Dear Parents and Carers,

I am sure that we are all grateful for the week of glorious sunshine and some late summer warmth and we hope that it continues long into the autumn! The dry weather has given the children an opportunity to not only enjoy their playtimes together outside, but for all PE lessons to take place uninterrupted.

I hope that you have had a chance to read our recent Ofsted report and that both the outcome and the narrative provide you with the reassurance that your school is thriving. As the new Headteacher, I can only congratulate Mrs Jones, the staff team, the Governors, the Diocese and the incredibly supportive community of parents, carers and families that have secured such a fantastic achievement. 

This week all of our new Reception children have been in school, getting used to full days and we have been hugely impressed with the way that they are settling into life at Christ Church School and making new friendships that will last for years to come. Well done children.

This week, Mrs Richardson has been talking to the children in assembly about kindness, why this is such an important school value and how we ‘live’ this value in the ways that we choose to think, act and behave. As we map out the year ahead, our weekly assemblies will play an important part in helping children to think about what our values are, what they mean, why we believe in them as a school and to question what part they play in their own lives.

Next weekend (Saturday 30th September) is the sponsored PTA Fun Run at Clifton College New Fields.  It promises to be a great morning of activity and fun for the children and an opportunity to meet up with other school families.  Please sign up using the links in the PTA article below.  

Finally, thank you for your support this week in returning the information requests shared with you and to those parents or carers that were able to attend our class meetings with teachers. We do of course understand if you were unable to do so and hope that you have received the class information shared electronically.

Warmest regards

Mark Oldfield

Headteacher

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):

• Monday 6th January - Inset day
• Friday 23rd May - Academy day
• Monday 21st July - Inset day
• Tuesday 22nd July - Inset day

*Time for some FUN RUN!*

This year's Fun Run is next Saturday the 28th at 10am in Clifton College New Fields. 

Come along and run around - due to popular demand, adults are now also allowed to take part! Sign up here:

https://forms.gle/SxhUPhRUEH3cLx639

 *Get sponsored!* 

Over the last few years our PTA has raised funds to improve the play area and equipment at Christ Church and we want to continue doing it - so line up your sponsors!  

*Fancy dress optional but encouraged!* 

There'll be prizes for most laps, best fancy dress and most sponsored - and medals for all kids!  

We hope to see you all there!

It is also the PTA AGM next week, Thurday 26th September, 7.30pm in school - ALL WELCOME  we look forward to seeing you there.

Parking around school:

There have been a number of near misses around the school perimeter at drop off and pick up times where parents are parking on the pavement and in front of the school gates.  This is really unsafe and we are afraid that there will be an accident soon.  If you drive to school, please ensure you park in the appropriate zones and walk your children the rest of the way to the school gates.  School gates open at 8.40am and are shut by 8.55am.  Please leave sufficient time to arrive safely with your children and to have left the school premises by 8.55am.

Dogs and Bikes in Playground at Drop Off and Pick Up:

Please ensure that all bikes and scooters are stored in the bike and scooter racks and that adults and children dismount at the entrance to the school playground - it is dangerous for others if you scoot or cycle through the playground.

Dogs are not allowed on school site; the only exception would be a licensed support dog. Our reason for this flows from Health and Safety advice following cases across the country where unattended animals at school entrances can be spooked by the presence of other animals and/or the exuberance of children and behave unexpectedly, leading to children being bitten.

If you bring your dog to drop off or pick up, please ensure they are tied up OUTSIDE the school grounds whilst you come into the playground.  

Home School Agreement:

Thank you to those who have returned the Home School Agreement form.  This is a really important annual data gather for us so if you haven't yet filled in the form for your child(ren), please could you do this by return. Thank you.  

Home School Agreement 2024-25

HSA Google Form

Thank you

What a fabulous first full week in Reception! Together, we created a class promise by suggesting lovely ideas of how we can all work together. Our adults helped us link these ideas to our school values.

Over the past few weeks, we've been exploring the book How Are You Feeling Today? by Molly Potter. This week, we focused on feeling 'worried,' reading Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival and The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside. Our discussions were filled with brilliant ideas about handling different emotions.

We began our phonics lessons, learning the sounds s, a, t, and p. We practiced writing them on whiteboards and in the sand.

It was matching this week in maths! We matched various objects and pictures and enjoyed playing matching games. We used the language “match”, “same”, “different” and we were marvellous at matching!

Our first P.E. session was a hit! We enjoyed movement games set to music in the hall, showing great enthusiasm.

In music, we experimented with our voices to create a variety of sounds, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed while listening attentively. 

All the adults are incredibly proud of the children after their first full week in Reception. They have been amazing!

This week Year 1 have been exploring the story The Storm Whale by Benji Davies. The Storm Whale follows the character of Noi who lives with his dad and six cats by the sea. One day Noi finds a little whale washed up on the beach after a storm and a friendship forms that will change both of their lives forever. Year 1 wrote about what they would do if they found a whale on the beach and role played as the main character, writing thought bubbles to show his feelings. In maths we have been exploring numbers to ten; showing one more than a number and reading and writing number words. Well done Year 1  for all  your fantastic work this week!

This week in year 2 children have been creating their own animal characters, whilst thinking carefully about using adjectives and adverbs to describe their looks and mannerisms. They then used these to begin planning their own stories following the structure of our Literacy text 'Be More Bernard'. In maths this week we have been continuing our work on place value by plotting numbers on number lines to 100. We have also been learning about Islam by sharing stories about the prophet Mohammed in RE.

This week we have continued to immerse ourselves in our Ancient Egypt topic and dived a little deeper into the slightly gory side of this civilization. We began by creating a step by step guide into the mummification process which leant itself to a little acting. The children loved this activity and their enthusiasm continued as we studied the afterlife, every day life and historical artefacts.

We have continued our work on place value in maths and have already seen amazing progress and feel ready to extend the children’s learning to addition and subtraction next week!

Finally, in English we learnt the definition of ‘debate’ and generated arguments for and against a scenario in our story. It was extremely illuminating to see which children were willing to break the rules on the ‘for’ side and walk through the forest!

This week, Year 4 has been making waves with their new science unit on Sound! They kicked things off with some sound conversations in British Sign Language (BSL), showing that even when it’s quiet, communication can speak volumes. Next, they tuned in to explore what sound waves are made of, and finally, they lent an ear (literally!) to learn how the ear works. It’s been an ear-resistibly fun week, and our budding scientists are sure to resonate with these new discoveries!

In Art this week, Year 5 have been looking at Pop Art and thinking about how artists portray movement in their work. The children used water colour to create silhouettes of subjects moving. Looking at their art work, we think you’ll agree they did a great job! 

In RE the children have been learning about what Christians believe about love. They have been studying the artwork of Christian artists – Ben and Hannah Dunnett – as well as Jim Dine and replicating their own artistic hearts in either of the two styles as illustrations for the background of their poems about love. We can’t wait until they’re finished because they are already looking amazing. Keep your eyes out for the hearts to appear in the classroom window! 

In Literacy we have been delving into our text, The Lost Thing. We’ve used modal verbs and subordinating conjunctions to create and describe our own things to enhance our writing. We can’t wait to see how they are incorporated into our writing next week.

What a brilliant week Year 6 have had! In amongst all the wonderful lessons we have done in the classroom or basketball lessons in the playground, we have visited the Redgrave Theatre for an author talk by Emma Carroll AND visited the Create Centre for a life skills workshop. We loved the author talk (please see details about it as a separate item).

In our life skills workshop we learned so many different safety skills – fire safety, road safety, awareness of dangers like county lines, drugs, and rail and water hazards. The workshop was completely interactive, with many different types of real life scenarios where we learned practical first aid (such as how to put someone in the recovery position), decision-making, and how to stay safe in risky situations. We reflected that the morning had given us lots more confidence and also knowledge of how to keep ourselves safe in the future.

On Thursday morning, Clifton College invited Year 5 and Year 6 to a talk by Emma Carroll. Emma is the author of 15 published books, including her latest book, ‘The Little Match Girl Strikes Again’ – her talk was truly inspirational!

Emma shared her journey as a writer, encouraging us all to follow our passions and to keep writing stories about subjects we are interested in as ‘that’s when the magic happens’.

She talked to us about why she had chosen the subject of the little match girl and discussed how her research into the history of match girls really illuminated the struggles of their past while offering lessons for our present. In her book she tells a story of courage, hope, resilience and standing up for what's right.  She inspired us to believe in our own ability to make a difference.

At the end we even had the opportunity to ask Emma questions and now we can’t wait to read the book ourselves.

Please see support courses offered by Bristol City Council and Parents Plus:

Parenting When Separated – PWS is a 7-week evidence-based programme designed to support separating/separated parents to solve co-parenting problems in a positive way that focuses on the needs of children, cope with the emotional impact of separation, stress management techniques and enhance communication with children and with the other parent. 

Supporting Inter-Parental Communication – This is a great opportunity of support for parents/carers (separated/together/solo) that

• are arguing a lot/struggling to communicate/stopped communicating
• have a child aged between 8 and 14 years

The help on offer will either be Mentalization Based Therapy with a relationship therapist or access to online resources with practitioner support