Year 1: Gallery
NSPCC Number Day in Year 1 - 7th February 2025
Date: 12th Feb 2025 @ 10:38pm
The children loved welcoming some of our parents in for a special maths hour this morning and proudly wore their number outfits!
It was great to raise money for the NSPCC and also to have fun with numbers.
Our carousel of activities included emoji code breaking, secret picture calculations, dice - more/less game and the cube game.
All of these helped to develop our counting and calculation skills.
It was also a good chance to show our grown ups the type of equipment we use in school to help us with maths.
KS1 Child led Celebration of the Word - Justice (January 2025)
Date: 1st Feb 2025 @ 8:38pm
This week, children in Year One helped to plan our celebration of the Word for Reception and Year two.
We enjoyed reflecting on what we have learned about Justice and reminding each other how important this is.
The scripture from Micah 6: 6-8 is becoming a real favourite for the children, particularly because they love singing about it!
"The song was my best bit today!" - Harry
"It's all about being fair." - Delilah
"We should always share." - Clay
"I liked sitting in a semi circle for this celebration." - Kit
"We should have put our Justice sign on the table too!" - Meredith
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.
Year 1 R.E. Advent and Christmas learning activities
Date: 2nd Jan 2025 @ 10:53pm
During November and December Year 1 have enjoyed learning activities linked to our R.E. branch about ‘Prophecy and Promise.’
In our enhanced provision area, the children had the opportunity to choose some fun and practical tasks to reinforce our teaching inputs in class.
We have loved art work linked to the Bible story of the Annunciation when Angel Gabriel visited Mary with a special message.
We used paintings of this event, by different artists, to inspire us! The light surrounding the Angel was a special feature we noticed and recreated.
Other popular activities have been….
Playdough modelling of scenes and characters from the Nativity.
Sequencing of images to create our own mini Nativity books.
Drama and role play using our stick puppets.
Making our own Christmas card with the scene in the stable – complete with an opening door!
Card sorting activity – looking at images on a range of cards and sorting them into groups of those that retell the Nativity story and those which show other scenes of modern Christmas images.
Painting baby Jesus pebbles
We hope you enjoyed the special things that we made for you and brought home to share!
Year 1 Christmas fun - December 2024
Date: 2nd Jan 2025 @ 10:30pm
Year 1 have loved the different activities and celebrations taking place during December.
We felt very festive wearing our Christmas jumpers and performing our poem about Santa's Sleigh Ride at the Coffee morning!
We also sang our favourite songs from the performance of 'Christmas Recipe'.
We have been lucky enough to enjoy Christmas dinner, disco and party days too.
On the final day of term we took part in Christmas bingo and a Reindeer game led by Mrs Sheppard.
Y1 & Y2 - Christmas Nativity - The Christmas Recipe
Date: 19th Dec 2024 @ 12:28pm
We loved sharing the story of the Nativity in a very different way this year.
We all agree that the vital ingredient in our Christmjas Recipe is baby Jesus!
Whole School - Christmas Pantomime - The Emperor's New Clothes
Date: 13th Dec 2024 @ 9:28am
We all had an amazing morning laughing and joining in with our annual pantomine from Altru Drama
KS1 Child led worship - The first week of Advent
Date: 10th Dec 2024 @ 9:29am
Year 1 guided us through a special and exciting worship about the beginning of Advent.
They enjoyed selecting and placing relevant items on the focus table, including an Advent calendar.
We used the colour purple, which Christians use during this important season.
"We are all getting ready for Jesus' Birthday" - Oliver
"I am excited for Jesus' Birthday" - Dexter
"Today the message in Advent worship is about hope" - Jonas
"It made me a bit sad because some people don't really have hope" Harry
"I liked closing our eyes today to think" - Grace
Together, we thought about how we could bring hope to others. We prayed for them together.
Whole School - Baptism Friday 22nd November 2024
Date: 1st Dec 2024 @ 12:46pm
The families of Tommy, Billy, Teddy, Ezra and Zach joined the whole school as we came together for an amazing celebration in the school hall.
Father Mark Moran welcomed brothers Tommy, Billy and Teddy with a special Catholic blessing.
Ezra and Zach were then baptised as we all watched on, what an amazing experience to be part of!
Congratulations to all of the boys and their families - we hope you enjoyed your special celebration, including the cake afterwards!
Thank you for sharing such a proud and important day with your St Basil's family.
Date: 23rd Nov 2024 @ 9:31am
Year 1 are loving their Hockey lessons this half term and are making great progress.
They have been learning how to handle and use their hockey stick safely (like a dog on a lead!)
Their skills in using the hockey stick to control a ball effectively, are improving with each lesson.
This week we loved playing a version of Hungry Hippos to compete against other teams to retrieve balls from the middle.
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: 13th Nov 2024 @ 2:58pm
Year 1 have made a human pictogram to show how they travel to school.
'Most people come to school in the car.' Meredith
We then made a pictogram on 2Count to show our favourite fruits.
'Most people like strawberries.' Polly
'Only 1 person picked kiwi and it was me!' Ezra
'The least favourite fruit was pear.' Delilah
Y1 RE Creation themed learning activities
Date: 1st Nov 2024 @ 4:08pm
Throughout the first half term of Year 1, the children have loved different activities which linked to our R.E. branch about Creation.
In our enhanced provision area, they have had the opportunity to choose some fun and practical tasks to reinforce the teaching inputs in class.
We have made 'Our Father' prayer chains which the children can't wait to take home once they are down from our display!
In another activity, we searched for and cut out magazine pictures which show things which God has created. These were then stuck onto a large Earth outline.
Many children have enjoyed using playdough to complete missing parts of images from the Creation story and using the words from the Bible story as they did so.
One of the most popular tasks was learning how to care more for our 'common home' by recycling.
The children cut out and sorted items into the correct recycling bins, along with promises that they want to help more with this in real life too!
We are really proud of all of their hard work this half term and the great progress in their understanding of their crucial role in our world
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.
Y1 Harvest Collective Worship for KS1
Date: 22nd Oct 2024 @ 12:53pm
KS1 enjoyed a special worship led by a group of children from Year 1 on the theme of Harvest.
We heard an amazing story from the Bible in which Jesus and his disciples were able to feed 5000 people using only five loaves and two fish.
The children shared the CAFOD characters of Shrist the Sun bear and DJ the dolphin to show how we can also help to feed hungry people here in Widnes.
We asked if anybody was able to bring in boxes of cereal for the Foodbank. Doing this shows we are living in solidarity, just like Shristi the bear.
We are also helping to make sure that everyone has their fair share, which DJ says is called Distributive Justice.
Here is what some children thought and said after our Worship:
'I liked praying' - Ella
'I'm bringing a cereal box in so I can help' - Kit
'I loved that story about the food' - Roman
'It made me want to pray' - Delilah
Whole School: Blessing of Mary in memory of Christine Wilson
Date: 22nd Oct 2024 @ 12:28pm
On Wednesday 16th October we gathered as a school family to remember Christine Wilson with Father Peter Ross.
Christine was a much loved and valued member of St Basil's and a former Chair of Governors.
We also welcomed Jim Wilson and members of their family, as well as some close friends.
Father Peter led us in prayer and dedicated our new statue of Mary to the memory of Christine, significant particularly during this special month of October.
The children shared in the our liturgy with readings and prayers, as well as with their absolutely beautiful singing.
The occasion was a heartfelt tribute which warmed all of our hearts and provided a lasting memory to treasure.
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: 10th Oct 2024 @ 8:30pm
Year one have been developing skills in Netball and Tennis this half term.
We have enjoyed using different equipment to help practise these skills before we are able to play actual games.
Delilah - I loved using balloons to practise forehand and backhand.
Matthew - I am good at bouncing in the hoop.
Jonas - We need to be careful where we swing.
Clay - We can attack and defend.
Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 8:22pm
Year 1 have been using Purple Mash this half term and learning how to log in safely.
We have found out about keeping password information private and practising how to input this information.
On Purple Mash we can now find tasks that have been set by our teacher called '2Do's' and have also had fun designing an avatar.
Harry - You cannot tell anybody your secret word for logging in.
Meredith - It's to keep you safe.
Polly - I liked doing the shape sorting activity.
Y1 - Collective Worship for KS1 - Pope Francis
Date: 3rd Oct 2024 @ 10:14pm
Another group of children from Year one took a turn in planning their own Collective Worship today with help from Mrs Devonport and Mrs Dooley.
They confidently chose important items to add to the focus table, including a photo of Pope Francis.
We heard a story from the Bible about the first Pope, Simon Peter. Jesus called him a rock!
We thought about what makes somebody a good leader and the children shared words to describe important qualities for our Pope.
We ended by all saying the Pope's prayer for children from his charity, Mission Together.
These are some of the things we said when we talked about how our Collective Worship had gone today:
"I was proud of the special table I helped with today" - Harry
"I want to be kind like Pope Francis" - Jonas "And loving" - Zach
"I really liked the children's prayer" - Joel
"I would really like to have a little photo of Pope Francis" - Grace
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
Date: 24th Sep 2024 @ 7:51am
In science the children have been learning all about different materials. For homework the children made Material Monsters from recyclable materials.
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."
Whole School Assembly - Widnes Foodbank Cereal Challenge
Date: 22nd Sep 2024 @ 1:16pm
This week we launched our Harvest campaign to support the Foodbank here in Widnes.
We held a special assembly and remembered what we have already managed to achieve as a school in helping those in need.
Photos of last year's visit to the Foodbank by the RE Ambassadors were a great reminder, as well as the visit from Margaret and Eileen, two of their volunteers.
To continue our promise to try and 'live in solidarity' with others, we will be collecting donations of cereal over the next month.
On Friday 18th October, we will hold our 'Cereal domino rally' with all of the boxes that are donated.
