ST. ALOYSIUS’ CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 17/10/2014 Term 1 ~ Week 7 Dates For Your Diary October Tuesday 21st Thursday 23rd FRIDAY 24TH November Monday 3rd Tuesday 4th Wednesday 5th Thursday 6th Friday 7th Tuesday 11th Wednesday 12th Thursday 13th Friday 14th 8.00pm ~ PTA AGM in The Courtyard Yew Class - Synagogue Visit 3.00pm ~ END OF TERM 1 INSET TRAINING DAY - SCHOOL CLOSED 8.50AM ~ START OF TERM 2 10.00am ~ All Souls Mass, The Oratory Magistrates Visiting Willow Class Perform Workshop (EY and KS1) Year 6 Primary Maths Challenge Willow Class, Here and Now, Phoenix Cinema 6.00PM TO 8.00PM ~ PTA SPOOKY DISCO 2.00pm ~ Fig Class Mass Willow Class, Junior Citizen Year 5 - Skills Show, Birmingham PTA MUFTI DAY FOR TOMBOLA PRIZES This Week’s House Point Total Ashmolean 305 Bodleian 270 Radcliffe 291 Sheldonian 254 Dear Parents/Carers, It was great to see so many of you at the Read, Write, Inc. meeting on Tuesday evening. For us it was very helpful to hear feedback from parents so that we can plan future events. I’d like to thank my colleagues Karen Wade, Sophie Kempton and Ruth Bellamy for organising the evening and making phonics fun! Year 6 are having a fabulous time in Devon. The weather has not affected any of their adventurous activities. Apparently the Deputy Head and Chair of Governors were last seen surfing up the Bristol Channel. By the time you read this, I will have done my best to choose winners in the PTA Bake Off. Thankfully there were more knowledgeable judges. I just did the eating! Have a lovely weekend. Tom Walker - Headteacher. Prayer (written by children at St. Gregory The Great School) Thank you Lord for giving us life. Thank you for my family and friends. Thank you for school and the opportunity of an education. Bless and help those in need and those less fortunate than ourselves. Amen. Review of the Week Yew Class - During the last few weeks we have been learning about 3D shapes and creating our own. We also go swimming on Tuesday which we really enjoy. On Wednesday we have a clarinet lesson. In art we are doing Islamic art and we have created our own patterns. Last week we saw Lauren St. John speak and she told us about her childhood and her pet giraffe, warthogs, horses, dogs and cats. She has a new book coming out in March called The Glory. Her books are all very good if you want to read them. Fig Class - This week Fig Class have been learning about the story of Princess Frideswide and how she escaped many suitors before finally opening a monastery in Oxford. We looked at the time line of Oxford and Miss Wade ran out of wall in our classroom and had to take the time line outside because Oxford has so much history. In Numeracy, we have been practising counting backwards and remembering that it is the same as subtraction. In Literacy we planned and wrote brilliant traditional tales. Fir Class - This week in Science we have been learning about our senses and how much we use them. In Literacy we read a book about helping and discussed how we can help out at home. For Maths we practised our number bonds as well as our months and seasons. In Art we drew our favourite animals and thought about what animals we could make with body parts from different animals. Willow Class - The eight children who did not go to Yenworthy (Willow 8) had a relaxed week. We rearranged the desks in a U shape which they liked very much. They finished drawing and painting their views through the school windows, did word and number puzzles as well as reading and writing tasks, and put their numeracy skills into practice to draw a budget for a school garden. They especially enjoyed ICT sessions, when they did research to write a newspaper article about the famous urban climber Alain Robert, before playing computer games. School Motto Be ambitious for the higher gifts. Oak Class - Oak Class have been learning how to respond to a text. We focused on a descriptive piece from the book The Story of a Blue Planet where a group of children gain the ability to fly and then explore their island. We wrote a response imagining ourselves in the story, focussing on what we saw, what we heard, what we thought and what we wondered. There were some lovely descriptive pieces of writing. We then used these ideas in response to a poem called If I Had Wings. The children have written wonderful poems, using similes to create some great images. On Tuesday we had a visitor in the class (Ms. Selway Number 2) who talked about place names and how many names today are from the time of the Saxons. We found out 'dun' and 'tun' meant small hill, 'ing' belonging to and 'ford' a shallow part of a river. We then looked at a local map and found out the meaning to many local names. We had a great afternoon. Bay Class - In the last 7 days we've had two fantastic trips and completed lots of learning. During our visit to the Dragon School we listened to the life story and inspirations of Lauren St. John. Our next trip was to the Oxford synagogue where we learnt about some of the religious practices of the Jewish faith. In writing we are finishing our fables and just about to start narrative poetry. Our focus in Maths continues to be time and time graphs. On Friday we printed the Islamic designs we made at the Ashmolean museum and carried on our studies of All Living Things in Science. The proud winner of the mistake of the week was Kiran. Ash Class - It was Class Mass this Tuesday. Several children did some readings for it and they were clear and very well presented. In Literacy we have been writing descriptions of characters from historical stories they should be on display soon with some illustrations. Our Maths topic has been measurement and how we measure it in different units. It has been very wet this week and apparently more then 30mm of rain fell the other day! In PE we practised ball skills and there was a game to see how fast the ball could be dribbled round a partner. It was very popular and some children were very fast. Tigger Class - This week, we have started looking at traditional tales, beginning with the story of the Three Little Pigs. The children have been learning some storytelling actions to help them recall key language and phrases from the tale, and are all joining in with more and more of the story every day. They are also drawing their own Three Little Pigs story-maps to refer to when telling the story. We have conducted experiments making houses from (drinking) straws, (cocktail) sticks and (Lego) bricks to see which can stand up to the huffing and puffing of a hairdryer! There have also been some creative bubbleblowing pictures with children trying to blow different consistencies of paint to see which was hardest; diluted, normal, or paint mixed with flour. In maths, we have been comparing lengths using a range of nonstandard measures, such as our hands, feet, pencils and paperclips. Children Arriving After 8.50am If you arrive after 8.50am please remember to sign your child in at Reception. Doors are opened at 8.35am. Thank you. PTA Christmas Cards Please remember to return your Christmas card design templates to the school office as soon as possible - the deadline is next Tuesday. Additional blank templates are available from the office. PTA School Calendar Do you have a business that you would like to advertise in the school calendar or do you know someone who may be interested in advertising? Each ad will be on every page/month and the calendar is sold to 250+ parents and staff. Please email the school office if you would like further information. Thank you. Supporting The PTA via Avon Sales How to order? Collect a catalogue from the school office or browse online at http://avonpta.url-go.com/. Place your order either online or alternatively using the paper form in the brochure. Valentina Martilotti (Oak Class parent) will contact you to arrange delivery and collect payment 07776 205954 or [email protected]. Thank you. Oxford University Press Discount Do you work in OUP Education Department? If so, please can you let the school office know so that we can get an education discount of 50%. 143 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7PH Tel: 01865 311056 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.staloysius.net