Dear Parents and Carers,

Christmas Spirit

Whilst we have certainly seen a change in the weather this week with freezing temperatures, sunshine, sleet, snow and frost, many of us were warmed by the wonderful Christ Church school choir at the turning on of the lights in Clifton village on Wednesday evening. The square was packed with children and parents and the choir took centre stage supporting the event with some polished instrumental performances and lovely singing of carols. Well done to all of our children, you both entertained us and made us very proud. Thank you especially to Mrs Brown for all of her hard work and commitment to the children.

Fundraising Fun

It has been another fun Friday for the children and staff with our non-uniform day, helping to celebrate and raise money to help to ensure that we continue to provide many of the wider experiences and additional resources throughout the school that make a huge difference to the education and fun that all children deserve. Thank you to everyone for your generous gifts of bottles and ‘lucky jars’ so far, ready for the Christ Church Christmas Fair on Sunday afternoon. An enormous thank you to all of our amazing PTA.

Democracy

This week we have been thinking and learning about what democracy means and how it is a part of our life in Britain. In order to bring this to life in school, the children are voting in their classes (years 2 – 6), to elect their chosen School Council representatives and the elected children will spend the year working with Miss Noble and school leaders to ensure that pupil voice is a big part of the life, organisation and future of our school. We are equally proud of the children’s work throughout the school in their work as Play Leaders in year 5, Play Buddies in year 6, Worship Council with Mrs Petters, Sports Leaders and House Captains in year 6. It is wonderful to see so many children taking on responsibilities and working hard to make our school such a special place.

I wish you all another wonderful weekend ahead and thank you for your support in all matters. 

Kind regards

Mark Oldfield

Headteacher

Christmas Fair this Sunday 1-4pm!  

Due to the weather, the Fair will now be completely INSIDE the school. Entrance will be from the main school office.  

Thank you for all the generous donations that have come into the school this morning. It’s going to be a wonderful community event and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

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

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, we are here to support every family in Bristol and we are parents ourselves so we get it!

Please put the date in your diary - next week we will include a Google form expression of interest.  

Date: Thurs December 12th
Time: 9 - 10:30am
Location: Christ Church School

Reception have continued finding out more facts about space by identifying and ordering the planets in the Solar system through singing songs and looking at fantastic books such as ‘Meet the planets’ by Carly Hart  and ‘Eight little planets’ by Chris Ferrie and Lizzy Doyle. They have been creating their own planets using crayons, chalks and pastels as well as their own space scenes.  

The children were introduced to ‘Drawing Club’ this week (a great initiative by Greg Bottrill) and excitedly let their imaginations run wild after hearing the story ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. They were introduced to challenging vocabulary, drawing a character, setting and their own space rocket!

Maths saw the children using 5 frames and counters to physically make 1 more and 1 less from a given number. This meant working with a partner – using our value of cooperation, listening and communication skills. Tweezers and googly eyes were used to put one more or one less onto the alien body – great fun!

The mid-week snow had us all agog with excitement - as for some of the children this was their first experience of this weather and it truly is a learning moment involving awe and wonder.

A big ‘thank you’ to our mystery readers who bravely came and brought their fantastic books to share with the classes! The children love trying to guess who is coming in!

Well done children for another intergalactic learning journey!

Reception Team

This week in Year 1 we have been learning about how some UK wildlife adapts to survive through the winter. Did you know that Exmoor ponies and foxes grow an extra layer of fur to help stay warm in the chilly weather?

In maths we have begun learning about subtraction. We learned to find the missing part of a number by taking away and then wrote subtraction number sentences using counters and part-whole models.

In PSHE we learnt to ‘listen to our bodies’ using the four areas/zones of regulation. Our bodies have lots of different ways to tell us things and by listening to our bodies we can help ourselves to stay regulated. We discussed different tools that can help us in each of the different zones such as taking breaths, talking to a friend or taking a movement break. We also explored the concept of stereotypes and how they could present themselves. We learned that stereotypes can be harmful so we should always be careful about judging someone based on their likes/dislikes or based on their looks.

Year 2 have had a wonderful week.  We loved playing in the snow earlier this week.

In maths we have been learning about 2D shapes and recognising their different properties.  We have been playing games giving clues about what shape we’re thinking of by describing how many sides and vertices they have as well as if the sides are straight or curved.

In literacy we have been writing newspaper reports imagining that we are a resident of Gableview who has spotted the giant.  It’s clear we have some budding journalists amongst our Year 2 children! Their headlines were amazing!

This week we also started our yoga sessions with Carolyn.  It was a lovely way to start our busy week.

Winter felt like it had officially arrived this week! With some colder starts and even some now fall we had some very excited year 3’s watching the first flakes fall. In contrast our Literacy has been hotting up with volcano fact files. We have been so impressed with the children’s ability to research, paragraph and write such informative pieces, the writing progress has been fantastic.

We also started our first Art project of the year this week. Our theme is ‘printing’ and we have been inspired by William Morris and Henri Matisse. We have used their work to influence our own designs involving flowers and plants. These designs have now been transferred to our polystyrene blocks and we will be using these to print our own tote bags on Monday! We can’t wait to send these home so you can see the beautiful designs.

This week, Year 4 turned into roving reporters in their Geography lessons! Taking on the role of news anchors, they investigated the impact of a disastrous change to a local area, conducting interviews with “locals” to uncover the full story. Their sharp questions and thoughtful insights showed they’re naturals at digging deep into real-world issues. With such a talented newsroom, it’s safe to say Year 4 are making headlines of their own!

Year 5 have worked hard writing and publishing their non-chronological reports about Viking Life. They have impressed us with their fact finding and adventurous sentence structures, as well as their eye catching layouts.

In History, they have extended their knowledge of the Vikings by looking into when they first came to Britain and how they were quickly able to establish a kingdom called Danelaw. In Computing, we researched Viking Gods using appropriate search engines and key words to find information quickly and efficiently. It's safe to say we've had a Viking themed week!

5LC have also had a fantastic start to swimming. Everyone has approached it with a positive attitude and showcased some brilliant strokes and skills. Keep up the good work! 

This week in Year 6, Clifton College invited us to meet Fiona (Fi) Harris, an awesome textile artist, and do a felting workshop with her. Fiona is a felt-maker, printer, and experimenter. In her North Somerset studio, she creates unique felted pieces, inspired by nature or colour, for hanging or wearing.  Wet-felting involves using wool, water and friction to create a felt ‘fabric’. Pictures and designs are produced by laying down individual or small groups of fibres, much like a painting but with more dynamic textures. With Fi, we created tactile felt pictures inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. We had such fun, learned so much about this process, and can’t wait to take them home!

In Literacy, our favourite task this week was writing a voice-over for a short video on a teacher’s need for coffee! Here are some examples: 

By Shy and Sebastian:

Teaching children isn’t just a job, it’s like swimming in a never-ending lazy river. Marking work can be boring and annoying. It takes a lifetime to complete all the tasks and achieve expectations. You need to stay sharp and focused when teaching, but when tiredness hits you - you can’t go on! Coffee is an energy source and is the teachers’ secret weapon! Coffee brings joy into the world and gives you the power to push forward. After one gulp, you become more productive and work at a faster pace. Classrooms are happier with a cup of coffee on the teacher’s desk. WITH COFFEE EVERYTHING IS BETTER AND EVERYONE THRIVES. 

By Eva and Coco:

Being a teacher is hard work – the days are long; the nights are short and the children can be difficult! YOU NEED COFFEE.

Stamping, writing, checking, marking, and after all, the energy vanishes. YOU NEED COFFEE.

After the children have gone home…you STILL have work to do. All you want to do the next morning is drag your bed to school. YOU NEED COFFEE.

Milk, sugar, CAFFEINE – create COFFEE! YOU NOW HAVE YOUR COFFEE!

One sip and your day shines brighter than the sun. YOU HAVE YOUR COFFEE!

Your wrist doesn’t hurt anymore, your head doesn’t hurt pound anymore. YOUR EYES MANAGE TO OPEN. YOU HAVE YOUR COFFEE.

Learning is one hundred times easier with a punch of caffeine to wake you up! YOU HAVE YOUR COFFEE!

HAPPINESS – because YOU HAD YOUR COFFEE!