Dear Parents and Carers,

Harvest – Thank you for helping to make our first visit of the school year to Christ Church for our Harvest celebration on Thursday such a special occasion. The children once again delighted us all with their collective talents and hard work in preparation for some pitch-perfect singing and impressive recitals and poetry. To have the opportunity to come together in our local church is a wonderful reminder of the importance of community, family and friendship.

We were also really impressed with the courage of our Reception children; this was their first visit outside of school together and they confidently strolled through their lovely performance to a large and appreciative audience.

We would also like to thank you for your kind donations to the Bristol Food Bank and these will serve an ever-increasing need in our local community.

Term End – This has been a productive and successful term for the children. Always the longest term, the eight weeks has provided an opportunity for the children to build their learning one step at a time, working through their learning objectives and securing new knowledge and skills. For some, the length of the term has been a challenge and they have earned a break from school and a chance to recharge. Well done everyone!

Award Winners – Well done to our award winners today in our end of term celebration. Each term, we nominate three winners from each class who have earned one of the three special awards – Determination Award, Progress Award and Values Ambassador Award. These prestigious achievements are hard won and well deserved and we are extremely proud of the children.

Collective Worship – During the month of October, schools recognise and celebrate Black History Month together. This week key stage 2 learned about the life of Martin Luther King through the eyes of a child who attended his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.

Key stage 1 talked about Marcus Rashford and Mary Seacole, and how their lives have brought about change for the better. We shared a prayer together and reflected on our thinking of others:

‘We thank you for the life of Martin Luther King and what we can all learn from it.

Help us to remember that, in the words of Dr King himself: ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that’.

School Council – Alongside our newly elected House Captains and Worship Council, we now have a brand-new School Council to represent the voice of every child at Christ Church School. Congratulations children.

Supporting the school – We continue to receive kind offers of support from our parents and carers, following our recent appeal for volunteers to help the children, especially in their reading. If you would be able to join the volunteer group, please do email or call in to the school office. For those who have offered and we have now had DBS checks for Mrs Richardson will be sending you an email over half term so you will be able to begin supporting after the break.

New Reception places 2026 - We have now held our third ‘tour and talk’ for parents and carers considering enrolling their children into the next 2026 Reception cohort. The next tour will be on 4^th November at 09:30.

Voluntary Contributions – I would like to sincerely thank those parents/carers that have been able to provide a voluntary contribution to our school. Please do contribute if you are able to.

Notices - With the half term break ahead, this is a chance to please ensure that your children are prepared with the following:

• Correct school uniform, including shoes not trainers
• Small book bags or small ruck-sacks (no large bags please)
• Winter coats, hats, gloves for the winter months ahead
• Healthy snacks – nut free
• Healthy lunch boxes – we are seeing too many sweet treats, please try and support with our healthy school policy

Finally, I would like to thank you for all of your support this term, it makes a huge difference! I wish you all a restful weekend ahead, a happy half-term and I look forward to our return on Monday 3^rd November.

Warmest wishes

Mark Oldfield

Headteacher

Term dates 2025-26:

• Term 2 Monday 3rd November 2025 to Friday 19th December 2025
• Term 3 Monday 5th January 2026 to Friday 13th February 2026 (Inset day Mon 5th Jan children not in school) 
• Term 4 Monday 23rd February 2026 to Thursday 2nd April 2026
• Term 5 Monday 20th April 2026 to Friday 22nd May 2026 (Academy day Fri 22nd May children not in school) 
• Term 6 Monday 1st June 2026 to Wednesday 22nd July 2026 (Inset days Mon 20th, Tues 21st and Academy day Weds 22nd July, children not in school) 

Well done Reception for completing your first term at school. It has been a busy and fun-filled time, especially completing your first performance for our Harvest celebration. We are so proud of all that you have achieved and we loved watching your wonderful Scarecrow rhyme in the church!

We have been busy learning all about what happens during the festival of Diwali and hearing stories linked to this colourful and exciting celebration! Some of us acted out the story of Rama and Sita with masks and made colourful rangoli patterns using loose parts and chalks.

Maths has been very ‘hands on’ with lots of practical challenges to find 1 more and 1 less than a given number. This has involved building Lego towers, putting more people on the bus and listening carefully to the amount of beats being played on a drum!

We have been impressing our adults with how many sounds we have learned and how some of us are now blending them to read and even using them to write some CVC words!

We are continuing to practise our listening and co-operation skills during our P.E. sessions as well as keeping our bodies safe and healthy. We have enjoyed playing some simple team and spatial awareness games in our insect groups.

We hope you have a restful and enjoyable half term and look forward to seeing you all back after the break.

Year 1 have had a brilliant final week. We have learnt about the sense of smell in Science – mint jelly and marmite were firm stenches in our eyes, whilst chocolate and lemon were unanimously pleasant scents!

In RE, we were able to conclude our unit learning about who is a Christian and what do they believe? We drew an image of a Christian and thought about what they might look like. The children did a brilliant job including all their learning from this term.

Geography saw us designing posters to explain why people like going to the seaside - some amazing illustrations and labelling occurring.

In Maths, we have been focusing on ordinal number as well as learning about a number line. We used the beautiful sunshine to get out into the playground to create our own number lines.

It’s been another busy and exciting week in Year 2!

In Literacy, the children have been working hard to write their very own animal fact files, sharing fascinating facts and using their best sentences to describe their chosen creatures.

During PE, they’ve been focusing on their fundamentals skills, with plenty of fun as they practised skipping and developed their coordination.

In Computing, the children have been learning to log onto the Chromebooks independently and have started exploring the different components of a computer.

What a fantastic week of learning and new skills!

This week in Design and Technology, Year 3 have been exploring how pneumatic systems create movement within mechanisms. We investigated how inflating a balloon can generate enough force to lift a book, and experimented with two different ways that syringes and tubing can create motion and transmit force.

Using what we learned about these systems, we began designing our own moving toys. We’re now looking forward to adding the finishing touches and seeing our creations come to life!

In Maths, we have completed our work on addition and subtraction and have now started a new unit on Area. The children have been learning how to measure and compare the space inside different shapes, and they will continue this topic after the half-term break.

This week in Year 4, we have been learning all about Batik. The children explored this traditional art form and used the cut-outs work of Henri Matisse to inspire their own rainforest designs. They then used glue to draw their patterns before adding fabric paint to produce some truly vibrant and creative pieces. It was wonderful to see everyone experimenting with colour, pattern, and texture to bring their ideas to life.

As part of our rainforest topic, the children have also been presenting their homework projects this week. They have shared fascinating information about rainforest animals and other aspects of rain forest life, showing a great depth of research and creativity. The projects have included a fantastic range of art, sculptures, posters, and even some amazing Lego creations! Everyone enjoyed listening to each other’s presentations and learning new facts.

To end the week, Year 4 enjoyed sharing their poem at the church on Thursday morning. All the practice really paid off, as the children delivered their lines with confidence, expression, and pride. It was a lovely way to bring the week to a close and to celebrate all the hard work and creativity the children have shown this term.

In Geography this week, Year 5 have been considering the geographical enquiry question, “Why is fair trade fair?” We started by looking at what trade is and which foodstuffs are imported to the UK. We used atlases and our map skills to mark where each product comes from on our world maps. We learnt that pineapples come from Indonesia, green tea comes from China and quinoa is imported from Peru.

We also considered the global supply chain and thought about the journey that cotton goes on from raw material to manufactured goods. We learnt about the primary, secondary and tertiary stages of the supply chain and thought about where the most money is made.

Here we are using our atlases to locate all the different coutries.

A SAFETY ADVENTURE LIKE NO OTHER. WHERE CHILDREN DON’T JUST LEARN ABOUT SAFETY; THEY EXPERIENCE IT!

On Tuesday, Year 6 enjoyed an exciting and thought-provoking Life Skills trip to the Create Centre. The visit gave us the chance to take part in a series of real-life safety scenarios designed to help us understand how to stay safe in different situations. We would like to say a huge thank you to the amazing volunteers who guided us through each area with such care, enthusiasm and knowledge — their support made the experience both enjoyable and educational.

The children were taken through a range of realistic scenes, including a kitchen, a living room, a road crossing, and even a railway line and shop. Each setting presented possible dangers or challenges, and pupils were encouraged to spot the risks and talk about how to make safe and sensible choices. For example, we learned about the importance of wearing seatbelts, how to call for help in an emergency, and what to do if someone is hurt or in danger. The group also discussed how to manage peer pressure, make good decisions when out and about, and stay safe online. The time there whizzed by as we covered:

1. Road Safety – Stopping distances, visibility, crossing roads safely
2. First Aid – DRAB (Danger, Response, Airways, Breathing)
3. Fire Safety – hazard spotting, evacuation
4. Natural Gas – recognising & what to do if you smell it
5. Carbon Monoxide – assessing risks, importance of alarms
6. Drugs – categories (e.g. Medicines, age-controlled substances)
7. Hazards in the home – Kitchen hazards, Garden hazards
8. Online safety
9. E-Scooter laws
10. Rail Safety
11. Water Safety
12. Outdoor Electricity Hazards - Calling 105
13. Safe Routes - recognising risky environment
14. Drug exploitation / grooming
15. Knife Crime
16. Practising making emergency 999 calls

The sessions were interactive and full of practical advice that we can use in everyday life. Everyone took part with great enthusiasm, asking thoughtful questions and showed maturity in their discussions. It was great to see the learning taken away from the experience - in concluding the visit we had an interactive quiz on the topics covered – there was 100% accuracy for question after question as the children voted with their online keypads to multiple choice answers A-D.

One pupil, Theia, summed up the experience perfectly by saying, “The trip was so much fun and educational.”

We couldn’t agree more! We are very grateful to the Create Centre team and the parent volunteers for making the visit such a valuable learning opportunity — it’s one we’ll definitely remember.

One of the most special things about being in school is feeling part of a community. This is always shown through our wonderful Year 6 and reception buddies. It is one of the best days for our Year 6 pupils when they are paired up with a new friend from reception.

This special meeting happened this week where they met each other and shared a story together.

Congratulations to our newly elected School Council! We were so impressed by the thoughtful and inspiring ideas shared by everyone who applied and are looking forward to working together after half term and bringing some of those brilliant ideas to life.

Year 2: Miyara, Ava

Year 3: Auroura, Orlando

Year 4: Thomas, Wilf

Year 5: Aston, Elena

Year 6: Yomna, Yusra

A huge thank you to all our families for your incredible generosity during our harvest collection for the Bristol North West Food Bank! Thanks to your amazing donations, we were able to create our very own Felix the Foodbank Caterpillar, which stretched an impressive 83 metres long!

It was wonderful to see so many smiles and so much excitement as the children came in today wearing their non-uniform in exchange for a £1 donation to the food bank. Together, we raised £284 making a real difference to many families. Thank you for helping us support such an important cause in our local community!

The PTA committee have been busy starting the prep for our amazing annual Christmas Fair and we would love you all to start preparing your contributions over the half term.

Please bring donations into the school office on the morning of Friday 21st November, thank you!

PTA Christmas Fair - Sunday 23rd November 12-3pm

After the half term, your child(ren) will bring home a book of raffle tickets. There are some wonderful prizes to be won, please encourage your family and friends to take part! 

We will be asking for donations for the fair, these include:-

BOTTLES for the bottle tombola - anything in a bottle is good for this stall (wine, water, shampoo...)

Lucky Jars for a tombola style stall - collect empty jars then fill them with sweets, treats, small toys then decorate in a festive way. No nuts OR unwrapped foods please.

Second Hand Toys & Books - please bring in good quality second hand toys and books for our second hand stall. We will also take Christmas pyjamas and Christmas jumpers. 

We will need volunteers on the morning of Friday 21st Noverm to sort through all the generous donations, if you'd like to help or if you have any question please email [email protected]

If you are not able to volunteer but you'd like to help another way, we also have a few items to purchase and we will release an "Amazon Wish List" soon! 

Please do volunteer for your class stall – contact your class rep for more information!

Thank you very much in advance for any help you can give! The Christmas Fair is one of our biggest fundraising events for the school, so please support us if you can. 

The next second hand uniform sale will be on Friday 28th November (9-10am) at Mary’s Living & Giving, Regent Street, Clifton.