St Pius X Catholic Primary School

As part of Year 6's International Primary Curriculum topic, the children conducted a scientific enquiry (pattern seeking) to learn more about variation and adaptation. They simulated bird feeding by using utensils as different types of beaks to collect food. The children were able to explore the wide variety of beak types that can be seen within the bird population, as well as develop an understanding of the way in which beak shape is related to the available food sources within an environment. "It was really challenging trying to use the cocktail sticks for foods that did not need sharp beaks." Lillian "I noticed that when there was less food, it became more competitive and therefore much more difficult." Jason The children, as always, demonstrated reciprocity when conducting their enquiry, which was brilliant to see.  After they had conducted the enquiry, they worked hard to calculate the mean average for each beak type and food and recorded their data in a re...

Year 6 worked hard this week to develop their conceptual understanding of decimals. They used concrete objects to illustrate exactly how much each decimal place is worth. “ There are 10 tenths in one whole and 100 hundredths in one whole. ” Seb “ One hundredth is ten times smaller than one tenth. ” Dasharn Having a solid conceptual understanding is essential for the children to understand decimals at a mastery level.  It was lovely to see the children working collaboratively throughout the lesson; demonstrating reciprocity and challenging their partners effectively. Excellent work, Year 6! 

Our School Values place Christ at the centre of all we do at St Pius X and they inspire everyone towards excellence! Our six values are; Fairness, Kindness, Forgiveness, Integrity, Peace, Service Which value best represents you?

In PSHE this week, the Year 6 children have been learning about why it is so important to be kind, especially when online. "You cannot take back what you say, so you have to be careful to make sure it doesn't hurt somebody's feelings."  Mikhailia "Jesus said that you should love your neighbour just as you love yourself."  Tallulah They looked at different scenarios and decided when people were shown to be bystanders and when they were shown to be upstanders. "A bystander is a witness to what's going on, but doesn't really do anything about it." Dash "An upstander is a witness to what's going on, but is someone who tries to positively intervene"  Darcie Year 6 were able to identify a pattern: an upstander is resourceful (using different tools to positively intervene such as blocking, complimenting or reporting to a trusted adult), and also demonstrates reciprocity (complimenting the target and asking if they are okay).

Our 'STARS' this week are:  William, Agnes, Ethan, Oakley, Willow, Daniel and Darcie

Year 6 have wowed us this week with their incredibly persuasive speeches .  As part of our studies of 'Floodland' in English, the children have been studying persuasive techniques in order to prepare them for writing their own speech. They watched speeches from highly influential people, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s ' I Have a Dream'  speech. The children were not only able to identify key features in the speeches, but they were also able to maturely discuss the serious issues raised in the speeches. It was brilliant to see the children listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers and to articulate their thoughts respectfully.  The children then used all of their knowledge and understanding to write their own persuasive speech about why, Dooby, a main character in 'Floodland' should lead Eels Island. Here are a few quotes from their amazing work: "I can no longer stay silent. Putting me in charge is not a question of politics, it is ...

As part of their International Primary Curriculum unit, Year 2 have been working hard to understand the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. They thought carefully about designing a healthy breakfast menu and discussed, as a class, what would be good choices to eat and drink in the morning and why. "Porridge and fruit is a good breakfast." "Smoothies are a good way to have dairy and fruit together." The children also looked at what would not be a healthy breakfast and why, "Chocolate is not a healthy breakfast." "Some cereals have chocolate in but it's OK to have a little sugar." It was wonderful to see children demonstrating excellent reciprocity; taking turns to speak and listening to each other's ideas. Well done, Year 2!

Year 5 have been working hard to develop their PE skills this term; demonstrating reciprocity, resilience and a healthy sense of competition over the last few weeks. This is what the year 5s had to say about their learning: "In P.E we have been learning key fundamental skills and what the components of fitness are. These are: flexibility, agility, balance, co-ordination, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, power and reaction time." "We have been learning about invasion games, specifically how to find space and communicate our passes in sports such as netball and benchball." Wow! Amazing work, Year 5!

Year 4 have been exploring the artwork of Sonia Boyce this term, a British born artist who holds on to her Caribbean heritage. She was awarded an MBE in 2007 and is currently a professor of fine arts. We discussed what a superb role model she is and explored some of her pieces of art that led to her earning so many accolades. "It is really fun doing art in the theme of Sonia Boyce."  Jaeshen "Sonia Boyce did pictures with family members and they had patterns in the background. I did my family in Ibiza."  Willow " We are trying to do a Sonia Boyce type of background. I tried to do a swimming pool." Kian Excellent work, Year 4! 

 Our First Term in School Reception have made a brilliant start to school life.  The children have been focusing on settling in, learning school routines and making friends this term.    The children have loved exploring our environment.    We have begun our Phonics and Maths lessons where the children are enjoying learning to read and write and explore patterns and shape.   Each week our learning is based around a theme and a book. The children LOVED the Supertato story and enjoyed recreating scenes form the story through role play and making their own 'Supertato' We are so proud of the children for settling into school and we have been very impressed by their maturity and attitude to learning! Well done Reception!

  Reception's Autumn Walk We took the children down to the forest area to do an autumn hunt. The children haven’t been before so the rules of the area were explained and working in small groups they tried to complete the checklist and find the signs of autumn. I have found a yellow leaf. Brian There aren't any conkers - there's no conker tree. Nina  We think they all enjoyed our adventure. We also sat on the log circle and sang our autumn song which we have been practicing in class. A video of us singing our Autumn song can be found here: 

As part of our celebrations for Black History Month in Year 6, the children have been studying a highly influential British black artist, Sir Frank Bowling.  Bowling is famous for pushing creative boundaries in art and was interested in producing abstract pieces of art, full of colour, shape and personal memories. The Year 6s learned about how Bowling continued his experimentation with abstract art by pouring paint onto a canvas. They then had a go at creating their own 'poured painting' thinking carefully about the colours they wanted to use and how to tilt the canvas to create the effect they wanted. "It is really fun to not have to use paint brushes!"   Dasharn The finished products were amazing and were definitely a celebration of Sir Frank Bowling's work! "This is so cool - mine looks look mustard and ketchup!" Seb Outstanding work, Year 6!

Year 6 had great fun in their entry point to their new International Primary Curriculum topic - Out of Africa! In this unit they will be learning all about evolution and inheritance, as well as developing their scientific enquiry skills by classifying living things, researching and pattern seeking.  They explored the idea that life began at sea and investigated what animals might have looked like in the Cambrian period, using fossil evidence to support their conclusions.  They then had some fun at creating their own fossil, using their knowledge of what a fossil from that period in history looks like.  "It was quite challenging to try and replicate a fossil from the Cambrian era, but I kept on trying!"  Kayla "It is amazing how we can learn so much about living things from the past just by looking at rocks!"  Luca Outstanding work, Year 6! 

In year 6, the children have been working very hard to write an emotive diary entry from the perspective of Zoe - the protagonist in our story, Floodland.  Last week, they developed their evaluating skills further. Showing reciprocity and reflectiveness, they worked closely with their partners to edit and improve their diary entries. They thought carefully about their audience and their initial writing goals. Each child then identified specific elements of their partner's work that they loved and some children were able to articulate to the whole class why that specific piece of writing was so effective. It was wonderful to see how many of the children were able to discuss the impact particular writing choices had on the reader.  Keep up the excellent work, Year 6!

Children across the school had such a wonderful time last Friday, dazzling us all with their rock star outfits! It was so wonderful to see the children so enthusiastic about improving their times table knowledge. Year groups battled it out throughout the day to earn their place as the speediest and most accurate rock stars! Congratulations to years 2,3 and 6 who won their battles! A special congratulations to the following children, who contributed the most points to their class: Year 1 - James, Florence and Alexis Year 2 - Emil, Harry and Jivel Year 3 - Johann, Jisvia and Noel Year 4 - Ariana, Angelin and Ben Year 5 - Sanjay, Roseanna and Jophiel Year 6 - Jonathan, Ava R and Joshua Keep rocking, St Pius!