Dear Parents and Carers

Value of the Week – Curiosity

Our collective worship this week focused again on building an understanding of the value of curiosity and why it is important to be inquisitive, intrigued and interested in the world around us. We talked about the natural world of squirrels as an example of the wonder of nature and it has been heartening to see the children’s natural curiosity in their learning throughout the school, such as the Reception children delving into their topic of Dinosaurs.

Additionally, this week as a school we held a collective worship to both mark and help the children to learn all about the meaning and significance of VE day. With stories from war veterans to film reels of the celebrations around the country, the children were able to see and learn about the lives of the people that lived through these times. We were extremely proud of the manner in which every child showed their respect during our minute's silence – well done children.

SATs Weeks – Year 6

As you will know, our year 6 children reach a point at the end of their Primary education when they are formally assessed through the statutory SATs tests. These take place next week and we would like to reassure the children that we ask that they approach the tests with confidence, calmness and that we only expect that they give their very best as that is all that matters. We are already proud of you, and know that you will all be a huge success.

Sports Stars

This week’s sporting stars are our year 5 & 6 cricketers who took part in a cricket festival organised by the Ashton Park sports partnership with other local schools at Bedminster cricket club. The children gave their all and enjoyed some wins whilst showing great sportsmanship throughout.

Year 2 Bristol Beacon Performance

On Thursday our year 2 children visited the wonderful Bristol Beacon to take part in a Key Stage 1 Summer Sing performance, with a theme of under the sea. The children sang beautifully amongst many other schools from all around Bristol. Thank you as always to the staff and parents that made the trip possible and helped to bring learning to life yet again for the children.

Year 6 Look, Draw, Build Workshop

Following on from their trip on the train to Temple Meads last week, the children have completed a design and make challenge provided by friends of the school as part of the project outline, encouraging young people to ‘connect practically with architecture, engineering and history’. From their design ideas showing their understanding of purpose and architecture, to their construction and model making skills, the children produced some amazing structures together. Well done everyone and a huge thank you to Matt and Steve for your generous support!

Play Equipment

We are still receiving more wonderful donations from our Amazon Wishlist as we build up a rich resource of play equipment for the children – thank you very much.

Safeguarding

It has come to our attention that children are sometimes playing in the car park and the surrounding area, particularly after school. Whilst we recognise that the children are supervised by adults collecting them, we would ask respectfully that children are always collected and leave quickly and safely from the car park area as this is always in use by vehicles throughout the day and evening. Thank you.

Kind regards

Mark Oldfield

Inset and Academy days for the rest of the year (training for school staff - children are not in school on these days):

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

INSET AND ACADEMY DAYS FOR NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR

• Tuesday 2nd September - Inset day 
• Wednesday 3rd September - Inset day

Gardening work at school

Our school landscape services provider has recently had to downsize and we are therefore looking for support either from a landscape company, or from the local community - if you know of anyone who has some knowledge of plants and would be interested in coming into school for probably half a day every 2 weeks to weed/ maintain our planted borders and help with leaf clearance in the winter, we would be delighted if they would make contact through emailing the school email address:

[email protected]

titled 'Christ Church School Gardening'.  

We started our dinosaur topic in Reception this week and our adults have been really impressed by our amazing knowledge. We read lots of lovely books about dinosaurs including the super story ‘Dear Dinosaur’ by Chae Strathie. We had a go at using our phonic knowledge to write our own letter to a dinosaur.

We have been busy doing lots of dino-tastic activities and crafts in our classroom and outside. We also learnt about what was on the menu for dinosaur dinners and that they are herbivores, carnivores and omnivores!

On Tuesday we whizzed about for our ‘Wheels Day’ and everyone had a fast and fantastic time! Our adults thought we had brilliant balance and co-ordination skills!

In maths this week we have been exploring sharing into equal groups. We have learnt how to share to ensure it is fair.

Well done to all our little explorers!

Reception Team

This week in Year 1 we wrote up our shortened version of Orion and the Dark. Well done Year 1 for completing your longest piece of writing so far - you did an amazing job!

In science, we identified some seeds and predicted what we thought they might grow into. Then we headed to the outdoor classroom to plant our very own nasturtium seeds. We learned that seeds need a balance of water, oxygen, warmth and sunlight to grow. We can’t wait to see them pop up soon.

In maths, we have been learning about measure. This week we’ve been comparing weight using the language ‘heavier than’, ‘lighter than’ and ‘level’. We used rocker scales to find the mass of everyday classroom items using cubes, for example ‘the scissors have a mass of 8 cubes’.

On Thursday Year 2 visited the Bristol Beacon where they joined in with an "Under the Sea" themed concert. There were several other KS1 classes there and it was such an immersive, joyful experience. Some children even got to go on stage!

‘It was really fun and everyone was doing lots of singing! I love singing.’  Ivy

‘I enjoyed the walking. It was a really nice trip.’ Pearl 

Year 3 have been calculating with fractions all week. As well as adding and subtracting they have been partitioning the whole and finding unit and non-unit fractional amounts of a set of objects.

As well as this they have been looking at puzzles and problems in order to use and apply their fabulous learning. Most importantly of all, they have been practising that vital skill of resilience-never giving up.

We have also been using ‘Here We Are ‘ as a stimulus for some work on diversity and inclusion.

Please come and take a look at 3ED outside window to learn more.

This week, Year 4 have put on their journalist hats and stepped into the thrilling world of Spy Fox! Armed with notepads, sharp pencils, and an eye for detail, the children have been crafting newspaper reports recounting the daring escapades of our suave secret agent. From cracking codes to catching crooks, the young writers focused on using all the key features of a chronological report—headlines, orientation, events in time order, and of course, those all-important quotes. Their finished articles are worthy of any front page!

In maths, we’ve been penny-wise and problem-smart as we continued our unit on money. The children have been applying their understanding to reason and solve a variety of real-life problems, from comparing costs to calculating change. It’s been fantastic to see them confidently use their skills in practical contexts and explain their thinking with increasing clarity.

Meanwhile, our artistic eyes have been hard at work in our new observational drawing unit. Year 4 have been learning different shading techniques—from stippling to cross-hatching—to bring depth and dimension to their sketches.

In PE, we’ve channelled that energy into athletics, focusing on sprinting. The children have shown brilliant sportsmanship and some impressive bursts of speed as they refine their running technique. Another action-packed week for our amazing Year 4s!

This week, our Year 5 children proudly published the poetry they wrote last week, showcasing their creativity in the neatest of handwriting. They took great care to illustrate their poems beautifully, adding colour and detail that brought their words to life. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to see their work presented with pride and purpose, and they were rightly proud of their finished pieces.

In Science, the children have been learning about the parts of a flower. With curiosity and care, they dissected real flowers to explore each part up close — from the petals and stamens to the pistils and sepals. It was a hands-on lesson that sparked plenty of questions and deepened their understanding of plant biology.

This week, we had the incredible opportunity to work with two experts in design. Steve, an experienced engineer from Reading Civic Society, and Matt from Ridge and Partners (which offers a comprehensive range of services, including architecture, structural engineering, and sustainability consultancy) guided us through the morning workshop. Our task was to make a model train station, using our designs as part of our Look, Draw, Build project.

After a demonstration about how we could join materials securely, Year 6 couldn’t wait to get started. From the outset, all teams were given the same resources to ensure fairness – this encouraged creative thinking and teamwork. Each team demonstrated excellent collaboration throughout the project. It was lovely to see how groups worked – dividing roles, listening to different ideas, solving problems together, whether figuring out how to make a roof structure stable or deciding how to represent their platform. Each group adapted to challenges and gave each other encouragement. By the end of the session, each group had not only built a unique model but also gained valuable experience in collaboration, time management and creative problem solving – skills that are just as important as the final product.

Year 6 are super proud of the results – what a positive and focused morning!