Dear Parents and Carers

This week has been full of exciting learning, hard work and a great start to 2025.

African Drumming Workshop

On Tuesday, our school was filled with rhythm and energy as our year 2 children had the privilege of participating in a fantastic African Drumming Workshop. The children had the opportunity to learn about the rich cultural history of African drumming. They explored the different types of drums, such as the djembe and talking drum, and learned how music and rhythm play a big part in African traditions.

The workshop was interactive and hands-on, with children eagerly drumming along to lively beats. The excitement was contagious as everyone joined in to create beautiful music together. We are so proud of the enthusiasm and teamwork displayed by all students!

Value of the Week: Kindness

Our value this term is Kindness. We’ve been focusing on how simple, small actions can make a big difference in our school community. Whether it’s sharing, helping a classmate, or giving a compliment, every act of kindness counts.

It has been wonderful to see our children practicing this value in many ways and rising to their Secret Kindness Mission! Each class have been given a mission to show different acts of kindness around the school, without telling anyone what it is. If other children and adults see it and guess correctly, the class will receive a special certificate awarded in assembly. We will share the outcome of this in next week’s newsletter.

From time to time and inevitably, children make the wrong choices and may sadly behave in an unkind way to others. These are part of our learning mistakes at Christ Church and I am pleased to say do not happen frequently. We encourage all of our children to talk to the adults about any unkindness that may take place and continue to teach them that sharing their worries will always be taken seriously and allows us to address the problems quickly, teach children through the changes needed and to ensure that everyone is absolutely clear about the behaviour expectations at our wonderful school.

As we continue to practice kindness, we encourage everyone to keep looking for opportunities to spread a little happiness, to care and to show understanding to others. Let’s continue to build a community where everyone feels valued and appreciated.

Value Points at Christ Church

Our reward system based upon value points is alive and well throughout the school and we are really proud of the children both working towards their first ’50 point’ award and those that have already reached this goal and are now working toward the ‘100 point’ award. Our award winners so far, this academic year are recognised later in this newsletter and I look forward to seeing your children celebrated for ‘living’ the values of our school in their behaviour, attitudes and efforts.

Wising you all a great weekend ahead.

Kind regards

Mark Oldfield

Inset and Academy days for the rest of the year (these are days when school staff are in training involved in other school oepration - children are not in school on these days):

• Friday 23rd May - Academy day
• Monday 21st July - Inset day
• Tuesday 22nd July - Inset day

Reception continued their wintry learning journey all the way to Antarctica!

At the beginning of the week the children found out where the South Pole is and that penguins live there – specifically the emperor penguin! Using their creative talents they were able to draw and use watercolour paints to create their very own penguin. Their knowledge was further enhanced by listening to ‘The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins, ‘The Blue Penguin’ by Petr Horacek and finding out about the real adventures of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Maths saw the continuation of the work to subitise, represent and think about the composition of numbers to 5 using dot patterns, part, part, whole models and 1 more and 1 less than any a given number.

Drawing Club was also underway this week using the book ‘One Snowy night’ by Nick Butterworth to engage, stimulate and get the creative sparks flying with fun and energy! Using the codes and vocabulary seems to be a favourite focus.

At the end of the week Reception found out about the life cycle of a penguin and were challenged to put each stage in order correctly by using their knowledge and cutting skills.

The creativity didn’t stop there! Using the wonderful book ‘Snowballs’ by Lois Ehlert. The children enjoyed constructing their own ‘snow person’ using their imagination and various loose parts gathered from around the classroom.

Well done Reception – we hope you continue to enjoy all the opportunities offered on our polar learning expedition!

This week in Year 1 we have been continuing to learn about the African Savannah by writing a non-fiction fact file about its unique ecosystem and wildlife. For example, did you know that the Savannah only has two seasons?

In maths we have been learning to count, write and represent numbers 11-20 using manipulatives including Numicon, bead strings and Base 10.

In science we have been revisiting the five different animal groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians. We learned to identify and name African animals by sorting them in to three different groups: mammals, birds and reptiles.

In Year 2 on Monday we had our last Yoga lesson with Carolyn. We enjoyed playing our favourite yoga games from previous lessons and showed off everything we have learned. We’d like to send a huge thank you to Carolyn for everything she has taught us.

On Tuesday we learned to play special instruments from Africa called Djembe drums. Our instructor Marion taught us how to create different rhythms and sounds. We had so much fun and made some wonderful music.

This week, Year 3 have truly embraced their Stone Age topic with some fantastic hands-on learning! They’ve been discovering the mystery behind cave paintings- why they were created, how they were made and where they have been found. After exploring the history and techniques of these ancient artworks, the class had the opportunity to create their own cave paintings, using similar methods to those used by early humans, in their very own “caves”! They also wrote postcards from the perspective of the Stone Age Boy, bringing their learning to life through creative writing.

A quick reminder- Year 3 will have their exciting Stone Age workshop Monday 20^th January. We’re looking forward to another immersive day of learning!

Keep up the great work Year 3!

This week, Year 4 have been on the ball with their fantastic teamwork during our netball lesson!

They learned the basic rules of the game, practiced their chest passes, and worked together in small team games to develop their skills. It was great to see their confidence grow with each play!

Meanwhile, in computing, they showed picture-perfect perseverance as they created stunning repeating patterns on Chromebooks. Using a combination of resizing, rotating, the fill tool, and the copy function, the children demonstrated creativity and precision.

Whether on the court or the screen, Year 4 have proved they’ve got nets of determination and flair!

This week has been Science Week in Year 5. We have immersed ourselves in to our unit on Forces, learning about Friction, Air Resistance and we have been carrying out investigations linked to our learning.

On Monday, our question to investigate was: Which will move first – the ice cube or the multilink? We made predictions such as “I predict the ice cube will move first because it is more slippy” and “I predict the multilink will twist and fall because of its uneven surface but the ice is smooth so there is less friction and it will move more quickly.”

On Tuesday we learnt about air resistance but before we started our learning, we went outside with different sized sheets of paper and dropped them. We observed which sheets fell more quickly or more slowly and discussed why we thought that might be.

On Thursday we carried out an investigation involving parachutes of different sizes. We predicted which parachutes would fall to the ground the quickest and then made our parachutes with modelling clay, plastic bags and string. We ensured our test was fair by always dropping the parachute from the same height and timed the falls with timers.

Have a look at our pictures. We are really enjoying our Science learning and look forward to more investigations on water resistance next week!

This week in literacy we have been reading a true survivor story titled ‘The Friends Who Crossed The Border by Balloon’. We found out that in 1979, two East German families, the Strelzyks and the Wetzels, made a daring escape to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. They spent months secretly sewing together scraps of fabric and assembling the balloon in utmost secrecy to avoid detection by the Stasi. After a tense and treacherous night time flight they successfully landed in West Germany, gaining their freedom. We began the week by writing Tanka poems (5 lined Japanese poems that use the syllable pattern 5, 7, 5, 7, 7). We are now writing imagined interviews between an interviewer and two of the escapees.

In geography this week we have learned about the journey of a river. We learned that the River Severn, at 354km, is the UK’s longest river. We found out that its source is in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales (610 metres above sea level). We found out about the different stages of a river and learned lots of new geographical terms like: tributaries, erosion, deposition, meander, oxbow lake etc.

Finally, in science lessons we have conducted a fair test investigating air resistance. We ensured our control variables were the same – the height the parachute was dropped from, the material the parachute is made from, the object being dropped, where the object/parachute was held as it was dropped and when the person started timing. We concluded that as the length of the parachute side decreased, the time taken for the parachute to fall decreased.

Great work Year 6, another busy, fun week!

Our Year 5 and 6 footballers put on an impressive display of enthusiasm and teamwork in their first matches of the football league at Imperial Park on Monday, showcasing their skills and determination on the pitch.

Each player gave it their all, supporting one another and demonstrating excellent sportsmanship throughout all of their games. 

Their hard work and dedication have paid off and they are eagerly looking forward to their games next week. We wish them the best of luck as they take on this exciting challenge... Go Teams Christ Church! 

This week in Computing Club, the fun really amplified!

Mr Eades set the children the challenge of coding and creating their very own music players using: Micro:Bits, headphones, crocodile clips and a whole heap of perseverance.

With a bit of trial, error, and some sharp thinking, the club members turned wires and code into toe-tapping tunes. It was a note-worthy success, proving that our young tech enthusiasts are always ready to face the music—and make it too!

Great News from Shine! 

If you need last minute childcare, or you have forgotten to book your child into their After School Club, don’t worry as Shine have extended their booking time. 

You can now book at MyShine.co.uk for the same day, until 2:30pm. Shine staff use live registers on a tablet, so you can be reassured that they will pick up your booking.  After 2:30pm, you can still book, but you will need to phone the office on 01174 033 033, or email [email protected] and the admin team will be able to help you.