St Pius X Catholic Primary School

  Year 1 Scientists Explore Their Five Senses With Herbs! This week in Science, Year 1 became real-life botanists as we explored how our five senses help us learn about the world around us. The classroom was filled with excitement (and some very interesting smells!) as the children investigated a selection of fresh herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley and mint . To begin, each child was given their own mystery plant. Without being told what it was, they used their senses to become detectives: 👀 What can you see? Children looked closely at the leaves, noticing colours, shapes and patterns. Some spotted “spiky leaves”, others described “tiny curls” or “smooth, shiny green”. 👃 What can you smell? This was definitely the favourite sense of the day! We heard comments like: “This one smells like pizza!” “It smells like Christmas trees!” “This one is minty!” ✋ What does it feel like? Children gently touched the leaves and stems, describing them as “soft”, “bumpy”, “tickly”, or “rough...

Our annual book week has been a huge sucess!  We kicked off the week with some wonderful class swap lessons - the teachers moved around to different classes and delivered a one off fun English lesson! Many of these involved drama and stotytelling - a great way to kick off the week!  We also launched our masked reader competition on Monday! 3 members of staff masked themselves while reading an extract of a book for the children. The children have spent all week working out who's behind the mask - it has created a joy and a buzz around the school! The children really enjoyed the masked reader unveiling - results below! Thank you to all the staff who participated!  Every year we love welcoming you in for our reading cafes. It is a real moment of joy to see families coming together to read together. The children simply love it when parents can come into school and share in their learning and we truly believe that reading with our families is hugley important for both reading ...

This week in Year 5, our scientists became experts in plant propogation.  Following our exciting exploration into how plants use flowers, bees, and the wind to create seeds (sexual reproduction), we dove into the plant world’s incredible ability to "clone" itself (asexual reproduction).  To see this process in action, we focused on a class favourite: the Spider Plant ( Chlorophytum comosum ). Mrs Cosgrove kindly lent us her well looked after spider plants.   Hanging from the ends of the stems are tiny, perfect miniature versions of the parent plant. These are called 'plantlets'. We learned that the parent plant sends out these long stems (runners) to find new places to grow. Once a plantlet touches the ground, it starts to grow roots.  We learned that propagation is just a fancy word for making new plants, and our Year 5 scientists were eager to become propagation experts. Here’s what we did: Selection: We carefully chose healthy plantlets that had already deve...

🕮 We have enjoyed celebrating Book Week in Year 2! The KS1 reading cafe was a roaring success! Thank you parents and family for joining the children to share books and celebrate reading with the children! Year 2 also enjoyed a calm 20 minutes of ' Stop and Read!' this morning. The adults also took the opportunity to catch up with their favourite books! It was also lovely to see the children sharing and swapping books too! This morning we joined a live workshop through Scholastic with author Sarah Roberts , an explorer and biologist who has written children's books. She explained about different careers we could have if we were interested in animals and conservation. This linked nicely to our recent Live and Let Live IPC topic. Some children said they would like to be explorers, paleantologists and film-makers! The excitement continues with the Masked Reader and Book Day dressing up ....

Year 2 have started their new IPC topic - Buildings! They shared their prior learning, bringing together lots of knowledge from science (materials) to geography (famous landmarks around the world). To get them excited, they were tasked with designing their 'Dream Home,' which obviously included giant swimming pools, underground tunnels and walls made from sweets! Today they explored the historical concept of chronology through timelines. Firstly by considering their own personal timeline, ordering significant events in their own lives and then ordering a range of buildings from the past. They needed to look at the materials used and the purpose of each building before placing it on a timeline. This enabled the children to discuss why certain styles and materials were used in the past and how these have changed and modernised. 'Homes didn't have electricity!' Logan 'Now we have washing machines and dishwashers,' Mia 'Old houses used stones and mud, like ...

On Wednesday morning, Year 3 took part in a special Stop and Read session to celebrate World Book Week. For 20 minutes, everything paused as the classroom filled with the quiet excitement of children getting lost in their favourite stories. Children brought in books from home and chose texts from our class library, settling down in cosy corners to enjoy uninterrupted reading time. There was a wonderful variety of books being explored. It was fantastic to see such focus and enthusiasm, with everyone fully immersed in their stories. The session was a lovely reminder of how powerful and enjoyable reading can be and a perfect way to celebrate our love of books together. I love reading because I lose myself in the book and it's fun William

Our Year 3 football team delivered a brilliant performance at their recent tournament, finishing 5th out of 16 schools,  an outstanding achievement! Across seven matches, they won 4 games , drew 1 , and lost just 2 . Even more impressive was their incredible defence, conceding only 2 goals all day. The teamwork, determination and resilience shown by every player made a real difference. A top-five finish in such a competitive field is something to be very proud of. Well done, team!

 This afternoon, Year 4 was thrilled to welcome Nicky Brown for a public speaking workshop. She was preparing us for a competition and teaching us how to be good public speakers by giving us 'super powers'. These included: eye contact, splitting the room in three, hand gestures, expressions and movement. She helped us practice these 'super powers' and we built up speeches and introductions without having to write a single thing down! We then got to all practice doing a role in a speaking competition. There were four different speaking roles to try out. The first was the Captain who introduces the team and the members. Then there was the Chairperson who introduces each person as they stand up to speak. The Speaker gives the speech with all the 'super powers' we've learned and finally there's the Questioner. They have to listen really carefully because they have to ask a question related to the opposite team's speech and also take questions from the au...

To make the most of the beautiful spring weather and in celebration of World Book Week , we decided to take today’s reading session outdoors. Surrounded by the fresh air and sunshine, it was the perfect setting for diving into our latest chapter. Today, we explored Chapter 16 (Goodnight Mr Tom) , which sparked a lively discussion about language. The open-air environment seemed to inspire even more thoughtful insights and reflections from everyone, making our literary conversation richer and more engaging.

Thank you to all who purchased books from our recent book fair! This has rasised a wonderful £98.66 in rewards for the school! We can use this money to purchase books from scholastic to continue the children's love of reading here at St Pius X!  Thank you so much! 

 This half term, we are developing our ball skills during PE. We started today by learning how to dribble a football.  Everyone had a football and moved around the space using small, gentle touches to keep the ball close to their feet. The children pretended they are witches and wizards with “magic feet,” using their powers to control the ball carefully as they travel. We also practised receiving the ball using our feet instead of our hands.  'I can balance the ball on the cone to help me'- Ethan 'Get ready it's coming'- Henry 

  🌱 Year 1 Launches Their New IPC Unit: Green Fingers ! This half term, Year 1 have stepped into the wonderful world of plants as we begin our brand‑new IPC unit, Green Fingers . The children have already shown so much curiosity, teamwork, and enthusiasm — it’s been a joy watching them become little botanists. 🌼 Entry Point: What Do Plants Need to Grow? We kicked off our learning by exploring the essential things plants need to survive and thrive. Through hands‑on discussion and observation, the children thought carefully about water, sunlight, soil, and air — and then put their ideas into action. To bring our learning to life, each child planted their own watercress seeds . They carefully sprinkled the tiny seeds, watered them gently, and placed them in a spot where they could get just the right amount of light. Over the next few weeks, the children will be keeping a weekly growth record , observing how their plants change and using their scientific skills to notice patterns. Al...

There is something truly transformative about 8,000 voices singing in perfect harmony. This week, our Year 5 and 6 students didn't just attend a concert—they were the concert. Led by Mrs Wallace, our Young Voices choir finally headed to the London O2 Arena . It was the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work, and what a spectacular finale it was! The day was a whirlwind of energy and music. Our students spent the afternoon in an intensive rehearsal with thousands of other children from across the UK. It was here that the scale of the event truly hit home. As the sun went down and the arena lights flickered on, the atmosphere shifted from focused practice to pure electric excitement. 'It was really really fun and there were loads of lights flickering. My favourite song was 'Power in me' because everyone sang it really loudly.' - Niamh Year 5 'I really liked how big the stadium was and I loved singing with my friends. The best song for me was the disco medley....

  Today, our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils took their maths learning to the next level by stepping into the role of party planners! Using Google Sheets, the children created their own budgets for a birthday party, combining digital skills with real-life maths. The lesson focused on helping pupils understand how to organise information using cells and how to use simple formulas to automatically calculate totals. After listing items such as food, decorations, entertainment, and party bags, the children worked out the costs and kept track of their spending within a set budget. This activity not only strengthened their understanding  of addition and money but also introduced them to the importance of financial planning and decision-making. Pupils quickly discovered that planning a party requires careful choices — should they spend more on decorations or save money for extra treats? As they worked, the children developed their confidence using Google Sheets, learning how spreadsheets...

Year 2 Litter Picking! To mark the end of our IPC topic 'Live and Let Live!' Year 2 decided to help out around our local area. They have been learning about habitats and life cycles in science, and have researched endangered animals as part of a homework project. They have been reminded that our world is precious and that we all have a responsibility, as God's stewards, to take care of the earth. We can do this is big ways but also small acts of service that can make a big difference! They worked fantastically in pairs, sharing equipment and helping each other to collect rubbish. They were astonished at the amount of litter they found along the pavements, in bushes and around the local park! Here's a selection of projects... lots of information about pandas, tigers, elephants! Well done Year 2 - some amazing homework projects and excellent citizens helping out our local community.

🐉 Lunar New Year! Today Year 2 learnt about the exciting festival of Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival). They watched a video showing how this is celebrated, including traditions of food, decorations, fireworks and parades. It was interesting to learn about other cultures, tradions and celebrations from around the world. They also found out what animal they were based on their birth-year: 2018 is the year of the dog and 2019 is the year of the pig! 2026 is the year of the horse. To finish, they made their own Chinese New Year dragons! Happy New Year from Year 2! 🐉