Friday 21st July 2023

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Our final week has been filled with making memories. On Tuesday we spent time with our Reception partners having a movie and popcorn afternoon.

On Wednesday, it was wonderful to join together for a mass to celebrate the end of the children’s Pope Paul journey. We followed that with a fantastic pizza and ice cream factory lunch.

Click here for the photos.

Thursday was Fun Day and we certainly did just that! Take a look at what we got up to…

 

Today was filled with signing shirts and yearbooks.

We wish all the children and their families a wonderful summer and a brilliant start at their new schools.

 

Thank you parents for your wonderful gifts and beautiful cards.

We wish the class a fun filled disco evening and a wonderful summer!

 

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

Reception Final Week!

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We have finally reached the last day in Reception, after a fun-filled week!

Lots of our time has been spent with our very special Year 6 reading partners. On Tuesday, the class enjoyed a mini disco followed by a movie and popcorn  with them.

The highlight of the week was the School Summer Party Day, yesterday. Please see the photos below for a taste of what the day involved.

This morning, we were treated to a special visitor-Donnie’s pet tarantula. Donnie was amazing at telling the class all about Ricky the spider, and how he takes special care of it. Well done Donnie!

Parents, thank you for all of your support. It has been a very special year! Thank you too for all of your cards, kind words and gifts. They are very much appreciated it by us all.

Have a wonderful summer.

See you all in September,

The Reception Team

Friday 14th July 2023

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Our penultimate week in Year 6 has seen the children get very creative. On Tuesday, all children at Pope Paul took part in a Design and Technology day with the same goal: to build a better world. Year 6 looked at sustainable housing and ways designers put technology into practise. With this knowledge, they built a prototype for what their vision of a sustainable home would be. There was a huge amount of excitement around this project and children threw themselves into the challenge. Many of the houses even looked at eco-friendly ways of including football pitches!

On Thursday most of Year 6 visited their new schools for the day. It was wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed it and how excited they are to attend in September.

Today we were treated to a concert by Year 5 and 6 musicians. Well done to Hebe, Eimear, Max, Tymon, Johanna and all the choir members from Year 6 for a beautiful performance.

 

We have a very exciting week next week! On Wednesday we have our class mass in the morning. Please arrive at OLSV at 9:30am, not at the school. This is followed by a Year 6 party in the afternoon. Please make sure summer uniform is worn for this day (no hoodies or trainers). On this day, the children are invited to have a special school lunch of pizza and ice-cream factory, billable at the normal school rate. On Thursday we have the school fun day where children will be able to wear their own clothes. On Friday we have our final morning and this is the day for signing year books and old school shirts. Children should not bring these in before this date to avoid disruption. Monday and Tuesday are normal school days but there will be no PE due to our special final session with our reading partners. Therefore, PE kit will not need to be worn at all in the final week.

 

Please can the children bring in a plastic carrier bag for their books etc… to go home in by Tuesday 18th July. Books will be sent home on Wednesday and Thursday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

 

 

Friday 7th July 2023

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Huge congratulations to Year 6 for their stunning performance of Jungle Book this week.

Click here to see glympse of the performance captured on camera.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

Home Learning:

Gather together memories of your time at Pope Paul by speaking with your family .  These notes will be an aid to you when you are writing your memories of your time at the school during your English lessons next week.

Friday 30th June

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Well, another week flying by! The highlights for this week were:  Sports Day and showing our production to our reading partners!!  Our  RE Diocesan Advisor for the school visited us today and he spoke with members of the class.  The children chatted about the impact of their leadership roles this year.

 

The Red House teams ‘lap of honour’.

The Sports Captains set up the Water Hydration station and many children enjoyed the pleasure of strawberry flavoured water.

 

Home learning:

Children to revisit the songs of the production and remember the dance routines.  Click here for the pdf of all song links etc..

Research Nelson Mandela.  Nelson Mandela has one of the most inspirational and interesting life stories. In RE we have been learning about Christian Beliefs and we would like the children to understand how faith was an important influence on Nelson Mandela’s life choices. Please bring into school on Wednesday morning to share with the rest of the class.

See you next Wednesday evening!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

 

Friday 23rd June

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This week has been filled with many things including having visitors from the NSPCC and Bejiing!

On Monday I delivered an assembly on NSPCC’s Speak Out and Stay Safe focus.  In the assembly the children learnt  about who their trusted adults are; what Childline is; and the importance of speaking out if something is wrong.  On Tuesday morning, Year 6 had a workshop delivered by two of the NSPCC Team about their Speak Out and Stay Safe Programme and the children felt empowered and enlightened because of this powerful message.

On Wednesday a group of children from Beijing, China visited our school and Year 6 spent time with them during breaktime and lunchtime and in the afternoon.  During the afternoon session, they paired up with a student and asked them questions about themselves, their school in Beijing and their life there. Our visitors also found out about Year 6.  They then took part in a maths reasoning and problem solving activity and it was lovely to see our Year 6 children work alongside them on a subject and language they both know so well.

Our children are growing up in a world where they are global citizens and it’s important for them to learn about life beyond Potters Bar and the experience of this visit has given them a taster of this!  The children were a credit to the school;  they were welcoming, engaging, enthusiastic and active participants. The Chinese students gave the children some gifts to thank them for their friendship shown to them on this day.

NSPCC Workshop

On Wednesday afternoon,eight children went and took part in a Netball Tournament.  Miss Pringle said that the children played well as a team in ALL their matches. Their primary objective was to shoot a ball through the defender’s goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring and Caroline, Ela-Maria, Elle, Kian, Max, Sophie, Violet and VJ did just that!!  They returned to school the following day buzzing, coming 4th in the overall competition. Well done!

We have continued with our rehearsals for the production and the children are working on their dances for the songs. There are still some children who have not brought n their costumes.  Please send them into school by Tuesday.  In PE, we have been practising for the Sports Day races. Sports Day is on  Wednesday 28th June  (AM).  Please see more details on sports day arrangements in the newsletter. All children must have a sunhat and a bottle of water.

Today our Year 6 took part in the first of two transition (Year 6 to Year 7) workshops led by the
Hertsmere Schools Partnership. This provision forms an important part of our Year 6’s preparation for
secondary school and the children participated fully in the workshop activities.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

Home Learning:

Please encourage your child to learn their lines for the play.

  1. Click here to listen to some of the songs we are singing.    Songs
  2. Log onto Mathletics (work on problem solving has been set).

 

Friday 16th June 2023

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Healthy Eating Week

 

The big message for this week is Healthy eating for Everyone!!

Our sports leaders: Alfie, Kian, Sophie and Vihaan, have been very busy this week assisting all classes with their hydration points in their classes.  They have been preparing each morning water that has contained many different ingredients: strawberry, lemon, lime and mint.  Today, they carried out a whole school survey on the most popular flavoured water and the result was ‘strawberry’.  Alfie announced this good news to the whole school this morning in assembly. From this survey, the sports captains will be preparing strawberry flavoured water for Sports Day on Wednesday 28th June.  On top of that, they have visited each class and assisted with cutting up their fruit for the class to sample and also assisted the class teachers during their PE lessons where the focus has been on Sports Day. [This insert has been written by Sophie]

Well done to each of them for their time, enthusiasm and hard work!

In English the children completed their healthy eating explanation text on the areas of: fibre, stay hydrated and five-a day.

We have continued with the production and have made more props!  The children have painted beautiful jungle flowers which will be added to our scenery. The children are learning their parts (spoken and vocal parts). A gentle reminder: can all costumes be in school by Monday 19th June as we would like the children to practise the scenes in them from Monday.

In Maths the children have looked at expressions and equations and were fantastic in solving these and in RE we have continued our work on parables.

Home Learning:

  1.  As part of the Healthy Eating Week focus, we are inviting the children to take part in the Aldi Competition answering the question:

How can we inspire people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food?

The children have been asked to design a lorry to inspire people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food. They have been given a template to use.  Please can this sheet be handed back into school by: Tuesday 20th June.  Thank you.

2. Please encourage your child to learn their lines for the play.

  1. Click here to listen to some of the songs we are singing.    Songs

 

Year 6 Learning Week beginning Monday 12th June 2023

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The focus in Maths is ‘Transition’

here for the Maths 1              Click here for Maths 2

Algebra

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 9th June 2023

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In English lessons, Year 6 have been writing narratives about The King of Winter from a picture stimulus. We were impressed with the quality of the descriptions and dialogue. These have been added to their writing portfolios.

On Thursday Year 6 took part in the Blessed Sacrament Procession alongside the rest of the school. They walked with their Reception partners, showing them how to be peaceful and reverent. They were excellent role models.

 

On Tuesday, the children had their first tennis lesson of the term.  They took part in some very challenging activities passing the ball to their partner and developed their catching skills.

Our class production of The Jungle Book has been a focus for this week.  The class have each practised their parts in the script and have learnt some of the songs. Well done! Every child has been given a letter home about their costumes. Can we ask that all costumes be in school by Friday 16th June.  Thank you.  Next week, we will be focussing on acting out the production on stage. On Wednesday the class was busy producing props to decorate the stage. The many leaves made will be added to over the coming weeks as we look to transform the hall into a jungle!!

Have a lovely weekend.

See you at the Potters Bar Carnival on Sunday!

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines.

 

Home Learning:

  1.  Learn their lines for the play.
  2. Click here to listen to some of the songs we are singing.    Songs pdf
  3. It is Healthy Eating Week next week.  The Sports Leaders will be assisting over the week with lunchtime activity games and preparing the food trays for each class alongside the class teachers.   Can your child bring in a fruit or vegetable by Wednesday 14th June that they have not eaten before or have just tried and enjoyed and would like to share this with the rest of the class.  Thank you!
  4. Research the five focus areas:         1. Focus on fibre  2.  Eat at least 5 portions a day.  3.  Vary your protein.  4.  Stay Hydrated.  5.  Reduce Food Waste.

Our writing focus for next week is on explanation texts so this research will aid them in their writing.

Friday 26th May 2023

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In English this week, we have created newspaper reports based on our PGL trip. We imagined that we found a mysterious item on the beach and explained how it was found.

In RE we talked about our Christian beliefs and looked closely at three of them to decide what actions in our daily lives shows how we live these beliefs.  The children designed handprints of the three beliefs and the actions.

The highlight of this week for us as a class was the May Procession, Our Feast Day Mass and the Oakmere Mini Marathon.  In the procession this morning Kate and Ben led the whole school beautifully to the peace garden and crowned Our Lady Queen of the May. The readers for the May Procession were Arthur, Ti, Leon, Oskar, Monica and Kian.  Thank you to Eric who served, Johanna and  Caroline who read at the Mass this afternoon and Violet who did the powerpoint.

Congratulations to those children also who participated in Oakmere’s Mini Marathon.  Well done to Max, VJ, Tymon, Sophie, Violet and Monica.

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful half term break and look forward to seeing all the children for our final half term of the academic year.