World Book Day!

This year we focused on poetry as well as illustrations. The children took part in two activities. One writing their own poems and displaying them on our poetry and the other an online workshop with Rob Biddulph focusing on illustrations. 

 

Here is our Poetree, there’s lots of poems for you to see. Creatures large and creatures small, we hope that you love them all! We all wrote poems for world book day and have created woodland animals to display them in!

 

World Book Day dressing up as a book character!

Wow what amazing costumes you all wore for World Book Day! Fabulous characters for all different books, it was great to guess who you all were!

 

  

 

The staff looked fabulous for World Book Day too! Can you guess what characters they are?

   

Year 6 Church Leavers Service

What a send off our year 6 leavers had at our church service. It was filled with prize giving, reflections of their time at St. John’s and songs from their production of Mattie. A goodbye song of Sweet Caroline as they left down the tunnel of children. SJT will never forget you as you helped to give it a big heart!

Middleton In Bloom Judging

It’s judging day! Middleton in Bloom judges followed the map of our school gardens, created by Megan and Lucinda, to find our wild flower bed, vegetable patches and filled tyres, Forest School areas, sunflowers for our competition, fairy gardens, bird cafe and lovey baskets!

Well done to SJT you have worked so hard and our school grounds are blooming!

Mattie

Year 6, supported by year 4/5, have worked really hard to be ready for their performances of Mattie. They were all fabulous despite the really hot weather and a few missing due to illness.

Fabulous singing, dancing and great acting! 

 

Florence Nightingale Production

Wow Discoverers class what an amazing production of Florence Nightingale! You told us all about her, what she did, how she helped and what impact it has had on us now! Super singing, loud voices and great actions. Well done to you all, it was fabulous!

Sports week and race afternoon!

What a wonderful sports week our children had taking part in all different sports, learning new skills and new rules as well as good sportsmanship.

It was fabulous to have or race afternoon, we really missed having our parents/carers at it over the last few years.  The sun was shining, the children were fabulous in their races running, jumping and going over obstacles for their house teams. Everyone got involved from the toddlers, to the parents and staff in their races too. A well deserved ice lolly at the end. Well done everyone!

 

The Great Science Share

Some of our amazing Scientists went to The Great Science Share at Manchester University Manchester! They presented a science investigation which used different fruits and bicarbonate of soda. 

How does the type of fruit affect the amount of fizz?

The children really enjoyed manning their investigation stand as well as walking around and taking part in other investigations. They learnt so much from the investigations the other schools presented. Going to Manchester University was really inspiring too!

SJT Jubilee Celebrations

Our Jubilee celebrations started with us watching the Queens Coronation in the school hall, singing the National Anthem and waving our flags as we sang. Each class then went to create stamp designs for our whole school art project and to decorate their own Queens crowns to wear for our Afternoon tea. Sandwiches, mini fish and chips, cakes and scones- very British and very yummy too!

 

The afternoon was a TASC competition where each year group designed an outfit fit for Our Queen. The only problem was they had to make it from newspaper with a little bit of tissue paper to add colour. A democratic vote decided on the wining dress and who would be the models and the children got on with making their amazing designs. 

 

The afternoon ended with a catwalk which showed off the designs. Mrs. Hunter couldn't choose a winner as they were fantastic. Some of our models carried on wearing them down the lane!

 

Have a look on the video conferencing tab under the children's section of our website to see the video of our catwalk and us singing "Even if the rain pours down on me we wont stop singing- for Our Queen."

Easter Church Service

What a fabulous Easter Service. It truly was a celebration and it was wonderful to welcome parents back to join us. The children performed brilliantly and it was amazing to hear them sing our new I-sing Pop songs. We reflected on the true meaning of Easter for Christians.

Water is Precious!

We have been reading The Water Protectors in Collective Worship. The book has taught us that water is the most precious resource for humans, animals, plants and trees. We must treasure it, not waste it and value it. We all stand together and pledge to be stewards of the Earth!

 

Rochdale Spelling Bee 2022

We are part of the Rochdale Spelling Bee competition and have been bust bee's learning our spellings ready for the school heats. Congratulations to our spelling bee winners in year 3,4,5 and 6. We have one winner from each year group who progressed to the next round. 

This morning the four winners competed against each other. They were fantastic and it took a long time to find our winner. Congratulations to Oliver who will progress to the Rochdale semi-finals and represent St. John's. 

I-SING POP Lent Workshop

We had a fabulous time on Friday with Leah from I-SING Pop. She lead Lent workshops and taught the school three new songs which we are going to sing in our Easter service. It was great to see Leah in person as we watch I-SING Pop collective worship once a week online. The children were really committed to learning the new songs and the actions and we have enjoyed practising them ready for our Easter Service. Thank you to the PTFA who paid for this special activity. 

 

 

World Book Day 2022

Our children looked fabulous in their costumes for World Book Day and loved reading lots of books, going to our reading cafe as well as taking part in our book swap. Can you guess which books some of children are characters from?

 

Preparations for World Book Day 2022

 

In preparation for World Book Day each class created a chandelier. KS2 have chosen one of their golden texts and EYFS/KS1 have chosen a Traditional Tale. Can you guess which books they have been reading?

E-safety Day

Each class took part in lots of activities focusing on being safe when online. They were also part of a workshop led by Global Policing about people not always being who they say they are online. Our Digital leaders led Collective Worship and created a power point about You Tube and how to make sure you do not watch content that is not appropriate for children.

 

Shane from Global Policing delivered a parent workshop on the very important topic of E-safety!

Music- different styles of music this half term

 

Each class has been busy creating a display which shows the style of music they focused on last half term. When you are in school next use the QR code to watch the children as they perform the different music styles.

Design Technology and RE

 

Our whole school TASC day with a focus on DT and RE was amazing. This years TASC was to create a class chandelier to decorate our new corridors with a Christmas hymn as a theme and it had to be made out of recycled materials. Can you guess the hymns for each chandelier?

 

The TASC wheel helps us to research, plan, design, make and evaluate the things we make. We really thought hard about how the whole chandelier would look and our individual decorations hanging on it too. Our school corridor looks brilliant and we are so pleased with the chandeliers. 

RE and Art Collaboration

 

The whole school collaborated on an RE and Art project to replicate an original piece of art create by Don Clark as an illustration in the book The Biggest Story by Kevin Deyoung. After reading the book the children were inspired by the illustrations. Each class created a section of the picture and then we pieced it back together. It looks fabulous!

 

Explorers used finger painting to create their section of the picture. They mixed primary colours to make secondary colours and added white and black to colours to make different tones.

 

Discoverers collaged their section of the picture using a combination of materials that were cut, twisted, torn and then glued down into position.

 

Inventors used pointillism and block colour to create their section of the picture. They carefully used dots in different sizes and colours to create a fantastic effect.

 

Adventurers used collage to create a mosaic effect with ripped paper overlapped to create rough edges in their section of the picture.

 

"One day there will be nothing but the best days, day after day after day. And forever and ever it will be a wonderful time to be God’s children in God’s wonderful world."

MAVIS SPARKLE

 

Did your child tell you about the special performance we had in school on Wednesday?

 

M6 Theatre Company performed ‘Mavis Sparkle’. Mavis is a cleaner with an extraordinary story to tell, She went on a journey north to see nature's biggest light show with her own eyes. Her amazing cleaning trolley full of secrets and surprises, was brilliant. Did your child tell you about the special performance we had in school on Wednesday? M6 Theatre Company performed ‘Mavis Sparkle’. Mavis is a cleaner with an extraordinary story to tell, She went on a journey north to see nature's biggest light show with her own eyes. Her amazing cleaning trolley full of secrets and surprises was brilliant.

At St. John's we EMBRACE DIFFERENCE

We looked at diversity and difference in Collective Worship.

We talked about being the same on the inside. We know we

all feel joy, pain, delight and fear. We all have hopes and

dreams, gifts and talents. We are all human.

 

We shared the book Smeds and Smoos and thought about

people who find it difficult to accept that others might be

different, like different things, enjoy different music, eat

different foods, have different religions, love different people,

have different skin colour or have physical or mental differences.

 

At St. John’s we celebrate difference and diversity. We love

to meet and learn from people who are different from us.

We are all the same on the inside and just like the different

creatures in the story, The Smeds and Smoos, we are all

different on the outside. We embrace difference and celebrate

what we all bring to our world.

 

Love one another as I have loved you

 

John 13.34

SCIENCE WEEK

In our science week every class focused on a new Science ‘wow’ to develop their investigative skills further and experience new things in a fun and interesting way. Year 6 theme was innovating for the future and they designed and created their own Robo- Bug. Inventors researched, designed and made a roof that would withstand a rainforest downfall. Discoverers looked at how our lungs work and used a bicycle pump to see a sheep's lung in action. Explorers looked at teeth and what drinks can damage them, the egg and orange experiments  showed the sugar harming the enamel. Next week each class will enjoy looking at what the rest of the school investigated as each class shares their big science question and their learning too.

St. Johns Sea Shanty

#SeaShantyTikTok is currently dominating social media platforms, thanks to a rendition of 'Wellerman' by a Scottish postman and folk singer. We enjoyed finding out all about Sea Shanties in our assembly and found out that they were originally sung by seamen aboard merchant ships and fishing ships in the 1400s.  Scottish postman and folk singer Nathan Evans began the viral trend with a cover of ‘Wellerman’, a 19th-century New Zealand whaler song.

Josie from Ed Start has taught us a St. John’s version which we all loved learning this week. We cant wait to perform it for you!

Look out for our whole school video we will record when the weather gets better.

 

Lord God

Thank you for the gift of music through instrument and voice. We hope you bless us all with the creativity to make and share music and keep us healthy and fit to enjoy dancing to it.

Amen

 

   

Toilet Tube Book Characters

We celebrated World Book Day with the children making their favourite character out of a toilet roll. Each class shared their creations and favourite book on zoom and brought them to school when they returned on Monday. Look at the gorgeous designs. Can you guess the different characters?

They have been displayed in the hall and are amazing. Well done to our wonderful designers.  We hope you enjoyed celebrating World Book Day and the fabulous books and  authors too!

World Book Day 2021

Despite some of you being at home we managed to celebrate reading and wonderful books Wow, what wonderful toilet roll character creations you made for World Book Day. The class zoom sessions today were brilliant- some of you dressed up too. Can you please bring your toilet roll character to school on Monday as we will make a display in the hall?

As part of World Book Day some of the staff have recorded themselves reading a section of their favourite book. They are disguised. Can you work out which member of staff is reading each book? You can find The Masked readers on your child's Showbie or in the Video Conference section on this website. (under the children's section) We will reveal the readers in tomorrows Lockdown Lowdown. Happy guessing!

     

Ground breakers Assembly- The True You- 5th February

This week Mary talks about  our gifts and talents and how we use them.

There is a memory game at the beginning, opportunities to think and reflect and a story called The Parable of the Talents. I hope you and your children enjoy it. 

Mrs Hunters Assembly- Children’s Mental Health Week.

We talk about being healthy all the time in school and remind ourselves how to keep our bodies healthy by eating the right foods and exercising but we also focus on our mental health too. This week is Children Mental Health week and this is a great reminder about how we should look after our minds just as much as our bodies. We talk about our well-being in school and the Heart smart 'High Fives' we use in our PSHCE lessons really help us with this.

It is good to talk about well-being and you might watch to watch this video with your mum, dad or carer as it explains how we all have different emotions on different days and gives us ideas of how we can manage them. It s good to talk about our emotions and feelings and this can really help our well-being and so can doing the things we like.

Watch the video  below of The Duchess of Cambridge’s sharing her message about mental health. She is the patron for Place2B and sends a message to children and parents. The focus this week is on doing something creative which makes you feel good about yourself. 

If you want any further information about Children’s Mental Health have a look at the Young Minds website

https://youngminds.org.uk/

 

Ground breakers assembly- All Puffed Up- 21st January

This week Mary from Groundbreakers talks about the dangers of boasting and being "puffed up". Follow the link below to find out what she thinks about being proud compared to boasting or bragging!

 

Mrs. Hunters assembly- 18th January

In school we appreciate those who are always willing to be helpful and I am sure your parents love it when you offer to help them or others at home! Everyone has the same chance to wear a 'helpful' badge in the actions they choose to make each day.

 

Being kind and helpful to others costs nothing except a little effort on our part and that helping others should be something that we do willingly. It is such a shame to think that some people will only do something to help if they think they will get a reward.

 

How many of you are willing to help at home without expecting a reward, such as a biscuit, a sweet, or some money. The satisfaction in helping others should be the reward.

 

Watch this video which shows the joy it brings to someone who learns to help others.

 

Everyone is capable of helping, however big or small they are. Even very young children are eager to help.

 

Small creatures help larger creatures. For example, there are tiny fish, sometimes called doctor fish, that clean the fungi (small growths) from bigger fish. There are birds that eat the parasites (blood-sucking insects) that live on the bodies of larger animals or in the scales of crocodiles or alligators. These small creatures help to keep the larger ones healthy.

 

There are people who dedicate their lives to helping others: people who save lives (doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers, etc.); people who face danger to help others (soldiers, sailors, RAF members, fire-fighters, police officers, etc.). Some people work throughout the night when the rest of us are sleeping (electricity supply workers, carers, lorry drivers, etc.). Most do get paid for what they do but they still choose a sometimes difficult way of life because they want to help others. 
 

Thank you to everyone who helps others in their job, at home or in school. You make our world a better place by spreading kindness.

Dear God,
Teach us to be thoughtful and kind like Jesus.
Lord of the loving heart, may mine be loving too.
Lord of the gentle hands, may mine be gentle too.
Lord of the willing feet, may mine be willing too.
So may I grow to be more like you in all I say and do.
Amen.

Groundbreakers Assembly- Monday 11th January

Below is this week's assembly called 70 times 7. It is all about forgiveness. In it, we look at how revenge is a common theme running through many films and  the main character is often faced with a choice - Do they get their own back or do they show mercy in the end? Then we go on to look at what Jesus has to say.

Mrs Hunters assembly- Friday 8th January

Today's assembly is all about Hope for the world. We have talked a lot about plastic in our assemblies last year and created a lovely turtle display in the hall this year to remind us of the damage it causes. We need to stop using single use plastic as we know what damage it is doing to the beautiful sea animals. 

 

Have a read of this poem-

Plastic packaging and plastic rings,
Plastic bags for more plastic things,
Plastic bottles for the water you drink,
But plastic causes death so stop and think!
Millions of sea birds and turtles painfully die,
After eating plastic that floats on by,
Plastic thrown away and out of reach,
Ends up as plastic sand on a plastic beach,
Plastic sold for consumer cash
Fills our oceans with plastic trash.

 

How does this poem make you feel? Does it make you want to do something to stop this? We have written to the milk company to ask them to stop sending us plastic straws with our school milk. What else could we do?

 

Watch the video. If only the sea creatures could clean out the sea themselves! They can't they rely on us. 

Can you create a poster to remind others to stop using single use plastic and research what other things they could use instead? Share your posters with us and we will put them on the school notice board for the walkers to read. Remember the 4Rs formula which is to Reduce, Refuse, Reuse and Recycle! 

 

Here is a prayer I found in our school prayer book written by one of our children-
Lord, please pray for the ocean animals, they are suffering from plastic bags from people and god created the ocean animals too!
Please pray for the ocean animals!
Amen

Whole School Christmas TASC Day 2020

 

We loved finding out what this years Christmas challenge would be. 

 

What gift can you create for someone your know using an empty matchbox?

 

Have a look at the Power point below which highlights the task set and shows how children use the TASC wheel to generate, plan, develop and make their products. 

 

Now look at some of our wonderful creations- some very lucky people will be receiving our gifts this Christmas.

Lithium Laura and Nuclear Naz from Mad Science did a virtual assembly today and they showed us lots of experiments which made is go wow!  Some experiments used heat reactions including using a hairdryer to get a ping pong ball to fly and a large blower to unravel a whole toilet roll. The pressure got the objects to lift in the air as if they were flying. We loved her experiment to get Bubbling Bob out of the pit using a chemical reactions which bubbled over and she amazed us by using heat to get Egbert into the vase!

 

We love finding out about the world around us in our Science lessons and cant wait for our Science Share week in June where we can try our own experiments.

Please find attached some leaflets prepared by Rochdale Council written to support parents with children's anxiety and when dealing with family bereavement during the Covid Pandemic.

If you need any further advice or support with this please do contact us and we will do all we can to help. The office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk will be manned over the summer.

iMoves Samba Dance Challenge

 

Mrs Howarth would like all you budding dancers to have a go at this challenge from imoves. Follow the link below for more information. Create your own Samba routine. First, dance along to our video to get you moving and shimmying, and give you some ideas. Now it's time to create your your very own Samba routine.
Use their video for inspiration, create something totally wacky and unique, or just dance along with them. Simply post your video on whichever social media platform you prefer and tag imoves and the one with the most likes each week will win! EVERYONE who submits a video will get a downloadable certificate to put on their bedroom wall.

 

Send your videos into school too as we would love to see them. Keep dancing!

Join the Silly Squad as they launch this year’s Summer Reading Challenge today. Follow this link to sign up- https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/   

Free eBook: Everybody Worries by Jon Burgerman

Even the bravest of the brave and the coolest of the cool worry. Worrying is normal when so much has changed.

Inspired by conversations with his parent friends who weren’t sure how to explain what is happening right now to their small children, artist and writer Jon Burgerman decided to do something to help.

Read this book with your child to help them to understand that everyone has worries and talk about what they should do if they are feeling worried.

It is National Mental Health week. We know that we have to work hard to keep both our bodies and minds healthy. This week your teachers have asked you to look at KINDNESS and think about how you show kindness to others. Kindness makes a big difference to us all and the world we live in.

Going out for daily walks and exercise can help to keep us fit but also helps us to think about different things like the nature around us. Chatting as we walk to our parents/siblings is also very positive too! The government has encouraged us to go our for daily exercise whilst in lock down which is great and you can still earn your WOW walk to school badges.

 

Have a look at the attached picture which shows #try20 there are lots of activities to do when you are walking to help you keep your mind healthy as well as your body too. Keep a diary of how many times you go for a walk and we can give you your wow badges when we return to school.

Looking to the Rainbow

Here is the song Looking to the Rainbow which has been created by Worship for Everyone. We plan to perform together when we are able to return to school. In the meantime can you learn the words and sing along to the track. It is a lovely song which is about lock down- how hard it has been having to stay away from school but shares the power of hope and us looking forward to us all coming back together again. 

Picture News

Each week in school we pose a question to our KS2 children and ask them to reflect on the world around them. We are still receiving our weekly question from Picture News and thought that you may want to answer the question each week with your child and have a discussion around it!

Memory Tiles

These lock down memory tiles are a brilliant activity to do that you can keep for ever! Make them using salt dough- we have added a recipe for salt dough below! They are really easy to make and all the family can get involved!

 

Coronavirus

Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it. Published by Nosy Crow, and written by staff within the company, the book has had expert input: Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine acted as a consultant, and the company also had advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

The book answers key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

• What is the coronavirus?
• How do you catch the coronavirus?
• What happens if you catch the coronavirus?
• Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?
• Is there a cure for the coronavirus?
• Why are some places we normally go to closed?
• What can I do to help?
• What’s going to happen next?

 

Here it is for you to read with your child on screen or print out!

SCIENCE WEEK

As it’s Science week this week, the children have been engaged in some wonderful science experiments in each class.

 

Explorers - “We have been conducting experiments involving the weather! We made a snowstorm in a cup, a rain cloud in a cup and discussed how rain happens. We also used coloured water and sugar to create a rainbow!”

 

Discoverers – “We made ice cream using a chemical reaction. The salt mixed with the ice, causing it to melt quicker. The energy is transferred to the ingredients so they freeze; it tasted great!”

 

Inventors – “We made an air rocket made from straw & paper then had a race to see how high & fast our rockets flew!”

 

Adventurers – “We conducted an “egg drop” investigation. In groups, we created mechanisms to protect the egg from cracking. We had to ensure the test was fair by only changing one variable – the material and all other variables remained the same! We observed the eggs after the drop for any signs of damage; unfortunately, one didn’t survive!!”

WORLD BOOK DAY

Well done to all the children who decorated and created their favourite book character using a piece of fruit or a vegetable. We had some amazing creations and it was lovely to see the effort that the children made to decorate their book characters. Well done to our 4 winners; Harry C, Nicole, Harry V & Ben R!

 

 The aim of World Book Day it is to celebrate authors, books, illustrators and - of course - reading! Last year Mrs Purser went to Tesco and got all the left over £1 books so every child in school came home with a free book today as well as receiving their £1 World Book Day Token before the half term holiday,  which can be exchanged for one of the 10 specially published World Book Day books  available in Tesco and WHSmith.

 

The whole school worked together and were placed in 3 mixed groups who moved around school doing activities linked to books and stories! The favourite book shared was a classic The Jolly Postman!

 

Look at the amazing creations of story characters made from fruit and vegetables! Thank you so much to all the parents/carers for supporting your child with this!

The children had a wonderful time when they visited Dippy the Diplodocus this week at No.1 Riverside where they went on an enquiry walk and observed the life sized cast. Afterwards they all took part in a range of dinosaur themed activities at Touchstones Gallery.

 

Dippy has travelled from The Natural History Museum in London. The children and staff were all amazed by how tall Dippy was and asked some great questions too! Ask your child what they learnt on their visit and what they favourite part of the trip was!

RHEMA THEATRE COMPANY- Cyber Tales

The day started with a whole school assembly focusing on three different tales to help us think about the real world and the online/cyber world. The first tale used puppets to show the two characters in the tale Mia and Bea. The sisters were very different Bea was kind and caring and chose her words carefully to do good, Mia liked to lie, spread rumours and break up friendships. Mia hurt lots of people and only learnt her lesson when she hurt her sister most of all. We learnt the saying "Be careful with your words please do, you never know what they may do." It is great making new friends online but if we haven't seen them in real life do we really know who they say they are?

The next tale was about a girl and boy who were at their Aunt's, she warned them not to go past the thick walls as a dragon lurks there. We helped to tell the story saying the  " Whatever they might say or do...never let the dragon through." Whilst the Aunt was out Ava kicked her ball over the wall, it was thrown back over. She started talking to someone- they were friendly she thought it couldn't possibly be a dragon as he was kind and friendly. Ava sneaked out of the house, taking the key and opened the gate. The dragon leapt out at her and tried to eat her. Her brother had realised what she was doing and phoned his Aunt who happened to be a kick boxer and kicked the dragon back over the wall. Ava almost got tricked by a stranger in real life but this can also happen on line too.

The final tale was about a boy called Toby Raff who liked to make people laugh. He did silly things to make them laugh, we joined in the story with actions to show how we were laughing. One day at the swimming pool he did different jumps into the pool to make his friends laugh.  One friend took a photograph  of him doing a octopus jump. The class called him Octoboy- everybody laughed. The photo was shared phone by phone around the class- everybody laughed. Someone altered the photo, adding octopus tenticles- everybody laughed and everybody shared the photograph with other children around school even people he didn't know. Some people weren't nice, they made mean comments. He asked Bert to delete the original photograph. Bert said " Can't you take a joke? I can delete it on my phone but not everyone's." Toby Raff no longer laughed, people wore t-shirts, sang songs and told jokes about Octoboy. Toby Raff went to a tiny island to get away. People shared photographs without thinking about the consequences or getting permission to share. They though it was funny but making fun of others is never funny when the other person feels sad about it. 

Each class then took part in a workshop where they talked about the different tales in more detail. We all reflected on the words we use. We need ti chose our words carefully to use to each other, even when messaging as we cant take them back once they are said. We can make the world a nicer place if we choose the right words.

STAY SAFE WITH THOMAS

On Monday 13th January 2020 @ 12:00pm all our children watched Stay Safe with Thomas – this was a LIVE READ with Nick Jordan from Network Rail which was streamed at lunchtime.

The broadcast featured Nick Jordan, Project Manager from Network Rail, who will held a live read of the new Thomas the Tank Engine book, Stay Safe with Thomas.

Network Rail teamed up with the world’s most famous blue engine and pre-school favourite to help young children learn how to be safe when using the railway.

Network Rail and British Transport Police (BTP) hope the story book will encourage parents to discuss rail safety with their young children in the same manner they teach them about other dangers they may encounter when out and about.

It is the first time Network Rail has partnered with children’s entertainment company Mattel and the first time Mattel has published a Thomas the Tank Engine TM book with a rail safety theme.

Please visit the below website to download your Stay Safe with Thomas e-book;

 

We are held a BOOK SWAP DAY on WEDNESDAY 29TH JANUARY in each class.

 

We want our children to become lost in the world of books, enjoy the adventures characters’ go on as well as find out more about the world around them. Reading is not just something that children should learn to do in school, they should be developing a love for books, stories and poems guided by the adults around them. Reading needs to be an everyday part of children’s lives, something they choose to do. The benefits of reading for pleasure go beyond this and stretch throughout a person's life.

 

We will hold a book swap every half term as well as having a basket in the lobby for you to place books you no longer read abd take a new book home. So if you have any age appropriate books that your child no longer wishes to read, please send them into school  so your child can swap them with their classmates and take home some new books to explore!

We have had a fantastic time in school this week developing our Design and Technology skills along with our team work skills. Over the last two days the whole school has taken part in a Christmas TASC (Thinking Actively in a Social Context)  Design and Technology project!

 

The children's TASC was to create a game for the school fair! Each class had to research, plan, design and made a festive game!

The games were brilliant and a fantastic addition to our school fair. All games stood out with their beautiful coloured banners and were played fairly due to the rules written by each class! Well done to all our classes who worked so well as a team to produce such wonderful games. Let's see which game made the most money!

I-SING POP came to St. John's this week and for an hour each day each class learnt new songs with lots of movement and action too.  What an amazing week of singing we have had- the children have also learnt to be sassy and rap a little too! It has been wonderful for the children to learn lots of new songs and I cannot wait for the CD so I can listen to our children singing and use the CD in assemblies and church services too.  Seven new songs were taught by Leah with great enthusiasm to our KS2 children and our KS1 children loved learning the actions to the four songs they learnt.  It was so wonderful to end the week with our very own pop concert down at church. We did two concerts with all our children singing brilliantly, dancing and entertaining with HUGE smiles on their face. The audience loved it and the staff were so proud of each and everyone of our children. Thank you to the church team for letting us us the church for our event and to Manchester Diocese as without their financial contribution our children would not have engaged in such a fabulous musical experience. Have a look at the photographs below. We wore our school uniforms in the afternoon performance and bright coloured t-shirts in the evening show! 

What a delight it was to take the whole school on a trip to Chester Zoo on Wednesday!

We were lucky to bid for and receive free admission tickets to the Zoo and therefore only had to pay for the coach which was fantastic. The children and staff were so excited to see different animals and learn about their habitats, what they eat and how the zoo is conserving special breads of animals.

The sun shone for us and the zoo was very quiet which meant we could move around the zoo with great ease. The new Lion area was amazing and we could see them so close up and another favourite was the penguins and the elephants too! The children were so enthused to do their writing in school on Thursday as they were all able to write about the animals they saw and the experience they had.

A huge thank you to all parents for getting the children to school early and collecting them later to enable us to spend as much time as possible at the zoo and to the staff too for looking after our children so well.

What a wonderful sound of Ukuleles I could hear from my office this morning. I followed the sound to find Discoverers in action strumming and playing beautifully. Mrs. Purser , with help from the music service is teaching all our children from Year 2 up to Year 6 to play the Ukulele. It has been wonderful to hear them playing in school and for Year 6 to perform at our Harvest Service. 

We have created a display using the wonderful photographs that were sent in, which celebrate all of our fabulous and different St. John’s families, taken in their special places. Our message of ‘Different families, Same love’ shows everyone that each of us are unique and different individuals and so are our families. Every family is different and we are very proud of our St. John’s families!  Our entrance is lovely and bright, come and have a look!

We are focusing on our school value of dreams this half term and our reflective areas in each classroom show some of the dreams the children have for their future!

We had a day's visit from Alan Beadie from Christian Aid to help us with our focus on Injustice and looking at Global Issues across the world. He led workshops with KS2 about developing countries and how it is different from here and with KS1 about how we can help locally, nationally and globally!

 

We will remember- a little bit makes a big difference!

Science Share week

We have had an amazing week of Science investigations and experiments! Some of the experiments ‘wowed’ the children and others got them asking more questions! They were all really excited about being Scientists for the whole week! Explorers carried out experiments about colour, Discoverers made their own erupting volcanoes, Inventors investigated how they could preserve food (fish) like the Vikings did and Adventurers learnt about chemical reactions by trying to send rockets into space. 

Our very own Easter Chicks!

We have welcomed 21 eggs into school in the hope that they will all hatch out. The eggs will be kept warm in an incubator and Inventors class will be our Chief Chick Checkers topping up the water each day to ensure the incubator stays warm and moist. Miss Fountain came to candle the eggs- using a torch she went into a dark cupboard to see if their was a silhouette in the egg. 17 eggs out of the 21 have chicks growing in them. We had to be careful that Mr. Fox didn't gobble them all up on World Book Day!

Inventors have been caring for our eggs closely monitoring their development and checking & caring for them with their "Chicklist". We have all been patiently waiting for them to hatch and singing Spring Chicken to them in Collective Worship time to get them used to us . On day 21 our first chick was born; the children have named it Lucky!

 

....... we will add photos as more chicks hatch!!!

GULP Challenge and Tooth Brushing in Explorers

Councillor Allan Brett, Leader of the Council, visited school on Monday as we are the first school in Rochdale to complete the GULP challenge and he wanted to see how it went! We also welcomed Ruth Bardsley, Public Health Programme Officer, who is leading the GULP Challenge within school and “Rochelle”, the Rochdale Healthy Superhero Mascot! Councillor Brett was very impressed with how the children had embraced the GULP Challenge. He also saw how the children in Explorers Class have learnt to brush their teeth as part of the Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership Early Years Supervised Toothbrushing Programme.

 

NSPCC_ Speak Out Stay Safe

Helen from the NSPCC visited our school today to deliver their Speak Out Stay Safe Programme to our children. This supports our commitment to ensuring our children are safe from harm and know to speak out to stay safe. The Stay safe assembly encouraged the children to share information to keep themselves safe from harm and get help if they have any worries.

The NSPCC’s work in schools encourages conversations about staying safe – and they have a number of child-friendly materials to help you carry on the conversation afterwards. That includes ‘The Underwear Rule’, a simple way for parents to help keep children safe from sexual abuse – without using scary words or even mentioning sex. The guide uses the rules of PANTS to teach children that their body belongs to them and them alone. You can find out more and download the free resources at nspcc.org.uk/pants

 

It was a very worthwhile and empowering session for both pupils and teachers. They spoke to the children and staff about the valuable work they do across the country, and talked about how important it is for everyone in our school community to join them in their ‘fight for every childhood’.

 

If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe

 

Christmas Around the World

 

Christmas is celebrated by people all over the world both Christians and non-Christians. On Monday and Tuesday, the whole school took part in a TASC day where they researched another country and their Christmas Traditions. They had to design and make a decoration which showed a Christmas tradition from the country their class focused on. Explorers- Columbia, Discoverers- Spain, Inventors- Poland and Adventurers- Greece. The children also learnt traditional songs, ate traditional foods and tried to speak a different language.  We hope you enjoyed finding out what we had learnt in our Christmas Church service.

Christmas Cracker

 

A big well done to the children that represented our school at the Music Service's annual concert 'The Christmas Cracker' on Sunday.  Ben, Harrison, Rose, Rosie, Isabella, Lissy and Amy played fantastic and did us all proud.  I think the children enjoyed the snowball fight at the end the best!

CITY TREES VISIT

Beth and her team from City Trees came to visit us at school today. They checked up on our new woodland area they planted with the children last year and led Discoverers on a min-beast hunt as well as inviting Oliver in the lead a Nature Stories Through Picture Frames session with Inventors and Adventurers. They will come back in March to replace some of our trees which we lost due to the hot weather.

LITTLE GIFT PERFORMANCE

On Tuesday we welcomed M6 theatre company into school to share with us their performance of ‘Little Gift.’ The children were amazed by the puppet, lovely music and the very clever and adaptable scenery.

An old soul lives alone.
He likes it that way.
It’s quieter and safer.

One day, a surprise visitor plants a little seed of hope and turns this lonely life upside down.

 

The children gave feedback to the actors and crew with one child even commented on how he will now look out for lonely people and make sure he gives them a gift, another child followed on from this- “I always give people a smile because you don’t know if they are lonely or not. “

 

Thank you to the PTFA for funding this experience for our children.

Being Heart smart with Boris

On Monday Anna and Boris the robot from Heart smart came to talk to us about our new Heart smart PSHCE curriculum which we have just started to work on. Anna started the Collective Worship by asking us to think about things we heart or things we love. Our hopes, wishes and dreams which shape us. 

 

Boris the robot sat quietly whilst she spoke to us and then Anna asked Boris to say hello to us! Boris actually spoke and as he did his heart made of cogs began moving and ticking. Anna asked him lots of questions and Boris answered them correctly- he is smart! 

 

Anna and Boris then talked to us about looking after out heart- choosing the correct foods. Boris reminded Anna about making healthy choices- a banana not crisps as she had crisps yesterday! Boris told us an amazing fact.

 

"You have more brain cells as a baby and you brain continues to grow until you are 45."

 

Boris is 1 year old and made of scrapyard junk, his shoulders are a colander and his body an old wireless. 

Anna told us a story about how she used to feel when she was younger- she is small and so wanted to be tall- she wore high heels to school but the gave her blisters and cut her feet. She learnt that here friends were her friends because they smile together, they love her and they have fun- not because of the shoes she wears.

 

Anna has learnt to love herself-

"Don't I look fabulous." She said as she walked proud and tall. This is a Heart smart thing to say.

 

POSITIVE THINGS MAKE YOUR HEART GROW BIGGER.

God made each of us 'wonderfully'- he knitted us together- that is how special you are. 

 

Your heart beats 80 times every minute- pout your hand on your heart- let a positive thought in every time your heart beats!

 

We prayed together and sang our school song- My Lighthouse- Boris even knew it!

 

Anna left us to think about our unique finger print- we also have a unique heart beat. We hope the 5 heart smart rules will help us to look after our hearts and each other!

Thank you to the girls for representing our school at the memorial service held in Castleton on Sunday 23rd September. The new memorial stone was unveiled and a special community service held to to mark the day the new stone was put in place. 

We have enjoyed working together to create a beautiful display in the school hall which shows God's Creation. Have a look at it next time you are in school- our art work is amazing!

We have been looking at our Wishes, hopes and dreams for our future and for the future of god's Wonderful World too.  In the lobby we have created a whole school display which shares our hopes, wishes and dreams with you. Explorers wrote theirs on stars, Discoverers on raindrops, Inventors on toadstools and Adventurers on fish and starfish. Our children have fantastic ambitions for their futures and a real understanding of how they can make God's world a better place. 

Summer Challenge-Thank you for taking part in our summer challenge and taking photographs of God's Wonderful World. There were lots of amazing things captured from rainbows to animals, mountains to the sea! We have put them all together in a display in the hall, have a look next time you are in school.  It really helped us to think about the amazing beautiful world we live in and that we are all here to look after it together. 

RE and Art week

We have really enjoyed taking part in an RE and Art week in school focusing on God’ s Big Story through art and looking at God’s Wonderful World. We started the week focusing on the art frieze created by Emma Yarlet as part of the Understanding Christianity scheme of work we follow in school for Religious Education. The frieze represents God’s story from Creation through to The Kingdom of God. Each class looked at different panels from the frieze and answer questions about what they could see and how it related to the bible stories they have read. Each class recreated the panels they had discussed using a range of medium and drew their own version of God’s Big Story. The large pieces of art will be framed and displayed in the school hall. For the second half if the week we focused on God’s Creation and the book of Genesis. We all worked together to decoupage a huge cardboard tree which was paid for by the PTFA and each of us thought about the wonderful natural things in God’ s World which we love. The tree will be the focal point for a display in the hall which will contain all the children’s pictures and paintings of their favourite thing in God’s World. It was wonderful to see the children so engaged, working together across school on the same theme and using their ideas, being creative in lots of ways

Compliment Treat

As part of our Positive Behaviour Policy children can earn compliments from the staff in school if they show they are living out our School Values. The class with the most compliments each half term have won a treat of ‘Cakes and Shakes’ which they have enjoyed. This last half term the children have worked as a school to try to get 300 compliment for a whole school end of year treat. The children have worked hard to live out our school values and we have seen lots of courteous and friendly behaviours around school. After watching Aladdin altogether in the hall we had a visit from an Ice- Cream van- we all enjoyed sitting in the sun with a cornet- well done to everyone for working a s a team to gain 478 compliments altogether.

Sports Week

What a wonderful week of sports we have had! The children have been involved in lots of different sports from the pentathlon to boccia, earning points for their teams. Children were put in mixed aged teams from Morocco, Portugal, Mexico Argentina & Australia and each team formed part of our Opening Ceremony procession around the field, bearing the flags of their teams. The children have also been developing their Geography skills focusing on the different countries and where they are! This culminated in our Sports Week Finale (Races) & Closing Ceremony today. Thanks to all the parents, carers and families that came along this morning to support the teams & cheer on the children! The teams were presented with their certificates by Councillor Billy Sheerin during Praise assembly this afternoon. We are pleased to announce that the WINNING TEAM IS PORTUGAL!!!! Well done everyone!!!

Visit from Bishop Mark- focusing on his clothes

Bishop Mark paid us a special visit to School! He met with all the children some Governors and some of our parents as he lead our collective worship in our weekly praise assembly. He explained to the children what each item of his special Bishop clothing meant. The children sat and listened in awe to the Bishop.

He asked the children- What is my hat shaped like this for? He did not expect to get the correct answer so said that I, the staff, governors and parents would all do cartwheels if anyone got the right answer! Grayson said- Is it because we all love each other? The Bishop thought this was the nicest answer he had ever heard. Sasha got it totally right though- Is it to represent the Holy Spirit pointing up to God? The Bishop was blown away. Fortunately he told the children that cartwheels are banned in schools on Fridays- phew!

Picnic lunch wearing red, white and blue to celebrate the Royal Wedding- Congratulations Harry and Megan!

Number Fun Collective Worship and Maths Workshop- Dave Godferry