It has been a short term but we have managed to enjoy the weeks filled with lots of learning and enrichment opportunities - despite some January germs and soggy, windy weather it has been a successful start to 2024. Thank you for your support and kindness.

The children enjoyed a Chinese school meal on Wednesday to recognise Chinese New Year. Year 4 had a great Anglo-Saxon workshop on Thursday and our Years 4s started their football league, Year 3 had a Rocks workshop, Years 5/6 had a heart and lungs workshop, Year 1 are continuing with Yoga, Reception are tasting pancakes and Year 2 are preparing their dance for the Festival. We hope you have a restful half-term.

Mr Campbell and Mr Eades led assemblies on Safer Internet Day on Tuesday and every class undertook some follow-up activities

Mr Campbell and Mrs Richardson led assemblies on Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week. The theme is ‘My Voice Matters,’ you can find out more here https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

MMR vaccination

Public Health England and Sirona have issued advice regarding the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccination. Nationally, there is a significant rise in the number of cases of Measles and to prevent the spread of this highly infectious virus adults and children are advised to check they have been vaccinated. Please read the letter linked here and contact your GP if you are unsure if you have had the vaccination. 02.02.24 Public Health measles school letter 

Term 4 Parent/carer meetings

Wednesday 28^th and Thursday 29^th February. Please follow the link to book an appointment with your child’s class teacher. This is an opportunity to find out how your child is progressing in school.  Parent Carer Meeting Term 4 February 2024

CCTV

As advised in the letter we have installed CCTV to cover the outside of our main school entrance, car park and games court playground area. The playground CCTV is for out of hours use 6pm-8am only. Please read the letter for further details. Letter to Parents /Carers re CCTV

School closure due to bad weather

In the event we had to communicate with our community regarding school closure due to bad weather we would do so via Szapp and our school website at our earliest convenience on the morning of the closure.

Inset and Academy Days:

Monday 22nd July - INSET day, children not in school

Tuesday 23rd July - INSET day, children not in school 

Monday 2nd September - INSET day, children not in school 

Tuesday 3rd September - INSET day, children not in school 

Message from Pastor Ruthy:

Please do come and join us on our weekly Wednesday morning Pray for School walk -  we meet at 8:55am on Weds mornings( after dropping off children), outside the Woodland gates, and spend just 15 mins praying for the school and school community....all welcome!

Despite all the coughs and sniffles this week, Reception still managed some great learning.  Mrs Richardson led an assembly for ‘Mental Health Awareness’ at the beginning of the week - using the story ‘The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’ by Charlie Mackesy thinking about using kindness to value what others say and feel in school and at home.

Learning about woodland animals continued into thinking about nocturnal and diurnal creatures by creating shadow puppets and writing booklets using an increasing knowledge of sounds!

Comparing lengths and heights was the focus in maths this week. There were opportunities to measure strips of material and to make their very own playdough snakes to use the language of longer, shorter, shortest and longest and ordering the heights of animals. In the outside area some of the children were able to compare the lengths of wooden planks successfully!

The children were introduced to the festival of Lunar New Year with a Chinese themed lunch on Wednesday and then completed a range of creative and practical activities to find out more about the traditions and customs observed during the celebrations. Some children made dragons, some children made lanterns and some children copied some numbers using Chinese symbols!  2024 is the Year of the dragon and the celebrations officially begin on Saturday the 10^th of February.

The EYFS staff have been really impressed with the children’s knowledge and enthusiasm for weekly Show and Tell sessions about favourite animals. The children have remembered and shared some amazing facts and a big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the parents for supporting this valuable communication and listening opportunities.

Happy Half Term Everyone – see you for Term 4!

Artistic volunteers needed please to help Reception

In Reception we are trying to build up our small world resources and would like to make sets of peg doll resources. We wondered if anyone had any interest in making sets of peg dolls for us? We have a list of different book characters and peg doll sets we would like, such as people who help us, dolls to represent jobs and families.

If you would be able to help us make these sets or know a family member that could please email the school office. We hope you can help us. 

Half Term Book Hunt

Over the half term please can you check to see if you have any of our reading books hiding at home. Our stock has become very depleted and we are very keen to get the books back in so we know what books need replacing. Thank you for your continued support with this.

This week Year 1 have enjoyed looking at the work of sculptor and printmaker, Elizabeth Frink. She loved animals and nature and this can be seen in her work. We looked at a selection of her prints and sculptures and discussed what we liked about each piece. We learned that her bronze sculptures were made by pouring molten bronze into a mould, before leaving it to harden. Year 1 then worked with clay to create a lion using a variety of tools to form patterns in the mane. We loved making them and can’t wait to paint them after half term!

Year 2 have had an incredibly busy week finishing off our learning about Africa as well as fitting in a variety of other activities, including the ongoing practising of our dances to make them tip-top ahead of the dance festival after half term.  We’re all so excited about the performances.

This week we have also brought together all of our learning about Nigeria to create wonderful fact files so that we can share our new knowledge with others. Ask us a question so that we can share with you all that we have discovered!

On Tuesday it was Safer Internet Day and we spent time reviewing and learning how to keep ourselves safe when online.  We all know that it’s really important that we never share any personal information and if we are ever unsure about anything we see or hear we know we should ask a trusted adult for help.

What a wonderful term we have had – we can’t believe how quickly the year is flying by, it must be all the fun we’re having!

Have a wonderful break everyone.  We look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready for Term 4.

The final week! Thank you year 3 for yet another wonderful term. We used this week to round up most of our subject loose ends including Science and History. We were lucky enough to invite a STEM ambassador in to support with our Science ‘Rock’ learning. They brought in a huge range of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks to explore and it was so beneficial for the children to get hands and explore real rock samples. We also have been so blown away by the children’s Stone Age projects. The variety, effort and knowledge that have gone into them has been outstanding. We are so proud of the children and how much they have engaged with this topic. Have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing you in a week’s time!

Year 4 had an absolutely wonderful Thursday, thanks to Adam from Primary History Workshops. As the children arrived, they were whisked straight into Anglo-Saxon folklore with the gruesome tale of Beowulf and the ferocious Grendel. Then we were set a variety of challenges, from becoming archaeologists to examining real replicas; creating shield walls to defending a castle with arrows, we had an amazing time! What a way to end our Anglo Saxon unit of work!

We have been amazed at the Year 5 and 6 heart and lungs homework projects that have been coming in this week. So many brilliant posters, models, booklets and presentations! We've loved listening to every single one; the shared learning is fantastic. Thank you children for all your hard work. 

Years 5 and 6 have been thinking about the 5 different ways that mental health can be affected: loneliness and isolation; competitiveness; perfection; social media and independence. After class discussions and some short video clips on each topic, the children created their mental health Superhero Team. A list of people they trust /could turn to, if they felt they needed help. Some great discussions were had. Well done Years 5 and 6!

For Safer Internet Day, we looked at: ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’. The children created posters, offering top tips for staying safe online in an AI world. 

Years 5 and 6 consolidated their learning yesterday by exploring their ‘Heart and Lungs’ topic in the company of Doug West –a consultant cardio thoracic surgeon at the BRI (and also Dad to Saskia!) They were invited to take part in practical activities to present their learning about the circulatory system and even dressed as surgeons to help with procedures. Who knows what career aspirations may have been seeded here…. Thanks as ever to Doug for taking time out to share his job in such an entertaining and accessible way. 

Year 6 had fantastic discussions on safer internet day. After watching a BBC live lesson we extended our learning with the idea of digital footprints-what they are, what they might mean for us in the future and how to make them positive. We touched on AI deep-fake manipulation, hacking and pop-ups. We definitely feel a bit safer on-line after sharing our ideas.

What a fantastic term Year 6, you have consistently shown a remarkable aptitude to your learning in all subjects - tackling challenging concepts and tasks with fantastic enthusiasm and determination. This week you have mastered new skills; presented projects; and participated in discussions. Your homework projects are amazing and a testament to your dedication and perseverance in showcasing your learning. You truly deserve a restful half-term holiday. We are super proud of you all!

Children’s disco: 23^rd February

Sign up link is now live! https://forms.gle/6bcCcpXK6dw2VSSi7

If you would like to volunteer and find out more, please join the Whatsapp Disco helpers group! https://chat.whatsapp.com/F5CQhrKu3nI48bo1h9bPOv

If you would you like to contribute, but are unable to donate your time, please consider buying some of what is needed for the event with our Amazon Wishlist:

https://amzn.eu/eV5vWuM

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Upcoming PTA events: 

Children’s Disco – 23rd February

Adults Quiz Night – date TBA

Campfest - 12-14th July

At a drenched sports centre in South Bristol, the Year 4 football league kicked off last night. On display was skill, effort but most of all lots and lots of resilience. Despite the heavy rain, there was not one word of complaint; the positive mindset remained throughout the whole event. We look forward to Round 2 on Thursday 22nd February. As always we must thank our parents for supporting with transport, and also for their superb support in the deluge of rain.

This Tuesday, Christ Church celebrated Safer Internet Day 2024. Mr Eades and Mr Campbell started our days off with an assembly where we enjoyed talking about our favourite things to do on the internet and some of the most exciting apps. Key Stage 2 then participated in the BBC’s live lesson – which raised some really interesting questions from the children and opened our eyes about the spread of A.I (Artificial Intelligence). Very interesting!