St Pius X Catholic Primary School

Year 6 today took part in a service to mark Remembrance Day. We began by learning about the importance of remembering those who have served and sacrificed for our country. As part of our tribute, we created our own poppies. We painted and cut dowling and used wool to join them together, making a beautiful display to honor those we remember. This was concluded with a short service in the prayer garden, where we observed a two-minute silence to reflect and pay our respects. It was a thoughtful and meaningful way for us to remember and show gratitude. Well done Year 6! Remembrance Prayer  Dear God, We thank You for the gift of life and the special people You place in our hearts. Today, we remember those we love, those who have passed, and those who may be hurting. May we keep their memories alive in our thoughts and actions, And may we show kindness, love, and compassion to others each day. Help us to be grateful for every moment we share,  And give us the courage to face challen...

What a wonderful and inspiring time we've been having during our class worship sessions in Year 5! It's been truly fantastic to see the children not just participating, but completely taking ownership of this special time together - guided by Miss Lowrey. Planning with Purpose Our worship isn't something that's just presented to the class; it's something the children plan and create themselves. They spend time discussing and selecting different forms of worship, making sure there's something meaningful for everyone. This includes: Role Play: Acting out stories or scenarios to explore moral lessons and themes. Hymns and Songs: Carefully choosing music that resonates with the message of the worship. Reflection: Deciding on activities or moments for quiet contemplation. It’s been incredible to watch their maturity shine as they decide how best to structure the session. Centered Around a Theme We often centre our class worship around a specific theme to help us focu...

 Mini Vinnies visit The Wisdom Club This morning The Mini Vinnies visited our friends at The Wisdom Club.  As always with our visits to The Wisdom Club it was a lot of fun. The Mini Vinnies entertained the members of the club with some of their favourite songs including, Mamma Mia, Sometimes Lord, Oceans and Celebrate which got everyone clapping. The children then spent time with the members showing them some of their school work so far this academic year, which is something our friends always enjoy.  The children shared their art work and their English work.   The visit finished with a drink of juice and some cakes and biscuits which is always a winner with the children!!! 

 This term, Year 3 have been exploring the fascinating world of light and sound. Through hands-on experiments and investigations, they discovered how light travels in straight lines, how shadows are formed and how materials can be transparent, translucent or opaque. The children also explored reflection using mirrors and torches, learning how light can bounce to change direction. Their curiosity and teamwork shone brightly as they asked scientific questions, made predictions, and shared their discoveries with one another. As part of their Exit Point, Year 3 proudly presented everything they had learned about. They talked about how pitch can be changed and how light helps us to see the world around us. The children explained their investigations clearly and confidently, using scientific vocabulary to describe their findings. It was a wonderful celebration of learning, creativity, and enthusiasm. Well done, Year 3! When an object blocks light and creates a shadow it is called opaque...

Resourcefulness in Year 1  This week, Year 1 embarked on an exciting new adventure with our topic The Magic Toymaker ! On Wednesday, the children were greeted with a very special surprise – a peculiar letter and an unusual item delivered through the mail. The letter was from the Toymaker himself, and inside was a magic key to unlock our classroom! When we opened the door, we discovered boxes filled with junk materials . The Toymaker had set us a challenge: to create new toy ideas using these materials while he is away on holiday . The children rose to the challenge brilliantly! They worked together, shared ideas, and used their imaginations to design and build amazing toys from the materials provided. From houses, to birds and action figures, their creativity shone through in every design. This was a great example of  Resourcefulness - well done Year 1. The Toymaker was so impressed with our efforts that he appointed us as his new workers while he enjoys his holiday. W...

  On Wednesday, St Pius X Catholic Primary School held its Maths Stay and Learn Session .  Each class set up a range of engaging maths activities for children to enjoy with their parents, creating a wonderful opportunity to explore learning together.  Foundation and KS1 focused on using maths equipment through hands-on activities, while KS2 concentrated on problem-solving, maths games, and puzzles. It was a fantastic afternoon filled with fun, learning, and teamwork as families shared in the joy of maths. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend. 

This week, we had our maths stay and learn. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, the children loved sharing their learning and resources with everyone. It was so lovely to see all the children engaged in their learning through play, while showing their grown ups the learning too.  The children took part in a range of activities, including: making patterns, tangrams (making pictures out of shapes), threading and counting, comparing amounts, making numberblocks and reading books related to maths.   

Thank you, Raveena, for creating and sharing a wonderful PowerPoint presentation with the Year 6 class to celebrate an important festival in Sikhism. Your effort helped everyone learn and appreciate the significance of this special occasion.  Happy Gurpurab!

A new half-term, a new IPC topic. Leading up to Christmas, we will be studying the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. To start off our new topic, we're going a little further back though. Our focus for this week is fossil and what they can teach us about our prehistoric world.  On Tuesday, we learned about what fossils are and how they are formed. We then put what we learned into practice by imitating that process with play dough. We went out to find something in nature to represent our organism which dies. We they pressed it into the dough, showing how soil piles on top of ancient organisms and applies pressure to the remains. After, we lifted the up which left behind an imprint (much like what happens when remains decay). We then filled the imprint (like minerals filling in the cavity left by decayed remains) and left it to dry to leave our 'fossils'. "We also learned about fossils in our electricity topic when we did our presentations on energy sources."

This October, Year 5 have been celebrating Black History Month by exploring the incredible achievements and contributions of Black Britons and inspirational figures from around the world. We began by watching the BBC Bitesize videos about Black Britons today, learning about how Black people continue to shape and enrich our society. These stories sparked thoughtful discussions about equality, representation, and the importance of celebrating diversity every day, not just in October. Our class focus this year has been on Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel into space. The children were amazed to learn about her journey — from her childhood dreams of becoming a scientist, to her time as a NASA astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Inspired by Mae’s determination and courage, the children wrote heartfelt letters to Mae Jemison to express what an inspiration she has been to them. In their letters, many pupils shared how Mae’s story has encouraged them to ...

Year 5 has been on a fascinating journey back in time, swapping their modern shoes for ancient Roman sandals to discover the incredible impact of Roman roads on Britain! Our recent lesson explored not just how these engineering marvels changed the landscape, but also how they fundamentally transformed the way people and goods moved around the country. Year 5 investigated the remarkable cross-section of a typical Roman road and discovered a meticulous, layered structure designed for strength and drainage: Foundation: A layer of large, flat stones at the base. Rubble: A layer of smaller stones, broken tiles, and concrete mix. Core: A fine layer of gravel or sand, often mixed with lime to form a cement. Paving Stones: The top layer of smooth, closely fitted stones, often laid in a slightly curved shape (cambered) to allow rainwater to run off into ditches along the sides. The children were fascinated by how much thought went into keeping the roads dry and stable. Using cardboard boxes,...

This week, Year 1 have been learning all about  Rosa Parks . We talked about how she showed  fairness, courage and respect  when she stood up for what was right. The children learned that one small act of bravery can make a big difference and that everyone deserves to be treated equally, regardless of their skin colour.  'Rosa Parks is so brave because she said no and stood up for herself.' - Elysia 'Rosa Parks is a hero.' - Aiden We made colourful  bunting  to share all the reasons why Rosa Parks was brave and how she showed our school value of  fairness . The children showed such thoughtful ideas and real empathy as they reflected on her story. 'We all have different skin colours but we are kind to each other. Not like a long time ago.' -  Urane As part of our  IPC topic ‘A Day in the Life ’ , we also explored the work of  Andy Warhol  and created our own  Rosa Parks Pop Art ! The children had so much fun using bright colour...

 All through October, Year 4 have been doing a range of activities to celebrate Black History Month. We've been listening to a range of music from the last 300 years from various black artists during our coming in times. The top shelf of our library corner has all had books all relating to black history and  black authors.  We've also been learning about a range of different figures from history and modern influential people today during our reading comprehensions. We've read about Ignatis Sancho, Queen Nzinga, Malorie Blackman, Mo Farah and Katherine Johnson. Each student choose one of these people to research so that they coud write a biography on their choosen person this week.  These aren't the only people we've looked at. We've particularly focused on the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. We created art works insired by his very unique and emotive artworks. We listened to music to colour our backgrounds as Basquiat was very inspired by the music he listened to. ...

  As we come to the end of what has been a very busy half term, I want to take this opportunity to thank all our parents and carers who attended Parents’ Evening this week. Your continued support and involvement in your child’s education play such an important role in their success. The partnership between home and school truly makes a difference to every child’s learning journey. During this week’s liturgy, the children were asked an important question: “Does God always answer our prayers?” We reflected on the well-known Footsteps poem, which reminds us that during times when we feel alone or unheard, it may in fact be that God is carrying us. He is always with us, even when we don’t immediately see or feel His presence. I shared with the children how God has guided me throughout my life and in my role as a Headteacher. Just as He has supported me, I reminded the children that God is always there for them too—ready to listen whenever they turn to Him in prayer. If we are patient...

 This week, we have finished our learning of our Creation and Covenant topic and have been thinking about our over-arching Big Question: How did the world begin?  We started the week thinking about what we can do to look after ourselves:  'Eat healthy food'- Quinn 'Washing our hands and bodies'- Jeevan 'Exercising'- Logan We also thought about what we can do to look after each other: 'Help our friends if they fall over'- Macie-Grace 'Help children to do their writing'- Grace 'Give someone a plaster'- Ivy This then led us to think about what we can do to look after God's world. The children all came up with the idea of tidying up and thought back to when we did litter picking for service week! We decided we all wanted to be good stewards and made a promise to God that we would always help to tidy up.   

  Our Year 6 pupils have stepped into the world of Japanese poetry as they enter The Japan Society’s Haiku Competition 2025–2026 . 📜✨ A haiku is a tiny poem—just three lines—that captures a moment, often inspired by nature or emotions. This year’s theme is “Sound” , so our writers have been tuning in to everything from birdsong to playground laughter to spark their creativity. They’ve worked incredibly hard: listening, drafting, editing and even creating artwork to accompany their poems. The focus, effort and imagination they've shown has been truly impressive! With entries now ready to go, we’re wishing Year 6 the very best of luck. Whatever the outcome, they’ve already achieved something special. 🌟 https://www.japansociety.org.uk/haiku-contest-2025-2026

Earlier this month, Year 2 started to learn about an important girl called Ruby Bridges. We listened to a story about how she was brave and courageous, attending a mixed school when usually black children were segregated. 'I am Ruby Bridges' video It made us think about how we welcome new people and that we celebrate everyone's differences. 'Ruby Bridges was really brave.' 'She stood up for what was right and tried to change the law.' 'It doesn't matter what colour your skin is. Everyone is the same inside.' We celebrated by making posters and medals for Ruby!

As part of our DT project we designed and made healthy smoothies! We worked as a team, getting the ingredients ready before watching how to chop safely. We used a 'bridge' shape with our hand to hold the fruit still, then carefully placed the knife underneath to keep our fingers safe! We really enjoyed mixing the ingredients and then the best bit.... tasting the smoothie! Afterwards, we evaluated our project by thinking if there was anything we could improve.

As a Catholic school, we know it is important to learn about religions, beliefs and cultures that are different from our own. We have made Diwali lamps (diyas) to celebrate the festival of lights, known as Diwali. Diyas are small, traditional lamps which symbolise light overcoming darkness. They are believed to bring good luck and protection.

We've been learning how to add with exchanging over the past few days in Year 4. We started with simple addition without exchanging and have now moved on to sums that involve multiple exchanges. Everyone is improving, but we still need a bit more practice to really build our confidence. So yesterday, we played a Connect Four addition game to practise our addition skills in a fun and engaging way.

This week in maths, Year 1 have been learning how to use part-whole models to show how numbers can be split and combined. The children used counters, cubes and other objects to explore different ways to make numbers within 10. They worked carefully to place the parts and the whole in the right places, talking through their ideas and checking their answers with their partners. It was lovely to see their confidence grow as they began to use numbers alongside the concrete objects. 'I can do 10 take away 2 to find the missing part.' - Eva 'The whole is 6 because 4 + 2 equals 6.' - Nyle 'Because 2 + 8 is 10 I know 20 + 80 is 100.' - Noah We’re really proud of how hard everyone worked and how much fun they had discovering number bonds in different ways!

  'Fizz! Pop! Bang!' Yesterday, some of our students from Year 4 and Year 5 enjoyed a Science Enrichment Day at Chelmsford County High School. Their day started with a Physics lesson where they worked in groups with other schools to design, make a rollercoaster and then present it to the class.  All of the groups were successful in testing the rollercoaster with a marble!! Many skills were used in this task, particularly problem solving.  Next, was lunch which was provided by CCHS and then it was off to Biology to look at, 'why we need microscopes to see living cells.'  The children were very excited to be able to use microscopes and look at some living cells on the slides, which were otherwise invisible to the naked eye! The day finished with a chemistry lesson.  Goggles were a necessity in this lesson as we were learning how to use a bunsen burner.  We then used different chemicals on a taper stick which we held over the flame and were amazed to see that ...

This week in Year 1, we’ve been enjoying some autumn-themed provision alongside our everyday learning. The children collected seeds from pumpkins and were fascinated to see what was inside. They worked together to scoop, sort and count the seeds, showing lots of curiosity and care. At the playdough table, the children used leaf cutters to make their own autumn leaves. They spent time creating different shapes and patterns, chatting as they worked and enjoying the colours of the season. 'We are working together to find the seeds.' - Freddie 'The pumpkins seeds are very slimy.' - Arthur Another popular activity was using tweezers to dot snails and leaves with conkers. The children were very creative with their designs and also explored stacking and sorting the conkers in different ways. It was lovely to see how focused they were and how proud they felt of their creations. We also opened our  Autumn Café this week , linked to our IPC topic ' A Day in the Life' . Th...

 This week we came to the end of this Year 4's time in Forest School. They've had plenty of time to explore, build and enjoy being out in nature. All the students have had loads of fun over the last 6 weeks. Creating bows and sculptures have been a particularly popular activity this year. We're lucky to be doing it in the autumn this year, so we've also been collecting conkers and many have been making a range of creations using them and enjoying the changing colours of the leaves. Today was the highlight: lightig a fire and a snack. "I love creating stuff with nature." "The conkers are amazing!" "I can just enjoy being outside."