Pat the Hat came to school today to share some wonderful stories. The children were captivated by his exciting stories and lively performances. They joined in with actions, laughter, and questions, making it a magical storytelling experience!

This week in Nursery, we’ve been on a sensory adventure as we explored our five senses. We read Lucy’s Picture , and just like Lucy, the children made their own collages using a variety of materials, thinking carefully about how things feel and look. Using magnifying glasses, we closely examined natural objects like leaves, stones, and pinecones. The children enjoyed describing the textures they felt, rough, smooth, bumpy, and soft! Ice was a big hit! We explored how it feels, looks, and how it changes when we add warm water. The children used words like “cold,” “slippery,” and “melty” as they observed and touched the ice. There was lots of excitement as we tried popping candy! We used our ears to hear the crackling sounds, our noses to smell the sweet scent, and our tongues to taste the fizzing sensation. We also explored jelly beans using our senses of touch, sight, and taste. The children loved guessing the flavours and describing the colours and textures.

Year 5 have been learning how to safely start a fire with flint and steel.

Today, Reception had a lovely visit to our local church, St Anthony of Padua. As we walked together, we noticed the beautiful autumn changes – the leaves turning colour and falling to the ground. We also talked about the different types of houses and the shops we passed in our local area. Everyone was very sensible and followed the Green Cross Code carefully when crossing the roads. When we arrived at the church, Father Jonathon kindly welcomed us and showed us around. The highlight of our visit was a special moment when Father Jonathon baptised our class baby. He used his special oils and explained each step of the baptism. We were even given a baptismal candle to bring back to school. It was a meaningful and memorable visit for all of us!

This week year 4 have been using their knowledge of circuits, conductors and insulators to make their own switches!

This week in Art, we explored drawing using a variety of different mediums. We began by using our line drawing skills to sketch objects from around the classroom. From there, we experimented with different techniques and styles to represent the same object in new and creative ways.

This week, Reception have been exploring a range of musical instruments. We have been learning the names of the instruments and how to play and stop them carefully. The children enjoyed experimenting with different sounds, playing their instruments both loudly and quietly. Next week, we will be continuing our musical journey by focusing on tempo  — learning how to play our instruments fast and slow .

We have been using charcoal to create expressive artwork.

We had a fantastic time at our Year 2 English Café today. The morning began with a warm welcome in the hall, where Mrs Duncan spoke with families about how we teach English in Year 2 and the exciting learning journey our children are on.  Then it was up to our classroom with Mrs Hill and Mrs Lynn, where we explored one of our favourite books – Mr Big  by Ed Vere. We dived into some brilliant vocabulary from the story, including enormous , ignored , lonely , and noticed . The children had great fun creating silly sentences using these words and proudly showed their grown-ups how we record our work in class.  Thank you to all the families who joined us – your support means so much, and it was lovely to share a little slice of our English learning with you.

This week in Nursery, we continued with our matching activities, where children explored colours, shapes, and patterns. Using blocks and cards, they made matching towers, helping to develop their pattern recognition and fine motor skills. We have also been focusing on self-serving paint. The children have been learning how to pump their own paint into trays, making choices about colours, and exploring the magic of colour mixing. It’s lovely to see their reactions as they discover what happens when two or more colours blend together. More importantly, this activity promotes independence, confidence, and a sense of ownership over their learning. The children are responsible for cleaning their paint materials themselves so that they are ready for the next person to use. The children have continued talking about families and how our class, school and church are also families that we belong to. They made their families using stones. If you happen to be out on a walk maybe you could find natural materials to make your family. We’d love to see them.

Over the past few weeks, our learning in Reception has been all about pets ! We enjoyed reading the stories Six Dinner Sid  and Dear Zoo , which helped us explore different kinds of animals and how we care for them. Our role play area was transformed into a busy veterinary surgery, where we treated lots of animals with various problems—there were plenty of bandages and check-ups! In the construction area, we worked together to build zoos, thinking carefully about where each animal should live. We also used playdough to create animal cages and transport boxes, using our imaginations and fine motor skills.

It’s been a wonderfully busy week in Year 1! In Maths, we’ve been learning to compare numbers using the ‘greater than’ and ‘less than’ signs. In English, we’ve explored some exciting new Tier 2 vocabulary — clambered, eager, wailed,  and frightful  — and enjoyed using these words in our writing. In RE, we have been learning about how Baptism welcomes us into God’s family. We even found time to make music on the glockenspiels and practise logging onto the computers!