Reception Week Beginning 21.11.22

This week, Reception have been learning about the Jewish festival of lights- Hanukkah. The word Hanukkah means rededication and commemorates the Jews’ struggle for religious freedom.

After watching the videos above, Reception had an opportunity to explore some Jewish religious artefacts. The children also participated in lots of Hanukkah inspired activities including: creating their own menorah paintings,  making Star of David decorations and constructing their own Torah scrolls!

As a whole class, Reception discussed how they feel when they are alone in the dark and also brainstormed all the different things that give off light!

This week, Reception have also been very busy rehearsing for their upcoming Nativity performance. Please check your child’s book bag for an important letter that went home yesterday about costumes.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

The Reception Team

 

Year 5 – 25/11/22 | Building the Kingdom: Oracy for Advocacy

Yesterday was the big day for our Y5s. Joining with Y5s from other Catholic schools plus members of Nicholas Breakspear, the children shared a wonderful day at the Wyllyotts Theatre, where speeches and seminars on leadership and Catholic Social Teaching were delivered as part of our Oracy for Advocacy project. The morning consisted of the children moving around in groups to listen to seminars about how their schools work for the common good. The Pope Paul seminar speakers were Amber, Lucy L, Siena and Vincent and they were fantastic, noticeably building in confidence as the morning progressed and as they delivered their talks more and more times.

Director of Building The Kingdom, Sr Judith Russi, praising Lucy, Amber, Siena and Vincent on their wonderful seminars

The afternoon saw the 150-200 children involved congregate in the main auditorium for the main speeches. Eraldo gave a confident and persuasive speech about why we should care for our planet, and Julia gave a personal and impassioned presentation about the need for equality in this world. Both fit beautifully into our school’s mission which strives to develop leaders of the future who will help to build a better world. Listen to their speeches here:

The VIP guest Mayor of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council congratulating Julia on her speech

Making friends with children in the other schools at lunchtime

The speakers from all 5 Catholic schools

I am so proud of all the speakers and am confident that we have fantastic future leaders in our midst!

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Delivering their speeches to the children at St Philip Howard School on Monday

Spelling Log on to Spelling Shed using your EdShed login, and play a variety of games to practise this week’s spelling rule: Words ending in ‘-ably’ and ‘-ibly’

 

reliably

terribly

dependably

visibly

comfortably

incredibly

possibly

sensibly

horribly

legibly

KS2 Advent Service Please learn the words in bold on this blog post off by heart.
Westminster Cathedral Advent Carol Service Please practise the carols that we sung today for our special trip to Westminster Cathedral next Wednesday. Find the blog post here.

Week 4 Autumn 2

Another a busy week in Year 3. The children have been learning another strategy when adding called compensation. Then they applied all the strategies they have learnt over the last few weeks to solving different calculations. The children were able to explain the strategy they used and why they thought that was the best strategy.

Our new writing topic is limericks. The children have enjoyed reading limericks, they have been identifying the features of a limerick and editing limericks that do not follow the correct pattern. Next week they will plan and write their own limericks. I look forward to sharing them with you.

 

In Science the children planned and did an investigation  to find the answer to the question How does the type of surface on the table affect the speed of the tub travelling on it? We used smooth wood, a towel, bubble wrap, net and felt. We found out that the tub moved quicker on smooth wood and moved the slowest on a towel. They explained their results by comparing the amount of friction each material has.

Well done to the children who are practising the songs for the Advent Service. Please continue to practise and if your child has a reading, please practise at home.

On Friday, the children added their Advent Promise on a star to the hall display.

Well done to the footballers who played in the tournament this week.

On Wednesday, we are going to the Annual Diocese of Westminster Schools Advent Service in Westminster Cathedral. If the children have a Nativity costume, please send it in a bag. We have a few costumes at school for children who do not have one. Please be at school by 8.30am as we will have to leave on time to get our train.

Home Learning

Spelling shed forgetting, forgotten, beginning, preferred, permitted, regretting, committed, forbidden, propelled, equipped

 

Timetables Please practise timetables on   Timestables Rockstars
Advent Service Songs and Christmas Songs Please learn the Advent Service song and the Christmas songs for Westminster on the blog.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey

 

week 4 w.b. 21.11.2022

On Friday we joined the whole school in marking the start of The Season of Advent. We placed our Advent Promises on the board for all to see. We are looking forward to changing our prayer table and R.E. board on Monday to mark the transition towards Christmas.

In English we received a letter from Farmer duck to tell us that he was fed up and has left the farm for a holiday! He had left us instructions on how to take care of the farm but he muddled the order up! We worked really hard to reorder then and add in time connectives to sequence the instructions. We wrote them up in our best handwriting with our best spellings and we have taken a copy home to show you! If a letter wasn’t enough, on Thursday we received a postcard from Farmer Duck! He explained his reasons for leaving and asked us if we had any ideas how he could be happier on the farm. We had loads of ideas and included them in our postcards back to him. We hope he comes back soon as we will be writing the story of Farmer Duck next week and really need his help! Come back soon Farmer Duck!!

 

We have really enjoyed the last week of addition and subtraction problems in maths. We enjoyed using our water bottles to knock down and add together and we put masking tape on the carpet squares to add together. We worked really hard as a class to solve addition problems by adding the two bottom numbers to write the answer above. We liked it so much we asked for some for additional home learning!

We got very excited when our new bookcase arrived this week! We worked hard together to categorise our books. We especially liked the drawer units underneath and found them perfect to fit some comics in. If your child has enjoyed and finished reading a comic, please may you donate it to our comic drawer? It doesn’t matter if the activities have been filled in, we still enjoy reading them! We really liked our superhero drawer…

We learnt about Miss Lambie’s favourite sound this week, ‘ea’ cup of tea! We applied it well in our writing and have Spelling Shed activities to complete.

Enjoy the weekend,

Miss Lambie

  • Please may children have their reading books in their bags every day.
  • Please can you spare any boxes of tissues, we are very sneezy at the moment and have gone through three boxes this week!

Songs for Westminster Cathedral Advent Carol Service (Year 3 and Year 5)

You don’t need to know the words off by heart, but please be familiar with each carol.

Friday 25th November 2022

Preparations for the Advent Service have been well underway this week. Today we even had the chance to head up to church for a rehearsal. Year 6 take a central role for this event and we have been impressed with how well it is coming together. Be sure to continue to practise lines and songs at home.

In English, we have continued to build vocabulary and improve sentence structure in preparation for our end of unit piece. This week, we looked at the story as a duel narrative and considered the events from the dolls perspective. In science, now that we understand that light travels in a straight line, we investigated how images reach our eyes. Year 6 identified that without light, it is not possible and that what we see is due to the light reflecting off the object. The children created light free boxes to explore this, before adding small holes to introduce a light source.

Today we had our usual meet up with Reception Reading partners. It’s wonderful to se how much these relationships have grown. The room is always buzzing with chatter and laughter when they are together. The Year 6 children do an incredible job of supporting the younger children.

 

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

Home learning:

Spellings on Spelling Shed

Practise lines and songs for the Advent Service.

 

 

Friday, 25th November 2022

The children in Year 4 this week, spent some time researching in preparation for their third extended writing piece, a non-chronological report. In Maths, they focused on counting in multiples before moving on to scaling and correspondence problems. In Science, the class carried out practical investigations regarding sound, linking it with vibration whilst in RE the children explained the meaning of the ‘O’ Antiphon prayers. We also walked down to the church to rehearse for the KS2 Advent Service. They attended karate on Monday and started their prototypes in D&T, creating their first two mechanisms.

Thank you for those of you who sent in thin cardboard pieces like empty cereal boxes or packaging materials.We would still be grateful to receive more, so keep sending them in if you can. Thank you for your support with this.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Please see your home learning below:

Home Learning Due in on Tuesday, 29th November 2022
Spelling Please log onto EdShed (SpellingShed) and complete some activities in the assigned set.

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

spell words ending in -‘ation’

Multiplication Please log onto TTRockstars and spend 20 minutes practicing your mixed facts.

https://ttrockstars.com/

KS2 Advent Service Please learn the lyrics for all songs/hymns for the Service.

https://popepaul.herts.sch.uk/advent-service-songs/

 

Friday 18th November, 2022

This week has been antibullying week with Reach Out – Show Kindness being our focus.  The children spent time designing posters about the importance of team work and looked at scenarios where they talked about the importance of reaching out and looking to an adult for support if they needed it.  The class were mature with their answers and what approaches to take. Today, the children joined their reception buddies for a karate session and this afternoon, friendship afternoon, they met with their reception buddies. Each week, it is such a delight to see your child’s relationship develop with their reading partner.

In Design and Technology the children have continued with their designs doing a paper template of what they would like their mobile phone cover to look like.  In Maths we have continued with simplifying fractions.  In French we moved onto looking at distances from one french town to another.  The children have been working hard on their pronunciation of the french vocabulary introduced to them.  In English, we have been developing our understanding of mood and atmosphere and have considered how to show how our characters are feeling, without telling our reader. In Science they investigated how light travels in a straight line – the darkened classroom was a buzz of excitement during their investigation!

During the season of Advent one of the ways we can remember Jesus’ genealogy (all those who were part of Jesus’ family) is by making a Jesse Tree.  Jesse was King David’s father – a member of Jesus’ family, generations ago.  In RE the children looked again at Jesus’ Genealogy and Matthew’s Gospel and designed symbols for their Jesse trees.

The Key Stage Two Advent Service is fast approaching and the children who expressed an interest in singing a solo were given their lines today.  The songs and words are on the blog under a separate post.  Please encourage your child to learn their words.  The spoken parts will be allocated on Monday.

On Wednesday eleven children from Year 6 took part in the Primary Maths Challenge.  The children did well completing what is a difficult maths paper.  They will be awarded their certificates in next weeks assembly.  Well done to VJ, Kian, Nicholas, Finn, Vihaan, Hebe, Ben, Elle, Johanna, Max and Maria!

Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend ahead.

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

 

Home Learning:

Log onto TTRs (Timestable Rockstars) and practise your timestables.

This week’s spellings: ibly and ably words. Log into spelling shed activities.

Advent Service: please look at the separate blog and learn the words to the songs we will be singing. There are You Tube links alongside the words that have been uploaded.

Year 5 – 18/11/22

This morning, 6 of our Year 5 children did the class proud by giving speeches in assembly centred around the theme of leadership. This was a practice for what will be an oracy event at the Wyllyotts Theatre next week. They spoke passionately, clearly and held their audience really well – very well done!

Today marked the end of Anti-Bullying Week, so the school celebrated by having Friendship Friday, in which Year 5 enjoyed sharing karate and Golden Time with Year 2.

Home learning this weekend:

Spelling Log on to Spelling Shed using your EdShed login, and play a variety of games to practise this week’s spelling rule: Words ending in ‘-able’ and ‘-ible’

 

dependable

reliable

comfortable

possible

understandable

horrible

reasonable

terrible

enjoyable

incredible

Advent Service Please learn the words in bold on this blog post off by heart.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Donatantonio

Autumn 2 Week 3

Today was Odd Sock Day to remind us that we are all different and to help celebrate the end of Anti-Bullying Week. The children worked hard this week to complete kindness challenges, name trusted people and understand that everyone’s differences should be celebrated. Year 2 paired up with Year 5 for ‘Friendship Friday’ and enjoyed a karate session and golden time together.

The children have worked hard to publish three pages of their shark books and create their front covers. Next week they will be finishing these books and sharing them with another class.

In Maths they have been applying their subtraction skills to reason and answer tricky word problems.

Home learning

Spelling – copy these words into your home handwriting books and were necessary highlight the part your child finds tricky to help them remember the spelling.

people

our

come

with

like

little

said

Reading – Please read over the weekend and ensure your child has their reading books in their bags every day.

Mathletic subtraction and addition word problems have been set.

Polite request – Please can you spare any boxes of tissues.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle