St Pius X Catholic Primary School

 In our current IPC unit, 'People of the Past', we have been learning lots about different historical figures who have made an impact on our world today. This past week, we have been researching Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale. Students made portraits of the two heroines using pastels. Students discovered that blending the pastels helped to make the portraits more realistic! Great work Year One!

Our current topic of 'Fascinating Forces' has allowed us to complete a range of scientific experiments. These lessons help us to find out about the forces acting around us in a practical way and allow us to bring our own scientific skills to the forefront.  We have tested the force of friction on a range of surfaces by using a Newton meter to measure the forces. The children used their enquiry skills of comparative and fair testing to measure the friction.  'Friction happens when two objects touch. We use Newtons to measure the force of the friction.' - Vanishka  ' We used Newton Meters to see how much friction occurs when our shoes touch different surfaces.' - Evan 'The mat had the most friction, and so was the safest surface to walk on.' - Fran  We have also experimented with the force of air resistance. Each pupil made their own parachute and tested them in the hall. We thought about the surface area of our parachutes and tested parachutes of differen...

  We learnt about the Ascension during the season of Pentecost in today's RE lesson.  We discussed how the Holy Spirit was promised from Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection, and how that may have made the disciples feel. We discussed the images that many artists use to represent the Holy Spirit. We also spoke about the art in stained glass windows and how many churches have them to depict special stories and people from religious history. We worked in small groups to create our own stained glass window art. We worked carefully and patiently together, making sure everyone had equal turns and making sure to include a range of colours and sizes of tissue for the finished piece. We spoke about how this represented our school value of fairness , as students made sure everyone had a turn. We are very proud of our work! 

  Today the netball team competed in a tournament at Chelmer Park. There were many local schools in attendance and St Pius were in a group alongside primary schools Cathedral,  Mildmay, Our Lady Immaculate and Beaulieu Park. The girls hadn't played these teams, apart from OLI who are well known to be a great team. The sun was blazing and the girls were ready to give it their all, show casing their professional looking netball dresses! Each game lasted 10 minutes (5 minute halves) with the team rotating positions every half. This exposed them to different positions and having to adapt to other team players throughout the matches. As their coach, I am so proud of each and every one of them. Some of the girls had to play positions they had never played before, showing their resilience and desire to do their best and work as a team. The opposition didn't put them off, even OLI who they had come up against a few months back. Their results are something to be extremely proud of. The...

 

 Last week, our  Year 3 children rolled up their sleeves and took part in a very important mission, litter picking around the school! Armed with gloves, litter grabbers, and plenty of determination, the children set out to make a positive impact on our school environment. Together they helped to keep our school clean and tidy, it is important to look after our space and the environment!! I enjoyed doing my bit to keep our school clean and tidy - Allister

🎾 Tennis for Deaf Children 🎾 Join them for tennis sessions for deaf children aged 6+ at Great Baddow LTC! Open from 12 PM to 1 PM. Only £6 per session. All equipment provided. Wear suitable clothing and trainers.   📅 Upcoming Fun Sessions: Sunday 27th April Sunday 4th May Sunday 18th May Sunday 1st June Sunday 15th June For more information email greatbaddowtennis@gmail.com   

  Pope Francis 17 December 1936 - 21 April 2025 It was with great sadness that we returned to school this week with the news of Pope Francis' passing.  He was such a great man, a real beacon and messenger of hope for everyone. An assembly was held for the children, to allow them a chance to make sense of the news and come together as a community to pray.  Next week, we will be remembering Pope Francis and all that he achieved. Pope Francis was a strong supporter of education and teachers. In 2020, he said, 'We consider education to be one of the most effective ways of making our world and history more human. Education is above all a matter of love and responsibility handed down from one generation to another'. He called teaching, 'a beautiful job...and a great responsibility'. We pray for Pope Francis and thank God for his service. Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who live...

🌟 Join Families Infocus - Essex for the Parent Group in Chelmsford on Monday! 🌟

🐴 Visit Redwings Ada Cole Horse Sanctuary! 🐴 Animal lovers can get up close and cuddly with 70 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. Meet Elvis, Dotty, Zippy and Tinkerbell! After making plenty of new four-legged friends, you can grab a slice of cake, a tasty snack or a takeaway cuppa in Dolly’s Café. All proceeds support the hundreds of animals in Redwings’ care, including those you meet on your visit! ✨ Cost: FREE  ✨ Facilities: Disabled parking & toilets, free parking, dogs on leads welcome, gift shop, Dolly's Cafe, picnic area, pushchair friendly. Open Fridays, Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm.  🔗 https://www.redwings.org.uk/visit/ada-cole

 This morning Year 5 had a wonderful workshop with Anita.  During the workshop the children learned about The Green Cross code. We were able to discuss how we can be a safe pedestrian as many of the children are now gaining independence and may begin to be walking to and from school independently.  We looked at some scenarios in depth and discussed how we would behave in these situations.  ‘You shouldn’t cross the road at a corner or at the top of a hill, the cars that are coming can’t see you.’ Aurora  ‘It’s important to not be talking to people as you cross the road so your full concentration is on the road,’ Kachi  After the whole class workshop the children were given the opportunity to go out in small groups to put their learning into action. They learned about wearing brighter colours in the dark and looking for spots they could safely cross the road.  ' You should never walk straight out between two cars; always look right and left.' - Dom ...

In Maths, we have been learning about squared and cubed numbers.  The children have explored these by making the numbers into squares and cubes with multilink. They worked together in pairs to make the squared and cubed numbers.  They were able to use this activity to see the difference between squared and cubed numbers and how to work them out.  'When the numbers are squared it makes a square.' - Harper 'When the numbers are cubed it makes a cube shape.' - Vanishka   The children have learned that a squared number is miltiplied by itself, and that a cubed number is mulktiplied by itself, and then by itself again.

We've started off our topic on the human body with a fun activity out in the sun. We looked into how much we knew about the organs in the human boady. Working in groups, we drew round one person and then filled in the inside of the person with as many organ as we could think of. We tried to put the organs in the correct place and tried to draw them accurately. We then compared all diagrams and thought about what we knew about each organ.   "The brian controls the body." "The intestines are part of the digestive system."

As we approach the Easter break, and continue our journey through Lent towards Holy Week, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been another event filled and successful term at St Pius X.  We've had an exciting and busy few weeks with our Easter Production led by Years 3 and 4, our Annunciation of the Lord Mass, and our Stations of the Cross service this week.  Today the children paraded the school with their Easter bonnets and as always, the staff were impressed at the effort and creativeness. This term, the children have been reminded of the importance of preparation for Easter, preparing both our minds and hearts to grow closer to God.   In my weekly whole-school liturgies, I’ve been encouraging the children to reflect on how they can grow and change for the better through prayer, penance, and love. As we head into the Easter break, we are looking forward to celebrating the season of renewal with a Whole School Easter Mass upon our return on Tuesday 22n...

  Today marked our final celebration assembly before the Easter break, and what a wonderful way to end the term!  The children took part in a fantastic Easter bonnet parade, enjoying the sunshine and music as they proudly showcased their creative designs. Each teacher had the difficult task of selecting a winner for their class, and we were amazed by the effort and imagination on display. Alongside the bonnet competition, we also announced the winners of the St Pius X PA fundraiser. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed - funds will be used to purchase school equipment.  Wishing all our families a joyful and restful Easter break! 🌷🐰✨

As part of our Easter celebrations in connection with DT we have been developing our sewing skills.  To begin we began playing with larger needles and threading them with wool. This was fiddly for us but we were all able to thread the needle. We then used wool to thread over the cross images to make some beautiful Easter gifts for our family.  We then went further with our DT skills and learn some more intricate stitch skills. We looked at how to complete a running stitch and a back stitch.  'I really liked doing sewing, now when I get home I want to do more.' - Anna  'It was fun doing something that I had never done before.' - Lisandra  The children were given a sewing grid to practise their stitch types. They were set the challenge to use the running stitch and back stitch to design a beautiful pattern using different threads.  'I enjoyed it even though I made a lot of mistakes.' - Noel 'My favourite stitch we learned was the back stitch as it has a reall...

Amazingly, all ten caterpillars have grown and now attached to the lids, creating their cocoon. In the next few days they will be transferred to the butterfly habitat (net) to complete their transformation. Hopefully the children will be able to see the butterflies when we return after Easter, before we release them!

Today we studied Van Gogh 's famous ' Starry Night' painting. We used observational skills, looking closely at the picture before comparing it to other artist's versions: "I can see buildings," - Jayan "The tree is big because it's closer and the buildings are further away so they are smaller!" - Ajooni "The sky looks like waves," - Alex "There is blue, white and yellow....there are different blues in the sky," - Olivia "There are dashes, " - Jessie "I can see a bit of green, " - Norah "I like the reflections," - Aisling "The houses are like pumpkins, they are glowing," - Cassius Then we experimented and practised using Van Gogh's trademark patterns, mixing blues, yellow and white. Look out for our masterpieces after Easter!

Mini Vinnies Meeting Today we had a very busy meeting. We wrote to Marie Goldman MP asking her if she would raise the issue of the temporary measure of government support given to refugees of 56 days to find permanent accommodation. We, as part of the SVP, have said that we would like to see this made permanent to give all refugees a hope of a brighter future, one that is safe and secure in knowing that they will not end up homeless. These are our ‘door hangers of hope.’   We sent these with our letter to our MP, they include some of our own promises on how we can bring hope to others. We have been in touch with a local nursing home and homeless charity and we will be meeting with them soon to see where we can help in our community with acts of kindness.  We will keep you posted!! In our next meeting we will be bringing our fundraising ideas!    We have a lot of great ideas so watch this space! Hannah Communications Officer

Wonderful Wisdom Club  Yesterday, Year 3 had a visit to our friends at The Wisdom Club, a local community club.  Over the years we have often visited the club and in that time we have made many friends. Year 3 had a wonderful visit, they sang some of their Easter Production songs to the members and then had a lovely time sharing some of their favourite work, such as Art, English, Maths and Science. There was lots of laughter and fabulous conversations between the different generations.   The Wisdom Club made the children so welcome and a great time was had by everyone!!  The children enjoyed the biscuits, drinks and sweets also!! We can't wait to visit again! The children said of their visit:; 'I found out one of the members was my First Holy Communion teacher,' said Ambrose. 'I liked talking to lots of different people and I really like singing.  When I showed a lady a picture of the earth in my book she pointed to where she used to live.'  (Florence)...