Reception finished their first term at Pope Paul with an exciting week of Christmas activities!

They went to a pantomime, had Christmas dinner together wearing their Christmas party hats, shared their talents by auditioning for Pope Paul School’s Got Talent and had fun in a class disco. They ended this fun-filled week with a very special Christmas assembly.

Mrs Gymer and I would once again like to thank you for your generosity and support.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas,

Mrs Theo

It’s been a very busy week rehearsing for next week’s Nativity performance. Thank you for providing your children with their base layers. Reception had a full dress rehearsal on Thursday, in front of Year One, Year Six and their siblings and they did really well. The children are now really looking forward to performing for you on Tuesday morning!

This week, the class have continued to explore and become familiar with Advent. They have been learning about the symbolism of the Advent wreath and the meaning of each candle. The children went on to create a large class wreath and made observational drawings of the school Advent wreath.

The whole school have been invited to enter a national art competition.  They were asked to create paintings about the Nativity. Here are some of our outstanding entries!

Finally, this afternoon we had two special visitors- Mrs Conyers and Mrs Turner from St John’s Nursery popped in to say hello to Reception. They were delighted by the children’s singing and acting, as they rehearsed the final part of the Nativity.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Theo and Mrs Gymer

Reception class started the week  participating in a two minute silence at 11 o’clock, to commemorate Remembrance Day. The children have also been thinking about the friends and family that they have lost and have been praying for them every day during special prayer time.

This week has also been Anti-bullying week. The children have focussed lots of their learning around the story ‘The Rainbow Fish’, which is a book about making friends. The children have been discussing what they think makes a good friend and what to do if someone is being unkind to them or others. They also made cards and friendship bracelets and gave them to each other.

In RE, Reception have started the new unit ‘From Advent to Christmas’. The children have been thinking about all of things that you need to do and the things that you need to get in place, when you are preparing for the birth of a baby. The class were lucky to be joined by our very own Ms Varga who is also expecting a baby very soon. She told us everything that she has been doing in preparation for this wonderful event and answered lots of questions from the children. The children have also enjoyed exploring the new church role-play area outside!

Finally, in Maths this week, the children have had lots of fun finding different ways to sort a range of natural and man-made objects around the classroom.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Theo and Mrs Gymer

Reception have had a very exciting end to their first half term participating in One World Week with the rest of the school.

In class, the children have been learning about Italy. On Monday, they worked hard to create props for the new Italian restaurant. They then had lots of fun role playing being waiters, chefs, customers and front of house staff.

On Tuesday, Leon from Year 3 came to teach us some Italian songs and told us all about the village that his family come from in Italy. The children then made some Italian lemonade- It was delicious!

On Wednesday, Reception learnt about Pope Francis and the Vatican City. They also learnt about different landmarks in Italy, such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice and Milan. They enjoyed making their own models of the Leaning Tower of Pisa from clay and large scale gondolas from the large construction!

On Thursday the children learnt about pizzas and went on to make their own. They also had another visitor, Mrs Bruno, who read them a story in Italian about farm animals and then taught them how to count to ten and say hello, goodbye and thank you in Italian.

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our learning celebration this morning. Thank you for your continued support!

Wishing you all a lovely and restful half term break,

Mrs Theo and Mrs Gymer

Reception had a very exciting start to the week when they were visited by Jamie’s mum and her collection of reptiles! As well as learning lots  of facts about each one, the children were invited to handle them too. We certainly have lots of brave children in our class!

On Tuesday, the children were visited by a road safety officer who explained that before crossing a road, we must stop, look, listen and think!

In RE, Reception continued to explore the act of being stewards of the earth. They talked about how beautiful creation is and how important it is to take care of it. They then went on a walk around the school grounds, collecting natural materials that God created. When they got back to class, they worked in groups to create their own works of art.

Next week, Reception will be thinking about when they were babies and how much they have grown. If possible, please provide your child with a baby photograph. These will be returned to you in due course.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Theo and Mrs Gymer