Dear Parents/Carers 

It has certainly been a busy and fruitful first week of our final summer term and despite the changeable weather, the children have been on several trips and visits and experienced a variety of exciting opportunities.

Year 6 - Grittleton House Adventure Centre

Set amongst the most magnificent grounds and historic buildings, the children spent three wonderful days, led by the Grittleton Adventures instructors and our amazing staff team of Mrs Williamson, Mrs Brown, Mrs Crocker, Miss Connolly-Tayler and Mr Kean. With a full menu of activities throughout the day and evening, the children immersed themselves in a few days of fun, friendship and challenge. For many this was their first trip away from home without family and we are proud of their energetic and responsible approach to ensuring that they had the best time possible.

Artistic Talents

Year 1 and 5 were fortunate to spend a few hours working with the talented artist Liz Hunter, who taught them how to work in mixed media, creating beautiful pieces of artwork that all deserve hanging space in a gallery! Christ Church School is a school that places high value on the Arts and we know that the children love to learn new skills to add to their creative toolkit. This has only been possible due to your generous contribution to our voluntary fund – thank you.

Back in Time – Victorian History

Our lucky year 1 children also took a trip to Tyntesfield House to bring to life their History topic this term. This impressive National Trust Victorian Gothic Revival house helped the children to compare the present day to the Victorian past, to begin to understand the timeline of recent history and most importantly to bring fun and enjoyment to their learning (despite the rather dismal weather!). Thank you again for making this possible.

Local History lessons

Year 2 also had a fantastic trip to the George Müller Museum in Bristol this week! The children learned all about George Müller’s life and how he cared for thousands of orphans in Victorian times. They explored the building, saw real artefacts like Müller’s desk and Bible, and even tried out activities from a Victorian classroom. The visit helped bring our History and RE learning to life, and the children were full of thoughtful questions. Well done, Year 2!

As with all of our trips, visits and events, we are very grateful to our parent & carer volunteers who help us to ensure the children are safe and happy.

Anyone for Cricket?

Our talented year 5 cricketers again competed in the Ashton Park cricket festival where they bowled and batted fiercely against several other Bristol schools. Thank you to all the parents and carers and staff who have supported with this event. Well done year 5 and year 6.

Learning Journeys

It is the time of year that teachers are busily assessing and testing the children to understand where they are on their learning journey, the progress they have made so far and what we need to plan as the next steps. As a part of this our year 4 children have now taken the national Multiplication Tables Check (MTC), a test of their knowledge and recall of multiplication facts. The children have worked hard throughout the year, building their learning form our Number Sense curriculum and we look forward to reporting the outcomes to you soon.

Next week our year 1 children will begin the national Phonics Check, working with their teachers to assess where they are in the journey to secure the crucial knowledge of phonics. This cornerstone of reading proficiency and confidence is part of a daily diet of teaching and learning and we know that the children have worked so hard to give their very best this year.

Notices

Uniform appeal - At the end of term 5 we returned a large amount of uniform to children and sent a large number of unnamed items to be reused. Please, please check and label all uniform clearly to avoid costly losses and this will help us to encourage the children to be responsible for their belongings. The lost property rack is filling up fast.

Healthy Snacks – please support our collective responsibility as adults to ensure that your children bring a healthy snack to school only. We recommend that fruit snacks or vegetables are provided and any containers clearly labelled – thank you.

Eid al-Adha

Today, we would like to wish all our families celebrating a joyful and blessed Eid al-Adha. May this festive occasion be filled with happiness, love, and togetherness. We hope you enjoy this meaningful time with your loved ones, and we send our warmest wishes from everyone at school.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead and let’s hope the sun returns soon!

Warmest wishes

Mark Oldfield

Headteacher