Pupil related news for all year groups. For more class specific information and news please visit the individual Year Group Pages.
The children of EYFS had a brilliant time on their trip to Denton library. We listened to stories related to our “We are Explorers” theme, sang nursery rhymes and explored the library together.
A big thanks to our parent helpers who came along.
We have sent home application forms for you to complete if your child is not already a Tameside library member. It is fabulous and absolutely free!
As part of our learning about growing this half term, the children of F2 have been doing lots of growing, including growing cress. We have written instructions out for how to do this so that the nursery children can have a go at growing some too. We are keeping a cress diary to record its progress. Next, we are going to conduct some experiments to find out if cress can grow without water, or without light.
The children of EYFS all enjoyed our trip to the farm, to support our learning about Spring and growing.
F2 went on a local walk to find the places of work of different people who help us in our community in Denton. We used this information to make a map of our local area, showing the different places that we visited.
Our pupils in F1 and F2 were very excited to be visited by two PCSOs and a paramedic as part of their People Who Help Us topic. We got to hear all about what it is like to be a PSCO and a paramedic and explore both a police car and an ambulance!
Today in F2 we were lucky enough to have a visit from a science teacher. He talked to the children about science and we shared some amazing experiments. We have a class of happy, budding scientists!
After last week’s floating and sinking experiments, where we found out that the shape of an object affected whether it can float or sink rather than just the weight, this week we got creative. After looking at lots of different types of boats, we then designed and made our own boats for Noi’s Dad (from our Storm Whale in Winter story). Once we had made our boats, we tested them to check that they could float in our water area.
The class are currently learning about electricity and they have been using electrical equipment to make circuits. They have drawn diagrams of their own circuits and then made them to see if they work. More recently, they have investigated whether adding more batteries will impact the brightness of the bulb.
The class made waist coasts for their teddy bears. This required them to design a waistcoat and then measure and cut their own material before sewing together the shoulders and the sides and then finally sewing on buttons.
Year 6 researched the circulatory system.
The children of F2 have loved using our crates to create a cosy new home for Stick Man and his family.
After reading a non-fiction book about winter and finding out that food is scarce for birds, the children of F2 have been making bird feeders for our outdoor area.
The children of F2 are really enjoying retelling the Stick Man story on our small world tray.
The children of F2 have had an amazing time exploring the winter weather. We have been comparing it to the season of Autumn and painting our own beautiful winter trees.
The children of F2 did an amazing job getting creative around the theme of the Nativity. We are artists!
The children of F2 all sang and danced their hearts out at Our First Nativity.
The children of F2 loved learning about how Diwali is celebrated. We even made our own Diva lamps from salt dough.
The children of F2 loved our visit to Denton Library. We can’t wait to go back again soon!
The children of F2 learned that on Remembrance Day, we are remembering the soldiers who fought in the war a long time ago. We created out own poppy art in the classroom, including a wreath to leave at the cenotaph on our class visit.
Bill the owl came to visit us in our classroom! We asked him lots of questions. We found out that he was bored of eating mice, so we have helped him by writing shopping lists using our phonic knowledge of different foods to try.
After going on an Autumn walk to explore the changes in our season, we created our own paintings of Autumn trees. We focused on our vocabulary words of roots, trunk and branches. We also did some colour mixing to create our own Autumnal shades.
For our DT unit, the children had to design and make a biscuit with packaging for someone who has previously taught them in school. They learnt a lot of different skills linked to baking and design.
In Art, we have been learning about Andy Warhol. Here we are practising the blotting technique to create various images just like Warhol would have done.
In Geography, we have been learning about the Americas. We used google earth to locate various place in the Americas and found out about where it is located compared to other places.
In our Outdoor Education unit, we have been practising our orienteering skills. We used maps of the school to find different markers to solve clues.
In PE, Year 4 have been doing Outdoor Adventure activities. Part of this is to work together. Here we have been making letters together. Can you guess what letter we are making?
Year 4 enjoyed their trip out to the Tree Top nets in Heaton Park on Wednesday. They bounced and climbed ’til they dropped and then some. They were an absolute pleasure to take for a day out and were a real credit to the school and parents – I was so proud of them. What a lovely end of year experience!
The children of EYFS all enjoyed a fabulous trip to the library today which tied into our Explorer theme. The children of F1 sharing their Walking Through the Jungle book and F2 shared our “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. The librarian commented on what amazing storytellers that we all are! We really enjoyed our story sessions and exploring the books: we are already excited for our next visit.
Every child will come home with a bookmark and an invitation to join the library. The librarian also told us all about the summer reading challenge, where you can earn a shiny gold sticker for reading 6 books! Please head to the local library to join in.
As part of our explorers theme, the children of F2 have been on a minibeast hunt! We have been learning about different minibeasts and their habitats- we made predictions about which minibeasts that we may find in our school environment and where they might be. Then we went on our hunt! We captured our findings using the camera on our iPads.
This week, the children have been retelling the story ‘Lost and Found’. They enjoyed coming up with fantastic actions and using loud, clear voices to retell the story. In Collective Worship, the children learnt about Jesus’ Sacred Heart. They reflected on how they could show kindness to other people. The children have also looked at the miracles Jesus performed and how he helped others. They then wrote prayers and thought about things they might want help with this week.
After starting to learn about some of the features and artefacts in a church, today the children of F2 made a visit to our church to see them for ourselves. Fr Joe spoke to our children about the altar, the lectern and the bible, the candles, the tabernacle, the font, the holy water and the statues in the church. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to look around and to ask questions. F2 parents: can your child talk to you about what they saw in the church?
Wow, what an amazing EYFS sports day we had this morning. Each child competed in a running race, a javelin throw, a bean bag pick up race and an egg and spoon race. After practising hard in PE lessons, the smiles and enthusiasm today were fantastic to see! We hope that you all enjoyed it too.
The children of F2 have been practising their threading skills this week. Linked to our explorer topic and our work on minibeasts, we have been creating our own spiders and spider webs, threading wool through holes to create the webs.
The children enjoyed using clay to make a sculpture inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. They began the lesson my experimenting with different tools and then worked the clay and moulded it into an egg shape. They did a fantastic job! Well done Y1.
In Year 2’s liturgical prayer this week, we celebrated the upcoming feast of Pentecost. The children shared the scripture and acted out the story. They explained the meaning of the Holy Spirit in detail and shared details of times they have felt filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The rain decided to stop for our field trip. The children enjoyed walking around the local area and used maps to find different places. When we got to the park, we looked for different flowers. The children had a great time!
The children of F2 have loved adding some new bedding plants into our outdoor environment this week. We have been excited to see some of our plants and bulbs sprouting up too. We know the names of the different parts of the plant, the job of the roots, and what plants need to grow.
We have also made observational drawings of our growing cress on the discovery table. It has changed so much! We are conducting a new experiment to find out what will happen to cress grown in different conditions. We have put some cress seeds in a dark box, giving them water but not light, then we have put some other cress seeds in a light spot, but not given them any water. We have made predications about what will happen to them.
The Year 5 children have spent two days doing bikeability both in school and out on the roads of Denton. They have all really enjoyed the experience and their behaviour and manners were commented on positively by all the instructors.
In Year 6, we have been learning about the life of King Charles III, retrieving information from a range of texts and developing our understanding of key vocabulary. We have also completed a Maths treasure hunt, learning key facts about King Charles III’s life, whilst also practising our arithmetic skills.
This week, Year 3 led our liturgical prayer. Their focus was on the importance of having faith and as part of this the children acted out the story of Doubting Thomas. They did an amazing job of learning their lines and acting on the day, which made it very special. We ended by singing along to our hymn – Sing Out an Easter Song, the words of which echoed our learning around faith.
In F2, we have been creating simple timelines using our class text “The Girl Who Planted Trees”. We looked at the how the mountain in the story changes over time, starting when the grandfather is a young child, then when the girl is young, then finally when the girl grows into a grandmother. We made pictures of the changing mountain and plotted them onto our timelines.
We have some exciting new visitors in our classroom: five tiny caterpillars! They are living on our discovery table and we are excited to watch them grow. Today, we found out about the life cycle of a butterfly and found out some interesting facts… Did you know that butterflies have no eyelids so cannot close their eyes? We also learned that butterflies have a long, curled up tongue called a proboscis that they use to drink the nectar. Our new vocabulary is nectar, proboscis, cocoon and chrysalis. Please talk to your children about our wriggly friends.
The children of F2 have been transfixed by the Easter story. This week, we talked about how Good Friday is the saddest day, but it is soon followed by the happiest day- Easter! The children understand our important symbol of the cross and it has been lovely to hear that many of our children have shared the Easter story at home with their parents. We have made beautiful Easter cards in class too: the children used pastels to create a cross shape, learning a smudging technique to create the effect.
As part of our new Spring and Growing theme, EYFS have had a fabulous morning down on the farm this week! We have been stroking rabbits, taking a tractor ride, meeting a range of animals, plus feeding goats and sheep. We talked about how baby animals are born in the Spring time and we got to meet a kid and a lamb. We have been learning the names of different baby animals in school this week and F2 have been writing about our farm trip.
F1 have had a lovely week inviting parents in to join us for some phonics based stay & play sessions. The children loved sharing their learning with their grown ups and tried really hard with some new phonics activities. Thank you to all that came along and I really hope you found it useful and enjoyed seeing how your child learns at school.
As part of our People Who Help Us topic in EYFS, this week we had a special visit from some PCSOs. They talked about what they do in their special helping job and showed us their uniform and special equipment. Then, we got to see the police car, get inside and try the siren! We had the chance to ask them questions about their exciting helping job.
Years 1 and 2 had great fun watching Tango’s Big Adventure. The children listened and interacted well throughout the performance. They were the perfect trainee zookeepers. The children learnt that no matter how different we are, we are all family and are all loved.
Year 2 were very excited to receive a visit from The Fire Service this week. The children enjoyed listening to the firefighters talk about their jobs and hearing about how they can stay safe at home. We went out onto the playground to see the fire engine and the highlight was an opportunity for all of the children to have a go at firing the hose!
As part of our People Who Help Us topic, F2 have been learning about firefighters. This week, a mystery bag was left in our classroom full of equipment and we had to guess the job… and it was a firefighter’s bag! We have been learning about the important work that firefighters do. We have been lucky enough to meet some real firefighters, see their fire engine and have a go at spraying water from the hose! Back in class, we painted fire engines using photos for reference and drew and labelled firefighter equipment using phonic knowledge.
This half term, we started our new topic by sharing our home learning challenge: creating a junk model of a person who helps us. We loved sharing our models and talking about the different job roles and what they involve.
Year 2’s class liturgical prayer took place this week. The theme was based on the scripture verse ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ and the children told the story of the feast of St Valentine to develop this message. The class also described how they could live out these values in their daily lives and spread God’s love to others all around us.
Mrs Nickeas
Year 3 and 5 enjoyed a French breakfast this morning. Year 5 acted as the waiters and Year 3 as the customers. They asked each other what they would like in French and then enjoyed a selection of delicious French breakfast foods including croissants, crepes, pain au chocolat and brioche.
Miss Longden
As part of our learning about The Storm Whale in Winter, we have been designing a new boat for Noi’s Dad. We began with some floating and sinking experiments, making predictions about different objects and testing them out. Then, we looked at photos of a variety of different boats and talked about their features. Next we designed our own boats, then made them using junk modelling. We are excited to see if our boats can float!
Year 4 and Year 6 enjoyed a virtual author visit with Robin Scott-Elliot as part of Tameside’s Ready Steady Read festival. The children enjoyed listening to what inspired Robin to become an author and found out about his latest release – Hide and Seek. They were even treated to an exclusive cover reveal of his future book – Sweet Skies. It was great to see the children so engaged in the session.
The children of F2 have been doing some fantastic investigating about ice. First we observed melting ice in our classroom: what it looked like, felt like, talking about how it was changing and what happened when we touched it with our hands. Then we received a letter from Stick Man: his three stick children were stuck in the ice! We planned our own experiment, thinking about what we know about how ice melts and planned three different places to try to melt the ice quickly. We then made predictions as to where the ice would melt fastest, giving reasons. We have also extended our learning by experimenting with freezing some other things such as coffee and yoghurt, predicting whether or not they would freeze.
4P have peer revising and editing their writing before they share their journey stories with F2 this week as part of their celebration of writing. The children ensured they followed our writing success criteria and made changes to their writing to make it entertaining for others.
This week 4P had their class liturgical prayer. They explained ‘The Feast of Presentation’ to the school community. The children read from the gospel of Luke and discussed the importance of how Simeon and Anna recognised how special baby Jesus was when he entered the temple. The children shared their ideas and ways we can find something special in each and every one of us.
In the first part of our Winter topic, the children of F2 loved engaging in our class text of Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. The children re-enacted the text on our small world table and look part in some creative Talk for Writing activities. We played freeze framing, where the children froze as various scenes in the story and we considered what the characters may be thinking. We also thought of questions that we would like to ask Stick Man if we ever met him… then low and behold, he visited our classroom and we interviewed him! We have retold the story using a story map, made Stick Man speech bubbles and created a new part of the story.
F1 have been learning all about Chinese New Year and exploring lots of fun activities. We made Chinese lanterns and looked at different artefacts including red envelopes and gold coins. We even tried some Chinese food including prawn crackers, sweet ands our sauce and rice. The children tried really hard to eat their food using chopsticks!
Our children have been learning all about the Chinese New Year. We found out about lots of different traditions, shared a Chinese New Year story, made Chinese New Year celebration cards, explored artefacts on our discovery table, role played the celebrations in our home corner, made Chinese lanterns, practised writing numbers in Chinese, sampled some delicious Chinese food at St Mary’s Chinese restaurant and watched some lion and dragon dancing.
Can your child tell you about how Chinese New Year is celebrated?
This week we have found out about winter from information books. We have been thinking about how some animals hibernate in the winter months and some birds migrate to warmer counties (we are doing a great job at learning this new vocabulary!). We talked about how it can be tricky for the remaining birds to find food in the winter months and we brainstormed ways in which we can help them. We settled on making birdfeeders for our outdoor area. The children followed the instructions well and we certainly enjoyed getting our hands messy! We should have some happy birds hanging around St Mary’s soon.
GIFT Team delivering their Advent collective worship to Year 1.
F2 children spread so much joy delivering their Christmas cards to the local community.
Wow! We can’t believe it is the end of Autumn term! It has been such a fun week full of Christmas cheer with children sharing their understanding of Advent and taking the crib home to share with their families, delivering Christmas cards to our local community and enjoying our class party on Thursday. We also completed our Christmas stockings and these have gone home and we hope you enjoy hearing about how they made these and what thought they put into their designs.
The children have been out and about this week in their festive clothes delivering Christmas cards that they have made, to local residents of Denton. The children really enjoyed the experience, and they were very pleased to receive such lovely comments from residents who had received a card.
Miss Longden
Advent
This week, we have been very busy in Year 6, with our preparations for Christmas.
The children attended Mass with Year 2 on Wednesday – they read and sang beautifully and were a credit to our school. They have also made and delivered Christmas cards to the local community, which were very well received.
Miss Johnson
The children have been out and about this week delivering Christmas cards to local residents of Denton. The children really enjoyed the experience and there were some lovely comments from those who had received a card.
Year 2 had a lovely time making and delivering our community Christmas cards this week. The children were extremely sensible and polite when leaving school and on our walk. A few of our neighbours even came out to say hello!
In Year 1, we have had great fun making and delivering Christmas cards to the local community. It has been lovely to receive messages of thanks from people who have received our cards.
