Years 1 and 2 participated in an Art workshop this week in our outdoor classroom. Local artist Liz Hunter inspired the children to focus on flowers and plants, exploring the work of other artists, as well as colour mixing warm and cool tones. Read on to see the photos. Next week Liz will return on Wednesday and Thursday to work with Y3-6, the focus will be hills, fields and coasts. 

Y6 went to Beggar Bush and on the train to a STEM workshop near Temple Quay, Y5 girls concluded their cricket league with a great performance, Year 1 completed their phonics screening and Year 4 completed the multiplication screening. Results for these statutory assessments will be included the annual school report. 

Mr Oldfield joined us for 2 days this week to make plans and prepare for September, he joined the induction evening for parents/carers of children starting in Reception and spent time in the playground and joined celebration assembly. Please see his letter of introduction in the Szapp feed.

Tick awareness - during term 6 we have a number of outdoor trips and activities arranged for the children.  Below is information for parents/ carers about preventative measures you can take, as well as advice regarding what to do if you find a tick on your child.  

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 

Come along to our SEND Coffee morning hosted in partnership with Bristol Parent Carer Forum where you can find out more information on what support is available locally for your child with special educational needs and disabilities. It doesn't matter if you don't have a diagnosis, Bristol Parent Carers are available to support every family in Bristol and are parents themselves so get it!

Nicky O’Leary, from the school nurse service will also be present to answer any questions you may have.

There is no need to book, but it would help us to have an idea of numbers so would be grateful if you could register your interest by filling in the Google Form here.

Date: Thursday 20^th June
Time: 9 - 10:30am
Location: Activity Hall (please enter via the school office)

On Monday we re-read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and had a go at ordering the days of the week and retelling the story! Our adults thought the caterpillar was similar to many of our mini mega munchers in Reception!

Ladybirds were our next focus this week and we enjoyed the story What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson. We learnt all about ladybirds including its life cycle and made comparisons to life cycles we have looked at before. We enthusiastically created some super ladybird crafts too.

We also enjoyed designing our mini beast gardens ahead of creating them in 3D next week!

In maths we have been focusing on patterns. We identified the unit of repeat and then chose our own rule to create a repeating pattern. In Literacy we were challenged to write a simple sentence about a minibeast without any support from our adults!

With gusto we continued to practice different skills in our house teams ahead of sports day in a few weeks!

Another fantastic week!

This week we started our new text Greta and the Giants written by Zoe Tucker. The story follows a young girl named Greta who bravely starts a movement against the giants cutting down trees and destroying the forest. Inspired by how Greta started by herself with just a sign, we made our own miniature versions with persuasive messages such as we love our world, save our trees, and listen to what we have to say. 

We had a very special afternoon with artist, Liz, who specialises in paintings inspired by nature. Our session with her focussed on flowers and discovering that colours can have temperatures! We then painted on templates that she's designed especially for us using only warm or cool colours. We had a fantastic time and cant thank Liz enough.

In RE this term we are learning about places of worship. This week we focussed on Christians' place of worship by drawing items you'd find in a Christian church, such as an altar, font and lectern.

In year 2 this week we have been discussing how the story ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ is a fantasy story because Max travels to a new world where things are quite different to home. We took inspiration from this to design our own fantasy worlds in pairs which we went on to describe in detail by using descriptive language.

On Tuesday year 2 had a visit from local artist Liz Hunter. She spoke to us about still life drawing and warm and cool colour palettes. We looked at the work of British artists Emily Powell and Bailey Schmidt whose work we used as inspiration for our own paintings. The workshop was a huge success and every child created a beautiful, unique piece of art and learned so much too.

Our new book this term ‘Clean Up’ shines a light on the problem of plastic in our oceans and the importance of taking care of our planet. We have carried this theme through our Geography, Literacy and now Art learning. We were really inspired by the message from the book and so both classes designed different art pieces demonstrating the impact of plastic in our oceans. We have also been deep diving into David Attenborough’s life and his impact on climate change as we write a biography of him in Literacy.

We have also journeyed inside a computer during ICT this week and looking at networks, files and websites. We have studied exactly how they work, their purpose and importance. As you can imagine, this was useful learning for the adults too!

This week, Year 4 have been making some sound discoveries about communication without noise. We’ve dived into the fascinating world of British Sign Language (BSL), learning how to greet each other, ask names, and check on how friends are feeling—all without a peep! But that's not all; we've also tuned into the science of hearing, exploring how our ears help our brains interpret the bustling world around us. It’s been an ear-resistible week of silent learning!

Year 5 students dove into the enchanting world of folklore with their drama exploration of 'Anansi and the Two Spiders.' Through engaging role-play and vibrant storytelling, they brought the clever tales of Anansi to life, developing their skills in expression and teamwork.

Year 6 had a great time at their final Beggar Bush trip on Monday. There was great excitement as they threw ‘angels’ and tomahawks –Sophia won the competition with a bulls-eye of 100! Amazing! Combat archery was brilliant as the children shot against targets and also each other in a tense stand-off. In the woods there was bread-making, marshmallows and plenty of chocolate spread.

A fantastic time was had by everyone and it didn’t rain until we left!

On Tuesday, Year 6 headed off on the Train at Clifton Down station to travel to Temple Meads. We were met on the platform by Imogen, an education train representative, who accompanied us on our journey. She helped remind us of train safety. From Temple Meads we then travelled to Science Creates. This is an organization based in Bristol that supports the growth of deep-tech startups. Here we were met by Charlie and Adam and two representative from a science company Kelpi. Once in a lab, we donned lab coats and goggles. Through hands-on activities, Charlie and the team of scientists told us more about what Kelpi does and why it is important. Kelpi focuses on developing sustainable packaging solutions using seaweed. Their goal is to create eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastic packaging, leveraging the biodegradable properties of seaweed. Kelpi's innovative materials are designed to reduce plastic pollution and offer a sustainable option for packaging in various industries. By utilizing seaweed, Kelpi aims to address environmental challenges associated with plastic waste.

Then – GUESS WHAT – we got to make our very own seaweed pods, these pods are completely biodegradable and can be used for any liquid. It was so much fun.

Then Imogen took us on a guided tour of the building. We learned so much. Science Creates is an organization based in Bristol that supports the growth of deep tech startups. It provides a range of services including specialized laboratories, co-working spaces, and business support to help scientific entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses. Science Creates aims to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercial application, driving advancements in fields such as life sciences, advanced engineering, and environmental technology. We were very lucky to get such a great insight into the work done within the building and many of Year 6 were inspired for their future careers in science. 

We have worked in small groups and continued to study the question ‘Is Kilve a better place to live than Clifton?’ We used digital aerial and O/S maps to look at the physical and human features to build up a case study outlining which we believe is the best place to live. We have presented our views on a poster.

The cricket season ended with Christ Church performing splendidly well on Tuesday, notching up their first victory, with an excellent performance with the bat. The other element to Tuesday's final session, that made me so proud, was the great sportsmanship on show from our players. Our opposition had a player less, so two of our players stepped up to take turns and fill in - outstanding!!!

Campfest w/e 12th July

Camp Fest 2024 is approaching! Please save the date and in the next week, the PTA will be sending out a sign up form along with a volunteer list. If you can volunteer, we would be extremely grateful, like with all PTA events, this is a fundraiser and we rely on lots of support from all the wonderful Christ Church families.