Year 5 Weekly Blog 13.02.25- ‘ The love that flows through your heart will purify your spirit’- St Valentine

What an end to our first half term of 2025. With our religious theme being the ‘Pilgrimage of Hope’, as a school, we went on our own pilgrimage to Church to celebrate this and to officially bring in the new year with Father Peter. To spread hope, love and kindness consistently throughout your life can be tricky and to live within all the beatitudes is even harder. Our focus this week in our RE lessons has been Pier Giorgio, known as ‘the boy of the beatitudes’, and evaluating his life into why he later became a saint.

This week, we also celebrated ‘Online Safety Day’. We were lucky enough to take part in BBC’s live lesson which included some interactive tasks along with some very important information. This years theme was ‘Too good to be true’ with us looking into how to spot potential scams online.

Our third enrichment session of the year took place with Year 5 grafting hard outside in a painting/gardening session with Mrs Hotchkiss and Mrs Mather.

This week we have also been learning…

  • English- Writing our independent sci-fi story based on the plot of E.T

  • Maths- using our mastery of number skills to apply these to bigger square number questions and recapping factors and primes.

  • Science- Putting our space knowledge to the test in an end of unit Kahoot quiz.

  • Music- Blending colours with music by listening to the instrumental versions of popular songs and associating these with particular colours.

Conversation starters

My Happy Mind: Now we have finished our ‘apricate’ module in My Happy Mind, is there anything or anyone who you are more grateful for now then 6 weeks ago?

Class Novel: Our class novel takes place in 1950’s Britain in which the children have started to realise that certain rules/laws were different back then. Are there any big rule/law changes that your parents or grandparents have lived through. If so, what do they think of these changes? Have they worked out for better or worse?

Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog and keep helping your child with any work that they are struggling with- especially our spellings. It is important to make sure we are reading for at least 15 minutes a day at home to keep broadening our vocabulary, description and sentence structure.



  • Class Library- After a huge clear-out and revamp of our school library, we have started to rebuild our own class library in Year 5. Book series seem to be really popular and we have discussed some of the children’s favourites. If have any old series of books that you would recommend to read , then we would hugely appreciate any donations. Please ask your parents before bringing any books in to donate.



  • PE Days- Our PE days have changed slightly with our outdoor session being on Mondays and our indoor session on Wednesdays.



  • Fidget Toys- If this has not been discussed with your class teacher, then any sort of fidget toys are not to be brought into school. Please can bags be checked incase these have been left in from the weekend. Trading cards and chewing gum should also be kept at home.



  • Half Term- School will then reopen Tuesday 25th February.



  • Trip to Manchester Friday 28th February- This will take place during the first week after half term. Details regarding payment are live on parent pay. Children will in their normal school uniform and will have to be in school around 8:30am. Depending on traffic, we should be back at school between 3:30-4:00. A text will go out to parents as soon as we get back on the M55 when travelling back to school.



  • Trip to The Grand- During the next half term, we will be going to watch Year 4’s performance of their Shakespeare production at the Grand in Blackpool. We will be using public transport for this trip so the cost of the ticket has been uploaded to Parent Pay.



  • Lenten Boxes- Please check the homework blog in regards to lenten boxes for our Year 1 buddies.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 07.02.25- ' To be a follower of Christ, you must stop thinking about yourself'

How can we be like Jesus? that is the question that we all wish to know and in order to do so, we must follow in his footsteps. To know what it means to be a follower, you must relfect upon yourself and analyse your own actions and how they impact others. We have been looking at how the beatitudes are a guide for us from Jesus in how to be his follower and reflecting on how we can live within these.

What a week it has been! It has truly been a week of representing Our Lady’s and giving back to the community. This started on Tuesday as we took a short trip down to St Annes library to rejoice in National Storytelling Week. It was amazing to see the layout and presentation of the library as we have just recently restructured our own school and class library.

On Wednesday, we carried out our biggest eco job of the year as we walked down to the pier and helped plant Christmas trees on the dunes to help protect and preserve the future environment. We were blessed with such beautiful weather and the children worked tirelessly and excellently with each other throughout the afternoon.

We have really been stepping up our mastery of number this week by looking at large multiples of four and how we can partition this in order to work out the missing factor. his will help massively as we begin working with ratios.

In English, all of our mini story writing and creative descriptive lessons have been coming together as we have started planning our final sci story of this half term- basing our plot on ‘E.T’.

Conversation starters

My Happy Mind: To finish off our appreciate module, the children have been drawing their ‘gratitude frames’ in which they have created a picture collage of all the things they are grateful for in life. Tell your household what was in your gratitude frame and what would be in theirs if they were to draw one?

Class Novel: In our class novel, we have just reached the part in our book where Leonard has arrived in England to reunite with his Dad and has noticed the significant difference from moving to a small town into a big city. Have your Mum or Dad ever lived in a big city? If so, where did they live? What was it like? How does it compare to living in Lytham St Annes?

Let’s Celebrate!

  • Toby for being an creative and focused learner: As you know from myself and Mrs Gregan, we admire beautiful book presentation and you Toby have this in abundance. I can tell instantly just how focused you are in lessons because you take such care of your work and how this is presented. To go with this, your creative writing has been outstanding, using your rainbow writing practice and imagination to create some fantastic pieces of work. I cannot wait to read your final story.

  • Virtue Star of the Week: This week, our virtue star goes to Josh. During our eco trip, we have seen another side to you Josh. You were so enthusiastic throughout the whole afternoon and you got stuck in straight away and worked your socks off. This showed that you care for our environment and you are hopeful of making our area a better place.


Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Rory

Marvelous Manners- Josseph

Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog and keep helping your child with any work that they are struggling with- especially our spellings. It is important to make sure we are reading for at least 15 minutes a day at home to keep broadening our vocabulary, description and sentence structure.

  • Class Library- After a huge clear-out and revamp of our school library, we have started to rebuild our own class library in Year 5. Book series seem to be really popular and we have discussed some of the children’s favourites. If have any old series of books that you would recommend to read , then we would hugely appreciate any donations. Please ask your parents before bringing any books in to donate.

  • PE Days- Our PE days have changed slightly with our outdoor session being on Mondays and our indoor session on Wednesdays.

  • Fidget Toys- If this has not been discussed with your class teacher, then any sort of fidget toys are not to be brought into school. Please can bags be checked incase these have been left in from the weekend. Trading cards and chewing gum should also be kept at home.

  • Half Term- School will close on Thursday 13th February at normal closing time. School will then reopen Tuesday 25th February.

  • Trip to Manchester Friday 28th February- This will take place during the first week after half term. Details regarding payment are live on parent pay. Children will in their normal school uniform and will have to be in school around 8:30am. Depending on traffic, we should be back at school between 3:30-4:00. A text will go out to parents as soon as we get back on the M55 when travelling back to school.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 24.01.25- 'If you want to see the rainbow, you have to get through the storm'

This week has definitely been a week filled with lots of hard work and learning opportunities. Whether it’s been starting new topics, continuing with big units or large independent tasks, the children have applied themselves really well into all of our pieces of work. It has been brilliant to see the children take on the advice given from the Year 5 staff about becoming independent learners and preparing them not just for Year 6 but even for high school! It was certainly a stormy end to the week with lots of indoor play taking place. We pray that all of you have a safe and secure weekend as the winds continue into next week.

In RE, we have finished our topic of covenants and have started our new topic ‘Inspirational People’. We started by discussing what the word inspire means and how different people portray it. The children loved sharing who their inspirations were and how they inspire them (and yes mums and dads were mentioned in this). We then linked this to how Jesus was inspirational and what qualities/characteristics he has.

In English, we have continued to bring our writing to life by blending our amazing extended noun phrases and using these to create mini sci-fi stories. We will then be expanding on this even more when we add some personification!

In Maths, we have continued with our factors and multiples unit and have been doing lots of deep thinking this week, with the children using their multiplication knowledge to apply these to problem solving and reasoning questions. We have also been looking at the importance of the word ‘common’ and how this applies to our factors and multiples undersranding.

In PE, now the athletics competition is over, our focus turned to our new topics. We started hockey in our outdoor PE lessons, with the children understanding the safety and technic of using proper hockey equipment. The children then applied these skills into some passing and controlling drills. In our indoor PE lessons, we have continued with our dance topic of ‘heroes and villains’, in which we linked our new RE topic to relate our inspirational and heroic icons.

Conversation starters

My Happy Mind: This week we have been reflecting on what we are grateful for and looking around the classroom to say why we are grateful for each and every one of us. Tell every member of your household why you love them and why you are grateful to have them in your lives.

Class Novel: In our class novel, we have been talking cuisines from different countries, particularly the Caribbean, as mentioned in our class novel. What is your favourite foreign cuisine that you have tried. Do you like spicy food? (unlike Mr Cornwell).

Let’s Celebrate!

  • Poppy for being a brave and resilient learner: You have had a lot thrown at you this week Poppy. You have been working so hard during your sessions with Mrs Tierney and Mrs Hennessy, and yet you always come back into the classroom and work to the best of your ability. All of this effort will pay off- you just have to believe in yourself


    Virtue Star of the Week: This week, our virtue star goes to Tommy. You are such a lovely lad Tommy. Without a doubt, you will always ask myself if there’s anything you can help with which is such a kind offer to give, especially every single day. You are a real motivator as well Tommy, always encouraging other children when they face a challenge and you are always engaging in our whole class discussions. Thank you so much for this and for just being you.


Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Josh

Marvelous Manners- Jacob

Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog and keep helping your child with any work that they are struggling with- especially our spellings. It is important to make sure we are reading for at least 15 minutes a day at home to keep broadening our vocabulary, description and sentence structure.

  • Eco Trip Wednesday 5th February- We will be going down to the Sand Dunes to plant Christmas Trees, ready to be grown for Christmas 2025! The children will need to bring clothes/shoes that they don’t mind getting dirty along with a waterproof coat. We are still needing a volunteer if anyone is interested.

  • PE Days- Our PE days have changed slightly with our outdoor session being on Mondays and our indoor session on Wednesdays.

  • Fidget Toys- If this has not been discussed with your class teacher, then any sort of fidget toys are not to be brought into school. Please can bags be checked incase these have been left in from the weekend. Trading cards and chewing gum should also be kept at home.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 17.01.25- ' Hard work beats talent when talents fails to work hard’




Yet another week has flown by as we are approaching the half way point of this half term! Regardless of the very cold and icy weather conditions, the children have soldiered on and cracked on with their learning as usual.

In English, we have been using our sci-fi nouns to produce extended noun phrases. The children have also been able to link their science knowledge of the solar system into their sci-fi writing to discuss planets, outer space and other outer world objects. In Maths, we have continued with our factors topic with many factor bugs being drawn to find all of our factor pairs. Recently, we have been linking this to multiples and analysing common multiples between different numbers.

We started our new History topic this week as we look into faiths of the world- in particular Islam. We have been discussing the origins of each of the ‘Big 5’ religions and where in the world these religions arose from.

The children’s favourite lesson of the week I’m sure would of been science this week as we looked at the phases of the moon. Knowing the full cycle of the moon along with the specific names of the phases can be difficult so we used a particular diagram (with famous connections with the moon) to help remember this.

It was a big week for Our Lady sports as many members of the class got to represent the school in the Fylde Athletics Competition at Blackpool Sports Centre. The children ran their socks off on the track and gave it their all in the field events to get Our Lady’s to our highest finish in years. Special shoutout to Daisy, Matilda, Rose and Beth for winning the opening race of the day in the obstacle relay and also John-Paul and Lorenzo for winning the highly anticipated 6 lap paarluf race. The rest of the class spent the afternoon with Mrs Harrison and Mrs Webster up in Year 6, in which their focus was the Pilgrims of Hope with some religious themed crafts activities. Both Year 6 teachers were full of praise in regards to the children’s behaviour, attitude and work ethic. A quick collaboration video of this event is available on Mrs Gregan’s blog.


Conversation starters

My Happy Mind: This week we have been reflecting on what we are grateful for and looking around the classroom to say why we are grateful for each and every one of us. Tell every member of your household why you love them and why you are grateful to have them in your lives.

Class Novel: In our class novel, we have been talking of different types of dialogue and how accents and languages are different from each other. Is there anyone in your family or do your parents know anyone with any distinctive accents.

Let’s Celebrate!

  • John-Paul for being a focused and co-operative learner: Such a trustworthy, passionate and kind friend. Your focus in class is impeccable. You just get your head down and get on with whatever task you have-your progress is all down to your hard work. This paid off massively in your athletics competition as you helped your team to victory in the toughest race of the event- You deserve it!


    Virtue Star of the Week: This week, our virtue star goes to William. You are such a caring and considerate friend William. You treat your fellow classmates which the love, respect and kindness that you wish you to be treated with- a true follower of our class slogan. The class are very lucky to have a classmate like yourself and I hope you understand that- your love and kindness does not go unnoticed.


Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Ciaran

Marvelous Manners- Hudson


Notices

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog and keep helping your child with any work that they are struggling with- especially our spellings. It is important to make sure we are reading for at least 15 minutes a day at home to keep broadening our vocabulary, description and sentence structure.

  • Eco Trip Wednesday 5th February- We will be going down to the Sand Dunes to plant Christmas Trees, ready to be grown for Christmas 2025! The children will need to bring clothes/shoes that they don’t mind getting dirty along with a waterproof coat.

  • PE Days- Our PE days have changed slightly with our outdoor session being on Mondays and our indoor session on Wednesdays.

  • Fidget Toys- If this has not been discussed with your class teacher, then any sort of fidget toys are not to be brought into school. Please can bags be checked incase these have been left in from the weekend. Trading cards and chewing gum should also be kept at home.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 10.01.25- 'Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right'


A Happy New Year to you all and it has been a brilliant first school week of 2025. Learning has begun straight from the first minute and has not stopped all week. The children have settled back in really well and have picked the school routines back up very quickly. The new year in school was also greeted with a white welcome of snow and ice in which the children put their snow building skills to the test.

We kicked the week off with all things timed tables in maths as we prepare for our new unit of factors, multiples and primes. I have been so impressed with the children’s retention of these table facts and the speediness of their multiplication facts.

On Tuesday, we began our eagerly anticipated space topic in Science. We discussed what we already knew about space and any curious questions that we want to find out. This was helped by the inflatable planets up in our classroom- which was the focus for lesson as we discussed the planets that make up our solar system and learning the correct order of these.

On Wednesday, we started our new writing topic of Sci-Fi, where we looking at all the different components of sci fi and reenacted a specific sci-fi story. We then looked at how we could improve the writing of this story and how we could add more description.




The focus for PE this week was to prepare for the upcoming athletics tournament next week. The children had a go at attempting all of the events in the competition and there scores were recorded in order for them to try and beat their best score.

We finished the week off by starting our new class novel- ‘The Windrush Child’. This book is based on the true story of many children a part of the Windrush generation. The book focuses on the struggles of foreign families living abroad and how racism has impacted their lives.




Let’s Celebrate

  • Charlotte for being a reflective and co-operative learner: All of the Year 5 team have seen a big change from you in the new year. I can see you have reflected over the winter break about how to react to certain situations and the attitude you wish to portray throughout your day and this has been amazing to see. I hope you feel as proud of yourself as your teachers do.




  • Virtue Butterflies: Our new virtues for the half term are eloquent and truthful. Our butterfly this week goes to Jacob. You have been so helpful this week and always offering to help all of your teachers in any job being done. This has not gone unoticed and your teachers can not speak highly of your attitude since coming back to school. Excellent work.






    Lunchtime Certificates




    Role Model of the Week- Lilly

    Marvelous Manners- Logan

Notices

  • Indoor Athletics Competition- All children taking part have been informed and information regarding this is available on the sports page. This will take place on Wednesday 15th January.

  • Eco Trip Wednesday 5th February- We will be going down to the Sand Dunes to plant Christmas Trees, ready to be grown for Christmas 2025! The children will need to bring clothes/shoes that they don’t mind getting dirty along with a waterproof coat.




Year 5 Weekly Blog 13.12.24- 'Pilgrimage is a journey with the purpose of finding something that matters deeply'

7 down, 1 to go! We are finally coming to the end of our longest (yet favourite) half term of the year. In a rush to get our final English and Maths units completed before we enter Christmas memory week, we have been working hard with planning/writing our legend story and drawing/measuring angles in Maths. We ended our week with lots of Christmas spirit with our second ever Christmas Bake Off along with our nativity pilgrimages. The morning was a sugar filled morning with lots of fantastic bakes and cakes on show- we can’t thank you enough for all of the effort and love you have put into these. With lots of judging and tasting, we can say that Matilda won the Year 5 Bake Off with John- Paul coming second in both the Year 5 Bake Off and the family bake- well done you two!

In the afternoon, we took our Year 1 buddies on our nativity pilgrimage around the school to gather together in prayer and worship to reflect on the story of the nativity and to share this together.

On Wednesday, Mrs Tierney and Mrs Carter took the class outside for the afternoon for all things forest school. The children got to use their bulb planting skills from our previous eco trip to help spring our garden ready for the new year. The children also got to combine forest school with the festive spirit by making willow stars as a memento to take home.

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Teddy

Marvelous Manners- Amelia

Notices

  • Homework: Make sure to check the homework blog and make sure homework is handed in on time.

  • Coats: Now the weather is starting to drop and we edge closer towards winter, can all children have a coat with them to make sure they are protected when out at break times.

  • Travelling Nativity: Please enjoy the wonderful story of the nativity with your child when you receive this. This needs to be brought back into school the following day to allow another child to share this joy. You can take a picture of your child with the nativity and send me this via email.

  • Christmas Cards: To keep inline with our eco responsibilities and to remain sustainable, could we ask not to bring whole class Christmas cards and instead the children make 1 card which is for the whole class. These cards will then go onto our advent worship table.

  • KS2 Christmas Concert: This will take place at Church on Monday 16th December. The children will perform the concert twice at 2pm and 6pm.

  • KS2 Christmas Party Day: Wednesday 18th December. We will also be having a film afternoon on this day so the children can bring in a drink and a small bar of chocolate.

  • Half Term: School will close at 2pm on Friday 20th December for half term. School will reopen on Monday 6th January.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 29.11.24- ' Advent is the time to welcome the Lord and to verifying our longing to God'

With what usually tends to be a slow month, November has flown by as we enter the first week of Advent. A month of celebration and togetherness but we start week by week with ‘Hope’. It was wonderful for our children to start our advent preparations with a beautiful liturgy this week, with some wonderful scripture and song choice. Moving forward, we made our advent promises on a nativity star in which we thought about how we can be hopeful this year and intentional towards God.

In English, we have been analysing our main character, Prince Llewelyn, in our legend story and looking how his emotions change throughout the story. We have then applied this to writing a diary entry as the prince himself.

In Geography, we have continued with looking into biomes and have used a map to compare these across continents of the world.

This week, we have also finished our last hall practice session for our KS2 Christmas concert as we have practiced all of our songs in our booklet. Now it is about transferring this onto the altar and getting off script with our songs. We will be walking down to church weekly now for our weekly practices so it is vital that the children have coats and gloves during these very chilly conditions. Two groups of children have also been battling conditions this week and have been putting in the hard yards during some woodchip manual work, in order to get our forest school up and ready. Both Mrs Tierney and Mrs Lavelle could not praise the children more on how hard they worked and how much weight of woodchip collectively they managed to get through.

Conversation starters

  • My Happy Mind: We put our memories to the test by trying to memorize all 24 character strengths and placing them into their virtues. How many of the 24 strengths can you remember?

  • Geography: We have looked at biomes and climates to compare different environments of the world. If you could live in any part of the world, where would you live and why?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue star this week goes to Tommy. You have such a sweet heart Tommy. You are such a valued member of the class and this week you have been so active around the classroom, always offering to help out with any of the adults’ tasks which has been so lovely of you. Your helping hand will be very much appreciated during this busy period of the year.

Daisy for being a determined learner: When it comes to independent writing tasks, you are a woman on a mission Daisy. You are so determined to make sure your work is of the highest quality and you take pride in your work. This has been seen this week as you have started your second book and we compared the changes in your handwriting since September. It was pleasing for me to see this and even more so for yourself. Well done!

Seth for being a enthusiastic learner: Both myself and Mrs Barker have seen a big improvement from you this week Seth. Your hand has been shooting up which shows your eagerness to contribute towards our learning. This has also been seen in your independent work as you have been working on managing your distractions. Keep this up!

My Happy Mind Champion of the Week- Poppy

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Beth

Marvelous Manners- Seth

Notices

  • Homework: Make sure to check the homework blog and make sure homework is handed in on time.

  • Coats: Now the weather is starting to drop and we edge closer towards winter, can all children have a coat with them to make sure they are protected when out at break times.

  • Travelling Nativity: Please enjoy the wonderful story of the nativity with your child when you receive this. This needs to be brought back into school the following day to allow another child to share this joy. You can take a picture of your child with the nativity and send me this via email.

  • Christmas Cards: To keep inline with our eco responsibilities and to remain sustainable, could we ask not to bring whole class Christmas cards and instead the children make 1 card which is for the whole class. These cards will then go onto our advent worship table.

  • Own Clothes Day: To celebrate the arrival of December and the festive period, then children can wear their own clothes and also donate a bar of chocolate for the Christmas Raffle. This will take place on Friday 29th November.

    This will be the same on Friday 6th December but it will be bring a bottle. This can be a bottle of anything that could go into our hampers and considered a prize such as alcohol, bubble baths, sweets in a jar etc.

  • KS2 Christmas Film Night: If you would like to watch a Christmas film after school, with your friends, with popcorn, hotdogs and hot chocolates, then head over to Mrs Gregan’s blog to book this.

  • Christmas Bake Off: Last year went so well, we just had to do it again! All things Christmas with cakes, bakes and jumpers on Friday 13th December.

  • KS2 Christmas Concert: This will take place at Church on Monday 16th December. The children will perform the concert twice at 2pm and 6pm.

  • KS2 Christmas Party Day: Wednesday 18th December

  • Half Term: School will close at 2pm on Friday 20th December for half term. School will reopen on Monday 6th January.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 15.11.24- ' Everything is better in pyjamas’

The week has certainly flown by this week as the countdown to Christmas has begun! Lots of learning has been taking place, even when dressed in the comfiest pyjamas at the end of the week. Regardless of all of the excitement of teddies, onesies and oodies, the children’s focus and attitude towards their learning was still as expected- which is a big sign of maturity as upper juniors. This was seen during our English and spelling lessons today with the children thinking deeply into different pairs of homophones and how they differ and also when it was time to get active during our ‘legends carousel’ in English. Can the members of your household complete the ‘Pronunciation Poem’ ?

In Maths, it has been all things money this week, with us comparing the value of the different coins/notes we use and how we can combine these to reach total amounts. We have looked at different methods that we can use when calculating with money to make things simplier for ourselves- such as adjusting.

In Geography ,we have continued with looking into the world map and the countries within it- this week it has been all about capital cities. We shared what we already know about them and how many capital cities do they already know around the world. We then used our investigating skills to locate the biggest cities in the UK and where they are located on a map.

We also started our Computing lessons this week and deep dived into the world of coding. The children were able to apply their previously learned skills and their creativity to complete certain tasks.

Conversation starters

  • Can you remember which character strength you chose that you need to work on in My Happy Mind. Share this with your parents and discuss how they could help you strive to improving this strength.

  • Geography: We have looked at capital cities of the world. Compete with your family members to see who can name more capital cities of the world.

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue star of the week goes to Hudson. You have such a kind and caring nature Hudson and you are so prophetic in your actions- especially out on the playground. Your aim is always to have fun and to look after others and this is just a joy to see.

Joseph for being a determined and reflective learner: What a week you have had Joseph! I have seen a big shift in your maturity levels this past few weeks and how reflective you have been in your choices. I can see how determined you are in making sure your making more right choices and this has been noticed by all of your staff members. Keep this up!

Amelia for being a determined and enthusiastic learner: You are like a woman on a mission when it comes to your learning Amelia. You are so determined to get through your work, also making sure it is of a high standard- and you do this with such enthusiasm. Excellent work.

My Happy Mind Champion of the Week-

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Tommy

Marvelous Manners- Charlotte

Notices

  • Homework: Make sure to check the homework blog and make sure homework is handed in on time.

  • Coats: Now the weather is starting to drop and we edge closer towards winter, can all children have a coat with them to make sure they are protected when out at break times.

  • Travelling Nativity: Please enjoy the wonderful story of the nativity with your child when you receive this. This needs to be brought back into school the following day to allow another child to share this joy. You can take a picture of your child with the nativity and send me this via email.

  • Own Clothes Day: To celebrate the arrival of December and the festive period, then children can wear their own clothes and also donate a bar of chocolate for the Christmas Raffle. This will take place on Friday 29th November.

  • Christmas Bake Off: Last year went so well, we just had to do it again! All things Christmas with cakes, bakes and jumpers on Friday 13th December.

  • KS2 Christmas Concert: This will take place at Church on Monday 16th December. The children will perform the concert twice at 2pm and 6pm.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 08.11.24- ‘To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die’

What an action packed week it has been for only our second week back after half term. After first recognising the 24 character strengths of the ‘Celebrate’ module of my happy mind, the children were tasked with the job of reenacting one of the 6 chosen virtues- collaborating these 24 character strengths with a little role play. Later in the week, we got to compare our chosen reflections of our own personal strengths to the official ‘My Happy Mind Character Strengths Test’ online.

The main focus of the week came on Tuesday morning with our class assembly. With not so much time to prepare for this, the children showed lots of courage, flexibility and determination leading up to and on the day of the assembly. The theme of the morning really was portrayed excellently by the children and how teamwork and kindness should look both in and out of the classroom- now it is time to put this into action in our day to day schooling life.

On Wednesday, this saw us go out into the community to complete our first trip as the eco-council of the school. We took the short walk to Beauclerk Gardens for a bulb planting session with the Fylde Rangers. The children were eager to put the work in straight away with us planting over 200 bulbs in just 1 hour!

In English, it has been all things relative clauses this week with the children grasping a really good understanding of what these are and how to apply this creatively to our writing. I am excited to see these being used in our next creative writing piece.

In Maths, we have now breached into a new place value column- hundredths. We used physical representations to compare the value of this to tenths and ones.

Conversation starters

  • Can you remember which character strengths you ticked as your strongest? Discuss this with your parents and see if they agree. Can you find the list of 24 strengths online and get your parents to pick their top 5.

  • Geography: We have looked at lines of longitude and latitude this week. Discuss with your parents when you have been abroad on holiday. Do they remember the time difference compared to the UK?

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue star of the week goes to Tilly. You are such a calming presence in the class Tilly and you are such a kind friend. When one of your closest friends needed help this week, you didn’t panic or stress. You calmy found your class teachers and helped to really defuse potentially stressful situation. Thank you so much for this.

William for being a focused learner: Managing distractions is such a tricky challenge to overcome, especially as a nine year old, and yet you manage to do this with ease and ignore those around you who could cause you a distraction. Keep being a role model to both our Year 1 children and for your Year 5 classmates.

Hugo for being a co-operative learner: You were not just chosen to represent in the school for the football tournament because of your ability but because of your attitude and maturity shown to sporting activities this year Hugo. Even when the games weren’t going our way or you were waiting to come on, you didn’t moan or sulk, you just got on with it. Another role model to the class on how to behave in sporting activities.

My Happy Mind Champion of the Week- William

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Poppy

Marvelous Manners- Rory

Notices

  • Homework: Make sure to check the homework blog and make sure homework is handed in on time.

  • Coats: Now the weather is starting to drop and we edge closer towards winter, can all children have a coat with them to make sure they are protected when out at break times.

  • PJ Day: Our annual pajama day will be on Friday 15th November. Bring £1 to wear your PJ’s for the day and to help raise money for Brian House charity.

  • Own Clothes Day: To celebrate the arrival of December and the festive period, then children can wear their own clothes and also bring in a bar of chocolate into school for £1. This will take place on Friday 29th November.

  • Christmas Bake Off: Last year went so well, we just had to do it again! All things Christmas with cakes, bakes and jumpers on Friday 13th December.

Year 5 Weekly Blog 01.11.24- The more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate'


What a first week back it has been! The start of our longest half term of the year has begun and it has flown by. It has been a slightly different week, with Mrs Harrison taking the class for the first three days of the week. During this, the children have been doing lots of reading into our class novel with the us coming towards the end of the fantastic story. They have also started their new grammar topic of relative clauses and looking at different ways we can add extra information to our main clauses.

We also began our next module of My Happy Mind which is all about celebrating our minds and focusing what we are good at. We did this by analysing the 24 character strengths that we all have and self-reflected on which strengths we possess the most of.

In Maths, to prepare for our money topic, we have been looking over our place value of going smaller than ones. We have looked at the relationship of ones and tenths and how we can represent this in various representations. The week has also been heavily focused on preparing for our class assembly, with the children jumping straight into script reads, drama and singing. This will be performed on Tuesday 5th November at 9:15am and 9:35am.

We began our first Geography topic of the year with the focus being on the world map and the countries within. We started by recapping our knowledge of the worlds continents and oceans and linked our previous holiday destinations to a world map. We then finished off by testing the children’s knowledge of flags- especially those who have very similar flags to close by nations.

Conversation starters

  • Can you remember which character strengths you ticked as your strongest? Discuss this with your parents and see if they agree. Can you find the list of 24 strengths online and get your parents to pick their top 5.

  • Do you remember the 5 really tricky flag questions I put you to the test with? Can your parents get 5/5 on this too!

Let’s Celebrate

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue star of the week goes to Beth. This week you have taken your own time in your breaks to help organise other children’s book folders- to make sure that they are not scrunched or folded. The children really did appreciate this and it was such a thoughtful thing to do.

Lilly for being a focused learner: Your attitude towards your learning is always spot on Lilly, even when we have changed our seats- your focus has still been at the level we expect of upper juniors. Excellent work.

Gus for being a determined learner: Mrs Harrison has been super impressed with you this week Gus. You have really applied yourself throughout all of our lessons this week- especially in your grammar work in English.

My Happy Mind Champion of the Week- Louis

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- William

Marvelous Manners- Isioma

Notices

  • Year 5 Class Assembly: Our class assembly will be on Tuesday 5th November starting at 9:15am. The children will perform their assembly again at 9:35am on the same day.

  • A- Team Football Tournament: If your child plays in the A team for the school football team , then please read the blog on the sports page regarding this for more information. This will take place on Tuesday 5th November.

  • Book Look: This will take place on Friday 8th November, starting at 9:15am. If you’re available, please come down for a lovely coffee and book look morning.

  • PJ Day: Our annual pajama day will be on Friday 15th November. Bring £1 to wear your PJ’s for the day and to help raise money for Brian House charity

Year 5 Weekly Blog 17.10.24-

And just like that, we have arrived at the end of our first half term of the year (it’s scary to think that Christmas is on its way). Regardless of the weather, it has still been a fun yet productive final week of autumn 1. On Monday, to celebrate completing our first unit of ‘My Happy Mind’, we put our arts and crafts skills to the test to make some ‘HAP Hats’. I’m hoping that these hats made it home in one piece for all of you to see. Our ‘My Happy Mind’ Champion for this week was Joseph, who wore his badge with pride and really looked after it this week- thankyou Joseph.

In certain lessons, it was about wrapping up our knowledge in that subject with some evaluation quizzes in which the children relished this and whizzed through their questions.

In History, we continued with the Battle of Marathon and analysed this as historians to look at the different verisons of this famous story. The children had to use the evidence presented to find the clues and answers to specific questions in order to assess the credibility of the story.

In English, we have continued in reading our class novel of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, surpassing Chapter 6 of our exciting childhood classic.

Notices

  • Sports Club Opportunities- Information for Autumn 2 clubs are available on the sports page of the blog.

  • Homework- Please check the homework blog for work to do over half term.


Have a wonderful half term break.

From Mr Cornwell, Mrs Barker and Mrs Tierney

Year 5 Weekly Blog 11.10.24- ' You are not weak for struggling, you are brave for facing your battles face on'

It has been a action-packed and fun-filled week in Year 5. On Wednesday, we began our second year of enrichment opportunities with each class going to another teacher to take part in an activity of their choosing. To kick things off, Year 5 took the small trip to their previous classroom for some card games with Mrs Lyons, where they learned a personal favourite of mine- Gin Rummy.

On Thursday, it was ‘World Mental Health Day’ in which we collaborated this with ‘Hello Yellow’. Our focus of the day was to stay informed what mental health is, what can cause mental health illness. We talked about the importance of talking to trusted adults and not bottling up any upsetting emotions and how we can maintain a positive mental attitude. The children then had some self-reflection on their own personal qualities and what makes them happy. The children then got to take part in my enrichment opportunity of ‘quiz mastering’ where they used their knowledge to battle through the quiz. We then ended the day with some arts and crafts by creating some happy yellow emoji bookmarks, something that the children can then take home.

We then ended our week in coming together in faith with our annual harvest mass. Thank you all so much for your generous donations- they really are appreciated. In English, it has been a full week of independent writing of our story based on ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Lots of sore hands this week with pages and pages of writing. The children have certainly earned their half term break.

In Maths. We have been doing lots of rounding and looking at numbers up to a million and focusing on rounding to digits across the place value chart. Children have enjoyed the challenge of applying these learnt skills into some problem solving and reasoning style questions.

In History, we have built on last weeks knowledge of Athens and Sparta to look at one of the most historical events of the Ancient Greek times- The Battle of Marathon. With lots of information to process including opposition, reasoning and strategical warfare, the best way to retain this information was to reenact the battle itself. With the class being split into Athenians, Spartans and Persians, they travelled across seas and battled hard on the Bay of Marathon. Big shoutout to our Philidipphies for their commitment to their role in running many laps around the school playground.

Conversation starters

In ‘My Happy Mind’, we have looked at how certain tasks can be fearful for us but have a low level of danger, which can send our amyglada into overdrive.

This may be :

  • the dark

  • public speaking

  • heights

This week’s question, “How do you calm yourself down when you’re feeling stressed?



Let’s Celebrate

Josh for being an enthusiastic and brave learner: We are all so proud of you Josh- representing the school football team! You have worked really hard in the training sessions leading to this and you were so happy to be playing alongside your classmates in the Our Lady’s shirt- collecting all of your stats from the game. Make sure you transfer this enthusiasm into the classroom.

Charlotte for being a reflective learner: You are a child who just loves learning Charlotte, especially displaying your learning in your books. This is why you set yourself high standards when it comes to presentation. Even though you are a terrific writer, during our independent writing you are still asking for help when you need it because you want to get the best out of the learning opportunity. Great work!

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue start of the week goes to Finley. You are just so attentive towards your classmates Finley. Such a kind and considerate soul who really takes everyone’s concerns and thoughts into account. You have shown this throughout many of our teamwork tasks this week.

My Happy Mind Champion- Tommy



Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Finley

Marvelous Manners- Ciaran

Notices

  • Sports Club Opportunities- Information regarding this is available on the sports page of the website. If interested, please complete the forms to register your child for a specific club.



  • Parents Day Appointments- This will take place on Friday 18th October. Bookings have gone live on ‘the cloud’ which is available on Mrs Gregan’s weekly blog.



  • Half Term- School will close on Thursday 17th October at normal time. School will reopen on Monday 28th October.



Have a wonderful weekend,

From Mr Cornwell, Mrs Barker and Mrs Tierney

Year 5 Weekly Blog 04.10.24- 'Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much'

Yet another week has flown by in Year 5 with lots of learning, lots of thinking and lots of experiences taking place. Four lucky children this week were chosen for a trip out to St Peter’s for a forest school experience, something that we as a school are interested in having in our outdoor area. Photos from this are available on Mrs Gregan’s blog.

In Maths, it has been all things rounding in our number topic, with us recapping the important steps from Year 4, before we moved onto rounding to the nearest 10,000 and 100,000.

In English, we have began our independent write for our first narrative of the year- The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The children have been combining their creative thinking and grammar skills so produce some excellent sentences.

In Science, we looked at methods of how to separate solutions via evaporation and looking at other real life examples of solution and how these are separated.

In RE, the focus has been about looking after our common home and what we can do protect God’s creation. This has linked perfectly to our Word of the Week which has been ‘unity’- how can we unite as God’s creation to look after his planet.

Conversation starters

In ‘My Happy Mind’, we have looked at ways of how to improve our brain to carry out activities that release serotonin. We created checklists of things that we currently do that help our brain and a list of targets to improve on.

These included:

  • regular exercise

  • Good amount of sleep

  • Consistent sleeping patterns

  • Reduced screen time on devices

This week’s question, “How does your checklist compare with your parents?

Subject question of the week- In History, we have looked at the life of a Spartan compared to an Athenian.

The Spartans main focus’ were strength, bravery and endurance. Where would you rank these three traits in terms of importance?

Let’s Celebrate

Matilda for being an inquisitive and cooperative learner: This week, you were given the opportunity to represent the school in an out of school learning occasion. You were given this chance because you are a role model and the virtues you portray every day. You worked so well in your forest school team and asked lots of really interesting questions that were beneficial to the school.

Ciaran for being a focused and determined learner: You have really taken on your teachers new expectations in Year 5 of focusing on your learning the second you step into the classroom. This has been seen in your Maths work this week as you have been flying through all of your rounding work. Excellent job Ciaran.

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue start of the week goes to Grace. Your patience, kindness and stillness is just so graceful Grace. You are a such a good learning partner to have. You are so considerate towards everyone and their needs and you always respect their viewpoints. A delight to teach!

My Happy Mind Champion- Beth


Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Lily

Marvelous Manners- Tilly

Notices

  • Sports Club Opportunities- Information regarding this is available on the sports page of the website. If interested, please complete the forms to register your child for a specific club.


  • Harvest Festival- For harvest this year, our chosen food for this year is canned meat. Any donations would be hugely appreciated. Our Harvest Mass will be on Friday 11th October which is when we will be taking our food donations down to church.


  • Thursday 10th October World Mental Health Day- To collaborate with this day, we are doing ‘Hello Yellow’ so the children bring £1 in and they can wear anything yellow. This could be a t-shirt, football kit, socks, hair bobble- anything.


  • Parents Day Appointments- This will take place on Friday 18th October. Bookings have gone live on ‘the cloud’ which is available on Mrs Gregan’s weekly blog.


Have a wonderful weekend,

From Mr Cornwell, Mrs Barker and Mrs Tierney

Year 5 Weekly Blog 27.09.24- ' If God is at the center of your heart, then your mere presence will touch others' hearts'- St Vincent De Paul

What a wonderful and reflective week it has been at Our Lady’s with today being a special day in the Catholic calendar as we celebrated both St Vincent De Paul and Our Lady Feast Day. We spent the morning celebrating this together in mass at church, which was led by our special guest for the day- Bishop Paul. Bishop Paul then joined us back at school where he got to witness life at Our Lady’s- in which he was super impressed with. To celebrate this in class, we designed some Our Lady medallions, which will be created into a class bunting for our worship display.

In Science, it was time to get practical to test how to separate different materials from mixtures. The children analaysed all three methods and suggested scenarios when and when not to use each of these. Of course, we had to finish the lesson with our favourite solubility experiment- ‘Sugar or Salt’.

In Maths, it has been all things column addition and subtraction. A method that the children are familiar with in Year 4 but we have applied this to our 6 and 7 digit numbers. We also had to use this method in our angles topic to find the missing angles on straight lines and around a point.

In English, we have been using all of our collective vocabulary from last week and applied this into our complex sentences, using our subordinating conjunctions (I SAW A WABUB) as sentence starters. We then finished the week by begining our planning for our own narrative write by deciding which mythological creature we are going to use in our story. The children put their knowledge to the test with a famous ‘Cornwell Quiz’, with 4 teams coming out victorious.

Kidsafe

Please read the letter below to find out what we did in this weeks kidsafe lesson.

Conversation starters

On Monday, we have continued with ‘My Happy Mind’, with the focus being on ‘Neuroplasticity’ and how we use our brains to store and remember certain information.

This week’s question, “What other techniques do you use to calm your emotions?”

Subject question of the week- In RE, we looked at when we have misused our trust and how we seek forgiveness from whose who we have wronged.

How forgiving are you as a person? How could you improve on this?

Let’s Celebrate

Rory and Isioma for being determined learners: We all know that homework is not necessary everyone’s favourite pastime. Your compulsory homework is always complete which shows your teachers you are committed to bettering yourself but to put in the effort in your optional homework is just outstanding. You have gone above and beyond with your history homework and have created some toolkits that the whole class can use- excellent work.

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue start of the week goes to John-Paul. You really are a discerning young man Johnny. Your judgement and decision making has been impeccable this year. You are always making the right choice, even when your friends are not- you know what the right thing to do is and your not to be swayed.

My Happy Mind Champion- Kieran

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Logan

Marvelous Manners- Grace

Notices

  • Medical Forms-If you haven’t completed the medical form for this year then please do so ASAP.

  • Sports Club Opportunities- Information regarding this is available on the sports page of the website. If interested, please complete the forms to register your child for a specific club.

  • Harvest Festival- For harvest this year, our chosen food for this year is canned meat. Any donations would be hugely appreciated.

Have a wonderful weekend,

From Mr Cornwell, Mrs Barker and Mrs Tierney

Year 5 Weekly Blog 20.09.24- ' A calm mind brings inner strength and self confidence to succeed in life’

Another week has flown by in Year 5 with plenty of hard work, interesting discussions and learning adventures taking place. It was lovely for you parents to come in and see what your child’s new learning environment is like and I hope you found the evening informative and enjoyable. Here are the slides from the induction evening.

In English, we have began reading the first two chapters of ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ and discussed some of the characteristics of the characters. We have worked really hard on expanding our vocabulary to add more description to our creative writing.

In Maths, we have now gone above and beyond one million! the children have had a really good understanding of 6 and 7 digit numbers by ordering and comparing these types of numbers, along with some addition and subtraction calculations.

In Science, the focus was all things ‘solubility’ with us looking in detail the properties of a soluble material with some named examples. We then put this to the test by playing the very popular ‘Sugar or Salt’ game.

Kidsafe

In this weeks lesson, we looked at how to stay safe on the internet and what we should/shouldn’t do. We discussed what to look out for when we sense something yukky has appeared online and how we can check if our sites are safe. Can you remember the two signs to look for in a search bar?

Conversation starters

On Monday, we have continued with ‘My Happy Mind’, with the focus being on how we can calm our amyglada down when we are in a state of fear/shock. Lots of scenarios that we discussed were situations that carried lots of fear but resulted in low level danger. We used a technique called ‘Happy Breathing’ to help calm ourselves down whenever we are in a state of fight, flight or freeze.

This week’s question, “What other techniques do you use to calm your emotions?”

Subject question of the week- In History, we looked at the rise of Athens in Ancient Greece with the creation of democracy being a key factor.

How democratic are we as a country? Could we be better at this?

Let’s Celebrate

Logan for being enthusiastic: I love your attitude towards learning Logan. The same heart and passion you show out on the football pitch is matched when you’re in the classroom. Your hand is always up as you want to contribute to the lesson and your super focused has allowed you to get through all of your independent tasks- Keep this up!

Poppy for being focused: The first week of a new year can be hard as you find your feet and get to grips with the new work. This week, your teachers have seen a big shift in your focus, especially during your independent tasks. With this attitude, you will only grow stronger Poppy.

Virtue Star of the Week: Our virtue start of the week goes to Rose. You have really stood out this week both in and outside the classroom. The way you have been helping the younger children during break and lunch times, looking after them on the playground with the scooters and also helping them with their lunch in the dinner hall. You really are a role model to our younger children.

Lunchtime Certificates

Role Model of the Week- Matilda

Marvelous Manners- Sean

Notices

  • Asthma Forms-If your child has asthma, you would have received a separate medical form to complete. Please complete this and bring it back into school

  • Sports Club Opportunities- Information regarding this is available on the sports page of the website. If interested, please complete the forms to register your child for a specific club.

  • House Badges- All of the children have been given a coloured badge to represent their house. I hope the children enjoy wearing these with pride throughout school. Please take good care of these and make sure it is still attached to any jumpers or hoodies if these are taken off.

Have a wonderful weekend,

From Mr Cornwell, Mrs Barker and Mrs Tierney