St Pius X Catholic Primary School

 Year 3 and 4 were very lucky to have some performing arts workshops today from Swish. Today's workshop focused on dance. The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they were led through some exciting warmup games before going into some dancing. Students had the opportunity to freestyle, some even trying to break-dance, as well as being taught choreography for a new dance. The Year 4's were thrilled that one of the songs which they danced to was ABBA's 'Mama Mia', which they have been practicing in music. "I got to learn some new dance moves." - Mia "I like that I got to pretend to be the main character!" - Vinnie

  What an exhilarating journey we've embarked on with our ukulele! This delightful string instrument is not just for experienced musicians; it’s an accessible gateway for all ages to dive into the world of music. 🌟 This week, our students took their first steps into strumming melodies and discovering the joy of creating music. With laughter echoing through the hall and strumming patterns filling the air, we’ve witnessed some incredible moments of fun and creativity. From learning basic chords to jamming together, it’s been a fantastic way to foster teamwork and boost confidence. Ukuleles are perfect for budding musicians, and we've seen our children flourish as they engage with this cheerful instrument. 🎉 Stay tuned for more fun experiences and musical adventures!  " I had a great time learning to play today, I learnt the names of the strings, G, C, E, A." - Christabel

 A huge congratulations to our girls' football team who came runners up at the recent CSSP football tournament out of 20 schools! This team have shown reciprocity by working together and improving this year. They also needed to be resilient after losing a game to go on to win the last two! In total they won 5 out of 6 games and scored 11 goals, Ariana scored 10! Mr Cook and Mr Kelly are really proud of you all. This is the team's second silver medal, now it's time to focus on the league. I love coming to these tournaments, we did much better than last year and played really well - Team captain, Jessica.

 In year 3, we have started our work on our IPC unit 'Making Waves'. We are currently learning all about how light and sound travel. In our last lesson we used artificial light to create shadows, it turns out the closer a light source is to an objects.. the bigger the shadow! Next we will be using our comparative and fair testing skills to see if sound can travel through different objects. We will be creating vibrations using instruments, talking through balloons as well as using bottles! When an object blocks light source and creates a shadow it is opaque - Aadhavan

 Today for our daily prayer and worship lesson, students made 'kindness jars' for some elderly people in our community. We read 'God's good work' based on Genesis 1:26-28 and discussed how God created everyone to know, love, and care for one another. Together, we brainstormed ideas on things we could do for the elderly people in our community that would brighten their days and put a smile on their face. Some ideas included making flower bouquets, writing letters, and making kindness jars. Students voted to make kindness jars and write a kind sentence. This activity links to our school value of service. Students enjoyed making a positive impact in our community! "Doing something kind makes me feel good" - Ava-Grace "I hope they smile when they see my kindness jar" - Ikemba "I'm drawing lots of flowers and hearts because they make me happy" - Isla "I wrote 'I hope you have a good day'" - Hannah "Doing something ...

In Reception, one of our main focuses over the year is developing our children's language and confidence skills. We endeavour to provide a wide range of opportunities for back and forth conversations with pupils, building on what they have said and encouraging them to extend conversations through asking questions. This is through informal conversations and through planning speaking and listening activities.  This week, we have done this through discussing our families as part of our 'All about me' topic. The children have shown pride and our school learning power of resilience when standing in front of their peers to talk about their families. They used photos from home to start them off as they introduced their loved ones to their friends. We encouraged them to add extra details and also encouraged their 'auidience' to ask them questions.  Here are some of the things they shared:  'I have two grandmas and two grandads. I have a big sister in my family.' - ...

  A psalm is a song of praise to God After reading Psalm 19:1-5, we talked about all the things we are thankful for. This included our families, pets, water, shelter, friends, toys and teachers. We lit our class candle to remind us that God is always with us, especially when we are praying together. Then we had a quiet, reflective prayer time to talk to God and say thank you, sorry, or just tell Him how we are feeling. We decided to make cards to give to the elderly people in our community to cheer them up and remind them that God loves them! This is a great example of our school value of 'service.'  Our rising suns had special sun rays stating what we were thankful for.

  Our new topic for IPC is Superhumans! We have been exploring our super bodies! We enjoyed a carousel of activities including:    O Opticians – ‘We can wear sunglasses to protect our eyes’ (Blessed) ·         Healthy food dishes – ‘I’ve drawn a watermelon’ (Jayan) ·         Exercise – ‘My favourite pose was the splits’ (Bow) ·         Shopping for healthy food – ‘I love the shopping game!’  ·              

Please find a link to this week's Wednesday word below: 

This week, Year 1 have been counting backwards within 10! We did lots of choral counting, and used a variety of resources to help us do this to build our confidence. We used number lines, numicon, numbers in words, our fingers, multi link and ten frames. We discussed how the numbers become smaller when we count backwards and that we were counting back by 1 each time.  We had a carousel of different activities to embed our learning! We also spoke about how counting backwards would help us in the wider world and actually found lots of examples!  Qmari - "Rocket ships count down from 10 before they BLAST OFF!" Eva - "We count down from 10 before running races" Nancy - "You could count down from 10 when you play Hide and Seek"

This week, Year 1 have been studying Psalm 63: 6 - 9 "I feel safe". We understood that the passage reminds us that God loves and cares for everything he has created, including us and the baby chicks, which were pictured alongside the scripture.  We spoke about what it means to feel safe as well as some of the other key words used within the Psalm and what they meant.  Alfie - "I feel safe when my Mummy and Daddy tuck me into bed every night" Aibel - "When people tell you to be careful when you are playing, they are trying to keep you safe" Janae - "When people keep you safe they are protecting you" We then recited the Psalm as a class, using actions that we thought of together to help us remember the key message. We demonstrated our school value of 'reflectiveness' through our discussions and reflections. 

Today Year 6 pupils have embarked on an exciting new topic, Earth as an Island . To kick off the unit, they’ve been diving into a creative watercolour art lesson, blending geography, imagination, and artistic expression.  Pupils explored different landscapes, using waterco lour techniques to bring their interpretations to life. They learned to blend colours, create soft washes for skies, and layer tones to illustrate the natural beauty of environments.This art project not only developed their painting skills but also sparked conversations about the e nvironment, sustainability, and our relationship with the Earth. Quote: ‘It was a very fun, creative and mindful lesson.’

 We have been consolidating our understanding of numbers (place value) using concrete apparatus.  Today we have been comparing objects and numbers using mathematical vocabulary such as 'less than' 'greater than' 'fewer' 'more' and 'equal.'  We started with Melvin and Olivia who both had apples. We compared how many they had, who had more and who had less! The next step is to use the < > = symbols. Nella said, 'I compared twenty with twenty... they are equal!'

 As the seasons change Our English topic does too Now it is Tanka Under sunny autumn skies Use nature to write our own "As dark as night, As bright as the sun." Penelope

Today Year 6 took part in a resilience workshop from the N.O.W’s charity, pupils learned how to build inner strength and handle challenges better. The session started with everyone sharing positive affirmations like "I can do hard things" and "I am brave." These helped boost confidence and encouraged everyone to believe in themselves. The class also tried different ways to relax, such as deep breathing, guided meditation, and muscle relaxation. One fun technique was the "4-7-8" breathing, which helped everyone feel calm and focused. By the end, pupils left with useful tools to manage stress and stay positive in tough situations.  Well done Year 6!

 To introduce number lines, Year 4 had their first practical maths lesson of the year. We went into the hall and created human number lines. Writing the numbers on our white boards, we filled in the gaps in our number lines and worked out what was wrong with others. After working together as a class, we split into smaller groups to create our own. 

  🎙️ Year 5 IPC Entry Point: Exploring Greek Myths Through Podcasts! 🌟 Hello everyone! 👋 We are thrilled to announce our Year 5 IPC entry point, this afternoon our talented students dived into the fascinating world of Greek mythology! 🏛️✨ This lesson, we went beyond traditional learning methods and stepped into the exciting realm of  podcasting . In this engaging project, our Year 5 pupils did not only retell some of the most captivating Greek myths but also delve into the morals and lessons behind each story. From the adventures of Hercules to the cunning tricks of Odysseus, to the tear-jerking drama of Persephone, these legends provide rich ground for exploration and discussion! 📖🦸‍♂️ "I loved using the recording app on the ipad, it made the learning so much more fun." - Ryan year 5.

  To know that emotions impact learning. We linked our IPC to the Zones of Regulation. First, we watched a video from ‘Inside Out’ where we had to guess the emotion. 😠 😊😟😆😳😢 We used our vocabulary skills (resourcefulness) to think of synonyms such as ‘frightened and scared’ and ‘disappointed and sad.’ This linked to our English as well as we have just used inference skills to think about how the characters in a story might be feeling! We thought about how we can have our own ‘toolkit’ to use when we are feeling a certain way. We came up with some brilliant strategies! 😠 😊😟😆😳😢 After trying some breathing exercises and finger tracing activities, we had a turn at creating our own. These are now available for everyone to use by our Zones of Regulation helpdesk! ‘If you feel ill you might want to rest or watch your favourite TV show.’ ‘If you’re sad you could talk to your friend.’ ‘If you’re worried you could calm down by doing breathing exercises.’

Reception now have a full class and we are so happy to welcome all our new pupils to St Pius X! This term our topic learning is on ‘All about me’. The children will be exploring their bodies, emotions, families and healthy choices.  We have started by creating some wonderful self portraits. These have been done in front of a mirror and the children have taken great care to make observations about their own physical features. They have worked with an adult to select the right colours and brushes to create their paintings. This is a great introduction to our learning power of resourcefulness. We think they are fabulous and show that the children have taken great care to make their portraits look just like them!  We have also had our very first ‘lesson’ all together. During our carpet times we are building our listening and communication skills. The children enjoyed looking at photos of different families and talking about how they are the same and different. The children made s...

  September marks the return to term-time and as your children get used to routines, a new class or maybe even school, the new term promises to bring lots of change. Ten Ten's September resources have a new look and introduce new ways of praying but in amongst all the change and newness, this month we remember God’s unchanging nature and how extraordinary change can come when we allow God’s love to work in and through us. This newsletter shares some of the content children will experience in school throughout September and suggests ways for you to engage with them about it. We hope it is a useful resource for your family prayer time. Please find a link to the newsletter here . 

W e are very excited to demonstrate our school value of 'Service' this half term by donating items to our local foodbank and homeless shelter.  During this morning's liturgy, we talked with all the children about the importance of demonstrating solidarity and supporting those in need. We are passionate about putting our faith into action at St Pius X Catholic Primary School and would appreciate any donations, no matter how small. Please find a suggested list of items that can be donated  here .  Please could all donations be sent in with children by Friday 4 th  October.