Our Mini Foodies had a fantastic time last night preparing their very own healthy kebabs! With colourful veggies, juicy fruits, and a lot of imagination, the kids chopped, stacked, and assembled their tasty creations — all while learning about making nutritious choices. It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm, teamwork, and pride in their delicious and healthy snacks. Well done, Mini Foodies — we can’t wait to see (and taste!) what you come up with next!

This week is Recycling Week and we have been completing short tasks focused on the theme 'Reuse me' and 'Recycle Me'. Our Early Years and Year 1 children have been creatively reusing household objects in their crafts, learning how this helps reduce waste. The rest of the school have also been thinking about ways they can reuse and recycle both at school and at home. They have talked about how taking care of our environment is important because it is God’s world , a precious gift we must protect. To keep this spirit alive throughout the year, we will be inviting eco-monitors to help lead and promote recycling and reuse efforts. This ongoing commitment reminds us that caring for the environment is a shared responsibility. By reusing and recycling, we show respect and gratitude for the world God has given us. Together, we can make a real difference in preserving our planet for future generations.

In History, we’ve been learning about the Stone Age and the different dwellings people lived in. We found out that some Stone Age people lived in caves and painted pictures on the walls to tell stories. To bring this to life, we created our own cave paintings using earthy colours. Some of us painted animals, handprints, or hunting scenes. We had lots of fun and were really proud of our artwork. Our classroom looked like a real Stone Age cave!

This week in Nursery, the children have been getting ready to ‘write’ by developing both their fine and gross motor skills. We’ve enjoyed reading the stories This is Me  and What Makes Me a Me? , using them as a springboard to talk about what makes each of us special and unique. We've also been singing songs about our bodies and senses to help build awareness and vocabulary in a fun, engaging way. Outdoors, the children have had a fantastic time transporting water to make muddy puddles and working together to create their own obstacle course—great for building strength, coordination, and teamwork!

As part of our focus on looking carefully and thinking sustainably during Recycling Week , Year 2 had a fantastic time using fruit for their observational drawing. We studied the shapes and and textures closely — really noticing the details! Afterwards, we gave the fruit a good wash and enjoyed it as a healthy snack. It was a great way to show how we can reuse materials in creative ways before they go to waste. This links perfectly with our Recycling Week message: "Reuse and then recycle."

We have been using our large outdoor construction to build a park. We have made a climbing frame, a slide and a seesaw. This is great for our gross motor skills and helps us to develop our language as well as working cooperatively with our friends.

Year 5 have been learning about powers of 10 in maths this week and have used Gattegno charts to help with this.

We have enjoyed finishing this book in our reading skills sessions. We loved the story and have learned some great vocabulary from it. Ask us about it at home!

As part of our annual Harvest celebrations at St Albans, we are collecting donations to support local families and community food banks. Guided by our Catholic ethos and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, we are called to show solidarity, charity, and compassion for those in need. Through acts of giving, we help our children understand the importance of serving others and living out our mission to celebrate every individual and nurture a caring community. We understand that times are challenging for many, but even a small contribution can make a real difference. Non-perishable items such as tinned vegetables, baked beans, soup, pasta, rice, cereal, tea, coffee, and biscuits are especially helpful and much appreciated. Every donation counts and will help ensure that everyone in our community can enjoy a warm meal this season. Donations can be sent in with your child or dropped at the school office by Friday 3rd October. Thank you for your generosity and for helping us live out the mission of St Albans through kindness, sharing, and care for others.

This week in Year 1 Science, our young scientists have been learning all about animals and how to group them based on their features. We explored the five main animal groups – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish – and discovered what makes each one special. We even added another group for the insects we had. The children had lots of fun sorting animals into their correct groups, discussing whether they have feathers, fur, scales or fins, and whether they lay eggs or give birth to live young.

This week we have been exploring with electricity. We worked together to build simple circuits that would light up a bulb!

Last Friday, Year 6 enjoyed a session at Safety Works, where they worked in small groups to explore ways to keep safe in different contexts, including being safe around dogs, risks around antisocial fires, keeping safe near lakes and rivers and online safety.  The activities were hands on and our Year 6 children did a great job of representing our school during their visit, sharing their ideas and listening carefully to the important messages that were shared by the staff.