We continue to grow and learn...

The children are growing and learning so quickly now and I have been reflecting on their first 6 months in Reception. They have come so far and I continue to be in awe of them daily. They are becoming confident, mindful and thoughtful learners and I really couldn’t ask for more! I have really been enjoying watching them embark on their reading journeys and to see them put into practice everything they have learnt so far. Well done Reception!

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was Scotland through the book Nessie:

Phonics - we have recapped our Phase 1 and Phase 2 sounds and tricky words. The children now work in groups daily with myself or Mrs Debowksa to progress their reading skills. We hope you can see the progress they are making through their reading at home. Please continue to be patient and help your child to sound out the words as they work through the book.

Maths - this week the children have been grouping and practicing their subitising skills. They have also been sorting shapes.

R.E. - the children learnt about Jesus’ visit to the Temple as a young boy.

Mark making - the children drew their own Nessie and wrote a matching caption.

Fine motor skills - the children used their fine motor skills to decorate Nessie with Pom Poms.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was Nessie.

Communication and Language - we discussed our opinions as to whether we think the Loch Ness monster is real or fake.

Expressive Art & Design - the children created their own Loch Ness monsters.

Our theme next week is Lunar New Year - the year of the rabbit.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Bea

Writing - Carter

Golden - Myah

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Please take a look at these Ten Ten resources to support prayer and worship at home.

http://www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/

Reading at home

Thank you so much for the support you are giving to your children to develop their reading skills at home. It is glorious to see how often the children are reading and to read your comments. You are making such a big difference! There is a small amount of children who do not appear to be reading at home at all. Please try to read with your child for at least 5 minutes a day. Not only is it a lovely experience but it is also greatly helping their progress. Thank you.

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Our learning journey continues!

We have had a very exciting week in Reception! The highlight was on Monday when James came in to teach us how to use balance bikes. The children loved having a go and it was a joy to see them learning a new skill. James is going to be coming in again for the next two weeks to help us to develop our skills even further which the children are looking forward to. I have also ordered us 10 of our very own balance bikes for our class so that the children have weekly sessions on the bikes. Balance bikes offer a lot of developmental benefits. They improve children’s fine and gross motor skills, help to develop their core strength and they also help them to understand perception and spatial awareness.

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was Antarctica through the book Lost and Found:

Phonics - we have recapped our sounds and tricky words. The children now work in groups daily with myself or Mrs Debowksa to progress their reading skills. We hope you can see the progress they are making through their reading at home. Please continue to be patient and help your child to sound out the words as they work through the book.

Drawing Club - this week, we have started drawing club. For the children, the club is an opportunity for their imagination to run wild and it allows them to draw to their hearts content! However, drawing club is about much more than that. Not only does it develop the children’s imagination and storytelling skills, but it also opens them up to a wide range of stories, tales and animations. It also helps to develop their fine motor and mathematical skills. The club was created by a man called Greg Botterill who is passionate about the power of play and developing children’s imaginations.

Maths - the children created penguins out of 2D shapes. The children also learnt how important the stopping number is when we are counting.

Mark making - the children created a ‘Lost’ poster for the penguin from the book.

Fine motor skills - this week the children created towers out of cubes of ‘ice’ using tweezers.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was Lost and Found.

PSHE - this week we spoke about right and wrong choices.

Communication and Language - the children learnt the song ‘Row row row your boat’.

Our theme next week is Scotland.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Olivia

Writing - Esme

Golden - Mabel

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Please take a look at these Ten Ten resources to support prayer and worship at home.

http://www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/

Reading at home

Thank you so much for the support you are giving to your children to develop their reading skills at home. It is glorious to see how often the children are reading and to read your comments. You are making such a big difference! There is a small amount of children who do not appear to be reading at home at all. Please try to read with your child for at least 5 minutes a day. Not only is it a lovely experience but it is also greatly helping their progress. Thank you.

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Another week in Reception...

This week, the theme in Reception was birds. The children enjoyed learning about different birds and their eggs through the book Ruby’s Birds, and they also enjoyed drawing and labelling their own birds. They have started to create their own bird art through finger painting and these are coming on beautifully. I continue to be so impressed with how hard the children are working each day and we are all so proud of them.

We also introduced a post office in to our provision this week which has been very popular!

As some of you may know, I was sadly off for most of this week but I did manage to come back in to school on Friday to see the children and catch up with what they had been up to. They had worked so hard while I had been off! In particular, I was very impressed with the work they had been doing in Maths on Numberblock 4.

Next week, our theme in Reception is Antarctica.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Amelia M

Writing - Amelia S

Golden - Amelia S - this award was extra special this week as the children voted for who they would like to win this award.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and I look forward to the week ahead,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Feast of the Epiphany

Welcome back to the Spring Term and the start of a brand new year - Happy New Year to you all! We have welcomed in 2023 in class with a super start to the new term. The children have settled back into class and they are already working hard. This week has been all about the Three Wise Men and the gifts that they brought for Jesus. We went to church on Friday for this feast day and the children were beautifully behaved. They were so respectful and faith filled! We spent some time on Friday afternoon thinking about the three kings and the gifts they brought to the baby Jesus.

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was the book Room on the Broom:

Phonics - we have recapped our sounds and tricky words. The children now work in groups daily with myself or Mrs Debowksa to progress their reading skills. They have also, for the first time, brought home reading books this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing these books with your children. The books will be changed on a Monday and a Thursday.

Maths - the children created witches out of 2D shapes. They were also practicing their counting skills up to 20.

Mark making - the children created potions and wrote down the ingredients they used.

Fine motor skills - this week the children decorated a witch hat with pompoms using tweezers and chopsticks.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was Room on the Broom.

PSHE - we thought about our 2023 goals this week. The children then wrote their own. We also read the book The squirrels who squabbled and discussed how two people can have a different perspective on an event.

R.E. - the children thought about the three kings and recognised how many gifts they brought to the baby Jesus.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Esmae P

Writing - Layla

Golden - Carter

At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters 

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

This month’s newsletter gives helpful advice about…

  • the online game Minecraft, a game that remains popular amongst children,

  • how to set up parental controls on your WIFI/broadband - most providers include these for free as part of your broadband package.

  • WhatsApp, a free messaging app that allows you to send messages, voice notes, photos and videos. You must be at least 16 years old to register for and use WhatsApp; however, we are aware in school that many of our older children use this app and so the guide will give helpful advice about its features.

  • and links to further information regarding online safety.

We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.

Online Safety Newsletter January 2023

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Thank you

Once again we would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank-you for the many cards and gifts received by the Reception team at the end of last term- we are extremely grateful and touched by your generosity. Many thanks.

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Merry Christmas!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy and Holy Christmas. Thank-your for your continued support this term and we look forward to welcoming you all back on 3rd January fully refreshed.

Our award winners from last week were…

Golden: Edie

Writing: Hugo

Maths: Hallie

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Fourth Sunday of Advent...Love

In this Fourth Week of Advent, our final days of preparation before Christmas, we ask Christ to forgive us for our sins and, through His grace, to create us anew when He comes. This week is also a time to recollect, to reflect on our Advent journey.

We hope that this last week of Advent is filled with the Love of the Season and you feel the Love of Lord within your homes and families.

Thank you!

I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big WELL DONE to Reception for all their hard work in our nativity. You were all super stars and I couldn’t be prouder of you all! Thank-you so much for all the support you have provided with learning the songs and lines at home and then joining us in the hall on Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed watching it and that you had a little boogie woogie! It was such a special day and it certainly got us all in the mood for Christmas.

I would also like to thank you for the support you showed our PTA after the performance by donating money for hot drinks and sweet treats as well as buying raffle tickets. The raffle will be drawn this coming Monday so please keep your tickets somewhere handy!

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was Christmas:

Phonics - we have recapped our sounds this week and the children have also been practicing our tricky words that we have learnt so far.

Literacy - the children wrote a letter to Santa.

Maths - the children created Christmas trees and ordered the branches by size. They also created snowmen out of different shapes.

Mark making - the children wrote gift tags.

Fine motor skills - this week the children decorated a Christmas tree with pompoms using tweezers and chopsticks.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was The Jolly Christmas Postman.

Expressive Art & Design - the children created Christmas cards.

The children have also thoroughly enjoyed spending time in our igloo this week.

Award winners

Our awards will be handed out on Monday as the children watched the Year 1 and 2 children sing their Nativity songs during assembly time.

Advent Liturgies

Throughout Advent we would like to invite all children and families to join us in the school hall for a short Advent liturgy led by Father Frank. This will be held every Tuesday morning at 8:20am and will begin from Tuesday 29th November, continuing until Tuesday 20th December 2022. We do hope you can join us for this opportunity to gather as a faith community to reflect on the true value and meaning of Advent.

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters 

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

With Christmas nearly here and perhaps with presents including new technology or related games being received, we thought we’d share some helpful advice in setting up appropriate parental controls. Parental controls can help to protect your child from seeing something that they shouldn’t – although it is important to emphasise that no system is effective all of the time so it is important to engage with your child and talk to them about their online life regularly.

We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.

Online Safety Newsletter December 2022

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Third Sunday of Advent...Joy

As Christmas draws near, the Church emphasizes the joy which should be in our hearts over all that the birth of our Saviour means for us. The great joy of Christians is to see the day drawing nigh when the Lord will come again in His glory to lead them into His kingdom. The oft-repeated Veni ("Come") of Advent is an echo not only of the prophets but also of the conclusion of the Apocalypse of St. John: "Come, Lord Jesus," the last words of the New Testament.

This Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday. The term Gaudete refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, "Rejoice". Rose vestments are worn to emphasize our joy that Christmas is near, and we also light the rose candle on our Advent wreath.

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was Winter:

Phonics - we have recapped our sounds this week and the children have also taken a Phonics assessment to see how much progress they have made since the start of the year. They have all done brilliantly!

Literacy - the children have learnt some tricky words this week - no, go, into, the and I. They then created a tricky word snowflake to help them to remember how to spell these words.

Maths - the children did some winter themed number activities this week - ‘I spy number 5’ and measuring snowmen using blocks.

Fine motor skills - this week the children built igloos using sugar cubes and tweezers.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was One Snowy Night.

Outside area - we created some ‘snow’ in the water tray which the children loved playing in!

Expressive Art & Design - the children created a Winter themed picture based on Stickman.

The children have also thoroughly enjoyed spending time in our igloo this week.

Our theme in Reception next week is…CHRISTMAS!!

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - George

Writing - Arlo

Golden - Luna

Boogie Woogie Nativity

The children have been working so hard on our nativity. It is going to be a wonderful show and we can’t wait to perform it for you all. The nativity will be on the 13th December at 2pm - each child has now brought home 4 tickets for the performance. Please note, our PTA will be in attendance on the day selling raffle tickets as well as mulled wine and mince pies after the show. Please remember to bring some money for this! Thank you.

Advent Liturgies

Throughout Advent we would like to invite all children and families to join us in the school hall for a short Advent liturgy led by Father Frank. This will be held every Tuesday morning at 8:20am and will begin from Tuesday 29th November, continuing until Tuesday 20th December 2022. We do hope you can join us for this opportunity to gather as a faith community to reflect on the true value and meaning of Advent.

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters 

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

With Christmas nearly here and perhaps with presents including new technology or related games being received, we thought we’d share some helpful advice in setting up appropriate parental controls. Parental controls can help to protect your child from seeing something that they shouldn’t – although it is important to emphasise that no system is effective all of the time so it is important to engage with your child and talk to them about their online life regularly.

We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.

Online Safety Newsletter December 2022

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

Second Sunday of Advent...Peace

This Sunday marks the second week of Advent. We light the candle this Sunday to represent Preparation & Peace. We believe that both are fitting for this Sunday as we draw closer to the time we celebrate Christ’s birth. The wise men in the bible knew the scripture and took the necessary efforts to prepare and set out on their journey to worship the newborn King. The angels informed Mary and Joseph well ahead of time so they could prepare for what lied ahead of them. Today we must take the time to prepare our hearts and our minds to ensure we don’t lose sight of Christ.

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was Stickman:

Phonics - the children have learnt five new sounds this week - ‘ch’ - a-choo, ‘qu’ - queen, ‘x’ - down the arm and leg, repeat the other side, ‘ng’ - thing on a string and ‘nk’ - I think I stink.

Literacy - we have continued our Supertato talk for writing unit. The children have learnt about adjectives this week and wrote a CVC word to describe the evil pea. The children also created mini Stickman books and wrote CVC words to describe parts of the story. I am so impressed with the children’s progress since September regarding their writing skills. They can now hear a word, recognise the sounds in it and then write the sounds down. Amazing!

Maths - the children ordered the stick family from shortest to tallest.

R.E - the children have learnt about Advent this week. Father Frank also came into our class to speak to us about the importance of Advent and what it means.

Fine motor skills - this week the children created wands using sticks and wool. They had to wrap the wool around the stick and create a repeating pattern.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was Stickman.

Mark making - the children wrote CVC words in the sand with sticks.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Eva

Writing - Noah

Golden - Freddie

Boogie Woogie Nativity

The children have been working so hard on our nativity. It is going to be a wonderful show and we can’t wait to perform it for you all. The nativity will be on the 13th December at 2pm - each child has now brought home 4 tickets for the performance. Please note, our PTA will be in attendance on the day selling raffle tickets as well as mulled wine and mince pies after the show. Please remember to bring some money for this! Thank you.

Advent Liturgies

Throughout Advent we would like to invite all children and families to join us in the school hall for a short Advent liturgy led by Father Frank. This will be held every Tuesday morning at 8:20am and will begin from Tuesday 29th November, continuing until Tuesday 20th December 2022. We do hope you can join us for this opportunity to gather as a faith community to reflect on the true value and meaning of Advent.

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Thank you!

Thank you very much for your donations of milk cartons. On Friday, Mrs Debowska built an igloo for the children ready for our theme this week - Winter! Brr! I am sure the children are going to love spending time in there.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac

First Sunday of Advent...Hope

After a tumultuous year, there is comfort to be found when we pause to read, pray, and reflect over the course of the Advent season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The first Sunday of Advent gives us the opportunity to centre our thoughts on hope. It's a beautiful chance to remember the hope God offers to our world, and that He's given us through Jesus.

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as a gift to all humanity; let’s stir up in our hearts and homes a sense of anticipation. Over this Advent, we pray that hope will rise up in our spirits in a tangible and life-giving way.

Our Learning

Look at what we have been learning this week! Our theme in Reception was fruit and vegetables:

Phonics - the children have learnt five new sounds this week - ‘v’ - down a wing, up a wing, ‘y’ - down a horn up a horn and under his head, ‘w’ - down, up, down, up, ‘th’ - thankyou and ‘z’ - zig-zag-zig.

Literacy - we have continued our Supertato talk for writing unit by continuing to imitate and learn the story.

PSHE - the children learnt about healthy and unhealthy foods.

Expressive Art & Design - the children have learnt about the artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo who creates art out of fruit and vegetables.

Fine motor skills - this week the children had to balance marbles on some golf tees that had been placed in different fruit and vegetables. They could only use tweezers to do this.

Maths - we have focused on the number 5 through the rhyme ‘5 little peas in a peapod’.

Super six - our guided reading book this week was The Runaway Pea.

Mark making - the children designed their own healthy lunchboxes. This involved cutting and sticking different food items in to their box.

Award winners

Each week during our school celebration assembly I will be handing out three certificates - Maths, Writing and a Golden award. Here are our winners for this week:

Maths - Loki

Writing - Esmae W

Golden - Layla

Christmas Movie Night/PTA updates

The PTA would like to invite the children in Reception and KS1 back in to school on Friday 2nd December for a Christmas movie night! The children can wear Christmas pyjamas or clothing and for a cost of £2, they will be able to enjoy some festive treats as they watch the film. We are going to ask for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to come back to school at 4.30pm until 6pm. If your child would like to attend, please pay the requested £2 via parentpay.

Secondly, after each of the 2pm nativity performances, the PTA would like to invite parents in to the dining hall for refreshments (non alcoholic mulled wine and mince pies). There will be a nominal cost for this. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all monies raised will go towards PTA funds.

Boogie Woogie Nativity

The children have now all come home with their lines for our nativity. Please practice as much as you can with them at home. We will of course practice lots in school too, and the children now pretty much know all the songs so we are making good progress! Our nativity will be on the 13th December at 2pm - each child will be allocated 4 tickets for this performance for their families to attend.

Advent Liturgies

Throughout Advent we would like to invite all children and families to join us in the school hall for a short Advent liturgy led by Father Frank. This will be held every Tuesday morning at 8:20am and will begin from Tuesday 29th November, continuing until Tuesday 20th December 2022. We do hope you can join us for this opportunity to gather as a faith community to reflect on the true value and meaning of Advent.

Wednesday Word

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac, Mrs Debowska and Miss Murray

Posted
AuthorCandice Heim-Sarac