St Mary's Church of England (Aided) Primary School
2014-15
Welcome to Year 5/6!
Term 6 June 2015
Theatre rehearsals and performances next week
Year 6 children need to go straight to the Theatre on Monday morning (please fill in and bring the permission slip if you have not already done so - many thanks for all those that have been returned already.) Main characters (as detailed in the letter) need to be at the Theatre at 6pm on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings; all other characters to arrive at 6.30pm.
Year 5 children will be watching the 1.30pm performance on Tuesday afternoon - please be aware they will probably return to school slightly later, to be picked up at 3.30pm.
Leavers' Lido Party - Tuesday 7th July 7.30pm - 8.45pm
We had a lovely, if slightly chilly time, and it was really nice seeing all the children together having such fun (especially those who had begun the year as less confident swimmers!) Thanks again to parents for your contributions for the evening.
KS2 Sports Day
This is taking place on Wednesday 8th July from 9.30 am - all parents and family welcome to attend. Please ensure your child brings a hat and water bottle and applies suncream as necessary.
"Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies" tickets
Many thank to all those who have purchased tickets already - please see your child's class teacher if you have yet to buy some (or send in the form & money detailing which night you would like tickets for.) Performances will take place on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday the 15th July at 7.30 pm and tickets cost £5 - all children from Year 1 to Year 5 will be taken to see a performance on Tuesday afternoon at 1.30pm.
Transition Days
Best of luck to all our Year 6 children as they go up to CNS for their transition days this week on Wednesday 24th, Thursday 25th and Friday 26th of June. They need to go straight to the main hall at CNS for 8.35am, wearing St Mary's uniform and taking their PE kit and other equipment with them. See you all next Monday, and hope you have a lovely time!
Whilst our Year 6 are out, Year 5 will also be spending time in their new classes on Wednesday morning, and we're looking forward to welcoming Ms Hollander to the Year 5/6 team, and getting to know the Year 4 children who will be with us in September.
Swimming gala
We're keeping our fingers crossed for our Year 6 girls swimming team who will represent St Mary's at the County Finals on July 9th.
Magna Carta Day - 18th June
On Thursday 18th June we joined together with the Mayor and Town Council to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. In our classes we discussed the significance of the Charter and why the barons demanded these actions from King John, and also considered rules for our own class charters. We also enjoyed making medieval decorations, trying illuminated lettering and practising medieval games and country dances to perform at the country fair. The day itself was thoroughly enjoyable - beginning with the medieval fair activities and culminating with the crowning of the Year 4 King and Queen by the Mayor. Many thanks to all those children and parents who put such time and effort into creating costumes. The children particularly enjoyed trying all the games, and eating the hog roast generously provided by the Town Council (many requests for seconds!)
Cricket tournament
We were very proud of the stunning performance put in by our cricket team at the partnership tournament at Great Tew; they came in a very respectable third place and there were some really close matches. The standard of fielding and bowling was particularly high. Particular congratulations to the members of the team selected as sporting champions: Jack Williams and Charlie Rose.
Bake-off winners
Congratulations to our Upper Key Stage winners:
1st place - Majidu Rahman
2nd place - Charlie Fisher
3rd place - Lily Melia
It was particularly special to have their prizes presented in assembly by Emily Watkins, proprietor chef at the Kingham Plough. Congratulations also to Owen Hancock who goes through to the Partnership Bake-off as our Year 5 winner and will represent St Mary's against other schools at CNS soon. Thanks to our Student Councillors & Mrs Hannington for all their hard work organising and judging this event,
Term 4 February 2015
Partial Solar Eclipse - 20th March 2015
We all enjoyed experiencing the eclipse this morning, and kept ourselves safe following the live stream provided by CNS. Some children made pinhole viewers (inspired by the one Josh brought in) and there was a lot of discussion about what it was like to experience an eclipse, how it made us feel and how people in ancient times would have felt when such a phenomena occurred.
Ashmolean trip
Congratulations to all our children for their super behaviour on our trip to the Ashmolean Museum to investigate Ancient Greece. We were really impressed by how well they listened to the guide, their excellent Greeks knowledge and their own fab questions. Here are a few pictures from the day:
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Thursday 5th March - World Book Day.
Dress as a character from your favourite book and bring a £1 donation.
Thursday 12th March - Ashmolean Museum trip.
All children will need a packed lunch. Leaving school at 9am and returning by 3pm.
Tuesday 17th March - Year 5 Singing Workshop as part of Chipping Norton Music Festival. Performance at 5pm at CNS (1 ticket available per child taking part)
Term 3 January 2015
Week 5 (2nd Feb)
Please remember to bring pyjamas/a long sleeved top and trousers for our swimming sessions tomorrow. We're looking forward to an inter-house swimming gala in next week's session, and Ms Smales is busy organising teams and events for this.
Week 4 (26th Jan)
The Supercamps activity day was a lot of fun - Year 5 and 6 children enjoyed trying out quad bikes and making catapults and juggling balls.
Well done to our netball players - you worked together very well and Ms Smales was really pleased with your performance. Congratulations to the three sporting champions: Dijonay Walker, Johnathen Carroll and Jack Williams and well done to all those who took part in FREEZING conditions!
Week 3 (18th Jan)
Huge congratulations to our fab swimming teams - we're very proud of you.
We've also been really impressed with how hard the children have worked during assessment week (and have given them a week off homework in celebration of this
)Year 5 have enjoyed starting to learn the songs they will be working on and performing in the Chipping Norton Music Festival Year 5 Singing Workshop, which will take place on Tuesday 17th March.
Next week a team will be representing St Mary's at the Netball tournament - good luck to them!
Week 2 (11th Jan)
We've really enjoyed listening to, acting out and retelling a selection of Greek myths so far this term, including stories about Theseus and the Minotaur, and there has been some great writing produced related to the story of Heracles and the Nemean lion, and about our own mythical creatures.
Well done to everyone who's been working so hard on their spellings and times tables at home. We've noticed a real improvement in speed of recall and accuracy - please keep it up!
Well done to everyone who's been working so hard on their spellings and times tables at home. We've noticed a real improvement in speed of recall and accuracy - please keep it up!
TERMLY OVERVIEW
This term we will be learning about an ancient civilisation which has contributed a great deal to life in Modern Britain today: Ancient Greece. In science we are studying the Human Body, particularly the work of the heart, lungs and other organs, and the effect of diet and exercise on our bodies. In computing we are continuing to develop our programming skills and considering how best to use the Internet effectively and safely.
Our whole class instrumental lessons continue (Year 6 - clarinets and Year 5 - brass) and we will also be preparing to take the Year 5 children to the Chipping Norton Music Festival Singing workshop on Tuesday 17th March at CNS. We are also looking forward to a trip in March to the Ashmolean Museum to study artefacts and take part in Ancient Greece workshops - letter to go out soon regarding this.
Swimming lessons will continue on Tuesdays and we wish our team all the best for the Swimming Gala. We will also have PE sessions on a Friday afternoon: netball and gymnastics.
Miss Halliwell, Ms Smales, Ms Thorsby and Mrs Pike
Term 2 November 2014
Hope everyone has had a lovely half-term and is raring to go for Term 2! We're really looking forward to welcoming you all back tomorrow, Mon 3rd Nov at 8.35am.
Swimming
Year 5 and 6 classes will be swimming every Tuesday this term - children need to have brought back their permission slip, and to bring appropriate swimwear, a towel and a swimming hat on these days. If you wish for your child to wear goggles please send a letter to your child's class teacher taking responsibility for them doing so. A voluntary donation of £1 per week is requested towards the costs of lessons - please give this to your child's class teacher each week (£7 for a one-off payment for the term.) Please ensure that children who need asthma inhalers have theirs in school.
PE lessons will be replaced by swimming on Tuesdays but we will retain our Friday lesson so children will need normal PE kit in school for that.
Music lessons will also be continuing on Tuesday afternoons - we're very impressed by how well people have remembered to bring their instruments so far!
Mrs Pike, Miss Halliwell and Ms Thorsby
Hope everyone has had a lovely half-term and is raring to go for Term 2! We're really looking forward to welcoming you all back tomorrow, Mon 3rd Nov at 8.35am.
Swimming
Year 5 and 6 classes will be swimming every Tuesday this term - children need to have brought back their permission slip, and to bring appropriate swimwear, a towel and a swimming hat on these days. If you wish for your child to wear goggles please send a letter to your child's class teacher taking responsibility for them doing so. A voluntary donation of £1 per week is requested towards the costs of lessons - please give this to your child's class teacher each week (£7 for a one-off payment for the term.) Please ensure that children who need asthma inhalers have theirs in school.
PE lessons will be replaced by swimming on Tuesdays but we will retain our Friday lesson so children will need normal PE kit in school for that.
Music lessons will also be continuing on Tuesday afternoons - we're very impressed by how well people have remembered to bring their instruments so far!
Mrs Pike, Miss Halliwell and Ms Thorsby
Term 1 September 2014
Update from the Year 6 trip to PGL Liddington
WEDNESDAY
Excellent team work today in all activities, and especially this afternoon's raft building. Really pleasing that our group leader had received 100% positive feedback from leaders working with our groups in activity sessions so far. Two groups were climbing: absolutely everybody had a go even if nervous, people encouraged each other really well and some people even made it all the way to the top (Mr Lawson doing so in less than a minute!
)
Mountain biking was popular too, and we all had a lot of fun making rafts from barrels and ropes and sailing them on the lake (with the vast majority of people ending up overboard.) This evening we built a campfire, and enjoyed singing around it and rounded the evening off with an impressively well-sung rendition of "Harvest for the World"
We're really looking forward to seeing our families again tomorrow at approximately 3pm - we'll update the school office when we leave Liddington. Before then: archery and trapeze.
TUESDAY
A really busy and enjoyable day, and the weather was kind - sunny spells and no showers (quite cold and windy at times, especially at the top of the zipwire tower)
We've been so proud of how the children have shown courage (value of the term!) and conquered their fears, whether of darkness, water or heights and they've been so supportive and encouraging to each other too. We did have a small incident when canoeing where two people capsized, but Mr Lawson and Mrs Jordan have both totally dried out now...
MONDAY
All arrived safely (no travel sickness!). Settled in very well - everybody had a good meal at tea time & took part in an outdoor map reading challenge in the dark, indoor games & a quiz. At bedtime we read some more of "Aquila" - only two chapters to go! Very quiet here now so hopefully all well rested for tomorrow's activities, including tunnel trail, zip wire & canoeing!
Week 7 - beginning 20th October 2014
Year 6 children will be setting off to PGL Liddington on Monday 20th October at 2.30pm. Children need to arrive between 2.00 and 2.15pm and leave their luggage in the Year 3/4 Art Area before going to Miss Halliwell's room to be registered.
All other children in the Year 5/6 classes should go to classrooms as normal tomorrow at 8.35am to be registered and have an enjoyable week in store too.
We are looking forward very much to welcoming Miss Thorsby to the department this week.
Everyone needs to make sure they are up to date with their online maths homework at www.activelearnprimary.co.uk - ask your maths teacher if unsure.
Week 6
Well done everyone - the space games are fantastic!
You had obviously all put a lot of time and effort into planning and making your games, and we really enjoyed playing them and evaluating each other's work. Thank you to all the children and parents for your effort, help and support.
Week 4
We're looking forward to welcoming lots of visitors tomorrow to our Open Morning between 9am and 11am.
Music lessons are going well - we're really pleased that almost all the Year 5 children have already brought their permission slips in to take their brass instruments home to practise. This week we've enjoyed using iPads to film interviews with the main characters from our class novel, "Aquila", and are going to use our work to help us write newspaper reports.
Ignite sports clubs started this week on Thursdays after school - this term it's football for Year 5 and 6, and it's completely free and not too late to sign up...
Week 2
We've had a lovely start to term and enjoyed meeting our new classes. Particular highlights were our outdoor PE sessions this afternoon, and having chance to use some of our fantastic new ICT equipment, especially the Pro-bots.
There will be a Year 5/6 Welcome meeting on Thurs 11th September at 3.10pm in Mrs Pike's room. This will be an opportunity for parents and carers to meet teachers and find out what we'll be studying this year and we really hope to see as many of you as possible there.
After this meeting there will be a briefing for the parents and carers of those Year 6 children who are going on our residential trip to PGL Liddington in October.
Year 5/6 children have been given their new homework books and part of this week's homework is to cover them, please. Children have also received a spelling list with highlighted words to learn (there will be a test at the end of next week) and details of our termly homework project. This is linked to our science topic work, "Earth and beyond" and we would like children to make a board game with a space theme, to be shared with the class in the week beginning Oct 13th.
Ms Smales (Willow), Miss Halliwell (Holly) and Mrs Pike (Maple)
Update from the Year 6 trip to PGL Liddington
WEDNESDAY
Excellent team work today in all activities, and especially this afternoon's raft building. Really pleasing that our group leader had received 100% positive feedback from leaders working with our groups in activity sessions so far. Two groups were climbing: absolutely everybody had a go even if nervous, people encouraged each other really well and some people even made it all the way to the top (Mr Lawson doing so in less than a minute!
)Mountain biking was popular too, and we all had a lot of fun making rafts from barrels and ropes and sailing them on the lake (with the vast majority of people ending up overboard.) This evening we built a campfire, and enjoyed singing around it and rounded the evening off with an impressively well-sung rendition of "Harvest for the World"
We're really looking forward to seeing our families again tomorrow at approximately 3pm - we'll update the school office when we leave Liddington. Before then: archery and trapeze.
TUESDAY
A really busy and enjoyable day, and the weather was kind - sunny spells and no showers (quite cold and windy at times, especially at the top of the zipwire tower)
We've been so proud of how the children have shown courage (value of the term!) and conquered their fears, whether of darkness, water or heights and they've been so supportive and encouraging to each other too. We did have a small incident when canoeing where two people capsized, but Mr Lawson and Mrs Jordan have both totally dried out now...
MONDAY
All arrived safely (no travel sickness!). Settled in very well - everybody had a good meal at tea time & took part in an outdoor map reading challenge in the dark, indoor games & a quiz. At bedtime we read some more of "Aquila" - only two chapters to go! Very quiet here now so hopefully all well rested for tomorrow's activities, including tunnel trail, zip wire & canoeing!
Week 7 - beginning 20th October 2014
Year 6 children will be setting off to PGL Liddington on Monday 20th October at 2.30pm. Children need to arrive between 2.00 and 2.15pm and leave their luggage in the Year 3/4 Art Area before going to Miss Halliwell's room to be registered.
All other children in the Year 5/6 classes should go to classrooms as normal tomorrow at 8.35am to be registered and have an enjoyable week in store too.
We are looking forward very much to welcoming Miss Thorsby to the department this week.
Everyone needs to make sure they are up to date with their online maths homework at www.activelearnprimary.co.uk - ask your maths teacher if unsure.
Week 6
Well done everyone - the space games are fantastic!
You had obviously all put a lot of time and effort into planning and making your games, and we really enjoyed playing them and evaluating each other's work. Thank you to all the children and parents for your effort, help and support.
Week 4
We're looking forward to welcoming lots of visitors tomorrow to our Open Morning between 9am and 11am.
Music lessons are going well - we're really pleased that almost all the Year 5 children have already brought their permission slips in to take their brass instruments home to practise. This week we've enjoyed using iPads to film interviews with the main characters from our class novel, "Aquila", and are going to use our work to help us write newspaper reports.
Ignite sports clubs started this week on Thursdays after school - this term it's football for Year 5 and 6, and it's completely free and not too late to sign up...
Week 2
We've had a lovely start to term and enjoyed meeting our new classes. Particular highlights were our outdoor PE sessions this afternoon, and having chance to use some of our fantastic new ICT equipment, especially the Pro-bots.
There will be a Year 5/6 Welcome meeting on Thurs 11th September at 3.10pm in Mrs Pike's room. This will be an opportunity for parents and carers to meet teachers and find out what we'll be studying this year and we really hope to see as many of you as possible there.
After this meeting there will be a briefing for the parents and carers of those Year 6 children who are going on our residential trip to PGL Liddington in October.
Year 5/6 children have been given their new homework books and part of this week's homework is to cover them, please. Children have also received a spelling list with highlighted words to learn (there will be a test at the end of next week) and details of our termly homework project. This is linked to our science topic work, "Earth and beyond" and we would like children to make a board game with a space theme, to be shared with the class in the week beginning Oct 13th.
Ms Smales (Willow), Miss Halliwell (Holly) and Mrs Pike (Maple)