This Term’s Virtues
This term we are trying hard to be
Attentive & Discerning
From Our Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
The start of Term 6 has been a great opportunity for children to develop their science knowledge and investigative skills with the return of St Aloysius’ Science Week. We had tortoises in school, chemical reactions, flying paper planes and visits from professors and science experts. Thank you to those parents who so kindly gave their time to talk to children about how they use science in their job. We also had our whole school platinum jubilee picnic lunch on the playground with flags and class-made bunting – have a look at our Twitter page for photos @AloysiusSchool. In typical British style, the weather held up with just a couple of spots of rain!
This week Year 5 pupils have taken part in a hockey festival organised by Oxford Hawks Hockey Club, consolidating the skills that they learnt in PE lessons during the Autumn and Spring Terms. They were commended on their teamwork and the children all seemed to enjoy the afternoon. Year 1 pupils also enjoyed a trip this week to Cotswold Wildlife Park, where they learnt about animals that live on the seven different continents as part of their Geography and Science topic learning this half term.
This half term our virtues are ‘Attentive and Discerning’. In assemblies and in class, we are discussing ways that we can be attentive to the needs of others and attentive to our vocation and what God is asking us to be. Pupils are learning to be discerning in the decisions that they make at school, at home and in the local community. We also celebrated the St Aloysius’ Day on Tuesday this week with Fr Benedict teaching us a Latin hymn about our patron saint and the PTA providing ice lollies for all pupils from Acorns to Year 6 to mark the special day for our school community.
Please keep our Year 3 pupils who are making their First Holy Communion this weekend in your prayers.
Kind Regards
Miss Duncan (Headteacher)
We have a Twitter presence and would love to boost our followers! Fly on over and have a look … @AloysiusSchool
Safeguarding
Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Safeguarding Statement can be found on our website under information or by clicking
Our Neighbours
Sadly, we are continuing to receive complaints from our neighbours about parents driving dangerously (u-turns in the middle of the road and stopping in the middle of the road to drop a child off) and parking across their private driveways.
Please respect the local residents and be considerate when parking. It is very important to us that we continue to uphold the good school-community relationship that has been in place for many years. Where possible, try walking to school or parking further along St. Margaret’s Road.
General Information
Breakfast Club is open every morning from 7.45am until the 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, activity 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!
School Meals – We now have a new menu – click to see it. If you have any queries regarding school dinner money or require a statement, please email Mrs. McIntyre HERE. Please note, the cost of a school meal will be increasing in September to £2.50.
Payments to The School Office – PLEASE NOTE we do not 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 sent into school with your child to hand to the school office.
OFSTED & Section 48 Reports
- Please click to read our recent Good OFSTED report.
- Please click to read our recent Section 48 report.
Governor News
If you would like to see who our governors are and that they do, click HERE.
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
This Term’s House Point Totals
Ashmolean
Bodleian
Radcliffe
Sheldonian
Sheldonian are the Spring Term House Point winners!
Prayer
Teach us, Lord, to do the little things as though there were great, because of the majesty of Christ who does them in us and who lives our life. Teach us to do the greatest things as though they were little and easy because of his great power. God, make our hearts like yours, always ready to give.
Amen.
Dates For Your Diary
Summer Term
Summer Term Ends – Thursday 21st July @ 1.00pm*
Additional Dates
Tuesday 28th June – International Day
Friday 1st July – Tombola Day
Sunday 3rd July – PTA Summer Fair
Tuesday 12th July – Year 5/6 Performance
Wednesday 13th July – Sports Day
Wednesday 20th July – Year 6 Leavers Assembly
Work Sharing Afternoons 2.40pm – 3.00pm
Wednesday 29th June – Year 6 (Willow Class)
Tuesday 5th July – Year 4 (Ash Class)
Thursday 7th July – Year 5 (Bay Class)
Wednesday 13th July – Year 3 (Oak Class)
Thursday 14th July – Year 2 (Fig Class)
Tuesday 19th July – Year 1 (Fir Class)
For children in our Early Years, we will be offering an open classroom on the following mornings.
Wednesday 6th July and Thursday 7th July 8.45am – 9.10am Acorn Class
Tuesday 5th July 8.35am – 9.00am Tigger Class
* No Afterschool Club on this day
Some Future Dates
First Day of School, Academic Year 2022/23 Tuesday 6th September
Term Dates – 2023-2024
Polite Reminder
Please can parents leave the school site by 3.20pm. After school clubs need to start and cannot do so whilst parents are still in the playgrounds. In addition, please can you make sure your children are supervised at all times and not using the climbing frame or other school equipment. Thank you!
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
Well, here we are in the final term already and the time is flying! Writing the children’s reports makes it so clear how far they have come since they first joined, even those that have only been with us for a few weeks!
We had a short week back after half term and decided to finish our topic of Castles, Kings and Queens by celebrating our own Queen’s Jubilee. What better way to do it than with a little party picnic of our own in nursery with decorations and flags! The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about the celebrations and taking part themselves. This week we have been learning about life on a farm, looking at the sort of animals we might find there and why they are kept on the farm as well as learning about crops that can be grown. We have been reading stories such as What the Ladybird Heard (to help the children learn how to describe a route) and The Little Red Hen. We are hoping to make the storyline of The Little Red Hen more real by making bread in class and, as we love a challenge, our own butter too!
In phonics we are concentrating on the sounds we have learned so far and incorporating them into lots of games and songs. The older Acorns will be moving to segmenting and blending short words next to prepare them for moving up to Reception in September. In Maths we have been comparing size and height, finding out who is the tallest Acorn! In the end we could not decide as it was so close even with the measuring stick and it appears we have two, Max and Reine! As mentioned above, we will be learning how to describe a simple route and make a map in provision and in focused group time, we will be revisiting matching numeral to quantity.
A busy time in Acorns again! Well done to the children for continuing to rise to the challenges and keeping us on our toes!
Tigger Reception Class
Tigger Class came back from half term and really enjoyed Science Week. They were lucky to have a visit from Marina who is a real scientist. They did lots of investigations to find the best material for an umbrella for the Queen. The children learnt about how to keep their teeth healthy and foods that are good for their teeth. Mrs Kempton gave us a talk on tortoises and the children did some great writing about the facts they had learnt. The children made a picnic blanket for the Jubilee lunch and did lots of Queen related activities in the classroom, painting, small world tea party and what they would do if they were queen for a day.
The children have loved our new topic of space. They decided what they wanted to learn and told us all the things they already knew, which was a lot.
The children have enjoyed the space role play area and spent lots of time in the rocket. There has been a space tuff spot and lots of space activities, painting moons and making their own planets. They remembered all the facts they learnt and used lots of different things to make their planets. They made split pin astronauts and took them on adventures writing mini adventure books about the planets they visited.
The children have undertaken astronaut training learning to write upside down, walk with space boots on and repair the space shuttle by tightening the bolts with no gravity.
We had a visit from an Oxfordshire County music teacher who brought her flute and explained about woodwind instruments. The children then had a go at making their own instruments and thought about whether they would like to make a string, wind or percussion instrument, decided which resources to use and constructed them on their own.
In Maths the children have been using the skills they have been learning to solve simple maths problems. They have been revisiting the maths skills they have already been learning, looking closely at numbers beyond ten and how we can count them using grouping and other skills. We continue to practice our counting to 20.
In RE the children have been learning what a priest does in our church and what the inside of the church looks like. How the priest cares for us by teaching us about Jesus. It was St. Aloysius’ Day and the Tigger’s learnt about his life, about how we can all be saints and follow Jesus. They really enjoyed the ice lollies.
In phonics the children have continued with their Read, Write Inc groups, reinforcing and using the sounds they have learnt.
Fir Year 1 Class
The last few weeks have been very exciting in Fir Class. We started the term off with Science Week and some of the class even brought in their science projects which they had done over half term. We had lots of different projects about leaves, caterpillars, growing cress and even cakes! We talked about our brilliant projects with the Year 4 class and went upstairs to have a look at theirs. Mrs Kempton brought in her pet tortoises and we learnt all about how they survive, what they eat and what animal group they are part of! We also did several fun science experiments such as dropping dirty coins in vinegar and salt.
We had the Queen’s jubilee lunch which was very exciting. The whole school ate lunch together on the playground. We all waved flags and had some tasty cake!
In Maths we have been learning about directions. We have learnt about quarter turns, half turns, three quarter turns and half turns. We learnt which way means left and which way means right. This will help us when we are using maps in topic lessons.
In English we started the story ‘The Night Pirates’. We discussed the story together and talked about some words which we might not have heard before. We noticed how the story repeated lots of words and predicted what sentence might come next. We then practised writing sentences similar to the story.
In Topic lessons we had a look at giant maps of Oxford and tried to find our houses on the map. We talked about the different symbols we could see and what they might mean and let’s not forget about our school trip to Cotswold Wildlife Park. It was our first time on a coach as a class! We saw many different animals and rode the train around the park. It was a great day out!
Fig Year 2 Class
In Maths, Fig Class have been revisiting subtraction and using their knowledge to solve word problems. This week and next the class are looking at multiplication and division and how they are inverse operations. In English the class have been doing drama in small groups based on sections of Matilda and this has enabled them to develop the language they can use in their Matilda writing. The children have also been studying Macbeth by Shakespeare which they are loving and they are learning about The Globe Theatre.
In Art we had fun going down to Burgess Field and collected natural objects to create pictures based on the artist Andy Goldsworthy. In RE the children have done some lovely writing on Pentecost and thinking about the importance of The Holy Spirit. During PE the children have started playing Quiddich under Mrs Lavety’s guidance and Fig Class are lucky enough to have started singing lessons with Aris’ Mother, completing another busy couple of weeks in Year 2.
Oak Year 3 Class
Oak Class continues to show great interest and creativity on our topic the Romans, finding out about what life was like during Roman Britain. The children enjoyed designing and creating Roman shields in Art. In Maths the children have been learning about length and perimeter, exploring units of measure and finding the perimeter of shapes. In English, the class continue to show enjoyment in reading our class book ‘Thieves of Ostia’, discovering the books mysteries and learning more about Rome. In Science, we are looking at forces and magnets, learning about different forces and investigating the impact on different surfaces. The class really enjoyed science week, bringing in posters to present to other classes and carrying out Science investigations linking to the Queen. In RE, we are focusing on the Eucharist being a thanksgiving to God, exploring the story of the feeding of the five thousand and the link to Mass. The children enjoyed celebrating the Queens jubilee with a school picnic and painting Union flags. We wish those all the best taking their Holy Communion this week.
Ash Year 4 Class
The last few weeks have been exciting in Ash Class, we loved celebrating the platinum jubilee and I was so impressed with the beautiful crowns the children made during the holidays! Science week was also a success with a lovely variety of topics presented by the class and some interesting demonstrations of understanding. Thanks to James McCullough who came in to talk about his work studying atoms at Oxford University, the children really enjoyed the visit. This week the class have completed their heraldic shield sewing projects ready to film our Tudor dancing. If you would like to see the performance of Tudor dancing then please come to our work sharing afternoon (Tuesday 5th July at 2.30pm). This week the children have also done some impressive work on understanding the gifts of the Holy Spirit and have researched the lives of saints worldwide who have used their gifts in different ways to respond to their vocation. I would also like to say well done to Ash Class who have spent the week completing some end of year assessments – not only have they done this with good grace but they have also all demonstrated great progress across the year and I am proud of their achievements!
Bay Year 5 Class
Bay Class have had a busy couple of weeks since returning from half-term, starting with celebrating Science Week. We launched the week with children visiting different classrooms; presenting, demonstrating and discussing their science poster to their peers, which added an exciting level of new knowledge and discovery. Children had researched science topics from the Aurora Borealis to allergies, germs to making a cloud in a jar and many more. Following this, children took part in planned science activities in the classroom, together with a science visitor discussing and sharing their knowledge with us. Thank you to all children, we were amazed by the incredible amount of time and effort put into your wonderful science posters.
During the week, we also visited Tigger Class to listen to the Tiggers present their science work. We were impressed with the level of engagement by Bay Class supporting Tigger Class children with their science projects, questioning and discussing their work. Afterwards, we also had the opportunity to read and share stories with Tigger Class children, which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was a delight to observe so many children reading for pleasure. Have a look at our photos below!
In Maths, we have been looking at properties of shape beginning with angles and using protractors to support our learning.
In English, we have been learning to proofread for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors (e.g., subject/verb, tense use), as well as exploring ways to up-level and improve sentences to engage the reader, an area where we are finding expectations are rising as it is often tricky to up-level work when we are often satisfied with our first draft. Great to see the children challenged, focussed and questioning their work with an author’s head on.
This week has been assessment week and we are so proud of all their efforts. They have approached the assessments with a mature and positive attitude. In between the assessments, the rehearsals for our summer performance have begun and are in full swing. The children look forward to performing their hard work to you all very soon. Keep on learning those songs, lines and actions!
On Wednesday, we went to the Oxford Hawks Hockey Club, and we played in a hockey festival. Some defeats, draws and some wins all added to the flavour of the children’s enjoyable, HOT afternoon. A great successful sporting event and we hope the Year 5 children can inspire other children in the school to achieve great things and, more importantly, have fun being active and taking part in sport.
Willow Year 6 Class
Willow Class have been enjoying learning in different ways during the past few weeks. The main focal point has been writing and it has been an amazing effort from the whole group. They have improved greatly, we definitely have some mini authors on our hands. For Maths, they have been designing, researching and devising with their own blueprints for a theme park. They have thoroughly enjoyed this process and their imagination has certainly run wild. They have been rehearsing for their upcoming performance for Rockerfella, Cinderella and it will be something I can guarantee you will not want to miss! The children are enthusiastically learning their lines and singing the songs with real energy.