News

Parent/Carer Consultation – Proposed Relationships Education for 2021-2022

Parents/Carers are the first educators of their child/ren. It is your right and responsibility to inform and educate your child/ren in matters relating to human growth and development, particularly relationships and sexual development. At St Mary’s we aim to work in partnership with you to support our parents/carer in this aim. We are consulting with you on the content of our new Relationships Education policy and scheme of work. Please take time to read through the documents below which outline the curriculum and our planned approach.  Please send any comments you have to office@stmarysdenton.com by  Friday 2nd July (4pm).

  1. The Vision – Life To The Full
  2. Life To The Full Programme Overview
  3. Relationships Education policy
  4. FAQs
  5. Key decisions in Life To The Full

The Vision LTTF

Life to the Full Programme Overview

Relationships Education Policy 2021 – DRAFT

FAQs for Website

Key Decisions in LTTF

 

News

Asymptomatic testing for families of school-age children – Community Collect.

Any individuals who have sustained contact with school children will be eligible, including households of school children, members of support bubbles, childcare and those in related occupations.  We are encouraging parents to get tested twice a week, 3-4 days apart.  Parents and carers can order kits online or pick up kits at Darnton Road or Beeley Street between 1.30pm – 7pm.  The pick-up sites will close 12-1.30pm for a clean after having been used for symptomatic testing in the morning.

News

Red Nose Day – Comic Relief

Calling all Superheroes!!

Friday 19th March is Red Nose Day for Comic Relief, the theme for this year is Superheroes ‘the power to change the world is in your hands!’. The children can come into school dressed up as a superhero or just wear something red if they prefer.  The children will be carrying out activities in class on this day, linked to the theme of the day and Comic Relief.  A Just Giving page has been set up, linked directly Comic Relief if you wish to make a donation.

 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/st-marys-rc-primary-school-rednoseday21-c3df9ed1-2cc0-4045-94c5-e4ea8e1f5ecc?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=st-marys-rc-primary-school-rednoseday21-c3df9ed1-2cc0-4045-94c5-e4ea8e1f5ecc&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=22009240b4854c7a9975422c413c5bdb

EYFS, News

F2 – Learning about the Police

As part of our People Who Help Us topic in F2, we have been learning all about the police.  We have used the computer and non-fiction books to find out information about the job of the police.  Then in our class we have roleplayed being police in our class police station and in our outdoor area.  Darcie has been lucky enough to visit a real police helicopter with her Dad!  What an amazing experience, we have loved hearing about it in class.

EYFS, News, PSHE

People Who Help Us: Our Thank You Tokens

As part of our People Who Help Us topic, we have been thinking about the people and jobs in our community and the different ways that they help us.  We decided to make thank you tokens for some of the people that are doing jobs that we are really grateful for such as doctors, nurses, fire fighters, police and lollipop people.  Ellen’s thank you token for nurses is now proudly displayed in the entrance of Manchester Royal Infirmary.

EYFS, News, PSHE

We are Super Friends!

We are Super Friends!
In PSHE this week we have been thinking all about friendship: we are Super Friends at St Mary’s School!  First we thought about the superheroes that we know and the powers that they have.  Next we thought about the superpowers that we need to be super friends: powers such as kindness, sharing and looking after each other.  Of course, no superhero would be complete without a costume.  Our home learners both at school and at home then had lots of fun designing our Super Friend masks.

EYFS, News

F2-People Who Help Us

The children in EYFS have started our new topic: People Who Help Us.  In F2, we have begun by thinking about the people who help us both at home and at school, before we move onto our local community.  This week, our learners at school and at home have loved using their imaginations to make models of people who help them.  What fabulous artists we are!

News

Safer Internet Day

 

Staying safe online is more important now than ever, we are all spending an increasing amount of time on the internet and it’s so important that we know how to use it safely. The focus of this day, gives everyone the opportunity to learn or be reminded of ways to stay safe online. The children, both at home and school will be carrying out activities linked to this theme and given the chance to increase their knowledge and understanding.

There are a number of resources to access on the e-safety page in ‘Home Learning’.

Y6

Home Learners

In Year 6’s Art lessons we have been looking at fashion, one of the lessons involved designing a hat, we looked at designers such as Philip Treacy,  this was one of the super designs that was sent in from home.

Year 6 have been studying ‘The Amazon’ in our topic lessons, Ellie produced this fantastic piece of Artwork at home, linked to the rainforest.

News

Parent Helpline

Tameside GROW team, have set up a parenting helpline. The parenting team are there to support you during this difficult time. If you have any worries or concerns that you want to share, or any support, advice or guidance you may require, the team are available to contact either by phone or email.

Contact details below:

News

Children’s Mental Health Week 2021

Next week (1st- 5th February) is ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’, this years theme is ‘Express Yourself’. Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. It is about finding a way to show who you are, and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself. On Monday, both our home and school learners will get the chance to see the virtual assembly to launch this week, the theme will then continue throughout the week, with a range of activities the children can carry out to support the promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing.

Below are a number of resources available to support parents and carers, plus some activities for the children:

Children’s Mental Health Week – Tips for Parents and Carers

https://youtu.be/STdJ__8ORyE

https://youtu.be/ozKW1M97JXE

 

EYFS, Nursery

Celebrating Diwali in EYFS

In EYFS we have been learning all about the festival of Diwali.  We have watched a video on CBeebies about how a little girl celebrates this special time with her family.  We also looked at some pictures about found out different ways in which Diwali is celebrated.  Children in F1 have made their own Diva lamps which they took home with a special candle to light.  Also the children have explored some sparkly Diwali themed water and mark making activities.  They have made Diwali cards and designed rangoli patterns.  They have also drawn Henna tattoos on the handprints and designed a Diva lamp on purple mash too.  Outside we listened to some traditional Diwali music and the children played along with the instruments and did some firework dancing.  Children in F2 recorded different ways of celebrating Diwali through pictures and did some fantastic firework dancing on our outdoor stage to some Diwali music.

 

 

EYFS, Nursery

Remembrance Day

The children in F1 and F2 have been learning about Remembrance Day this week.  We found out about the soldiers who fought in the war over 100 years ago to protect our country.  We learnt that poppies grew on the battlefields when the fighting stopped.  Our classrooms were filled with poppy art on 11th November: we make poppy pictures using oil pastels, poppy necklaces by using holepunches and threading onto wool, poppy paint printing pictures, poppy transient art and poppy pictures using Purple Mash.  It has been lovely to hear from parents how much the children have enjoyed sharing their new knowledge with them at home.

Nursery

Our first half term in F1

The children have settled so well into school life, they have made some lovely friendships as well as learning all of our school rules and routines. Our topic is ‘All about me’ and the children have been very busy telling us all about their families and also their likes and dislikes. We have been reading some favourite key texts each day and have also began our weekly class library service. The children have learnt new maths rhymes and games as well as exploring apps on our new EYFS Ipads. Outdoor learning has played a key part in our learning too and children have been busy exploring the areas outside and gaining confidence riding the bikes and scooters. We have done lots of creative activities in class as well as beginning to learn to copy and trace letters in our names. In Phonics our Phase 1 learning has included listening to environmental sounds as well as exploring instruments and body percussion. We have learnt names of different body parts and had fun with different dances and actions too. What a busy and exciting start to life at St Mary’s it has been for our F1 children! Keep up the hard work 🙂 

 

EYFS

F2: Our “All About Me” Theme

What a fun and positive start to the year it has been for F2.  We have spent the first few weeks getting to know each other and familiarising ourselves with our rules and routines.  We began with the text of Elmer: focusing on how we are all different and special.  We acted out the story in different ways, thought of some super describing words for Elmer and retold the story using a story map.

Next we started to learn about our bodies.  We have really enjoyed the story of Funnybones and have been retelling it in our small world area.  We have been making skeletons, labelling bodies with our new phonics skills, making maps of Funnybones’ journey as well as doing the skeleton dance!  Outdoors, we have been moving our bodies in lots of different ways whilst playing with our actions dice.

We have been exploring our senses in our discovery area.  We have done some fantastic sorting whilst thinking about the sense of sight as well as exploring torches and kaleidoscopes.  We have compared and described the feel and texture of different objects using our feely tubs.  We have thought about hearing whilst experimenting with and describing the sounds of different musical instruments, plus explored taste with a delicious fruit tasting session.  What a busy class!

 

Letters, News

Revised Holiday Pattern 2020/21

The second half of the Summer term has been a great success. The staff team worked incredibly hard to ensure the wider re-opening went ahead on 22nd June. In addition to our key worker children over the past 3 weeks, we have welcomed Y6, Y1 and Reception pupils back to school. We are now at capacity. We have also ensured that remote learning continues smoothly for those accessing learning at home.  My thanks to parents / carers for supporting our new procedures in school and to those continuing with the challenges of home learning.

We have now started planning for the return of all pupils for the start of the new school year. With this in mind, the governors have taken the decision to allocate an additional INSET day for staff training in the September.

The additional INSET day is Wednesday 2nd September. This means school will re-open to pupils on Thursday 3rd September. A copy of the revised holiday pattern is attached and available on the school website (www.stmarysdenton.com). There is also a change to the Spring term and school will now re-open on Monday 4th January 2021.

Revised Holiday Pattern 2020-21