St Pius X Catholic Primary School

 Well done to our Stars this week  Anna, Ralph, Brooke and Jessie

  End of term Mass  Father Paul came to celebrate the end of the Easter term with us in a whole school mass.  It was lovely to bring together our school community in the lead up to Holy Week and Easter Sunday in this religious collective worship service.

 Holy Week (Begins on 2nd April 2023) We are now deep into Lent and fast approaching Holy Week that begins this Palm Sunday, 2nd April.  The children can hopefully link the palms that were waved, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the ashes (from the burnt palms) used in our Ash Wednesday service at the beginning of Lent. Year 4 brought the Easter story alive for us with their Easter Production, telling Jesus' story and the events of Holy week which included Maundy Thursday (The Last Supper), Holy Friday (Jesus's betrayal and Crucifixion) and when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. In Whole School Liturgy, the children heard about the story where Jesus brought his friend, Lazarus back from the dead and Jesus' wonderful promise to us all.   We celebrated our Lenten Mass on Thursday, led by Fr Paul and the children who reminded everyone of this wonderful promise and how Jesus showed us that death is not the end!  We are promised an eternal life t...

We LOVED our Rocksteady workshop today. We had a chance to listen to and explore the sounds made using the instruments and the children enjoyed have the chance to play the instruments themselves. The children formed a band and worked together to perform to the audience.  Tim from Rocksteady was inspirational for the pupils and really engaged them in wanting to learn an instrument. You can find out more about it here .

 Yesterday, 8 enthusiastic and energetic Year Ones went on an adventure to Melbourne Sports and Athletics Centre for an afternoon of sporting fun! After the excitement of the high-Vis jackets, early lunch and walk we reached Melbourne ready to compete in the Teddy ‘Lympics against 12 other Chelmsford schools! All the children showed amazing team spirit cheering each other on and all showed their competitive nature! We look part in a range of activities from throwing to running to jumping and hoola-hooping!    We also had the opportunity to compete against each other and the sports leaders from a local secondary school – we loved this and found it amazing that some of them had competed in the Teddy ‘Lympics when they Year Ones! During the event we had parades and we all got to meet Ted, the games mascot, this was possibly the highlight of the day for us all! After participating in all 8 events we got back together with the other schools for the results. E...

Well done to the children who have achieved their 100 reads certificate in Spring Term.  Today we celebrated their efforts with hot chocolate and marshmallows. It was wonderful to see children from across the school enjoying their treats together and to hear their conversations about reading.  Well done to:  Reception: Alex, Purity, Maria, Cassius (200 reads) Year 1: Elisa, Elena, Harley, Grace, Jacob, Agnes, Sherilyn, Sanvika, James, Jamie, Phoebe, Olive, Gabriel Year 2: Harry, Janae, Ethan Year 3: Ella, Hannah, Victoria, Fran, Ivy, Poppy Dominic, Jack  Year 4: Nyara  Year 5: Greeshma, Oliver Year 6: Jessica, Emanuella, Katie, Elizabeth, Lillian, Jason (200 reads) 

  Worms? Woodlice? Fallow deer? Check! Year 4 had a great (albeit wet) time exploring nature as the Exit Point (celebration) of our IPC topic: Land, Sea and Sky. Activities included a nature walk, spotting badger sets and wild fallow deer, minibeast hunting, pond dipping and getting very muddy!  You can view the Badger Cam here: Badger Cam We also saw the huge solar panels and learnt that they move according to the sunlight - did you know that they turn upright when it snows so that the snow falls off, and they lay flat to avoid the wind? We shared and consolidated our knowledge and understanding of habitats, classifying invertebrates and saw the water cycle in action (precipitation!).  

It was so wonderful to invite parents into school yesterday for our 'Stay and Learn' session in maths. We were pleased to see so many parents join us for the afternoon - we know how excited the children were to have you in their classroom!  Hopefully, it was a chance for parents to see how we approach mathematics at St Pius and, of course, have some fun with the children! After such a successful afternoon, we will definitely arrange another session in the Summer term. Thank you again to all parents and carers for your continued support. 

  Easter Praise! A Year 3 and 4 Production Last week the school and parents, family and friends were treated to a wonderful performance of  'Easter Praise.' Years 3 and 4 worked tirelessly to rehearse this retelling of the important Easter story, remembering and celebrating Jesus' sacrifice. A very big well done to Year 3 for their amazing singing, as well as all of Year 4 for their acting and singing, particularly those who had lots of lines to learn! A special mention to Grace and Amy for their beautiful singing too! Also a very big thank you to all the staff involved - rehearsing, making props and costumes and providing music and lighting! A collaborative effort! Well done too to those who entered the Easter Programme Front Cover competition. The entries were beautiful and have all been displayed around the school.

Last week in P.E, the children developed their skills as gymnasts even further. They worked hard on a range of different activities that worked on their core strength, balance and control. It was brilliant to see them demonstrate resilience throughout the session, as some of the tasks definitely challenged them!  "We used a springboard to jump over the apparatus. It was quite challenging, but I really enjoyed it!"  Eila-Rose Excellent work, Year 6!

Year 6 had a brilliant time celebrating STEM week last week. It was wonderful to celebrate Mathematics and Science all in the same week! The theme this year was connections, which we related to a range of different topics.  The children worked hard in their Science lessons to explain the function of the heart and how it pumps blood around the body. They looked at how the circulatory system is connected and how all the different components work together. They created highly detailed explanation texts to demonstrate their understanding.  We were also very lucky to have a professor from the University of Essex visit us to discuss Microbiology and Virology! The children learnt about how to keep a healthy gut and which foods feed good bacteria and which foods they should try to limit.  "It was really interesting to learn that it is important to eat healthy food to feed your gut before you eat any unhealthy food." Elizabeth.  Finally, the children celebrated British Scienc...

  Well done to our STARS of the week  Murishani, Moksh, M ikhailia,  Grace, Oakley, My-An, Amy  and Emil

As part of Year 6's topic, Being Human, the children have been learning all about the different parts of the heart and how it pumps blood around the body. We have also been exploring ways to keep the heart healthy and the effect exercise can have on the circulatory system. This week, the children conducted their own investigation to answer the following research question: How does exercise affect heart rate? As the enquiry they were conducting was a comparative and fair test, they thought carefully about the independent variable they would change (whether they were resting or exercising) and how they would measure the dependent variable (their pulse). They also ensured that it was a fair test by keeping certain control variables the same. Furthermore, they made sure to repeat their experiment to increase the reliability of their results.  Their next job will be to present their data in a graph and discuss the conclusions they have drawn. As always, excellent work Year 6!