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Performing poetry in Year 5

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Our classroom was transformed into a stage this week as the children took a deep dive into the powerful world of war poetry. Tied closely to our current reading of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse , this unit has allowed the children to explore how poets use rhythm, imagery, and structure to capture complex history and deep emotions. After choosing a poignant stanza or an entire poem, they took on the challenge of learning it completely off by heart. To bring these verses to life, we recapped our core public speaking skills. The children didn't just read the words; they performed them. We focused heavily on three key elements of powerful delivery: The Power of Voice: Modulating tone, pace, and volume to mirror the changing mood of the poems. Purposeful Gesture: Using hand and body movements to emphasize key imagery without distracting the audience. Commanding the Speaking Space: Learning how to move confidently within a physical space to mark transitions or shift the emotional focus...
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Year 2 Mini Games

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Last week Year 2 ventured off to Chelmsford Stadium for the Mini Games - a brilliant morning of athletics activities alongside other local schools. They had a fun time participating in lots of different stations, from javelin to cup-stacking! Well done Year 2!
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☆ Exhibition Afternoon 6.7.26 ☆

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Thank you to all the family and friends who attended our annual Exhibition Afternoon. The children have all been working hard to create 'sculptures' to exhibit. There was an amazing variety - paper sculptures, clay, recycled materials, wire figures..... what a wonderful example of the creativity of our students! Thank you for also visiting your child's classroom to see some of the brilliant work they have been doing in class. We appreciate your ongoing support and the children love to share their achievements with you!
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Year 1 Art Week – Sculpture & Aboriginal Art Focus

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  Year 1 Art Week – Sculpture & Aboriginal Art Focus During Art Week, Year 1 have been busy exploring art through sculpture and painting , taking inspiration from Australia and its rich artistic traditions. The children began the week by learning about different types of sculptures and how artists use shape, texture and form to bring ideas to life. They then created their very own Australian animal clay sculptures , carefully shaping kangaroos, koalas, wombats and more. The children loved experimenting with clay tools, smoothing, carving and adding details to make their animals look as realistic as possible. Later in the week, the children learned about Aboriginal dot painting , looking closely at traditional patterns, symbols and colours. They created beautiful dot‑style backgrounds to accompany their clay sculptures, thinking carefully about colour choices and repeating patterns. These paintings were designed to sit alongside their sculptures in our Art Week Exhibition. The f...
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Reception- Fieldwork Week

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 For fieldwork week this year, Reception class were exploring the speed, distance and direction of bubbles in the wind. They first learnt the different compass directions and used this learning to explore the direction that the bubbles travelled.  We used the compass in the playground to help us see which way they travelled. Some went fast, some went slow. Some bubbles flew straight up into the sky and others floated slowly into the trees. 'It went to the side'- Esther 'The wind has gone now and the bubbles went to the floor'- Elijah 'They went straight up and not that far'- Valentina 'They went fast'- Ivy  'Some went a long way and some didn't'- Clare  Some of the children knew about the directions on a compass and what they are used for.  'I have a toy compass, it tells you the ways'- Nina  'I know west and east'- Jesse-Joy 'I know South America is south'- Ethan 'A compass is a round object and it helps you with ...
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Shining Bright for a Brighter Tomorrow: Today’s Talent Show for CAFOD!

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  The energy in the hall today was absolutely electric as our school community came together for an unforgettable talent contest, all in support of CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development). From jaw-dropping musical performances and hilarious comedy routines to spectacular dance acts, our local stars truly brought their A-game to the stage.  Thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone who bought a ticket, we raised vital funds that will go directly toward CAFOD’s global mission to fight poverty, confront global injustice, and provide urgent disaster relief. A massive congratulations and thank you to our brave contestants! 
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SJP SVP join Year 6 for transition fun!

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This afternoon, our Year 6 pupils enjoyed a fantastic transition visit from the inspiring students of the St John Payne Catholic School SVP Society . The visitors gave an insightful talk about secondary school life and the community work of the SVP, before opening the floor to a brilliant Q&A session that helped ease those big-school jitters.    To round off a wonderful afternoon, the students and Year 6 children teamed up for a lively round of board games, sharing plenty of laughs, mentorship, and friendly competition!
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Cakes, coffee and celebrating!

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 Thursday 18th June 2026 Cakes, Coffee and Celebrating!! It is fast becoming a tradition!  Our 3rd Year of The Mini Vinnies holding a Cream Tea at  St Pius X Primary School and invititing some of our older members of our local community.  We had many of our regulars along with some new visitors.   It was a fab afternoon as always.  Plenty of cakes and coffe and lots of chats.  Year 6 then entertained everyone with a preview of all their Production Songs from their Leaver's Production, The Wizard Of Oz. They were amazing!  All in all it was another fantastic afternoon with our friends from the Community we thank you so much for coming and sharing this wonderful event and we look forward to seeing everyone again soon. The Mini Vinnies
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Year 5 visit the Jewish Living Experience

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This morning, Year 5 endured the heat, to travel to St John Payne for the Jewish Living Experience. This linked perfectly to our learning around how Judaism and Catholocism are connected. The children got to handle and explore a range of artefacts on a range of themes at the workshop. They explored themes such as celebrations, foods, scriptures and traditional dress.  The children all learned a great deal and were incredibly engaged throughout the session. They were helped along the way by some Year 10 RE students from St John Payne who were able to share all their knowledge of their year's learning.   'It was very enjoyable because we got to experience other objects from Judaism. I learned that they place a cloth over the Shabbat bread to keep it clean.' - Harry  'The Jewish scripture is called the Torah - it is written from right to left.' - Vinnie  'My favourite part was playing the new year horn called the Shofar. Jews play this at Rosh Hashanah t o signify ...
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A special visitor - Year 2

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 Today Year 2 prepared for a special visitor - Rabbi Irit. They have started to learn more about the Jewish faith, its similarities and differences with Catholicism and how they celebrate Shabbat. Questions included: What’s on the scroll on the mezuzah? Are synagogues different to churches? What do Jews do in the synagogue? Have you written using the Hebrew alphabet? What God do you believe in? What is a Torah? Rabbi Irit gave us an insight into the role of a Rabbi and even showed us how to write 'Shabbat' in Hebrew - they write from right to left and their alphabet doesn't include any vowels! She showed us her mezuzah with a tiny, handwritten scroll inside. She also showed us her Torah and explained about the 3 main sections - laws, prophets and stories/psalms. We finished by singing along to 'Shabbat, Shalom!' The children enjoyed learning about a different religion and were respectful and engaged.
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🏖️ Year 1 Trip to Maldon Promenade 🏖️

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  🌞 Year 1 Trip to Maldon Promenade  🌞  Tuesday was one of those magical school days the children will remember for a long time. Year 1 set off bright and early on the coach, full of excitement and chatter as we made our way to Maldon Promenade for our summer learning adventure. 🏖️ Sand, Smiles and Super Teamwork As soon as we arrived, the children headed straight for the sand pit , where they spent a happy morning digging, shaping and building sandcastles with friends. It was wonderful to see so much teamwork — children sharing buckets, helping each other build walls and proudly showing off their creations. 🚤 Sketching the Boats on the Estuary Next, the children settled along the promenade to draw the boats travelling up the estuary . They looked carefully at the shapes, colours and sails, producing some beautifully detailed pictures. Their focus and observational skills were fantastic. 👀 Eye Spy Around the Promenade We then played a lively game of Eye Spy , spot...
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💻 Year 2 - PSHE Online safety

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💻 With the recent news about the social media ban for under 16s, Year 2 were keen to discuss this and share their opinions! Our PSHE lesson was focused on how and why we use the internet so this real-life news linked perfectly! We watched BBC Newsround video listening to older children discussing their thoughts on the ban. Then we talked to our partners about what 'rules' we had at home when using devices. These included: time limits - must turn off devices at 6pm time limits - can only play online games at the weekend limited contacts - can only message family members educational - can play educational games We also talked about age limits as some children said they were allowed to use certain apps such as Facebook and Snapchat. The social-media ban is aimed at keeping children safe. This was a really important conversation to have - parents and carers please speak to your children about keeping safe online, monitoring their internet use and being available if they see someth...
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Reception- Trip to Maldon

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 On Tuesday, Reception Class took their first school trip to Maldon, where they could link this to their learning of the seaside. The children had to build their own sandcastles and then complete observational drawings of the boats in the water. They all loved playing in the sand and worked hard to complete their drawings, really focusing on the details they could see on the boats.  We also got to see people working on their boats and watched a sail boat travel across the water. The children spotted speed boats and sail boats.  We got to eat our lunch in the park and play on the all the play equipment, which was so much fun that even the adults had to take a turn! The children all behaved incredibly throughout the day and loved being on the coach, even if it did send a few of them to sleep.  A massive thank you to all the parents who were able to support on the trip, it really does make a big difference!   
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Hot-seating in English - Year 2

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🔥Year 2 are now experts when it comes to The Great Fire of London! To consolidate their understanding, they worked in groups to create questions for Samuel Pepys! They were encouraged to create 'open' questions to elicit as much information from the interviewee before getting into character. This was a great opportunity for children to use their spoken language skills - collaborating with peers, taking turns, sympathising with the characters and drawing upon prior learning about the topic. Q: How did you feel when you saw the fire?  A: I felt worried because I could see the houses falling down and people were screaming! Q: Why did you go to the king? A: The mayor wouldn't let us use the fire-hooks. The king said we could use them to stop the fire spreading.
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Problem solving in Maths - Year 2

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Our current focus is using language of direction and position. The children were tasked with a 'Build it' challenge - using a set of coloured cubes they had to follow the instructions to build a shape or tower that matched the clues. This meant using language of position (for example: next to, above, below, in between) as well as checking against all the clues! Some were quite tricky but they persevered!
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🌍 Atlas skills - Year 2

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🌍 In geography we have started to learn about the United Kingdom! We had interesting discussions about if the UK is a country; it is 4 countries 'united.'  Then we thought about the capital cities and their location in each country before exploring the atlases. This was a lot of fun - working together to identify the 4 countries and capital cities and then annotating them on our own maps. Year 2's understanding of the locations relative to each other has improved, and some even started to look at the seas and oceans surrounding us!  🌍
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N.O.W.S Year 6 Workshop

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To help our Year 6s prepare for the exciting move to secondary school, we recently hosted a fantastic transition workshop run by the brilliant team at N.O.W.S. Through a mix of fun activities and mindfulness techniques, the pupils focused on boosting their confidence, celebrating their unique core skills, and building the resilience needed for their next big adventure. It was a wonderful opportunity for the children to reflect on their strengths as they get ready to take this giant leap forward. A major focus of the session was emotional well-being, reminding our Year 6s that it is completely okay to feel a mix of nerves and excitement, and that talking about our feelings is a superpower. The N.O.W.S team also taught the pupils practical calming and mindfulness techniques that they can easily use at their new desks whenever they feel overwhelmed. Well done Year 6
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