St Pius X Catholic Primary School

This week, we decided to grab a measuring tape, and build a physically accurate scale model of the Earth-Sun system right here at school. We used a standard football, a tiny piece of Blu Tack, and a very long stretch of space. To make the math work, we started with our "Sun"—a standard size 5 football, measuring roughly 22 centimeters in diameter. If a football represents the Sun, how big is the Earth? And how far away should it be? After doing the calculations together, the results genuinely surprised the class: The Sun: A standard football (~22 cm diameter). The Earth: A tiny sphere of Blu Tack just 2 millimeters across (about the size of a single sesame seed or a small pinhead). The Distance: 23 meters apart! It’s one thing to calculate these numbers; it’s another to see them in real life. We took the class outside to line up our model. One pupil held the football Sun at one end of the playground, while another took the trundle wheel and walked 23 meters away to hold ...

Some of our Year 4 and 5 pupils had a fantastic enrichment day at Chelmsford County High School for Girls (CCHS), packed with exciting scientific discoveries! The day began in biology, where pupils used microscopes to explore living things up close. Agnes confidently shared her scientific knowledge, declaring, “All living things are made out of cells!” Next, it was time for chemistry! Pupils got hands-on with Bunsen burners and explored different chemicals on the pH scale. Finally, in physics, pupils teamed up with children from other Chelmsford schools to design and build their very own rollercoasters. They showed excellent teamwork, creativity and resilience as they brought their ideas to life. It was a brilliant day of hands-on learning, new friendships and scientific exploration. What an amazing opportunity for our pupils; well done to everyone involved! 👏

Continuing with our circuit lessons, we thought about how useful switches are and how we can use them in everyday life. So we created our own light up cards with simple circuits! Using copper tape, a flat battery and an LED, we created a circuit with a very simple switch. It was tricky at times and it took a couple of goes to get it right, but with some problem solving skills we got there. "It was hard, but when we worked out what was wrong I was so proud."

 Our topic this half term has been 'We are a community', as part of this, we have been learning how to look after ourselves so we can be healthy.  We started the week off by practising and showing how we wash our hands. The children covered their hands in glitter as 'germs' and then demonstrated how to wash their hands to ensure all the germs were gone! Later on, we looked at keeping our teeth clean and had to use toothpaste to clean the dirt off the teeth. We discussed what might happen if we don't brush our teeth regularly.  Ayla- ‘we get toothache’ Thomas -‘if you don’t brush your teeth they will go yellow and fall out and then you will have smelly breath’ Mason- ‘or you might get cavities, they are the germs on your teeth’ Finally, we discussed healthy eating and what foods we could eat to give us energy and keep us feeling full. 

In Science today, Year 6 investigated how changes in the environment can affect the survival of different species. As part of our enquiry, the children carried out a comparative and fair test to explore the survival of the peppered moth. They investigated how changes to the environment during the Industrial Revolution affected moth populations, and considered why some moths were more likely to survive than others. The enquiry gave the children the opportunity to put the theory of evolution by natural selection into practice. They used their observations and results to discuss how environmental changes can give some organisms an advantage, helping them to survive and reproduce. "This is definitely one of the best examples of natural selection because of the change in the environment and how the species was able to adapt." Emil It was a great opportunity for the children to explore evolution through a practical investigation and develop their scientific enquiry skills along the...

This term, Year 5 has been diving into the fascinating world of living things and their habitats . We have been putting on our scientist hats to investigate one big question: H ow do plants reproduce? We discovered that plants are pretty clever and have two different strategies for reproduction: Sexual Reproduction: This involves pollen traveling from one flower to another (often carried by bees or the wind!) to make seeds. It creates a brand-new plant that is a unique mix of both parent plants. Asexual Reproduction: This happens without seeds, flowers, or pollen. Instead, a single parent plant creates an exact clone of itself using part of its own body—like a stem, runner, or leaf! Hands-On Science: The Spider Plant Experiment We decided to test out asexual reproduction for ourselves using spider plants. Spider plants make this super easy because they grow tiny plantlets (or "spiderettes") on long dangling stems. Here is what we did step-by-step: The Cuttings: We carefu...

 This week, Reception have been creating their own autumn potions. They mixed different ingredients together and were pouring, scooping and mixing while sharing their magical potions.  Each day the children had different coloured glitter water to use and spark their imaginations.  “My potion will make magic and I can teleport “ Carter “My potion will turn me into a rainbow” Thomas “I’m helping Thomas and making a potion together. We have mixed the colours together and it made browny grey“ Jesse ‘We are mixing it all up’- Siar ‘Making a magic potion’- Mason ‘It’s going to turn me into King Kong’- George ‘This bowl is huge’- Mason

Our classroom was filled with wonder this week as the children completely planned and led a beautiful class worship to celebrate the release of our butterflies. 🦋 For the past few weeks, the children have been closely watching caterpillars transform into beautiful Monarch butterflies. To mark the special moment of setting them free, they took complete ownership of our collective worship, choosing the scriptures, songs, and reflections themselves. Finding Meaning in Scripture The children chose to focus on Genesis 1:24-25 , the scripture that tells the story of God creating the living creatures of the earth. During the worship, our student readers proudly shared how God made everything and every beast of the earth according to its kind, and how God saw that it was good. They spoke beautifully about how our tiny caterpillars are a perfect part of that big, wonderful creation. Prayers:  ' Thank you God for these beautiful butterflies - they are so perfect and it is amazing how you h...

Year 6's science lesson this week was centred all around variation and inheritance, beginning with a thought-provoking question: “What if all humans looked the same?” The children were challenged to consider the plus points, minus points and interesting points or questions that might arise if everyone looked identical. This sparked some brilliant discussion and plenty of creative thinking. Some children suggested that it could have a positive side, as it might reduce certain forms of discrimination based on appearance. However, most of the class agreed that it would be much better if we all looked different. The children recognised that our differences are part of what makes us unique and interesting. Their questions became increasingly thoughtful as the discussion developed. Oscar wondered: “Would we all have the same fingerprints?” This led to another fascinating question from Penelope: “What does that mean if someone has committed a crime?” It was fantastic to see the children m...

We have been continuing our Science topic about light! Today we focused on the importance of looking after our eyes and protecting them from the Sun. We discussed the recent partial solar eclipse... 'I had special glasses!' - Nancy 'You can't look at the Sun because of the UV rays,' - Logan 'I didn't know the Earth moved!' - Asher It was interesting to hear everyone's experiences and address misconceptions about the Solar System - mainly that the Sun does not move! We then made sunglasses using tissue paper - it lets some light through but also stops some light, so the lights on the ceiling didn't look quite as bright.  'I had the best time making sunglasses!' - Mia

  This week, Year 2 have been busy learning all about habitats and the amazing plants and animals that live in them. We began by discussing what a habitat is and exploring some different habitats around the world, including woodlands, oceans, deserts and rainforests . The children enjoyed talking about the different animals they might find in each habitat and thinking about how they are suited to where they live. We have been learning to identify the things that living things need to survive, including food, water, shelter and space . The children have also been sorting animals according to the habitats they live in and explaining why particular habitats are suitable for them. Penguins live in a polar habitat, they are suited to the cold Abbiya

 The children have shown great fascination with the magnifying glasses and gardening equipment this week and even found a snail stuck to one of our pots.  They worked together to build a bug house, filled with soil, leaves to eat and sticks to feel like home.  We placed the snail into the bug house and then began our search to find some bug friends to add. The children managed to find ants, a tiny centipede and a massive earwig. 

 This week in science, Year 4 have been exploring how to create circuits this week. After learning how to be safe around electricity, they were given packs with some wires, batteries and a light bulb. Each group had to work out how to make the light bulb to light up. At first it was tricky, but we all figured out how to get the circuit to work. From this we could create our steps to success for making a circuit. We found that when we added a light bulb, they both shone less brightly.  "The clips have to touch these bits [the metal part]."

 Despite the changing weather, the children have had a great time exploring and playing in the garden. They've been experimenting using the different water toys to find new ways of making the water travel. By using the giant pipettes, the children discovered they could shoot the water out much faster than just pouring. They used this new learning to see how much they could push off the edge using just the force of water. First the children tested using a cup and gradually filled the cup with different items to increase the weight.  They also used the chalk to draw lines on the playground for us to balance along.  'let's see if we can push the cup with 2 boats in'- Thomas  'I'm squeezing the water'- Kalib 

As part of our science learning on Living things and their Habitats this term, Year 5 will be having 2 separate hands on experiences!  The first is to propogate their own plants as we learn how plants reproduce both sexually and asexually. Mrs Cosgrove has kindly allowed us to borrow her marvellous spider plants which we will be carefully taking cuttings from to create our own plantlets!  We were incredibly excited last week when our creepy crawly friends arrived - by post!  A box arrived in the classroom and we discussed what could be inside - guesses ranged from new resouces for school to treats and prizes for the star of the week! We were exicted to see when we opened the box that we have 5 caterpillars to look after!  The children will be comparing lifecycles of birds, insects and amphibians over this term and we get to watch this one in motion!  As year 5 scientists we explored this on a slightly deeper level than we have before - using our 'observing ove...

Year 6 have been busy conducting a scientific enquiry to learn more about variation and adaptation. Using the enquiry type pattern seeking , the children investigated how different types of bird beaks are suited to collecting different food sources. To simulate bird feeding, the children used a range of utensils as different types of beaks and attempted to collect a variety of food. This hands-on investigation allowed them to explore the wide variety of beak types found within bird populations and consider how beak shape is related to the food available in an environment. Penelope noticed that “different types of beaks were better at picking up different types of feed.” Emanuela summed up the challenge perfectly: “It was almost impossible to pick up some types of food if you didn't have the right beak!” Through their pattern-seeking enquiry , the children developed a deeper understanding of how variation in physical features can help animals adapt to their environment and giv...

Today's science was an exciting (and sometimes frustrating) exploration into why we need light to be able to see things! 5 mystery boxes were passed around. Children were tasked to look through the tiny hole to see what object was inside. They made observations and guessed. Then they opened the box partly, letting some light in. Their second observation was noted before the object was revealed!

 Today, we made our own ice cream to help with the heat and as an end of year treat.  We used our phonics skills to read the ingredients and instructions.  We had to use double cream, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. First we had to whisk the double cream until it made strong peaks. The children all showed each other what a peak looks like using their hands.  “ It's making bubbles” Quinn “ It looks like milk” Lydia “It looks a little bit thicker” Jesse-Joy Then we had to fold in the condensed milk, which bought up lots of discussion around what folding meant; we knew we couldn't fold like a blanket so how did we do it?  Finally, we added the vanilla and poured the mixture into freezable containers. 3 containers were topped with oreo and 2 we left plain.  “The vanilla will make it sweet” Valentina “It looks beautiful and so fresh!” Takundanashe “It’s starting to look like ice cream” Ivy “You fold rather than mix as its keeps it solid” Nina Finge...

 For fieldwork week this year, Reception class were exploring the speed, distance and direction of bubbles in the wind. They first learnt the different compass directions and used this learning to explore the direction that the bubbles travelled.  We used the compass in the playground to help us see which way they travelled. Some went fast, some went slow. Some bubbles flew straight up into the sky and others floated slowly into the trees. 'It went to the side'- Esther 'The wind has gone now and the bubbles went to the floor'- Elijah 'They went straight up and not that far'- Valentina 'They went fast'- Ivy  'Some went a long way and some didn't'- Clare  Some of the children knew about the directions on a compass and what they are used for.  'I have a toy compass, it tells you the ways'- Nina  'I know west and east'- Jesse-Joy 'I know South America is south'- Ethan 'A compass is a round object and it helps you with ...

 Today we replicated the process of digestion. First we put food in the mouth (food into a zip lock bag), we broke it into pieces like our teeth break down food we eat. Then it was on to the stomach. The food we broken down by acid (water) and mushed up. It then went into the intestines (the tights). Nutrients and water was absorbed out of the intestines (through the tights and onto a paper towel). Then the end. What was left came out...the other side.