In Class 2, we been continuing to develop our drawing skills. We have learnt that to be able to draw, we need to observe closely. This week we used magnifying glasses to observe produce of the land. This combined our RE learning about Harvest of the land and sea, with learning about observational drawing of natural materials in art.
Thank you for your support on our ‘Day for Ukraine’ last Friday which raised a staggering £452, which included a very generous donation from one pupil’s grandfather.
Every penny will be forwarded to one of the DEC’s (Disaster Emergency Committee) 15 charities to support refugees affected by this terrible crisis in Ukraine.
Next week, every child will be involved in a democratic vote to decide which charity they would like to support, following some input from Class 4 about how the charities that are members of DEC help people in crisis all around the world.
We furthered our understanding of this term’s Christian Value of Compassion with Class 2 leading us in assembly.
In RE they had been exploring the parable The Lost Son. They shared their work with us by reading two retellings and quizzed us on the themes and meaning of the story.
They shared prayers they had written in our reflection time.
Thank you so much Miss Robinson and Class 2.
This half term in RE we have been learning about the Parable of the Lost Son and the messages that it teaches to Christians. We have developed an understanding of the story in different ways including, drawing, writing and role play. We really enjoyed using our questioning and inference skills to pretend to be the characters from the story as well as professional interviewers. We also thought about how Christians show their love to God. We worked collaboratively to generate and record ideas on a beach ball and then acted out the different ideas whilst practising our throwing and catching skills! We have enjoyed relating the story to our own experiences and linking it to the Christian values of Forgiveness and Compassion.
This week, we were treated to another of the “experience” series of events by St. Johns church. We’ve previously enjoyed experience Easter and experience Christmas, this time was “experience Church”.
Arriving at church, we found 6 stations waiting for us – each one representing a part of the church and service that the church provides. These included: the font (welcoming); the pulpit (teaching); the prayer desk (praying); stained glass windows (serving) and the altar (celebrating). At each station, we were encouraged to think about how the church serves all of these different functions. We also took part in a special activity to represent each station.
The sixth and final station was saved until the end. Everyone sat down in front of the great wooden door in the side of the church. Here, we learned that the church shares – part of the job is to share the ideas of Christianity with others. The things that we learn in church are designed to be taken out into the world and shared with others. I wonder if any of our children have shared what they learned with you?
Thanks to everyone from St Johns Church who helped to organise and staff this experience for us – it is greatly appreciated!
This year, our new outdoor classroom area was the main focus for Experience Easter. Each day this week, classes have taken time to reflect on different stages of the Easter story – The Garden of Gethsemane, Caiaphas’s Courtyard, Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. We finished with planting seeds and colouring butterflies as signs of new life. Thank you to Pam Martin for providing all the content and to Miss Butler and Mrs Haslam for preparing us in school and creating our visual scene settings each morning. St John’s Church is hosting a similar event in the church grounds this week and have extended an open invite all members of the community to Experience Easter for themselves.
Happy Easter everyone!
Year One have been learning about the significance of Easter for Christians this term and finding out about some of the ways they mark the celebration. They have found out about why signs of Spring signify that Easter is on its way and made the connection between new life and the happier part of the Easter story when Jesus comes back to life. They also found out about the importance of the colour purple at Easter time and have made their own Easter egg balloons which they decorated with pictures related to Easter.
Our children in EYFS enjoyed learning all about Chinese New Year before the half term holiday. We had some amazing creations from fortune cookies to lanterns, to junk model dragons and everything in between! We also learnt how to say ‘hello’ in Chinese, found out about the origin of the Chinese New Year story and had a go at writing our name using the Chinese alphabet.
Reception have enjoyed learning all about Diwali – the Hindu Festival of Light which took place on Saturday the 14th November. They learnt about how people celebrate Diwali and enjoyed trying on some traditional clothing, creating Rangoli patterns, Mendhi hand patterns and making our own diya lights.
