St Pius X Catholic Primary School

 

  This morning, some of Year 4 took part in the Mighty Oak Public Speaking competition. Each member had their own unique role for the day in order to present our topic: Schools should be open for four days instead of the traditional five. Our team consisted of Vanishka (Chair Person), Ella (Speaker), Raveena (Questioner), Jisvia (Captain), Christabel (Poetry Line Speaker), Noel (Word Master) and Poppy (manager). St. Pius X performed brilliantly against 11 other teams and Vanishka even won best Chair Person! Well Done to our team!

Year 1 have been learning all about Florence Nightingale during English and IPC lessons. We know that one of the most well known facts about her is that she is known as 'The lady of the lamp'.  Taking inspiration from this, we made our own tea light holders out of clay! We discussed how we could use utensils such as rolling pins, plastic scalpels and cutters and boards to help us create our designs. We used our hands to carefully pinch, stretch, fold and smooth the clay to make our lamps.  We worked extremely hard and are really excited to paint our lamps later this week! 

🏘 Continuing our IPC topic 'Buildings,' Year 2 have been putting on their 'Historian Hats' to consider how homes have changed over time. Extending their understanding of chronology and the impact of technology , they worked in pairs to sequence examples of homes and buildings from the past. There was much discussion about the materials used and how the use of electricity has affected our daily lives. This video explains some of the changes in recent history. 🌍 Then Year 2 became Great Geographers by comparing homes from around the world , from igloos to houseboats and apartment blocks to tree-houses! They thought about why people lived in different types of homes, for example their culture, the weather, the landscape and the available materials. It was challenging to work out where famous landmarks belonged on the world map. It was also interesting to get an insight into how other people live and has ignited curiosity about the world around us! We used this BBC we

🐛 We are currently looking after 5 tiny caterpillars and are awaiting their transformation into butterflies in a few week's time! 🦋   Check back soon for an update!

Over the year in our Music lessons, we have had the opportunity to listen to a wide range of music and discuss our feelings and responses to it. In our last lesson, we listened to 'William Tell Overture by Rossini'.  The children were able to identify how the music made them feel and make links to where they had heard it before.   'I've heard this music before - it's on my TV.' - Logan 'I enjoyed listening to the music, it makes me happy.' - Jorel  'It was such a brilliant piece of music, I enjoyed the beat.' - Qmari  Recently we have been exploring instruments and the sounds they make. The children enjoyed listening to short clips of music and identifying if it was the instrument in the picture or not. We also enjoy playing with our instruments in our provision - especially outside!  As young composers, the online tools to create music really support us. The children enjoy dragging beats and notes into the musical stave and then listening back t

This week we have been learning about boats as part of our Transport topic.  Firstly, the children became designers. They took time to think about the materials they would use and how they wanted their boats to look.  We then followed our plans meticulously to create the boats. The children used their material list to use the right objects and took time to create their boats. Towards the end of the week we became scientists. We  tested our boats to see if they would float. We decided to use 10 seconds to make sure that the test was the same for all the boats, this also allowed us to practise our counting. Some of the boats floated and some of the boats sank. We thought about why this has happened. The children identified that some of the materials weren’t waterproof. The cardboard boats sank after a few moments. ‘My boat was cardboard and the water went right through it, I would use maybe plastic next time.’ - Alfie Some of the plastic tubs also had a few holes in. The children could i

 This morning Year 2 participated in a special 'Money Sense' workshop, an initiative from Natwest Bank to educate children about the reality of money. Year 2 did brilliantly at remembering our prior Maths topic in which they learnt about money, so they could put their knowledge and understanding to good use during the session. They worked in teams to create a Smoothie business, thinking about what they would need to purchase. This involved budgeting so that they did not over-spend! There was a lot of discussion and time to practice working in a team, listening to each other, compromising, sharing roles and checking their numbers!

  Congratulations to our  Star of the Week children  Star of the week is given to children who have shown one of our 6 school values: Kindness, Fairness, Integrity, Service, Peace and Forgiveness.  These awards can also be given for children who have shown one of our learning powers throughout the week. They are: Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reciprocity and Reflectiveness.  Reception: Cairo Year 1: My-An Year 2 : Grace Year 3 : Penelope  Year 4: Jisvia Year 5: Lily Year 6:  Melissa

 Who Is Jesus?   In today's liturgy, the children were asked the question, Who is Jesus?   They answered.... "The Son of God." "He's kind and caring." "He's peaceful." "He's honest." All very good answers and the children knew that we learn about Jesus through the Bible.  They were reminded that we also experience Jesus in our daily lives, if we look for the signs. We heard the Gospel from John, that told us that Jesus is The Good Shepherd.  Unlike the hired help, who left as soon as things became tough or a little tricky, Jesus is always there, ready to guide and care for us no matter what trouble surrounds us.  He never leaves us and in fact he love's his sheep so much, that he was willing to lay down his life for them. The children were asked to remember that Jesus is also revealed through them, as individual followers of Christ, through their words and actions.  

  The netball team competed in their first High 5's tournament today, held at Beaulieu school. 10 teams took part from around Chelmsford, including Kings Road, Tyrells and St Anne's. This was great experience for the team, as this is only the third time they have played competitive netball. They dealt with the games quick pace, squad  rotations and the sudden change in weather conditions exceptionally well. I am very proud of all the children. They showed great resilience and determination during every game. All the matches were close and we were unlucky with our shots at goal. It was clear that some of the schools had played together a lot longer than us and had perfected some of their passing drills. This being said, the children left in high spirits and said they enjoyed the event. Our next match is scheduled in May. Until then, we will continue training on a Monday.  It was very fun considering the weather changing!  Jessica  The slices of oranges at the end tasted divine! 

 Year 1 learnt about the Ascension during the season of Pentecost in today's RE lesson.  We discussed how the Holy Spirit was promised from Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection, and how that may have made the disciples feel. We discussed the images that many artists use to represent the Holy Spirit. We also spoke about the art in stained glass windows and how many churches have them to depict special stories and people from religious history. We worked in small groups to create our own stained glass window art. We worked carefully and patiently together, making sure everyone had equal turns and making sure to include a range of colours and sizes of tissue for the finished piece. We are very proud of our work! 

🌍 Monday 22nd April is 'EARTH DAY!' 🌍  Year 2 used this as an opportunity to refine their art skills, in particular using watercolour paints. We practised making sure the brush was wet, and experimented with dabbing water on the paper first and then adding colour from the paint palette. This was different to the poster paints that we often use.  Our fine motor skills were also tested as we tried to concentrate on painting more delicately around the small lines on the Earth template. We enjoyed this activity as we have recently learnt about how to look after our environment!

Today, Year 6 participated in the BHF Revive School Training Program. Children learnt about life saving techniques, including their importance, and how someone can respond if they find an unconscious person who is not breathing. Learning Objectives:  Identify the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack. Explain or demonstrate how to respond if they see an unconscious person,  Explain or demonstrate how to use a defibrillator.  Describe or demonstrate how to work as a team and perform CPR safely. including how to make an emergency call and get help.

We have enjoyed our learning around road safety this week.  We were thrilled to have Anita in to class who delivered a brilliant workshop to the class.  The children looked at some scenarios and noted the following points that needed to be checked for safety:  'There are two boys running on the road. A car could come out of the garage.' - David  'You shouldn't play near the road as the ball could go onto it.' - Logan  'You wear a helmet to look after your brain.' -Qmari  'You wear a seatbelt so you don't fall out of your seat.' Janae 

 

We have been selecting appropriate equipment to practise our measuring in Maths. After making estimates we then used rulers, metre sticks and trundle wheels to measure various lengths and heights around the classroom and playground. 'The trundle wheel clicks after every metre,' - Joshua '100cm is the same as 1 metre,' - Phoebe 'I think the length of the classroom is 6 metres,' - Henry 'If it's half then you can write point 5,' - Harley 'I'm 1 metre 25cm tall!' - Olive

Year 2's new IPC topic is all about..... Buildings! We are looking forward to learning about buildings, homes, landmarks and sculptures from around the world and from different periods in history.  To start off we shared our knowledge about famous landmarks and buildings around the world including The Shard, The Pyramids, The Statue of Liberty, The Great Wall of China and Big Ben. Then we collaborated with our friends to build a structure using given materials. We really had to think about how we worked together to be successful, and consider which materials we should use and how to fix our structure together so that it was strong and stable. Finally we measured the height of our towers, making links to our maths unit of measurement.

🎨 WORLD ART DAY - 15th April 2024 Today we celebrated all things arty by trying out different art workshops in our Key Stages. From pointillism to collage to sketching and sculpture, every child experienced a selection of art-based activities! This was a fantastic opportunity to foster creativity and encourage resilience and exploration, using a variety of materials. Some of the pupils said: 'Art is relaxing and peaceful!' 'You can learn things from art.' 'People communicate through art, like cave paintings.'