 3rd place for song and dance and a silver medal for her acro, Sofia for achieving Star of the Week at gymnastics club, Maggie for being a super Rainbow and working exceptionally hard to achieve all of her badges and Marley for achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies. We also congratulated Reception, Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill as the value award winners this week with 427 points. Finally, we had some lovely prayers of thankfulness and appreciation from Leonora, James and Lennox and we sang ‘Shine.’ We thank all those who could attend celebration worship and we said an extended thank you to the rest of our school family for all of your continued support. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
Year 1 Art- Composing a Cold Landscape
This week in their art lesson, Year 1 explored landscapes. First of all, we looked at some landscapes (particularly cold ones) and brainstormed some of the features that we could see such as mountains and icebergs. We learnt about how to draw a horizon and then an additional line for where the sea meets the land. We then cut out images of features of our cold landscapes and positioned them on our own scenes, discussing where they should go: on the land, in the sea or in the sky. Next lesson, we will be exploring textures so that we can collage our landscape appropriately e.g. collaging the mountains in a hard, rough material and the polar bear in a soft, fluffy material.
Year 1 Science- Can I Identify What Group an Animal Belongs to?
This afternoon in Year 1, we explored the different animal groups (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish) and discussed the features of animals in each of these groups such as having hair, scales, wet skin and feathers. We then looked at a variety of animals and sorted them into each of the five groups.
Alice in Wonderland Production
Wow! Our whole school family really enjoyed watching Alice in Wonderland this morning. It was a fantastic production and it was lovely to watch all of the children’s expressions throughout the performance.
Whole School Worship: Paralympic Values
We began our Monday worship with a race this week, except the race wasn’t very fair. One person was running the race, one was hopping and one was blindfolded. We discussed why this wasn’t a fair race and then we watched some athletes’ performances from the Paralympics. We were amazed to see people with no arms playing the piano, flying aeroplanes, brushing their teeth and driving cars etc and then we reflected on how we can learn from the Paralympians and have a 'yes, I can' attitude. We learned about the Olympic and Paralympic values and how some of the values are the same or similar to our Christian Values., We discussed how we can do anything with hard work, determination and self-belief and read in the Bible that with God, all things are possible.
Year 1 Science- Grouping Animals
Today in Year 1, the children made some observations about animals. The children noticed various things such as some animals having feathers and some not, some having hair or fur and some not, some having ears but some having earholes, some having scales and some not, some being patterned and some not and so on. Year 1 then used their observations to sort a group of animals in their own way. Next lesson, the children will build on this to sort the animals into their animal groups such as mammals or reptiles.
Year 1 Phonics- Phonics Bingo
Today in Year 1, the children took part in some phonics activities. First of all, they looked for sounds that Miss Flynn read out to them such as b for bag, i for insect and qu for queen. This was a great way of getting some practise in using our sound mats after the six week holidays and reminding ourselves of the pictures and actions that go with each sound. Year 1 then enjoyed a couple of games of phonics bingo. They had 6 sounds and had to listen carefully to see if they had it. It was a great way of revising the sounds that the children had learnt when they were in Reception.
Year 1 Art- Warm and Cool Colours
In their art lesson, Year 1 explored warm and cool colours. They then applied this knowledge to complete an activity where they had to sort some landscapes by the colours that had been used within them (warm or cool). The children could also choose to complete an extra activity. This was to colour a picture in and represent the warm part of the picture with colours such as orange, red and yellow and the cool part of the picture with colours such as blue, green and purple. For example, the children coloured the ocean in cool colours but a sunrise in warm colours. Year 1 will be using their understanding of warm and cool colours when they come to create their own landscape in a few weeks time.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Trust
Rev Ben welcomed us back to school by reflecting on our school holiday and what we were most looking forward to this school year. He then told us the Bible story about Abraham going on a journey but he didn't know where he was going but he put his trust in God. Rev Ben said that our life can be a wonderful journey if we put our trust in God and remember that he is always with us. We then discussed with our partners how we can make the most of this year and live life in all its fullness. We finished with a lovely back to school blessing and sang a special back to school song.