Meet our ducklings...

Our ducklings …

On Tuesday morning our 5 duckling eggs arrived in school and we were all very excited. Our first three ducklings hatched early Wednesday morning, then one at 10.45am during our reading time and we still wait to see if the final egg will hatch. We will enjoy looking after the ducklings till next week when they go to their new home. Over the course of the week, we will observe them as part of our Science work. Meet Ariel, Miranda, Calaban and Prospero (the names are characters from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, which we will study next month)…

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT)  - Hallie-Jayne

Writing Award - Aibhin

Maths Award - Olivia

Our learning this week…

In English this week, we have looked at the structure and features of the model letter. We’ve also been identifying modal verbs and and their importance in establishing certainty or possibility.

The focus of our maths this week has been finding equivalent fractions of unit and non-unit fractions.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people and have focused on the work of Saint Damien.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Elsie and Oscar. The theme of their liturgy was The Transfiguration.... In the Gospel of the Transfiguration, Jesus showed His divine nature to Peter, James and John. He appeared to them physically in a way that they had never seen before and they were astonished. Elsie and Oscar challenged the children to think about how they will shine their lights like Jesus this week.

“This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Luke 9:35

In Science this week we have looked at the life cycles of birds and reptiles. However, we have looked in more detail at the life cycle of ducks and have looked closely at the parts of an unfertilised egg and what each part is for when the egg is fertlised.

In Computing we began to tinker with the Stop Motion studio app to learn about making animations using the onion skin technique. We used playdough to have a go at making small changes to create a simple animation - it’s not as easy as it looks!

In Spanish we’ve continued to look at number and have practised phrases on the topic of family.

In art the children have completed their beautiful Sacred art on the theme of Hope for this Jubilee year.

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

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1756 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st     Matilda     Year 4 25167

2nd             Elsie                    Year 4   17089

3rd     Alexander    Year 5 11154

4th     Ava             Year 4 9871

5th     Annie                     Year 4      9269

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 Streamers. This free guide highlights the potential dangers children face when watching and engaging with streamers and the importance of staying informed so you can help mitigate the 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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

21st March - be bright and fun for CAFOD – own clothes day voluntary donation

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

7th April - Easter Egg Competition Deadline – all children can enter – details to follow

11th April - Easter Bonnet parade in school – details to follow

11th April - Close for Easter

22nd April - School reopens

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Science week

What a fantastic week we have had! This week has been Science week and each day the children have been treated to some wonderful experiences. On Monday, we had a visit from Falconry UK and we got to meet some wonderful birds. On Tuesday, we got to see Year 6’s fashion show. Some children from Year 6 were tasked with designing outfits using recycled materials. Their outfits were truly amazing and everyone in school got to vote for the best two designs and they will go to compete with children from other schools - good luck Alexander and Harriet from Year 6! On Wednesday, the children had a talk on reptiles and got to meet some…

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (LEARN)  - Zachary

Writing Award - Brooklyn

Maths Award - Gabriel

Our learning this week…

Our Tales Retold workshop with Sarah and Lawrence was fun this week. Due to Science week, we were in the church hall. They continued to play games that developed the children’s movement and voices and they worked together to create freeze frames of different scenarios.

In our other English work this week, we have used the new vocabulary from last week along with conjunctions to create complex sentences. We have also explored the emotions and physical reactions of the characters at different points in the text.

In maths this week we’ve begun working on equivalent fractions.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people. 

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Hallie and Gabriel. The theme of their liturgy was God always.... Their liturgy encouraged us to think about lots of different ways that we can trust God because His love is always constant! When we spend time with God, it helps us in our journey to become closer to Him, and so builds our trust in God too.

‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Luke 4:12

In Science we explored adaptation and the children had to match up different animals and their adaptations. We finished off our Science week by designing a dog for an island with a particular environment - Survival pup game. The children were given choices of features, for example, short tail or long tail, pointy ears or floppy ears, and they had to choose wisely based on the given environment. Points were awarded for each chosen feature and the dog with the best adaptations for the environment, won. Well done to William, who created the ultimate island dog 🐶🐕👏🏻🏆.

In art the children have continued to work on their Sacred art inspired by the Jubilee Year of Hope.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

18th March - Shakespeare Club performance at Grand Theatre. Good luck everyone! 🎭

21st March - be bright and fun for CAFOD – own clothes day voluntary donation

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

7th April - Easter Egg Competition Deadline – all children can enter – details to follow

11th April - Easter Bonnet parade in school – details to follow

11th April - Close for Easter

22nd April - School reopens

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Beginning our Lenten journey

Lent

On Ash Wednesday we marked the start of Lent by receiving the ashes in church. Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, or 46 if we count Sundays, we replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. It is a time to refocus on Jesus as we look ahead to his death on the Cross at Easter and rejoice over his miraculous return. It is a time for reflecting on what we could do differently or maybe what we could do more of or less of during this time. 

In class, the children have made their Lenten promises, linked to one of the Beatitudes, which are eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Please ask your child to share with you what their Lenten promise (linked to the Beatitude "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth" ) is and encourage them to keep this promise over Lent.

Lent Reading Challenge

For Lent, I have also asked the children to take on a class reading challenge. By the end of term, we - Year 5, Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew - will read one of three books (chosen by the children). In the last week before we break up, we will celebrate our reading achievement by sharing our thoughts on the book with a book club party. Please encourage your child to read their chosen book to enable them to enjoy our book club at the end of term. You never know, some children might even go the extra mile and end up reading all three (Now there’s a challenge!). I have to add that I’m absolutely delighted…we started the challenge on Wednesday and already a number of children have finished their first book and have moved onto the next one! 📚🥳👏🏻📚

Jubilee Year of Hope

We’ve also been talking about this special Jubilee year. Pope Francis wrote a special letter to tell everyone about the Jubilee, and he gave his letter a name, “Hope Does Not Disappoint”. He wants the Jubilee of 2025 to be a special year that reminds us that hope is very important, because when we have hope we know we can always trust God to take care of us. 

When things are hard, we don’t have to be afraid because nothing can take us away from God’s love. Jesus showed us this when He died and came back to life. This gives us hope, which is like a light inside us that keeps shining, even on bad days.

The Diocese of Lancaster is inviting all schools to take part in an exciting art competition to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope. This week, Year 5 have started their piece of Sacred art, showing  one of the big Jubilee ideas, like forgiving others, being kind and fair and trusting Jesus.

World Book Day

Yesterday we celebrated World Book Day. Thanks for supporting us with this event - the children all looked amazing dressed up in the costume of their favourite book characters. We had a great day!

We started our day in Reception. It was so heartwarming watching Year 5 reading and talking to their buddies, they were all so good and Reception enjoyed listening to the stories. We also tuned into a legendary poet, author and Children’s Bookshow patron, Michael Rosen, who treated us to an inspiring online show of live poetry. The children were also given the opportunity to share their book by writing a book review to place in our book corner. 📚

Poetry success!

We heard back from our poetry competition that we entered and we’re delighted to know that most of our poems have been chosen to be published. Your child will have come home with a letter from the organisation requesting your permission and other details. The children all received certificates and are so excited at the prospect of being published poets. Well done Year 5, I’m delighted for you all! 👏🏻🥳

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (CARE)  - Year 5 (for the kindness and friendship that they have all shown their buddies this week - supporting them in mass on Wednesday and on World Book Day.)

Writing Award - Jackson

Maths Award - Beaux

Our learning this week…

In English we had our first Tales Retold workshop with Sarah and Lawrence. Year 5 had a great time playing games to encourage use of voice and movement. We then finished the session with the children working in small groups to make one word stories which will be developed next week.

In our other work the children have written have explored new language within our modelled text.

In maths this week we’ve been working on our formal methods of division.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Martha and Callum. The theme of their liturgy was The Jesus Way. Their liturgy reflected on how to be like Jesus by following His example of humility and persistence in prayer. When we get to know Him personally, we can have confidence in His love and do whatever He asks of us.

'For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.’ (Luke 6:43-44)

In Science the children took part in a live lesson to celebrate the start of Science Week. Our lesson focused on the change and adaptations of reptiles, featuring  wildlife expert, Mike Linley. 

In computing the children were introduced to animation and had a go at creatng their own 19th Century animation toys: zoetropes and flip books.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

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 14280

2nd             Elsie                    Year 4  10585

3rd   Ava     Year 4 6714

4th     Annie             Year 4 5944

5th     Frazer                     Year 4      5703

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 WhatsApp. This guide details the risks associated with popular messaging app WhatsApp, and lets you know how to safeguard younger users.

What Parents & Educators Need to Know about Marvel Rivals. This free guide breaks down the risks associated with the popular multiplayer title Marvel Rivals and lets you know how best to safeguard children and young people playing the game.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

10th - 14th March Science Week in school

11th March Blackpool Catholic Schools Shared Lenten Liturgy St Kentigen’s School 6pm

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

18th March - Shakespeare Club performance at Grand Theatre.

21st March - be bright and fun for CAFOD – own clothes day voluntary donation

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

7th April - Easter Egg Competition Deadline – all children can enter – details to follow

11th April - Easter Bonnet parade in school – details to follow

11th April - Close for Easter

22nd April - School reopens

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Great work this week Year 5, well done! Have a lovely weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

I say this to you who are listening. (Luke 6:27)

We’ve had a good start to this half term, well done Year 5! Thank you to all of you who took home your Edina Trust pots to look after over half term. We did have one of our mystery bulbs, which we now know is an Iris, and one crocus which bloomed over half term (and more or now beginning to) so this half term the children will continue to collect weather data and also be recording the dates that their flowers bloom and recording their height. This is all important data which will contribute to the Edina Trusts findings.

Please make sure you look at the dates for your diary at the bottom of this blog, there’s lots of things happening over this half term and in to the next one. World Book day is on next Thursday so please look at the blog below to find out how the children need to prepare.

The start of Lent is also next week and we’ll be making our Lenten promises. I’ll also be setting a Lenten book challenge for all the children to take part in this half term too. Please encourage your child to actively take part in this by reading as much as possible. Thanks.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT)  - Luna

Writing Award - William

Maths Award - Florence

Our learning this week…

In English we have begun our new writing unit to write a letter about a significant event in the story using our text FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith.

In maths this week we’ve been working on our formal methods of multiplication.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people. This week they were introduced to the idea of being Mini Vinnies and have applied to take on that role. Please ask your child about them.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Florence and Olivia. The theme of their liturgy was Listen. The Gospel tells us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. Before teaching this, Jesus says, “I say this to you who are listening.” (Luke 6:27) If we have the courage to listen seriously to Jesus’ words, we will find that they are very challenging! The girls liturgy invited the children to listen to what God is asking of us through Scripture and apply it to each moment of your day.

In Science the children have  compared the life cycles of insects and amphibians.

In computing the children have begun to decode a scoreboard program on the Micro-bit.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

Our resilient move challenges for are:

• Be brave (Belonging potion)

• Make friends and mix with other people (Coping potion)

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Thank you to Emily who has shared her resilient moves this week…

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

World Book Day Challenge!

Next week (Thursday 6th March), we will celebrate World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters and bringing in our favourite books to share with each other. In addition to this, I’d like Year 5 to choose a favourite picture book they used to enjoy when they were 5 (this should be a different book to the other favourite one) and prepare a reading  to read to their Reception buddy  on the day. Year 5 should be able to share the book with confidence, enthusiasm and expression. 

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

Our school is currently in 3rd 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 5397

2nd     Ava  Year 4  3053

3rd Matilda     Year 3 2806

4th Elsie Year 4 2599

5th Leo.           Year 5      2425

Well done to those on our leaderboard! 👏🏻

Our Lady’s have taken part in the Young Seasiders Blackpool Art Competition. Each teacher was asked to put forward two pieces of art work from their class into the exhibition, which will take place at Blackpool and the Fylde College from 4-28th March. Out of all the pieces of work, one KS1 and one KS2 winner has been chosen. The Year 5 artists’ work chosen: Olivia and Aibhin 👏🏻👏🏻. Please support them by going to see the exhibition - see flyer on the link below for details.

Young Seasiders Exhibition Letter

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 WhatsApp. This guide details the risks associated with popular messaging app WhatsApp, and lets you know how to safeguard younger users.

What Parents & Educators Need to Know about Marvel Rivals. This free guide breaks down the risks associated with the popular multiplayer title Marvel Rivals and lets you know how best to safeguard children and young people playing the game.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

28th February after school PTFA Spring Bingo event for families

5th March Whole School Mass for Ash Wednesday in church at 9.30am – families welcome to join us.

6th March World Book Day – dress up day and bring your favourite book to school. Year 5 will also need to bring a favourite story book to share with your buddy (see note about World Book day above).

10th - 14th March Science Week in school

11th March Blackpool Catholic Schools Shared Lenten Liturgy St Kentigen’s School 6pm

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

18th March - Shakespeare Club performance at Grand Theatre.

21st March - be bright and fun for CAFOD – own clothes day voluntary donation

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

7th April - Easter Egg Competition Deadline – all children can enter – details to follow

11th April - Easter Bonnet parade in school – details to follow

11th April - Close for Easter

22nd April - School reopens

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Great work this week Year 5, well done! Have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Safer Internet Day and a visit from the Royal Shakespeare Company!

What will I be when I grow up?

Great ambition from Year 5 today… It was so lovely to see a great variety of jobs that they want to do - doctor, vet, policeman, lawyer, singers, dancers, archaeologist, golfer, teacher, streamer, show person, gamer, footballers, fashion designers, rapper, dance teacher, cake baker, actor and engineer. You all looked great!

Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday, it was Safer Internet Day and in school we did some learning around the theme ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘. 

We’ve looked at what the word Scam means and then did an activity which helped them to understand what a scam is, by looking at several examples, and the possible signs that something might be a scam. We’ve also looked at what ‘phishing’ is and how to spot it online.

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. Below are some links and safety guides which you may find useful:

UK Safer Internet Centre 

Tips for Parents and Carers: Keeping you and your loved ones safe online https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2025/tips-for-parents-and-carers 

PARENTAL CONTROLS: Protecting young people from inappropriate online content. https://saferinternet.org.uk/online-issue/parental-controls

Internet matters.org  

See recommended online safety guides for parents:

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/online-safety-guide-0-5-year-olds/ With so many websites and apps targeting pre-schoolers, find out the simple steps you can take to protect your young children.

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/online-safety-guide-6-10-year-olds/ As internet use grows, learn about the steps you can make to establish positive behaviour and how you can teach your child to stay safe.

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/online-safety-guide-11-13-year-olds/ As your child makes the important transition from primary to secondary school make sure your knowledge increases with theirs.

Activate parental controls with how-to guides https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/ Parental controls can be used to manage screen time, block inappropriate content, prevent accidental spending, and keep strangers away. 

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 for your support.

Royal Shakespeare Company visit

Today, we were delighted to have the Royal Shakespeare company working with us this morning. Year 5 were treated to a morning of active approaches …

The children had an amazing time working with the three practitioners - a director, an actor and a representative from the RSC - sharing Shakespearian compliments, writing Odes to Blackpool and then building pictures of Blackpool using elements of Shakespeare’s play. The children were so engaged and showed just how creative, imaginative and expressive they all are - a proud two hours! Well done Year 5!

Edina plant project

Thank you for looking after your bulbs over the holidays! We are part of a science investigation led by the Edina project. Your child’s pot contains a daffodil bulb on one side (indicated by the letter d) and a crocus bulb (indicated by the letter c). Alongside temperature and rainfall that we have been measuring each day, when one of the bulbs flowers, we need to record the date it flowered and the height from the soil. The pot needs to be placed outside in the garden and checked on each day to see if it has flowered. Please do not water it.

If your flowers bloom, please record it and bring the information back to school when you return so we can upload it to the national database.

Daffodil       Date flowered ___________________ Height (mm) ________

Crocus        Date flowered ___________________ Height (mm) ________

Please bring your pot back after half term as the investigation will carry on for a few months.

If you weren’t able to take your pot over the holidays, please don’t worry - I will take all remaining pots home with me.

Thank you for your support in this.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (LEARN) - Leo

Writing Award - Jacob

Maths Award - Hallie-Jayne

Our Reading champions

Well done to our reading champions this half term, who all completed bookmarks for reading regularly at home. Let’s see if next half term we can see more reading champions. Don’t forget to keep up with your reading regularly and get your diaries signed.

Our learning this week…

In English the children planned and finished their first person narrative writing inspired by images from FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith.

In maths this week we’ve continued to calculate the area of shapes and comparing and estimating area.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Conleth and Eleena. The theme of their liturgy was Trust in the Lord The Gospel tells us that Simon Peter took a leap of faith when following Jesus’ instructions. Through personal prayer, the children had the opportunity to reflect on Simon Peter’s trust in Jesus.

Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” (Luke 5:10)

In Science the children have looked at the life cycles of mammals - placental, monotremes and marsupials - and have looked at their similarities and differences.

In computing the children have used the code from last week’s lesson to write their own code to turn their Microbit in to a pedometer..

In art the children have continued to work on their Alberto Giacometti inspired sculptures using modrock.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

World Book Day Challenge!

On the 6th March, we will celebrate World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters and bringing in our favourite books to share with each other. In addition to this, I’d like Year 5 to choose a favourite picture book they used to enjoy when they were 5 (this should be a different book to the other favourite one) and prepare a reading to read to their Reception buddy on the day. Year 5 should be able to share the book with confidence, enthusiasm and expression.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition runs till the 14th February. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 4th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 2056 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Matilda Year 4 40527⭐️🏆 Champion 🏆⭐️

2nd Ava Year 4 34928

3rd Leo Year 5 13309

4th Harriet Year 6 13096

5th Matilda Year 3  13006

Well done to Matilda in Year 4, who is our Times Table Rock Star Champion this half term. 👏🏻🏆 A big well done to those on our leaderboard too! 👏🏻

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

25th February School reopens

27th February Blackpool Symphony Orchestra musician workshop (invite only)

28th February after school PTFA Spring Bingo event for families

5th March Whole School Mass for Ash Wednesday in church – families welcome to join us.

6th March World Book Day – dress up day and bring your favourite book to school. Year 5 will also need to bring a favourite story book to share with your buddy (see note about World Book day above).

10th - 14th March Science Week in school

11th March Blackpool Catholic Schools Shared Lenten Liturgy St Kentigen’s School 6pm

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Another great half term Year 5, well done! Hope you all have a wonderful half term break. See you all on the 25th February!

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Oracy Symposium

Oracy Symposium

On Monday, Year 5 took part in the Blackpool Grand Theatre’s first ever Oracy Symposium with other schools across Blackpool and Fylde. There were Professors from Durham University and members of DebateMate who worked with the children in workshops to develop their oracy skills. They had a workshop on accent and dialect, one on debating skills and one on youth voice outside the classroom. The children worked really hard and I was really proud of how they all engaged in the activities with great enthusiasm and respect. Well done Year 5!

Dance club at Schools Alive

Well done to our Dance club who performed at the Winter Gardens last night. Mrs Ormerod was so proud of the amazing work you all did and you all looked fabulous! 👏🏻⭐️😊

Please see the link for photos from last night…https://animoto.com/play/XYKcNhVwejWqx5cJb1F8TA

Our award winners: 

Golden Award - Laura

Writing Award - Willow

Maths Award - William

Our learning this week…

In English they’ve continued to develop their use of figurative language and they’ve also been writing sentences using parenthesis indicated by commas and dashes. Lastly, they have begun to plan their big write for next wek.

In maths this week we’ve been finding the perimeter of different shapes and have begun to calculate the area of rectangles.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Aibhin and Leo. The theme of their liturgy was Listen. This week’s Gospel tells us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. Before teaching this, Jesus says, “I say this to you who are listening.” If we have the courage to listen seriously to Jesus’ words, we will find that they are very challenging! This prayer invites us to listen to what God is asking of us through Scripture and Aibhin and Leo challenged the Year 5 to apply it to each moment of their day..

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations” (Luke 2:22-40)

In Science the children have thought about the process of asexual reproduction in plants. The children have investigated bulbs, runners, tubers and cuttings. We also planted a spider plant each, which had been growing off runners in our classroom and from one that I had at home. To do our bit for the planet, we have reused the milk cartons to grow our plant in.

In computing the children have used the Microbit to create a poll program.

In art the children have continued to work on their Alberto Giacometti inspired sculptures using modrock.

In Spanish the children can say how many siblings they have and say what they are called.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

World Book Day Challenge!

On the 6th March, we will celebrate World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters and bringing in our favourite books to share with each other. In addition to this, I’d like Year 5 to choose a favourite picture book they used to enjoy when they were 5 (this should be a different book to the other favourite one) and prepare a reading to read to their Reception buddy on the day. Year 5 should be able to share the book with confidence, enthusiasm and expression.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition runs till the 14th February. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 4th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1841 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Matilda Year 4 32723

2nd Ava Year 4 32622

3rd Harriet Year 6 13096

4th Matilda Year 3 12811

5th Leo Year 5  10444

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻

Please encourage your child to practise their times tables by using TTRS so that they also contribute points to our competition. Unfortunately, only a small number of our class are actually using TTRS as part of their homework. Come on Year 5, you can do your bit!

Well done to Leo who is in our top five on the leaderboard!👏🏻

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

12th February Safer Internet Day ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘

13th February Year 5 RSC workshop .Although the children will be dressed in their dream job outfits, please ensure approriate footwear is worn for drama based activities. Please look out for an email regarding photo permissions.

13th February Dress up day - What will I be when I grow up? School Council have organised the day. Come dressed in your dream job £1 donation to launch ourCafod fund via parentpay

13th February School closes for half term 3.15pm

25th February School reopens

27th February Blackpool Symphony Orchestra musician workshop (invite only)

28th February after school PTFA Spring Bingo event for families

5th March Whole School Mass for Ash Wednesday in church – families welcome to join us.

6th March World Book Day – dress up day and bring your favourite book to school. Year 5 will also need to bring a favourite story book to share with your buddy (see note about World Book day above).

10th - 14th March Science Week in school

11th March Blackpool Catholic Schools Shared Lenten Liturgy St Kentigen’s School 6pm

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

Great work this week Year 5, well done! Have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT) - Gabriel

Writing Award - Stephen 

Maths Award - Emily

Our learning this week…

In English the children have worked on their poetry and have selected their favourite poem that they are most proud of to enter the poetry competition. The children really enjoyed selecting their poem and have neatly written it up ready for them to be sent off this week. They’re really excited! Good luck Year 5!

We’ve also been working on creating similes and metaphors.

In maths this week we’ve finished off our unit on multiplication and division and have begun our new unit on perimeter and area.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Zachary and Jackson. The theme of their liturgy was A Year of the Lord’s Favour. Inspired by Sunday’s Gospel, which introduces themes of the Jubilee Year, the boys’ prayers this week invited the children to intercede for the needs of the world and they wrote their own prayers asking God to help those who need it.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.” (Luke 4:18-19)

In science we dissected and labelled the male and female parts of the flower.

In computing we have designed animation and programmed the Micro:bit to execute it.

In art the children have continued to work on their Alberto Giacometti inspired cultures.

In Spanish we have continued to learn to ask and answer questions about our families.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

The focus of our Bounce Forward (PSHE) session has been exploring their own feelings.

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get some fresh air and exercise (Basics potion)

• Focus on the good things in life. Put your positivity glasses on. (Coping potion)

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise, which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

World Book Day Challenge!

On the 6th March, we will celebrate World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters and bringing in our favourite books to share with each other. In addition to this, I’d like Year 5 to choose a favourite picture book they used to enjoy when they were 5 (this should be a different book to the other favourite one) and prepare a reading to read to their Reception buddy on the day. Year 5 should be able to share the book with confidence, enthusiasm and expression.

Which book will you choose, Year 5?

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition runs till the 14th February. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1122 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Matilda Year 4 30540

2nd Ava Year 4 30235

3rd Harriet Year 6 13096

4th Matilda Year 3 12665

5th Leo Year 5  9584

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻

Please encourage your child to practise their times tables by using TTRS so that they also contribute points to our competition. Unfortunately, only a small number of our class are actually using TTRS as part of their homework. Come on Year 5, you can do your bit!

Well done to Leo who is in our top five on the leaderboard!👏🏻

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

3rd February Year 5 visit to Blackpool Grand Theatre’s Oracy Symposium. We will leave just after the start of the school day and return before the end of the school day. Please wear full PE kit and bring a packed lunch and your water bottle.

6th February Dance Club Schools Alive rehearsals and evening. Good luck to our dancers!

performance

13th February Dress up day - What will I be when I grow up? School Council have organised the day. Come dressed in your dream job £1 donation to launch ourCafod fund via parentpay

13th February School closes for half term 3.15pm

25th February School reopens

27th February Blackpool Symphony Orchestra musician workshop (invite only)

28th February after school PTFA Spring Bingo event for families

5th March Whole School Mass for Ash Wednesday in church – families welcome to join us.

6th March World Book Day – dress up day and bring your favourite book to school. Year 5 will also need to bring a favourite story book to share with your buddy (see note about World Book day above).

10th - 14th March Science Week in school

11th March Blackpool Catholic Schools Shared Lenten Liturgy St Kentigen’s School 6pm

17th March 1pm to 5.30pm parent information afternoon in school hall – booking link to follow soon

26th March Key Stage 2 Blackpool Cross County competitive team event

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

A good week, Year 5, well done! Have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Be an inspiration

Introduction to Tales Retold

Year 5 had a great time at the Grand Theatre on Monday for our introduction to our Tales Retold project. Whilst there, the children took part in two workshops, voice and dance/movement workshops, led by practitioners who will come into school to deliver further sessions from March. The children worked hard and during the workshops and then confidently performed what they had learnt at the end of our session. Great work Year 5, I look forward to what you are all going to achieve by the end of this project in July. 😊

Our class mass

Year 5 attended mass on Thursday. During mass, Father talked to the children about being inspirational (our RE topic this half term) and challenged them to be an inspiration for their buddies this week. Well done Year 5, you all listened well throughout mass and behaved with reverence and our readers read beautifully.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (LEARN) - Aibhin

Writing Award - Olivia 

Maths Award - Jacob

Our learning this week…

In English the children have explored new vocabulary and phrases from our model text and the children have used these in their own writing. The children have also used the figurative language technique of personification to write their own personification poem.

Our focus in maths has been using the inverse and multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the theme of Inspirational people.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Laura and Beaux. The theme of their liturgy was What is it You Want Me to Do? The Gospel this week (John 2:1-11) shows Jesus working a miracle at a wedding in Cana. It is also about the servants who listened to Jesus and followed His instructions. The focus of the girls’ liturgy allowed the children space to listen to Jesus and to ask ‘what is it you want me to do?’

“What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11)

In computing we have continued to explore what a Micro:bit is and how it can be used.

In art the children have continued to look at the 3D work of Alberto Giacometti. The children have finalised their designs and have begun to make their sculpture.

In Spanish we have continued to learn to ask and answer questions about our families.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1122 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Ava Year 4 25841

2nd Matilda Year 4 24737

3rd Harriet Year 6 13014

4th Matilda Year 3 11347

5th Leo Year 5  7804

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻

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 TikTok. This free guide explores the potential online safety risks of TikTok, letting you know how to safeguard children and young people who use the platform.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

3rd February Year 5 visit to Blackpool Grand Theatre’s Oracy Symposium

13th February Dress up day - What will I be when I grow up?

13th February School closes for half term 3.15pm

25th February School reopens

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy. Payment for the trip can be made on Parent Pay (this can be done in instalments if you wish). Thank you to those who have already paid in full.

A good week, Year 5, well done! Have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. (Luke 3:22)

In class we have been talking about the importance of reading and I’m really pleased that so many children are reading daily. As Doctor Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Please can I ask that parents continue to encourage your child to read at home and sign their reading diary. More recently, we have noticed that some children are already not reading as regularly as they should and some children are not bringing their reading diaries to school everyday. This is such a shame and it really is having an impact on their quiz scores in school and the progress they are making. The children should be reading for at least 20 minutes a day at home. 📚 Thanks for your support in this.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (CARE) - Matilda

Writing Award -  Martha

Maths Award - Laura

Our learning this week…

In English we have had a go at writing alliteration, describing things in a chosen illustration from the text and then the children have used this to create their own alliteration poems.

Our focus in maths has been square and cube numbers.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Natalie, Willow and Stephen. The theme of their liturgy was The Beloved Son. Their prayers were from the key verse in Sunday’s Gospel “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. These prayers helped us to reflect on what it means that Jesus is the Beloved Son of God the Father, and invites us into a deeper relationship with God. The children had written a beautiful reflection and asked the children to undertake silent prayer and think about how they will become closer to God.

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. (Luke 3:22)

In computing we have begun to explore what a Micro:bit is and how it can be used.

In art the children have continued to look at the 3D work of Alberto Giacometti.

In Spanish we have begun to ask and answer questions about our families.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

In our Bounce Forward session, we discussed feelings and emotions. We talked about the things that cause different emotions and feelings and reinforced that it’s okay to feel.... It’s how we cope with the emotion/feeling that matters.

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get enough sleep (Basics potion)

• Be brave (Coping potion)

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise, which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1122 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Ava Year 4 15053

2nd Matilda Year 4 14534

3rd Harriet Year 6 12106

4th Matilda Year 3 7260

5th Leo Year 5   7139

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻

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 TikTok. This free guide explores the potential online safety risks of TikTok, letting you know how to safeguard children and young people who use the platform.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

20th January Introduction to Tales Retold at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool. We will leave school at 12.15pm and leave the Theatre at 3.10pm so we will not be back at school until after the end of the school day. (I expect by 3.30pm.)

21st January Water Safety at swimming. The children will need to bring their swim kit and pyjamas they brought last week to finish off their water safety lesson..

3rd February Year 5 visit to Blackpool Grand Theatre’s Oracy Symposium

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy Thursday 15th May

(Information about the above dates were sent by email last week.)

A good week, Year 5, well done! Have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Epiphany "We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him." Matthew 2:2

Welcome back and a very happy new year! We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all a great new year. 

Yesterday we celebrated Epiphany and the new year by going to church for whole school mass. Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on the 6th January and is the time when Christians remember  the Wise Men who visited Jesus in Bethlehem after his birth. During mass, Father Frank set us all a challenge. Between now and Easter, each day we need to make someone’s day by saying lovely things about them. Together, we can spread the good news and share Jesus’ love. I’m delighted to say that I’ve already heard and seen children rising to this challenge. 

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT) - Eleena

Writing Award -  Jackson

Maths Award - Elsie

Our learning this week…

In English we have begun to explore the story FArTHER, which we will use to support our development of writing a first-person setting narrative. This week the children have considered different pieces of evidence from the text to write a prediction and in small groups they have made mood palettes to describe different illustrations from the book.

Our focus in maths has been identifying prime numbers and using factors to determine whether a number is prime or composite.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix

In art the children have begun to look at the 3D work of Alberto Giacometti and have had a go at drawing figures inspired by his sculptures.

In Spanish we are continuing to learn words related to our family.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Luke from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is invasion games.

In our Bounce Forward session, we started to talk about ordinary heroes and agreed that you don’t have to wear a cape to be a hero. We considered the heroes in our own lives (our friends, our family, people we meet on our travels who are kind to us…) and then the children designed a super friend. The children thought about all the characteristics of what a true good friend is like, a superfriend - honest, trustworthy, kind, helpful, good listener, supportive… It was lovely to hear that many children already feel they have superfriends and heroes in their lives who support them to be resilient and bounce forward when times are tough.

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get enough sleep (Basics potion)

• Be brave (Coping potion)

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 604 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Ava Year 4 6746

2nd Matilda Year 4 6567

3rd Leo Year 5 4049

4th Lilly T Year 6 3018

5th Kurt Year 6   1830

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻

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 JusTalk Kids This free guide breaks down the potential risks of JusTalk Kids and provides expert advice on how to safeguard young users as they navigate the app.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

20th January Introduction to Tales Retold at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool

3rd February Year 5 visit to Blackpool Grand Theatre’s Oracy Symposium

March – June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project

Thursday 15th May Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre to watch Pig-Heart Boy Thursday 15th May

(Information about the above dates will be sent by email.)

Great start to this half term Year 5, have a great weekend! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Happy Christmas!

This Sunday will mark the fourth week of Advent. We light the final purple candle to mark the final week of prayer and penance as we wait for the birth of our Saviour. The 4th Sunday of Advent symbolises Peace with the “Angel’s Candle” reminding us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.”

Well what a wonderful end to a great term! I am so proud of Year 5, it has been such a pleasure to get to know your children this term - they are all lovely and they’ve all worked so hard and have come on so much already. Well done Year 5!👏🏻😊

Dance-A-Thon

Yesterday, Year 5 led the whole school in a fun festive Dance-A-Thon. Each class came down to the hall and Year 5 welcomed them in and danced along to a few Christmas dances. This was organised during UK Parliament week and the whole school took part in a vote for what they wanted to do to celebrate Christmas in school. Look at the fun they had…

〰️ Our Achievements

〰️ Our Achievements

Our award winners:

Golden Award  (LEARN) - Olivia

Writing Award - Year 5

Maths Award - Luna

Our Reading champions

Well done to our reading champions this half term, who all completed bookmarks for reading regularly at home. Let’s see if next half term we can see more reading champions. Don’t forget to keep up with your reading regularly and get your diaries signed.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition continues and runs till tomorrow at 3.30pm. Good luck everyone! Please make sure you take the time to do your bit. I will be rewarding house points to those children who go on TTRS. 

Our school is currently in 4th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 2150 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Matilda Year 3 23493. ⭐️🏆 Champion 🏆⭐️

2nd Harriet Year 6 23413

3rd Natalia Year 5 20016

4th Olivia         Year 5 19777

5th Aibhin Year 5  9934

Well done to Matilda in Year 3, who was our Times Table Rock Star Champion this half term, and to everyone on our leaderboard and who took part! 👏🏻🏆

In our Bounce Forward session, we started to think about all the positive relationships in our lives and thought about all the people who are in our support circle who can help us through tough times.

Our resilient move challenges for Christmas the holidays are:

• Be brave (Belonging potion)

• Make friends and mix with other people (Coping potion)

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Thank you to Emily who has shared her resilient moves this week…

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

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…

10 Top Tips for Safety on Social Media. This guide provides expert advice on helping children and young people to use social media responsibly.

We hope you find this guide 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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Thank you to those families who were able to join us for our KS2 Advent carol service today, we hope you enjoyed it.  We also wish to thank you for your lovely gifts, cards and words, we really appreciate it.🙏

We wish you all a wonderful happy and Holy Christmas 🎄 and we hope you all stay safe and well and have a great start to the New Year. See you all in the new year!

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

Our Second week of Advent

Last Sunday marked the second Sunday of Advent. The second Sunday of Advent symbolises Faith with the “Bethlehem Candle” reminding us of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. There is comfort to be found when we pause to read, pray, and reflect over the course of the Advent season...a time when believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth. The second Sunday of Advent gives us the opportunity to prepare our hearts in faithful waiting, celebrate the birth of Jesus, and ready ourselves for his second coming. It's a beautiful chance to reflect on the ways prophecy has been fulfilled and to ponder what the future (promised to us through prophecies) will bring.

To prepare ourselves, we went to church on Wednesday morning to take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Father Frank talked to the children about the meaning of reconciliation and throughout the whole time we were there the children were so reverent. Well done Year 5, we were so proud of you.

Great team work!

We’ve had a fantastic week in Year 5, the children have really amazed me! They were set a number of challenges this week in our DT/Science lessons. In the first of these sessions, the children were split into three groups and given a different challenge. One group had to make a simple frame from wood, using tools safely. The second group had to make a a moving vehicle using tech card and their knowledge of circuits and the third group had to make a vehicle shell for a chosen planet and design it using their knowledge of that planet. All the children worked extremely well and completed their challenges successfully…

The children were then put into small groups and together as a team they were set the challenge of designing and making a moon buggy model. The children designed their buggy, deciding on the materials that they would need and set off making it. By the end of the morning the children finished their moon buggies. I am so impressed with how hard they all worked and more impressed with the maturity they all showed, working in their teams supporting each other and with good cooperation and collaboration. Take a look at what they achieved…

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (CARE) - Stephen

Writing Award -  Leo

Maths Award - Matilda

Our learning this week…  

In English the children have finished working on their formal report and have worked hard using their editing skills to improve it.

Our focus in maths has been finding multiples and factors of numbers.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and are learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Luna and Willow. The theme of their liturgy was Be With Us, Lord Jesus. In the second week of Advent, the girls helped us understand that our actions impact others as well as our relationship with God. We had the opportunity to open our hearts to Jesus and become reconciled – right – with God by putting Jesus first as we prepare for His coming and the Year of Jubilee.

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation. (Luke 3:1-6)

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

In our Bounce Forward session, we continued to look at what the children’s dreams for the future are and then they thought about the shorter term goals that would help them to achieve their dream.

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get enough sleep (Basics potion)

• Engage mentors and learn from our role models (Learning potion)

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Thank you to Olivia who has shared her resilient moves this week…

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition continues and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone! Please make sure you take the time to do your bit. I will be rewarding house points to those children who go on TTRS. 

Our school is currently in 4th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1929 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Harriet Year 6 22478

2nd Matilda Year 3 22335

3rd Natalia Year 5 20016

4th Olivia         Year 5 19777

5th Aibhin Year 5  9934

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Tuesday 17th December Festive party clothes day and Christmas lunch

Thursday 19th December KS2 carol service in church - families welcome 2pm

Thursday 19th December close for Christmas 3.15pm

Monday 6th January 2025 First day back in 2025

Have a great weekend, Year 5! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Our first week of Advent

It’s feeling like Christmas in Year 5 this week and it has really lifted everyone’s spirits. We have our Christmas trees up, twinkly fairy lights are lit and our advent wreath candles and Nativity set are in place. Last Sunday marked the first Sunday in Advent, which symbolises Hope with the “Prophet’s Candle” reminding us that Jesus is coming. It has been a really lovely week starting each day opening our advent calendar , sharing the Scripture of the day (read by the children) and saying our special advent prayer. The children have all made their advent promises, which we linked to scripture “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Please ask your child about their advent promise.

On Thursday, those of us not doing Bikeability this week, went to a special Advent reflection in church with Father Frank. He talked to the children about the meaning of Advent - coming - and what this time is for. We then passed a special candle to each other and whilst looking into the flame of the candle, in our hearts thought of one special person who we would like God to give a special blessing to this Advent. We now have the candle in class to remind us each day of that special person and we wait for God to answer our prayers at Christmas. 🕯️

Bikeability

A big well done to our final group of Year 5s who took part in Bikeability this week. You all did so well and like last week, you were a credit to our school - you lived out our school values of Care, Learn and Respect, showing great listening and resilience. Well done! 👏🏻

We thank the Bikeability team for working hard with both our Year 5s and Year6s over the last month. 🙏

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT) - Alexander

Writing Award -  Hallie-Jayne

Maths Award - Callum

Our learning this week…

In English the children have been busy bees working on their formal report of a lunar landing. They’ve only got a bit left to do and then they will be using their editing skills to improve it.

Our focus in maths has been using and interpreting and drawing line graphs.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Jackson and Stephen. The theme of their liturgy was Help Us, Lord Jesus. In this first week of Advent, as we anticipate the coming of Jesus and the beginning of the Year of Jubilee with the opening of the Holy Door, we can invite Jesus to open our minds. With minds open to welcome Jesus into our lives and be like Jesus to those we meet, we can learn how to respond to difficulties with strength and courage.

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 28)

In science, the children who remained in class have explored the effects of water resistance like the group last week did.

We started our DT work this week and the children were challenged to make a simple working chassis with limited materials…

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

Our Bounce Forward session (as part of our PSHE) linked to the Learning Potion. It looks at what the children’s goals are for future, both short-term and long-term. This helps the children to develop their life skills, focus on their future and give them a positive outlook.

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get enough sleep (Basics potion)

• Engage mentors and learn from our role models (Learning potion)

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Thank you to Olivia and Eleena who both shared their resilient moves this week…

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition continues and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone! Please make sure you take the time to do your bit. I will be rewarding house points to those children who go on TTRS.

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1769 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Harriet Year 6 22392

2nd Matilda Year 3 21954

3rd Natalia Year 5 19627

4th Olivia         Year 5 19351

5th Aibhin Year 5  9631

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Thursday 12th December Members of our school choir singing at Abbingdon Street Market 6pm

Tuesday 17th December Festive party clothes day and Christmas lunch

Thursday 19th December KS2 carol service in church - families welcome 2pm

Thursday 19th December close for Christmas 3.15pm

Monday 6th January 2025 First day back in 2025

Have a great weekend, Year 5! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:33-37)

Bikeability

First of all I just want to say a massive well done to all the children in Year 5 who took part in Bikeability this week. It’s not been the warmest to be outside for most of the day, but they all persevered, listened well and showed off their safe cycling. Well done!

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (LEARN) - Jackson

Writing Award -  Beaux

Maths Award - Ellenie

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve planned and started to write our formal report.

Our focus in maths has been using and interpreting data from tables and two-way tables.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Beaux and Oscar. The theme of their liturgy was Be the King of my heart. In this Gospel, John 18:33-37, we learn that as the true King, Jesus leads us by His Word and His Spirit to the truth of God the Father’s love for us. Our hearts are little kingdoms made for the King.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:33-37)

In science, the children have explored the effects of water resistance.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

In our Bounce Forward sessions (as part of our PSHE), we made a resilient moves box and the children wrote down some challenges to go in the box. Each week we will pick some out  to challenge the children to create some resilient moves during the week. Every Bounce Forward session we always start the lesson by sharing the resilient moves that we have made over the course of the week and identifying which of the potions they come from on the resilient framework.

This week’s resilient move challenges are:

• Get enough sleep (Basics potion)

• Engage mentors and learn from our role models (Learning potion)

Build your resilience

How many resilient moves can you make this week? 

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Congratulations and thank you to Emily who shared her resilient move this week…

If you would like to share a photo of your child making a resilient move, then send them to our email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will post them here each week. For example, a photo of a bike ride - the resilient move would be fresh air and exercise which comes from the basic potion on the framework. Please note: if the photo has other children on it, please ensure you have consent to share it with me. 

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition continues and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone! Please make sure you take the time to do your bit.

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1576 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Harriet Year 6 21269

2nd Matilda Year 3 20367

3rd Natalia Year 5 19051

4th Olivia         Year 5 17865

5th Aibhin Year 5  9631

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

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 Snapchat. This free guide brings you up to date with the risks associated with Snapchat, and lets you know how best to safeguard young people who use the app.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December Bikeability for the remaining group of Year 5s. Good luck!

Friday 6th December PTFA Christmas Fair. 3.30pm -5.30pm. More details to follow on this.

Thursday 12th December Members of our school choir singing at Abbingdon Street Market 6pm

Tuesday 17th December Festive party clothes day and Christmas lunch

Thursday 19th December KS2 carol service in church - families welcome 2pm

Thursday 19th December close for Christmas 3.15pm

Monday 6th January 2025 First day back in 2025

Have a great weekend, Year 5! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31)

This week is UK Parliament week and Year 5 have been learning all about the work and role of UK Parliament. We’ve been looking at the structure of Parliament and our democracy, making laws, elections and voting as a way of getting our voices heard.  We thought it would be good to get everyone in school involved in a vote so we organised a vote for the whole school. Year 5 went into all classes this week to talk about UK Parliament week and to introduce our fun Christmas vote for an event that will take place in school on the morning of Wednesday 18th December . All children were asked to vote for one of three choices of fun activities that they can take part in, to celebrate Christmas. The choice with the biggest number of votes will decide the theme of their morning. Once the votes have all been counted, the result will be announced. This activity will be Christmas themed so the children will be able to wear their Christmas accessories.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (CARE) - William

Writing Award - Natalia  

Maths Award - Willow

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been writing space acrostic poems and we’ve begun to plan our next big write: a formal report.

Our focus in maths has been using addition and subtraction to solve problems.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Emily and Martha. The theme of their liturgy was Love that lasts. In this Gospel, Mark 13:24-32, we learn that God loves us in the past, present and future and even death doesn’t change His love for us! The gospel teaches us that Jesus is coming back, and although we don’t know exactly when, we can be ready by trusting in God’s love throughout the changes that might come!During their liturgy, the girls’ asked the class to write a prayer to show their trust in God.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31)

In science, the children have explored the effects of air resistance.

In art the children have taken part in an art competition hosted by Blackpool South’s MP, Chris Webb, as part of UK Parliament this week. 

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1403 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Harriet Year 6 20426

2nd Matilda Year 3 19464

3rd Natalia Year 5 18559

4th Olivia         Year 5 16381

5th Aibhin Year 5  9075

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Friday 6th December PTFA Christmas Fair. 3.30pm -5.30pm. More details to follow on this.

Thursday 12th December Members of our school choir singing at Abbingdon Street Market 6pm

Tuesday 17th December Festive party clothes day and Christmas lunch

Thursday 19th December KS2 carol service in church - families welcome 2pm

Thursday 19th December close for Christmas 3.15pm

Monday 6th January 2025 First day back in 2025

Have a great weekend, Year 5! 

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Lest we forget...

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice – an agreement to end the First World War. Year 5 spent time thinking about all those people in the armed forces who have sacrificed so much to protect their country and we made our own poppies . On Monday morning, like the rest of the country, we joined the whole school in a Remembrance reflection led by Year 6 and we held one minutes silence as a sign of respect.

As a sign of respect due to remembrance day this week, we have continued to focus on our school value of RESPECT and our Golden awards and positive post, that we do in class, have celebrated those children who have been living out the value respect. #RESPECT

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT) -

Writing Award -  

Maths Award - 

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been investigating the structure of a formal report and the key language features. The children have been experimenting with openers and extenders to write complex sentences and have particularly focused on relative clauses.

The focus in maths has been addition and subtraction - using formal column methods, mental methods and using rounding to estimate answers, which csnn

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Laura and Zachary. The theme of their liturgy was The Widow’s Offering. In this Gospel, Mark 12: 41-44, we learn about a widow who gave away her last two coins and that Jesus is interested in the generosity of our hearts. Even if it feels like we have little to give, will we trust God and give our all? Being generous demonstrates one way of showing love.

During their liturgy, we were reminded of the Children in Need appeal that takes place on Friday by watching a film about a boy called Ryan who is supported by a charity that is in turn funded and supported by monies raised during Children in Need. Thank you, if you have supported our appeal to support Children in Need through Parent Pay today - if you haven’t yet, it’s still not too late to do so.

During their liturgy, we were reminded of the Children in Need appeal that takes place on Friday, by watching a film about a boy called Ryan who is supported by a charity that is in turn funded and supported by monies raised during Children in Need. Thank you, if you have supported our appeal today to support Children in Need through Parent Pay - if you haven’t yet, it’s still not too late to do so.

Zachary and Laura challenged the children to think about how they can be generous this week and the children wrote their own little prayer.

“They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:44)

In science, the children have investigated how friction acts on objects.

In geography the children used the data collected from the questionnaires completed to find out some trends. The children made pie charts to present their data.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition continues, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 2nd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 1233 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Harriet Year 6 18121

2nd Matilda Year 3 17644

3rd Natalia Year 5 16391

4th Olivia         Year 5 15318

5th Aibhin Year 5   8464

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Friday 6th December PTFA Christmas Fair. 3.30pm -5.30pm. More details to follow on this.

Thursday 12th December Members of our school choir singing at Abbingdon Street Market 6pm

Tuesday 17th December Festive party clothes day and Christmas lunch

Thursday 19th December KS2 carol service in church - families welcome 2pm

Thursday 19th December close for Christmas 3.15pm

Monday 6th January 2025 First day back in 2025

Have a great weekend, Year 5!

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Edina Trust Bulb project

This week we began our Edina Trust bulb project work. Year 5 will be monitoring the growth of the bulbs over the coming months and each day two children will go out to record the temperature and the rainfall to be uploaded to the Edina Trust’s website.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (RESPECT) - Aibhin

Writing Award -  Leo

Maths Award -  Brooklyn

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been writing in role, thinking about what the astronauts took with them to the moon and the activities they conducted whilst there. The children have also been learning to write in both the passive and active voice.

Our focus in maths has been dealing with patterns of numbers and addition of numbers with up to 6-digits.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about the covenants made with God

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Matilda and Natalia. The theme of their liturgy was Here to Serve. In this Gospel, Mark 10:35-45, we learn that to be great in God’s sight, they must put others first, we learn that through Jesus’ service and self-sacrifice, He won for them the greatest prize – the joy of eternal life with Him in Heaven! The girls’ challenged the class to think about how they would put others first today.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

In science, the children have explored the life and work of Isaac Newton, thought about the influence gravity has on the universe and investigated the relationship between mass and gravity

In geography the children have been asking geographical questions that we would like to answer about our local area. Some of the questions have formed our questionnaires sent home this week. Thank you for sending those back by today. If you haven’t yet, please send back on Monday so we can use them during our geography lesson.

In art the children have worked in the negative to create a self portrait in response to the work of Frank Auerbach.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The unit for this half term is dance.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 2nd place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 742 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Natalia Year 5 9218

2nd Aibhin Year 5 7913

3rd Olivia Year 5 6946

4th Fionn Year 3 5038

5th Matilda Year 3   3822

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

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.

It has been brought to our attention by the Blackpool safeguarding team of an application called Kinemaster. It is similar to Youtube whereby pupils can upload videos and images but also has an editing facility.  Though there are no safeguarding concerns with the application directly, it is known that children have been using this to upload images of other children which are then free for people to use on the internet.  Please be aware of the potential for misusing this and continue to monitor your children's online activity. 

Monitoring tips and strategies for parents of young children (Ages 5-10)

1. Keep children’s devices in shared spaces: Children should use the internet and social media in common areas, such as the living room, where parents can easily keep an eye on their activities. To that end, set family ground rules that prohibit device usage in bedrooms and bathrooms, which allow opportunities to engage in risky behaviors.

2. Establish clear rules and communication: Set clear expectations about appropriate online behaviour, time limits, and the types of websites or apps they can access. Maintain open lines of communication, so your child feels comfortable discussing any concerns or encounters they may have had.

3. Parental controls and filtering: Make use of the parental control settings available on devices, web browsers, games and apps to restrict access to inappropriate content. Install child-friendly search engines and age-appropriate apps that offer a safer online experience.

   Top Tips for Using & Reviewing Parental Controls. This free guide provides expert advice on how to effectively activate and maintain parental controls on children’s devices.

What Parents Need to Know about Sharing photos online. This free online safety guide explores sharing photos on social media – and what we should consider in avoiding possible harm.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Monday 11th November - Remembrance day  Poppies will be on sale in school to support this special occasion. Children can bring in a voluntary contribution to support the Royal British Legion in preparation for this day. Thank you!

Friday 15th November KS2 Autumn disco. 6pm -7pm in school hall. Tickets available via parent pay at £2.50. Children to come in party clothes. Snack and drink included.

Friday 6th December Christmas Fair. 3.30pm -5.30pm. More details to follow on this.

Have a great weekend, Year 5!

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Saints are not "supermen" who are "born perfect," but rather are ordinary people who followed God "with all their heart." Pope Francis

To begin our new half term, the whole school went to mass to celebrate the feast of All Saints. All Saints’ Day is celebrated every year on 1st November; it is a holy day in the Catholic Church, celebrating the saints of the church as well as those saints who have not yet been recognised.

Our award winners: 

Golden Award (LEARN) - Ellenie

Writing Award -  Conleth

Maths Award -  Oscar-James

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been immersing into more lunar landings and gathering vocabulary and their meanings in preparation for the next big write - a formal report.

Our focus in maths has been dealing with negative numbers, adding and subtracting 10, 100, 1000 and 10,000 and number sequences.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix and learning about St Francis..

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Elsie and Hallie. The theme of their liturgy was Give me courage. Bartimaeus was a poor blind beggar who persisted, made a fuss and kept calling for help because he knew, not with his blind eyes but with faith, we too can look deeper, like Bartimaeus, and use our eyes of faith. To develop our spiritual sight we need to listen, seek, and respond to Jesus’s call. The girls’ challenged the class to think about how they will respond to Jesus’s call.

““Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.”” Mark 10:52

In geography the children have used a digital mapping program to create a map of their route to school including a key. Thank you to everyone who drew out a map of their route, it really helped to complete their digital map.😊

In art the children have been experimenting by working in the negative by using rubbers to remove graphite work.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust.

The BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League has a new competition, which started on Monday and runs till the 20th December. Good luck everyone!

Our school is currently in 1st place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 429 points (school average score) so far.

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

1st Natalia Year 5 6749

2nd Aibhin Year 5 5600

3rd Fionn Year 3 2436

4th Ava Year 4 1334

5th Natan Year 3   490

72Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

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 Fortnite. This free guide provides expert insight into the risks associated with Fortnite, letting you know how to keep children safe while they play.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Monday 11th November - Remembrance day Poppies will be on sale in school to support this special occasion. Children can bring in a voluntary contribution to support the Royal British Legion in preparation for this day. Thank you!

Friday 15th November KS2 Autumn disco. 6pm -7pm in school hall. Tickets available via parent pay at £2.50. Children to come in party clothes. Snack and drink included.

Friday 6th December Christmas Fair. 3.30pm -5.30pm. More details to follow on this.

Thursday 19th December Festive party clothes day

Great start to this new half term, Year 5, well done! Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

Well done Year 5, we’ve had a super half term and you’ve all worked so hard. Hope you all have a lovely well deserved rest and be proud of what you have achieved this half term!

Please remember your map of your route to school on the first day back after half term, this will support your geography work. Thank you!

Mad Science workshops

This morning we were treated to a whole school science show, called Mission to Mars, led by Erica from a company called Mad Science. The show was full of experiments to show different concepts related to travel to Mars…

Year 5 then had their own workshop called Space: The Final Frontier where they made bubble galaxies, explored how meteorites make craters and how planets are formed. We had a great Science morning …

The 'Spring Bulbs for Schools' project with the Edina Trust

This morning Year 5 planted their bulbs, daffodils and crocuses, in their own pot and placed them in one of our school garden areas. Over the next five and a half months the children will be watching over their bulbs to see when they first flower and to collect rainfall and temperature data daily to send off to the Edina Trust. Schools all over the UK are taking part and our data will be collated with theirs to contribute to finding out the effects of climate change. Take a look at our photos…

Our award winners:

Golden Award (CARE) - Willow

Writing Award -  Year 5

Maths Award -  Leo

Our Reading Champions

Well done to our reading champions this half term, who all completed bookmarks for reading regularly at home. Let’s see if next half term we can see more reading champions. Don’t forget to keep up with your reading regularly and get your diaries signed.

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been planning and writing our own exploration narrative. The children have all worked so hard on their writing, I can’t wait to read them!

Our focus in maths has been rounding numbers to 1,000,000 and learning about negative numbers and their relationship with positive numbers.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the Creation story.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Conleth and William. The theme of their liturgy was For us. In this week’s Gospel story of the rich young man, Jesus tells us how difficult it is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven when we have many possessions. In this liturgy, the children were encouraged to think about what is, and what is not, truly valuable in their lives.

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

In geography the children have been learning to use and identify six-figure grid references on an ordnance survey map of Blackpool.

In art the children have been experimenting by working in the negative by using rubbers to remove graphite work.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is all about leadership and being a good buddy to develop their skills for their role as play leader.

Well done Year 5 for all your efforts in swimming, you’re all doing really well. The swimming teachers all encourage you to get to the swimming pool over half term, which is free at Palatine, and at Moor Park Bispham, Monday to Friday (see below).

Our school is currently in 3rd place out of 12 schools in the trust. Well done Our Lady’s, an amazing effort! Overall, we have scored 178,994 and the competition will end at 4pm today.

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

1st     Aibhin              Year 5.              26,207 points. 🏆⭐️ School Champion 🏆⭐️

2nd   Alexander             Year 5               21,332 points

3rd    Olivia                    Year 5               19,610  points

4th    Conleth        Year 5               15,604 points

5th    Natalia                 Year 5              14,666 points

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻🏆

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 Horror films and Age Ratings. This free guide explores the risks of children being exposed to horror films and other age-inappropriate content – letting you know how to safeguard young people against this material.

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.

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Tuesday 29th October Back to school

Friday 15th November KS2 Autumn disco

Friday 6th December Christmas Fayre

Thursday 19th December Festive party clothes day

Well done for all your hard work this half term, you’ve made a great start to Year 5 - well done! Have a great half term everyone and we’ll see you all back in school on Tuesday 29th October!.

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

“For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,” Mark 9:39

On Thursday we had a wellbeing day - thank you for helping to support this day by wearing odd socks. Year 4, our new Resilience team, led the day by doing activities to support well being with each class. After break, a few children from Year 4 worked with Year 5 on the KS2 playground and encouraged them to build their resilience and well being by engaging in physical activity (running around the playground) and with some gentle exercises including breathing exercises. It certainly put a smile on everyone’s faces and we continued into the next lesson in a positive way. Thank you, Year 4!

Our award winners:

Golden Award (RESPECT) - Martha

Writing Award - Beaux

Maths Award -  Stephen

Our learning this week…

In English we’ve been looking at using modal verbs and parenthesis in our writing. We then identified the features of our modelled text.

Our focus in maths has been identifying numbers on different number lines and comparing and ordering numbers up to 1,000,000.

In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the Creation story.

This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Olivia and Jacob. The theme of their liturgy was For us. In this week’s Gospel, we learnt how the disciples jealously wanted to keep the power to heal to themselves. The children’s liturgy explored Jesus’ response to our envious tendencies and challenges us to celebrate the abilities and character of others. Jesus is calling for unity amongst His followers and reminds them that those who are working His name all belong to His Kingdom. Olivia and Jacob asked Year 5 to think how they would follow Jesus this week by being friendly, forgiving, fair and generous.

“For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,” Mark 9:39

In science we have been learning about the movement of the planets relative to the Earth and the sun. The children have learnt facts about the different planets and their order within the solar system.

In geography the children have been learning to use and identify four-figure and six-figure grid references on ordnance survey maps.

In Spanish the children used their developing knowledge on greeting each other to write a role play script between two people.

In art the children have been experimenting by working in the negative by using rubbers to remove graphite work.

In PE the children are working with PE specialist Charlie from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of their lessons this half term is all about leadership and being a good buddy to develop their skills for their role as play leader.

Our school is currently in 6th place out of 12 schools in the trust. We have 1035 points.

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

1st     Aibhin              Year 5.              18,004 points

2nd   Alexander             Year 5               12,256 points

3rd    Olivia                    Year 5               11,823  points

4th    Conleth        Year 5               10,107 points

5th    Natalia                 Year 5              9,920 points

Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!

To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel

Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Monday 14th October Parents meetings for every class – in school from 1pm 

Wednesday 16th October Whole school Harvest Celebration Assembly

Friday 18th October Whole School Science workshop followed by Year 5 and 6 separate workshops.

Friday 18th October 3.15pm close for end of half term

Friday 15th November KS2 Autumn disco

Friday 6th December Christmas Fayre

Thursday 19th December Festive party clothes day

Have a lovely weekend, Year 5.

Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.