Good afternoon everyone,

We have been looking again this week at hope. This year is a Jubilee year for the Catholic church and has been dubbed the Year of Hope. In class we have been talking about what hope means - not just a wish you have for an object - but rather a belief that God and Jesus walk beside us, guide and do what is best for us, keep their promises and wait for us in heaven. We have been making our own sacred art on the theme of hope and had explored a range of symbols to represent this.

We have discussed how Lent is a perfect time to reflect on hope. Lent is all about our belief that Jesus gave his life for us and suffered so we didn’t have to. What better sign of hope is there than this? We are working to become pilgrims of hope during Lent and throughout the rest of the year.

We have looked at the poem ‘Footprints in the Sand’ by Mary Stevenson and how this explains hope perfectly.

English - In English we have continued to focus on instruction writing. We have been taking notes on our created creatures needs and have planned our instruction text for creating their perfect habitat, which we will write next week.

Maths - In Maths we have finished our work on multiplication and are now focusing on division. We have explored how the divide symbol can mean ‘shared into equal groups of’ and have used equipment and pictures to practice dividing by sharing.

Science - See below for details about our wonderful Science Week. In our normal science lesson, we have explored how everything in a habitat helps something else and without all these things, nothing could survive. We focused on the vocabulary of producer, consumer, predator, prey and scavenger.

RE - In RE, we have been learning about the sacrament of reconciliation. We have also painted our sacred art on the theme of hope.

History - We learned about the significance of Bessie Coleman on the history of flight as the first woman of colour to obtain an international pilot’s licence. We also learned about the challenges and prejudice she faced.

PE - Our Wednesday PE focused on striking a ball for distance. Our Friday PE focused on using equipment to create a gymnastic sequence.

Please continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. Please continue to use TTRockstars to practise times tables.

Please practise the year 1 and year 2 common exception words sent home before half term. The children need to be able to read and write (spelling correctly) each one of these by the end of year 2.

Spelling

Our spelling this week focuses on the /n/ sound spelt with ‘kn’ or sometimes ‘gn’.

There is also a handwriting sheet.

Maths

Division by sharing worksheet.

Reading

Recipe instructions comprehension text.

Golden Award - Davern - For having a go when he finds work tricky and for growing in resilience all the time.

Writing Award - Bea - For keeping focused on her work and for great ideas for her writing.

Maths Award - Luna - For an increased focus and effort in her maths learning.

Act of Kindness - Esmae W (chosen by Ruby) - For always being there for her friends and being a fantastic learning partner.

Year 2 PE lessons will take place on Wednesday and Friday. Please come to school in PE kit on these days.

Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle. 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. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 2 have green tops.

I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Bowdell and Miss Andrew and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.

Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Bowdell and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.

Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it creates fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.

School bags - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don’t not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.

Monday 17th March - Parents Day - chance for us to catch up and discuss your child’s learning at the midpoint of Year 2. Please ensure you make an appointment.

This week, we have celebrated British Science Week with a range of science activities on the theme of adaptation.

On Monday, we learned all about Birds of Prey in a fascinating session.

On Tuesday, our wonderful Year 6’s created recycled fashion items and performed a fashion show for us.

On Wednesday, we were visited by a reptile specialist who taught us all about corn snakes, pythons, horned frogs, bearded dragons and crested geckos.

On Thursday, in class we made our own microhabitats and placed them onto the school grounds in the hope of attracting some exciting wildlife.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition runs till the 11th April. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 4th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 733 points (school average score) so far.

This week’s Our Lady’s Top of the Rock’s Leaderboard:

1st Matilda Year 4 17633

2nd Elsie Year 4 13574

3rd Ava Year 4 8219

4th Annie Year 4 7154

5th Frazer Year 4 6351

Well done to those on our leaderboard!

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 online safety guide gives helpful advice about…

What Parents & Educators Need to Know about Roblox. This free guide highlights the potential risks of Roblox, including online encounters, inappropriate content, scams, and in-game purchases, and offers expert advice on how to mitigate these risks.

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

Please click here for information from the Blackpool Beach Patrol about seaside safety in the coming months.