This Term’s Virtues
This term we are trying hard to be
Curious & Active
From Our Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
Welcome back! This term has started with a calm and focussed atmosphere around school. The return to a uniform start time seems to have helped this and we appreciate the effort that many parents have gone to in order to ensure that their child is in school on time each morning – this is of paramount importance.
In assemblies and class prayer and collective worship time, there has been a focus on Christmas with our celebration of Epiphany last week. Fr. Benedict very kindly provided a reflection for each class to watch and discuss. We have also introduced our termly virtues – curious and active. These will form the basis of celebration certificates on Fridays, recognising children who have gone above and beyond in terms of these virtues. During assemblies and in class, we have discussed how pupils at St. Aloysius’ can be curious and active in their learning, in their faith and in their relationships with others. I have been impressed with some of the examples that children have given from Year 1 through to Year 6.
On a personal note, thank you for all of the cards, gifts and well-wishes at the end of last term and I hope that you had a joyful time with family and friends.
I am looking forward to the term ahead and, as always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Kind regards, Hannah Duncan (Acting Headteacher)
It’s so important to wake our bodies up ready for learning! Our Reception children leading the way 🤩 #wakeupshakeup pic.twitter.com/hL6ohFoUcV
— St Aloysius’ Catholic Primary School (@AloysiusSchool) January 14, 2022
We now have a Twitter presence and would love to boost our followers! Fly on over and have a look … @AloysiusSchool
Parking
Parents have reported some near misses outside school recently. This has been caused by parents doing dangerous u-turns in the road. There is a roundabout at the bottom of St. Margaret’s Road where turning manouvers can be undertaken safely.
General Information
Extra Curricular Clubs – Art and Ceramics Clubs have resumed and we are planning to start hockey and football after school clubs next term. More information will be sent to parents in the soon.
Online Safety Newsletter for Parents – please click HERE to read the latest newsletter from our school management system partner, Scomis.
Class Topic Overview and Knowledge Organiser – the Spring Term Class Topic Overview and Knowledge Organisers can be found under the CLASSES tab where you can easily click on your child’s class. Acorn Class Curriculum Information can also be found there.
Swimming – unfortunately, swimming was cancelled this week due to staff shortages at The Ferry Pool. We are hoping it will restart next week. We will keep parents informed.
School Meals – if you have any queries regarding school dinner money or require a statement, please email Mrs. McIntyre HERE.
Payments to The School Office – PLEASE NOTE we can no longer accept cash or cheques as payment and have moved to a CASHLESS system. All payments should be made via the Schoolgateway (click HERE for further information). Permission slips can be either emailed or bought into school with your child and handed to the school office.
Governor News
If you would like to see who our governors are and that they do, click HERE.
Breakfast and After School Club
Breakfast Club is now open every morning from 7.45am until start of school. Booking is essential and should be made online via the Schoolgateway (bookings can be made up until the day of the session). This is important to ensure the right staffing, bubble planning, etc.
After School Club is open Monday to Friday until 5.00pm. Again, booking is essential, online via the Schoolgateway, to ensure correct staffing, bubble planning, etc. Bookings close at 2.00pm on the day of the session. PLEASE COLLECT YOUR CHILDREN ON TIME – staff finish at 5.00pm.
Thank you for supporting our After School and Breakfast Clubs!
Recycling
This Term’s House Point Totals
Ashmolean
Bodleian
Radcliffe
Sheldonian
Radcliffe were the Autumn Term House Point winners!
Prayer
Let us live each day in the most loving and God-conscious way. Let us serve all who are in need. May your year be filled with peace, prosperity and love. May God’s blessings shower upon you and bestow upon each of you a bright, healthy and peaceful New Year. Amen.
OFSTED Report
Please click on this link to read our recent Good OFSTED report.
Section 48 Report
Please click on this link to read our recent Section 48 report.
Safeguarding
Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Safeguarding Statement can be found on our website under information or by clicking
Dates For Your Diary
Spring Term
Spring H/T Ends – Friday 18th February @ 3.05pm
Spring Term Ends – Friday 8th April @ 1.00pm
No Afterschool Club on Friday 8th April!
Some Future Dates
Additional Holiday – Monday 6th June followed by INSET day Tuesday 7th June 2022
Attendance
The importance of being on time
- Smooth transition period – students who arrive at school between 8.35am and 8.50am have the opportunity to settle into the classroom, revisit key concepts and focus their minds on the day ahead.
- Important information – a typical school day starts with instruction and introductions to new lessons and concepts. Students who arrive late may miss out on important details and be unprepared for future learning or key learning concepts.
- Develops long-term positive habits for the future – when students arrive on time to school every day, they develop the habit of being punctual.
- Self-esteem – arriving on time every day makes children feel good about themselves.
Arriving on time for school ensures that your child does not miss out on the important learning activities that happen early in the day when they are at their most alert. Give your child the best start to the day and ensure he/she arrives to school on time.
Doors Open At 8.35am – Registration At 8.50am
Bikeability Cycle Training
More photographs under Willow Class news … Next week it is the turn of Bay Class.
Footsteps
CORONAVIRUS ADVICE
If you are visiting our school site, please always wear a facemask, follow the one-way-system and observe social distancing. HANDS – FACE – SPACE.
Updated Guidance for Parents and Carers
What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term can be found here
Department for Education Coronavirus Helpline
Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687 Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
Where to find the latest information
Updates on COVID-19: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
CLASS NEWS
Acorn Nursery Class
Acorns have had a super start to the new term and their beautiful carpet sitting has been rewarded with marbles in the jar already! We have welcomed several new children into Acorns and it has been lovely to see how well they have settled and I know that is due in part to how Acorns keep to their promises to be kind, be safe and look after the things in our classroom (including each other).
Our current topic is Winter and the children have been looking at the signs of winter and trying to expand their vocabulary with new wintery words. We have been enjoying making ‘hot chocolate’ in the water tray, making playdough 3D snowmen, experimenting with different ways of mark making and thinking about what we do differently in winter compared to summer.
We are continuing to practice weekly phonics through smaller group times, free flow and stories, concentrating on rhyme. We have also begun to look at letter sounds starting with ‘m’, to help the children become more familiar with sounding out their names.
In Maths, we are exploring ordinal numbers 1st, 2nd and 3rd as well as counting using the cardinal principle (the last number reached is the total) and continuing to move up our number line to number 6, learning the different ways in which we can represent number. Well done to Acorns for a fantastic start to the New Year!
Tigger Reception Class
Tigger class has been a hive of activity this week – we have been looking at the story of the Gingerbread Man and how the story is constructed, beginnings and endings, the plot and the main problems in the story and identifying the main characters. The children did a fantastic job of using signs to tell the story thinking up different ways to represent the characters.
The children drew some great story maps and followed the drawing instructions for the animals in the story, even Mrs Feller needed them for the horse! We have used the story as a base for some problem solving seeing if we can help “Gingie” to cross the river without getting wet by building him a bridge, a boat or even a floating pizza! In the classroom we have a bakery to encourage the children’s imaginative play and engage each other in longer conversations. The children have had fun with the ginger playdough.
We cooked some gingerbread men and gave one to Miss Duncan. Miss Duncan did not want to ruin her tea so decided to leave her Gingie on her desk for the following day. When she came into school, Gingie had run away! The children soon became busy making posters and signs to alert others in the school of his escape. Then the children received a letter to tell them that Gingie was safe and having a great time in hot and sunny climes.
The children have attempted helicopter stories and have done a fantastic job of acting out stories they know well and have written themselves.
In Maths, we have been looking at comparing weights and using the balance scales. We have also looked at capacity and children used the water beads and lots of water to explore different size containers. We have been continuing to look at the numbers one to five and building on our counting skills.
We continue with our phonics and our new sounds and red words.
Mrs Hendry and Mrs Feller
Fir Year 1 Class
In Fir Class, we have been working very hard since our Christmas break. In Maths, we have started to learn about 2D and 3D shapes. We tried to find shapes around the classroom and even tried to build our own shapes using playdough, lollipop and cocktail sticks. This helped us to understand the difference between 2D and 3D objects.
In English, we have been reading different fairy tales and traditional tales. We have been focusing on Hansel and Gretel this week. We started by reading the story. We then divided into pairs and groups of three to act out the story to see how well we could remember it. We also created story maps which we used to help us create our own book on the story.
In Topic, we have begun to discuss history and why we need to learn about history. We created a mind map of things which people did in the past and compared it with what we do now. We managed to come up with lots of great ideas, for example, people from history used to use candles for light but now we have electricity.
Outdoor Learning
Outdoor Learning started again this week …
Fig Year 2 Class
It has been a busy start to 2022 in Fig Class. The children have returned with great enthusiasm for our new topic and new term. This term we will be focussing on the history of transport. The children will pay particular emphasis on developing their skills to put events in chronological order and reflect upon the lifestyles of people through history and how this affected the way they travelled. In Science, they will be conducting a number of practical experiments building on their understanding of the properties of materials. A new term topic web will be included with the children’s homework. We have transported ourselves this week to the world of Ted Hughes’ Iron Man. The children have created their own Iron Man portraits, explored the description of the character and written their own story setting. I know we are going to enjoy putting our imagination to the test over the next few weeks. In Maths, we are applying our knowledge of the 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables and will start to use the concept of division over the next two weeks. During this term we will explore the role of fables and parables in RE. The role of these stories in teaching us something and conveying a message will lead to lots of discussion and the children will then write their own fables. We would ask that you continue to read with your child and discuss with them their thoughts and opinions on what they have read. We are also encouraging the children to consider the presentation of their work, highlighting handwriting letters and numerals that face the correct way, for some children this can be more difficult. We appreciate any encouragement that you can provide when the children are completing homework or writing at home.
Oak Year 3 Class
Oak Class have started the new term with curiosity and enthusiasm. The class are very interested in our new topic this term – Stone Age to Iron Age. The children enjoyed creating their own artwork based on Stone Age cave paintings. In Maths, the children continue to explore multiplication and division, representing and solving missing number calculations using number lines. Everyone is enthusiastic about our class book The Wild Way Home which links well with this term’s topic. In RE, we have been exploring the story of the shepherds going to Bethlehem, thinking about the thoughts and feelings of the shepherds and writing diary entries. In Science, we have begun investigating rocks, exploring different types and their properties. The class have demonstrated good teamwork in PE, learning new skills and playing team hockey matches.
Ash Year 4 Class
Ash Class have had a great start to 2022 – we are excited to start our new topic about the Anglo Saxons. To inspire our learning, we have begun to read the legend of Beowulf, which the class are finding very exciting! In Science, we are learning about animals including humans and we enjoyed making playdough models of the digestive system (see below). The children showed a great leap in their understanding between sessions and were able to use words such as “enzymes” and “oesophagus” after just two lessons! In Maths, we are pushing ourselves to find all the different methods for solving multiplications – this includes applying our new knowledge of factors and the law of commutativity.
Bay Year 5 Class
We hope you all had a wonderful break and would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year! It has been a pleasure to see all the children so happy to be back in school, recharged and buzzing with excitement for a fantastic term ahead! We have begun our new topic – Ancient Greece.
To start our topic, we read the first chapter of our new class novel Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief using an engaging and interactive storytelling drama technique Whoosh! to bring the story alive, even without prior knowledge of the characters or plot. As the storyteller reads the chapter, they guide the class (similar to an orchestral conductor or theatre director). The children play different characters, objects, places or events in the story. In our first chapter, some children acted and played as a fountain, a statue and some pigeons. It was a huge success and the class are hooked after the first chapter, eager to find out what happens next!
In Maths, we began our measurement topic. At the beginning of the week we needed a reminder on how to measure and calculate the perimeter of squares and rectangles. After this learning, we were able to progress to learn how to measure and calculate the perimeter of composite rectilinear shapes in both centimetres and meters. Everyone was confident with this concept by the end of the week; amazing! We also learnt how to calculate the area of rectangles and compound shapes. As an extra challenge, and to continually revise previously learnt concepts, we included some calculations with more complex multi-step problems.
Next week, we will be learning how to multiply and divide whole numbers and decimals by 10, 100, 1000, using our place value grids to help us. To support your child at home, focus on multiplication and division using mental strategies.
In English, we have been learning how to write an ode. We learnt that in ancient Greek times, ode poems were originally performed publicly to celebrate athletic victories. Today, we learnt that we use them as elaborately structured poems expressing the writer’s thoughts and feelings about something they really love using descriptive language along with an outpouring of praise! To help plan and draft our poems we explored the use of onomatopoeia, metaphors and similes, as well as a new additional feature ‘hyperboles.’ Test your children to see if they can tell you common hyperboles we use. Following this, we thought carefully about our chosen person, object, subject or pet that we adored and wrote our own odes. After listening to the odes being read, I must say we truly have a gifted bunch of impressive poets!
Willow Year 6 Class
Willow Class have been settling back into class well and have stepped straight into the deep end of learning. With English, we specifically looked at how we can include adverbs more regularly into our writing and how this helps us to include more detail into a story. They have been drafting and perfecting their persuasive writing for deforestation including many of the key features that you would find when reading this style of written work. In Maths, we have moved on from fractions to the world of geometry (specifically coordinates in four quadrants). They have revised their knowledge and then stretched their learning when using coordinates in four quadrants. With this new knowledge, they have then had to identify missing coordinates, create shapes that will cross all quadrants and will be moving on to reflecting shapes as well as translating them. We have started our topic on Ancient Egypt and the children showcased what they already know. They understood the length of the civilisation and what fantastic mathematicians they were. Next week: pyramids.
Finally, most of the class successfully completed the Bikeability Cycle Training course this week. One of the coaches commented that the children’s behaviour was impeccable. Well done Willow Class!
Bikeability Cycle Training
