St Pius X Catholic Primary School

We are delighted to congratulate our PE Lead, Mr Cook , on receiving the Kim Yates Award from the Chelmsford Sports Partnership . This prestigious award recognises an outstanding contribution to sport and Physical Education, and is a wonderful reflection of Mr Cook's dedication and commitment to our school community. Since taking on the role of PE Lead, Mr Cook has worked tirelessly to develop and expand the sporting opportunities available to our pupils. Through his enthusiasm, hard work and passion for sport, he has encouraged more children than ever to get involved, try new activities and represent the school with pride. His commitment has helped to create a positive sporting culture where every pupil is encouraged to achieve their personal best. We would also like to say a huge congratulations and thank you to all of our pupils who represent St Pius X at sporting events throughout the year. Their teamwork, determination, resilience and excellent sportsmanship make us incredib...

 Year 2 have been putting their puzzle and problem-solving skills to the test by trying out some Tangram puzzles! This ancient Chinese puzzle traditionally consists of 7 shapes which are then rotated to make different shapes.  We tried out some together, making a cat, a rocket and a plane! Then they had a go at making a variety of animals, including whales, cows, squirrels and camels!

  Exploring Aboriginal Art and Culture This week, Year 1 took part in a wonderful cross‑curricular art lesson inspired by the Aboriginal peoples of Australia . The children were fascinated as we learned about who the Aboriginal peoples are , how they lived , and why storytelling and artwork are so important in their culture . We began by exploring traditional Aboriginal symbols and looking closely at examples of dot‑style artwork . The children loved discovering how these symbols were used to share stories about animals, journeys, families, and the land. They were especially interested in how Aboriginal artists use colour, pattern, and dots to represent the world around them. After our discussion, the children moved into their art activity. Using watercolours , they carefully painted an Australian animal in an Aboriginal style — thinking about patterns, dots, and earthy colours. Once dry, they cut out their artwork , mounted it on black card , and decorated the background using t...

Last week Year 2 ventured off to Chelmsford Stadium for the Mini Games - a brilliant morning of athletics activities alongside other local schools. They had a fun time participating in lots of different stations, from javelin to cup-stacking! Well done Year 2!

Thank you to all the family and friends who attended our annual Exhibition Afternoon. The children have all been working hard to create 'sculptures' to exhibit. There was an amazing variety - paper sculptures, clay, recycled materials, wire figures..... what a wonderful example of the creativity of our students! Thank you for also visiting your child's classroom to see some of the brilliant work they have been doing in class. We appreciate your ongoing support and the children love to share their achievements with you!

  Year 1 Art Week – Sculpture & Aboriginal Art Focus During Art Week, Year 1 have been busy exploring art through sculpture and painting , taking inspiration from Australia and its rich artistic traditions. The children began the week by learning about different types of sculptures and how artists use shape, texture and form to bring ideas to life. They then created their very own Australian animal clay sculptures , carefully shaping kangaroos, koalas, wombats and more. The children loved experimenting with clay tools, smoothing, carving and adding details to make their animals look as realistic as possible. Later in the week, the children learned about Aboriginal dot painting , looking closely at traditional patterns, symbols and colours. They created beautiful dot‑style backgrounds to accompany their clay sculptures, thinking carefully about colour choices and repeating patterns. These paintings were designed to sit alongside their sculptures in our Art Week Exhibition. The f...

 Today Year 2 prepared for a special visitor - Rabbi Irit. They have started to learn more about the Jewish faith, its similarities and differences with Catholicism and how they celebrate Shabbat. Questions included: What’s on the scroll on the mezuzah? Are synagogues different to churches? What do Jews do in the synagogue? Have you written using the Hebrew alphabet? What God do you believe in? What is a Torah? Rabbi Irit gave us an insight into the role of a Rabbi and even showed us how to write 'Shabbat' in Hebrew - they write from right to left and their alphabet doesn't include any vowels! She showed us her mezuzah with a tiny, handwritten scroll inside. She also showed us her Torah and explained about the 3 main sections - laws, prophets and stories/psalms. We finished by singing along to 'Shabbat, Shalom!' The children enjoyed learning about a different religion and were respectful and engaged.

  🌞 Year 1 Trip to Maldon Promenade  🌞  Tuesday was one of those magical school days the children will remember for a long time. Year 1 set off bright and early on the coach, full of excitement and chatter as we made our way to Maldon Promenade for our summer learning adventure. 🏖️ Sand, Smiles and Super Teamwork As soon as we arrived, the children headed straight for the sand pit , where they spent a happy morning digging, shaping and building sandcastles with friends. It was wonderful to see so much teamwork — children sharing buckets, helping each other build walls and proudly showing off their creations. 🚤 Sketching the Boats on the Estuary Next, the children settled along the promenade to draw the boats travelling up the estuary . They looked carefully at the shapes, colours and sails, producing some beautifully detailed pictures. Their focus and observational skills were fantastic. 👀 Eye Spy Around the Promenade We then played a lively game of Eye Spy , spot...

💻 With the recent news about the social media ban for under 16s, Year 2 were keen to discuss this and share their opinions! Our PSHE lesson was focused on how and why we use the internet so this real-life news linked perfectly! We watched BBC Newsround video listening to older children discussing their thoughts on the ban. Then we talked to our partners about what 'rules' we had at home when using devices. These included: time limits - must turn off devices at 6pm time limits - can only play online games at the weekend limited contacts - can only message family members educational - can play educational games We also talked about age limits as some children said they were allowed to use certain apps such as Facebook and Snapchat. The social-media ban is aimed at keeping children safe. This was a really important conversation to have - parents and carers please speak to your children about keeping safe online, monitoring their internet use and being available if they see someth...

🔥Year 2 are now experts when it comes to The Great Fire of London! To consolidate their understanding, they worked in groups to create questions for Samuel Pepys! They were encouraged to create 'open' questions to elicit as much information from the interviewee before getting into character. This was a great opportunity for children to use their spoken language skills - collaborating with peers, taking turns, sympathising with the characters and drawing upon prior learning about the topic. Q: How did you feel when you saw the fire?  A: I felt worried because I could see the houses falling down and people were screaming! Q: Why did you go to the king? A: The mayor wouldn't let us use the fire-hooks. The king said we could use them to stop the fire spreading.

Our current focus is using language of direction and position. The children were tasked with a 'Build it' challenge - using a set of coloured cubes they had to follow the instructions to build a shape or tower that matched the clues. This meant using language of position (for example: next to, above, below, in between) as well as checking against all the clues! Some were quite tricky but they persevered!

🌍 In geography we have started to learn about the United Kingdom! We had interesting discussions about if the UK is a country; it is 4 countries 'united.'  Then we thought about the capital cities and their location in each country before exploring the atlases. This was a lot of fun - working together to identify the 4 countries and capital cities and then annotating them on our own maps. Year 2's understanding of the locations relative to each other has improved, and some even started to look at the seas and oceans surrounding us!  🌍

  🔢 Year 1 Compare Numbers with the Same Number of Tens This week, our Year 1 mathematicians have been building on their understanding of place value to compare numbers within 100. They’ve been exploring how the tens and ones digits work together to make a number — and how we can use this knowledge to decide which numbers are greater , less , or equal . 🧮 Building on Previous Learning Earlier in the year, the children learned to use the words greater than , less than , and equal to , along with the symbols > , < , and = . This week, they’ve taken that learning further by comparing numbers that have the same number of tens but different numbers of ones . For example: 42 and 47 both have 4 tens, but 47 is greater because it has more ones. 35 and 33 both have 3 tens, but 33 is fewer because it has fewer ones. 🗣️ Using Mathematical Language We’ve been practising using the words fewer and less accurately: Fewer is used when talking about objects (e.g., “There are fewer c...

As part of our PSHE curriculum, we have been thinking about the qualities of a good friend , and when certain actions are appropriate or inappropriate. This includes what we say, how we say it, and how we behave. Year 2 had some great ideas, some of which linked to our learning powers of showing RESPECT and RESILIENCE as well as considering strategies we can use to help us make good decisions.  Matthew 7v 12 reminds us to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. This is Jesus's Golden Rule! To conclude and celebrate, we made 'friendship jars,' adding ingredients that would make a good friend, before singing along to our friendship songs - Count on Me and You've Got a Friend in Me (which we have been learning to play on the glockenspiels too!)

  Catholics believe the cross is a symbol of Christianity Over the past two lessons, Year 1 have been exploring one of the most important symbols in the Christian faith: the cross . The children have approached this learning with curiosity, respect, and lots of enthusiasm — and we’re excited to share what they’ve been discovering. ✝️ Lesson 1: The Cross as a Christian Symbol We began with an I Spy Cross Hunt , looking closely at photographs to spot where crosses appear in everyday life — on churches, jewellery, buildings, artwork, and even in unexpected places. The children loved finding hidden crosses and talking about why they might be there. Learning the Sign of the Cross We introduced the Sign of the Cross , a short prayer Catholics say often. The children learned the simple movements: forehead chest left shoulder right shoulder And the words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” We explained that this prayer reminds Christians of the Trini...

🔥Fire blazing 🔥 smoke billowing 🔥people panicking! Year 2 set the scene today by reenacting the Great Fire of London. First the recalled the main events using relevant vocabulary. Then they wrote key words on their own 'flames.' In the hall, they acted out the embers burning in the bakery before the fire spread across the city. People had to fetch buckets of water from the Thames!  The Mayor was less than helpful, denying them the use of fire-hooks. Samuel Pepys rowed across London to inform the King.  The wind and the wooden houses meant the fire spread quickly! It was chaos! Lots of buildings were damaged. Eventually the wind died down and the fire stopped. Back in class, they wrote a summary of the main events.  Next we will be making comparisons between London then and now, and considering what impact the Great Fire has had on society today.  Well done Year 2!

As our friends at the charity Read for Good® will tell you, it's well established that reading for pleasure leads to significantly better outcomes for children – boosting academic performance, enhancing wellbeing, and fostering vital life skills like empathy. But reading for pleasure is in decline. In 2025, just 1 in 3 children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoy reading in their free time* – a sharp drop over the past two decades. At the same time, the work Read for Good® do in schools shows that many school libraries are underfunded, outdated, and filled with books that fail to engage today's readers. Children who rely most on school libraries are often those most likely to be missing out. It's time to #rebuildthelibrary. Our annual prize draw is back to give five schools across the UK and Ireland the chance to win £1,000/€1,000 in National Book Tokens and fill their shelves with new and inspiring books. Nominate a school using the form below , and if yours i...

  The Essex SEND Local Offer Roadshows for parents/carers are just a few weeks away.  Please see below where they are taking place this term.     Date/time Venue South Essex SEND Local Offer Roadshow  – Monday 15 June – 9.30-12.30pm The Mill Arts and Events centre, Mill Hall, Bellingham Lane, Rayleigh, SS6 7ED Mid Essex SEND Local Offer Roadshow  – Wednesday 17 June – 9.30-12.30pm Silver End Village Hall, 3 Broadway, Silver End, Witham, CM8 3RQ North East Essex SEND Local Offer Roadshow  – Monday 22 June – 9.30-12.30pm Venture Centre,  2000 Bromley Rd, Lawford, Manningtree, C011 2JE West Essex SEND Local Offer Roadshow  -  Wednesday 1 July – 9.30-12.30pm Foakes Hall, 47 Stortford Road, Dunmow, CM6 1DG   The roadshows are all drop-in events and children do not need to have any sort of diagnosis for parents/carers to attend.

  🎨 Year 1 Art — Exploring Pastel Techniques to Help Our Earth! This week in Year 1, the children became real artists as they explored a range of exciting pastel techniques . We began by looking closely at how artists use colour and texture to bring pictures to life. The children experimented with: Blending – gently smudging colours together to make soft skies and smooth backgrounds Pointillism – using tiny dots to build up colour and texture Small strokes – perfect for fur, feathers and grassy areas Long strokes – great for waves, trees and bold shapes Layering – adding colours on top of each other to make richer tones Drawing and outlining – keeping shapes clear and confident The classroom was full of colour as the children practised each technique on scrap paper, discovering how different marks can change the mood and feeling of a picture. After exploring these skills, the children applied them to their own “Save Our Earth” and “Protect Our Wildlife” artwork. Using the ...

On Friday 8 th  May the children celebrated Sir David Attenborough's 100 th  birthday! As one of our role models for our school value of service, we marked this occasion by wearing something green to school.  It was lovely to see so many children and staff take part. Eden Oasis led workshops for each year group and showed the children a variety of animals, teaching them some interesting facts about their habitats. Animals included a huge snake, a tiny armadillo and a tortoise! This was definitely the highlight of the day, as lots of excitement could be heard from the Hall! Each class also completed their own wildlife themed activity, from drawing portraits of Sir David to paint dye butterflies, scavenger hunts, habitat art and fact files. Year 6 are designing their own wildlife website which is fantastic! Even the music during lunchtimes 'Fun Friday' on the playground were all animal themed! Overall it was a great day and I hope that some children have been inspired by Si...