Personal Development: Gallery
Jubilee Year launch - Pilgrims of Hope - January 24th 2025
Date: 26th Jan 2025 @ 11:42am
Our school community came together for an amazing launch for the very special Jubilee Year.
A Jubilee is celebrated within the Catholic church every 25 years. This year the theme will be 'Pilgrims of Hope'.
We are called together to experience joy and strength as we embarkon a journey to be 'agents of change,' working together for justice, love and peace, locally and globally.
After learning about the importance and theme of the Jubilee, the children across school have Celebrated the Word and written their own pledges.
We gathered together to reflect and share pledges before displaying them all around the hall.
We are excited for more events to come during the Jubilee Year and are filled with hope for the difference we can make in fulfilling our pledges!
Whole School - Justice Days - 15th and 16th January 2025
Date: 16th Jan 2025 @ 3:03pm
The children have really enjoyed the past two 'Justice days'. They have focused on this particular house value and have taken part in a wide range of activities centred around the the theme of justice. Below is list of activities they have taken part in;
What is Justice?- First the children watched videos and learned about what Justice means. They then identified as a group what justice looks like in school, at home, in our communities and in the wider world.
St Oscar Romero- The children increased their knowledge about St Oscar Romero through different resources and created a fact file on his life focussing on his fight for justice. In KS1 the children found out about the significance of the Romero cross and the local people who make them in El Salvador.
St Mother Teresa- The children loved learning about St Mother Teresa and her selfless life and fight for justice. They took part in various debates and activities focussing on the timeline of her life.
DJ the Dolphin- The children had a little refresher on what the CAFOD character DJ the Dolphin represents within Catholic social teaching.
Justice circle- The children enjoyed circle time focussed on the theme of Justice.
Fairtrade Banana game- KS2 children learned all about fairtrade when selling bananas and took part in some intense discussions regarding pay for each group or person in the chain.
One for you, three for me - KS1 children took part in a craft activity to create their own ideal meal on a plate. They were then given a 'meal ticket' and many were shocked to discover that only a third of the class received would receive their own meal plate, the remaining children were entitled to a plate of rice. We talked about how this did not seem fair or 'just' but was something that is real for many people in our world.
P4C- The children absolutely loved taking part in the "Is it fair?" game. They also discussed and debated about Blind Justice.
Wordle- The children created their own wordles based around the word 'Justice'.
Music- The children listened to songs relating to justice and identified the meanings behind them. They also added in some of their own verses as well as actions.
Prayer spaces - The children participated enthusiastically in a range of reflective activities linked to our Justice theme which included: Scripture art based on Micah 6: 6-8 to 'Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly'. Creating a justice cross using relevant words, images and symbols that they had found out about. 'International injustice' station at which the children located places on a world map where the people living there may need our prayers for justice. We placed candles over these places and prayed together.
Prayer writing - discussing ideas together and writing our own prayers for justice.
Art - children across the school worked with Miss Crowley on a special Justice themed art project which will soon be displayed in school.
Y5 - Visit to A Christmas Carol performance at Norton Priory
Date: 17th Dec 2024 @ 1:02pm
Year 5 had a wonderful morning watching a performance of 'A Christmas Carol' at Norton Priory. The children interacted with the performers excellently and had such a fun time.
Extra Curricular - Mini Vinnies Visit to Madeline McKenna Care Home
Date: 17th Dec 2024 @ 8:20am
The children sang carols and gave out the cards and ornaments they had made for the residents there.
Everyone had a lovely time and the children were given a selection box from the residents and staff.
The Mini Vinnies want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Y6 Christmas Crafts with Prayer Partners
Date: 13th Dec 2024 @ 11:25am
Year 6 worked with their prayer partners in Reception to make Christmas Cards and other Christmas crafts.
It was great fun and we loved seeing our prayer partners - helping them with all of the fun activities.
We can't wait to see them again!
Y5 Visit to the Community Centre
Date: 12th Dec 2024 @ 2:28pm
On Tuesday 10th December Year 5 were invited to Upton Community Centre to sing hymns and carols to some members of the community. Year 5 sang beautifully. Whilst there, they handed out Christams cards to the local residnets and even had a visit from Father Christmas.
Y5 Dental nurse Visit - Dental Hygiene Week
Date: 27th Nov 2024 @ 10:53am
Year 5 enjoyed their visit from the dental health nurses. The children took part in lots of fun activities and learned so much more about their dental health.
Whole School - Anti-Bullying Drama Performance
Date: 15th Nov 2024 @ 3:50pm
Altru Drama came into school to perform a play on the theme of bullying.
In the play, Lucy was being bullied by Izzy because she was different. Izzy eventually realised that what she was doing was wrong and she changed the way she was behaving towards Lucy.
The performance showed us that it is ok to be different and that everyone should be treated with respect.
Date: 15th Nov 2024 @ 8:16am
This week we have been reflecting and learning about remembrance day.
The children have done some potato printing to make their own poppies as a sign of respect.
They have learnt more about Festivals around the world.
Y3 & Y4 Visit to Manchester Synagogue and Jewish Museum
Date: 14th Nov 2024 @ 2:23pm
Year 3 and 4 had an excellent trip to Manchester Synagogue where they were able to explore the Synagogue and museum, look and hold Jewish artefacts and even make their own Challah bread. We had an excellent time and enjoyed developing our learning about Judaism.
Pupil voice:
"I really enjoyed making the Challah bread, I thought it was really fun but hard to get the plait right first time."
"I enjoyed looking in the museum and drawing the different objects."
"My favourite part was all of it!"
EYFS - Bonfire Night and Diawli
Date: 11th Nov 2024 @ 4:18pm
What a busy week we have had!
Our new text is called 'Festivals'. It has some beautiful illustrations and we have loved learning about festivals from around the world. We now have a role play party shop, thank you for all your donations!
One of the festivals we have been learning about is Diwali, the festival of light. We have enjoyed learning about the story and making our own diya lamps. We listened to some Diwali dance music too!
We have also been looking at Bonfire Night and fire safety. The children have made chalk firework pictures and talked about their experiences with Bonfire Night.
In RE we have learnt about the Annunication story and how Mary was chosen by God. The children have loved retelling the story with the knitted nativity set.
Whole School - Road Safety Awareness
Date: 23rd Oct 2024 @ 8:21am
This week we met as a school to talk about Road Safety Week. This year it will take place from the 17th to the 23rd of November.
We thought about who our road safety heroes were. We decided they were people who would:
- Work really hard to overcome difficulty
- Do something really well
- Be really brave
We learnt that everyone who helps make journeys safer and healthier or helps care for someone after a crash is a road safety hero.
We talked about the different road safety heroes:
- School crossing patrols
- Roads policing officers
- Road designers and highway engineers
- Fire and rescue services
- Ambulance services
- Medical staff in hospitals
The Y5 road safety officers will be holding a poster competition in November to make people aware of road safety dangers and how to cross safely.
Whole school - Harvest Cereal Challenge for Widnes Foodbank
Date: 19th Oct 2024 @ 2:44pm
On Friday the 18th of October, we had a great morning completing our Cereal rally challenge.
After collecting boxes of cereal over the last month, each child came with their class to place a box in line ready for 'the big push!'
We were joined by Vicky from the Foodbank and Pip Turner from Asda who organised a donation on their behalf.
We also received a donation from Tesco in Widnes too, which helped boost our boxes to around 230 in total.
The children joined in with a countdown and watching the boxes being knocked over, followed by big cheers at the end!
Thank you to everybody who donated and to all of our children for particpating and showing their solidarity with others.
Comments from the children across school included:
"It was great fun and we got to help people too!"
"I hope people in Widnes won't be hungry now."
"The Foodbank is a brilliant thing."
"I can't wait to do more to help other people."
"I hope the people who get our cereal love eating it."
Date: 14th Oct 2024 @ 8:22am
This years play leaders have been chosen and they have spent the afternoon learning all about their new roles and responsibilities. They have worked collaboratively and creatively to come up with new games and ways to help KS1 develop during their lunchtimes.
Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 8:01am
This week we have continued to enjoy our 'Farm Shop' role play. The children have had new produce to sell including leeks, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots. They have loved being the shop keeper and dressing up!
The children have loved reading ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ and can now retell the story themselves. In English we have read ‘Homes’ by Ellis Carson, whilst still thinking about poor Mr Bear in ‘Peace at Last’, who cannot get any sleep!
The children have continued to be in awe of autumn and we have talked about how God made everything in our world. They have made autumn salt paintings and explored autumnal colours. The children have listened to a range of songs about our beautiful world. They have met Sophia the Sloth to learn about Catholic Social Teaching and stewardship.
Outside the children have enjoyed refining their gross motor skills on the bikes and by making trampoline parks out of the crates!
Date: 9th Oct 2024 @ 12:03pm
As part of CAFOD Family Fast Day, pupils in KS2 were given the opportunity to join our CAFOD Simple Lunch.
Instead of their usual school dinner, these KS2 pupils chose to have a simple lunch of soup, bread and fruit, to show Solidarity and respect Human Dignity two of our Catholic Social Teaching principles. This showed how we can think of others who are less fortunate than ourselves and only have our fair share.
Whole School - Sign Language Awareness Week
Date: 30th Sep 2024 @ 5:03pm
We celebrated Sign Language Awareness week by inviting Father Mark into school to teach us some sign language.
We spoke about why Sign Language is important so that everyone is treated fairly and justly, linking to our Year of Justice and the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Human Dignity.
Father Mark wrote a prayer with our help that we will use throughout our Year of Justice and we learnt the signs for fair, hunger, thirst and rights.
We also then followed this up by learning how to spell our own names in British Sign Language, taking home a sheet to share this with our families.
"My name was really hard to sign because I have a double letter" - William
"I really enjoyed working with Father Mark, I'm excited to hear the final prayer" - Penelope
Y5 - Townhall Visit - Democracy and Parliament Week
Date: 26th Sep 2024 @ 12:42pm
Today, Year 5 went to the Townhall to meet the Mayor. We had a lovely trip and learned lots about democracy and the history of Widnes and Runcorn.
Josh: I enjoyed our trip because I live in Halton
Mia: I loved pretending to be the Mayoress
Date: 26th Sep 2024 @ 12:13pm
Year 5 took part in Bikeability. Level 1 was learning how to use signs when out on the road and level 2 was going out on the roads using these signs.
Emmie: I was nervous at first but I got used to it.
Ebony: I really enjoyed it.
Ruby: The skills we learned we will be able to use through life.
Y3 & Y4 - Visit to Martin Mere Wetland
Date: 23rd Sep 2024 @ 7:47am
On Thursday 19th Year 3 and Year 4 went on our first educational visit to Martin Mere Wetland.
There we found Ava, an osprey who had magically turned half human. She gave us challenges to connect with nature and learn about the wild around us.
She also set us a challenge, to complete 10 more nature activities at home to become a 'Guardian of the Wild'.
When we returned to school, we discussed how this linked to our 'Creation & Covenant' work in RE, and that we are all stewards of God's world. That we must appreciate it, care for it and nurture it.
So far, 3 of us have become Guardians, with many more on our way to achieve our badges.
"I was surprised when we saw Ava, she was from our story at school" - Connie
"I really liked the activity when we made friends with a tree, we had to close our eyes and use our other senses to get to know the tree" - Ethan
"My favourite birds that I saw were the flamingos, they were all standing on one leg" - Jack
Whole School - Visit from Imran Kotwal for Islam week
Date: 22nd Sep 2024 @ 1:40pm
On Friday 2oth September, Imran Kotwal visited school to help us with our learning about the religion of Islam.
As a Muslim, Imran shared some important items with us and talked about how they are used in daily life, particularly with prayer.
We saw prayer mats and photographs of different mosques, as well as sweet smelling oil which can be used as part of the cleaning ritual before prayer.
Imran also told us about the prophet Muhammad, a key person for Muslims.
This is what some of the children felt about the visit in Year 1 and 2.
"It was really good to know about it all."
"I liked finding out new stuff."
"The best bit was watching how Imran prayed."
"I know that praying is very important to lots of people."
"Religions are sometimes not all the same."
"Everyone is special themselves."
Y3 - P4C - Who is in charge of the world?
Date: 6th Sep 2024 @ 2:30pm
As our first session of RE this week, we discussed the P4C question
Who is in charge of the world?
Lots of us said 'God' to begin with, but as we built on each other's answers we critiqued what 'in charge' means
Alice thought this mean you are responsible and have to look after something
Emily used the example that if you buy something then you are in charge of it
James built on this by saying, if you invite someone to your house then your are in charge
When we returned to our question, our thoughts had changed, now some of us thought that everyone is in charge of the world, because it is our responsibility to protect it.
Y1 - P4C - Can Children Look After the World?
Date: 5th Sep 2024 @ 2:35pm
The children started the year by thinking about our world in preparation for exploring creation during our RE lessons. We looked at our stimulus and devloped our own question 'Can children look after the world?'. Some of our responses were:
Sometimes it’s not safe to.
Yes, because the world will be good if they do.
No because they are too small.
Yes, because everyone can keep everyone safe.
Yes, because it is everyone’s job.
Whole School - End of Year Awards
Date: 23rd Jul 2024 @ 2:24pm
We celebrated the end of the school year all together.
In particular we gave awards and trophies to some of our Year 6 leavers.
Every single one of them has been brilliant it was so hard to choose
Stars of the Year:
Progress Awards:
Citizen of the Year:
We also honoured our school leaders throughout the year groups who have been play leaders, peer mediators, reading buddies, RE ambassadors, class and environment forum representatives and house captains.
We also gave certificates to everyone who has taken part in an afterschool or lunchtime club.
We gave out our next round of Read to Succeed prizes to those children in Year 5 and 6 who have read consistently at home this term
Those children who had been present in every single day of the year received some prizes, and everyone who had been in school on time every day this term went into a raffle for some larger prizes.
Finally we gave out everyone's Golden Certificates, to those who have followed the school rules consistently this term.
Date: 9th Jul 2024 @ 8:34am
After our success in market place last week, the children wanted to continue playing our 'Hook a Duck' game.
"Quick before the timer runs out" - Meredith
"Ahhh get the ducks" - Gracie
"Quick!!" - Tommy
