Disco time

Last night the long awaited school disco, organised by the school PTFA, was enjoyed by children from across the school.

The hall was turned into a classic 70's disco with rotating lights and wall to wall mirrors, with the school's own DJ spinning the discs!

Three separate discos ran across the evening, giving children from Foundation stage and year 1, followed by year 2 and 3, with the final event taken up by children from year 4,5 and 6, the opportunity to dance and enjoy themselves with their friends.

Great participation in all the activities and of course the boys, as usual, couldn't resist the temptation of the knee slide.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who made the evening possible.

Burn like a star

This half term our 'signature ' tune for assemblies will be 'Burn like a star' by REND Collective.

The words encourage us to to consider our own response to God's love as well as to seek to share His love with others. In addition we will continue to be considering how we respond to God's call to make a difference together through the strength that He gives.

It has been great to have the year 6 action team working with me in creating actions to match the words. Yet again they have come up with suggestions that involve full on participation, high energy and creativity! Another favourite song in the making I believe!

 

We were born for greater things
We were born to chase Your dreams
Come my Lord, awaken holy fire

We are turning from our sin
We are praying once again
Come my Lord, awaken holy fire

We are aching for the real thing
Hearts are open wide

Burn like a star
Light a fire in our hearts


 Send revival start in us
Set Your holy spark in us
Send us out in resurrection power

Space the final frontier

It is really impressive to see the full extent of year 2's technology project presented outside their classrooms.

 

An amazing array of planets, spacecraft and aspects of the universe caught through art and technology.

 

It is clear that all the children have really enjoyed utilising their artistic expression as part of their learning.

 

I am sure that Captain Kirk would be very impressed!

Year 3 ICT Pioneers get underway!

Today the year 3 Pioneers commenced their special training to enable them to support their peers and class teachers in the use of iPad technology.

The excitement and enthusiasm outside the room before the sessions began was contagious and the behaviour, focus and conduct of the children in the sessions was excellent.

The fist session focused on using the iPad's to record written ideas and to learn some of the really cool keyboard shortcuts that are so helpful - even the member of staff working with the group to support the trainer learnt something!

I am sure they are all looking forward to their next session and will be keen to share their new found knowledge both in school and at home.

Creativity around the school

Half term always sees a number of imaginative homework's being set across the school and this one has been no exception.




Year 2 it would seem have joined the space race and year 3 have been creating volcanoes!

In addition year 3 have been developing their talents as artists, exploring the techniques associated with perspective and interpreting this into their own landscape pictures.

Year 1 and the BeeBots

It was great to make a visit to see one of our year 1 classes enjoying the delights of iPad technology and good old fashioned Beebots!








The enthusiasm and skill level of the children was very impressive, they even challenged me to attempt level 9 and I failed at my first few attempts!

Beebots allow the children to explore and develop their programming skills using simple commands that they can review and improve.

The children have also been exploring a Jungle Journey theme in their curriculum and parts of the classroom have been turned into an interactive Jungle.

In addition the Beebot challenge was linked to enabling the Beebots to visit various parts of the Jungle. Great to see such a fantastic cross curricular link and the use of technology to engage the children in their learning.

What is truth?

"What is truth?" Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, "He is not guilty of any crime."

Our week has started with consideration of the simple , yet powerful question that Pilate asked of Jesus. What indeed is truth? Interestingly Pilate's response provokes an intense debate about how we can know something to be true or not and yet if we turn to our bibles we find that Jesus gives a very simple definition about what is true in John 17 v 17.

'Your word is truth' he proclaims as he prays for His disciples.

So it would seem that a starting point for truth can be found in God's word, clearly not every fact that is true is there, but certainly guiding principles are that help us to establish what it is that Paul urges us to rejoice in.

One of our questions this week is - what difference does rejoicing in the truth make?

Interestingly Jesus prays that the truth will sanctify, a powerful spiritual word, but one that seems to be simply about putting right what is wrong.

It would seem that this might also be a good test of the difference that truth makes and the reason why we need to rejoice in it. Does it change things, does it bring us closer to God, does it heal relationships and build God's Kingdom?

If it does, it would seem that these are all very good reasons to rejoice!

It is this impact that we will be considering as we move forward with the next part of our journey through 1 Corinthians for Paul tells us to persevere in love and the motivation behind this can be found in the positive changes that it brings.

Love rejoices in the truth

Our assembly themes move on to focus on Paul’s call to rejoice in the truth. A simple statement, but what does  it mean and what does it look like in practice?

 

An interesting place to start in our assemblies could be the concept of truth itself? It would seem difficult to rejoice in something if we don’t know what it is.

 

It is a powerful question – What is truth? One that really gets you thinking if you give a few moments to consider your answer. I did this earlier and it’s still ticking away in the background!

 

But also what does it mean to rejoice in something and what does this look like in our response to things in our daily lives? 

 

Equally it would be important to consider whether we can actually rejoice in things that are not ‘truth’  and what impact this has on our relationships with one another and God?

 

Clearly truth is not just a fact about something. If it was I think Paul would have focused elsewhere in his response to what love is.

 

So what does Paul mean when he challenges us to rejoice in the truth and do we really seek to put this into practice in our daily lives as Corinthians challenges us to do, or is it just something that we try to comfortably ignore?

 

A number of thought provoking questions for all of us to ask ourselves and explore together this week.

All heaven declares

The cold start to many mornings this week has really brought the beauty of creation into focus and reminded me of Psalm 19 and its proclamation about how creation declares the glory of God.

David sums up the awe and wonder that creation can inspire, but not to point us to its own wonders, but to the one who made the world in which we live.

In many ways this is why we have embraced forest schools as an approach to learning. Having the opportunity to explore and learn together in our school grounds not only helps us to learn things about ourselves and about those we work with - teamwork is always a learning process on both sides! But also it reminds us of the God who inspired the creation we enjoy.

At times over the year I set the children a challenge. It's called the 10 second challenge - nothing original in that I know- but the challenge urges them to find something that is of creation and to take at least ten seconds to reflect on it. To hold it if this is possible, but if not just to be still and to reflect on what ever it is they have chosen. At the end of the challenge they are encouraged to thank God for the wonder of his creation.



Ten seconds may not be long, but from their feedback I know they find it worthwhile.

The ten second challenge -  something I will be looking to put into practice on my morning walks this week!

 

PSALM 19

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

Code makers

Year 6 have been developing their programming skills and learning  coding skills over recent weeks.

Its amazing that a few instructions, put in the right order and tested to make sure they run in the way intended, can produce images and text that respond to a user's entries.







As the encyclopaedia puts it :

Computer programming (often shortened to programming) is a process that leads from an original formulation of a computing problem to executable computer programs. Programming involves activities such as analysis, developing understanding, generating algorithms, verification of requirements of algorithms including their correctness and resources consumption, and implementation (commonly referred to as coding)of algorithms in a target Programming language.

All sounds very complex and yet our year 6 children are demonstrating this ability already!

Ash Wednesday - A week early!

Last Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday at church with both key stages attending their own services. A week early as it wouldn't have been practical in half term!

As Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent we took the time to reflect on what it means for us today by cooking pancakes and considering why palm crosses were traditionally burnt and the ash used to mark a cross on people's foreheads.



 Pancakes are clearly not  part of any traditional Ash Wednesday service, but the fact that the first batch was made without any recipe or instructions and the second by following the recipe to the letter, focused our minds on the choice that we all have to make.




The first set of pancakes were very interesting and maybe not what you would want to eat. The second were definitely edible and both were cooked up by our Master Chef.

The point of all this being?

2 John 1:6
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love

Ash Wednesday reminds us that everyday we make the choice to follow the life that God has called us to. When we choose not to it has consequences, we make up our own recipe and the finished product is not what was intended.

And yet God is one who 'keep no record of wrongs' and Ash Wednesday is a vivid reminder of the lengths that he was prepared to go to in order that we have a second chance to follow the recipe and to know what it truly is to live as a child of God.

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life.

4V blog again!

Class 4V wanted to share some of their thoughts on their work studying The Borrowers as well as a few other things, so please read on !

“In this marvellous book, the fantastic charcters are: little Arietty, Homily and Pod.  There is also a human boy.  My favourite is Arietty, this is because she is always curious to see what is going to happen next.”

“This happy family of miniature people (called ‘The Borrowers’) borrow things from ‘Human Beans’!  One day, Arietty goes borrowing and , even though she was told not to, she talks to a boy.  The next thing they know, they’re on a chaotic adventure to save their race.”

“My favourite character is Homily because she is funny and will suddenly start to cry.  Another thing I like about Homily is the fact that she is passionate about what she wants to do.”

“We loved reading the book and comparing it to the movie!”

“We have produced so much good work that we have filled our cube jar and have earned ourselves a reward party at the start of next half term!”

“I have learnt all the scientific words I need to explain the water cycle.”

Class 4V become BLOGGERS!

This terms topic has been ‘The Borrowers’. Please read about the types of activities we have been doing and the many things that we have learnt:

 

This white winter, we have been reading the outstanding book The Borrowers by the marvellous Mary Norton.  After, we wrote an amazing book review to encourage people to read it.  4v then planned and wrote an outstanding sequel to the Borrowers.  We gathered some materials and made a borrowers room in a cardboard box. The furniture was made from objects we found in our homes and classroom. 

 

Assisted by the ICT pioneers, we learnt about the microscopic borrowers and used SimpleMind on the IPADs to create a Borrowers family tree.

 

In science, we have been learning about the interesting water cycle. Did you know that the scientific word for rain is precipitation?

Also, in maths we have been practising methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Learning new methods of division has been the hardest but we are practising well and using our ‘maths surgery’ if we need it. Next, we will be looking at problem solving and shapes.

 

A time for celebration

It is with great pleasure that I was able to share the outcomes of our recent Statutory Inspection of Methodist and Anglican Schools (Section 48) earlier this week. This brings to a close another busy and successful half term with many things to be celebrated.

 

The report focused on four areas that are key aspects of any Church Aided school and also reports on one summary grade. In all outcomes the school was graded as Outstanding. This is a real testimony to all involved in the school and an excellent demonstration of the impact that our faith and values have.  Following the receipt of the report we also received a congratulatory certificate from Bishop Tim, which we will proudly display in the school Foyer.

 

My Lighthouse

Our creative artists have finally finished their construction of our very own St John's Lighthouse!


This has come together over a number of weeks and will take pride of place in our school foyer. It will even have its very own working light!

Around the main body of the lighthouse are the words of one of our favourite songs, which in many ways inspired the school's lighthouse theme, 'My lighthouse' by the REND collective.

A big thank you to everyone that has been involved in the construction process.

Writing around the school

This morning it was a real privilege to visit various classes to see how they were developing their writing as well as their evaluation and review skills.

It was great to see how one class was developing their very own sequel to the Borrowers, another working on their persuasive writing skills and using these to develop an information booklet about Alton Towers and another evaluating previous entries into the 500 words competition.





Lots of great conversations about different language features, planning stories using writing frames and identifying why a text engages and draws you in.

In addition the visits to the classrooms demonstrated how creative each class has been in integrating their literacy work into so many other curriculum areas.

Creativity in action

An insight into some of the creative art work and displays that can be seen around school at the moment.

Many are linked to our literacy and collective worship themes and demonstrate how each class is developing an integrated and creative curriculum that has at its heart child centred learning.

Safer Internet Day Pioneer sessions

Today as part of Safer Internet Day we have been considering how exciting the Internet is, but also how we can keep ourselves safe. The ICT Pioneers considered both the benefits of the Internet and what key messages they would want to pass on to their friends.

A few tips they came up with were:

Keep your personal information private, don't share your name or address

Don't download files from people you don't know

Make sure you tell an adult if you have any concerns

Age restrictions on games and films are there for a reason

Don't say things on line that you know might hurt other people

Lots of good ideas and lots of common sense in their approach, let's hope their messages are listened to!

In the second session the Pioneers considered the key ideas behind the call to be SMART online.

SAFE - keep your personal information safe

MEET -friends made on line are strangers they can be dangerous

ACCEPTING - don't accept files from strangers

RELIABLE - not every site or search entry return or every person is reliable, be aware

TELL- if you are unsure tell someone

They worked with the Simplemind APP to make a presentation of their ideas so that they could share this with their peers.  Good to see them transferring their skills and using them to bring together a range of ideas. 

A few thoughts on forgiveness….

This week we will be considering the call to forgive, clearly not the easiest thing Paul calls us to do as an outworking of love.

It is said that every text and email message is stored somewhere on a mass of servers around the world. I wonder how many would we regret sending, wish that we could recall and wipe out?

 

 How many do we wish that we might never have received, words said in anger, secrets betrayed, foolish comments or words that sought to seek revenge?

 

 The problem with one action is that it can so easily escalate into so much more, one hurt can lead to another and the impact can last for years.  How much of our world’s history has been dominated by and continues to be dominated by a lack of forgiveness and the desire for revenge?

 

Jesus says that we are to ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. To forgive as we forgive others, an implicit assumption that we do the second or that God’s example should lead us to forgive? 

 

Forgiveness, maybe one of the hardest words linked to Paul’s passage on love and yet probably one of the most understood biblical words.

 

In a world dominated by emotions, do we believe that we have to feel able to forgive and that we need some kind of emotional intensity to push us towards the act of forgiveness?  Do we think that if we forgive we are saying that something was ok, that the action or the words spoken are something we should just approve of?

 

If it is, then no wonder it is so impossible to do, but God doesn’t ask us to do anything that is impossible, so when God calls us to forgive, what does he mean by forgiveness?

 

It would seem that biblical forgiveness is an act and a decision. In forgiving it does not approve of what has happened or say that something was right. It does not encourage the same action or support it happening to someone else. But it is a decision and it is an act of love.

 

God’s forgiveness clarifies this so clearly. C S Lewis is quoted as saying: “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

 

Psalm 103 v 12 paints a fascinating picture of God’s forgiveness – as far as the East is from the West. Takes some getting your head around this but basically it reinforces the truth that once forgiven God’s act of forgiveness removes the act that needed forgiving, never to be remembered.

 

 Interestingly, the scope of biblical forgiveness not only applies to our relationships with others, but also it apples to our relationship with ourselves. To forgive others, yes, but also to forgive ourselves. At times this maybe an even more challenging thing to consider?

 

To forgive – to keep no record of wrongs, to let go, not to hold to account, a tough one, but it changes lives and changes communities and it can change our lives as well.

Tell your story

 
It was great to be part of the family communion this morning at St John's Church. Throughout the service we considered what our God is like and how Jesus is the light that shows us the way to know God personally.



We also considered what our own response to discovering God's love should be and how we as a school and a church can share the light of Christ within our local community, through the relationships that we build and our own personal witness.


One of the songs used this morning was 'What is your God like?' a fantastic song that we use at school. It has great lyrics and some imaginative actions. The chorus uses the New Zealand Rugby Hakka as a basis for actions and these really emphasises the words - ' he is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love. Always good to all, compassionate to all that he has made.'

Great to use these actions after a night of gripping rugby on Friday evening, although strangely the Welsh in the congregation didn't seem to appreciate the celebration!



During the communion the children created a graffiti wall that reflected their thoughts and ideas about what God is like. Many of the things that we have been thinking about in school contributed to this and it was fantastic to see so much of 1 Corinthians 13 appearing. We shared this at the end of the service and it will be displayed in the church for a while.



Looking forward to joining the congregation again in March.