A child is born

As we come to the end of our Advent journey together, it has been a delight to experience the joy and wonder of Christmas within our school. Yesterday's KS2 productions were full of 'awe and wonder' as KS1 were the week before. The confidence and delivery of the year 5 acting team, the creativity in movements and dance, the enthusiasm in the singing and the way in which the Christmas story was imaginatively woven into the different scenes, truly was a joy to observe. 

 

 

Christingle service

Today we gathered together to celebrate the meaning of the Christingle - all the children made their own and we took the time to consider how significant the different parts are to the Christmas story.

The orange representing the world, the candle, Jesus the light of the world. The red ribbon his sacrifice of love for all of us and the sweets - well these speak of God's goodness to us.

The lighting of candles to represent each class in school was very special and we used this to symbolise the significance of God's love reaching out to His world.

After having Christmas lunch at school the temptation of the sweets lasted until after the service, but not that long after!

Another memorable part of our Advent journey together.

BBC Radio Leicester interview

Yesterday a group of children from school went to BBC radio Leicester to be interviewed about the Christingle oranges they have been making. They also had lots of creative fun decorating the Christmas tree and enjoying some live Christmas music.  A fun morning that was rounded off with Christmas lunch back at school.

Dancing in the playground

A great way to start the last day in school with a very festive approach to our morning Wake and Shake activity.

Today we have all embraced the Christmas spirit by wearing festive clothing to raise money for the Text Santa appeal.

Lots of fun and lots of cool moves!

A very strange Christmas story

Yesterday in KS1 I was feeling extremely forgetful and told the children a very strange Christmas story. My facts where all wrong, for example I talked about a young girl called Joanne, who was engaged to be married to a carpenter/builder called Bob, who took his wife on a journey on an elephant, to stay in the Hilton hotel! There was a rock star who visited a group of angels to share his latest hit single and three wise Santa Clauses who brought gifts. What a morning I was clearly having!

 

 

 

The response as you can image was that I was repeatedly shouted down and corrected, of course the young girl was called Mary, the journey was on a donkey, she was engaged to Joseph, it was clearly an angel that brought good news and although the visitors may have had white beards they were most certainly not Santa Claus.

 

The only thing I seemed to get right in the story was that it all centred around a baby, who was laid in a manger and was given the name Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we lit our candle and took our time to reflect, we thought how Christmas can so easily become about so many other things and that it is so easy to miss the child who is at the centre of all of it. A child who came to show God's love in so many unexpected ways.

 

A visit to the Curve

FS2 went to Curve last week a perfect production & a well behaved audience.

Even Fred the Ted enjoyed himself.

Based on the award winning children's books about Kipper the Dog, by Mick Inkpen.

 

It's snowing! And Kipper is very excited... Mischievous, curious and always funny, Kipper the Dog takes his friends on a wintry adventure, full of surprises and unexpected encounters. Featuring toe-tapping songs, puppets, clowning and lots of silliness.

 

A great visit.

 

 

Strictly Come Dancing at St Johns

Recently we were treated to a very special assembly that had all the elements of Strictly Come Dancing!

We were very privileged to have an ex pupil and her dance partner perform a rumba to the whole school and to have some judges of our very own to analyse the dance routines and give the scores. High scores all round!

A great opportunity to see live dancing and to offer our encouragement.

School's Eco Conference

Yesterday our 7 school councillors all had a fantastic day at the Space Centre as part of the Eco Conference.

They took part in workshops looking at the schools usage of water/electricity which they all found very fascinating. All returning with a renewed commitment to make a difference and cut costs!

They also experimented with making things with recycled milk bottles and looked at how important and useful composting is.

Finally they took time to consider how to set up a healthy tuck shop, so lots for them to work on in the new term.

A cold December morning

This morning we certainly needed the energy that our 'Wake and shake' morning brings to the start of school. There was a real festive feel to the music today with Mary's Boy Child by Boney M ringing out across the playground. Even a few festive pieces of tinsel and a wonderful piece of Christmas creativity to be shared in the playground as well.

 

One more week to go and the counting down of the days in each class is being enthusiastically received by all!

Straw and order

Over the past few days the staff and children of KS1 have worked hard to bring together another magical Christmas production. The dress rehearsal on Monday was thoroughly enjoyed by the rest of the school and yesterday saw the first of two productions to parents, and what a treat it was!

The creativity and imagination that was demonstrated by each class's performance brought so many aspects of the Christmas story to life. 

We had feuding donkeys and sheep, all upset about all the visitors in their stables. 

We had a very imaginative discussion about which star to follow - was that to be the cast of STAR WARS, a very lively pop group, or a simple star in the sky?

We had Shepherds with Walkie talkies rounding up their sheep who, seemed very fixated with watching TV. Dancing Wise Men with gifts, angels with dirty faces and inn keepers boasting about how quickly they had filled up their Inns.

 

In amongst this there was very clearly at the centre a mother, a father and a small child. A child that the Angels had come to sing about.

If Christmas hadn't started for any of those gathered in the hall yesterday, it certainly had by the end of the celebration that was the KS 1 production of  Straw and Order!

Things to remember

As we have been traveling to Christmas through the season of Advent we have been remembering some of the key messages that we have focused on in our assemblies this Autumn term.

These are displayed around the school, as a visual reminder and it is interesting how the children talk about them. 

Last week I had the opportunity to talk to children from across the school about what they enjoyed about our assemblies and why they were important to us as a school. They clearly remain one of the highlights of their time in school. 

Not only were they enthusiastic in talking about the creative ways in which we consider things together at these times, they  also talked enthusiastically about how important it was for them to take the time to stop, think and pray.

Remembering is something they talked about a lot, but also how these times help them to understand more about God's love and how we are to love each other and how important it is to thank God for all that we have.

A key theme that they talked about was light. Lighting candles in assembly to help us think, but also how important the Lighthouse is and that its purpose is to shine to help other people, just as we are to shine to make a difference too. Something certainly worth remembering.

So it comes to its finale!

The last song has been sung and the costumes have been put away, but the memories created by our KS1 production will I am sure go on for a long time.

Todays final production was as good as all the rest - a little different in some ways, but then it is a live production and it also involves KS1 children!

Over the past few days we have enjoyed each presentation, each one pointing us to Bethlehem, to follow the star and to find anew the baby in the manger.

Many thanks to all the staff that have worked so hard in bringing this together, it has been a challenging timescale as ever, but well worth all the effort and hard work.

Rainbows concert

Another wonderful evening of Christmas and other music to raise funds for the Rainbows charity held at St James the Greater Church in Leicester. 

Our contribution included our string orchestra playing Tango and Cha Cha, Ode to joy and Good King Wenceslas. With our wind band also contributing Tick Tock and Rat Tat Tat.

The children's performance was highly praised and they all thoroughly enjoyed being part of a very special evening.

Rainbows is a charity that provides care for terribly ill children or those with life limiting conditions. It is very dependent on fundraising to provide this vital care to not just the children, but also to their families. It makes a real difference and provides lots of amazing memories.

An excellent evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

Advent in our foyer

Each week in assembly we light one of the Advent candles to mark the next stage of our Advent journey. As part of our staff briefing on Monday's we do the same, pausing to reflect on the next stage of our journey. Our foyer display picks up on this theme each week as well.

 

 

We light this candle to remind us

that God is always with us

As we travel towards Advent

 

 may we remember His love for us

Foundation Christmas

As all our KS1 classes prepare for their Christmas nativity production next week, it is great to see the festive season being celebrated in so many ways. Even though it is clearly getting a little chilly in the base!

 

This week the children have been learning about the key characters in the Christmas story, at the same time as doing a bit of 'decking the halls!' There was even a king in residence this week!

Traveling together

 

 

This week we continued our Advent theme by looking at the concept of journeys. All journeys start somewhere and the Christmas story is full of unexpected starting points.

 

The one thing that is important about journeys is who we travel with, travelling alone can be peaceful for a while, especially if you are used to having a car full of children! But really the only way to travel is to travel together. For us as a school this is exactly what the next few weeks are about as we explore the Christmas story together in so many different ways.

 

Next week we will witness the fun and creativity of our KS1 production in school, this is always an event full of ‘awe and wonder’! The classes are working very hard on their contributions and the school has definitely taken on a very festive feel – even the Christmas tree has arrived today and will soon take pride of place in the main school hall.

At the same time KS2 are beginning their preparations for their Christmas production over at Church the following week. This again is a very special event in the school calendar, the mixture of drama, music and costumes, within the setting of the church, is something that always leaves a very special impression on everyone involved and who attend.

 

Of course there will also be the Christmas lunch, the celebration of Christingles and parties to look forward to. All of which fuel the growing excitement that the journey towards Christmas brings. All this will end with our final whole school assembly at 2:0pm on the Friday which parents and carers are invited to join us for.

 

We hope that you are able to join us on this journey and that you will enjoy the travelling together that this involves.

 

The art of shapes

Really enjoyed visiting year 1 and 2 classes this week and  seeing them so creatively engaged in learning about 3D shapes. Lots of messy hands around as well!