Wednesday 22nd February was Ash Wednesday and marked the beginning on Lent. All the children received ashes on this day as we all went to Mass to celebrate this special day together. Year 1 were very excited about this and showed great maturity in the way in which they received their ashes. Each of us has made a promise to ‘be the best we can be’ over the period of Lent and prepare ourselves to meet Jesus at Easter. I hope you will be able to see this in your child as each of them strives to be the best they can be.

English - we have continued on with our RWI lessons. During these sessions we all focus on phonics, reading, spelling and sentence development. We have also been working on our pre-cursive handwriting in which we focus on how to write our letters, starting on the line. We are continuing to work hard on our common exception words, reading them in class every day!

Maths - this week we have been learning all about how to read and write two digit numbers up to 20. We have been exploring how many tens and how many ones these number contain through the use of coloured counters and tens frames.

RE - this week has been all about Lent and how we can make ourselves better people to meet Jesus at Easter. The children all received their ashes on Wednesday and have all made a Lent promise to show that they are walking towards Jesus during this Lent period.

Science - this week we have started our new topic all about the Seasons - we started by looking at each of the seasons, naming them and looking for the differences in photographs of the weather during these times.

ICT - this week we started our new topic all about Digital imagery - we started by looking at picture books and how they tell the story without using words.

Topic - this half term our topic theme is History focusing on Castles and Queens. We started this week by introducing our three queens - Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II.

Art - this week the children have been exploring mark making using different artist materials.

Golden Award - Liam for showing a great level of care towards others and himself this week in class, showing that he is working hard on his friendship skills. Keep up the hard work.

Writing Award - Natan for writing a super account of a Baptism with lots of detail and using key words - well done!

Maths Award - Oscar for great work this week on numbers over 10 - showing a good understanding of how many tens and ones there are in a two digit number.

PE will be on Monday and Friday so please send the children into class in the PE kits on those days. No earrings can be worn for PE so please ensure that they are taken out at home.

Water bottles - This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Veasey and Miss Sanderson and is also when the children will have Music with Miss Hope
Homework Expectations - please see the Homework page for what I expect the children to do at home…..don’t worry, it’s mainly just reading!! Yr1 Homework — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School (squarespace.com)
PHONICS Support - take a look at Oxford Owl for information about how you can help your child at home with their phonics and reading. This is is a great site in general but the page linked has a super little video showing how the sounds should be pronounced. See how many sounds your child knows! How can I support my child with phonics? - Oxford Owl for Home
Earrings - please ensure these are only small gold/silver studs as stated in the uniform ploicy - some of the earrings in school are getting a bit too big. Many thanks

Throughout Lent we would like to invite all children and families to join us in the school hall for a short Lenten reflection led by Father Frank.

This will be held once every week at 8:30am and will begin from Tuesday 7th March, continuing until Tuesday 28th March.

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 Lent.

WORLD BOOK DAY - Thursday 2nd March.

To celebrate World Book Day we will be asking children to come to school dressed as their favourite book character on this day. If you can, bring the book with you and be prepared to talk about why you love this character and the book. Parents, please don’t feel under pressure to buy expensive costumes - the best ones are always the home-made ones. We are excited to see what each of the children will be!!

On Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd March the Life Education Centre will visit school with Harold the Giraffe to deliver a session to each of the classes on staying healthy - in both body and mind. Year 1’s day is THURSDAY 2nd MARCH - I know this is going to be a busy and exciting day as it is also World Book Day!!!

The children will have a session in class that day on keeping themselves happy and healthy.

There will be Parent Session on THURSDAY 2nd MARCH in the hall at 8.55-9.10am so if you have 15 mins once you drop your child off, feel free to pop in!

KS 1 will be marking British Science Week in school with a whole host of exciting and engaging practical experiments to really bring Science alive! We will be kicking the week off on WEDNESDAY 8TH MARCH (change from the original date of 10th due to a double booking on the company’s behalf) with a Wild Animals VR workshop from Education Group. We are really excited to start off our week with such a wonderful experience for the children. The teachers had then planned fabulous experiments for the children for the rest of the week - with each afternoon given over to Science!

To support us with this we are asking for a voluntary contribution of £2 per child from parents. If you are able to contribute, please go to your ParentPay account where this donation will be added. Many thanks. (The rest of the cost of the visit and the week will be met by school, with help from the PTFA - many thanks)

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/