St Pius X Catholic Primary School

 This week in Year 4, we became engineers for the day! Our challenge was to design and build bridges using only straws, cardboard, and glue . Once our bridges were built, we tested them with weights to see how strong they were. We worked in small groups to come up with different designs.  After building time, we carefully placed weights on each bridge to test how much they could hold. Some bridges held more than 200g before they broke, while others collapsed more quickly – but we learned something from every single design . We talked about what made some bridges stronger than others and why some broke. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll investigate how to stop our bridges from breaking.  Next time – stronger, smarter bridges! "They need to be stronger in the middle so they don't bend."

The Entry Point for our new topic Time Travellers started with Year 2 putting on their detective hats to follow some clues! Children were given some clues, or pieces of evidence that would lead to a 'mystery person.' Their job was to analyse the clues...  What can you see?  What does it tell you? Are there clues missing? Which clue is the most useful? The children discussed their ideas and worked collaboratively to work out who the mystery person was. This was a fun way to introduce historical concepts, such as looking at primary and secondary sources and assessing their reliability. Can you guess? A whistle A baby photo A bicycle A paintbrush The final clue was some Police Tape...

Today some of the girls played their last netball game representing St Pius. Jessica, Rina, Leeya, Grace, Estera and Ava will all be leaving us at the end of the year as they all go into year 7 in September! I hope they all continue playing netball at their secondary schools as they really have all become great players and I will miss coaching them. Nicola and Emma will continue playing, along with Raveena and Mia who played their debuts today.  They fit right into the team! The sun was scorching but the girls played some good netball, communication was great and positive attitudes all round. It was a friendly game versus Broomfield Primary who also have a good little team. Well done to all, playing in this heat too! I was certainly hot running up and down the court being the umpire! I am so proud of all them!

Wow - thank you so much to everyone who entered the competition... we had over 60 amazing portraits to choose from! The winners were announced today. We love to see our pupils being creative and it is also lovely to see them celebrating our new Pope, Leo XIV. Everyone who entered has earned 20 house points! First Place:   Ella (Year 5) Ella's portrait will be enlarged, framed and displayed in school. Well done and congratulations! Second Place :  Rina (Year 6) Third place :  Nicola (Year 4) The  runners up  have earned an extra 10hp and are as follows: Hannah - Year 5 Nancy - Year R Janae - Year 4 Eva - Year 1 Here are all the entries - well done!

 Last week, students completed the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check . To practice, in the weeks leading up to the check, Year 1 students participated in a range of phonics activities and centres to strengthen their phonics understanding! These ranged from board games, pancake flip games, jigsaw games, etc. Students even participated in a scavenger hunt around the school to see how many real vs. alien words they could find! Great work Year One! "My favourite game is where you have to match the picture to the digraph and then write the word down on the whiteboard!" - Eva "I like playing the board games. You have to say the word and what digraph you can find in the word before you're allowed to put your counter on it!" - Gershlene "I like playing the pancake game" - Cairo "I like the mystery digraph game. The pictures spell a new word!" - Nicole

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news from the world of school sport. Earlier in this term, our brilliant Year 3/4 tennis team brought home bronze medals after a spectacular performance at a regional tournament in Chelmsford! Competing against 28 other school teams from across the region, our young tennis stars from St Pius X School finished an impressive 3rd overall. This achievement is even more remarkable considering the high level of competition and the sheer number of matches played. Each of our players took part in eight singles matches during the final round alone—showing real stamina, determination and skill on the court. Mr Cook is so proud of you all, well done!!

We are bursting with pride to announce that the Year 5/6 girls’ football team from St Pius X has been crowned champions of the Small Schools Football League ! Throughout the season, our girls put in an absolutely stellar performance. Over the course of their games, they scored an impressive 16 goals and conceded just 4 —a remarkable record that shows just how strong they were at both ends of the pitch. But beyond the numbers, it was their teamwork, determination, and spirit that truly set them apart. From the first kick-off to the final whistle, every single player gave it their all, supporting one another, staying positive, and showing real resilience in every match. Whether it was sharp passing, quick runs down the wing, solid defending, or brave goalkeeping, every girl played her part. Mr Cook is so proud of you and everything you've achieved this season!

The late Pope Francis set us all a challenge this year - to be Pilgrims of Hope. Pupils at St Pius X have been completing projects around different themes from our Catholic Social Teaching.  Year 5 have chosen human dignity and linked this to anti-racism - a topic the children chose! To begin raising money for 'Show Racism the Red Card' charity we held a colourful non-uniform day. This helped bring the school together and to unite in the message that we are all equal.  Here are year 5 with our school Pilgrim of Hope bear:  Thank you so much to the families who got behind Year 5's fundraising - from the non-uniform day we have raised over £150 ! This fantastic sum will help us to buy some supplies to make antiracism badges which we have all designed. These badges will be on sale at exhibiton evening.  All the funds raised from our two fundraingin events will be donated to 'Show Racism the Red Card.' 'I really like that we got to express how we should always embr...

Today, Year 4 took part in a special Day of Welcome to learn more about the lives of refugees and how we can show kindness and support to those who may be starting a new life in a different country. We began the day by watching a powerful webinar that helped us understand what it might be like to be a refugee in a new school. It made us think about how challenging and scary that experience could be, especially if you don’t speak the language or know anyone. After that, we read part of "The Boy at the Back of the Class" by Onjali Q. Raúf and learned about a boy named Ahmet , who is a refugee. We created story maps to show Ahmet’s journey and talked about how he might have been feeling at different points in the story – scared, lonely, hopeful, and sometimes happy when he made new friends. We also looked at different real-life refugee experiences from around the world. This helped us think deeply about what refugees go through and how important it is to be welcoming and ki...

  Today was 'A Day of Welcome’, a day to help pupils understand how we can be welcoming to refugees and give them insight into a refugee’s experience. Year One students participated in a virtual workshop where they listened to someone share their personal experiences being a refugee. After, students read a story comparing life in someone’s home country to their life after moving to England as a refugee. After a class discussion, students discussed similarities and differences between the two, and used adjectives to describe the two pictures. For our collective worship lesson, students decided to make a piece of artwork to represent everyone feeling like they belong. Students worked in groups to create a kindness themed stained glass window. We hung these in our classroom as a visual reminder to always treat everyone with kindness! To conclude the lesson, we read the story 'All Are Welcome' by Alexandra Penfold. You can find a link to the story here . "A refugee is s...

 Year 5’s PE session today was all about practising for our sports day activities.  ‘I really enjoyed the PE session,’ - Shakira  We completed some javelin throwing, tennis ball bouncing, slalom dribbling, long jump and sprinting practise.  ‘I enjoyed the lesson and I worked hard on the skills.’ - Oakley  ‘It was fun to practise running with my friends.’ - Raveena  We tested our skills, faced challenges but also had a lot of fun with our friends. We are prepared for all the challenges to come on Sports Day,  (Blog written and quotes gathered by Ivy Year 5) 

 

In today's liturgy Mrs Derbyshire explained about the importance of welcoming everyone. This is particularly pertinent during the next few days when we celebrate 'A Day of Welcome' on Friday.  We watched an informative video about refugees and personal stories of people who have had to flee their homes.  We reflected on how we might feel if we were in this situation. Year 2 remembered that we had read a book called 'All are Welcome.' The video of the book being read can be found here. We also expressed our ideas by making posters. Have a look!