This Term’s Virtues
This term we are trying hard to be
Intentional & Prophetic
From Our Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
The children have returned from half term with calm and positive learning attitudes.
It was a lovely start to the term for pupils in Reception to Year 6 to walk down to The Oratory for a whole-school Ash Wednesday Mass and it feels that we are returning to some level of normality. You might have heard from your children that we have also resumed trays for lunches as the paper boxes are no longer required as an additional hygiene measure. We are also looking ahead and planning the lunch menu for after Easter in partnership with the OCC ‘Food for Thought’ team.
This week, Margot from Father Hudson’s Care came to talk to us about the Good Shepherd appeal, which is celebrating its 120th year anniversary. Once again, this Lent we are supporting their appeal and children should have come home with their boxes this week. We invite children and their families to donate to the charity during Lent and return their boxes after the Easter holiday to the school office.
During Lent we are also focusing on prayer, praying for those less fortunate than ourselves and for those in Ukraine. In addition to this, we are talking about the sacrament of Reconciliation and Year 6 have produced thoughtful examinations of conscience for each class to use this Lent. Our new virtues of ‘intentional and prophetic’ link in well to the season of Lent, thinking about our actions and choosing to live how God wants us to and spreading the word of God through how we live our lives.
We hope that many of you will be able to join us for our work sharing afternoons that start next week. This is an opportunity for your child to share with you the work that they have been doing in class.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for more regular updates! Have a look at our Twitter page
Kind Regards, Hannah Duncan (Headteacher)
We have a Twitter presence and would love to boost our followers! Fly on over and have a look … @AloysiusSchool
A beautiful afternoon for a hockey lesson with the coaches from @TeddiesOxford 🏑 pic.twitter.com/GQL8fQyUxq
— St Aloysius’ Catholic Primary School (@AloysiusSchool) March 7, 2022
Keeping Everyone Safe
We want to KEEP EVERYONE SAFE. Parents can help with this by
- not cycling through and around the school grounds
- leaving bicycles in car parks or on the road then walking around the school premises
- not parking cars on pavements, in/across our neighbour’s drives, on double yellow lines, on zig zag lines, in either of the school car parks, etc.
- not parking dangerously or performing U-turns in the road
- parking safely in Polstead Road and not across the rear car park entrance
By being more considerate, we can keep everyone safe. Thank you!
General Information
School Meals – we will have a new menu after the Easter holiday. If you have any queries regarding school dinner money or require a statement, please email Mrs. McIntyre HERE.
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 – we are hopeful that swimming lessons will resume soon – we will keep parents informed.
Payments to The School Office – PLEASE NOTE we 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.
Online Safety Newsletter
SCOMIS, the school provider for management systems, have published their latest Online Safety Newsletter for parents. It contains some really good advice about online gaming, the draft online safety bill and Roblox!
Oxford & Cambridge Singing School
This Term’s House Point Totals
Ashmolean
Bodleian
Radcliffe
Sheldonian
Radcliffe were the Autumn Term House Point winners!
A Prayer For Ukraine
Loving God, We pray for the people of Ukraine, for all those suffering or afraid, that you will be close to them and protect them.
We pray for world leaders, for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.
We pray for the world that in this moment of crisis, we may reach out in solidarity to our brothers and sisters in need.
Loving God, May we walk in your ways so that peace and justice become a reality for the people of Ukraine and for all the world.
Amen.
Family Rosary Club
Queen of Peace, Queen of the Family! Join us as we pray the Rosary with our children straight after school on Thursdays, beginning 17th March. We will gather in school and will have use of The Courtyard or one of the classrooms, between 3.15pm to 3.30pm. This is a family club so parents must attend with their children. No need to bring anything – rosaries will be provided.
Any questions, contact Meg Finnis (07837 372946)
Oxford Clinical Commissioning Group
Following the Government’s announcement that all children aged 5 to 11 will be offered the COVID-19 vaccination, NHS partners across Oxfordshire are now planning the best way to deliver the vaccine to this age group. Please note that in line with government timelines this service may not be available until April 2022. We ask you to please refrain from contacting the NHS during this time and thank you for your patience. Further information will be available in due course.
Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group
Dates For Your Diary
Spring Term
Spring Term Ends – Friday 8th April @ 1.00pm*
Summer Term
Summer Term Starts – Monday 25th April @ 8.35am
Bank Holiday – Monday 2nd June
Summer Half Term – Monday 30th May to (and including) Tuesday 7th June
Summer Term Ends – Thursday 21st July @ 1.00pm*
* No Afterschool Club on these days
Some Future Dates
Additional Holiday – Monday 6th June followed by INSET day Tuesday 7th June 2022
OFSTED & Section 48 Reports
- Please click to read our recent Good OFSTED report.
- Please click 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
Punctuality
Reporting An Absence
If your child is too ill or unable to attend school for another reason, please contact the school office (text, email or answer phone message) before 9.00am with full details of your child’s illness or reason for absence. If we do not hear from you, we will call or text you to find out why your child is not in school. If we are unable to make contact and you do not provide a reason for your child’s absence, this absence will be recorded as unauthorised and if appropriate, we may contact the relevant authorities to carry out an investigation. If a pupil has two consecutive days of unauthorised absence with no reason given then this becomes a safeguarding concern.
Doors Open At 8.35am
Registration At 8.50am
Gates Locked At 8.50am
Breakfast and After School Club
Breakfast Club is 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).
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!
Music Lessons
Saxophone, violin, guitar, etc. – Oxfordshire County Music Service – https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/music-service
Piano – Michael J. Davies – mjmusicservices@aol.com
Guitar & dumming – DrumBeats – nigel@drum-beats.co.uk
Alexandra Park Mural Competition
Can you make a picture to form part of a mural in Alexandra Park? We are looking for children aged 4-18 to submit designs, ideas and pictures for a colourful mural to be painted this summer along the wall of the playground in Alexandra Park in Summertown, North Oxford.
The themes for the mural are …
– Flowers and meadow
– Pollinators (bees, butterflies and other insects)
– Animals
– References to local history of the park or Summertown
We need your submissions by Friday 3rd June 2022. To see the pictures and vote for your favourites, there will be an event in Alexandra Park on the weekend of the 18th June 2022. Please contact Colin McDiarmid cmcd@stats.ox.ac.uk for further information. Thank you.
Alexandra Park Working Group
ChatHealth Has Launched!
ChatHealth is a safe and secure text messaging service between healthcare professionals and service users that provides confidential help, advice and signposting support.
CLASS NEWS
Acorn Nursery Class
Acorns have had a strong start back after the half term break, remembering our class promises and showing some beautiful carpet sitting. Last week we began preparations for Lent and after a little discussion about the recipe and ingredients and why we make them, the children very much enjoyed helping to make (and eat!) pancakes. We have also been talking about kind and helpful things we could do during Lent and by the sounds of things, they all have immaculate bedrooms and made beds – I hope this is true! We have been seeing lots of examples of good sharing and helpful tidying in class too but other suggestions for helping at home included helping to lay the table for dinner and playing nicely with brothers and sisters so if you’d like to share any photos, please do feel free to do so on Tapestry! The children had a brilliant time during World Book day also and we fitted in as many story times as we could during the day, sharing some of the children’s books as well – everyone especially enjoyed Supertato Bubbly Troubly!
This week we are looking at Transport / Things That Go! and learning some new vocabulary alongside, as we do every week – this week’s words so far are traffic, terrific and powerful. We are enjoying role playing buses and trains inside and outside as well as thinking about what is different about all different types of transport, which one we like best and why. We have also been thinking about the journeys we have been on and go on and beginning to learn how to make maps to show this and be able to talk about the journeys.
In Phonics we have been continuing to learn about rhyme and alliteration through whole class talk and smaller group times and we have added new sound ‘n’ to add to our existing sounds m,a,d, s, t and i. In Maths we have continued up our number line all the way to number 10, focusing in smaller groups and provision within 5 to really strengthen the children’s knowledge and concept of number.
We look forward to welcoming you into Acorns soon to show you all the wonderful things we do!
Tigger Reception Class
What a busy time since our return to school after half term. Tiggers have continued with their topic on transport and have been learning about the car, they have been busy in the role play area mending the “car” using the spanners, taking appointments and deciding what could be the problem. The children have learnt about the job of a mechanic and the tools he uses and things he has to do. The children took a tour around Mrs Hendry’s car, learning the parts of the engine and how the important thing a car needs to do to is to be safe. The children then used the bikes and cars outside, drawing roads and making signs and thinking hard about allowing each other space and avoiding any obstacles. There was some great planning and making of cars on the work bench .
We looked closely at the story of Mr Gumpy and at the difference between his car and the cars we have today. The children looked at the history of the car and how it has changed through the years.
The children have been improving their gross motor skills, catching, bouncing and throwing large and small balls. They have had great fun playing team games, basketball, tennis and making and using obstacle courses.
We celebrated Shrove Tuesday with some pancakes and have started to think about Lent with our visit to church on Ash Wednesday and making some prayers to think about preparing ourselves for Easter.
There was a great deal of excitement on World Book Day and we were impressed with the children’s costumes and knowledge of their chosen book characters. We played Guess The Character and the children were great at offering descriptions and guessing the it was. The children did some fantastic writing about their chosen characters.
Our Small World Area has been changed to focus on story telling using the story symbols of characters, settings, problems and outcome endings. The children have been using this area well.
In Maths we have been looking closely at 3D and 2D shapes, talking about the properties and how we can use these to recognise and name them. We continue to look closely at the number blocks moving onto number 8 and the way the numbers are ordered and where they come in the sequence.
In Art we have been looking at Vincent van Gough and the children have created wonderful drawings and paintings inspired by his work.
We have now started to learn set 2 sounds ee ay and igh. The children continue to learn new red words – was and go.
Fir Year 1 Class
In Fir Class we have been comparing numbers to 50 and working out whether they are greater than, less than or equal to a given number. We have also practised working out more than and less that numbers within 50.
In Science we have looked at different properties of materials and why it is important. We know that glass needs to be transparent. We discussed what would happen if glass was made of wood and we wouldn’t be able to see through our windows or glasses.
In English we have started recounts. We recounted our half term holidays and talked to each other about all the exciting things we got up to. We looked at pictures from outdoor learning and wrote sentences to retell our adventure to Port Meadow!
In Topic we have continued to look at toys from the past. We were able to play with some of the old toys from the toy box. There were lots of interesting things in there. We particularly enjoyed the kaleidoscope! It was exciting to see how our toys have changed. We even made our own toy from the past. We looked at Victorian toys and made our very own cup and ball toy. It was quite tricky but we enjoyed playing with them!
On World Book Day we all dressed up as our favourite book characters! We read lots of stories and did a story book treasure hunt. It was great!
Fig Year 2 Class
Fig Class enjoyed World Book Day through listening to stories that matched the characters they dressed up as, as well as doing maths that resulted in book titles as answers and then their big accomplishment was each writing their own version of Little Red Riding Hood visits a library! All the stories were excellent and a pleasure to read. In RE, following Ash Wednesday Mass, we began to think about Lent and what Lent means and how the children need to reflect on ways they can make a difference to others.
We have been learning about the creativity, resilience and importance of Henry Ford, through our topic work, and how he went from promoting the Quadracycle to breaking the land speed record. Ask the children why soya beans were so important to him and I am sure you will be surprised!
Our understanding of fractions continues as we find fractions of quantities. We are also working on our mental maths strategies that we can use with any numerical challenge. I would like to remind you that each child has a Times Table Rockstar log-in which allows them to practise their multiplication tables and understanding of division in a fun way. The website www,topmarks.com also has a very useful game called Spooky Spelling which allows the children to practise their common spellings.
We are planning an exciting trip to the Steam Museum in Swindon in April to learn more about the importance and history of the railways and more information will follow soon.
Oak Year 3 Class
The class had a great day last week, dressing up as a book character for World Book Day. The day was full of creative, enjoyable activities, exploring and celebrating their favourite books. The children continue to show great curiosity and creativity in our Topic on the Stone Age, enjoying learning about early farmers and the historical site Stonehenge. Some of the children have made lovely models of Stonehenge using a range of materials. In Maths we have started our new topic on Fractions, using objects and pictorials to recognise and find different unit fractions. In English, the children enjoyed writing a narrative based on our class book The Wild Way Home, using direct speech and fronted adverbials. The children show great enthusiasm and teamwork in PE, learning tennis skills and game rules. Last week the class enjoyed walking down to the church for a service on Ash Wednesday, to celebrate the beginning of Lent. The children have begun to prepare for their Holy Communion with Father Benedict.
Ash Year 4 Class
The children have been looking at the subject of Food Chain’ in Science, developing their learning and understanding of vocabulary such as producers, consumers, decomposers, prey and predator, which will be displayed as mobiles later.
The class start the day with daily Lent reflection on 40 Acts of Kindness – these have included using kind words, sending a thank you note, donating food to a food bank.
Maths focus has been quick fire mental calculations and exploring unit and non-unit fractions.
Miss Bellamy produced a Fidget Spinner Mystery which involved a wide range of mathematical operations. In their IT lessons they used a program called Whacka Witch, which gave them time to explore algorithms, loops and debugging.
Ash Class have been very responsible and kind to Mrs Brookes as we settle into our routines of learning together.
Bay Year 5 Class
This week’s newsletter is written by Abdullah, Beatrice and Pat.
In Science, we carried out two boat investigations. First, we changed one variable in our investigation which was the boat shape using a triangular front boat, curved front boat and flat shaped boat to test how quickly the boat could travel across the other side of the water tray using the same blowing source. We tested and timed each boat three times to make it a fair test. Ask your child which was the winner and why a streamlined shape is important. During our second investigation, the variable we changed was the water type. We used tap water and salt water to find out which boat shape and water type could hold the most Unifix Cubes before the boat would sink. We discovered that the salt adds molecules to the water and so there is a greater density, creating more upthrust, therefore boats would have greater buoyancy compared to the tap water. Thank you all for creating such wonderful boats and for making our investigation a huge success! The children enjoyed testing their boats out in the water.
What a joy it was to see so many wonderful costumes on World Book Day! The whole class individually shared reviews of their chosen books and were asked some searching questions by the audience. The World Book Day competition this year in Yr5 was to design and produce a book cover. There were so many excellent entries. The winners (after much deliberation) were Natalie and Hugo. Well done both of you and well done everyone for a very entertaining and interesting day.
In RE, we have been learning about the parables and messages of Jesus. We had to write a modern day version about the Good Samaritan and wrote playscripts about The House Built on Sand and Rock, The Wedding Feast and The Sower which we then performed in front of our class. Following this, we also looked at key messages that Jesus told in Luke 12:22-30, Luke 6:27-36 and Matthew 5:13-16 and reflected on how we think these messages will help us live our lives.
During lunchtimes, the Year 5 and 6 teachers have organised an inter house football tournament for us to learn how to work together as a team, encourage new friendships and enjoy football. On Mondays, the boys matches happen and we all cheer them on and on Tuesday the girls matches go head-to-head. It was encouraging to see all our classes and house groups supporting us.
On Tuesday it was International Woman’s Day, we learnt about the achievements of women and how women have influenced society and culture which we found interesting and inspiring to do great things for our community.
In Maths, we have been learning fractions. We now know how to turn improper fractions to mixed number fractions and mixed number fractions into improper fractions. After, we had to try and sequence fractions. Next, we are moving onto comparing and ordering fractions followed by adding and subtracting fractions.
Thank you for reading. Have a lovely weekend.
Willow Year 6 Class
Thanks to the Ella, Shennelle and Katerina who wrote this week’s piece.
English
We have been writing our own stories based on a short Disney film: The Paperman. We were tasked with including: colons, semi-colons, relative clauses and fronted adverbials.
Maths
The class have been converting between decimals, fractions and percentages in fun ways such as having a scavenger hunt based on that subject.
RE
For RE, we have been focusing on Lent, especially making end of day reflections for each class to review how we act during a school day.
PE
In PE, we have been working on their speed skills in Jump ball by communicating and shooting for points. Also, we have been working on building relationships with other year groups by playing football and bench ball; this has led to weekly football competitions to represent their houses.
World Book Day
For World Book 2022, Year 6 dressed up in some amazing and inspiring costumes. To celebrate, this year they had a competition based around World Book Day themed projects. The winner of the project won £10 worth of book tokens.