Week 2

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I am sure you will have tired children this weekend after their first full week in school! The children have been a delight to have in the class and are all settling in extremely well.

This week we have been thinking about our families. We read the story Owl Babies  by Martin Waddell. This beautiful story is about three babies owls who wake up and their mummy is not there. Just like this children in Reception, leaving their families to come to school, this can be difficult for some. Throughout the week, the children have been making story maps, drawing their families and acting out the story. The children have been drawing, colouring and making collages using different materials. They have also been making owls using playdough.

 

Each child painted a self-portrait, first we looked at our skin colour in the mirror, then we chose the correct colour paint and we looked closely at the colour of our eyes and lips. This year is the Year of Diversity. We are looking at how we are all different and unique.

     

We have also been learning to make the sign of the cross , please practise at home.

Next week we will start our phonics learning. The children will be given a phonics book with the new sound each day from Monday to Thursday. Please complete the activity, practise the rhyme and practise writing the new letter. Over the weekends, practise all of the sounds learnt that week.  The children must bring their book into school each next day so we can stick the new sound in.

I have sent home a lunch menu. Next week is Week 3 on the menu. You can order the children’s lunches on school comms, this would be helpful because the children find it difficult to choose or please talk about what they would like before they come to school. If you child is not eating enough lunch, I will let you know.

We have very little socks if the children get wet or dirty, if you have any spare socks at home, please send them in.

Please send in a family photograph if you have not already.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Autumn 1 Week 2

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The children started their week with scooterbility, where they learnt about road safety, demonstrated control and learnt the importance of using their brakes.

In English, the children have used adjectives and nouns to describe aliens. They have also completed a tricky word and phonic assessments.

In Maths, they have placed numbers along number lines using skip counting and estimation skills..

In Art, they have learnt about and created some Andy Goldsworthy inspired pictures, using objects found in nature.

In History, the class learnt about primary and secondary sources. They then looked at different sources to prove that man has landed on the moon.

We had some very special visitors in Year 2 today…Miss Lambie and Baby Logan came to the class! Miss Lambie helped the children understand how to care for a baby and explained how Logan is changing as he is getting older. It was lovely to see them both and it really helped the children with their Science learning.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle

Home learning

Spelling and handwriting – please complete the sheet (in handwriting pencil).

Mathletics activities have been set.

Reading – please read with your child and return their book (and home learning folder) on Friday.

 

Year 6 Week Beginning 4.9.23

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Welcome back!

Year 6 have had a fantastic first week in their new class and have settled really quickly. The weather has been hot, hot, hot; despite this, the class have worked incredibly hard and given their best, all week long.

This year, Pope Paul School is celebrating the Year of Diversity. The children have spent lots of time in class thinking about what diversity means to them and have learnt that it simply means difference.

In English, the children have been learning about persuasion. They used cohesive language when discussing what makes a good/bad leader and prepared short speeches to express their opinion about, ‘What makes a leader effective?’ Year 6 also listened to different persuasive speeches, such as Greta Thunberg’s motivational speech at UK Climate Strike, for inspiration.

Greta Thunberg’s speech at UK climate strike – YouTube

They learnt that rhetorical devices, when used well, are powerful techniques for getting what you want. Examples of these are: Flattery, hyperbole, using imperatives and personal pronouns, repetition (the rule of three), using anecdotes and emotive language. Next week, the children will be applying these techniques to their own writing, when they compose their leadership letter of application to Mrs Heymoz.

In Maths, Year 6 have been reading, writing and exploring large numbers: some children have been working with numbers well into the billions- very impressive!

In RE, the class have been focussing on the school’s Mission Prayer. They used the bible to locate where each part of the prayer comes from, and wrote about how they intend to live out the values of the Mission Prayer, this year.

In Art, the children began their new topic: Activism: Printing, drawing and collaging! This topic explores how artists use their skills to speak on behalf of communities. During this unit, the class will make art based on the things they care about.

In Computing, Year 6 learnt about what is necessary to have effective communication and the importance of agreed protocols. They applied this understanding to IP address and the rules (protocols) that computers have for communicating with one another. The children also learnt about the use of a Domain Name Server (DNS) to translate web addresses into IP addresses.

In Music, the class began their new unit about swing music and were given a taste of Glen Miller music!

The week was finished off by a special mass of thanksgiving for Ms Lawlor, who has dedicated 25 years of her life to the children and families of Pope Paul School- thank you Ms Lawlor!

Online home learning will commence again from next Friday.

This weekend, the children have been asked to compose a speech, to persuade the other children in the school to vote for them to be a House Captain, on Friday. All children have been encouraged to apply for these roles, however, if your child doesn’t want to, this is absolutely fine, but please note that they are still required to write a speech using all of the persuasive features learnt this week in class.

Things to consider when writing your persuasive speech:

What effect do you want to have on the audience?

  • To feel inspired
  • To gain trust and confidence between the persuader and the audience
  • For the audience to like you
  • For the audience to agree and act accordingly after
  • To change minds and convince people to accept a view or an idea
  • To sell the benefits that they will gain from choosing you

Some people, particularly politicians, use something called a rhetorical device.

Rhetorical devices are powerful techniques for getting what you want.

Examples are:

  • Flattery- complimenting your audience e.g. a person of your intelligence deserves better than this…
  • Hyperbole- exaggerated language g. It is simply out of this world –strong.
  • Personal pronouns- I, we, you e.g. You are the key to this entire idea succeeding- we will be with you all the way, I can’t thank you enough.
  • Using imperatives- instructional language. E.g. Get on board and join us!
  • Triples– grouping language in threes e.g. Safer streets means comfort, reassurance and peace of mind for you, your family and your friends.
  • Emotive language- language that appeals to emotions. E.g. There are thousands of animals at the mercy of our selfishness.

Other factors that contribute towards a successful persuasive piece are:

  • Use of modal verbs- could, should, would, possibly, obviously likely.
  • Anacdotes- a short, amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
  • Speaking clearly and confidently
  • Confident body language
  • Formal tone
  • Repetition
  • Making promises
  • Rhetorical questions- have you ever wondered…
  • Adverbs of possibility- I think, possibly, undoubtedly

 

Good luck!

I am looking forward to see you all at the Meet the Teacher, next Monday at 2.45pm.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ms Pemberton

 

 

 

Year 5 – 08/09/23

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It has been an extremely busy first week of Year 5!

We began by choosing our first class novel in a World Cup of Books. It was tight competition, but the winning book was Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, which we have been enjoying reading in the Peace Garden this week. We have also launched straight into our English unit this week, which is based on the novel The Boy at the Back of the Classroom.

We kicked off our Year of Diversity on Monday by discussing people’s differences and why it’s important to have diversity in our community. We thought about what makes us unique, and how boring and frustrating it would be if we were all the same. Today, we explored the different languages spoken within our class, and looked on a map at the different countries in which our parents were born.

On Tuesday, we began our Art unit for this half term: Mixed Media Land and City Scapes. We looked at two contrasting artists and discussed their styles and techniques, which will hopefully inspire our own art in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, we made a start on our first Music unit, which is all about sea shanties. We had fun finding the beat, and singing the words and learning the meaning and background to What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?

Thursday saw our first Computing lesson about vector drawings. The children got to grips with the concept of a vector drawing being a combination of shapes and lines by turning a 6 shapes in an image of their choice. Next time, we will see how this translates on the computer.

Maths this week has consisted of reading and writing numbers up to 1,000,000, with place value being the foundations of nearly all other concepts in the subject.

PE this term will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, so please ensure that children are in their Pope Paul PE kits on these days.

Dates for your diary

Date Time Event
12/09/23 14:45 Year 5 Meet the Teacher Meeting
04/10/23 09:15 Year 5 Class Mass
13/10/23 09:15 Year 5 Class Assembly
04/12/23 All day Year 5 Class Trip – British Library
06/12/23 19:00 KS2 Advent Service at OLASV Church

No home learning this week (make the most of the final weekend of summer weather!) but please enjoy sitting in the shade with a good book!

Miss Donatantonio 🌞

Welcome to Reception!

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It has been lovely meeting you for lunch this week to begin the children’s journey at Pope Paul School. The children settled into the class well and have started to learn some of the class routines. It was wonderful to see the children getting to know each other and sharing their different interests. We have enjoyed getting to know the children and learning about what they enjoy to do.

Please send in the data collection sheet as I will not be able to add photos to the blog until we have received all of these.

Please make sure all the children’s uniform, hats and water bottles are labelled.

Our Topic this term is All About Me. Please send in a photograph with your child and their family by Thursday 14th September.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Friday, 8th September 2023

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Welcome back !

The children in Year 4 have had a lovely first week! They’ve settled into the school year well and tried their best in all activities.

We are celebrating Diversity at Pope Paul School this year and the children have learnt that diversity means differences. In class, they shared what makes them unique and different and participated in acts of worship around this theme. They also created pieces of artwork inspired by ‘diversity’, which will form their first display in class.

In English, the children started their first unit of work with a focus on sentence structure. We are using Mary Howitt’s wonderful poem ‘The Spider and the Fly’ to gain understanding of characters and plot before composing short persuasive letters, an advert and later on a longer narrative piece applying understanding of conjunctions and fronted adverbials. This week, the children used role play to gain understanding of the main characters and how they change through the ‘story’.

In Maths, the class looked at Place Value and used different concrete resources such as dienes (base 10) equipment and place value counters to represent 4 digit numbers flexibly.

In RE, we started looking at our Mission Prayer from a diversity point of you, understanding how we celebrate our community and our individual gifts.

Thank you for those parents who sent in boxes of tissues; we really appreciate your donations. For some reason we never seem to have enough 🙂

Dates for your diary:

PE- Mondays and Thursdays (please make sure children come in their full PE uniform on those days)

Meet the Teacher- Tuesday, 12th September 2023 at 8.45am

Y4 assembly- Thursday, 28th September 2023

Y4 Class Mass- Wednesday, 11th October 2023

Parent Consultations- Tuesday, 17th October 2023/ Thursday, 19th October 2023

Class Trip to the Epping Forest District Museum- Thursday, 19th October 2023

Home Learning:

Children will receive their new reading records next week, with their log in details for online resources/learning platforms.

Please practice this week’s spelling words: homophones

accept-except, knot-not, peace-piece, plain-plane, weather-whether

Please log onto mathsframe (free resource but be advised it can contain ads and pop ups) and spend 15-20 mins practicing mixed multiplication tables.

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn 1 Week 1 w.b. 04.09.2023

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Welcome to Year 1!

The children have had a lovely start to the new school year and a very busy week. They were all excited to see each other and it was lovely seeing them all spending time with each other again. They joined the first school assembly and learned about The Year of Diversity and wrote what they think makes them unique which will be displayed in the hall. In class the children also took part in collective worship and spoke about how we are all different.

 

 

Year 1 have been busy exploring their classroom and their new play area outside. They have practised tidying up and I have to say they are very good, so look out for this at home! They have particularly enjoyed fishing in the ball pit, modelling with play dough and role play in the home corner.

 

 

P.E.

Our PE days are Monday and Friday. Children should wear their full Pope Paul PE kits to school on those days, including sweatshirts rather than school jumpers or cardigans for colder weather. Please wear a plain white or black t-shirt until house teams are allocated.

 

Home learning

We will continue to assess the children in phonics and reading over the next week or so before sending reading books home. This will ensure that we are accurately sending books with sounds in that the children can read and enjoy with you at home.

Reminders

Please ensure that all belongings are named clearly. Please check the school bags to make sure that nothing belonging to someone else has accidentally been taken home. Children need a water bottle and hat in school every day please and any boxes of tissues would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday 13th September 2.45pm – Year 1 Meet the Teacher Information Session.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

Mrs Poyiadzis and Mrs Barnes

Autumn 1 Week 1

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What a lovely first week we have had together in Year 2. The children have settled into the school year well and have tried their best all week.

We are celebrating Diversity at Pope Paul School this year and the children have been learning that Diversity means differences. In class the children have shared what makes them unique and how our differences make us special.

In Maths, the children have been looking at regrouping and two digit numbers. They have used many different ways to represent numbers using resources, pictures and number sentences.  In RE the children have been looking at and discussing our school mission statement.

We have had a lot of fun in PE, learning new games and solving problems together. Our PE days will be on Tuesday and Wednesday this term. Please ensure your child comes to school in their Pope Paul PE kit on these days. Despite it being very hot this week, the children have enjoyed playing outside together.

Our first English task was to describe ourselves – these pieces of writing are proudly on display in the classroom. The story we are using for our first English unit is Aliens love underpants, written by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. The children have edited sections from the story and completed comprehension task based on it. Next week they will be using their ordering and describing skills.

Reading – next week your child will bring home their reading record and book. Thank you for sending in their Y1 reading records. Their reading days will be the same as they were in Y1 for now.

Dates for your diary

PE on Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday 12th September Y2 scooter training

Friday 15th September – Meet the teacher 2:45pm

Tuesday 17th October and Thursday 19th October – Parent consultations.

Home learning and show and tell

Please find a handwriting and Maths sheet in your child’s school bag and return them by Wednesday 13th.

I will add a show and tell date in your child’s reading record next week. If they want to take part in show and tell please ensure they bring or talk about something they have made, a certificate/medal they have received, something linked to our topics (space and animals) or something about your family.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle

 

 

Friday 8th September, 2023

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Fun, scary, exciting are some of the feelings of  Year 3’s first week back at school. This week in Year 3, the children have been working hard to get back into the mode of learning after a long summer break.

We started the week with a class act of worship in which the children wrote their feelings or hope for the academic year ahead.

This year at Pope Paul, we are going to be celebrating our Year of Diversity and the class have been learning that  Diversity means differences. In class discussions, the children have chatted about how people may be different in many ways, including race or ethnicity, age, disabilities, language, culture, appearance, or religion.

In Maths, the children have been looking at three digit numbers and exploring the relative size of whole numbers building upon concepts learnt so far in Key Stage One.  They have been be provided with a variety of opportunities to represent numbers in different ways using resources – pictorially, using language and symbols.  In RE the children have been looking at and discussing our school mission statement.

Our topic for English is Fables. We have been reading a variety of them and picking out what moral we learn from each one. The children have done a wonderful job at retelling these stories in groups and creating role plays with the characters.

 

The children have also been introduced to the Recorder and learnt how to play the ‘B’ note and I must say, they were quick to master this! They have each been given their own school recorder to play during these lessons.

This afternoon, the children were part of the celebrations for Ms Lawlor’s 25 years of service.  They celebrated mass with Fr Shaun. Sive and Joe C took up the offertory with reverence and Grace and Solomon shared their own thoughts about Ms Lawlor and how she has helped them since they have come to this school.  At the end of mass, the children received a refreshing ice lolly!

The children have been very good at remembering to bring in their water bottles and hats.  If a water bottle has been left at home, do not worry as we have fresh water jugs in the classroom for their use.

 

PE days are Wednesday and Friday this term.

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines.

 

Home Learning:

This week, the children will be coming home with their passwords they used last year in Year 2.  Their reading logs will be handed out to them next week on their allocated reading day alongside the new usernames etc for Mathletics, TTRs (timestable rockstars), SPAG.com.

  • Log onto Mathletics where some activities have been set and log onto TTRs to start to practise the times tables that have been set. Spellings for this week can be found on the sheet sent home and activities can be accessed on spelling shed.