A trip to the Black Country Museum

On Monday our year 6 children and staff all enjoyed a fascinating day at the Black Country Museum as part of their Victorians topic. Lots to see and learn about and the experience of dressing to reflect the era. School was certainly different, the shops and the mine, but the sweet shop still had the same attraction as ever!

The wonders of the universe

Year 5 have been putting their artistic skills to work to create models of our universe - wonderful use of imagination, colour and different takes on how to present the planets.

World War Two in year 3

The title isn't suggesting that war has broken out in year 3, but that this is their topic for this academic term!

Last week they visited Beaumanor Hall and had a great day experiencing what the life of an evacuee might have been like. As part of their learning they have been considering why gas masks were so important and they have turned this into a creative design and technology project!

Reflections on the week

It was great to join the families and the wider community of St John the Baptist church on Sunday for their celebration of Harvest. We looked at the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and how Jesus met the needs of all the people there that day.  We saw how compassionate Jesus was towards those around him and we considered how we can respond to that today.

The focal point of the story is a little child who brings what he has and offers it to Jesus, in the same way that God asks us to offer what we have to him in the confidence that he will use it to make a difference in the community and world in which we live. Our harvest gifts are a clear outworking of this truth.

The harvest gifts that the church and school have brought together will be helping many different people through the work of the Open Hands Charity and the Red Cross. Both of these charities seek to put the gospel message of loving your neighbour into practice in tangible ways.

This theme continued this week as we began considering how we can support the Christmas shoe box appeal that is being organised by one of our local churches. In assembly yesterday we thought about how we celebrate Christmas and how different this can be in many parts of the world. The aim of the shoe box appeal is to bring some of the joy that Christmas is all about into the lives of children that live in conditions that are so much worse than ours. The whole school will be seeking to bring gifts in that can then be placed in shoe boxes and sent via this appeal to children in some of the most needy parts of the world.

Our theme of prayer and peace comes to an end this week and we have been inspired by the visit of the Maasai warriors to look at the theme of humility next half term as we lead up to Christmas. We were so struck by the way in which the Maasai found contentment in what they had. It was so clear to us that they found happiness in the fact that they did not want for more than they knew God would provide. In a world that will be driven by materialistic views of Christmas over the next few weeks this is something that speaks powerfully about the humility that is at times at the heart of finding real peace.

Year 2 poetry

A vibrant display has appeared in class 1/2B that celebrates the classes' poetry writing. Some lovely verse that reflects their growing understanding and enjoyment of their topic - under the sea.

Maasai Warriors visit St John's

Today we had the huge privilege of having the Maasai Warriors visit our school, an amazing experience!

We learnt about the life of the Maasai and enjoyed a selection of their songs and celebrations.

We also learnt how they used to hunt, what nomadic life is like and how they would welcome warriors home.

Seeing them line up in the dinner hall was quite something!

Harvest festival

The whole school enjoyed a visit to St Johns church this morning for our Harvest festival services. This year we are supporting the work of The Open Hands charity and the work of the Red Cross in Leicester.

The children brought a wonderful array of contributions and we took the time to consider the miracle that Jesus performed with the feeding of the 5,000.

Excellent readings and prayers by the Buntings and Finches for KS1, a memorable re-enactment of the feeding of the 5,000 by 6S and thought provoking prayers by 6M.

Rugby World cup

On a very wet Tuesday evening the school had the opportunity to take some children to the Canada versus Romania game at the Leicester City Stadium. Thankfully the rain held off for them to walk there, and they enjoyed a thrilling game, which saw a remarkable come back for Romania. 

The City has clearly enjoyed hosting these three games, Sunday saw the physical might of Tonga , against the skill and agility of Argentina, who play again on Sunday. Even Diego Maradona was there to celebrate their win!

The only sadness is that England are no longer in contention!

Under the sea

This morning I had a number of special visitors to my office - all made with plasticine!

A very creative way of bringing the KS1 'Under the sea' theme to life. Lots of hard work put into the detail and lots of proud children wearing head teacher award  stickers for their efforts!

God's goodness to us

This week we have been reflecting on God’s goodness to us and how we should respond to this.

 

Harvest is a time of thanksgiving, but it also focuses our minds on the needs of others and one of the out workings of God’s love in our lives is that we seek to share His goodness with each other.

 

Sometimes this comes from what we are able to do, such as through the sharing of things as in the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Sometimes it can be about us asking God to do something, through prayer, and sometimes it’s just about the everyday choices that we make in life.

 

Our prayer in assembly was that we would remember to be thankful to God, that we would also seek to remember others that are less fortunate than us, but that we would also seek to share God’s goodness in the things that we do every day.

 

 

Romeo and Juliet rehersals

Last week the cast enjoyed a morning workshop with some of the directors from the Shakespeare in schools team. They had a great morning working on their opening scene and received some excellent tips about how to perform on a live stage.

Then it was back to school and more work on establishing the key characters and the division between the two families that are at the centre of the play - we are illustrating this in our opening scene through a tug of war!

The children have also had to work on their ability to dance with other cast members - yes girls and boys do have to mix! The masked ball however gives them at least some anonymity.

The cast are working really hard on their lines - pure Shakespearean and are settling into their roles really well. Lots of hard work to follow, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Fan zone

The Rugby World Cup arrived in Leicester this week with a fantastic game between Argentina and Tonga. Two more world cup games to go and a fantastic Fan Zone to visit on Victoria park. Which is where we went yesterday with a number of children to experience part of the World Cup atmosphere.

The afternoon involved us partaking in some really fun activities - from World Cup crafts, to tackling and reaction response challenges, to tag rugby and challenging warm up activities.

We learnt some new skills, pitted ourselves against our own best times and captured a little more of the wonderful atmosphere that is around Leicester this week. Just a shame that England are no longer in the tournament!

Around our school - a walk of art!

A walk around the school this week shows how the various classes have been utilising their artistic skills. A new prayer board has been produced for the school hall, classes have been learning about the blackouts and personal portraits have been produced. All of which really enriches the school environment.